Theater on the Rocks

I tried to chat with Betsy Tobin by phone, I really did — but her cell signal dove in and out like a shadow creeping across a rock as she traveled through the expansive desert southwest toward a gig at the Grand Canyon. Our conversation wasn’t meant to be, perhaps,...

By Susan Froyd

July 31, 2008

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I tried to chat with Betsy Tobin by phone, I really did — but her cell signal dove in and out like a shadow creeping across a rock as she traveled through the expansive desert southwest toward a gig at the Grand Canyon. Our conversation wasn’t meant to be, perhaps, but at least I learned enough to know that Shadows and Journeys, Tobin’s visionary, site-specific multimedia work, is back in fleshed-out form, now being played out under the dry twilight against canyon walls, where it was always meant to be seen. Just a year ago, Tobin presented a truncated version during the 2007 Boulder Fringe Festival (go to westword.com/2007-08-23/calendar/shadow-play for a taste of what it was about); she’s bringing her expanded troupe to Eldorado Canyon State Park in Eldorado Springs tonight and August 9, and to Roxborough State Park, 4751 Roxborough Drive in Littleton, on August 8 for a series of outdoor performances blending theater, dance, puppetry, masks, shadow theater and video sequences. But first, Tobin and company will have stopped at the Great Sand Dunes, Zion and Black Canyon of the Gunnison national parks, and, most important, at her original source of inspiration for the piece: the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

All local performances begin at 8:30 p.m.; admission is $6 to $10, plus a per-vehicle park entrance fee. For details, visit www.nowornevertheatre.com or call 303-545-9272.
Sat., Aug. 2, 8:30 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 9, 8:30 p.m., 2008

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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