For those of us whose hearts belong to the arts, it was discouraging to see Republican opponents of the economic stimulus package — signed into law by President Barack Obama last week in Denver — use the paltry $50 million increase in the budget for the National Endowment for the…
Ary Stillman. Singer gallery director Simon Zalkind is a brilliant curator who has made the humble Mizel Arts & Culture Center an important destination for art lovers. Being a Jewish institution, the Singer often features shows devoted to the efforts of Jewish artists, and that’s the case with Ary Stillman:…
As You Like It. It doesn’t get more minimal than this: As You Like It performed by six people on a stage where the set consists of little besides a large rock, swaths of fabric and a wooden swing; echoing footsteps announce an actor’s entry minutes before he actually appears;…
Paragon Theatre’s production of Love Song represents the best kind of marriage between a script and a theater company: The play provides fascinating, quirky roles that make actors look good, and where it has flaws, the production counters them. This is the story of Beane, a sad, lonely, crazy man…
Numerous reviews of Donkey Punch, an alternately glossy and loony thriller that debuts at Starz FilmCenter this week, have argued that the opening portions of the film, in which a trio of British party girls vacationing in Spain hook up with a group of randy young sailors on a lavish…
If Joaquin Phoenix, who plays a lovelorn bachelor in James Gray’s Two Lovers, was twelve years old, the movie might make a touching, if not noticeably fresh, romantic drama for tweens. Not that adults don’t nurse unhealthy crushes and regress madly under the pressure of hopeless infatuation, which may be…
Numerous reviews of Donkey Punch, an alternately glossy and loony thriller that debuts at Starz FilmCenter this week, have argued that the opening portions of the film, in which a trio of British party girls vacationing in Spain hook up with a group of randy young sailors on a lavish…
Spark Gallery is the granddaddy of artist cooperatives in Denver, and that means it’s also the godmother of the city’s contemporary art scene. This position has been bolstered over the years by the high quality of its members, who reflect the full range of artistic experience, from younger artists to…
Choreographer/dancer David Dorfman of David Dorfman Dance says his figurative, representational style moves in and out of favor, and right now, riding a wave of Obama-inspired national hope, it seems to be making a comeback, along with the ’60s-based ideas of community participation and taking action toward change. The time,…
It’s hard to believe that The General, now considered to be silent-film comic Buster Keaton’s finest effort, was a flop in its day. Defined throughout by the clever train chase that propels the choreographed flick’s plot, it’s also the unconditionally perfect showcase for Keaton’s imperturbable, stoic style of comedy, which…
“It’s just another one of those silly things we decided to do on a whim. We don’t know anything about musicals, just like none of us knew how to ice skate before we made Kafka on Ice. But we’re all really the jump-in-with-two-feet kind of people.” Buntport Theater troupe member…
Times are tough all around, but no one wants to hear about another independent theater company biting the dust. And though we all know that folks in the arts are among the first to suffer when wallets are thin, it’s no less shocking to hear that Boulder’s brave little Theatre13…
In 1997, the Colorado Ballet took a chance on an up-and-coming young choreographer. Christopher Wheeldon was still a dancer with the New York City Ballet when he was invited to Colorado to choreograph a dance rendition of the Shakespearean classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Today Wheeldon is world-renowned, and the…
The Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art will stick its toes in new waters tonight when poets from Denver’s Lighthouse Writers Workshop drop in to read original poetry written in response to selected works in the venue’s current exhibit, Colorado Abstraction: Paintings and Sculpture. The poets, including Dee Casalaina,…
The American Place Theatre’s one-man touring presentation of The Kite Runner lands at the Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 South Allison Parkway, tonight. Although it has been pared down significantly from the original text, the entire performance is drawn directly from the book. “The uniqueness of having this story told through…
When Bobcat Goldthwait started doing standup in the 1980s, he was on the alternative side of comedy before it was alternative. The way he sees it, he’s like Iggy Pop, who was punk before there was such a thing. Goldthwait has also acted in quite a few films in addition…
When Colorado playwright Gene Kato first assembled a group of local actors to read his script for 10 Pin Alley, the reaction from the readers was, “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever read in my life.” “But everyone had such a great time reading it,” Kato says, “that we…
George Thorogood drinks alone, and now we know why. With a beverage in tow, it’s hard to shake hands, throw your arm around a girl or slap someone on the back without spilling. If only Thorogood had a Beer Buckle, he’d be able to share that bourbon, Scotch and beer…
Forget the blockbuster live-action G.I. Joe movie coming out this summer. It’s sure to ruin your childhood memories and leave you wishing you’d stuck with something more true to the source material — something like Gio Toninelo’s G.I. Joe Fest, a celebration of stop-motion animated films created with real G.I…
Generation after generation has grown up with Charles M. Schulz’s iconic comic strip, Peanuts. We grew to love anxious Charlie Brown, security-blanket-grasping Linus, bossy Lucy, piano-playing Schroeder, little yellow Woodstock and, of course, Snoopy, the beagle with big dreams who usually acted more human than doglike. While society was turned…
I was just wondering the other day: What’s the haps at the Denver Community Museum, the pop-up Platte Valley venue offering rotating exhibits of themed artworks and other contributions made by regular old citizens like you and me? A lot, it turns out: Currently on view through this Friday, March…
Psst! Here’s a little secret: I’m not really a fan of New York City. I get that it’s a cultural mecca, chock-full of the latest in art, food, theater, yadda yadda — I fully understand the pull of the city. It’s an exciting, cutting-edge place to live. But I’m a…
