Long before Brecht, long before postmodernism, Shakespeare understood the usefulness of self-referential moments in theater — those moments when the audience is reminded that what they’re seeing is a fiction, a construct. At the very beginning of Henry V, the Chorus cautions us that we’re in a theater and apologizes…
A pastor performing a baptism drops the mic in the baptismal pool, electrocuting himself and the baptismal candidate, and things pretty much go downhill from there. That’s the basic set-up of Denver author Tiffany Quay Tyson’s Three Rivers, which follows the parallel narratives of three characters as a flood wrecks their…
Once again, the Colorado Theatre Guild has announced the winners of the Henrys — Colorado’s equivalent of the Tony Awards — and once again the results announced last night are difficult to figure out. As before, there are a lot of wins for the Denver Center Theatre Company and not…
There’s probably only one humanist film that opens with the words “Merry Christmas Eve, bitch!” accompanied by the proffering of a single, sprinkle-dusted doughnut. In Sean Baker’s Tangerine, best friends, transgender women and prostitutes Sin-Dee and Alexandra (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor, respectively) catch up at a doughnut joint…
The opening of Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw, shot in gritty, grayed-out tones, is a grim harbinger: A fighter getting ready for the ring holds up his meaty paws for the ritualistic wrapping of gauze and tape. His gloves are slipped over the wrappings, and then they’re taped on, too — but…
The third Biennial of the Americas featured an event last weekend at Civic Center Park that included food trucks, family-friendly fun and performances by Bomba Estéreo, Companhia Urbana de Dança, Black Violin, Ian Cooke and the CSO, Wonderbound and Jeremy Bailey. Beginning on July 14 with opening week events, and…
As the title implies, Nancy Stohlman’s The Vixen Scream and Other Bible Stories is a weird-ass book. Aside from including copious fun facts about foxes and the story of a man whose wife is turning into a piano, it’s also presented in a format that, while still unusual, is gaining literary…
Silents never actually were. According to composer Rodney Sauer, musical accompanists always played for silent film screenings, a feat that will be replicated by his Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra this week when it underscores the innovative 1930 German film People on Sunday as part of Boulder’s Chautauqua Silent Film…
You can find art all over town — not just on gallery walls. In this series, we’ll be looking at some of the local artists who serve up their work in coffeehouses and other non-gallery businesses around town. “Growing up, I was always the kind of kid who would commandeer…
Light up the group text, because there are plenty of fun free events you and your friends will want to hit up this week. Rep your neighborhood, hear lots of fiction fast and get on board with all kinds of games. For more events, check the online Westword calendar, and let…
One night just before college graduation, Amy Butcher’s close friend Kevin met her for a drink and walked her home. It was just a one-block walk on a warm night in sleepy Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, but he insisted, and she let him see her to her door. Then he went home…
This week in Denver galleries and performance spaces, you can experience the sophisticated work of an American original, take a walk with some figurative dogs or wander through the technology-scape with a Colorado performance collective. What are you waiting for? Here are the details: John Buck Robischon Gallery Through August…
Following her recent pilgrimage to the Philippines, designer and Fashion Denver owner Brandi Shigley decided to move her company headquarters from 1070 Bannock Street into the Green Spaces, 1368 26th Street, a warehouse in the heart of RiNo. “The reason for our move is to simplify,” she explains. “We had a lot of…
If science fiction and economic trends can agree on anything, it’s that robots are destined to become our merciless overlords. You can prepare yourself for this horrific inevitability, or even study how you might fight it, with a trip to the Longmont Museum for its new robocentric film series, launching…
The Biennial of the Americas has already given Denver a marching band continuously walking across the street, Spanish karaoke and orchestral dinosaur calls. Tomorrow members of the Playground Ensemble will team up with young composers to present New Music NOW! The Playground Ensemble is a group of classical musicians who…
Summer’s almost halfway over. Don’t let a weekend go by without drenching yourself in the sunshine and getting a bite of all of these tasty events. In these three days, you can party with the whole city, hang out with dragons and laugh your nights away. Drop a comment if…
If having the pants scared off you seems like a sexy proposition, get ready for your nightmarish dreams to come true. On Saturday Burlesque Nouveau will present The Dark Side of Burlesque, a terrifying tease show in which a bevy of talented performers pay tribute to the macabre with nods to…
Long gone are the days when depictions of reporters in movies were reduced to a fedora with a white “Press” card tucked into the bow. We have Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in All The President’s Men and Peter Finch’s epic cry of “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take…
When Andrea Moore’s artists’ residency culminates in an opening, it’s nothing glamorous. After all, it happens in her garage. “It’s rough,” she says. “There’s only one finished wall, so it’s not like there’s a whole lot of presentation space.” Still, there’s something charming about The Detached Garage — literally the…
When you’re young and behind bars, it can be difficult to keep hope alive. And it can get even tougher after setbacks such as the recent Colorado Supreme Court decisions that did little to modify the sentences of 48 prisoners in the state prison system who are serving what amounts…
Harry Potter has been gone long enough for a bit of reflection. The final book hit shelves eight years ago, almost to the day. The final film, four years ago. Since then, the world has been largely free of new Harry Potter material, apart from the reams of fan fiction…
#17: Jacquelyn Connolly Curators facilitate innovation in art, and as such, Jacquelyn Connolly has been a trendsetter in the field locally. Now the director and curator at Emmanuel Gallery on the Auraria campus, Connolly’s left a trail of past good calls at Denver International Airport, where she previously sculpted the…
