“Wigs is a science I’m still learning,” says Chris Zizzo, who has been Arizona Broadway Theatre’s wig master for the past five years. “It can be stressful, but I find joy in telling a story by creating a wig. I’m delving deep into the characters themselves and trying to convey something about them to an audience based on how they do their hair.”
Zizzo, who’s 47 and has lived in Phoenix every one of those years, says he is mostly self-taught. “I did go to cosmetology school, years ago, but I didn’t finish. I’m a beauty school dropout! I get a lot of my ideas from watching YouTube videos.”
He’s been playing with fake hair since childhood.
“I did acting in high school plays, but I was always going backstage, helping with makeup and hair. We didn’t have a hair budget, but we had a couple of wigs we’d use and reuse, so I learned to make one wig go a long way.”
After dabbling in community theater, Zizzo became a female impersonator – his drag persona is a showgirl named Savannah Stevens. He’s loaning one of Stevens’s Cher wigs to ABT’s current production of The Cher Show.
There’s designing wigs and then there’s designing wigs for Cher, Zizzo admits. “Cher hair is a whole other stratosphere. I love ’80s Cher hair the most. But lately, I’m really liking ’60s Cher hair, too.”
Zizzo typically designs around 40 wigs for a two-act play or musical. For The Cher Show, he’ll be creating – and then maintaining the upkeep of – more than twice as many. He’s not complaining.
“Are you kidding?” Zizzo says. “A hundred-plus Cher wigs is my total dream.”
– Robrt L. Pela
![Brushes & Combs “I love a good boar bristle brush, but there’s nothing like the Spornette Big Wonder [far right], my favorite brush. Mine has been through hell and back. I use it to back-comb and tease.”](https://www.phoenixmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/PHM0626CU30-scaled.jpg "Brushes & Combs “I love a good boar bristle brush, but there’s nothing like the Spornette Big Wonder [far right], my favorite brush. Mine has been through hell and back. I use it to back-comb and tease.”")
A LIFE IN COLOR
It’s never too late to create.
In her new exhibition at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ ArtReach gallery, octogenarian Nancy Kravetz is unveiling her largest collection of collage artwork, Color Forms the Day, which is inspired by the beauty of the natural world.
Kravetz’s career spans multiple decades and a variety of mediums: acrylic, watercolor, collage and oils. The exhibit marks a first for the New England native, as it will focus solely on her large-scale collages.
“I’m just very happy,” Kravetz says. “I never imagined I would have a show that large. I’ve had a few collages in other shows, but not the way this is.”
Her work, she says, explores how form and color can be organized to create meaning, drawing inspiration from Kravetz’s lived experiences and pulling from scenes in nature. “Seashore I” (pictured) is inspired by a rolling tide along a shell-strewn beach, under a star-filled sky.
“Experience and nature are my inspiration,” Kravetz says. “Color is the messenger, and abstract expression is the language for the artwork in this exhibition.”
The show runs through June 14. 7380 E. Second St., Scottsdale, 480-499-8587, scottsdalearts.org
– Abigail Wilt
