Art is not supposed to be comfortable. It doesn’t exist to reaffirm our every belief.

Artists challenge. They poke and prod at the nature of our existence. They examine human inequities and disturb our viewpoints.

Even when the art was not necessarily meant to challenge, it can. Michaelangelo’s statue…

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For her 11^th birthday, in 1998, I gave my Capricorn daughter, Nina, a summertime gift: tickets for her first Broadway show, The Lion King, in July. She had practically memorized the animated movie…

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Richard Adler, composer for Damn Yankees, wrote about the first audience that show ever had — an afternoon run-through for other people in show…

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Tonight is Alice’s birthday, and it’s just been awful.

First, she waited for her food for 45 minutes at the restaurant. Seems they lost her order. Once it was delivered, she bolted her food. Then she and her daughter rushed to the car and sped through town to get to the theater. Finally, at two minutes before…

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As I plan on doing here more often. Got to hang out with Chantal this weekend (AWESOME!). I also just read Megan's post on Urban Verbs (AWESOME!). I'm a lucky guy who loves mu community and my community actually loves me back. Thanks Fix.

 

Be well.

 

Hakim Be

www.hakimbe.com

Hakimbe.com

 

A few years ago in Los Angeles, Chevy Chase saw the same production of A Christmas Carol (above) that we had last night in Popejoy Hall. After the show,…

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Don’t you love going to shows with friends? Apparently, so do the women of Delta Sigma Theta.

Sunday night, before the final Albuquerque performance of The Color Purple, a few dozen members of the local chapter of…

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Taking on challenges is part of the territory when you direct a show. This summer, I'm directing Thoroughly Modern Millie for Musical Theatre Southwest, and I may be facing one of the most unusual challenges I've ever tackled: I'm looking for two Chinese men for the show.



The only actor I know who… Continue

Who wouldn't love January in Albuquerque when you've got the Tricklock Revolutions International Theatre Festival?



The Revolution started off with two premiers -- "Pollock," a solo show starring Joe Peracchio, and "Nasze… Continue

I’ve been thinking a lot about cooperation lately. I’m not sure why. Maybe I’ve been watching the lack of cooperation in Congress and am hoping for better.



Whatever the roots, my thoughts tend toward the performing arts. Artists are known for their egos and their temperaments, but what they should be known for instead is their cooperative attitude, especially those in the performing arts. Yes, there are those whose egos become impediments to cooperation, but most performers I’ve… Continue

Theater should have relevance to people’s lives. That’s why Of Mice and Men in Popejoy this Thursday is on my list of shows to see: it speaks directly to the death of the American Dream.



When I saw the show in Virginia this past spring, I also had a chance to speak to the director and its two lead actors. Each of them talked about the central theme of the dreams that each of the… Continue

A young man prepares to go off to war. He says goodbye and promises to write his mother. The man—still just a boy--packs up his dreams, his ideals, his naïveté, and in this case, his violin, and boards the train that will take him into the theatre of war, with its absurdities, its bloody comedy, and its way of pushing its participants to the extremes of their individual humanity. It’s a scene that has been acted out countless times around the world in the past century, and it is brought now to… Continue

For sheer silliness, with a touch of existentialism, peel your butt off the couch and plunk it down at UNM's Theater X Sunday afternoon for the show "Nharcolepsy". Hey, you even get to throw stuff at the actors.



It's another fun offering from Tricklock Company's Revolutions International Theater Festival. This marks… Continue

Oh I love this time of year. That's because it's Revolutions time. I'm talking about the Revolutions International Theater Festival, now in its 9th year. I'm always amazed that more people don't know about it because it really brings some of the best theater of the year to town.

Tricklock Company, Albuquerque's own, travels the world with its own… Continue

The first weekend after Labor Day is always bittersweet for me, marking the psychological transition from summer into autumn. Mornings are cooler, there’s a hint of green chile in the air, and leaves begin to acquire a tarnish of gold.



On a personal note, it means that I get to reacquaint myself with the Sunport and life as a commuter traversing the friendly skies. This weekend was my first weekend… Continue

No matter how many years I’ve been in Albuquerque, it’s the happenstance that gets to me.



Over ten years ago, while waiting for a shuttle bus at the UNM South Lot, I struck up a conversation with a woman standing next to me. As we chatted, we discovered that we’d been corresponding with each other on a UNM issue over e-mail for the past month, but had never met face to face.



Happenstance.



We laughed, and soon our… Continue