photo by Tim Fuller

 Atmosphere is everything in Arizona Theatre Company's high-tech, fast-paced jewel thief saga "Heist," the play that plays like a movie.

No one said anything at the time, but the computerizing of special effects in movies over the last couple of decades has created a present-day cinema experience chock full of superheroes with incredible super powers that have virtually no connection to actual human beings whatsoever.

Haven't you ever thought “I'd enjoy theater a lot more if those stage plays were more like movies?”

Well, somebody thought of it because now Arizona Theatre Company has opened “Heist,” where actual actors give performances that blend high-tech special stage effects straight into the conventional downtown setting at the Temple of Music and Art.

ATC's own artistic director Matt August has put all this magical tech together, stirring in video imagery with wraparound sound, wraparound lighting and other startling stage effects that probably don't even have names yet.

So if you want a glimpse today of what tomorrow's theatrical productions will look like, see “Heist.”

Maintaining a tight fit between splashy technology and tense human feelings is the tricky part and August keeps everything on stage poppin'! If you like the idea of seeing theater without boundaries, you want to be here.

There are plenty of more or less conventional scenes where the actors talk to each other, but there are just as many more where the actors talk directly to the audience. That fourth wall gets broken so often it starts feeling more like a backyard fence between good neighbors.

The “Heist” cast of six all look to be about the same age – 23 ½ – dressed in the daytime casual street clothes of present-day New York City.

Matthew Floyd Miller plays Marvin, the presumed leader of this ambitious gang of do-it-yourself jewel thieves. Valerie Perri is called The Spider, who attracts their attention with her jeweled possessions.

There is a tightly twisted and ever-tricky plot, although the point of “Heist” is more about the total stage experience. Basically getting the gang together comes first, then a failed jewelry heist that tests the members trust of each other, setting up the denouement.

Canadian playwright Arun Lakra provides clever and humorous dialogue to carry the story along.

Equally important in this elaborate presentation are the scenic designer James Noone, lighting designer Mike Billings, sound designer and original music composer Daniel Perelstein Jacuette and costume designer Kish Finnegan.

Completing the cast are Jessica Fishenfeld as Angie, Ethan Henry as Kruger, Brandon Ruiter as Ryan and Jynx Zavala as Fiona.

Performances of “Heist” continue through Dec 20 in the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. The run time is two hours, including intermission. For details and reservations, visit www.atc.org

As a theatrical performance, the conversations between turbulent Marjorie and mechanical Walter are brilliantly performed. Playwright Jordan Harrison has constructed “Marjorie Prime” so cleverly, and director Christopher Johnson puts so much attention to the most subtle details, we come away believing reality can indeed exist in many shades of imagination.

Completing the cast are Carley Elizabeth Preston and Matt Walley as Marjorie's tense daughter Tess and her goodhearted husband Jon. Tess is equally as mercurial as her mom in abrupt mood shifts. Slipping into middle age Tess faces her own dystopia that she never had a warm relationship with her mother.

Every conversation between the two always ends in a bickering, sputtering argument. For both women, family life exists more in their head than in their hearts. In one series of short bursts, Preston brilliantly leaps from crisis conclusion to crisis combustion.

So we in the audience are left to ponder, does it really matter what happened in the past? Or does what we remember become more important than what actually happened?

ing in various combinations deliver one intense rendition after another filled with their personal hopes for some relief, offering 27 blues flavored pieces straight from the 1930s gut of Depression Era struggles in gritty cities, nearly 100 years ago.

Award winning Sheldon Epps first conceived of this revue in 1980, opening a successful Broadway run in 1982, followed by an equally popular London production in 1987.

Epps found ways to blend the music of such established composers as Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer with the popular blues success of marque names like Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Bessie Smith and others.

From the evergreen favorites “Lush Life” and “Stompin' at the Savoy” to the sly double entendre of “Take Me For A Buggy Ride” to the equally defiant “Wild Women Don't Have the Blues,” no heart left wanting goes unexamined.

Think of this indigo journey as a musical confessional so convincing in its search for sweet release, the capacity audience on opening night at the downtown Temple of Music and Art jumped to its feet in a standing ovation of the joyful discovery to learn what is meant by making it hurt so good.

This remarkable metaphor of a religious experience is carried out in the soaring stage design of Edward E. Haynes Jr. A towering church-like arc is filled with patterned columns that could also represent endless towers of faceless apartment buildings in a shadowy urban setting.

Included in the stage design are setups representing four generic apartments flaunting their ordinariness in cold concern for these star-crossed performers.

Each is given a descriptive title rather than a name. They are: The Lady from the Road (Roz White), The Woman of the World (April Nixon), The Girl with a Date (Camryn Hamm) and The Man in the Saloon (Darryl Reuben Hall). As the titles imply, each of these women represents all women at different stages in their lives.

The man, presumably, stands for all men who end up by themselves in a bar.

There is no dialogue or plot per se but each song is self-contained, telling its own story, adding another chapter to the challenging life of being female.

“Blues in the Night” runs through Feb. 15, with performances at various times Tuesdays through Sundays in the downtown Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Run time is approximately two hours, including intermission.

Tickets are $33-$113. For additional details and reservations, 833-ATC-SEAT (282-7328) or online, atc.org

Gaslight photo 

Another eager audience settles into this pine paneled theater for the holidays which, at the Gaslight, stretch into January.

A true Gaslight Theatre classic has returned in a new production to flaunt its soaring wiles once more across a curtained stage of high notes and evil intentions.