Tall Tales

Our collective imagination is full of strange things like Bigfoot and flying saucers and Batboy — the stuff of MonsterQuest and really bad tabloids. Watching the History Channel last week, I learned that the Bermuda Triangle mystery may actually be the result of a small black hole. Crazy, huh? And then there’s the UFO Watchtower practically in our back yard. Yes, we’re collectively more odd and wonderful than we like to admit, and Bigfoot Abducted by Aliens!, the newest installment of Colorado Homegrown Tales, is dedicated to this unique aspect of our human experience. “Some of these stories could be ripped right from the pages of the Weekly World News,” says media contact Debbie Knapp. “We weren’t really looking for that sort of theme; we just had some stories come in that started to fall together with pop-culture references and contemporary culture.”

At 4 p.m. today at the Byers-Evans House, 1310 Bannock Street, local actors will read the short works — each no more than 45 minutes — of four local writers. “It’s good, twisted humor,” says Knapp. “All the stories are not drop-dead, laugh-out-loud funny, but what the characters are going through are things that you could say are happening in your own neighborhood. And then you stop and think, ‘Could that be happening in my neighborhood?’ However, there’s definitely more humor than usual. You’ll be laughing at your neighbors and maybe yourself.”

Tickets are $10, a small price to pay for such a laugh, and reservations are recommended. For more information, call 720-233-0811 or go to http://www.homegrowntales.com.
Sun., Feb. 8, 4 p.m., 2009