X Marks the Spot

Imagine the same story, relived in four similar yet incredibly different cultural situations. That’s more or less what happens in The X, a five-act character study by Phil Klingsmith, a Gunnison playwright and professor emeritus at Western State College. The ingenious play follows four couples — one Anglo, one interracial, one lesbian and one gay — through the essentially identical scenario of a failed relationship, with strikingly different results. The point? Think of the Anglo couple as the “control,” and see how things differ when the more multi-hued sparks begin to fly.

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More About

• Phil Klingsmith
• Western State College
• Crossroads Theater
• Grand Junction

Some of my generation of Anglo men need to be confronted with the proposition that other alternative couples can be successful, and we don’t have ownership of heartbreak,” Klingsmith says of his theatrical premise. “Love is love, heartache is heartache, and heartbreak is heartbreak.” Surprises ensue.

Klingsmith is taking the show, which includes a cast from WSC and a special theme song written expressly for the production, on the road this summer, beginning tonight at 7 p.m. with the first of four consecutive performances at El Centro Su Teatro, 4725 High Street. Shows continue on the Western slope in Gunnison and Grand Junction in July and August before returning on August 19 to Crossroads Theater in Five Points for an additional four-night run. Tickets for this week’s performances are $12 to $18; call 303-296-0219.
May 27-30, 7 p.m., 2009