Boulder dancer/choreographer Laura Ann Samuelson is excited about, but also terrified of, what her Failure Festival will bring, and she’s really not sure yet what it all means. But that’s no reason to dismiss the idea of the three-day multidisciplinary event, which invites local actors, writers, filmmakers, multimedia artists, dancers…
This year, Lakewood’s 40 West Arts District decided to do something different for Denver Arts Week as a way to separate itself from the pack, says spokeswoman Julie Byerlein. Instead of the usual wine-and-cheese reception, 40 West Gallery started out with a multi-artist exhibit of food-themed works, titled Farm to…
#46: Susan Lyles Denver actor and director Susan Lyles saw a gap and for the last ten years has made filling it her major concern: She took on the mission of showing deserved support for overlooked women playwrights by forming Denver’s And Toto too Theatre Company, a group solely dedicated…
#47: Kara Duncan Through the ’90s, Kara Duncan went the art-school route, finally ending up at Cranbrook, where she earned an MFA in ceramics under the tutelage of Tony Hepburn. But in 2004, the artist began a new journey, when construction began on Vertigo Art Space, the gallery she’s run…
So far, the Denver Center Theatre Company’s new season has focused on classics — or close enough — with a new rendition of an old musical (The Unsinkable Molly Brown) and an in-the-round adaptation of one of the world’s most-read dystopian novels, Lord of the Flies. So maybe it’s time…
The Kinky Boots team of Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein was a match made in heaven when it came to writing a multiple Tony Award-winning Broadway hit; the final product — a hilarious romp about the owner of a shoe factory and the sassy drag queen who saves his business…
While a tense Denver Center Theatre Company stage adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies goes on around the corner at the Space Theatre, Off-Center@The Jones will be making a delightful mockery of it, beginning with tonight’s 8 p.m. premiere of >Lord of the Butterflies, a musical parody featuring…
The University of Colorado’s International Film Series is mining the series Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema on Wednesday nights this fall, and this evening’s screening of Krzysztof Zanussi’s 1972 flick The Illumination fits right into Polish film’s experimental mold. Outwardly the story of a physics student waylaid in…
Nearly every adult in America read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies in middle school and has some memory of the novel’s nonstop, gut-wrenching intensity. Just imagine roping in all of the book’s politics and violence on the compact stage-in-the-round at the Denver Center Theatre Company’s Space Theatre. That’s the…
Few Halloween club-night promoters meld partying with the arts more seamlessly than the Fantastic Hosts, a private local group for young professionals that opens some of its events to the public. Tonight’s Fantastic Ugly Bug Ball is the group’s spooktastic love letter to the fun-loving, diverse and artsy crowds of…
It’s been seven years since Boulder’s Frequent Flyers aerial dance troupe put on its sophisticated, Halloween-friendly show Theatre of the Vampires, partly because it’s so costly to stage. “The production qualities are high, and it’s expensive for a reason — it’s the real deal,” notes Frequent Flyers founder Nancy Smith…
You’re never too old to have style: That’s the message in Lithuanian-born filmmaker Lina Plioplyte’s documentary Advanced Style, screening tonight at the Sie FilmCenter as part of the Denver Film Society’s Women+Film series. Plioplyte, who financed the film through crowdfunding, will appear via Skype at the event to discuss the…
Catch up with a somber chapter in the history of Jewish culture at the Mizel Arts and Culture Center or follow an even darker path and get in the Halloween spirit at local stages this weekend. Keep reading for details. See also: Vampire Weekend: Theatre of the Vampires…
#48: Jill Hadley Hooper The work of artist/illlustrator Jill Hadley Hooper can be seen nationally in the pages of the New Yorker and the New York Times, but here in Denver, she’s just one of us. Hard-working and community-minded, the 2007 Westword MasterMind in the fine arts category helped found…
Zombies — and other random costumed skaters — took to the rink Friday at the Exdo Event Center for a Halloween edition of the monthly Roll skate-dancing party. Photographer Scott Lenz dared to shoot these Zombie Apocalypse photos; keep reading for a sneak peek at the slide show. See also:…
This week, sit at the feet of an eminent poet, celebrate a rustic sleuth or examine the farm-to-fork experience in a new cookbook with a local twist. Keep reading for details. See also: Boulder Book Store Presents Chuck Palahniuk…
Colors may have faded in the mountains, but the local art scene is full of stunning visuals, including the otherworldly imagery of Paul Gillis at Rule, a group show exploring the cutting edge of realism at 1261, and fresh offerings from the local co-op Core and the artist-run Valkarie Gallery…
#49: Tariana Navas-Nieves As Director of Cultural Affairs for Denver Arts & Venues, Tariana Navas-Nieves puts her background as a museum curator to work in a million different ways. As she notes in detail below, Navas-Nieves oversees every aspect of the city’s cultural face, from its highly visible public art…
Some people say that you haven’t really seen the continuing Chihuly outdoor exhibit at the Denver Botanic Gardens until you’ve seen it at night, when the nature-inspired, site-specific glass installations are illuminated with spotlights (and from within using neon tubes, in the case of one spectacular golden tower). Up until…
A taste of work from the University of Colorado at Boulder’s arts/academic glitterati will be shared in Denver tonight when the literary press and tiny multi-arts venue Counterpath celebrates the release of internationally known author/artist Mark Amerika’s new book Locus Solus, while simultaneously launching the monthlong exhibit Albert Chong: The…
Ruth Cave Flowers, who moved to Boulder from Cripple Creek with her grandmother in about 1917, came to the foothills town looking for an education but was nearly denied her diploma from Boulder High School because of her color. Flowers went on to became one of the first African-American women…
To get in the mood for Halloween, you can head up to Colorado Springs for a campy combination of ’60s slasher and beach movies, or hear spooky stories come alive onstage in Denver; meanwhile, dance aficionados can get their fix at an intergenerational mashup in Boulder. Keep reading for details…
