WICKED BRINGS MORE THAN $28 MILLION IN ECONOMIC IMPACT DURING ITS RECORD-BREAKING RUN AT ASU GAMMAGE

The blockbuster hit WICKED just closed its four week run at ASU Gammage in Tempe, from February 15 through March 11 which resulted in more than $28 million in economic impact.

Each week of the four-week run broke Box Office records at ASU Gammage. More than 91,000 patrons came through the theater to see the show. The majority of theater-goers were Valley residents but also included ticket buyers from all over the state including Flagstaff, Tucson and Yuma as well as out-of-state patrons from New Mexico, California, Nevada and even Mexico.

“The success of this third run of WICKED in Tempe was extraordinary. Patrons were once again thrilled with the talent and have raved about the quality of WICKED. I am thrilled that ASU Gammage’s run of WICKED meant big business for our local businesses. In a struggling economy, this amount of economic impact is remarkable,” says Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, executive director of ASU Gammage.

“ASU Gammage has done it again. Exceptional productions, such as WICKED, attract theater lovers from our local area and from out of state. Tempe businesses, especially restaurants and hotels, benefit immensely from such strong arts and cultural events,” says Stephanie Nowack, President/CEO of the Tempe Tourism Office.

ASU Gammage's Journey Home Inspires Women of Estrella Jail with Art

Behind bars wearing black and white stripes is not a situation in which anyone expects to find themselves. Haunted by their past mistakes, many inmates find themself not only trapped in the imprisonment of their cells but also the confinement of their own emotions. Twenty five incarcerated women at Estrella Jail in Phoenix found freedom in the arts as provided by ASU Gammage’s Journey Home program.

March 4 marked the 10^th anniversary performance of the transformative program in which a group of incarcerated women was chosen to participate in a six-week workshop designed to help them express themselves through the arts and build self-esteem and better decision making skills.

The women were introduced to art forms including creative writing, storytelling, movement and visual arts. In the March 4^th performance, the women incorporate what they learned through Journey Home and presented it to an audience.

Program Director Fatimah Halim said, “The women had the opportunity to truly explore those dark and low places that we all go to, but unfortunately in their cases, it got them here. They are here in this program by the grace of God, because any of us at any point in time could have wound up here.”

Halim said that many of the women found a value to all they experienced because it brought them to where they were with Journey Home, which possibly could save their lives.

Director and Expressive Movement Specialist Teniqua Broughton worked with the women on creating movement to express their feelings and emotions. This process was done completely through the movement of the body without sharing any words.

Nubia Owens worked with the women on the visual art. She worked with the women on a project where they created a mask that reflected their inner emotions and true feelings.

Imani Muhammad also assisted with the visual art and served as a mental health specialist. She explained how the process of everything they were experiencing was not only a physical journey, but also one for their emotions. She said that through all the development of exploring their emotions and feeling from the arts, it could help them on the “journey home.”

One inmate who goes by the nickname “Q” has been at Estrella for eight months but chose to remain at the jail after her sentence to attend the Journey Home performance. She explained her inspiration for her poem that she performed was her unhealthy attachment to brand names and materialistic things after a poor upbringing. In her poem, she explained how in jail, her stripes cannot hide her shame.

“Image was a real big part of me,” Q said. “And coming here, I was stripped down to nothing. And so now the only thing that I do have is the moral and emotional support of these other women that are going on the same journey as I am.”

Where before, materialistic things were very important to her, Journey Home helped teach her the importance of relationships. “Now the only thing that I want…I want to hug my kids.”

“Our missions at ASU Gammage is connecting communities,” Executive Director at ASU Gammage Colleen Jennings-Rogensack said. “One of the communities that we think about connecting is the community of self. Particularly for the inmates here and the women here doing this work, the connection to self is equally important.”

Wake Me up When My Massage Ends

In a continuation of their partnership, Aji, at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa and ASU Gammage present their "Wake Me up When My Massage Ends" promotion. This special event coincides with GREEN DAY'S AMERICAN IDIOT- which will come alive on stage at ASU Gammage, April 24-29, 2012.


Every Aji Spa or ASU Gammage Facebook fan who:

• posts "Wake Me up When My Massage Ends" on their Facebook wall on or before Sunday April 1, at 8:00 a.m.
• tags Aji and Gammage in that same post
• sends a direct e-mail to SocialMedia@wildhorsepassresort.com with the words : Wake Me up When My Massage Ends as the subject line and their full name in the body of the e-mail

will be entered to win an 80-minute Gila River Rock Massage at Aji Spa and (2) tickets to the April 24th performance of AMERICAN IDIOT at ASU Gammage.


HO'DAI (Gila River Rock Massage) -- 80 minutes
For centuries the Pima and Maricopa People have used hot rocks to alleviate pain and soothe the soul. The experience will leave you in a state of intense calm and tranquility while clearing toxins and restoring the body to a natural state of balance.


GREEN DAY'S AMERICAN IDIOT
Direct from Broadway, the smash-hit musical AMERICAN IDIOT tells the story of three lifelong friends, forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of suburbia. Based on Green Day's GRAMMY® Award-winning multi-platinum album and featuring the hits "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "21 Guns," "Wake Me Up When September Ends," "Holiday" and the blockbuster title track, AMERICAN IDIOT boldly takes the American musical where it's never gone before. With direction by Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), choreography by Stephen Hoggett (Black Watch) and orchestrations and arrangements by Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), the result is an experience Charles Isherwood of The New York Times declares "thrilling, emotionally charged and as moving as any Broadway musical I've seen this year!"