John Patrick Shanley first visited his father’s birthplace in Ireland in 1993, and Outside Mullingar, which opened last year in New York, is a clear response to what he found there. We know this Ireland he depicts — rural, muddy and barren; we know of its isolated farms and the…
Boulder resident Arrow Zoe Amelia, a 29-year-old Florida native and Naropa University graduate, was a key member of the now-defunct Language of Fish Collective Arts in Boulder from 2011-2014. LOFCA, as it was affectionately known, was a “performance company” that utilized the diverse talents of numerous young local women to…
How do you Fringe? Do you pick names out of a hat, or consult a Ouija board? Part of the fun at any fringe festival is deciding what you’re going to see, and at the Boulder International Fringe Festival, that means picking and choosing from theatrical fare on display everywhere…
American Girls might be the antidote to Girls Only, a giggly, anodyne and essentially contentless production based on the teenage diaries of its two creators: never mean, never disconcerting, never surprising — the kind of show you take in when you crave drinks with your girlfriends and don’t have the…
At the dramatic end of the first act of Matilda the Musical, the much-wronged little heroine shouts out her rage, pain and defiance in one charged sentence — and a murmur arises from the audience: “What did she say?” That’s right: It’s impossible to understand half the dialogue. Or the…
The Boulder International Fringe Festival has no permanent venue and presents twelve days of events featuring nearly three dozen productions and many more performers, staged all over Boulder. So how do viewers prepare for the Fringe binge that starts this week? “It really is kind of like geocaching,” says Alex…
For the twelve years John Moore was a theater critic for the Denver Post, the journalist kept finding himself wanting to do more within the creative community he was covering. Moore had become well-acquainted with the players in the scene and, as a result, he’d learned just how many of…
This season Denver stages offer theatrical fare from our own back yard and across the nation on levels both intimate and brashly big-budget. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the best local openings this weekend. Colorado Theatre Festival Robert and Judi Newman Center for Theatre Education 1101 13th Street…
Marty DeRosa is a comedian, podcaster and wrestling super fan who lives in Los Angeles. DeRosa, who got started in Chicago, created the insightful podcast, Wrestling with Depression, where he interviews comedians, wrestlers and other artists about their struggles with mental illness. He also runs several shows with fan favorite wrestler Colt…
Theater is back on track, with many fall season offerings debuting on Labor Day Weekend. From Aurora’s Vintage Theatre to Lakewood’s acclaimed Edge Theater and the Bug in Denver, the pickings are suddenly looking good. Any Given Monday Vintage Theatre Friday, September 4 through October 25 7:30 p.m. Fridays and…
Summer doesn’t officially end for another few weeks, but this is the last big weekend of summer fun for most folks. Fortunately, there’s plenty of fun to be had, right outside your front door and all along the Front Range. Here are ten ways to have fun this weekend without…
Brian Regan is one of the very few comedians who’s achieved an arena-headlining level of success on the appeal of his jokes alone. Regan’s observations on everyday peccadilloes and his emphatic delivery have won him generations of fans, from Mormon elders to precocious young comedy nerds in training. Unlike many other…
The Avenue Theater, long known for comedy, has been undergoing a prolonged transition since the departure of artistic director Bob Wells. The Avenue is a shabby, comfortable and unpretentious theater that you could always visit in your grubbies for a drink or two and a relaxing evening, though every now…
September is dedicated to getting back to business. For everyone from returning students to migratory birds, the long days of sun-dappled leisure are over and work begins anew. While comedy never takes time off, it’s in particularly fine form this month. From living legends to cutting-edge talents, from classy theaters…
Ready to get back into nice, dark theater for a live performance? Small theaters around town are beginning to stir as new seasons get under way, while downtown Fort Collins will throw a Northern Colorado-centric Fringe Festival touting local talent. Say goodbye to summer with these theatrical events. Bright Ideas…
The witty, surprising dialogue is as tangled and twisty, as continually knotting and unfurling, as a ball of wool between the paws of a kitten. Nothing sounds serious, though there’s a whisper of something darker underlying the action, an acknowledgment of the anger and misunderstanding that underlie many marriages, a…
If you haven’t seen <em>Pinter Early & Late</em>, this is your last chance to catch the challenging, enlightening and, yes, entertaining production at Germinal Stage. But there are other worthy shows around town; here are our capsule reviews of a half-dozen current productions that we’ve recently reviewed. The Foreigner: You…
The third High Plains Comedy Festival starts tonight in the Baker neighborhood. Festival founders Andy Juett and Adam Cayton-Holland have created the largest comedy festival in town, with talent ranging wildly from national to local heroes, and activities from standup brunch to highly inappropriate card games. “A lot of different looks, that’s…
Summer might still be going strong, but there are signs that fall is right around the corner: The mornings are cooler, the kids are going back to school and theater companies are beginning to announce their 2015-2016 seasons and opening up ticket sales. Keep an eye on Westword’s theater listings…
Oscar has morphed into Olive and Felix into Florence in The Odd Couple — The Female Version, Neil Simon’s 1980s take on his 1960s hit play, The Odd Couple, which morphed into a movie with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau and then a sitcom featuring Jack Klugman and the inimitable…
Exuding giggly lovability as well as a zen-like center of calm, the comedic persona of Ron Funches is completely sui generis. Like a human Pokémon, Funches is almost cartoonishly adorable — so it’s no wonder he’s found a home doing voiceover work for animated shows like Bob’s Burgers and Bojack…
Kelsie Huff was a mess, a co-dependent drunk from a family of drunks who’d made a shambles of everything in her life. But she’ll tell you that herself — that and a whole lot more about her struggles with alcoholism and her dysfunctional past in Ranch Dressing & Other Coping Mechanisms,…
