- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Denver and help keep the future of Westword free.
Its truly a new dawn for Denvers LIDA Project: After a sabbatical by LIDAs divining light, Brian Freeland, and a forced change of venue, the indie/avant-garde theater collective is back on the grid with a fully planned season. That season begins tonight, full-throttle, with Justin Bieber Meets Al Qaeda, a work Freeland describes as a theatrical editorial about post-9/11 America. And it will be, he assures, one wild ride.
We wanted to look at a piece that analyzed where Americans had been for the last ten years, Freeland says. And the one thing we came back to while developing the work was the fact that in a prolonged time of war and tumult, weve never had such a disconnected American population. Weve become so disconnected to war, whereas our prior generations were either pitching in and keeping the home fires burning or out protesting. We seem to be completely apathetic toward our wars. And at the same time, weve grown increasingly fat and lazy and we love our reality TV over the last decade. This seems like an interesting point in time to sit back and reflect where weve been. He promises, too, that itll be a shocker Were not holding back, Freeland warns and that a good amount of Justin Bieber music will assault the audiences ears. Is he optimistic about how people will take it? Its just, Well see. Well see how the work lands. Now well just have to see if its the content that will shut the show down and not necessarily the building.
If that isnt a challenge to check it out, we dont know what is: Justin Bieber Meets Al Qaeda premieres at 8 p.m. in the new Laundry on Lawrence performance space, 2701 Lawrence Street in RiNo; shows continue weekly, Thursdays through Saturdays, through October 8. For tickets, $15 to $22, go to http://lida.org or call 720-221-3821.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: Sept. 9. Continues through Oct. 9, 2011
Keep Westword Free... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Denver with no paywalls.