The word “robot” first appeared in the play Rossum’s Universal Robotsor R.U.R, written in the 1920s by Czech author Karel Capek. In it, a group of scientists create human-like creatures that ultimately rise against their makers. In the ensuing battle, human beings are wiped out and the formula for creating…

The Boulder theater scene has sprung to life lately, after several years when pretty much the only choice locals had were the — admittedly excellent but generally traditional — offerings of Boulder’s Dinner Theatre. Anyone wanting new or boundary-breaking works had to travel to Denver. But now new or newish…

Blithe Spirit doesn’t mean anything. It’s not a critique of upper-class society or an evocative exploration of the border between the living and the dead, despite all the ghostly goings-on. Even though Noel Coward wrote the play in 1941, when the bombs were dropping on London, there are no socio-political…

Marcus Gardley, one of the five writers featured in this year’s New Play Summit, has received several honors and awards — including the PEN/Laura Pels award for Mid-Career Playwright — and has been widely produced. His Black Odyssey, an ambitious, large-cast production that most theaters would have trouble accommodating, was…

Ed, Downloaded. Michael Mitnick’s Ed, Downloaded, which was commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company, had a reading at last year’s New Play Summit and is currently receiving its world premiere. It tells the story of a young man with a terminal illness who is engaged to an intellectual Englishwoman,…

Here’s a play that creeps into your consciousness on little cat feet, so quiet and unassuming, so slow-moving at first, so indifferent to the flashier aspects of conflict and plot, and finally so emotionally absorbing that after you’ve seen it, you find yourself being visited as you drift off to…

Blithe Spirit, now showing at the Arvada Center, doesn’t mean anything. It’s not a critique of upper-class society or an evocative exploration of the border between the living and the dead — despite all the ghostly goings-on. Even though Noel Coward wrote the play in 1941 when bombs were dropping…

Laura Norman is one of the more talented actors around, subtle and intelligent, capable of deep emotion but never sentimental or hackneyed. She can rescue a mediocre play and add a very specific kind of shine to an excellent one. In 2005, she received a Best of Denver award for…

Early in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, there’s a longish scene of almost pure exposition as Prospero, a powerful scholar and magician, explains to his daughter Miranda why they are stranded on an enchanted island. Prospero had been the Duke of Milan until his brother stole his dukedom and sent them both…

Sometimes the small, unpretentious shows provide the happiest evenings of theater. Motherhood Out Loud is a compendium of short pieces by several well-known playwrights — including Michele Lowe, Lisa Loomer and Theresa Rebeck, all of whom have had work shown at the Denver Center — compiled by Susan Rose and…

Ed, Downloaded. Michael Mitnick’s Ed, Downloaded, which was commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company, had a reading at last year’s New Play Summit and is currently receiving its world premiere. It tells the story of a young man with a terminal illness who is engaged to an intellectual Englishwoman,…

Motherhood Out Loud, which opened at the Avenue Theater last week, is a collection of short plays on motherhood by several well-known playwrights. You meet bored mothers, elderly mothers, stepmothers, adoring mothers, a mother accompanying her tween-age autistic son on his first date, another trying to protect a seven-year-old son…

It’s safe to say Vintage Theatre’s RFK is a smash. A one-man exploration of the life and times of Robert Kennedy by Jack Holmes, it garnered excellent reviews (including mine) and a huge amount of Facebook chatter, with dozens of people who had seen the performance sharing information, congratulating the…

Michael Mitnick’s Ed, Downloaded, which was commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company, had a reading at last year’s New Play Summit and is currently receiving its world premiere. It tells the story of a young man with a terminal illness who is engaged to an intellectual Englishwoman, Selene, but…

Now in a regional premiere at Curious Theatre Company, Maple and Vine contrasts life in modern America with life in 1955 — the changes in mores and culture, the differences in eating habits between now and a time when lattes were unknown (as were whole-wheat bread and any herb other…

Despite all the buzz to the contrary, you never really forget that the horses in War Horse are puppets — at least I never did. They suggest living creatures, but they don’t embody them. You know that Joey, the magnificent chestnut that dominates the action, isn’t flesh and blood: You…

The Denver Center Theatre Company has long been a pioneer in the creative use of multi-media, and four years ago artistic director Kent Thompson commissioned a work from playwright Michael Mitnick. The intention was to have multi-media considered from the earliest conceptual stages rather than being “layered into a script…