Ariann Black Makes Magic in a Male-Dominated Field

Ariann Black has worked as a professional magician since 1990, and she’s a master of her enchanting art form. The Canada-born magician began practicing the art of illusion when she was just four years old, working her way through magic school and onto the world’s stage. She’s performed on television…

Playbill: Three New Plays in Denver for March 19-22

Spring has sprung, and theater is blooming across town. This weekend a world premiere will launch this year’s greatly expanded Athena Project Festival, while the longstanding Evergreen Players light up the foothills with a collection of one-acts and the Arvada Center puts audiences on the edge of their seats with…

ScreenPLAY Brings Back The Breakfast Club Live Tonight

For Denver theater company ScreenPLAY, less is more. Each of its one-time-only performances sees a rotating cast of established Denver actors take on the script of a cult-classic film using no sets and only minimal props and costumes. Instead, the production relies on acting skill and audience interaction to create…

Five Shows on Denver Stages, Including Two Closing This Weekend

On local stages this weekend, you can catch everything from songs of the Harlem Renaissance to the wit of the late Molly Ivins in the final performances of  Red Hot Patriot revival. Here are capsule reviews of five productions this weekend. Ain’t Misbehavin’. “The Reefer Song,” performed by Leonard E…

Theater Review: In the Red and Brown Water Is Hit and Myth at Curious

Playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney grew up in a Miami housing project, attended graduate school at Yale, where he worked as August Wilson’s assistant, and went on to fame and acclamation as an entirely new voice in theater while still in his twenties. Curious Theatre Company staged McCraney’s The Brothers Size…

Review: Ain’t Misbehavin’ Hits All the Right Notes

Talk about a reefer of five feet long Not too fat and not too strong You get high, but not for long If you’re a viper. Or — as sung by Leonard E. Barrett, on a luxuriously long exhale in Ain’t Misbehavin’ — a vipah. This number, performed with languid,…

Ben Roy on Those Who Can’t, His New Album and Leaving Denver

Those who’ve only seen Denver comedian and Westword cover boy Ben Roy his brief television appearances are missing the singular experience of watching him perform live, when they can hear his jokes in their windy entirety. But between moonlighting as the frontman for local music-scene champions Spells and winging his way across…

Photos: Burlesque, Drag and Comedy with Haus of Dollz

Haus of Dollz brought a hot variety show of of burlesque, drag and comedy — something for everyone — to the Exdo Event Center over the weekend. Here’s a sampler of Brandon Marshall’s photos from the show; if you like what you see, check out the full Haus of Dollz…

The Ten Best Comedy Shows in Denver for March 2015

In most places, March is a month of renewal, of freshness and growth. In Denver, however, March exists merely to taunt snow-wearied Coloradans with the false promise of spring. Though the sun may continue to forsake our fair city, Denverites are fortunate to have plentiful opportunities to bask in the…

Quinn Marchman of the Black Actors Guild on Doin’ It in Denver

This Sunday, the Black Actors Guild will launch Soul Food Standup at the Savoy — and that’s just one of the busy group’s projects. Last week Westword profiled the Black Actors Guild, a multi-faceted performance troupe that has been working hard on stages around Denver for the last few years. We spoke…