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Tucson Roller Derby might not be the safest sport, but it is a safe space.

AZPM

Published October 29, 2025 at 2:39 PM MST

bunny beatdown cover hero — Bunny Beatdown receives a warm welcome after a bout.

tucson roller derby hero 2 — Bunny Beatdown, jammer for Tucson Roller Derby squad Javelina Havoc.

Tucson Roller Derby might not be the safest sport, but it is a safe space.

Featured on the October 30th, 2025 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:

Meet Bunny Beatdown, a LatinX trans woman who is a member of the Tucson Roller Derby Javelina Havoc. Her story is at the center of a new short film about this vibrant scene, directed by Alessandra De Zubeldia, a graduate of ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

tucson roller derby hero 1

bunny beatdown unsized — Native Tucsonan and trans athlete Bunny Beatdown takes a break in between drills on Sunday,

bunny beatdown bout hero — Bunny Beatdown pushes through Bad News Beater’s blockers in Mesa on Saturday, March 8, 2025. Although Tucson Roller Derby’s team lost, at the end of the bout, Bunny Beatdown was excited to be named the team’s “Most Valuable Jammer” by the officials.

Learn about The Rogue Theatre’s new production “Cloud 9”, by playwright Caryl Churchill. It is a time, mind, and gender-bending satire of English history. Mark talks with director Christopher Johnson, and actors Cynthia Jeffrey and Hunter Hnat.

rogue theatre cloud 9 hero 1 — Cynthia Jeffery and Hunter Hnat in /The Rogue Theatre 2025 production "Cloud 9",

rogue theatre cloud 9 hero 2 — Teri Lee Thomas, Hunter Hnat, Christopher Pankratz, Matt Walley (on the floor), Sophie Gibson-Rush, and Cynthia Jeffery in the 2025 Rogue Theatre production "Cloud 9".

And, “Children of the Holocaust” is a living-history project launched by AZPM in 2022. Project producer Laura Markowitz interviewed 19 survivors who were children during the Holocaust and now live in Southern Arizona. This week, hear the story of artist Christine Tanz, who was only a baby when her loving parents made a daring escape from Nazi-occupied Poland.

Chris Tanz 1 — Henryk Tanz, Chris’s father, practiced law in Poland before the Holocaust.

Chris Tanz 12 — Chris wrote An Egg to Sit On to help children develop the ability to adopt someone else’s point of view. It was first published in 1978.

Chris Tanz 0 — Chris Tanz, age 12.

Chris Tanz 8 — At the age of 12, Chris became a U.S. citizen along with her parents and brother.
Her father had been a lawyer in Poland before the war, but as an immigrant, he
found work in the garment industry, cutting fabric for dresses.

Chris Tanz 12 — Chris wrote An Egg to Sit On to help children develop the ability to adopt someone else’s point of view. It was first published in 1978.

Chris Tanz 16 — Chris’s public art installation “Joining Hands,” near the Julian Wash greenway in
Tucson, depicts her vision of community: people joining hands in friendship. She
was inspired by a design on a 1,000-year-old Hohokam pot that was found in the
area. Pictured are Chris, husband Jean-Paul Bierny, and the crew of masons who ‘
installed the work.

Arizona Spotlight

Arizona Spotlight airs every Thursday at 8:30 am and 6:00 pm and every Friday at 8:00 pm on NPR 89.1 FM / 1550 AM. You can subscribe to our podcast on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, or the NPR App. See more from Arizona Spotlight.