Playbill: Three Performances in Denver and Boulder for April 10-12

A trio of unique collaborations take the stage this weekend, bringing combinations of dance, theater, words and visuals to audiences in search of new ways of looking at life, both high-flying and down-to-earth. Here’s how to take a trip into space or venture through life’s backyard without ever leaving your seat.

Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, Star Sailors 
Dairy Center for the Arts
April 10 through 19
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
2 p.m. Sundays
Tickets: $20 to $25
303-444-7328

Frequent Flyers shoots for the moon with Star Sailors, introducing both a new traveling-rings apparatus to its up-in-the-air repertoire and a spacey video backdrop of images from space produced in collaboration with Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium. "The aerial choreography…should engender discussion and thought about our place in the universe,” says artistic director Nancy Smith. “The vastness of space and the importance of care-taking our current home on planet earth are strong themes within the performance.” Frequent Flyers will taking audiences on this voyage for only two weekends; snap up your tickets now.

David Korevaar and Helander Dance Theater, Frames
Broomfield Auditorium
7 p.m. April 10 and 19
Dairy Center for the Arts
8 p.m. May 1 and 2
Tickets: $15 to $20 

Frames, an interarts collaboration produced by pianist David Korevaar and Helander Dance Theater, brings dancers, actors and musicians to the stage to explore everything from married life to date rape in a single evening. “Many of the differences in perspective we work through are playful and humorous, but one of the more serious issues we work through on stage is a date rape situation,” notes Helander executive director Sean Owens. “Our aim is to present the perspectives involved with the same ambiguity that is often found in real life. That ambiguity is uncomfortable and raw. Most people would rather not discuss it.” Catch the interplay this week or next for two nights in Broomfield; the show later moves to the Dairy Center for another two nights in May.

Stories on Stage, Old Friends
Dairy Center for the Arts 
7:30 p.m. April 11
Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center
1:30 and 6:30 p.m. April 12
Tickets: $15 to $28 at thedairy.org or storiesonstage.org

Stories on Stage takes on the issues of aging this weekend in Boulder and Denver with a presentation of four dramatized short stories that approach the senior point of view with grace and humor. As always, the stories are given new dimensions by seasoned actors like Kathleen Brady, who bring to life the words of authors as diverse as Nora Ephron, Roger Angell and the poet Maxine Kumin.

Find a stage near you: Check out Westword's online listings for more theater and dance events for this week.

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