Space55 Closes Our 20th Season With A Play About Puppets, Punks In Love, and the Gentrification of Downtown Phoenix
Space55 is proud to close our 20th season of programming with a show that harkens back to our rowdy
late night shows when we were still on 7th St. and Pierce. Directed by Dennis Frederick and written by Zoni Award-winning playwright Ashley Naftule, Peppermint Beehive is a play about punks in love, puppets, and the gentrification of downtown. The lovechild of a menage a trois between Lewis Carroll, John Waters, and Betty Boop, Peppermint Beehive is an absurdist dark comedy about what happens when a neighborhood full of weirdos, queer lovers, and bohemian dreamers crosses paths with the implacable iceberg of capitalism.
Before you ask “hey, so, is this play about Roosevelt Row”— yes, yes it is. It’s real “I know writers who use subtext and they’re all cowards” Gareth Marengi hours over here.
Starring Sarafina Starling, Ashley Belle Vasquez, Madeleine Miller, Logan Watters, Marcella Grassa, Rick Larsen, Angela Gonzalez, and Tommy Cannon,
Peppermint Beehive plays at Metro Arts (1700 N. 7th Ave, Phoenix) from May 22 to 31st. Friday and Saturday shows at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. There will be a matinee performance on Saturday, May 23, at 2pm and a Pay What You Want performance on Thursday, May 28, at 7:30 p.m.
Please note: while there are puppets in this (designed by Amy Carpenter), this is NOT a kid’s show. There is strong adult language and content in this play. Please leave your kiddos at home or be prepared to have some… interesting conversations after the show.
Plot Summary:
For Rikki Richman, life is a hamster wheel of soul-deadening office shifts, go-nowhere phone calls to her landlord, listless nights swiping left on dating profiles, and being constantly harassed by her too helpful A.I. assistant. A chance encounter with Jamie Dayglo, a bewitching stranger at a punk show with a magical candy-festooned hairdo, sends Rikki down the rabbit hole to Rushmore Street, a grubby yet vibrant neighborhood of artists, puppets, goblins, and mimes. Everything is fun and games until a maniac cop and a pair of corporate sharks from Rikki’s work smell blood in the water, and Rushmore Street suddenly finds itself on the receiving end of a gentrification feeding frenzy. Can Rikki, Jamie, and the Rushmore Street bohemians beat back the tides of “progress” or will everything they know and love be transformed into a combination craft bar/Chipotle?
For more than 20 years Space55 has been a fixture in Phoenix’s performing arts and theater scenes, staging plays by acclaimed writers like Greg Kotis, Ann Washburn, and Kim Porter; hosting late night
stand-up comedy shows, storytelling events, and puppet shows; and scandalizing audiences with our notorious 7 Minutes In Heaven variety show.
Art by Dain Quentin Gore
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