Good Answer pick: Jack Phelps
Jack Phillips has a one-track mind. He voted for the CIVIC THEATRE in the categories of "Best Customer Service," "Best Place to Meet Singles" and "Best Place to Meet Your Blind Date." Phillips, by the way, has been the executive director of the Civic for the past 10 years.
Not everybody will agree that a theater is the best place to meet singles or take a date, but Phillips makes a good point. In the case of a couple on a blind date, he says they can take in a play, which then provides a "focal point" for a late night conversation. Citing further evidence that love can bloom when the curtain rises, he recalls an actor who worked an actual marriage proposal into the script one night on stage. He knows a dozen more happy endings involving couples who met through the theater.
Phillips' choice for "Best Theater Production of the Past Year" was A WONDERFUL LIFE, staged at -- you guessed it -- the Civic Theatre. In other art categories, he tagged Spokane's ARTFEST as "Best Arts Event of the Past Year," with CHASE GALLERY inside City Hall as the best gallery.
As an advocate for all the arts, he's also excited about the Spokane Symphony's restoration of the FOX THEATRE. He nailed this one down for the Northwest Treasure that we'd be likely to lose if not for the concerted efforts of the community. Another great place to find romance? Well, in keeping with his conviction that cupid is a stagehand, the use of his favorite pick-up line, "Have You Been to the Fox?" should start the ball rolling.
