There’s a particular disorientation that comes from realizing the world you fought to change is starting to look like the one you risked everything to leave behind. For Golden Globe winner Regina Taylor, that reckoning is both personal and political.
“There is a generation of folk who were prepared to be martyrs for a cause,” she says. “But now there’s a sense of betrayal, rage, urgency and questioning of what comes next because we were fighting to create a better world, and then you look around and ask, ‘This is the world?’"
That burning question drives Exhibit, the one-woman show written by and starring Taylor, now running through May 25 at Denver's Curious Theatre Company. The world premiere concludes Curious’s 27th season with a piece that’s equal parts solo performance, social autopsy and living archive.
"It’s a piece that springs from personal experience," Taylor says. "What triggered this story was being asked in an interview about my own experience integrating a school as a child. I didn’t remember the exact age I was when that happened and I couldn’t ask my mother because she had passed, so I reached out to a childhood friend I hadn’t spoken to in years on Facebook."
During that conversation, Taylor and her friend realized that people who have gone through desegregation often don't talk about their experiences. "We just try to move on," she says. "I mean, we have moved on, haven’t we? We had a Black president, so we are past that, right?"
That discussion occurred two years ago, "but still something was afoot, and I wanted to figure out a way of dealing with what I was feeling about the changes that were occurring and how things seemed to be shifting," Taylor says. "As I’ve continued to write it, obviously things have shifted in a major way, so I've continued to look at it and reorganize the play."
At the center of Exhibit is Iris Spears, a Black artist in her sixties who once integrated a school in Muskogee, Oklahoma. As contemporary politics begin to echo the hostility of her youth, long-buried memories resurface — not in a neat timeline, but in bursts, fragments and haunted flashbacks.
“We are in a moment where our stories are being threatened," Taylor says. "That places another type of urgency on this character: a Black female artist whose pieces are being walked out of spaces. Her books are being banned. She is no longer listed in the archives. The threat of erasure and then what’s left? That’s the question for people. She is trying to tell her story in whatever way possible. Iris won’t be suppressed, erased or forgotten."
Curious Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon was first introduced to the show by a company supporter who had seen a reading at the Aspen Solo Festival in September 2023 and thought it would be a good fit for the company. After having a video conversation with Taylor about Exhibit, Dixon agreed.
"This story Regina's sharing fits fully into our mission, which is how we are taking what is in front of us today, the pressing, relevant issues, no matter how icky they are, and unpacking them through art," Dixon says. "We always hope that we encourage you to do something outside of the theater. Whether that’s continuing the conversation on the car ride home or over coffee the next day, Curious gives you something that stays with you, and you move it forward."
Since arriving in Denver on April 20, Taylor has been refining the script in rehearsal and continuing to fold in new perspectives and stories. “It’s never been done,” she says. “We are always in the process of discovering the play.”
While Iris may be alone on stage, the world of Exhibit is built through layered visuals, sound, projection and the voices of others — some fictional, others drawn from real-life conversations Dixon and Taylor have had with community leaders, including former state lawmakers Leslie Herod and Wilma Webb, as well as Dzirae Gold and Cleo Parker Robinson.
“Our cups are overflowing with their spirit," Dixon says. "Their tenacity. Their hopes. Their fight. Everything they shared, including their history, purpose and how they continue to fight for the community."
Audiences have the chance to engage more personally with those themes at several upcoming events. On Sunday, May 18, Blaxplanation x Exhibit: Director’s Cut pairs the matinee performance with a post-show tea and conversation with Taylor at the Colorado Center for Women’s History. In partnership with History Colorado and Blaxplanation, this intimate gathering, limited to just thirty guests, will include tea cakes from Mrs. Peabody and a group discussion.
Just two days later, on Tuesday, May 20, Curious will host A Toast to Talent, a fundraising salon spotlighting Taylor’s career and the creation of Exhibit. Taylor says the spirit of community building and public-facing events that build on the work started inside the theater is what drew her to Curious in the first place.
“Curious Theatre is an amazing company,” she says. “It is dedicated to telling stories that urgently reflect the truth about America.”
And for Dixon, it’s been a deeply personal and collaborative process. “I feel a personal responsibility. I’m 303 raised,” she says. “I feel a responsibility to the community that has poured into me, but I’m also feeling responsibility for Regina’s beautiful words. She has helped raise the bar that we hold ourselves to here in terms of artistic excellence.”
While Exhibit marks the end of the current season, it’s only the beginning for the piece itself. “This is a living testimony,” Taylor says. “It will continue to be rewritten. With that, the approach is very much of both looking forward and looking back.”
For Curious, it’s a privilege to be the first stop on that journey. “It’s an honor for me personally and for Curious to bring an artist like Regina Taylor to town,” Dixon says. “But more importantly, to elevate this piece that she’s written on our stage. It will have a life outside of Curious, so it’s an honor to say we were the first place to produce Exhibit.”
“We are leaning into the journey,” Dixon says. “We aren’t sprinting. We are leveraging all the tools to help get us there, but we’re in a hopeful place. We have been in a tough place previously, but we want folks to know that we’re going to be here and take Curious to the next level.”
For some patrons, that future has felt uncertain — not because of the work on stage, but because of the building that houses it. Curious Theatre’s longtime home at 1080 Acoma Street has been listed for sale since last June, prompting widespread questions about whether the company might be on the move.
“We completely understand,” Curious wrote in a recent update on its website. “The building is still on the market for sale, and we want to assure you that we will continue to call our beloved Acoma Street building home through our upcoming Season 28.” That timeline gives Curious the space and security to navigate what comes next.
“We’re simply not waiting for any offer; we’re being thoughtful about the deal we pursue," Dixon says. "We have strong interest from individual developers and group developers and an amazing real estate broker, Blue West Capital, so I feel strongly that we are in an amazing position. We want to be thoughtful about what the next steps look like. With the changes that happen in this area, we know we are a cultural asset and we are not going to diminish that fact for dollars."
Above all, Dixon says, the company is committed to transparency with its community. “I’ve said this at all the events this year: I won’t leave you hanging," she explains. "We’re being thoughtful to ensure we can get to that place of thriving and not just survival.”
Here's what to expect from Curious Theatre Company's 2025-26 season inside its beloved building on Acoma Street:
Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector
September 6 – October 5, 2025
Job by Max Wolf Friedlich
November 8 – December 7, 2025
Bad Books by Sharyn Rothstein
January 10 – February 1, 2026
Another Kind of Silence by L. M. Feldman
March 7 – April 5, 2026
Furlough’s Paradise by a.k. Payne
May 2 – May 31, 2026
“There is a generation of folk who were prepared to be martyrs for a cause,” she says. “But now there’s a sense of betrayal, rage, urgency and questioning of what comes next because we were fighting to create a better world, and then you look around and ask, ‘This is the world?’"
That burning question drives Exhibit, the one-woman show written by and starring Taylor, now running through May 25 at Denver's Curious Theatre Company. The world premiere concludes Curious’s 27th season with a piece that’s equal parts solo performance, social autopsy and living archive.
"It’s a piece that springs from personal experience," Taylor says. "What triggered this story was being asked in an interview about my own experience integrating a school as a child. I didn’t remember the exact age I was when that happened and I couldn’t ask my mother because she had passed, so I reached out to a childhood friend I hadn’t spoken to in years on Facebook."
During that conversation, Taylor and her friend realized that people who have gone through desegregation often don't talk about their experiences. "We just try to move on," she says. "I mean, we have moved on, haven’t we? We had a Black president, so we are past that, right?"
That discussion occurred two years ago, "but still something was afoot, and I wanted to figure out a way of dealing with what I was feeling about the changes that were occurring and how things seemed to be shifting," Taylor says. "As I’ve continued to write it, obviously things have shifted in a major way, so I've continued to look at it and reorganize the play."
At the center of Exhibit is Iris Spears, a Black artist in her sixties who once integrated a school in Muskogee, Oklahoma. As contemporary politics begin to echo the hostility of her youth, long-buried memories resurface — not in a neat timeline, but in bursts, fragments and haunted flashbacks.
“We are in a moment where our stories are being threatened," Taylor says. "That places another type of urgency on this character: a Black female artist whose pieces are being walked out of spaces. Her books are being banned. She is no longer listed in the archives. The threat of erasure and then what’s left? That’s the question for people. She is trying to tell her story in whatever way possible. Iris won’t be suppressed, erased or forgotten."
Curious Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon was first introduced to the show by a company supporter who had seen a reading at the Aspen Solo Festival in September 2023 and thought it would be a good fit for the company. After having a video conversation with Taylor about Exhibit, Dixon agreed.
"This story Regina's sharing fits fully into our mission, which is how we are taking what is in front of us today, the pressing, relevant issues, no matter how icky they are, and unpacking them through art," Dixon says. "We always hope that we encourage you to do something outside of the theater. Whether that’s continuing the conversation on the car ride home or over coffee the next day, Curious gives you something that stays with you, and you move it forward."
Since arriving in Denver on April 20, Taylor has been refining the script in rehearsal and continuing to fold in new perspectives and stories. “It’s never been done,” she says. “We are always in the process of discovering the play.”
While Iris may be alone on stage, the world of Exhibit is built through layered visuals, sound, projection and the voices of others — some fictional, others drawn from real-life conversations Dixon and Taylor have had with community leaders, including former state lawmakers Leslie Herod and Wilma Webb, as well as Dzirae Gold and Cleo Parker Robinson.
“Our cups are overflowing with their spirit," Dixon says. "Their tenacity. Their hopes. Their fight. Everything they shared, including their history, purpose and how they continue to fight for the community."
Audiences have the chance to engage more personally with those themes at several upcoming events. On Sunday, May 18, Blaxplanation x Exhibit: Director’s Cut pairs the matinee performance with a post-show tea and conversation with Taylor at the Colorado Center for Women’s History. In partnership with History Colorado and Blaxplanation, this intimate gathering, limited to just thirty guests, will include tea cakes from Mrs. Peabody and a group discussion.
Just two days later, on Tuesday, May 20, Curious will host A Toast to Talent, a fundraising salon spotlighting Taylor’s career and the creation of Exhibit. Taylor says the spirit of community building and public-facing events that build on the work started inside the theater is what drew her to Curious in the first place.
“Curious Theatre is an amazing company,” she says. “It is dedicated to telling stories that urgently reflect the truth about America.”
And for Dixon, it’s been a deeply personal and collaborative process. “I feel a personal responsibility. I’m 303 raised,” she says. “I feel a responsibility to the community that has poured into me, but I’m also feeling responsibility for Regina’s beautiful words. She has helped raise the bar that we hold ourselves to here in terms of artistic excellence.”
While Exhibit marks the end of the current season, it’s only the beginning for the piece itself. “This is a living testimony,” Taylor says. “It will continue to be rewritten. With that, the approach is very much of both looking forward and looking back.”
For Curious, it’s a privilege to be the first stop on that journey. “It’s an honor for me personally and for Curious to bring an artist like Regina Taylor to town,” Dixon says. “But more importantly, to elevate this piece that she’s written on our stage. It will have a life outside of Curious, so it’s an honor to say we were the first place to produce Exhibit.”
Curious Theatre Announces 2025–26 Season
While Exhibit hasn't taken its final bow, Curious has already teased what's coming next. The company’s 28th season, which kicks off in September, is themed around "pushing towards the summit of Denver theater." Each production on the roster offers audiences a path through thorny social terrain: public health debates, tech ethics, censorship battles and the delicate web of personal identity.“We are leaning into the journey,” Dixon says. “We aren’t sprinting. We are leveraging all the tools to help get us there, but we’re in a hopeful place. We have been in a tough place previously, but we want folks to know that we’re going to be here and take Curious to the next level.”
For some patrons, that future has felt uncertain — not because of the work on stage, but because of the building that houses it. Curious Theatre’s longtime home at 1080 Acoma Street has been listed for sale since last June, prompting widespread questions about whether the company might be on the move.
“We completely understand,” Curious wrote in a recent update on its website. “The building is still on the market for sale, and we want to assure you that we will continue to call our beloved Acoma Street building home through our upcoming Season 28.” That timeline gives Curious the space and security to navigate what comes next.
“We’re simply not waiting for any offer; we’re being thoughtful about the deal we pursue," Dixon says. "We have strong interest from individual developers and group developers and an amazing real estate broker, Blue West Capital, so I feel strongly that we are in an amazing position. We want to be thoughtful about what the next steps look like. With the changes that happen in this area, we know we are a cultural asset and we are not going to diminish that fact for dollars."
Above all, Dixon says, the company is committed to transparency with its community. “I’ve said this at all the events this year: I won’t leave you hanging," she explains. "We’re being thoughtful to ensure we can get to that place of thriving and not just survival.”
Here's what to expect from Curious Theatre Company's 2025-26 season inside its beloved building on Acoma Street:
Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector
September 6 – October 5, 2025
Job by Max Wolf Friedlich
November 8 – December 7, 2025
Bad Books by Sharyn Rothstein
January 10 – February 1, 2026
Another Kind of Silence by L. M. Feldman
March 7 – April 5, 2026
Furlough’s Paradise by a.k. Payne
May 2 – May 31, 2026
