Here's What's New
Opening Oct 6, 2023
La Posada--The Stage Play!
The Artist's Path announces the premiere of Micki Shelton's newest play La Posada at Prescott, Arizona's Elks Theatre.
Directed by Kate Hawkes, La Posada opens October 6th at 7:00 PM with additional performances October 7th at 7:00 PM
and October 14th at 2:00 PM. Tickets are available here.
If you would like to hear about the play and help get it onstage, please go to gofundme.com or text Micki about how to make a donation by check to The Artist's Path: (928) 713-6288
Note: Links open when they are near the top of the screen.
Check out the amazing rewards we have for those able to help with larger donations. Donated by Barry Barbe and Allan Affeldt these delightful perks offer surprising opportunities for you and your friends.
WHY THIS PLAY, WHY NOW?
BECAUSE the events of the last few years and more recent international upheavals call for uplifting stories like those of La Posada.
BECAUSE the struggle, commitment and joy of creating something new from the ashes of history is an inspiring guide for all of us.
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
On the face of it, La Posada is about the restoration of Mary Colter’s abandoned architectural masterpiece--and it is! On a captivating level, it is about the unlikely trio who brought it back to life: activist Allan Affeldt, artist Tina Mion, and sculptor Dan Lutzick. Part fantasy, mostly history, this is their story.
Much of the story turns on Ms. Mion’s paintings, several of which appear in our production. You can view them by clicking on the small icon below.
Click the small icon and scroll through to view Tina Mion's paintings featured in the play. Move the icon to the top of this webpage to open.
FOLLOW OUR PROGRESS
For more information on our project, “Follow” us on our Facebook page “La Posada—The Stage Play.”
To follow our fundraising progress, go to our Gofundme.com page here:
DONATIONS AND PERKS
At the time of this post, our 501(c)3 supporting organization The Artist's Path has raised over $8,500—guaranteeing essential technical aspects including Set, Lighting, Projection, and Sound. Our next goal of $11,500, will guarantee small stipends for our Director, Actors, and Stage Manager. It also provides funding for Costumes, Props, Marketing and Promotion. Many small gifts from generous people are helping us raise the money we need to get this play onstage. If you know someone able to donate a generous amount toward the needed $11,500, have them take a look at the gifts we offer our principal patrons at amounts of $1,000 to $5,000.
EXCITING CAST NEWS!
Three out-of state actors have traveled to Prescott to play the key roles of Allan Affleldt, Tina Mion, and Dan Lutzick, and seven wonderful local actors, fill out the rest of the cast. To read about these wonderful actors click here.
Follow La Posada updates on FACEBOOK
Previous Events
June 8 - June 18, 2023
Theatre Artists Studio's Annual
Festival of Summer Shorts
Thursdays thru Saturdays, 7:30 PM
Sunday Matinees, 2:00 PM
Original, unbridled fun and empathy from Studio playwrights. You never really know what to expect! For 16 years, this festival of short plays has been Studio audiences' favorite production of every season. It's always a fresh confection of new tales from talented, local storytellers, offering unique perspectives on our human foibles, fallibilities, and feats of amazing resilience.
Micki's play sees veteran actors Judy Rollings as Beatrice and Judy LeBeau as Agnes reminiscing about the loves in their lives. "Finally," say the two Judys, "characters we're the right age to play!"
Theatre Artists Studio is located not far from the corner of Tustin and Cactus at
12406 N. Paradise Village Parkway East, Scottsdale AZ 85254
February 19, 2023, 2:30 PM
Elks Theatre Performing Arts Center
presents veteran actor Gail Mangham in
Tea with ZaZa by Prescott playwright Parker Anderson
All seats $20.
On Monday evening February 20, 1905, Prescott, Arizona's historic Elks Opera House opened its doors for the first time. Florence Roberts, star of San Francisco and Broadway stages, performed that evening in Marta of the Lowlands, by Angel Guimerá, a famous Catalan writer from Barcelona. The house was packed. People came from as far away as Jerome. On February 19th, Gail Mangham introduces us to Florence (known as ZaZa) in her drawing room. Don't miss this fabulous one-woman show.
Proceeds from Tea with ZaZa go to support the production of La Posada, directed by Kate Hawkes, opening October 6th on Prescott Elks Theatre's main stage. See below for information about Micki's play.
June 16 - June 26, 2022
Theatre Artists Studio
Festival of Summer Shorts
Micki is delighted to announce that two of her short plays have been chosen for Theatre Artists Studio's Festival of Summer Shorts. Puzzles and Borderlines, directed by Tom Noga, and Apples from the Same Tree, directed by Judy Rollings, run from June 16 through June 26. Each performance includes eight plays by studio playwrights. Along with Micki's plays, these include plays by Tim Ashby, Alan Austin, Al Benneian, Judith Eisenburg, and Les Leiter. Mark your calendars. The show runs for just two weekends.
Thursdays thru Saturdays 7:30 PM
Sunday Matinees 2 PM
June 16, 2022
Red Earth Theatre
What Next #2
Lost in the hot Arizona desert, something cosmic must have drawn these two vegetarians to a McDonald's restaurant. As Mars explores the alien menu, her daughter gets more and more agitated. Featuring Cathy Ransom, Abigail Heydorn, Zayne Hirsch and Gerard Maguire and directed by Kate Hawkes, Micki's play Lunch At McDonald's is always an audience favorite. Come enjoy Micki's comedy and 7 others on the courtyard under the trees in Sedona's gorgeous Tlaquepaque.
Published!
Alice in Quarantine: A Drive-Through Adventure
What do you do when all your favorite theatres are shuttered?
Early in the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, Tiffany Antone invited eleven female playwrights to team up to write a most peculiar pandemic-proof play.
Each playwright was encouraged to write scenes based on favorite chapters from Alice in Wonderland. I was one of the eleven writers accepting the challenge--along with Allie Costa, Sharon Goldner, Jen Huszcza, Mildred Inez Lewis, Charissa Menefee, Amanda Petefish-Schrag, Taylor Sklenar, Cynthia Wands, Jennie Webb, and of course Tiffany.
After productions in Atherton, California and Dallas,Texas, two publishers contacted us about publishing the full play, and that has now happened.
Scripts of Alice in Quarantine: A Drive-Through Adventure are available now from Next Stage Press.
https://nextstagepress.net/alice-in-quarantine/
My three scenes are based on Alice chapters 6, 8, and 9; and they are available as stand-alone 10-minute plays on New Play Exchange, titled
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A Game of Croquet
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The Duchess, the Pig Baby, and the Cheshire Cat, and
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Morals, Manners, and Matriculation
Monday, April 4, 2022
This One Wild and Precious Life by Micki Shelton
New Play Reading Series: "First Look"
Theatre Artists Studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, presents a live reading of Micki's play This One Wild and Precious Life at 7:00 PM on April 4, 2022. Inspired by Mary Oliver's poetry, Micki's newest work-in-progress focuses on two young women and the Mom who says she raised them both. Kellsi wants Sara to acknowledge and return her love. Sara finds herself in a real war she doesn’t understand. In the midst of the chaos, the poetry of Mary Oliver in its own good time shows the way home.
After the studio's live reading, the audience gets a chance to provide feedback and help the playwright continue work on her inventive work-in-progress. The reading of Micki's play, along with plays by other studio members are FREE to the public. As the season progresses, you can find all "First Look" readings (as well as the studio's production season) at Theatre Artists Studio:
A Few Earlier Events
March 8, 2021, 7 PM
La Posada by Micki Shelton
Theatre Artists Studio's
New Play Reading Series: "First Look"
Theatre Artists Studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, presents an online Zoom reading of Micki's play La Posada. After the reading, the audience gets to provide feedback using Zoom's chat function to help the playwright continue work on this inventive work-in-progress. The reading of Micki's play, along with plays by other studio members are FREE to the public and you can find them by going to Theatre Artists Studio's Facebook page.
Live on YouTube
Puzzles and Borderlines
by Micki Shelton
Catherine Landeta
Red Earth Theatre selected Puzzles and Borderlines
to launch its Online Play Project.
Directed by Kate Hawkes, starring Ben Gorman as Peter, and Catherine Landeta as Jane, the live-stream reading aired Thursday night, April 16, 2020, and now lives on YouTube.
Here's what some people have said about it.
"WATCH THIS. Powerful, insightful, and beautifully written, this play connects a Vermeer painting, geopolitical mapping, social policy, technology, reverence, science, ancient history, and belief to explore our world before, during, and after COVID-19. In doing so, Shelton raises the most profound questions: What does it mean to be human? What lens do we use to view the world? What are our conceptions and projections? What difference can we make in our natural world? And what is the connection between awe and love? Thanks to Shelton, I will be “puzzling” for a long time." -- Nancy Currey, International Student Recruiter, Northern Arizona University
"Well Done Micki. Love the lyricism of the piece. Let’s all fervently hope that in this period we do indeed reflect and find ourselves on a path to a world without borders, a world wherein humanity does not divide itself from nature nor from its own species. Thank you for a lovely meditation on what could be." -- Gail Mangham, Producing Artistic Director, The Artists Path. www.theartistpath.org
September 14, 2020, 7 PM
Married, Taken or Gay by Micki Shelton
Theatre Artists Studio's
New Play Reading Series
Theatre Artists Studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, presents an online Zoom reading of Micki's romantic comedy Married, Taken, or Gay. After the reading, the audience gets to provide feedback using Zoom's chat function to help the playwright continue work on this inventive work-in-progress. The reading of Micki's play, along with plays by other studio members are FREE to the public and you can find them by going to Theatre Artists Studio's Facebook page.
Rebecca (a therapist), Andrea (a political activist), and Claudia (a young executive) are each looking for the right man in a world where all the best ones are either married, taken, or gay. While most of the comedy’s rapid-fire dialogue takes place at a table in either the trio’s favorite coffeehouse or their neighborhood wine bar—pools of light, enlivened by a single versatile actor, reveal what actually happened in medias res before the women arrived on stage. Rebecca’s dating a Muslim. Claudia’s seeing a Bohemian artist. Andrea can’t find Mr. Right. The only man on stage is the barista, and he has no lines.
February 17, 2020, 6:30 PM
An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare
Elk's Performing Arts Center
3rd Floor, Crystal Hall
For one night, on February 17th, veteran actor Ben Gorman returns to Prescott as “the Poet” (an unnamed Bard) who, by fits and starts, unfolds Homer's ancient narrative poem The lliad, coloring it with his personal anecdotes and descriptions, giving it immediacy and depth. Far from the delivery of a dry history lesson, the Poet’s dynamic retelling brings the tale to vivid life and gives it relevance to the modern audience he addresses. He distills The Iliad’s vast scope down to human scale by portraying a handful of iconic characters and their fateful interactions in the Trojan War. Humankind’s incessant urge to warfare is rarely so clearly illuminated, and its cost so feelingly expressed.
Suffused with an engaging immediacy, this production of An Iliad was produced in August of 2019 by the Commonweal Theatre in Lanesboro, Minnesota. It is sponsored in Prescott by The Artist's Path. Employing only minimal stagecraft, the play stands in a class of exceptional theatrical experience and is raw storytelling at its best, vigorous and deeply affecting.
Previously, in 2012 at the Elks, Ben Gorman performed the role of J.F. Huckel in the Arizona Centennial premiere of Micki Shelton's play Fred and Mary. Here's your chance to see this fabulous actor again in a one-man show that is not to be missed. One night only.
For tickets and venue information, visit the Elks PAC site: www.prescottelkstheater.com. For more information on the production, visit Commonweal’s web page at www.commonwealtheatre.org/wealhouse/an-iliad/ or call Micki at (928) 713-6288.
Tickets $19.95 at prescottelkstheater.com, by calling (928) 777-1370, or at the door.
October 29, 2018, 7 PM
The Artist’s Path and Tomorrow’s Theatre Tonight, in conjunction with Little Black Dress, INK, present “A Night of Furies” at First Congregational Church, 216 E. Gurley Street, Prescott at 7PM.
The evening features a stage reading of Micki's play St. Agnes in Agony. This new one-act dramatically connects contemporary and 4th Century Roman abuse, particularly as it relates to women.
After the reading, Playwright and Resilience Coach Kate Hawkes of Sedona will be on hand to help the audience discuss their reactions to both the play and current events.
FREE event. Post Even Note: Donations to the event were given to PASS, Prescott Area Shelter Services:
https://prescottshelters.org
Click on the "Blog" link, then the "What I'm Reading" link to read what actor and director Gail Mangham had to say about Prescott's "A Night of Furies" event described above.
September 9, 2018, 1 to 5 PM
Join Micki at "The Natural Women" celebration at
The Highland Center for Natural History, Prescott
"If the Woods Had Words"
Take an easy half-hour stroll along the garden path with writer and playwright, Micki Shelton. See nature's wonders through the eyes of a poet.
July and August 2018
Herberger Theater Center's Kax Stage
Live in Phoenix? Traveling to the Science Museum or for work? For $7, you can watch 5 short plays on your lunch break! The theme this month is "Life in the Theatre." Bring your lunch or pre-order it from the theater's caterer.
Here's the line-up.
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The Story Tellers by Susan Sindelar
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Alas Poor Fool by Terry Rose Younger & Mary Robinson
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Intermission by Joe Bardin
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Amici Recast by Micki Shelton
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Marketing Committee by Joe Bardin
Where exactly? The Herberger Theater is at 222 E. Monroe Street. Directions and Parking here. The Kax Stage is located on the southwest corner of Van Buren and 3rd Street
One evening show. See you there! July 23rd at 7PM.
June 14 - 24, 2018
Theatre Artists Studio
Festival of Summer Shorts
For the second year in a row, I have a play in Theatre Artists Studio's Festival of Summer Shorts. My play Jitterbug first written for the 2016 One-Day Plays in Prescott, was selected to be included along with 7 other 10-minute plays by some of Arizona's finest playwrights, including Kirt Shineman, Debra Rich Gettleman, and Alan Austin. I'm honored. Mark your calendars. The show runs for just two weekends. Tickets available online or by calling the studio.
Thursdays thru Saturdays 7:30 PM
Sunday Matinees 2 PM
June 13, 2018, 3:30 - 5:00 PM
Name that film!
Yavapai College, Building 3, Room 119
A Few Good Lines is coming, for free, to the Prescott Film Festival at Yavapai College on the afternoon of June 13th. This delightful production features JC Lawler and Paige LaForte and is directed by Patrick David DuHaime who employs special effects to bring my play to life. Heck, if you live in The Valley, why not escape the heat and come enjoy the whole film festival? Check out the whole program here.
How often do you reply in conversation with a line from a movie? “Here’s lookin’ at you kid,” “I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” or maybe “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Mary and Peter are writing a screenplay. And all Peter does is "stir the tanks" when what the @$#%&? Suddenly, the only words coming out of their mouths are lines from classic movies. During the play those who wish to get a chance to identify movies from which the lines are taken. Those who identify the most lines get a prize!
