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PeoriaTimes.com /PeoriaTimes Southern-fried comedy opening postponed at TheaterWorks

American playwrights Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten’s Southern-fried comedy “Rex’s Exes” was scheduled to open at TheaterWorks Friday, March 20.

However, the city of Peoria announced the production, as well as many other events, would be postponed.

“Peoria Center for the Performing Arts: All public programming will be suspended until March 27, whereupon it will be reassessed. This includes all city functions at the venue such as the Music Series and those produced by TheaterWorks.”

On its website, TheaterWorks announced, “The city of Peoria canceled BY SARA EDWARDS Peoria Times Guest Writer public performances through the end of March. In light of this statement, we are postponing our opening of ‘Rex’s Exes’ to Friday, March 27.”

“Rex’s Exes” is an outrageous comedy featuring three cousins, Gaynelle, Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette Verdeen in Sweetgum, Texas. As the play begins, they are teetering on the edge of yet another disaster.

Gaynelle refuses to believe she’s turning 50 years old. In an attempt to make her feel better, Peaches ropes Jimmie Wyvette into throwing their cousin a surprise party.

Things quickly turn for the worst when they, in turn, have to plan a family funeral. “The play is truly a wild comedy, as well as a brightly-colored and sweet piece of theatrical cotton candy,” director Dominik Rebilas said. “The energy is high, the pacing is quick, and the situation is heightened to Texas-sized proportions.”

This production will welcome back many faces familiar to TheaterWorks. Rebilias returns to direct the play and actors from the previous season’s “Red

Velvet Cake War” like Shelly Boucher and Tina Khalil.

“Each of the characters, as well as the actors who play them, are truly unique. Each of them offer a color and a brightness for the stage - truly captivating,” Rebilas said. “The actors, Amy Powers as Gaynelle, Shelly Boucher as Peaches and Tina Khalil as Jimmie Wyvette bring such love for their characters, as well as the opportunity to play them together.”

The play will take place in the McMillin Theater at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts, opening Friday and performing through April 12. Tickets can be purchased at theaterworks. org and are $39 for adults, $34 for seniors and $18 for students.

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Westgate comedy club pledges to remain open

BY PEORIA TIMES STAFF

At a time when many can use a laugh or two, owner Tom Simes said his Stir Crazy Comedy Club at Westgate will remain open. “While according to the federal government the risk of contracting COVID-19 for an average American is still low, I feel it’s important for you to understand the steps Stir Crazy is taking to keep everyone safe,” Simes said. “We are actively monitoring the official guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Latex gloves are worn by staff members in food preparation and by our food runners.

“Our team members completely sanitize all tables, chairs and booths between each show.”

Simes said he started “daily health and wellness checks with all employees with sign-offs to ensure team members are not in the building if they have any sign of illness including cough, fever or any other common signs restricted by the Maricopa County Health regulations.”

The scheduled performer at Stir Crazy this weekend is Don Friesen, “a modern suburban dad just trying to raise his kids

Don Friesen, who cracks jokes about parenting, marriage and tech support, is the scheduled comedian this weekend at Stir Crazy. (Photo courtesy Don Friesen)

and get through the day with a bit of money in the bank and a scrap of dignity intact.” Friesen cracks jokes about parenting, marriage and being “a wanna-be geek who constantly upgrades to the latest technology, but can never get it to work.” Hello, tech support.

According to Simes, “We’re committed to keeping our club clean and safe and so we ask our team members and guests if you’re not feeling well, to hang out at home and watch some stand up comedy on Netflix.”

Stir Crazy Comedy Club is at 6751 N. Sunset Boulevard, Suite E-206, Glendale. For tickets and more information, visit stircrazycomedyclub.com.

Veterinary Medicine Open House at Midwestern U moved to fall

BY PEORIA TIMES STAFF

Midwestern University postponed the College of Veterinary Medicine Open House, originally scheduled for Saturday, March 28, until later this fall. Midwestern said the postponement is “based on the latest CDC recommendations regarding COVID-19 virus.”

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BY MADISON STATEN Cronkite News

Thousands of wild horses and burros roam across millions of acres of public land in 10 Western states, including Arizona. The Bureau of Land Management, which manages these herds, estimated last year there are 88,000 animals – more than three times as many as there should be.

The bureau says the number of wild horses and burros exceeds the “appropriate management level” and leads to depleted grass and water resources, “threatening the overall health of the public rangelands and degrading ecosystems,” according to the BLM’s website.

This means deteriorated health among wild horses and burros, which can lead to starvation, dehydration and death. The agency rounds up some of the animals yearly and works to find them new homes through adoptions.

The BLM estimates a manageable population would be 27,000 wild horses and burros. John Hall, the Arizona wild horse and burro program lead for the bureau, facilitated an adoption this month in Marana, north of Tucson.

He said the agency began its Adoption Incentive Program last year, giving adopters up to $1,000 for an untrained wild horse or burro.

“I’ll typically adopt or sell close to 75 percent of them,” Hall said. “Now before AIP (Adoption Incentive Program), we were seeing somewhere around 50 percent. It’s definitely bumped up our adoptions quite a bit.”

Hall gathers horses and burros for rotating adoption events like the one in Marana. At any given time, Hall has 450 to 1,000 animals in his care.

“We try to hit new spots every year so that people understand that we do have this program,” Hall said. “It really brings more attention to us, helps us actually get these animals in good homes.”

Rancher Steve Temple came to the Marana adoption in search of a burro to be a friend to a retired rope horse.

“It was excellent,” Temple said of the adoption process. “You know, we came through, we looked around, we looked at all the animals, and we found

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Arizona had an estimated 530 wild horses last year, while states like Nevada had thousands. To reduce their impact on the environment, the animals are rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management and offered for adoption. (Photo by Michael Hannan/Cronkite News)

the staff helped us provide which ones were real docile.”

Temple’s excitement over Arizona burros is somewhat unusual. Hall said the general public often overlooks burros in favor of wild horses.

“People call this the horse program – it’s not just horses,” Hall said. “We have a lot of burros in Arizona. We have a lot of burros in California. They create the same nuisance issues that we see with horses. They also do the same damage to the range that horses can do.”

In 2019, the BLM reported more than 6,900 burros and about 530 wild horses in Arizona.

“The BLM has been criticized from both angles, from the cattle growers to the horse advocates,” said Julie Murphree, who’s doing her doctoral research on wild horses at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability. “One of the concerns I have with adopting the horses out is if the public is ready for this. It’s difficult to follow up, to see how they are doing once they are adopted.”

She’s not the only one who’s concerned. William Perry Pendley, the acting director for the BLM, has called the wild horse and burro issue one of the biggest challenges facing the agency.

“We have 88,000 wild horses and burros on our Western federal lands,” Pendley said. “We’ve increased our adoption program to get people to adopt these wild animals – that’s not going to solve this problem. It’s a tens of millions of dollars problem. But the bigger problem, for me, is the existential threat to the quality of these lands.”

In Arizona, some of the horses that are adopted already have been trained through a program with the Arizona Department of Corrections. The goal is to help reduce the population so overgrazing doesn’t happen.

Brandon Grede is one of the Arizona inmates who works at Hall’s facility to train horses for adoption.

“They come in wild and don’t want anything to do with you and will pretty much do anything to get away from you,” Grede said. But when the animals are ready to be adopted, “I mean, you can pretty much walk around without a lead rope and they’ll just follow you like a lost puppy.” Grede acknowledges it’s a bittersweet training process.

“You’re sad to see them go, but you’re happy because you know that they’re being spoiled and someone’s going to love them as much as you did,” he said.

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