SUPPORTER
YEAR-END GIVING
Dear Friends,
As chair of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Board, I am honored to reflect on the extraordinary impact we’ve made together this year thanks to your generosity. My husband, Peter, and I began our journey with DCPA as ticket buyers, drawn in by the magic of live theatre. Over time, our connection deepened, becoming subscribers, annual fund donors, and now proud Premiere Sponsors of a Theatre Company production each season. We’ve traveled with DCPA to New York and London, and we never miss the joy and generosity of Saturday Night Alive or the inspiring, superfun Hattitude luncheon.
This year, we celebrate 20 years of the Women’s Voices Fund, which has championed 50 plays by women, including 22 world premieres, and 52 female directors. It’s a powerful reminder of how your support helps amplify diverse voices and stories.
In the past year alone, DCPA reached nearly 997,000 engagements, from ticket buyers and students in classrooms across Colorado, to community members attending one of nearly 4,000 performances spanning Broadway & Cabaret, Off-Center, Theatre Company, Education, and Community Engagement.
As we close the calendar year, I invite you to explore the many ways to give. Whether through annual support, show sponsorship, special event attendance, or simply bringing a friend to a show, your generosity fuels the creativity, education, and access that define DCPA.
Thank you for being part of this vibrant community. Let’s keep the spotlight shining, together.
Ruth Krebs
Warmly, Ruth Krebs Chair, DCPA Board of Trustees
Colorado Gives Day
Your support helps the DCPA provide nearly one million experiences each year through award-winning productions, immersive education programs, and free community engagement events. Give now through December 9 and your gift will be boosted by more than $1 million in Incentive Funds. Visit ColoradoGives.org/DCPA today to make a donation and show your support for live theatre.
Tin Roof, Photo by Jamie Kraus Photography
Photo by Amanda Tipton Photography
WAYS TO GIVE IT’S FUN
TO
SUPPORT THE DCPA!
INVEST IN INSPIRATION
Join more than 6,000 annual donors who help DCPA bring creativity and inspiration to nearly 997,000 patrons, including 158,600 students, each year
Annual Fund Gifts
Give in any amount to spread the joy of theater!
Colorado Gives Day
Mark your calendars! Gives Day is Tuesday, December 9 this year.
Become a Monthly Sustainer
Give in any amount monthly to support live theatre year round!
Sponsor a Show
Go behind the scenes, meet cast & creative team, enjoy Opening Night dinners and parties!
Women’s Voices Fund Membership
Celebrating 20 years of Women’s Voices Fund, which has supported 50 plays written by women and 52 female playwrights since 2005.
CONTACT
Emily Kettlewell
Director of Development Operations ekettlewell@dcpa.org
303.446.4812
JOIN A PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP SOCIETY
Experience theatre like never before with nearly 300 other Premium Members
Best of Broadway Society
8 unforgettable dinners, Broadway shows in Golden Circle seats & pre/ post show artistic experiences! ($6,500/person*. Includes $4,000 donation.)
Directors Society
7 incredible Theatre Company Opening Nights with pre-show dinners and post-show cast parties! ($2,500/person*. Includes $1,000 donation.)
Premiere Access Membership
4 Broadway & 4 Theatre Company behind-the-scenes evenings that dazzle! ($4,500/person*. Includes $2,250 donation.)
*Memberships may be prorated.
CONTACT
Marc Ravenhill
Director of Development, Donor Relations mravenhill@dcpa.org 303.572.4594
PARTY WITH A PURPOSE
Celebrate the transformative power of the arts in style
DCPA Gala: Saturday Night Alive JUNE 13, 2026
No long programs or endless speeches. Fun, entertainment, and dancing all supporting theatre and education programs.
Hattitude APRIL 30, 2026
One room. 650 incredible hats. Supporting the DCPA’s Women’s Voices Fund.
CONTACT
Megan Stewart
Associate Director of Development, Special Events mstewart@dcpa.org 303.446.4821
TAX-WISE WAYS TO SUPPORT
Speak with your financial advisor about these tax-wise ways to support your favorite charities like DCPA
Gifts of Appreciated Stock
Transfer directly to DCPA and pay no capital gains
Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRA (up to $100,000 per year once you reach retirement RMDs)
Give through your Donor Advised Fund or Family Foundation
CONTACT
Caitie Maxwell
Sr. Director of Development, Major Gifts cmaxwell@dcpa.org 303.446.4840
Stephanie Lynne Mason and Matthew Henerson in A Christmas Carol
Photo by Jamie Kraus Photography.
SUPPORT THE DCPA IN STYLE
The Most Fun You will have for Charity All Year
HATTITUDE Luncheon
Denver’s
June
Photos by Amanda Tipton Photography
HOW TO BUILD A SEASON TO REMEMBER
By Lisa Kennedy
Ever wonder how the Broadway season is selected? When does John Ekeberg, Executive Director of the Broadway division, start scoping out shows from New York’s storied theater district?
“I’m usually working roughly a year and a half to two years out and hope to rap things up about a year and a half out from the beginning of the season,” Ekeberg offered. Adding, with a charming deadpan, “If I’m lucky.”
It shouldn’t surprise you that he thinks long and hard about how a season’s offerings build sustainable relationships with audiences.
As well-traveled as some Broadway subscribers can be, Ekeberg wants to make sure that all patrons get a sense of what’s going on back East. “I think of a subscriber as being someone who, if they didn’t get a chance to go to New York, still gets a season that represents what’s happening. Since New York really is the home to Broadway theater, they’re seeing sort of an overall picture of what’s happening in the commercial theater space at the time in New York.”
In addition to Shucked, the Broadway-bound patron will be treated to The Notebook and Water for Elephants, Hell’s Kitchen and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and last year’s Tony winner for Best Musical, The Outsiders, among others.
“There’s a ton of work that’s adapted from books and films with large fan bases,” Ekeberg says. “That’s when you’re really
hoping that the work enlivens what they’ve already come to know, either through the book or the film.” But don’t discount the shows that seem like they’ll deliver known delights.
“With Hell’s Kitchen, we’ve got the music of Alicia Keys. So, we bring forward some of that already existing music. And a known bio story,” says Ekeberg. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be incredibly magical and totally its own thing. And then The Outsiders — the big Tony winner for its season — wrapping up. I’d like to think that there’s a bit of a journey that takes people in different places.”
A successful journey requires a teasing of and meeting of expectations. But it also helps if you can joke a bit.
“What’s fun is when you go into a new show that you really don’t know what it’s about,” says Ekeberg. “And then it just was so moving and emotional and powerful. When I experience that myself in the theater, I just want to share that,” he says.
“Those shows are fun because folks really don’t exactly know what they’re coming to. But then they leave, that’s usually the language they use: ‘I had no idea what to expect, and I had such a great time.’”
READ MORE
Broadway Season Sponsors: UCHealth and Robert B. Sturm
UPGRADE YOUR NIGHT OUT
GOODNIGHT MOON DESIGNING THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES
By Lisa Bornstein
They come reaching up to hold the hands of giants, wearing their best dresses and bunny costumes, watching and hearing their favorite bedtime story brought to life. These children probably aren’t aware, however, that when they come to see Goodnight Moon, they are taking part in one of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ foundational outreach programs.
Goodnight Moon is a production by the DCPA’s Theatre for Young Audiences program, which pulls out all the stops to make theater accessible, rewarding and meaningful for children. It begins with the Randy Weeks Conservatory Theatre, where every element has been redesigned for young audiences.
“It is really made with them in mind,” says Allison Watrous, Executive Director for Education and Community Engagement.
As children enter the space, there is themed decor to draw them in. Performers move through the aisles. Laughing and speaking are expected. “We encourage their engagement, we encourage their response,” Watrous says. “It helps them lean into the power of narrative that helps them reflect as learners, and they really learn social-emotionally.”
Former Denver Center Theatre Company literary manager Chad Henry wrote both the script (book) and music for his
adaptation of Margaret Wise Brown’s 1947 picture book (illustrated by Clement Hurd), which contains only 130 words. Henry transformed those words into a full theatrical event, in which Bunny and the room come to life, allowing children to explore what was previously a two-dimensional space.
“The magic is ever-present,” Watrous says. “It’s the power of wonder for a young person, that they can be in awe. How did the cow jump over the moon?”
Brown’s original book stemmed from her studies in education, under the philosophy that children were more inspired by everyday stories than fantasies. Bunny came to life because Hurd, the illustrator, was better at drawing rabbits than humans. The book was not an immediate success. Anne Carroll Moore, the influential children’s librarian at New York Public Library, did not like it, and it was not added to that library’s collection until 1972. In 1953, it sold only 1,500 copies. Today, it has sold more than 48 million copies and has been translated into 15 languages.
The book joins Snowy Day and Other Stories, Corduroy, and the sellout Elephant and Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” among classic children’s tales brought to the stage by the DCPA. Theatre for Young Audiences takes the intelligence and literary acumen of its audiences seriously.
“I really believe in honoring a young person at the highest level of their intelligence, so that’s what I really look for [in a script],” Watrous says. “The writing is spectacular. What I really love about Chad’s work on Goodnight Moon is the music is highly, highly sophisticated. Chad takes you on a journey of musical styles. There’s a giant tap number. It’s at the highest level.”
Local performers are hired. Familiar performer Diana Dresser choreographed the production, including its tap extravaganza. Denver Center Theatre Company designers, including Lisa Orzolek, Kevin Copenhaver, Charles MacLeod, and Jason Ducat created a multidimensional sensory experience.
This experience will be enjoyed by more than 28,000 students at 81 student matinee and 74 public performances. To broaden access, the DCPA will provide 4,800 full and partial student matinee scholarships, a value of $45,000. Scholarships are provided to Title 1 schools, and there are additional tiered ticketing rates based on a school’s percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunch. In addition, Theatre for Young Audiences partners with community organizations and the Denver Public Library to get tickets in the hands of children who might not typically have the opportunity to go.
Every group is provided with a post-show lunch space and a workshop included with the show. If schools need to leave immediately after the show, the Center sends a teaching artist for a post-show workshop at schools in the Denver metro area. During the workshop, students step into the role of Bunny, following the character’s journey of saying goodnight and going to bed. “We make it very, very tactile,” Watrous says. “They also get to sing a song and step into one of the dances.”
For neurodivergent audiences, there are special sensory-friendly performances following guidelines established by the Theatre Development Fund. “We anticipate any audience to be full of many different learners and many different thinkers,” Watrous says. “Each show is absolutely accessible that way and accessible for different learners to respond.”
At scheduled sensory-friendly performances, additional accommodations are made. Fewer seats are filled, theater doors are left open, and sound is adjusted. “A full house may be too much for sensory-sensitive learners,” Watrous says. “They might need a space to move. If there is a special need, then we reserve the whole back row and you can move throughout that space. It becomes this really lovely community of audience members.”
Of course, school groups are not the only audience members. Parents, grandparents, and favorite adults come with their young children in tow, often for their first theatrical experience.
“How lovely to be able to come with your young person and share this experience. Even if you’ve gone to the theater many, many times, to be able to share that with your young person?” Watrous says. “Some of our favorite things are when we see students dressed to the nines. We’re talking about a six-yearold in a little tiny suit.”
All of these aspects are in service to the central pursuit of Theatre for Young Audiences. “For young people of any age, from PreK all the way to high school, how do we instill in our young people the curiosity about the world, and that happens both within and outside your classroom.”
Goodnight Moon runs Oct 24-Jan 25 and is made possible in part by the Genessee Mountain Foundation, Chevron, Alan and Carol Meny, DaVita, Rollie R. Kelley Family Foundation
FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES
To date, Theatre for Young Audiences has:
Distributed Nearly 150,000 TICKETS
Of which 75% were FREE/LOW-COST
Provided 1,530 WORKSHOPS
Engaged 37,026 STUDENTS In pre-show workshops
THE RISKS AND REWARDS OF NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT
By Chris Coleman, Denver Center Theatre Company Artistic Director
Whether it’s Hamilton or Hamlet, every play started as a new work. Someone was excited by a story and brought together a group of collaborators to carve out a path toward opening night. It’s always a risky venture. Ask anyone in our industry and you’ll find that the synonym of “theatre” is “risk” — a word that is at once terrifying and exhilarating because to remain relevant and attract new audiences, theatre must evolve.
That’s where new play development comes in.
The Denver Center Theatre Company (DCTC) has been producing world premieres since its inception in 1979, and that thread has become part of our DNA. For the last 20 years, our Colorado New Play Summit has been the primary vehicle through which we develop new plays.
First, we choose a story that excites us — is there something fresh about the way the story is told? Is it timely? Does it have a connection to this part of the country? Would producing this piece help us foster a relationship with a particular community?
Then, we consider scale and budgetary demands.
Finally, we ask ourselves, “Can we imagine producing this piece?”
Ultimately, we select four scripts out of nearly 300 received each year to be read in the Summit alongside two fully produced world premieres.
The readings give a playwright the time, resources, and audience to determine if the story in their imagination is — or is not — landing. Each playwright also is assigned a dramaturg, a structural expert who helps refine what the writer has developed and unlock key issues the writer may face.
Another crucial piece in new play development is the commission. It’s extremely challenging to make a living as a playwright in the U.S., so commissions are a way to provide time — the time to sit, think, imagine, and write. For DCTC, commissions are also a way to build relationships with writers and have a future stake in their work should it prove promising.
Over the years, we’ve had a number of projects move from Denver to national stages. We’ve presented 215 readings and 193 world premieres of which 90 have gone on to 553 subsequent productions on professional stages. While the success of a world premiere can, in part, be measured by ticket sales, which is always fun when it happens, audience response, industry interest, and future productions also measure success.
While the rewards can be great, new play development remains a risk. I’m often asked why — why do we invest in new works? Contemporary writers spin stories that help us experience something about our culture, about ourselves that we may not have been connected to before.
And that’s the juice.
CNPS Sponsors: Chevron, Pettibone Graham Family, Robert & Carole Slosky and Semple Brown
LEARN MORE
The 20th annual Colorado New Play Summit takes place Feb. 14 & 15
4 Readings • 2 World Premieres
1 Jam-Packed Weekend
Full passes on sale Nov. 4
STORIES THAT MATTER START HERE
Behind every unforgettable performance is a playwright who dared to imagine something new. Theatre requires fearless storytellers — and fearless supporters. GIVE NOW SAVE THE DATE!
Colorado New Play Summit,
photo by Jamie Kraus