Playbill: Three New Plays in Denver September 4-6

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…

Ten Fun Front Range Events for Labor Day Weekend

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 on Clean Jokes, Letterman, Red Rocks and Top Five

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…

Review: Bright Ideas Is a Class Act at Avenue Theater

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…

The Ten Best Comedy Events in Denver in September

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…

Playbill: Four Front Range Plays and Performances for August 27-29

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…

Review: Relatively Speaking Brings Early Ayckbourn to Germinal Stage

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…

The Odd Couple—The Female Version, Pump Boys and Dinettes Closing

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…

Playbill: Plan Ahead for Denver’s New Theater Season

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…

Ron Funches on His Debut Album, Video Games and Hulk Hogan

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 on Ranch Dressing and the Moment When the Mask Slips Off

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,…

Playbill: Three Front Range Plays and Performances for August 12-16

Global pageantry, dance and history, and a hilarious comedy all have a place on local stages this week, whisking you off to faraway places or taking on all-American pop-culture controversies. Here are the details: Terracotta Warriors 3-D Newman Center for the Performing Arts Through September 6 8 p.m. Tuesdays through…

Review: Pump Boys and Dinettes Is a Tasty, Slight Snack

Pump Boys and Dinettes isn’t so much a play as it is a collection of songs spun around a concept so thin it’s hardly there. The place is a small town on Highway 57 “somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna,” and the protagonists are four guys who work at a…

Emily Coates on Summer Camp and the Denver Improv Community

Spearheaded by Grafenberg Productions, Camp Atlas is a weekly comedy show at the Atlas Theatre that follows the lives of the fictional camp’s counselors and campers as they navigate their hilarious way through “wacky shenanigans.” The cast features local improvisers Peter Nesbitt, Rachel Walker, JuLee Simmons, Dexter Schiller, Trista Charnas, Castle…

Curious Theatre Company Brings New Voices to the Stage

Curious Theatre Company’s catchphrase is “no guts, no story,” and education director Dee Covington — who also directs and acts — has been helping young writers find and tell their own stories for twelve years through Curious New Voices, a summer playwriting festival. During an intense four-week program, students between…

Review: For Phamaly, Cabaret Was a Risky But Successful Choice

Cabaret would not be a risky choice for most theater companies. The musical about life in 1930s Berlin has been performed widely on both professional and community stages since its 1966 Broadway premiere. Based on Christopher Isherwood’s writings about a decadent city and a lost young English singer called Sally…

The Ten Best Comedy Events in Denver in August

Though most Deverites prefer to while away their hazy August days with poolside day-drinking and late-summer languor, their ventures into the temperate night will reward them with a bounty of belly laughs. Our city’s fine comedy clubs, theaters and breweries have shows to suit every taste and budget. Despite the…

Marc Maron on Interviewing Obama, Dead Trolls and the Maronation Tour

Most comedy nerds are already familiar with Marc Maron’s biography, since he’s perhaps the world’s most renowned podcaster. Maron rose to prominence in the alt-comedy scene of the ’90s before floundering through a few TV and radio gigs that never felt like a perfect fit; despite racking up over forty…

Edith Weiss, Director of The Odd Couple at the Barth, Keeps Us Laughing

Edith Weiss is giggling. She’s talking about the July 23 opening of The Odd Couple (Female Version) that she’s directing at the historic Barth Hotel downtown, and the cast’s enthusiasm for slapstick acrobatics. “Leslie O’Carroll is doing things I would have never asked her to do,” says Weiss. “She is fearless. She…