IN REVIEW 303.893.4100 APPLAUSE 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I IN N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R RE E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E EV V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V VI I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I IE E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E EW W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A USE U US USE USE USE USE USE E US USE U USE USE USE USE S USE USE USE USE USE E S E S S US US S 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 VOLUME XXIII NUMBER 4 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2012 THE DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL Bring It On: The Musical l 3 30 303 303 3 3 3 3 3 03 0 0 0 0 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 30 30 3 30 3 3 30 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 303 30 3 30 30 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 30 3 30 30 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 03 03 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 30 3 3 30 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 03 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 30 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 03 3 3 30 3 303 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 03 303 303 303 303 0 0 0 303 303 303 03 0 0 30 3 3 03 03 03 03 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 30 303 0 03 03 03 3 3 303 303 03 03 03 3 3 303 0 0 03 3 0 03 0 0 3 3 0 303 3 303 3 8 89 89 89 8 89 89 8 8 8 8 8 9 89 9 9 9 9 9 89 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 89 89 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 89 89 89 8 8 8 8 8 8 89 89 9 9 9 9 9 89 8 9 89 8 8 8 8 9 89 89 8 8 89 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 89 89 8 8 8 8 89 8 9 9 8 8 8 8 89 89 89 8 89 8 9 89 9 9 89 89 8 8 89 89 9 9 9 8 89 8 89 89 8 9 9 89 8 8 8 89 89 8 8 8 .89 8 8 89 89 .89 .8 8 9 89 .89 89 89 9 .89 .89 89 8 .8 .89 8 89 .8 8 8 .89 89 9 9 9 3 3 3 3 34 3 3 3 3 4 34 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 34 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 4 34 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 34 4 4 4 34 4 4 34 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 34 34 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 . .4 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 4 4 34 34 34 4 4 4 3 3 3 3.4 3.4 .4 34 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 34 3.4 3.4 3.4 3 4 34 4 4 4 4 3 3 34 3.4 3.4 34 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 34 4 34 4 34 4 4 3 3 34 3 34 4 4 3 3 . 3.4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 .4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 1 10 1 1 1 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 10 10 1 1 10 100 100 00 00 0 0 0 10 00 0 00 00 0 0 0 0 0 100 1 100 100 0 0 0 100 100 00 0 0 0 0 1 1 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 100 00 0 0 0 1 1 100 0 0 0 10 0 1 1 100 10 0 100 100 100 100 1 10 00 00 0 1 100 100 100 00 0 1 100 100 100 00 0 0 100 10 0 0 00 10 10 10 100 10 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 100 10 100 10 00 0 00 00 0 0 0 10 00 100 00 0 0 10 100 10 10 100 0 100 100 100 100 100 100 0 100 0 A A A A A A A P P P P P A A A P A A A A A A AP AP AP AP A P P AP P P P P A A AP P P P AP A A A A A A A A A AP P AP AP AP AP AP AP AP P A A A AP AP AP A A A AP AP AP AP AP P P A A A A P P P A A P P P A AP A A A AP AP AP A P AP AP P A AP A A AP AP A A A A A A A A A A A A A AP A A A A P P A P AP P L L PL P PLA PLA PLA PLA PL PLA PLA P P A PLA PLA LA P PL PLA LA A PLA PLA A A P PLA LA L P P P P P P L ALSO PLAYING… THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
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APPLAUSE denvercenter.org 4
APPLAUSEM A G A Z I N E
VOLUME XXIII NUMBER 4 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2012
For advertising information call The Publishing House 303.428.9529.
7380 Lowell Blvd., Westminster, CO 80030Angie Flachman, Publisher
Editor: Sylvie Drake Associate Editor: Suzanne BlandónDesigners: Kim Conner, Brenda Elliott, Kyle Malone, Jim Smelser
Applause is published seven times a year by The Denver Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with The Publishing House. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part
without written permission is prohibited. Call 303.893.4000 regarding editorial content.
Applause magazine is funded in part by
IND
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The new year brings new shows to The Denver Center. Denver Center Attractions presents Bring It On—a musical tribute to that most American of activities, cheerlead-ing. At the Denver Center Theatre Company, we open the New Year with new plays—new American plays that we believe will thrill and move you—and will move on to future productions across the U.S. (That includes New York.) Throughout our 33-year history, we’ve had a commitment to new American plays that go on to wider production and advance American theatre. We’ve had an impressive track record—from The Laramie Project to Quilters to Lydia. Join us for the newest of the new—our creative attempts to identify the great new American play, but even more important, to bring you an engaging, moving new story that captures your imagination, heart and soul.
I invite you to join us for our two world premieres this winter—Lisa Loomer’s Two Things You Don’t Talk About at Dinner and Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale. Lisa is one of America’s leading playwrights; Sam is one of its newest and most promising. Mark my words—these plays will go on to productions around the U.S. Two Things is a major new work by Lisa, a brilliant satire with bite about life today—a comic but also remarkably tender dramatization of how hard it is for family, friends and colleagues to even talk about the most pressing topics (religion and politics) over the dinner table. It uses the universal to illustrate the particular, instead of the other way around. Sam’s play, The Whale, is the best piece of writing by a young playwright I’ve read in years. I predict Sam will be a major new voice. The Whale is an improb-able, but lyrical story of an obese man trying to reconcile with his estranged daughter before he dies. It’s funny, disturbing, and very moving. Join us for the birthing of these plays—and be a part of their journey. See you at the theatre,
Kent Thompson, Artistic Director, Denver Center Theatre Company
ARTI
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Kent Thompson
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TWO THINGS YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT AT DINNERNothing goes according to plan at
Jack and Myriam’s Seder. How far will people go to defend a
relationship and a point of view that are not necessarily the same? Playwright Lisa Loomer explains.
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
In Shakespeare’s most politically incorrect comedy, we never tire of
watching Kate and Petruchio punch, pull and drag their way into a
marriage made in heaven.by Dan Sullivan
BRING IT ON: THE MUSICALAn eclectic group of top creative artists deliver a musical about that most American sport of cheerleading. The gravity-defying choreography will leave you… cheering.
THE WHALEMorbidly obese Charlie wants to reconnect with his estranged daughter and will stop at nothing to succeed. The results will surprise, delight and touch you.by Douglas Langworthy
Michael Flatley’s LORD OF THE DANCEIf you liked Riverdance, you will love this offshoot of those fabulous precision-dancing Celts.
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts1101 13th St., Denver, CO 80204
303.893.4000 www.denvercenter.org The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is a not-for-profit organization serving the public through the performing arts.
BOARD OF TRUSTEESDaniel L. Ritchie,
Chairman and CEODonald R. Seawell,
Chairman EmeritusRandy Weeks,
President and Executive Director, Denver Center Attractions
William Dean Singleton, Secretary/Treasurer
W. Leo Kiely III, First Vice Chair
Robert Slosky, Second Vice Chair
Christian AnschutzDr. Patricia Baca Joy S. BurnsIsabelle ClarkNavin DimondMargot Gilbert FrankThomas W. HonigMary Pat Link Edward A. MuellerRobert C. NewmanM. Ann PadillaRichard M. Sapkin Martin SempleJames SteinbergPeter SwinburnTim E. TaylorLester L. WardDr. Reginald L. WashingtonJudi Wolf_______________________
Carolyn Foster, Executive Assistant to Daniel L. Ritchie
Kim Schouten, Executive Assistant to Daniel L. Ritchie
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERSDorothy V. DennyMayor Michael HancockGovernor John HickenlooperElaine MarinerKent Thompson
HONORARY MEMBERSJeannie Fuller Robert S. GarnerGlenn R. JonesCleo Parker Robinson
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEERandy Weeks,
President and Executive Director, Denver Center Attractions
Dorothy V. Denny, Executive Vice President
Vicky Miles, CFO Kent Thompson,
Artistic Director, Denver Center Theatre Company
Suzanne Blandón, Director, Communications
Clay Courter, Director, Facilities Management
Emily Davidson, Director, Human Resources
Sylvie Drake, Director, Publications
Anita Edwards, Manager, Web Services
John Ekeberg, Director, Programming and Operations, Denver Center Attractions
Tam Dalrymple Frye, Director, Denver Center Theatre Academy
Jeff Hovorka, Director, Media and Marketing
Ed Lapine, Producing Director, Denver Center Theatre Company
Bruce Montgomery, Director, Information Systems
Daniel Renner, Director, Education
Jennifer Siler, Director, Accounting
Gregory Smith, Director, Audience Development
Charles Varin, Managing Director, Denver Center Theatre Company
Dawn Williams, Director, Venue Sales and Operations
AMERICAN NATIONALTHEATRE & ACADEMY BOARDKent Thompson,
Chairman and CEOJudi Wolf,
President and COODaniel Renner,
Secretary and TreasurerDonald R. Seawell,
Chairman Emeritus
HELEN G. BONFILSFOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEESLester L. Ward, PresidentMartin Semple,
Vice President Judi Wolf, Sec’y/TreasurerDonald R. Seawell,
President EmeritusW. Leo Kiely IIIDaniel L. RitchieWilliam Dean SingletonRobert SloskyJames SteinbergDr. Reginald L. Washington_______________________Brockman Seawell,
President Emeritus & Honorary Trustee
303.893.4100 APPLAUSE 5
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3 0 3 . 8 9 3 . 4 1 0 0TTY: 303.893.9582 AUDIO-DESCRIPTION, ASL INTERPRETATION AND OPEN CAPTIONING AVAILABLE
AT SELECT PERFORMANCES; CHECK DATES/TIMES WHEN ORDERING.
Cult Following2nd Thur
Jan 12 – May 10Off-Center @
The JonesOn Sale Now
Bring It On: The Musical
Now – Jan 21Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
World PremiereThe Whale
Jan 13 – Feb 19Ricketson Theatre
On Sale Now
World PremiereTwo Things You Don’t Talk About
at DinnerJan 20 – Feb 19Space TheatreOn Sale Now
The Taming of the Shrew
Jan 27 – Feb 26Stage TheatreOn Sale Now
Lord of the DanceFeb 17 – 19
Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
Feb 17 – June 24Garner Galleria Theatre
On Sale Now
American IdiotMarch 6 – 11Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
Disney’s Beauty and the BeastMarch 14 – 18Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
World PremiereGreat Wall Story
March 16 – April 22Ricketson Theatre
On Sale Now
Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash
March 23 – May 13Stage TheatreOn Sale Now
Square of IceMarch 30 & 31Off-Center @
The JonesOn Sale Now
Heartbreak HouseMarch 30 – April 29
Space TheatreOn Sale Now
Bill CosbyMarch 31
Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
NTC RepCharley’s Aunt and
Fahrenheit 451April 4 – 21
Conservatory TheatreOn Sale Feb 1
WickedApril 11 – May 20
Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
Date*April 20 – May 12
Off-Center @ The Jones
On Sale Now
The Addams FamilyJune 19 – July 1Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
Jersey BoysJuly 17 – Aug 11
Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
La Cage Aux FollesSept 4 – 16
Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
STOMPSept 25 – 30Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
MemphisOct 9 – 21
Buell TheatreOn Sale Now
Performances at The Denver Center are made possible in part through the generous support of:
SCFD
Denver Center Theatre Company 2011/12 Season Sponsors Denver Center Attractions
2012 Season Sponsors
Denver Center Theatre Company & Denver Center Attractions Media Sponsors
Judi Wolf’s Costume CollectionC
an you turn a 240-pound actor into a 600-pound man? That was the challenge posed to costume designer
Kevin Copenhaver, draper Louise Powers-Prues and a team of three stitchers. After months of research and 300 hours of labor, Tom Alan Robbins is transformed into Charlie, a dangerously obese man who struggles to reconnect with his estranged daughter in The Whale. What did it take?
for ice packs designed to cool the actor
of three layers: mesh for movement, foam to add shape, and latex foam to add bulk
and cover the three layers
94” for his clothes
Now for the real trick — wearing a 100-pound costume eight times a week for five weeks. See this unbelievable transformation in The Whale playing January 13-February 19.
PHOT
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Pictured: Tom Alan Robbins being fitted by Kevin Copenhaver and Louise Powers-Prues.
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APPLAUSE denvercenter.org 6
The highlight of her film acting career, says Lisa Loomer, was getting to say, “Wanna go out?” on screen to Paul Newman. “I was frustrated by the kinds of roles I got, not so much in the theatre, but certainly on TV and film. “I played a lot of Latin hookers.” It’s one of the reasons she became a playwright. Loomer, who was born and grew up in New York until her family moved to Mexico when she was in her teens, has shuttled a lot between both countries. While under the acting tutelage of Wynn Handman, Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre in New York, Loomer was encouraged by Handman to turn some of the monologues she had developed at his theatre into a one-woman show. From there she moved on to character comedy and some standup and eventually worked at INTAR with Maria Irene Fornes, another important mentor who encouraged her to write. Her first full-length play, Birds, was staged at South Coast Repertory in 1986 and she was off and running. “I was no longer an actress,” she said, “I started to eat. I stopped waiting tables and began a writing career.” Many plays and awards later, Loomer’s Two Things You Don’t Talk About at Dinner is about a highly diverse group of friends and family with widely divergent opinions and convictions attend-ing a Passover Seder hosted by Myriam and Jack. As the dinner conversation careens into politics and religion, it goes terribly wrong—or right, de-pending on the point of view. The play is receiving its world premiere production after being read at last year’s Colorado New Play Summit. Applause asked the playwright, who now lives in Oregon, a few questions.
Lisa Loomer: It is inspired by an actual event, which I have fictionalized of course... I find that some-times the parts of plays that are hardest to believe are the “true” ones.... So I will tell you that I have a dear
friend who has a yearly Seder and one of her oldest and closest friends who always attends is Arab American. They do not agree about politics. They love each other. That was the inspiration for this play. I should add that I have other friends whose political beliefs differ from mine and it’s gotten me into trouble. So I wanted to write a play that deals with family and friendship being tested by political and religious differences. My computer is a war zone. I get all the emails from my Jewish friends who are pro-Israel and, often, anti-Arab. I get all the emails from my Arab American friends who are pro-Palestine and, often, anti-Israel. I watched documentaries for months, I read books, I talked to experts, I talked to folks. The situation is mind-boggling, cruel, frus-trating, heartbreaking. I’m not a politician. I’m just a writer. Usually a play takes one side or the other. I wanted to give voice to both sides in one play. Be-cause my only hope is for us to hear each other.
LL: Part of the mix that I am is Jewish—although I was raised without reli-gion—and I do believe in the concept of tikkun olam [repairing the world]. That said… I feel that people will come to the theatre full of passions, preconceptions and prejudices and I’d hate to add to that by giving them
In Lisa Loomer’s Two Things You Don’t Talk About at Dinner some subjects can be poison unless they match your views
TALKINGABOUT
APPLAUSE: Is Two Things based on an actual event?
TWOTHINGS...
A: I see from your bio that you
are of Spanish and Romanian descent.
Any Jewish antecedents anywhere?
As the dinner
conversation careens
into politics and
religion, it goes
terribly wrong—or
right, depending on
the point of view.
TWO THINGS YOU
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303.893.4100 APPLAUSE 7
Tickets: 303.893.4100
denvercenter.org
the chance to have preconceptions about its author. Especially since everything about me is in this play. More and more, I like to let go of labels…and just want to be described as a “writer.”
LL: The idea came after attending my friend’s Seder. When I had a first draft, I showed it to several people, including Jews, Christians, Arab Americans, and a Pal-
estinian friend who had shared his story with me. My passionately pro-Israel friend is extremely supportive of this play and grateful I wrote it. But. She’d like for the character, Myriam, to have even more dialogue in response to things that Sam [the Arab American] says that she doesn’t agree with. And, of course, my Palestinian friend feels the same [vice-versa]!
LL: Always impossible for me to say, because I do other work in between. But I wrote a chunk of it in a week at the O’Neill [Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT, that
fosters playwrights and new plays] and, coincidentally, it was Wendy Goldberg who invited me. [Goldberg, Artistic Director of the O’Neill, is the director of this Denver Center production.] I had been researching and living with the play for quite a while. And then, of course, I made a million changes last year...and will continue to do so in rehearsal.
LL: I’m interested in people who have two things going on in their blood and in their culture.
LL: I was surprised that the play played so funny in the workshop production. If my work is funny, it’s just in my cereal. It’s my skewed way of seeing things. That said, I am grateful when something turns out to be funny because I’m usually trying to get at something pretty serious and laughter opens us up and makes it easier for us to consider different points of view.
LL: An often funny play about some serious things.
LL: How important it is to hear the other side... if we are to be friends, fam-ily, co-workers... or co-existers on this
planet we all claim as “home.” Home-land. I do expect that this play will be contro-versial. It seems that, to present characters that are pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel in the same play is, in itself, controversial. Some people do not even like the idea of hearing the other point of view in a play! I have friends who are quite radical in their allegiances… on both sides. But what else
is an evening of theatre for if not to pro-mote discussion, even heated discussion? My main characters are bound together by a shared history, they come from the same town in Massachusetts, they’ve known each other all their lives, their par-ents knew each other. They all want peace. But, as one says, “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom-fighter.” Then again, in terms of controversy, most of my plays have been controversial. I’m used to it now. I argue with myself, all the time. I once read in a psychology book that 97% of what we see, in a play or in life, is what we already believe… and the rest we just filter out. So we come to the theatre pretty loaded. It’s rare that someone leaves the theatre thinking, “Hey, that really opened my mind.” Still, I like having a bunch of char-acters that see a situation from different sides. And maybe that’s where the comedy comes from, in part. If you can put your-self in someone else’s shoes for a couple of hours—and laugh in the process, maybe cry—that to me, is a good night out.
LL: I’ve just written a play about homeless teens in Oregon, some of whom consider them-selves “homeless,” oth-ers who see themselves as “homefree.” *
I’m also writing a play for the Corner-stone Theatre’s upcoming cycle of plays on hunger. Mine takes place at Homegirl Café, a restaurant that trains, and is run by, female ex-gang members in L.A.
* Homefree was commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company and is being read as part of this year’s Colorado New Play Summit, Feb. 10-12.
Producing Partners: Jeannie & John Fuller, Jim SteinbergSponsored by the Gay & Lesbian Fund for ColoradoRecipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays AwardRecipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
A: What is this play’s genesis?
I’m interested in people
who have two things
going on in their blood
and in their culture.
—Lisa Loomer
A: How long did it take to write it, start
to finish?
A: You mention the Sephardim, who
originally were Jews from Spain and remain mostly
Jews of the Mediterranean basin. How did they
cross your path?
A: You said about something else and I quote:
“Clever wasn’t what I was after. It wasn’t that I simply intended to be funny, but that comedy was a
way to get at something else.” Is this also what you hoped to
achieve with Two Things?
A: Not to put too fine a point on it,
but what would you call this play? A comedy?
A tragedy? A tragicomedy? Neo-realism?
Something else?
A: What do you hope an audience will
take away from this play?
A: What are you working on now?
APPLAUSE denvercenter.org 8
ART
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For more than 350 years Molson Coors Brewing Com-pany has been brewing, innovating and delighting the world’s beer drinkers. The company crafts extraordi-
nary, premium beer at breweries from North America’s oldest brewery in Montreal, Canada, to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the US, as well as the storied Burton-on-Trent brewery in the UK. From the founding families and executive leaders, to the master brewers and sales teams, Molson Coors is a brewing company with a rich heritage and a deep passion for what it does. A big part of that heritage and passion is grounded in the belief that building a business and doing the right thing go hand-in-hand. While that balance is no easy feat, it still serves as the cornerstone for Molson Coors. The company takes great pride in holding itself up to measures of profitabil-ity, as well as how it invests in its employees and contributes to the larger community. A good measure of this success has been the recent recognition by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), where Molson Coors was listed for the first its on their 2011 North American Index.
While the family breweries have now grown into one global company with an expanding international reach, its roots and character still remain local.
Molson Coors is made up of dozens of local breweries and offices where their employees and iconic brands are a part of the fabric of the community. The company, its leaders and employees, care about the communities and the places where they brew and market beers. That care manifests in a number of ways, including support for important cultural institutions such as The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The DCPA represents a place where people come together to share in the thrill of music and theatre. Our arts institutions reflect the strength of our communities and Molson Coors is proud to help ensure they are available for one and all to enjoy. Cheers!
Doing the Right Thing
A proud sponsor of
Denver Center
Attractions
Our arts institutions reflect the strength of our communities
and Molson Coors is proud to help ensure they are
available for one and all to enjoy.
STEPPIN’ OUTWITH
BEN VEREEN FEBRUARY 3, 7:30pm
Tony Award Winner and
Broadway Legend
Once in a lifetime concert
benefiting Rocky Mountain PBS
Tribute to Broadway, Frank
Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Gates Concert Hall -
Newman Center at the
University of Denver
Tickets/Information
rmpbs.org/benvereen
303-871-7720
We offer same day appointments!
Services:
Visit one of our SIX locations across the Denver metro area.
Kenneth Cox, director and Lawrence Golan, conductor.Thursday, April 19, 2012 opening night at 7:30 pm!The performance will be repeated, Friday, April 20,
and Saturday, April 21 at 7:30 pm, and a matinee on Sunday, April 22 at 2:30 pm.Gates Concert Hall.
Tickets: Adults: $15-$30; Senior and Students: $11-$26. All tickets are for reserved seating.Free parking at the Newman Center parking garage behind the building (entrance from E. Wesley).
The Lamont Opera Theatre and the Lamont Symphony Orchestra Present:
Lamont Concert Line303.871.6412
www.du.edu/lamont
Mozart’s The Marriage
of Figaro.
Tickets available at theNewman Center Box Office
Open Monday-Friday 10am-4pm & Sat noon-4pm
2344 E. Iliff Ave. at University and IliffFor information, call 303.871.7720
www.newmancenterpresents.com
April 5-7To learn more visit
tasteofvail.com
Participating sponsors to date.
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What’s in a name? Shakespeare gives his romantic comedies evasive titles (As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing) that set the mood but say nothing about the plot. Perhaps he was still working on it. But The Taming of the Shrew says it all. There will be a bossy woman, also known as a scold. Somebody—doubtless a man—will put her in her place. And all will be well by bedtime. That was the Shrew that Shakespeare’s audience saw in 1594 and the one performed in our day. For centuries in between it was chopped and channeled by all the wrong people into a kind of vaudeville sketch called Katherine and Petruchio or whatever. This irked George Bernard Shaw, who disapproved of The Taming of the Shrew on feminist grounds, but found faux Shakespeare intolerable. Shaw’s refusal to review Katherine and Petruchio in 1897 brought the original play back into the repertory, where it has flourished ever since. (Another boost was Cole Porter’s 1948 musical version, Kiss Me, Kate, as big a hit as South Pacific.) But Shrew isn’t beloved by all. Next to The Merchant of Venice, it’s Shakespeare’s most politically incorrect script. On hearing of the Denver Center Theatre Company revival, a not-particularly-feminist friend of mine snorted: “How in blazes can you do that play today?” In case it’s your favorite play, be ready for an argument: “Oh, so you’re in favor of wife-beating? You think putting a woman in her place is funny? Because that’s what Shakespeare is saying!” Well, yes—in his day. Obviously Shrew reflects a world where men gave the orders and women did the washing. Even Queen Elizabeth complained that her advisors would take her more seriously “if I were crested rather than cleft.”
Elizabeth learned to cope, however—which could be Shrew’s secret message. But there’s no denying that
Petruchio handles Kate exactly like an animal trainer, even though she strikes us as nothing worse than a high-strung lady beset by dunderheads, including her sister. We also realize—a strong argument for not reducing the play to a one-joke sketch—that this is Shakespeare’s take on Italian
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farce, where insolence is the order of the day and everybody “acts out” like mad, including Kate. In that context, Petruchio’s behavior seems comparatively civil. Shakespeare doesn’t ask him to paddle Kate, as in that famous logo from Kiss Me, Kate, nor is wife-beating implied.
Roughhousing, yes—which is less amusing now than it was at the Globe Theatre, where
the audience knew that Kate was a young guy in drag. How do you do The Taming of the Shrew today? Carefully. Not timidly, however. As Edward Albee has noted (and proved in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which shares Shrew’s DNA), we don’t go to the theatre to watch people being nice to each other. Conflict is key, from which better behavior may come; but not until after the play. When Martha and George go upstairs, we’re done. So it wouldn’t do to present Shrew as a calm case study in conflict resolution, with Petruchio as the agent of Tough Love and Kate as a client with an anger-management problem. We want to see two crazy people going over the top, as in certain scenes from our own dramas, which we can laugh at now, perhaps. Ten Things I Hate About You, Shrew’s latest movie spinoff, catches the tone exactly. As for prequels, Netflix can send you the 1929 Douglas Fairbanks-Mary Pickford Taming of the Shrew, best known for the crassest title card in Hollywood history: “Additional dialogue by Sam Taylor.” It’s a talkie, not a silent, and it’s not intolerable. Fairbanks is clearly delighted with Kate, the little devil, and Pickford reads Kate’s reconciliation speech prettily—followed by a big wink to the audience. Whatever the cast, this is a make-or-break point in the story. If Kate’s spirit seems crushed, we’re depressed. If she’s gloating over finally having trapped a husband, it’s another kind of downer.
We’d like to think she’s still her own woman, but a stronger one. She’s figured out how
the world works—the world as it is, not as it should be—and she’ll use that discovery to her and her husband’s advantage. Her specific discovery will depend on the actress and director. Something about power, especially, the power of words. Something about patience. Something about growing up. Shrew also is a salute to the oddly
successful matings that nature can come up with, given the ability of both parties to overcome their initial suspicions and get on each other’s wavelength. If only Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy had done the play! But maybe they didn’t need to.
As noted, Shrew was diced, sliced and just plain butchered for centuries. But its most
radical production didn’t change a word of the text. Bill Ball’s 1976 Commedia dell’Arte staging for the American Conservatory Theater suggested that Kate wasn’t just Petruchio’s equal, in physical strength and everything else, but his superior. This one’s available on YouTube. Superficially, Kate was jumping through the hoops laid down for her by Petruchio. But in fact, she was auditioning him as a prospective mate and father, putting him to the test to see if he was worth her time. Shaw would have jumped out of his grave and applauded. I asked Kent Thompson for some hints about his Denver staging. Would he use Shakespeare’s unconnected, seldom-performed prelude to Shrew, the so-called Induction? “It’s gone,” he said. Some things aren’t performed for a reason. What’s the setting? “The 50s, the last period we can remember where men were men and women were...housewives.
It’s important to put the play in a period where we can see the social constrictions the characters are under.” Tell me about Petruchio (John G. Preston).
“He’s as outrageous as Kate is. My conceit is that he grew up on his father’s
ranch, where it was guys, guys, guys all the time. Now his father’s dead and he’s land poor. He’s looking for a wealthy wife.” Tell me about Kate (Kathleen McCall). “Her reconciliation scene is as much a surprise to Petruchio as anyone. When she won’t kiss him, he’s kinda sad. And then she does.” These are people of a certain age? “That’s right. Neither of them fit into the social norm and they don’t want to. John and Kathleen have done the play before for me, at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and on a long tour, and they were very well received.” Could you describe Ms. McCall in one sentence? “She’s a very strong actress who has no trouble showing her good side and her bad side in public.” Sounds like perfect casting.
Dan Sullivan directs the O’Neill Theater Center’s National Critics Institute and teaches at the University of Minnesota. He has reviewed theatre and music for the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and the Minneapolis Tribune.
Producing Partners: Katy Atkinson, Isabelle Clark, Mike & Diana Kinsey, Lee & Sheri Archer, Dennis & Anita Lacey, Martin & Jo Semple, Ruth Silver, June Travis
This production is a part of Shakespeare for a New Genera-tion, a national program of the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest
...it wouldn’t do to present Shrew as a calm
case study in conflict resolution, with Petruchio as the
agent of Tough Love and Kate as a client with an anger-management
problem. We want to see two crazy people
going over the top, as in certain scenes
from our own dramas, which we can laugh
at now, perhaps.
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for a new generation
BBuilding the next generation of theatre audiences is an impor-tant part of The Denver Center’s mission. We are pleased to report that the Denver Center Theatre Company received its fourth NEA Shakespeare for a New Generation grant to support a significant educational com-ponent of this season’s The Taming of the Shrew. A dollar-for-dollar matching grant, NEA funding is combined with a mix of donations from the corporate, foundation and private sectors to make this program possible. Nine high schools in the metro area have been selected to participate: Bruce Randolph, Contemporary Learning Academy, Denver Center for International Studies, Gateway, Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts, Martin Luther King Jr., North High, Rangeview, and Overland. This year two rural schools will participate as well: Elizabeth High in Douglas County, and Weld Central High in Weld County. More than 800 students and teachers are involved in this project which includes intensive teacher train-ing, a series of pre- and post-play activities for students (to help them connect more significantly with the play), in-depth on-line study guides and, of course, tickets for all participants to attend special Student Matinees in The Stage Theatre.
Special thanks to the following donors who helped us achieve our
matching requirement for our National Endowment
for the Arts grant:
The Anschutz Foundation
Ashford University
The Denver Foundation
Fidelity Investments
Alan & Katie Fox
Walter S. Rosenberry, III
Charitable Trust
June Travis
U.S. Bank
Participating high school teachers gathered at the Denver Center last fall to gain tips from artists for
teaching The Taming of the Shrew in the classroom.
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Signed, Audio Described & Open Captioned
Jan 21, 2pm
It’s not often that a musical starts out with a national tour and uses that experience to refine the produc-tion with a possible end run on Broadway. Usually, it’s the other way around—a few tryouts and then a slider to first base on the Great White Way.
But nothing about Bring it On: the Musical is usual.
Bring It On, is about the world of high school cheerleading—surely a first in the annals of musical comedy. The cast consists of 11 competi-tive cheerleaders and 22 musical-theatre “triple threats.” The company is so young, assistant director Holly-Anne Ruggiero quips that the one 27-year-old performer is “the grandmother of the cast.” Cheerleading is defined as “a physical activity, sometimes a com-petitive sport, based on organized routines, ranging from one to three minutes, that contain components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate in competitions.” The growing presentation of this predominantly American activity as a sport in itself was led by the 1997 start of broadcasts of cheerleading competition by ESPN Interna-tional, followed by the worldwide release of the 2000 film Bring it On and its popular sequels. The musical is the product of an eclectic assemblage of top creative talent. Tony Award-winner Jeff Whitty, whose previous success was/is Avenue Q, wrote the book, while Pulitzer and Tony Award-winner Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) and Tony Award-winner Lin Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) provided the music and co-wrote the lyrics with Amanda Green (High Fidelity). Green also happens to be the daughter of the celebrated Broadway lyricist Adolph Green (On The Town, Singin’ in the Rain). At first Kitt and Miranda were supposed to separately provide songs for each of the competing high schools, but that division of labor soon blurred, allowing for better cohesion.
The director/choreographer of this calisthenic effort is Andy Blankenbuehler who won a Tony for his choreography of In the Heights. Bring It On is his first directorial sortie and presented a
whole new learning curve. As a result, Bring It On: the Musical’s chore-ography is not exactly dance and not exactly athletics. Maybe one third of the former and two thirds of the latter. As Blankenbuehler recently told the Los Angeles Times: “What these young performers don’t yet necessarily have the experience to understand is that these aren’t dance steps — they are the building blocks of a story. When we dance, we’re not dancing to the music, we’re dancing to the energy shift dictated by the story. That’s a different way of thinking...” And so it is.
WWeighing in at 600 lbs, Charlie’s health is failing fast. He refuses to go to the hospital be-cause he has no insurance and doesn’t want to lose the substantial nest egg he has squirreled away for Ellie, his daughter, with whom he des-perately wants to reconcile. But Ellie’s a bitter, angry girl who blames Charlie for abandoning the family 15 years earlier. From this fraught set of given circumstances the stakes keep get-ting higher in The Whale, Samuel D. Hunter’s gripping new play. There is nothing faint-hearted about Hunter’s writing—his taut, deeply human dramas present sharply etched portraits of struggling individuals who often get swept along in strong cultural currents. But although issues such as international terrorism, genocide, suicide, the Rapture figure into his plays, they are never about these issues. Take Charlie, for instance. While obesity presents a major obstacle for him (he may die before making peace with his daughter), The Whale is not a power point pre-sentation about America’s obsession with food, but rather one man’s personal struggle to find greater meaning in his life before it’s too late.
Another topic Hunter is not afraid to confront is religion, which is folded into many of his plays. In The Whale Elder Thomas, a young Mormon missionary struggling with his own troubled past, tries to share his faith with Charlie. “Most of my plays are about seeking hope and meaning,” says Hunter, “and [religion] is the eternal well of hope and meaning for most Americans. It so shaped my childhood growing up in Idaho and going to a religious school, and so I see it in the larger cultural dialogue a lot. Mostly I write about it because people don’t seem to want to talk about it.”
Hunter grew up in Moscow, Idaho, a small community of about 20,000 in the northern part of the state. His roots
there stretch back six generations to the first postmaster of the town founders. This deep connection with Idaho is reflected in his plays, most of which, like The Whale, are set in his home state. Like other playwrights whose work is born from a strong relationship to a particular place (e.g., Horton Foote or Octavio Solis and Texas), Hunter finds it natural to keep “drawing from that well.”
THE WH
ALE
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As he puts it: “For me Idaho has become a useful landscape because people don’t have a
lot of preconceived notions about it. Which is really helpful, because I can make something that’s pan-American. The one-bedroom apartment in which Charlie lives could be a one-bedroom apartment anywhere across the country in the smaller towns we all know. It becomes an effective way to be specific about America in a larger sense.” When Sam graduated from his fundamentalist Christian high school, he assumed he would go to the University of Idaho like all those ancestors before him. But on a lark he sent in an application to NYU and was accepted into the playwriting program. After NYU, he went straight into a Masters program at the Iowa playwrights program and from there he entered Juilliard’s graduate play-writing program. While in Iowa he was mentored by playwright Sherry Kramer, who helped him look at plays in unconventional ways: “Sherry had a way of talking about how plays move, the way plays are organized other than plot. How plays are organized by im-age and metaphor—deeper organiza-tional tools that really allowed me to start thinking about plays not as plots but as structured time.” Certainly one of the organizing metaphors in The Whale is that of the whale itself, with its strong biblical and literary resonances. But Hunter did not start writing with that image in mind, it came to him organically. He initially included Moby Dick in the play because he needed Charlie’s students to be writing essays about a novel: “I picked Moby Dick because I like the book and the essential conflict in the novel related to the central con-flict in the play—going after this thing that you can never get.”
Charlie’s job, teaching writing on-line, came in part from Hunter’s own experience.
One year he found himself teaching expository writing at Rutgers in New Jersey, where he discovered that writ-ing a good play and writing a good es-say are very similar—they both need honesty and genuine thought. But the students were resistant. “These kids couldn’t be honest,” Hunter laments. “Their main question was, ‘What do you want me to say?’ It was so deeply frustrating and deeply intriguing that they all-out refused to
have a voice.” Throughout the play Charlie uses every trick in the book to get his students and even his daughter to express themselves honestly. Hunter tends to people his plays with members of the working class—the sales clerks, nurses, on-line instructors and adjunct professors that make up the 99% of this country. There’s no social agenda here, he just finds them more representative of who we are: “I think the prevalence of upper middle class and upper class characters in our plays is surpris-ing, especially given the fact that the majority of America is not these people. When I think about America, [working class people] are the people I think about.” Writing without an ounce of irony or condescension, Hunter makes us feel his empathy for his characters. He has a way of unearthing their contradic-tions and creating individuals we at first may think we have very little in common with (the obese gay man, the religious fundamentalist blogger), until we understand them in a deeper way.
“Hopefully that’s what good theatre is,” Hunter offers, “complicated, contradic-
tory characters that we identify with and come to understand. Not neces-sarily root for. It’s really just empa-thizing with them and understanding them.” While Hunter was at NYU, he wanted to branch out academically so he minored in Middle Eastern Studies, even learning a little Arabic. Then in 2005, the first year of his Masters pro-gram in Iowa, he was offered a chance to teach a playwriting workshop in Ramallah. He eagerly seized the op-portunity, later teaching in war-torn Hebron as well. “I knew the headlines of the Israel-Palestinian conflict,” Hunter says “but I had no opinions either way, and I became even less on either side after spending a couple of summers there. It was just so deeply complicated. It was terrifying and beautiful.” As with his own writing, Hunter had to look at it all through a human lens: “So much of my experience in Palestine was not about guns and bombs, it was about learning to live with guns and bombs. How people go to the supermarket even though the checkpoints are closed and there’s gunfire going on.”
At the end of one of Sam’s plays you come away with the feeling you’ve just witnessed something profound. Whether you’ve just seen a wife mourning the loss of her husband or a father trying to reconnect with his estranged child, you’ve had a rare chance to set aside surface impres-sions and walk in someone else’s shoes. And although the play may have its sad, even tragic side, there is always the counterweight of compas-sion and hope. Deeply complicated. Terrible and beautiful indeed.
Douglas Langworthy is the Liter-ary Manager of the Denver Center Theatre Company
Producing Partner: Carol E. Wolf
The Whale is not
a power point
presentation about
America’s obsession
with food, but rather
one man’s personal
struggle to find greater
meaning in his life
before it’s too late.
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The holidays are over, winter has set in, and that’s when the fun begins. When you want to know where to go, what to do and how to have fun in Denver, CBS4 critic-at-large Greg Moody, one of the city’s biggest arts advocates, has the scoop! Don’t miss the 2012 season for both Denver Center Attractions and the Denver Center Theatre Company (DCTC). They’ve got everything from the best of Broadway—Bring It On, Ring of Fire and Wicked—to classic, world premiere and modern American theatre, including DCTC’s annual Colorado New Play Summit, Feb. 10-12. CBS4 is proud to support The Denver Center for the Performing Arts and to showcase local arts and entertainment weekdays on CBS4 News at Noon, 5pm, 6pm and 6:30pm and online at www.cbsdenver.com.
Looking for Something Fun to Do?
A proud sponsor of
Denver Center
Theatre Company
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CBS4 is proud to support The
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CBS4 critic-at-large Greg Moody
BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL
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Colorado’s Family Law Team
The Harris Law Firm Plays a Different Tune by Controlling Costs and Limiting Litigation
“Business of the Year” LouisvilleChamber of Commerce
LORD
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Since 1996, Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance, a Celtic dance spectacular derived from that tremendously successful other Irish dance show he created, Riverdance, has appeared in more than 30 countries and caused a collective audience of some 50 million to erupt in standing ovations night after night. The cast of 40 dancers portrays the famous Irish legend of Good versus Evil. Love, passion, music and, of course, dance are used to tell the mystical tale of Don Dorcha, the Dark Lord, who challenges the Lord of the Dance. Precision dancing, colorful costumes and an eclectic blend of styles rooted in Celtic traditions have made Lord of the Dance one of the most popular touring dance productions in recent memory. So put on your tap shoes, jump to your feet — and join this worldwide dance sensation as it moves through Denver to a throbbing Irish beat.
LORDINGDANCE
itover the
I LOVE YOU,
NOW CHANGEYOU’RE PERFECT,
Everything you’ve secretly wanted to know about dating, mating, marriage, husbands, wives, kids, and in-laws but were afraid to ask will be answered in this record-breaking show. How about parents who talk baby talk, men who talk (and women who pretend to listen), infidelity, and the injustice of long lines for the ladies’ room? These are just some of the irritations hilariously skewed in Joe DiPietro’s hugely successful musical review. Four actors take on the lives of more than 20 characters as they face the tribulations of dealing with the very opposite sex. Returning to the Garner Galleria Theatre, this clever comedy is the perfect date-night destination for adults.
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
Sponsored by Molson Coors
Tickets: 303.893.4100. Toll-free: 800.641.1222. TTY: 303.893.9582. Groups (10+): www.denvercenter.org.
Lord of the Dance
Lord of the Dance
Tickets: 303.893.4100. Toll-free: 800.641.1222. TTY: 303.893.9582. Groups (10+): www.denvercenter.org.
IS BACK!
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XANADU - the musical
March 2 - April 1, 2012
XANADU - the musical Book by Douglas Carter Beane Music and Lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar
Revel in this outrageously fun romantic adventure. Based on the 1980 cult classic film, Xanadu takes
you from the sidewalks of Venice Beach to the peak of Mt. Olympus in search of a dream.
(Kind of like The Wedding Singer on skates!)
March 2 - April 1, 2012
Call: 303-739-1970
Tickets on sale now! $24-adult / $20-student & senior
Call: 303-739-1970
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ahead…
NEXT
UP
Tickets: 303.893.4100
Toll-free: 800.641.1222
Groups: 303.446.4829
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Lookingh d
Direct from Broadway for its first Denver engagement, do not
miss the smash-hit musical American Idiot, which tells the story of three lifelong friends, forced to choose between their dreams and the safety of suburbia. Their quest for true meaning in a post-9/11 world leads them on the most exhilarating theatrical journey of the season. Based on Green
Day’s Grammy® Award-winning multi-platinum album, the result is a theatrical experience critic Charles Isherwood of The New York Times calls “thrilling, emotionally charged, and as moving as any Broadway musical I’ve seen this year!”
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, now embarked
on a lavish and visually re-imagined new tour, is one of the best-loved of all musicals. Its classic story of a beautiful village girl, Belle, who is first repelled by, then attracted to a gruff yet big-hearted Beast, is indeed, as one of the show’s numbers has it, “a tale as old as time.”
The songs (by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice) are almost criminally tuneful. The show can be enjoyed by child and adult alike. Many of the songs—the charming “Belle,” the infectious “Something There,” and the spectacular hospitality anthem “Be Our Guest”—were written for the 1991 animated movie, which was the first (and until 2010, the only) animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. The movie’s status in cinematic history and in critical lore was cemented when the New York Times’ then-theatre critic Frank Rich called Beauty and the Beast the best musical of the year—in any format. Denver audiences will delight in the eye-popping storybook shapes and colors that Stan Meyer and the other original-version designers have re-imagined.
True story. In 1899, here in Denver, three reporters—from the Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News, the Republican and the Times—met up at Union Station hoping to run into any celebrity getting off the train. When no one of note detrained, the men walked a block to the Oxford Hotel and, over
drinks, hatched a plan: Why not dream up a fake news story that would run in all the Denver newspapers? And why not set it in some far away place to make it hard to verify? They decided to announce that the Chinese, wanting to open up their markets to the West, planned to tear down their Great Wall. So they concocted a fictitious story that a group of engineers, eager to work on the project, had just stopped over in Denver on their way to the Far East. The articles ran and newspapers as far away as Chicago and New York picked up the story and passed it along. Enter Lloyd Suh, a playwright with a nose for a clever yarn, who turned this fascinating material into a full-blown play. We follow reporter Jack Tournay as he tries to keep the hoax from spinning out of control—as well as damaging his relationship with his young son. We also follow Harriet Sparrow, a budding journalist sent to Denver by no less than Joseph Pulitzer to uncover the truth. Comic and touching, Great Wall Story brings to life a forgotten episode in Denver’s colorful history with great flourish and style.
the groundbreaking BROADWAY musical
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March 6 – 11, Buell Theatre
March 14 – 18, Buell Theatre
March 16 – April 22, Ricketson Theatre
Great Wall STORY
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Get into the Act
Denver Center Theatre Academy
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AND THREE MONTHS OUT…
March 30 – April 29, Space Theatre
This last play by George Bernard Shaw is almost elegiac, marking a change of mood and tone from his usual brisk, smart
comedies. Just before the outbreak of World War I, an eclectic group of Englishmen gather at the country estate of Hector and Hesione Hushaby. They represent the best and the brightest—both rich and poor, commercial and cultural, liberal and conservative. Romance blooms and dies (yes, hearts are broken in this house), but the real tragedy is that these people, capable and fortunate, cannot set aside their petty squabbles and inconsequential dalliances long enough to address the biggest problems facing society—including matters political, economic, social and, most ominously, the oncoming world war. “We are useless, dangerous and ought to be abolished,” Hector verbalizes toward the end of act three. Here Shaw takes an unflinching yet sympathetic look at our seeming inability to seriously envision looming peril, let alone take any sort of action.
April 4 – 21, Conservatory Theatre
Watch for the graduating class of the National Theatre Conservatory (NTC) to deliver its annual NTC Rep: two plays
in repertory that highlight the skills these young students acquired over the past two years. They will be presenting that timeless comedy, Charley’s Aunt, and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 in rotating repertory. This annual event remains the biggest and best bargain in town.
Scholarships available thanks to the Lewis E. Myers Scholarship Fund; call for details.
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CCEAVCO Audio Visual has been a proud supporter of The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) since the award-winning theatre company’s inception. CEAVCO’s relationship to theatre is no accident as the company helps corporations, associations, and non-profit organizations produce “corporate theatre” at live events across the country. According to Matt Emerson, Executive Vice President of CEAVCO, “In theatre, the production uses actors, lighting, stage sets, music, and sound effects to move an audience. Our business is no different. We coordinate, install, and produce audio, video, lighting, graphics, and décor to help our clients excite, inspire, and inform their audience.” In addition to providing audio-visual production for live events, CEAVCO installs the same technology in facilities to allow users to deliver their message with clarity and impact. The installed technol-ogy, in addition to projection and audio, includes video conferencing to bring people together face to face with data sharing and interactiv-ity enabling them to collaborate over distances both great and small just as if they were in the same room. “We are pleased to support the culture life in Denver with our audio visual technology that is used so widely throughout our corporate, association, government, and non-profit community,” stated Matt Emerson. In addition to the DCPA, CEAVCO supports the Denver Film Society, Denver Art Museum, American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen Foundation, Human Society of Boulder, and many other charitable organizations.
CEAVCO Audio Visual
Love What You See and Hear
denvercenter.org 303.572.4466
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FEBRUARY 11 | 14 | 17 | 19
MAR. 24 | 27 | 30 | APR. 1
APR. 28 | MAY 1 | 4 | 6
Opera Colorado’s 2012 Season sponsored by Boettcher Foundation
303.468.2030 | OperaColorado.org
Twelfth Nightby William Shakespeare
Richard IIIby William Shakespeare
Treasure Islandadapted by Ken Ludwig
Noises Offby Michael Frayn
Women of Willcreated by and starring Tina Packer
Presented for the first time in Colorado
Coming Summer of 2012...coloradoshakes.com
Photo: Elegant Images
simply perfect
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Where people are people first
Let’s name them: Ludwig van Beethoven, Christy Brown, Itzhak Perlman, Ray Charles, Jacque-
line du Pré, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Bernhardt, Mary Wells, Stevie Wonder. Famous artists, musicians, performers—and yet categorized, too, as people with “disabilities.” But where does the disability end and the person begin? At the Global Down Syndrome Foundation we believe that people are people first—and that there is no disability when it comes to desire. People with Down syndrome can be gifted visual learners and per-formers. Since the dismantling of the inhumane institutions in the 1970s and 1980s, many have gone on to perform in theatrical productions, in TV series such as “Life Goes On” and “Glee,” and to excel in the visual arts as is evidenced by the painter Luo Zheng. The Global Down Syndrome Founda-tion works hard to break down the barri-ers of discrimination so that people with Down syndrome can all enjoy the visual and performing arts, and participate in them fully. Thank you to the Colorado Ballet for collaborating with us on the Be Beauti-ful Be Yourself Dance Classes, and to The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) for including children of all ability levels. The Global Down Syn-drome Foundation is pleased to partner with the DCPA!
There is no
disability when
it comes to
desire
ABOUT THE GLOBAL
The Global Down Syndrome Foundation is a public not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedi-cated to significantly improving the lives of people with Down syndrome through research, medical care, education and advocacy. Formally established in 2009, the Foundation’s primary focus is to support the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, the first academic home in the US committed to research and medical care for people with the condition. Fundraising and government advocacy that corrects the alarm-ing disparity of national funding for people with Down syndrome is a major short-term goal. The Foundation organizes the Be Beauti-ful Be Yourself Fashion Show—the single largest annual fundraiser benefitting people with Down syndrome. Programmatically, the Foundation organizes and funds many programs and confer-ences including the Dare to Play Football and Cheer Camps, Global Down Syndrome Educa-tional Series, and Global Down Syndrome Multi-Language Resource Project. The Foundation is an inclusive organization with no political or religious affiliation or intention.
OIL
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Great seats to great theatre !VIP
EV
EN
ING
S
VIP Evenings are presented by
supporting The Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ education programs
Evenings
2 0 1 2
303.446.4815 denvercenter.org/vipevenings
Enjoy:Pre-show cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and
dinner in the Seawell Grand Ballroom
Center orchestra seating in The Buell Theatre
A tax-deductible contribution supporting
The Denver Center is included with
each ticket
Choose from:
$225 per person
$225 per person
$250 per person
Experience a VIP Evening at The Denver
Center. Entertain clients, friends or family.
Celebrate a Special Occasion.
303.893.4100 APPLAUSE 27
FLOR
ENCE
K. R
USTO
N A
WA
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APPLAUSE denvercenter.org 28
Photo
by V
icki K
err
Mike and Diana Kinsey have been subscribers to the Denver Center Theatre Company (DCTC) for every season since the Company made its debut on
New Year’s Eve, 1979. Thirty-two complete seasons later, because Mike and Diana have demonstrated a deep com-mitment of support for the Denver Center in many different ways, we are pleased to present them with the 2011/12 Florence K. Ruston Award for Excellence in Philanthropy in the Arts. Mike and Diana will receive this award from Chairman Dan Ritchie and Adrienne Ruston Fitzgibbons, the late Florence Ruston’s daughter, at the Directors Society event for The Taming of the Shrew on February 15.
Each year, Mike and Diana continue to go “over and above” the call of duty to support DCTC and the National Theatre Conservatory (NTC). For the current and past several seasons they have joined a generous consortium of donors as “Producing Partners” for our annual classic work by Shakespeare. Mike and Diana also have been Producing
Partners of the NTC’s spring rep seasons for the past three years. While their financial support is integral to our current programs (they are longtime members of Directors Soci-ety and Diana also is a founding member of our Women’s Voices Fund), it is their planned gifts that help secure the Center’s future that make them stand out. The couple estab-lished two significant charitable gift annuities and made a gift of real estate in Diana’s native North Carolina, making them members of the Encore Society, which recognizes individuals who, through thoughtful estate planning, ensure the DCPA’s future.
In addition to the DCPA, the Kinseys actively support Curious Theatre Company, the Arvada Center, Opera Colorado, Stories on Stage and a host of other non-profit organizations throughout the metro area.
The Ruston Award was established in 2006 and is award-ed to individuals who demonstrate exemplary philanthropy to the Denver Center.
An encore for Mike &
Diana
Anonymous (4)
Jane Hollister Bachmayer
Susan C. Burrows
Jim Caputo
Mr. & Mrs. Thomas J. Carson
Isabelle Clark
Leslie L. Crispelle
Michael Donner
John & Sandra Downing
Mr. & Mrs. John E. Fuller
Barbara Garlinghouse
Thomas R. Graham & Judith Pettibone
Janet Grant
Terry & Noel Hefty
Carol & Jerry Huller
Paul & Sandy Jeffery
Martha Kelce
Mike & Diana Kinsey
Sandy Leerskov
Ellyn E. Lyman
Alan & Carol Meny
Marilyn K. Oliver
Daniel L. Ritchie
Harvey D. & Audrey D. Rothenberg
Bruce Schmidt
Jessie Lavonne Shafer
Ruth S. Silver
Bob & Carole Slosky
Roger & Michelle Stansbury
June Travis
Randy Weeks
Dolores M. Wilson
The Encore Society was established to honor and recognize those individuals whose planned gifts ensure the future of The Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Members have the satisfaction of knowing that the audiences of tomorrow will reap the rewards of their generosity today. To learn more about planned giving opportunities, please go to www.denvercenter.org/plannedgiving or call 303.446.4811.
Florence K. Ruston Award for Excellence in Philanthropy
2006 - Robert & Judi Newman
2007 - Margot & Allan Frank
2008 - Leo & Susan Kiely
2009 - Alison & Jim Shetter
2010 - Jim Steinberg
l-r: Chairman and CEO Daniel L. Ritchie, trustee Joy S. Burns, Mike Kinsey, Diana Kinsey and DCTC actor Sam Gregory
THEATRE TH
REA
DS
303.893.4100 APPLAUSE 29
TheatreT H R E A D S
Lois Paul
Keri Christiansen
(l-r) Event Chairs Gayle Novak and Lisa Daniel-
Johnson celebrate the event’s success with
Denver Center Alliance President Jill Behr
Jody
Phelps
Photo
s by V
icki K
err
The Denver Center Alliance hosted its second Theatre Threads, A
Costume Runway show, on October 21. The volunteer models, outfit-
ted by the extraordinary costume and wardrobe staff of the Denver
Center Theatre Company, paraded costumes from recent productions
such as Dracula and Midsummer Night’s Dream and also from his-
toric favorites The Servant of Two Masters and Peter Pan, or the Boy
Who Would Not Grow Up. Sponsored by Lufthansa German Airlines,
the event raised more than $15,000 in net proceeds for the Denver
Center Theatre Company and its education programs.
Featured Models: Edna Chang-Grant, Jody Charmatz, Keri Christiansen, Sharon Cooper, John Farnam, Terri Fisher, Adrienne Ruston Fitzgibbons, Alice Foster, Arlene Mohler Johnson, Gail Johnson, Teresa Kennedy, Judy McNeil, Claudia Miller, Stephanie Odak, Lois Paul, Jody Phelps, Gregory Sargowicki, Jean Smooke, Susan Stiff, Judi Wolf and David Zupancic.
Gail Johnson &
Gregory Sargowicki
303 893 4100 APPLAUSE 29
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National Theatre Conservatoryat the Denver Center Theatre Company
THE CONSERVATORY THEATRE | 1101 13TH STREET
APRIL 4 – 21 | TICKETS: $18 303.893.4100 | DENVERCENTER.ORG | GROUPS (10+): 303.446.4851 | TTY: 303.893.9582
THE NATIONAL THEATRE CONSERVATORY REPERTORY 2012 PRESENTS…
REET
ON SALE FEB 1
Fahrenheit 451By Ray Bradbury | Directed by Sabin Epstein
In Ray Bradbury’s classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don’t put out fires—they start them in order to burn books because reading is illegal. In a society where thinking
is banned one fireman must choose between suppression and desire, to defend or destroy the world he knows.
Produced by special arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Illinois.
PRODUCING PARTNERS:
ISABELLE CLARK AND DIANA & MIKE KINSEY
APPLAUSE denvercenter.org 34
Charley’s AuntBy Brandon Thomas | Directed by Larry Hecht
A simple lunch between friends turns into an afternoon of
high speed hilarity. Add a man in a dress, an aunt from Brazil, a skirt chasing uncle and a dash of love on the run and you have
the perfect recipe for comedy.
Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French
