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Volume • Number August ,
The Voice of Marana, Oro Valley and Northwest Tucson
www.explorernews.com
Naranja improvements may cost $150K
Inside
This Week
BY DAVE PERRY
Tucson Local Media Contributor
P some of his UA classmates uprooted their lives and moved to Alaska. “They put up a big tent and put on some melodramas that summer for all of the cruise ship people that would come off for the day in Skagway,” Stricker said. “That was in 1977. It was called the Mighty Moose Melodrama Theatre, and it was a huge failure. But they had so much fun that they decided, ‘Why don’t we open it in Tucson, so we can work on it until it’s right?’” Decades later, the Gaslight continues to
edestrian facility improvements along Naranja Drive could cost between $100,000 and $150,000, Oro Valley town engineer Paul Keesler told the town council in July. “We’re going to need to design all of this,” and “we’ll need to fund it,” Keesler said after reviewing proposed upgrades. “We would sit down and go through the nuts and bolts,” create an engineered, detailed package, “and bring it forward to council in early fall.” “I’m sure you’ll have a supportive council to fund those improvements,” Mayor Joe Winfield told Keesler and Oro Valley Police Department Cmdr. John Teachout. Members of the council concurred. Keesler and Teachout sit on the town’s traffic safety committee, which has studied vehicle speeds, pedestrian accommodations, and other characteristics of the 2-mile stretch of Naranja between La Cañada and First Avenue. Studies came in the aftermath of a March 17 auto-pedestrian collision near the entry to Naranja Park that claimed the life of a young walker, and seriously injured another. Recommendations from the traffic safety committee include installation of a rapid
see GASLIGHT page 18
see NARANJA pagE 17
LIVEN UP ..................... 8 A puzzle with moving parts keeps Fox Theatre lively
The cast of “The Revengers,” Gaslight Theatre’s newest play, takes a bow. (The Gaslight Theatre/Submitted)
LIVEN UP ................... 12 No spandex here, 2nd gen rocker comes to Tucson
Live entertainment lovers drawn to Gaslight BY JACK MIESSNER
O
Tucson Local Media Staff
FEATURE ................... 14 Presidio Museum celebrates Tucson's true history HOT PICKS......................................4 LIVEN UP.........................................8 SPORTS..........................................15 PUZZLE/HOROSCOPES...............19 WORSHIP/CLASSIFIEDS.............20
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n any given night, visitors of the Gaslight Music Hall or Gaslight Theatre might spot owner Tony Terry pulling a pizza out of the oven, or even sweeping the breezeway. “All of this is really his brainchild,” said Heather Stricker, general manager of the theater and a member of the opening main cast. “But he’s really hands on, which I think is super rare after 45 years.” The two venues are a far cry from their late ’70s beginnings, when a 24-year-old Terry and
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