Annaleigh Ashford, a Wheat Ridge High School grad who’s now a successful New York actress, will be back home this weekend to perform Annaleigh Ashford – Lost in the Stars at the Garner Galleria Theatre. Not yet thirty, Ashford has been in five big Broadway productions, including Wicked and Rent, collecting…
When he was a freshman at the University of Illinois, game developer Zhenghua Yang got sick. The eighteen-year-old’s symptoms started small: a purplish rash on his elbow, a blemish on his face that kept oozing blood — then a nosebleed that gushed for fourteen hours straight. After a test at…
It may be hard to remember now, but there once was a time when Daenerys Targaryan was the most exciting character on Game of Thrones. Played by Emilia Clarke, the exiled royal best embodied the HBO drama’s paradoxical appeal: its mix of historical authenticity and rousing fantasy. Reduced to currency…
Walker Fine Art has long included photography in its repertoire, so it makes sense that director Bobbi Walker would come up with something as strong as Unconscious Metaphors for her gallery’s Month of Photography entry. Two bodies of work by Anne Arden McDonald open the show. First are self-portraits, in…
A trio of unique collaborations take the stage this weekend, bringing combinations of dance, theater, words and visuals to audiences in search of new ways of looking at life, both high-flying and down-to-earth. Here’s how to take a trip into space or venture through life’s backyard without ever leaving your…
Unabashed in its own gleeful puerility, the once-ubiquitous “Dr. Fart” tag was cheekily crowned Best Unofficial New Public Art in the Best of Denver 2014. Some people saw the tags as an almost dadaist joke, others saw them as petty vandalism — but nearly everyone saw them. The good doctor has…
Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? … Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? … Who taught you to hate being what God gave you?…
Around this time last year, some residents of the Whittier neighborhood started receiving copies of an anonymous racist letter. Though it contained only two simple lines, expressing who wasn’t “welcome” in one of Denver’s oldest ’hoods, the community united to fight back against the hateful message. This determination — along…
It was was a glammed-out evening of caterwauling in outer space on Saturday night at Mutiny Information Cafe’s Ziggy Stardust-themed Meownage Daydream party, which featured the legendary WhiteCatPink with the Girl Kitty Dancers, Vi-Kitty, Ally Kit-Kat and other special guests. Photographer Scott Lentz captured all the feline fun. Now see…
The word “weird” doesn’t really mean much anymore. It’s been diluted by overuse and too many applications — a food can taste “weird”; a person can act “weird”; even a place can make you feel “weird.” But when I think about the kind of art I like and the moments…
Regrets, I’ve had a few. This week I did an interview with photographer Amanda Tipton, who is working on a project about, as she calls them, “strong choices.” She and Sam Pike of The Forum Stories came to my studio, and we talked about the circumstances around my choice to…
#29: Phil Solomon In the realm of experimental film, Phil Solomon is a name to remember: His work has been oft-awarded, screened internationally and exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Biennial in New York. For nearly 25 years, he’s been sharing his pioneering techniques and inspiring…
Denver artist Alan Topp first encountered the idea of a zine swap via tumblr, where he connected with a group of zinesters based in the United Kingdom. The zinesters were to submit several of their own publications in exchange for zines published by other artists. Attracted to the community building…
In the ten years since I first saw a Denver production of Lee Blessing’s Two Rooms, the political shadows have deepened and the play’s meanings multiplied: Ripple Effect Theatre, a relatively new company, shows courage, insight and ambition in reviving this play. The two rooms of the title are the…
The Longest Ride is Nicholas Sparks’s most ambitious novel. Instead of one couple, there’s two — and he’s even stretched out of his blond/Southern/Christian comfort zone to make the older pair Jewish. For balance in the film version of The Longest Ride, and for pandering to the powerful conservative audience…
When you’re young, to be old — even just the 44 kind of old — is unimaginable. Yet no one who has ever turned 44, or 54 or 74, can tell you how it happened. There’s no single moment of passing to the other side of the looking glass; the…
In 2012, in an act of civil disobedience, dozens of urban farmers gathered and took over a piece of land called the Gill Tract, an area once dedicated to agricultural studies and owned by the University of California, Berkeley. Occupy the Farm, which screens Tuesday, April 7 at the Sie…
When Denver’s Fantastic Hosts throw a white party, you know it won’t just be about the color. Though white costumes did figure into the party mix on Saturday night at the Exdo Event Center, the Hosts’ Light Fantastic bash borrowed some pages from the Burning Man vibe, with light installations,…
Mondays can be bad, but not as bad as the one in Cooties, the “horror comedy” that will kick off this year’s Stanley Film Festival, which runs from April 30 to May 3 at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. The fest announced today that actor Elijah Wood’s horror imprint, SpectreVision,…
This week opens the book with a focus on Colorado authors (including Sarah Elizabeth Schantz, the subject of this week’s Westword cover story) and a new ripple in the metro-area book-store biz. Here’s how to support your local authors and your local bookstores. Sarah Elizabeth Schantz, Fig Boulder Book Store…
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. Jon Lambert was born in Colorado Springs, but he first got serious…
The 67th annual Conference on World Affairs is bringing the world to Boulder for for a free-for-all of free programs this week — but there are also plenty of free activities in Denver, where you can test your cultural knowledge, look deep into a painting and geek out with the…
