What do most Colorado new play festivals — including the Denver Center's New Play Summit, Local Theater Company's Local Lab and Durango PlayFest — have in common? Although the events are local, the majority of the writers come from out of state.
Seeking to cultivate a community of Colorado-based playwrights, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company launched the Writers Group in 2018 to develop talent in the state.
"The hope is that instead of Colorado more or less being a flyover state for new play development, there is a group of writers based here who are producing works across the country," says organizer Heather Beasley, who has been with the BETC program from the beginning. "This year, our cohort is the largest it's ever been. We have fourteen writers in the writers' group this year; eight of them have been working on short plays, three on theater for young audiences, and three on full-length plays for adults."
Since last August, members of the group have met monthly to share pages and hold each other accountable for writing. And now, after nine months of work, the stage is set for a series of public performances called Plays With Fire that highlight the culmination of the cohort's creative collaboration.
"This is the most far-reaching and most readings that we've ever had," Beasley says. "We have 77 different artists who are involved across the seven readings this year. It's really inspiring to see so many people excited about new plays."
The festival kicks off at the Savoy Denver with an array of short plays on May 6. The bar opens at 6 p.m., and the showcase, which includes works by Amalia Adiv, Tom Bruett, Kate Hertz, Aaron Klass, Debra Gilbert Rosenberg, Mark Sbani, Laurie Scoggins and Quinn Smola, begins at 7 p.m.
"All of the first four short plays all deal in some way with love, but they are not necessarily romantic love stories," Beasley says. "The second half of the evening explores familiar and unfamiliar worlds; the variety is part of what makes it fun."
Following this evening of shorts, on May 13 at the Dairy Arts Center’s Grace Gamm Theatre, Sam Collier’s full-length play, The Light That’s Left, is a poignant exploration of grief and environmental change. Collier, a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado Boulder, draws heavily from her own grief and the existential threat of climate change. Set against the backdrop of a glacier her protagonist once visited with her mother, Collier’s narrative interweaves personal loss with global catastrophe.
"This play is very personal, and came to me in a flash as I was walking home one afternoon," Collier shares. "I am definitely dealing with the death of my mother in 2021. It is not a traditional play where the protagonist's goals drive the plot. While Lena is at the center of the play, she is not what you might think of as a lead character, where she wants this thing, encounters obstacles and then overcomes the obstacles. Because it is not character-driven, I've been working to figure out what motivates the play and how best to structure it."
The following week, on May 20, also at the Grace Gamm Theatre, Colette Mazunik’s play, Hellfire and Ham, about a family divided by their beliefs, debuts. The play is set on a farmhouse in the heartland on January 5, 2021, setting the stage for a family drama that explodes into fiery dialogue as much as literal flames. Mazunik, weaving politics and religion into her narrative, seeks not to preach, but to present a microcosm of America’s divided heart.
"Even though I have a very strong point of view on these issues, I let each character tell their story without being demonized," Mazunik says. "My goal is not to change anyone's politics, but to remind everyone that we are all in this together. This play serves as a metaphor for America; we're all part of the same family, and my hope is that it spurs empathy for one another."
The festival concludes with Long Live Rock, by Josh Hartwell, at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center on May 28. Hartwell's protagonist, Ethan, is driven by a desire to see his favorite band, Midnight Oil, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so he enters the building with a bomb strapped to his chest. This sends Ethan on a surreal journey through the museum's layers, exploring people's issues with the Hall of Fame and why they should not put their heroes on pedestals.
BETC Plays With Fire, Monday, May 6, through Tuesday, May 28. Learn more at betc.org.
Seeking to cultivate a community of Colorado-based playwrights, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company launched the Writers Group in 2018 to develop talent in the state.
"The hope is that instead of Colorado more or less being a flyover state for new play development, there is a group of writers based here who are producing works across the country," says organizer Heather Beasley, who has been with the BETC program from the beginning. "This year, our cohort is the largest it's ever been. We have fourteen writers in the writers' group this year; eight of them have been working on short plays, three on theater for young audiences, and three on full-length plays for adults."
Since last August, members of the group have met monthly to share pages and hold each other accountable for writing. And now, after nine months of work, the stage is set for a series of public performances called Plays With Fire that highlight the culmination of the cohort's creative collaboration.
"This is the most far-reaching and most readings that we've ever had," Beasley says. "We have 77 different artists who are involved across the seven readings this year. It's really inspiring to see so many people excited about new plays."
The festival kicks off at the Savoy Denver with an array of short plays on May 6. The bar opens at 6 p.m., and the showcase, which includes works by Amalia Adiv, Tom Bruett, Kate Hertz, Aaron Klass, Debra Gilbert Rosenberg, Mark Sbani, Laurie Scoggins and Quinn Smola, begins at 7 p.m.
"All of the first four short plays all deal in some way with love, but they are not necessarily romantic love stories," Beasley says. "The second half of the evening explores familiar and unfamiliar worlds; the variety is part of what makes it fun."
Following this evening of shorts, on May 13 at the Dairy Arts Center’s Grace Gamm Theatre, Sam Collier’s full-length play, The Light That’s Left, is a poignant exploration of grief and environmental change. Collier, a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado Boulder, draws heavily from her own grief and the existential threat of climate change. Set against the backdrop of a glacier her protagonist once visited with her mother, Collier’s narrative interweaves personal loss with global catastrophe.
"This play is very personal, and came to me in a flash as I was walking home one afternoon," Collier shares. "I am definitely dealing with the death of my mother in 2021. It is not a traditional play where the protagonist's goals drive the plot. While Lena is at the center of the play, she is not what you might think of as a lead character, where she wants this thing, encounters obstacles and then overcomes the obstacles. Because it is not character-driven, I've been working to figure out what motivates the play and how best to structure it."
The following week, on May 20, also at the Grace Gamm Theatre, Colette Mazunik’s play, Hellfire and Ham, about a family divided by their beliefs, debuts. The play is set on a farmhouse in the heartland on January 5, 2021, setting the stage for a family drama that explodes into fiery dialogue as much as literal flames. Mazunik, weaving politics and religion into her narrative, seeks not to preach, but to present a microcosm of America’s divided heart.
"Even though I have a very strong point of view on these issues, I let each character tell their story without being demonized," Mazunik says. "My goal is not to change anyone's politics, but to remind everyone that we are all in this together. This play serves as a metaphor for America; we're all part of the same family, and my hope is that it spurs empathy for one another."
The festival concludes with Long Live Rock, by Josh Hartwell, at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center on May 28. Hartwell's protagonist, Ethan, is driven by a desire to see his favorite band, Midnight Oil, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so he enters the building with a bomb strapped to his chest. This sends Ethan on a surreal journey through the museum's layers, exploring people's issues with the Hall of Fame and why they should not put their heroes on pedestals.
“It’s a play with music, but not a traditional musical,” Hartwell clarifies. "Since it's about rock and roll, it needed to include live rock music. I'd never quite written a play quite like this, so it was helpful to work with BETC's Writers Group; they helped me give it more structure and flesh out the characters."
In addition to these public performances, Lisa Wagner Erickson, Jeffrey Wolf and Vanessa Bowie Rankin presented their work to students at Dawson School, the Arts HUB and Manhattan Middle School of Arts and Academics. As this year's Writers Groups conclude, Beasley reflects on the community impact of the Plays With Fire festival.
"For those who aren’t new play development devotees, I'm hoping they have a good time, get engaged with the story and just respond honestly, emotionally and intellectually to what they see," Beasley says. "For audiences more familiar with new play development, I believe these are extremely strong plays in terms of potential for future productions elsewhere. At the local level, it is exciting to be able to see what might become a hit play in Colorado first."
In addition to these public performances, Lisa Wagner Erickson, Jeffrey Wolf and Vanessa Bowie Rankin presented their work to students at Dawson School, the Arts HUB and Manhattan Middle School of Arts and Academics. As this year's Writers Groups conclude, Beasley reflects on the community impact of the Plays With Fire festival.
"For those who aren’t new play development devotees, I'm hoping they have a good time, get engaged with the story and just respond honestly, emotionally and intellectually to what they see," Beasley says. "For audiences more familiar with new play development, I believe these are extremely strong plays in terms of potential for future productions elsewhere. At the local level, it is exciting to be able to see what might become a hit play in Colorado first."
BETC Plays With Fire, Monday, May 6, through Tuesday, May 28. Learn more at betc.org.
