The room, with its floor of lighted squares, seems small and isolated in darkness. It’s edged by the black metal railings of the fire escape. This is St. Louis, where author Tennessee Williams grew up, during the impoverished years of the 1930s, and The Glass Menagerie is autobiographical, a memory…
At the start of God of Carnage, four people are sitting in a beautifully appointed living room. The decor (courtesy of Jonathan Scott-McKean) has orange and turquoise notes but is never garish; there’s a vase of flame-colored tulips on the coffee table, which also holds a stack of expensive art…
Family, friends and fans are mourning the loss of Denver comedian Jordan Wieleba. Rushed to the hospital after a severe asthma attack left her in comatose last week, she remained unresponsive and unaware of the well-wishing throngs of visitors she received. Few knew of the seriousness of her circumstances; Wieleba herself had tweeted…
Water by the Spoonful is the second in a trilogy of plays by Quiara Alegría Hudes being shown as part of Curious Theatre Company’s serial storytelling project. The third, The Happiest Song Plays Last, opens next February; the first, Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue, was presented in March. But artistic director…
New Orleans grande dame Violet Venable is interviewing Dr. Cukrowicz. A young researcher, he is setting up a lobotomy clinic and needs money, money that she’s willing to supply if he’ll agree to lobotomize her niece, Catharine. Catharine was on vacation in Europe with Violet’s son, Sebastian, when he died…
T.J. Miller was born and raised in Denver, and now he’s bringing “The Meticulously Ridiculous Tour” to Denver for a last stand on September 16, when he’ll take the stage of the Paramount with his wife, Kate Miller, and Nick Vatterott, for performances that will be filmed live for Miller’s…
The fall arts season is under way, and the Denver Performing Arts Complex is offering a major sneak peak on Saturday morning — complete with mimosas — that promises to show you where the stars of Book of Mormon get ready, as well as the secret passages that ballerinas use to…
Denver’s Phamaly, the first national theater company comprised of actors with varying disabilities, has been a local treasure since it was established in 1989, producing serious theater and regular summer musicals. Through many of those years, actor Regan Linton was at the center of the company’s productions. She was an…
Often it is the case that from bad comes good. For Natalie Brown, it took a few slipped discs, a natural disaster, the untimely death of a loved one and the Great Recession to find her calling: the Phantom Circus, the performance group she founded that will debut at the Oriental…
Local stages are going dark as companies prepare to raise the curtain on their fall seasons. But there are still a few worthwhile productions around town, including The Last Romance at the Barth Hotel. Keep reading for our capsule review of that show, as well as two more. Footloose. The…
As summer draws to a close and the school year begins in earnest, workaday concerns crowd out the carefree vibe of summer. But you still need to get out and enjoy yourself, so we’ve assembled a list of ten shows that demonstrate the wide variety of comedic entertainments in town…
Whether you like your theater ribald, incredibly creative or made up on the spot, there’s something new for you on a stage in Denver this week. The curtain’s rising on a new season; sit yourself down at one of these three shows: The Money Shot Avenue Theater September 1 through…
The Edge Theater Company has never staged a musical during its six years, nor has Edge artistic director Rick Yaconis ever directed one — until now, when Edge is roaring into the new season with a scintillating pop-rock work called Murder Ballad. This isn’t a standard musical. The small-scale, sung-through…
Cameron Esposito is a zeitgeist-seizing standup comedian who’s performed on late-night staples like Conan and The Tonight Show, written regular columns for Vice and The A.V. Club, landed a recurring role on Maron and joined the ensemble cast of the romantic comedy Mother’s Day. Esposito also co-hosts the weekly live show Put…
Frankie and Johnny work at a greasy spoon in New York. He’s a short-order cook and she’s a waitress. When we first encounter them in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, they’re having passionate sex in the dark. Which leaves us, the audience, in the dark, too, listening…
The Boulder Fringe Festival is under way, with performances in unexpected places around the town. In fact, tonight you can see the redoubtable Band of Toughs present its adaptation of As You Like It, which is set in the Forest of Arden, as a kind of primitive rager outside the Highland…
Though they’re usually buried under weightier news stories, mainstream media outlets are full of outlandish tales, bizarre characters and endless comedic possibility — especially this election season. Brent Gill digs up these gems for Infauxmation!, an improvised comedy show that presents a series of wacky news stories to a crew…
It doesn’t so much arrive as it does infiltrate. The Boulder Fringe Festival sweeps into town for its twelfth annual celebration, twelve days beginning August 17, sprouting up in the most unlikely, ad hoc places all over downtown Boulder. Twenty-five acts will freewheel along, entertainers from around the world that…
Daniel Reskin, a transplant from Miami, relocated to Denver with little but solid material and a few connections; he quickly ingratiated himself with the local performance scene. (An under-acknowledged benefit of new residents is that they find opportunity where locals see only wreckage.) Space Owl Alliance, Reskin’s new comedy/music hybrid showcase,…
“The Bug Theatre is truly the most unique performance venue in Denver,” says Deb Flomberg, who’s used the Bug for some very unique performances. But on Friday, August 5, Under the Big Top was all about the Bug itself — the second annual family-friendly event designed to raise funds for…
“The first time I wrote a play, I was teaching high-school theater, 25 years ago,” says John Moore, the award-winning former Denver Post theater critic and current senior arts journalist at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. After that came a long hiatus until Brian Freeland, then artistic director…
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival wraps up its 2016 season this weekend on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. To see if you can still score a ticket, call 303-492-0554 or go to coloradoshakes.org. Read our capsule reviews of three of this season’s shows, all still playing. The Comedy of Errors. Egeon…
