This week, I’ve decided by arbitrary writ, is the week to go out and soak in Albuquerque’s homegrown arts community. There are, as always, scores of fantastic events tempting you out of your house and into the world to bear witness to. In our fair, fall-bedecked city, you can take in concerts, sporting events, museum exhibits, movies, crafting classes, dance parties, growers markets and wine tastings. (Dig through The Paper.‘s handy event calendar and I swear you’ll find all those things – and even more in the online version.) But we have a lot of local arts talent, and you should be patronizing at least a bit of it on a regular basis. Maybe you like comedy. Or maybe you’re into books. Or maybe opera tickles your fancy. Or perhaps you’re just really into campy stage musicals. I’m not here to judge. I’m just here to point you in a direction. So let’s see what our local arts makers have got in store for us in the next seven.
Beyond Belief: New Mexico Edition (Friday 23, Comedy)
Show of hands: Who here remembers “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction”? It was an addictively ridiculous FOX TV anthology from the ’90s hosted by a wide-eyed Jonathan Frakes, in which viewers were asked to guess whether the fantastical, pseudo-paranormal stories it dramatized were … well, it’s all there in the title, really. Albuquerque’s Blackout Theatre Company has come up with the nutty idea of reviving it as an improvised (and “legally distinct”) comedy in which actors perform on-the-spot scenes inspired by randomly selected headlines from New Mexico history. But viewer beware! Some headlines are real, some are fake. It’s up to the audience to guess which is which! Beyond Belief: New Mexico Edition unfolds Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23 and 24 at 6:30 p.m. inside Ancora Cafe (148 Quincy St. NE). A suggested $10 donation gets you a seat.
Fright Night 2 (Saturday 24, Literary Arts)
Books on the Bosque welcomes ten horror authors to the South Broadway Cultural Center (1025 Broadway Blvd. SE) on Saturday, Oct. 24 for Fright Night 2, a mini horror lit convention. Panel discussions start at 12:30 p.m. and run until 7:30 p.m. covering all sorts of eerie topics. Guests include Brian Asman, Clay Mcleod Chapman, Johnny Compton, Delilah Dawson, Jonathan Edward Durham, Ramona Emerson, Jennifer Givhan, CJ Leede, Brian McAuley and Keith Rosson. There’s also a dealers room stocked with literary treats. All-day general admission passes are $55 (artsandculture.cabq.gov/17512/17514). But you’re welcome to shop the book market for free.
Cavaleri Rusticana (Sunday 25, Opera)
Opera Southwest understands any reservations you might have about opera. That’s why the group is assuring potential audiences that Cavaleri Rusticana is “red-sauce opera at its finest.” Their press material calls it “passionate, visceral, and over before you know it, making it the perfect introduction for a first-time operagoer.” The one-act Italian opera is filled with adultery, betrayal and revenge. It opens Sunday, Oct. 25 at 2 p.m. If you miss it, it returns Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. Tickets run $19 to $119. Reserve your tickets at my.nmculture.org/events/58662,58944.
The Rocky Horror Show (Wednesday 28, Theater)
If there was ever a stage musical geared toward the Halloween seasons it’s Richard O’Brien’s kinky dress-up classic The Rocky Horror Show (source of the cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show). As a special fundraiser, Albuquerque Little Theatre (224 San Pasquale Ave. SW) is hosting a live, Halloween week version of the original stage play. It opens Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m. It runs through Thursday, Friday and Saturday of that week, also at 7:30 p.m. And yes, there’s also a midnight show on Saturday, Oct. 31. Tickets are moving fast, so get them now (ci.ovationtix.com/36941) for $37 to $40.
