Stageworks is Mesa Arts Center's own family theater company.  Stageworks produces plays that embrace the youthful spirit and awaken the child in all of us. Stageworks produces three theatrical productions for young audiences and their families.  Performances are held in the Nesbitt/Elliott Playhouse.

2008-2009 Stageworks Season:

Senora Tortuga
October 31 - November 16, 2008

In this enchanting bilingual play, young Pedro and his family make their home in a barn on the Mexican border.  Pedro continually complains of having nothing and brings his mother many headaches.  She invites a hungry woman to share the family dinner, who returns time and again to eat and tell fantastic stories of the Enchanted Serpent and Cucuy of Mexican legend.  Soon, Pedro's nights are filled with heroic, yet frightening dreams.  But while Pedro is learning from Senora's wisdom tales, his mother has become suspicious of her.  Could it be that Senora Tortuga holds the thread that ties their past dreams to their future?

Gooney Bird Greene and her True Life Adventures
February 27 - March 15, 2009
It's a boring, long day at school. The kids don't want to be there. But suddenly, the classroom door bursts open and there- wearing pajamas and cowboy boots- stands red-headed Gooney Bird Greene!  With her outrageous outfits and outlandish stories, Gooney mesmerizes the class with her adventures of traveling around the world on a flying carpet, leading a symphony orchestra while driving through town, and finding her precious diamond earrings in an exotic palace.  By sparking their imaginations, Gooney shows the students that their lives are as unique as hers, as they cast themselves as the heroes in their own tales of discovery.

The Emperor's New Clothes
April 17 - May 3, 2009
It's a Caribbean musical adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale!  The Emperor of the tiny island of Little Iguana has set all the fashion standards- from high-tops to headgear.  But when a "magic" tailor named Uriah "Buzz" Butler swims ashore, he has his own ideas for a clothing line.  Soon, the Emperor, his subjects and the whole island are in for a shock.  Featuring song styles of the Caribbean-Calypso, Reggae, and Ska, (as well as the most amazing loom you'll ever see on a stage) this whimsical story will transport you to paradise and show how clothes definitely don't make the man!