Performing Arts

I’ve seen a lot of let’s-tear-each-other-to-pieces plays, but I’ve never seen one this skin-strippingly nasty or verbally exhilarating as Dinner, now at Edge Theater.

Changes are afoot at the Colorado Ballet. Principal dancer Maria Mosina retired, soloist Asuka Sasaki took her place, and now another principal, Sharon Wehner, who danced with the company for 22 years, will move on at the end of the 2017-2018 season. But the biggest changes could be with the audience.

Nassim Soleimanpour’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit is full of twists. For starters, the actor doesn’t see the script until he gets on the stage. For another, a different actor plays the lead — and offers the voice of the playwright — every night.

The summer theater season is winding down, but there are still a few worthwhile productions in town. Keep reading for capsule reviews of two current shows that both close this weekend.

Denver is positively bustling with activity all weekend long, which means that thrifty locals have plenty of opportunities to enjoy everything our city’s arts scene has to offer without breaking the bank.

In It’s Only a Paper Moon Hanging Over Immigration History, which is being workshopped at the Dairy Arts Center, Motus Theater’s Kirsten Wilson wants to explore what constitutes race and whiteness, interact with audiences and encourage questioning and exploration.

Though we’re already halfway through August, it’s still summertime…and nothing makes the living easier than a week full of great entertainment. Whether you’d like to picnic in the park during a blockbuster screening, enjoy laughs and quaffs at brewery-based comedy shows and Shakespeare parodies, or gather with a gaggle of…

Some theater companies preach, some educate, some exist simply to provide entertainment, whether big, brassy musicals or dated comedies with gentle jokes that go down easy. But the Edge Theater in Lakewood has a vibe all its own, so it’s shocking to hear it’s taking a break.

The arrival of a new week means a fresh crop of entertainments even the thriftiest Denverite can enjoy. On August 7, entrance to all Colorado state parks is free — a bonus left over from the August 1 Colorado Day. After that, whether you fancy outdoor screenings of classic movies, dance lessons, or craft beer and comedy, there’s plenty more to do all week, and all for free.

August may be the final month of a particularly muggy summer, but Denver comedy is just getting warmed up.

As an impressionistic exploration of evil, a take on the sheer horror of JonBenét’s murder, House of Gold is absorbing and effective. But when the play flattens this once-living-and-breathing child into a symbol, it feels like a violation.

The two main characters in Bad Jews are loathsome, but their venomous exchanges are hilarious and insanely inventive, and they’re what give this swift, weirdly exhilarating play its force and energy.

Monday has arrived yet again, but rather than submitting to workaday doldrums, we humbly suggest reading up on all the diversions awaiting you this week. While a day job may claim your time and attention from morning to afternoon, we hope your evenings are as free as the following five events. With outdoor screenings of goofy ’80s cinema classics, record swaps, comedy and Lucha Libre wrestling, Denver has enough free entertainment in store this week that you may even forget you have to work again tomorrow.

Miners Alley is presenting Broadway Bound, the third play in Neil Simon’s trilogy about the Jerome family.

Life and art are inseparable for the members of Phamaly, the first theater company in the country whose members all have some kind of physical ailment, and they show it in Annie.

Sweaty locals refuse to allow the heat to defeat them at this point in the summer. Luckily, for adventurous entertainment seekers, delights abound all around town this week.

As another weekend approaches, many Denverites may find themselves searching for something to do yet despairing over how to fund their fun. Fret not, fellow poor, for Colorado’s creative community has yet again scheduled enough free or cheap entertainment to keep locals giggling and wiggling for the next five days.

An accomplished TV writer and former correspondent on the unfortunately canceled Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell, Hari Kondabolu has emerged as one of the sharpest political commentators in comedy – even if it’s a label that bums him out.

Terrence McNally knows theater — as do the folks at Spotlight and Vintage Theatre — and his It’s Only a Play, which the two local companies are producing together, flays the skin off that lunatic, star-studded, crazily artificial yet deeply heartfelt profession.

As Denver grows with each passing month, its residents, both new and old, have more and more opportunities to participate in a thriving cultural scene. These are five free things to do this week.

The fireworks may be over, but Denver’s creative community has plenty of delights in store for adventurous and thrifty locals that will light up their days and nights.

Baby Boomer Baby, a one-man show written and now performed by Tommy Koenig at the Dairy Arts Center, is a musical trip from the ’60s to today. But it strikes some sour notes.