Events Calendar

When: October 6 - 16, Thursday - Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.

Where: Center for the Arts, Black Box theatre, 2202 W. Anklam Rd. 85709

Tickets: Advanced reservations are recommended. $10, $5 Students/Seniors/Military/Groups. Tickets can be purchased at pima.universitytickets.com. *FREE tickets for Pima Community College students.

*The student service fee collected during 22-23 registration includes one ticket to each performing arts event (theatre, music, dance). Must be a current student with valid ID number. Limited availability, please contact the box office to reserve your ticket.

Pima Theatre starts off its season with family-friendly Ballet & Bagels, directed by Milta Ortiz. Original work written by Pima students, with lead writers Missy Fowler and Milta Ortiz. This play features a diverse cast that centers on a young Latina who struggles to make friends and wants to dance at the ballet studio next to Nana’s Bagel Shop. Frequent customers, The Bagel Bros and The Bagel Boys share a love of bagels much like the girls’ love of ballet but will they all become friends?

This play was conceived and developed in Milta Ortiz's class, Principles of Dramatic Structure in the Spring 2022 semester. By the end of the semester, the entire class had contributed and were finished with a revised first draft. Ortiz says, “ Over the summer Pima student, Missy Fowler, worked on rewrites under my guidance toward a final draft. I then completed the final rewrites. It has truly been a collaborative experience, incorporating the ideas and voices of all involved. It has been a fun and rewarding experience.” 

Some characters were even added following auditions. “We added a couple of characters because the students who auditioned for the Bagel Boys worked together during the callback and that’s what the play is all about, so we ran with it, I realize that we have created a world of characters that can function as a series of plays, modeled after a series of books, like The Baby Sitters’ Club, where each play focuses on a different character. We already have the idea for the next play that I’ll pitch to the class, much like I did last semester. It’s a joy to work with the students in writing and directing Ballet & Bagels. Get ready to dance in your seat! “ Milta Ortiz.