Photo courtesy of Amanda Tipton Photography
Audio By Carbonatix
“In the theater community, our good news is few and far between,” admits Greg Laugero, a member of Curious Theatre Company‘s board. “Everybody’s living within scarcity, so we’re happy to have a story to tell where we are trading survival stress for growth stress.”
After years of financial strain, contingency planning and public uncertainty, Curious Theatre has a deal to keep its home at 1080 Acoma Street, though it will have to temporarily vacate the building for a major renovation. The agreement, completed on April 9, transfers ownership of the 131-year-old property to Acoma Theater LLC, a nonprofit project of Spira Giving Colorado led by real estate developer David Spira, for $1.9 million.
Instead of redeveloping or demolishing the structure — a real possibility given its location in Denver’s rapidly evolving Golden Triangle Creative District — Spira plans to seek historic designation, then restore the building and lease it back to Curious. The initial lease is for five years at an undisclosed amount, but both parties are confident they will remain in the space for the foreseeable future.
“It has felt like we’ve been in survival mode for a while, but now I feel like we can sit in a place of thriving,” says Producing Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon. “Long-term for us means that we, as a theater entity that has always pushed the boundaries of theater, will be able to continue doing so while having stability in a space that will be reimagined and remain arts-focused.”
That outcome was far from guaranteed. In early 2024, Curious went public with a stark warning: It needed to raise $250,000 within months or face an existential crisis. The emergency “Fund the Future” campaign raised approximately $220,000, or 87.7 percent of its goal, demonstrating strong community support — but not enough to alleviate underlying financial pressures.
Those pressures were tied in large part to the building itself. Originally constructed in 1895 as the Swedish Evangelical Free Church, the 9,500-square-foot structure carries deep historical and aesthetic significance, including stained-glass windows and remnants of its original sanctuary architecture, but also steep maintenance costs that proved increasingly unsustainable for a mid-sized nonprofit.
“We made the correct decision to sell the building, because although it is our most valuable asset, it is also our greatest liability,” Dixon told Westword back in the summer of 2024, shortly after listing its space for sale. “For me, if the options are to close the doors and never exist or to shift and exist, I will always choose the latter.”
At the time, the company’s best-case scenario was a sale-leaseback arrangement that would allow it to remain in place without bearing the costs of ownership — but few believed that outcome was realistic.
Only it was. Spira, who’d founded the Music Appreciation Society and has a track record of restoring historic properties such as the Baur’s Building that formerly housed Dazzle, saw the listing and reached out to the Curious team.
“Since they listed it two years ago, we’ve been aware of the opportunity,” Spira says. “My son, Jeremy, said you should take a look at this. As real estate people, we like it when it’s been on the market and no one has made an offer. Plus, I live in the neighborhood, and I think this is an important asset. It would be a shame to lose another theater in Denver, especially one that puts on such interesting productions.”
Under the agreement, the building will undergo a comprehensive renovation that includes addressing deferred maintenance, restoring historic elements and reconfiguring the space into a multi-use arts venue. Plans include upgrades to audience areas, backstage facilities and technical infrastructure, along with a potential increase in seating capacity.
“The renovations are a collaborative process,” Laugero says. “We are looking at all the ins and outs of this building, but we know we’ll have an updated front of house, backstage and the stage will be completely replaced. The Swedish Evangelical Church’s altar is still under that stage. I imagine we’re going to learn a lot more stuff like that about this building as we begin construction.”
The redesigned space is envisioned as more than just a home for Curious. The company will take on a new role managing bookings and programming for the venue, opening it up to other arts organizations and events.
“We will be the booking agent for the building,” Laugero says. “The balancing act will be up to Curious to execute, so that gives us control over the space, but we are all committed to this being a community resource. We see it as a rising tide that’s going to float a lot of boats, right? We want to use this space to benefit other organizations, not just ourselves.”
Before any of that can happen, though, Curious must first prepare to leave the space for about a year and a half.
“It’s like moving out of your grandma’s house that you lived in for years,” Dixon says, adding that the company is approaching the process with both practicality and discipline, sorting through decades of accumulated materials and deciding what to keep, store or let go.
“It’s easy to be sentimental, but we’ve got to clean house,” she says. “We will be spending a lot of our time cleaning and packing things up because we need to completely clean out the entire building.”
That transition is already underway, even as the company finishes its final stretch of programming for the current version of 1080 Acoma. Furlough’s Paradise, a two-character play by a.k. payne that opens May 2, will be the final full-length production staged in the space before renovations begin.
“I had no idea this would be our final show in the current version of 1080,” says Dixon, who also directs Furlough’s Paradise. “I’m super thrilled that it is. It’s a gorgeous play, and one I think really is aligned to Curious’s mission and values.”
The play follows two cousins reconnecting after a death in the family, blending grounded emotional storytelling with elements of Afro-surrealism and Afrofuturism. After the show closes, the company will host one more event in the space: its annual 24-Hour Plays, scheduled for July 10. The high-energy fundraiser, which brings together artists to create and perform original works in a single day, will serve as the community’s final gathering point before the building goes dark August 1.
The company will produce its 29th season in Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s recently expanded facility while construction is underway. That season is set to include Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, One of the Good Ones by Gloria Calderón Kellett, Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison, and Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
For Dixon, the collaboration carries both professional and personal weight, shaped by her own history in Denver’s arts community.
“I have a personal connection with Cleo and her family,” she says. “I grew up dancing when they were downtown on 20th and Lawrence, in a studio that you had to walk to up this huge flight of stairs. Personally, understanding the power of storytelling through the medium of dance has always stayed with me, and I think it has really influenced how I show up both as an actor and a director today, so this collaboration made sense.”
She sees the partnership as part of a larger cycle of mutual support among arts organizations, which Curious hopes to continue when it returns to Acoma.
“Our whole intent is really to support community in a way that feels really powerful and ensure that everyone can have what they need,” Dixon says. “There are a lot of smaller organizations that struggle with having space, so we want to be able to be that space.”
Curious plans to return to the renovated space in late 2027, aligning with its thirtieth anniversary season. When it does, the company expects to operate not just as a producing theater but as a central hub for a broader creative community.
“Success looks like Curious is programming at the highest level of artistic excellence,” Dixon says. “Curious has deepened and widened its community engagement through partnership and collaboration. 1080 is a vibrant, artist-centered creative hub filled with energy and magic. Operationally, this positions us as a nonprofit theater company that is thriving in all aspects of operations and sets the stage for the humans who will come after us to be successful in the next 25 years and the 25 years after that.”
Furlough’s Paradise has previews Thursday, April 30, and Friday, May 1, and then runs Saturday, May 2, through Sunday, May 31 at Curious Theatre Company, 1080 Acoma Street. Learn more at curioustheatre.org.