An Evening with David Sedaris

(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) – Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts will present An Evening with David Sedaris on October 22, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. at Arizona State University’s Gammage Auditorium in Tempe. The event will feature a reading by Sedaris followed by a Q&A session with the audience and a book signing.

Single tickets are available for $22-$61 through www.ticketmaster.com or the ASU Gammage box office at (480) 965-3434.

Slicing through cultural euphemisms and political correctness, David Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. Sedaris made his comic debut recounting his experiences working as a Macy’s elf in SantaLand Diaries, which earned him legions of devoted fans when he read excerpts on National Public Radio. Since then, Sedaris has authored numerous bestsellers, including Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. He also is the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories, and his essays appear regularly in Esquire and The New Yorker. Sedaris’ latest collection of essays, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, was released in June 2008.

Sedaris and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written several plays that have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host; Stitches; One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award; Incident at Cobbler’s Knob; and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatist’s Play Service.

Sedaris’ original radio pieces can often be heard on This American Life, distributed nationally by Public Radio International and produced by WBEZ in Chicago. In 2001, he became the third recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and was named “Humorist of the Year” by Time magazine. In 2005, Sedaris was nominated for two Grammy Awards for “Best Spoken Word Album” (Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim) and “Best Comedy Album” (David Sedaris: Live at Carnegie Hall).

An Evening with David Sedaris is part of the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ Satirical Edge Series sponsored in laughing memory of Steve Simon by his family and is presented by Betty Hum and Alan Yudell.

EVENT LOCATION AND PARKING
ASU Gammage is located at 1200 South Forest Avenue on the main campus of Arizona State University at Mill Avenue and Apache Boulevard in Tempe. Parking is available at Gammage and in selected areas on campus. Please allow an extra 60 minutes to park. Visit www.asugammage.com/parking or call (480) 965-3434 for further information.

SCOTTSDALE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Opened in 1975, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts presents a dynamic, culturally diverse season of dance, jazz, classical and world music, theater and satire. Approximately 1,000 performances, educational programs, festivals and other events are showcased annually serving more than 300,000 people and contributing substantially to Scottsdale’s high quality of life and vibrant arts scene. Performances take place in the Center’s 838-seat Virginia G. Piper Theater (closed for renovation during the 2008-09 season) and 136-seat Stage 2 as well as the 2,200-seat amphitheater on the grounds of the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall and the 326-seat Theater 4301 in the Galleria Corporate Centre. The Center’s youth education and outreach programs reach more than 40,000 school children each year, and its free programs are available to the entire public. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts also produces the popular Scottsdale Arts Festival every March; Sunday A’Fair, a series of free outdoor music festivals held on Sunday afternoons from January to April; and Native Trails, a collaboration with the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau that features free demonstrations of Native American arts and culture from January to April. Open daily and during performances, The Store @ Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts offers hand-crafted jewelry, accessories for the home, toys for imaginative young minds, recordings, books, greeting cards and more.

The Scottsdale Cultural Council, a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is contracted by the City of Scottsdale, Arizona, to administer certain City arts and cultural projects and to manage the City-owned Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Scottsdale Public Art Program. The programs of the Scottsdale Cultural Council are made possible, in part, by the support of members and donors and grants received from the Arizona Commission on the Arts through appropriations from the Arizona State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

HOW TO REACH US
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
7380 East Second Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Box Office: (480) 994-ARTS (2787)
TDD: (480) 874-4694
Web: www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org
E-mail: info@sccarts.org
Fax: (480) 874-4699