/ Modified mar 2, 2023 2:01 p.m.

"Pru Payne" stars Mimi Kennedy & Gordon Clapp on finding love in the shadow of memory loss.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: New water conservation plan finds opposition; meet the women who founded Borderlands Brewing Co.; and a cautionary tale from Stories that Soar!

Mimi Kennedy and Gordon Clapp hero Gordon Clapp and Mimi Kennedy will star in the Arizona Theatre Company's world premiere of "Pru Payne."
Photo by Tim Fuller

Arizona Spotlight

March 2, 2023

NPR
(Download MP3)

Featured on the March 2nd, 2023 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:

  • The federal government is prepared to spend tens of millions of dollars to pay farmers to use less water from the Colorado River, but not everyone’s on board with the plan. This story was produced by Chris Clements of KSJD in Cortez, Colorado. It is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KSJD and distributed by KUNC, supported by the Walton Family Foundation.

Lake Powell Low AP Low water levels at Wahweap Bay at Lake Powell along the Upper Colorado River Basin are shown, on June 9, 2021, at the Utah and Arizona border at Wahweap, Ariz.
AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File

  • Arizona Theatre Company’s new production “Pru Payne” tells a story about holding on to one’s identity in the face of memory loss. Accomplished stage & screen actors Mimi Kennedy and Gordon Clapp play strangers who meet through unexpected circumstances and form a bond uniquely their own. They talk with Mark about what made them want to star in this new play.
Pru payne poster unsized VIEW LARGER Promotional poster for Arizona Theatre company's production of "Pru Payne" coming to Tucson in March.
Courtesy of Arizona Theatre Company
Mimi Kennedy unsized VIEW LARGER Mimi Kennedy is the title character in the Arizona Theatre Company's production of "Pru Payne" showing in Tucson Mar. 4-25.
Courtesy of Arizona Theatre Company
Gordon Clapp unsized VIEW LARGER Gordon Clapp is Gus Cudahy in the Arizona Theatre Company's production of Steven Drukman's "Pru Payne" directed by Sean Daniels.
Courtesy of Arizona Theatre Company
  • For hundreds of years, brewing beer was often seen as being “women’s work”, using the grain that was left over from baking bread. Meet two women in Tucson who are challenging what has become today’s industry norm, by running the Borderlands Brewing Company. That story was produced by Özlem Özgür for Arizona Illustrated.

  • The Tucson non-profit Literacy Connects sponsors a group of performers and musicians called “Stories That Soar!”. They help young writers realize the power and potential of bringing their stories to life, for the stage, video, and radio. We are now presenting these stories on the first Thursday of every month here on Arizona Spotlight. This time, we’ll hear a cautionary tale by Audrey, a 2nd grader at Fruchthendler Elementary, called Food Queen. It was produced by the Stories that Soar! creative team, with middle school students from the Youth Center Program at Literacy Connects. Aspiring student-age writers can submit their stories to The Magic Box Story Portal now!

Webpage by Leah Britton.

Arizona Spotlight
Arizona Spotlight airs every Thursday at 8:30 am and 6:00 pm and every Saturday at 3:00 pm on NPR 89.1 FM / 1550 AM. You can subscribe to our podcast on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, or the NPR App. See more from Arizona Spotlight.
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