"As we began to think of this project, I recognized the great education that I have been given by going to queer bars, where I would sit down next to somebody who was a few decades older than I was," says co-artistic director Nick Chase. "Now I'm sitting down next to people who are a few decades younger than I am, and what I have done in that process is really learn a history that has never been shared with me before."
One story from his barroom education on the queer community came from a friend in Longmont in the 1990s, when three lesbian volleyball players were exposed and fired from their jobs. "For a young, queer person now, that seems like distant history," Chase says. "Hearing those stories in a community where you understand where we've gone through such a rapid evolution in the queer community is really impactful."
That impulse to gather and share the lived experiences of Colorado’s LGBTQ+ community is at the heart of Local Listens: Queer Lineage, which kicks off its 15th season. The three-phase project begins this month with a series of free, two-hour “story circles” in Boulder, Fort Collins and Denver, inviting LGBTQ+ Coloradans to share their experiences. Two commissioned playwriting teams, including actor-director-playwright Steven J. Burge and Grapefruit Lab’s Julie Rada and Miriam Suzanne, will transform the material into short plays premiering in April 2026.
Local Theater Company staff members Nick Chase (left) and Levi Franklin (right) announce Local Listens: Queer Lineage at the season reveal party.
Courtesy of Shannon Altner
“We discovered the great value of gathering our community to inspire plays,” Chase says. “It allows our audience to further embed and integrate into the new play development process. People really enjoyed being participants in a conversation that inspired something and then seeing those conversations reflected back.”
This time, the company is using the same model to capture intergenerational queer stories. Story circles will be facilitated by Local, including co-artistic director Betty Hart, who says the first iteration taught her that “if you build it, they will come." People really wanted to speak up and have their stories reflected back to them onstage.
"There’s something powerful about creating atmospheres where your voice is heard, nurtured, and welcomed," Hart adds. "I think that is a direct parallel to Queer Lineage because we live in a time where, politically, being LGBTQ+ is a challenge, and in many cases is a threat. So, creating spaces where intergenerational, queer individuals can speak about their lives, their experiences, the best and the worst of times, is invaluable."
Steven J. Burge, an actor-director-playwright, will write a play based on community story circles for a stage reading in April 2026 as part of Local Listens: Queer Lineage.
Courtesy of Shannon Altner
The story circles will be hosted in partnership with community organizations, including the Museum of Boulder, Rocky Mountain Equality, the Savoy and the Fox Den. Chase says Local will also solicit voice memos to widen participation and “provide as much inspiration for our playwrights as possible.”
Executive Director Misha S. Zimmerman notes that this season’s approach goes further in meeting people where they are. "We're not always hosting these at a theater," she says. "We're not asking people to come to us, and that allows us to go deeper with participants because they are in a space that is comfortable for them."
Not every conversation will make its way into the plays — the circles won’t be recorded to preserve openness — but some participants will be invited to share their stories in follow-up interviews. Excerpts from these recordings, along with large-format portraits, will be featured in an interactive lobby gallery when the plays premiere.
“People will be able, very much like StoryCorps, to pick up headphones and hear their stories," Chase says. "So when they're in the lobby, they can hear bits and pieces of the inspiration that created these plays." This material will also appear online throughout the season, so people outside the metro area can engage.
Zimmerman points out that Queer Lineage is not designed solely to unearth painful memories. “I don't want people to go in thinking like we're just going to look at trauma,” she says. “It's really about being queer in all that that means; the joy, the celebration, as well as the struggles."
The choice of playwrights reflects that tonal balance. Burge, whom the company recently collaborated with on Local Lab 14, Chase says, has “a very fresh voice and a very frank and candid way of addressing things” and can find “great depth and heart and catharsis through the lens of humor.” Grapefruit Lab will bring its multi-sensory, community-focused style to the work, continuing its practice of “hybrid performances that promote humane interactions."
Queer Lineage will unfold over three public touchpoints in Local’s season. First up is its story circles in Boulder on Monday, August 11, at the Museum of Boulder and Tuesday, August 19, at Rocky Mountain Equality. There will be more story circles throughout the month on Monday, August 18, at The Fox Den in Fort Collins and Thursday, August 21, at The Savoy Denver. These will be followed by a September 13 Works-in-Progress Celebration at Junkyard Social Club in Boulder, featuring excerpts from the plays and an interactive gallery. Staged readings will occur in April 2026.
The project launches a season that also includes the world premiere of Kori Alston’s A Case for Black Girls Setting Central Park on Fire in October, a co-production with Curious Theatre Company of Sharyn Rothstein’s Bad Books in early 2026 and the return of Local Lab next April. For Zimmerman, having Queer Lineage span across the season “hits most squarely at our mission” to be “a really community-centric company” that amplifies “new and diverse voices.”
While the story circles are centered on LGBTQ+ voices, allies are welcome with a caveat. "We don't want, and I'll say this very frankly, it to be predominantly allies," Hart says. "It is a queer centered space, and so ways that other people can support would be to use the advice of taking a step back. If you find that you're in a space that's centering someone who you aren't, instead of trying to grab the mic, actively listening is something that people can do."
The most helpful roles for allies may be to spread the word to LGBTQ+ friends, attend the September or April events or show up to listen. Chase adds that anyone can follow the project through Local’s website, where audio and visual updates will be posted throughout the season.
In a year when LGBTQ+ rights are once again at the center of national political fights, Queer Lineage aims to create a living archive of the everyday histories that shape how queer people in Colorado have built and sustained their lives. By gathering these stories now, Local hopes to preserve voices that might otherwise fade and to place them in conversation across generations.
“It really is an opportunity for us as queer people to hear our own history and learn a little bit more about that through the sharing of personal stories,” Chase says. “It's not, ‘Here is when Stonewall started.’ We can find that stuff online. We can't hear stories about the people who were in a rural community like Colorado in the '80s … For me, it was about ‘Don't ask, don't tell’ in the '90s, then marriage equality in the early 2000s, and now it's about trans rights being revoked. So there are all these things happening, and a lot of people can represent different time periods and experiences with their stories."
Local Listen: Queer Lineage, Story Circles are Monday, August 11, at the Museum of Boulder, 2205 Broadway; Monday, August 18, at the Fox Den, 1680 Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins; Tuesday, August 19, at Rocky Mountain Equality, 3340 Mitchell Lane, Boulder; and Thursday, August 21, at The Savoy Denver, 2700 Arapahoe Street, Denver; Works-in-Progress Celebration is September 13, at Junkway Social Club, 2525 Frontier Avenue Suite A, Boulder; and Staged Readings in April 2026 in a TBD venue. Learn more at localtheaterco.org.
