Applause -- Emma, April 5-May 5, 2024

APPLAUSE

Illustration by Kyle Malone

VOLUME XXXIV NUMBER 6 APR – JUN 2024

EMMA

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SIGHTLINE

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BY JANICE SINDEN

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VO LU M E X X X I V • N U M B E R 6 • A P R - J U N 2 0 24

EDITOR: Suzanne Yoe DESIGN DIRECTOR: Kyle Malone DESIGNER: Brenda Elliott CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS: Paul Koob, Lucas Kreitler CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Misha Berson, Lisa Bornstein, Linnea Covington, Emma Holst, Joanne Ostrow, Kelundra Smith

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Welcome to the theatre! This issue of Applause encompasses the final months of an extraordinary season in which we’ve seen demand for theatre revitalized. Thanks to you, we have exceeded nearly every Broadway goal and extended the runs of four shows — Cebollas, Rubicon, The Secret Comedy of Women and The Improvised Shakespeare Company®.

We’re delighted to end the season on a high note. First up from the Theatre Company will be a refreshingly unconventional adaptation of Emma, a Latine exploration of immigration and culture in Where Did We Sit on the Bus? and the historical look at the rise and fall of a financial empire in The Lehman Trilogy.

Across the Galleria will be a trio of Broadway’s best hits including a celebratory account of Cher’s six-decade career in The Cher Show, an all-new take on Stephen Sondheim’s Company and the long-awaited return of Disney’s Frozen, which originally started here in 2017.

And let’s not forget Space Explorers: THE INFINITE at Aurora’s Stanley Marketplace, Broadway’s Next Hit Musical in the Garner Galleria Theatre and Bluey’s Big Play in the Buell.

As one season ends another begins. We heat up the summer with the return of Wicked followed by the national tour launch of KIMBERLY AKIMBO plus an entire season of touring shows, which we shared in March.

In this issue, I’m pleased to announce our upcoming 2024/25 Denver Center Theatre Company season. Highlights include Shakespeare’s Hamlet, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter based on the New York Times best-selling novel, the world premiere of The Reservoir by Denver-born Jake Brasch and everyone’s favorite, Little Shop of Horrors. You can find the full season on pages 18-19.

We hope you will rejoin us next season, but for now, on with the show!

Vladimir Script

Warm regards,

Janice Sinden Janice Sinden, President & CEO

HONORING OUR ELDERS

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts honors and acknowledges that it resides on the traditional and unceded territories of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Peoples. We also recognize the 48 contemporary Indigenous Tribes and Nations who have historically called Colorado home.

IN THIS ISSUE Where Did We Sit On The Bus?........pg 10 Company ...............................................................pg 14 The Cher Show .................................................pg 16 Emma.......................................................................pg 26 The Lehman Trilogy.....................................pg 32 Disney’s Frozen...............................................pg 37 4

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VOICEOVER

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THE IMPORTANCE OF

FIND YOUR VOICE Enrollment for Spring & Summer Classes Now Open No Experience Necessary

Cartoon superheros, talking toilet paper, instructional videos, audiobooks — these are all done by voiceover artists.

“It can be so very broad. I think of voiceover as being anytime you hear a voice without the face of the person speaking,” said Mare Trevathan, a professional voiceover artist, local actor and DCPA Teaching Artist who has recorded over 500 titles, her favorite of which was voicing a talking sword.

Voiceover work plays into everyday life a lot more than most people think, and it’s a skill that’s both needed and profitable. It’s also a skill one needs to learn. You may have been told you have a “good voice” which is helpful, but it’s not a reason to launch a career.

“It’s important people understand all voices are good voices, it’s just understanding what’s right for any given situation,” said Trevathan, who mentioned a woman she knows who has a babylike voice perfect for toys, but not great for books or instructional videos. “Even if you have a traditionally ‘good voice,’ which is about five-percent of people, it’s more about what you can do with it.”

Trevathan recommends a few things for those who want to get into the voiceover game. Before you take a voiceover class, start with acting.

“An acting class will speed up any work you will do in a voiceover class, and you will learn how to create circumstances that directly support a voiceover script you’re working on,” she said.

Another key in learning to be successful is taking a class in improv. Especially, explained Trevathan, in the age of artificial intelligence. Turns out AI can do a lot, but it can’t improvise a situation or inject emotion.

Then, of course, taking classes with a professional voiceover artist will set you up for success.

“I don’t feel like people are wasting their time and money on dreamland. There is work out there for people who can and want to put in the time and energy into voiceover,” added Trevathan.

“Anyone can be a talking sword, but they may not get paid for it.”

DCPA Education offers seasonal classes in acting, improv and voiceover. Visit denvercenter.org/education for details.

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Illustration by Kyle Malone

In WHERE DID WE SIT ON THE BUS? Latiné artists excavate their own histories

BY KELUNDRA SMITH

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When performer and playwright Brian Quijada was in the third grade, his teacher taught the class a lesson about the Civil Rights Movement during Black History Month. She explained that a woman named Rosa Parks changed the course of history by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Quijada raised his hand and asked, “Where did Latinos sit on the bus?” His teacher replied that she didn’t know. This moment was etched into Quijada’s mind and nearly 20 years later he wrote, Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, a one-person show inspired by that memory.

The mostly autobiographical play is composed of a mix of poetry, rap, monologues, and live sound mixing and looping. In it, the Civil Rights Movement lesson sends a curious kid, Bee Quijada, home to ask questions about his Salvadoran family’s immigration story, which continues well into Bee’s 20s. However, what he finds along the way is that the only answer he needs is the dream he holds inside his heart.

Quijada says he was inspired to write the play as a young actor in New York when he kept being called into auditions for roles that didn’t resonate with his experience as a brown kid who grew up in a Jewish and Italian neighborhood in Chicago. By that time, he’d defied his parents’ wishes, moved to New York, and chosen to be an artist instead of a doctor, lawyer, or accountant.

“I wanted to play a Latino character that wasn’t steeped in Latino trauma,” Quijada said. “There weren’t a lot of comedies. I love hip-hop and there weren’t a lot of stories of hip-hop. I wanted to tell a story where I could do the

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things I loved and tell personal stories through musicals and comedy.”

Quijada grew up making home videos with his brother Marvin. He also grew up going to Quinceañeras and other celebrations where music moved the room. In the script, he recalls this early introduction to performance by saying, “I’m a strong believer that we are all born with rhythm.

Those who think they can’t dance do have it somewhere deep within them. Waiting to be released and displayed on the floor.”

As Quijada got older, he started doing musical theatre with Jewish friends at his middle and high schools, performing in shows such as Cats and The Wizard of Oz. The closer he got to art, the more distance he felt between his true calling and his parents’ desires for him.

He pointedly captures this experience gap in Where Did We Sit on the Bus? in the stanza: “I get why the Mexican workers in Highland Park restaurants don’t know whether to talk to me in English or Spanish when I walk in with my white friends. I get why the white librarian wonders what nationality I am because my English is white-washed.”

“American isn’t Black and white, there’s nuance and gray lines,” Quijada said. “We have to have empathy for the American immigrant. I was battling identity questions and asking where I fit in a Black and white America. What does it mean for me to grow up loving Michael Jackson, me a brown kid, dancing like a Black kid who wanted to be a white kid. The piece is summed up by a coming-of-age story and figuring out who the hell you are.”

APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

Where Did We Sit on the Bus? received its world premiere at Teatro Vista in Chicago in 2016. It garnered Outstanding Solo Performance and Sound Design at The Chicago Jeff Awards and earned him two Drama Desk nominations in the same categories for its Off-Broadway debut at Ensemble Studio Theatre that same year. Since that time, it has been performed across the country.

Four years ago, Quijada stopped acting in the play and passed it along to his friend Matt Dickson, who has directed the production ever since, and mentee and friend, performer Satya Chávez. The two met when Dickson and Quijada were working on another show, Undesirables, while Chávez was a student at the University of Colorado, Boulder. When Quijada’s journey performing the show ended, he knew who to call.

Chávez said that part of what attracted them to the script is that it reminded them of their family’s story.

What does it mean for me to grow up loving Michael Jackson, me a brown kid, dancing like a Black kid who wanted to be a white kid. The piece is summed up by a coming-ofage story and figuring out who the hell you are.

— BRIAN QUIJADA, PLAYWRIGHT

“Eduardo Quijada is basically Gerardo Chávez,” Chávez said. “Brian’s dad told him the story of having to eat tortilla and salt for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and my dad ate rice and beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner….”

Chávez’s parents migrated to the U.S. from Mexico. Immigration is an ever-present issue in the piece, much like in real life. When Bee asks her mom how she came to America, she responds, in part, “A quarter of an apple and half a sandwich to get over the border. / 3 days.”

“The piece itself is not trying to be politically divisive,” Chávez said.

“It makes a point to make you fall in love with the immigrant characters and Bee Quijada, but then there’s a spoken word piece called ‘Let Them In’ that reflects on the hypocrisy of a country founded by refugees and immigrants who won’t let a new generation in.”

As artists, both Chávez and Quijada carry their parents’ stories with them. Quijada said that he hopes the next generation will feel inspired by the piece. “Tell your story in the unique way that only you can tell it.

That’s what I did, put all the joy in with all the things I was passionate about.”

WHERE DID WE SIT ON THE BUS? APR 19 – JUN 2 • SINGLETON THEATRE

ASL Interpreted and Audio Described performance: May 12 at 1:30pm Post-show discussions: May 14, 21, 23 & 28

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• All people are equal • Moments are shared • Differences are valued • Discussion is encouraged We respect that everyone experiences our stories differently.

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COMPANY REVIVAL FINDS NEW DEPTH

Britney Coleman as Bobbie (center) and the North American Tour of COMPANY COMPANY. Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade.

BY JOANNE OSTROW

I

In his 2010 memoir and lyric collection, Finishing the Hat, Stephen Sondheim wrote of his surprise at the reception of Company in 1970: “I had no idea Company would be so unsettling to public and critics alike.” He was “stunned by the polarized reactions of fervent admiration and ferocious rejection” when the somewhat experimental production premiered.

The play derived from a group of brief one-act plays written in the late 1960s by actor and playwright George Furth. Sondheim and Furth merged the scenes into a musical built around a single urban man with an emotionally empty life and a distinct fear of marriage.

Nothing much happens in the story, just a display of neurotic antics around a surprise 35th birthday party.

The action takes place inside the mind of the main character, Bobby.

Lacking the usual linear plot, Company was a new form, labeled (not by Sondheim) the “concept musical.”

“As far as I know,” Sondheim wrote, “prior to Company there had never been a plotless musical which dealt with one set of characters from start to finish. In 1970, the contradictory aspect of the experiment (a story without a plot) was cause for both enthusiasm and dismay.”

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The revival half a century later has stunned audiences once again by making the central character a female. More than just a gender-bending rewrite, with the male Bobby now a female Bobbie, the revival switches up ancillary characters as well and finds new depth. British director Marianne Elliott’s Tony Award-winning production has been hailed as revelatory.

Matt Rodin who plays Jamie in the touring production, said what’s so remarkable about Sondheim and Furth’s work is that 50 years after its inception, “the messages and ideas are still deeply relevant. What it means to be in a relationship with another person, the messiness of marriage, and the dance of compromise all hit home in the same way they did in the ’70s — maybe even more so now.

“I think that’s not only because we’re more open to discussing marriage and partnership as a society, but this new production has adapted the material in a way that resonates today. Gender flipping Bobbie, Jamie, the boyfriends, and a handful of the other couples’ dynamics paints a more vivid picture of life as we know it. A single woman at 35 has a lot more pressure than a single man at 35. In this production, the wives (particularly Jenny and Susan) lean more stable and clear headed, while the

APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

WICKED

David Socolar as Theo and Britney Coleman as Bobbie in the North American Tour of COMPANY. Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade.

[50 years after its inception,] the messages and ideas are still deeply relevant. What it means to be in a relationship with another person, the messiness of marriage, and the dance of compromise all hit home in the same way they did in the ’70s — maybe even more so now.

COMING UP FROM BROADWAY

husbands (David and Peter) are buttoned up and anxious. We get to see Company through a 21st century lens, and it’s brighter than ever.”

Given the culture’s heightened expectations for women regarding marriage and children, the gender switch adds meaning. Additionally, in the revival, the wedding-day panic attack is sung by gay male Jamie, rather than straight female Amy in the original, underscoring that gay marriage may be legal but fear of commitment is universal.

Actor Rodin said, “This role is an incredible blessing because Jamie gets an arc of his own. At the end of show, right before Bobbie’s final turn in ‘Being Alive,’ Jamie speaks to her from the other side of commitment. He tells her that everything is going to be okay; that being in a relationship with another person is actually a gateway to a deeper part of ourselves and our shared humanity. And miraculously, for the first time, she listens.”

The score remains among Sondheim’s best, from the wise, heartrending “Being Alive” to the urban anonymity anthem “Another Hundred People” to the zinger made famous by Elaine Stritch, “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

For fans of the original Company, the challenge of seeing the reversed emotional roles is newly rewarding.

“Theater, at its best, provokes questions instead of providing answers,” cast member Rodin said. “This version asks even more questions than the original, and for the better.

“The payoff is an audience, and a company of actors, that feel more seen, understood, and moved. We leave with questions unanswered.

And I don’t think theater gets much better than that.”

COMPANY

MAY 22 – JUN 2 • BUELL THEATRE ASL Interpreted, Audio-Described and Open Captioned performance: Jun 2 at 2pm

The National Touring Company of WICKED, Photo by Joan Marcus.

— MATT RODIN, ACTOR

Cultural phenomenon and beloved musical Wicked returns to the Buell Theatre this summer. Before Dorothy dropped into Oz, two rivals-turnedunlikely-friends tell a story of love, magic, and friendship.

Elphaba, born with emerald-green skin and misunderstood throughout her childhood, grows into a fiery and exceptionally talented young witch.

Glinda is everything Elphaba hates: bubbly and popular. Lumped together as university roommates, the witches learn and grow, becoming allies and friends. When the world decides to call one “good” and the other “wicked,” loyalties are tested as each witch must make her own decisions, forging her own path.

This Tony Award-winning musical is “a complete triumph! An original musical that will make you laugh, cry, and think” (USA Today). Known for its iconic songs, including “Defying Gravity,” “Popular,” and “For Good,” Wicked electrifies audiences with its dynamic music, beautiful staging, and moving story.

Wicked features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin) and a book by Winnie Holzman, adapted from the original novel by Gregory Maguire. The production is directed by Tony Award-winning director Joe Mantello (Assassins, Take Me Out).

Wicked comes to Denver July 24 through August 25. You won’t want to miss the opportunity to see this exhilarating show, a musical that will change you “for good.”

Morgan Scott as Star in THE CHER SHOW SHOW. Photo by Meredith Mashburn Photography.

THE ONE. THE ONLY.

CHER

May 20, 1946

Born Cherilyn Sarkisian to an Armenian-American father and an Irish-English-German-Cherokee mother.

1960s

At 16, Cher heads to LA where she meets producer Phil Spector and becomes a backup singer for such groups as The Ronettes and The Righteous Brothers. She meets Sonny Bono and their friendship turns into a romance.

They release “I Got You Babe” and rocket to the top of the charts. They continue to turn out hits while Cher becomes a solo artist with her first release, “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).”

1970s

In the face of diminishing sales, the duo develops an act that ultimately becomes “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” (CBS, 1971-1974). When the show ends, so too does their marriage. Building upon her celebrity, the multifaceted performer sets out to redefine herself, resulting in the first No. 1 solo hit of her career with “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.”

1990s

Cher stars in If These Walls Could Talk, Tea with Mussolini, and Mermaids, which also features her pop cover of “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss).” Soon, her music fills the club scene and she releases Believe for which the title song wins a Grammy for Best Dance Recording.

2000s

Soon after releasing Living Proof, Cher announces her retirement from live performance and sets out on a 325-date farewell tour. One performance is televised, scoring her three 2003 Emmy Awards. After a brief hiatus, Cher returns to the stage in Las Vegas where she holds court for 192 shows from 2008-2011.

2010s

Cher releases her first album in 12 years with Closer to the Truth in 2013, returns to Vegas with Classic Cher, and stars in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!

According to Wikipedia, Cher is the only artist to have a #1 single on a Billboard chart in each of the past seven decades with a total of 34 Top 40 hits. She is a fashion icon, an award-winning actress and a music legend. She is Cher.

1980s

Cher turns to acting, first starring on Broadway and then the big screen in Mask, Suspect, The Witches of Eastwick, Silkwood (Golden Globe, Supporting Actress), and Moonstruck (Academy Award, Best Actress). But she still remains atop the music charts with “I Found Someone,” “If I Could Turn Back Time” and “Just Like Jesse James.”

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APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

THE CHER SHOW

MAY 3 – 5 • BUELL THEATRE

ASL Interpreted, Audio Described and Open Captioned Performance: May 4 at 2pm

Morgan Scott as Star in THE CHER SHOW. Photo by Meredith Mashburn Photography.

T

The Cher Show is 35 smash hits, six decades of stardom, two rock-star husbands, a Grammy, an Oscar, an Emmy and enough Tony-winning Bob Mackie gowns to cause a sequin shortage. The Cher Show is so much Cher that it takes three actresses to recount one legendary career.

Spread out over six decades, the totality of Cher’s accomplishments may be hard to comprehend. Consider this decade-by-decade look at her career highlights and you’ll understand why she is a legend.

A BOLD SEASON BECKONS Make the mountains your next stop for professional theatre.

Theatre SilCo's 2024 lineup brings mystery, comedy, and drama that will transport you, touch your soul, and challenge the norm.

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present

EMMA Kate Hamill BASED ON THE NOVEL BY Jane Austen BY

With Annie Barbour, Ben Cherry, Brent Hinkley, Steph Holmbo, Carman Lacivita, Marlene Montes, Joey Parsons, Amelia Pedlow, Marco Alberto Robinson, Louis Sallan, Samantha Steinmetz, Emily Van Fleet Stage Managers: Sage Hughes, Anne M. Jude SCENIC DESIGN BY Lex Liang

COSTUME DESIGN BY Lex Liang

LIGHTING DESIGN BY Jackie Fox And Paul Toben

SOUND DESIGN BY Palmer Hefferan

VOICE AND DIALECT BY Jill Walmsley Zager

DRAMATURGY BY Leean Kim Torske

CASTING BY Grady Soapes, CSA And Katja Zarolinski, CSA

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT BY Matthew Campbell

CHOREOGRAPHY BY Emily Michaels King

DIRECTED BY

Meredith McDonough The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever is strictly prohibited.

THE WOLF THEATRE • APR 5 – MAY 5, 2024 Originally commissioned and produced by Guthrie Theater, Joseph Haj, Artistic Director Emma is presented through special arrangement with and all authorized performance materials are supplied by TRW PLAYS, 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.trwplays.com

PREMIERE SPONSOR

SPOTLIGHT SPONSORS

SEASON SPONSORS

EMMA

Chris Coleman, Artistic Director Charles Varin, Managing Director

EMMA

CAST

(In order of appearance) Emma Woodhouse...................................................................................................................................................Amelia Pedlow George Knightley.................................................................................................................................................... Carman Lacivita Miss Bates/Servant................................................................................................................................................. Marlene Montes Harriet Smith................................................................................................................................................... Samantha Steinmetz Mr. Woodhouse/Mr. Weston................................................................................................................................... Brent Hinkley Mrs. Weston/Mrs. Bates.............................................................................................................................................Joey Parsons Mr. Elton/Mrs. Bates........................................................................................................................................................Louis Sallan Frank Churchill/Robert Martin....................................................................................................... Marco Alberto Robinson Jane Fairfax/Mrs. Bates..........................................................................................................................................Annie Barbour Mrs. Elton........................................................................................................................................................................ Steph Holmbo UNDERSTUDIES Annie Barbour (Emma Woodhouse), Ben Cherry (Mr. Elton/Mrs. Bates, Frank Churchill/Robert Martin, Mr. Weston/Mr. Woodhouse), Steph Holmbo (Harriet Smith, Jane Fairfax/Mrs. Bates), Marco Alberto Robinson (George Knightley), Emily Van Fleet (Mrs. Elton, Mrs. Weston/ Mrs. Bates, Miss Bates/Servant) SETTING Highbury, England EMMA will be performed with a 15-minute intermission.

Assistant Director........................................................................................................................................................ Diana Dresser Dance Captain.............................................................................................................................................................. Steph Holmbo Stage Manager...............................................................................................................................................................Anne M. Jude Assistant Stage Manager...........................................................................................................................................Sage Hughes Stage Management Apprentice................................................................................................................ Magdalena Tronina The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers of the United States.

ACTING COMPANY ANNIE BARBOUR (Jane Fairfax/Mrs. Bates) (She/Her) is a Denver based actor.

At the DCPA: The 39 Steps and Theater of the Mind. Arvada Center: Small Mouth Sounds, The Moors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, The Diary of Anne Frank.

Theatreworks: Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure. Regional credits include: We Had a Girl Before You (Greater Boston Stage Company), King John and Romeo and Juliet (Great River Shakespeare Festival), The Verge (9 Satori Theatre). Training: BFA Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts. True West Award recipient, Women of Will.

BEN CHERRY (Understudy).

Broadway: Indecent and Fiddler on the Roof. National tour: Mary Poppins. Select regional: Angels in America, Part 1 and 2 (Repertory Theatre of St Louis); Indecent (The Guthrie, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Kansas City Rep, Center Theatre Group); What the Constitution Means to Me, Oslo, Lifespan of a Fact, ASS (Pioneer Theatre Company); The Tempest (Alabama Shakespeare); Ragtime and The Fantasticks – world premiere (Flint Rep); Mothers and Sons (Cincinnati Playhouse); Utah Shakespeare Festival (four seasons); Route 66 (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre). TV: “The Equalizer,” “The Following,” “Smash,” “I Love You…But I Lied.” Training: NCSA. BenCherry.com BRENT HINKLEY (Mr. Weston/Mr. Woodhouse).

Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Animal Crackers, Sense and Sensibility, August: Osage County, Hairspray, Shakespeare in Love, It’s Christmas,

Carol!, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV and V, Fingersmith. Off Broadway: Embedded, Carnage (Public Theatre).

Regional: The Cocoanuts (Guthrie Theatre), Mother Courage (La Jolla Playhouse), My Wandering Boy (South Coast Rep), Noises Off (La Mirada).

Actors’ Gang: The Seagull, Woyzeck, 1984, Broadway, Ubu. Film/TV: Silence of the Lambs, Ed Wood, Falling Down, Jacob’s Ladder, Bob Roberts, Say It Isn’t So, Blades of Glory, “Seinfeld,” “X-Files,” “Gilmore Girls,” “West Wing,” “Monk,” “Carnivale,” “Star Trek Voyager,” “Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.”

STEPH HOLMBO (Mrs. Elton/Dance Captain) (She/Her).

At the DCPA: Theater of the Mind.

Off-Broadway: 8 Million Protagonists (9th Space Theatre), Happenstance (Manhattan Movement Arts Center).

Other NY credits: Fool For Love (NYU Grad) and I Stand (Episcopal Actors Guild). Regional credits: Bright Star, Elf the Musical, A Christmas Carol, Million Dollar Quartet (Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities); Hundred Days (Aurora Fox Arts Center); Cabaret (Miners Alley Playhouse); A Chorus Line (PACE Center). Film: Soft Liquid Center. Education: BFA, NYU. Instagram: @stephholmbo CARMAN LACIVITA (George Knightley) (He/Him). Broadway: Marvin’s Room and Cyrano de Bergerac.

Off-Broadway: To My Girls (Second Stage), Sense & Sensibility (Bedlam), Rose Rage (St. Clair Bayfield Award, Jeff Award, Drama League nomination), Red Bull Theater, The Public Theater, The Atlantic, among others.

Regional: Kate Hamill’s Emma (The Guthrie) and Pride and Prejudice (Hartford, Syracuse, and Dorset Theatre Companies), Private Lives (St. Louis Rep.), Two River, George St. Playhouse, Chicago Shakespeare, Long Wharf, CATF. TV/Film: “Blue

Bloods” (CBS), “Golden Boy” (CBS), “Royal Pains” (USA), “The Chica Show” (NBC), “Modern Love” (pilot), “Marino’s” (pilot), Cyrano de Bergerac (PBS). MFA Rutgers University.

Artistic Associate-Amphibian Stage Productions. @carmanclacivita MARLENE MONTES (Miss Bates/ Servant). At the DCPA: Quixote Nuevo. Select Regional: Beauty and the Beast (Arvada Center), Ragtime and Pirates of Penzance (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Sound of Music (North Shore Music Theatre), American Mariachi (Arizona Theatre Company), Water by the Spoonful and In the Heights (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center), American Mariachi and She Loves Me (South Coast Rep), Mala (Theatre SilCo), Gypsy and Cabaret (Cygnet Theatre), Alma (The Spot), and In the Heights, The World Goes ’Round, Legally Blonde, South Pacific, Tommy (Moonlight Stage Productions). BFA, University of Arizona. marlenemontes.com JOEY PARSONS (Mrs. Weston/Mrs. Bates). Throughout Joey’s extensive career, she has tackled everything from Shakespeare to original roles in new, experimental works.

Select NYC and regional Theatre: Vanity Fair, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Stupid F**king Bird (The Pearl Theatre); Pride and Prejudice (Syracuse Stage, SALT Award: Best Supporting Actress); God of Carnage (San Jose Rep - Theatre Critic’s Circle Award: Outstanding Principal Actress). Television: “Blacklist,” “FBI,” “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” “Blindspot,” “Divorce,” “Madam Secretary,” “The Mysteries of Laura,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Law & Order: Trial by Jury,” “Third Watch,” “Deadline.” Film: Before/During/After.

Recipient of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship. MFA: Yale School of Drama. @joeyparsons13

EMMA

WHO’S WHO

EMMA

AMELIA PEDLOW (Emma Woodhouse).

At the DCPA: The 39 Steps, The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet, and The Liar. NY: The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (BAM); The Metromaniacs, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Red Bull); Pride & Prejudice (Primary Stages); The Liar and The Heir Apparent (Classic Stage Company); You Never Can Tell (Pearl). Regional (selected): Emma (World Premiere) and Playing with Fire (Guthrie); Dear Jack, Dear Louise (Arena); Private Lives (St. Louis Rep); Doubt (Studio); Red Velvet (Old Globe); Midsummer and Merchant of Venice (STC); Ether Dome (La Jolla, Hartford Stage, The Huntington); Legacy of Light (Cleveland Playhouse). TV: “The Good Wife,” “Blue Bloods,” “Shades of Blue,” “The Blacklist.” Juilliard BFA. MARCO ALBERTO ROBINSON (Frank Churchill/Robert Martin) is a Denverbased actor. At the DCPA: A Little Night Music, The 39 Steps, Rattlesnake Kate, Wild Fire, Xanadu, A Christmas Carol, Goodnight Moon, This is Modern Art, and The Wild Party. Arvada Center: I Do! I Do!.

Colorado Shakespeare Festival: Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night, Cyrano de Bergerac, Love’s Labour’s Lost, King John, and Edward III. Miners Alley Playhouse: Fun Home. Theatre Aspen: The Museum of Broken Relationships. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center: Sweeney Todd, Assassins, Hairspray. Little Theatre of the Rockies: Dogfight, Aida, and The Fantasticks.

LOUIS SALLAN (Mr. Elton/Mrs. Bates). Regional and New York theatre credits: Emma (The Guthrie), Layalina (The Goodman), Romeo and Juliet (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Oslo (Northern Stage), The Invisible Hand (Cleveland Playhouse), The Mecca Tales (The Sheen Center), The Strangest (New York Theatre Workshop), Oklahoma (Arrow Rock Lyceum). TV/Film: “Blue

Bloods,” “The Blacklist,” “The Blacklist: Redemption” and “Madam Secretary.” Training: BA, Western Michigan University; MFA, New York University.

SAMANTHA STEINMETZ (Harriet Smith). OffBroadway: Kate Hamill’s Sense and Sensibility, The Seagull, Hamlet, Saint Joan (Bedlam); 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (Abingdon Theatre Company); The Remarkable Rooming House (La MaMa). Regional: Emma (world premiere, Guthrie Theater), Murder on the Orient Express (world premiere, McCarter Theatre Center and Hartford Stage), Pride and Prejudice (Syracuse Stage). TV: “Chicago P.D.,” “Mindhunter,” “Manifest,” “The Deuce,” “When They See Us,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “Blue Bloods,” “Law and Order: SVU.” EMILY VAN FLEET (Understudy).

At the DCPA: A Christmas Carol and The Wild Party. Most recently, Emily starred in the world premiere of David Nehl’s one-woman musical, The Wind (presented by Stories on Stage), as well as Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Arvada Center. Other Arvada Center credits include 5 seasons in the Black Box Repertory Company and multiple musicals.

Additional credits: Indianapolis Symphony’s Yuletide Celebration (8 seasons), Creede Repertory Theatre (7 seasons), Colorado Shakespeare Festival (4 seasons), Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival (3 seasons), & Little Theatre of the Rockies (2 seasons). emilyvanfleet.com @emilyvanfleet PLAYWRIGHT KATE HAMILL is an actor and playwright. Plays include Pride & Prejudice – Primary Stages / HVSF (originated role of Lizzy; nominee, Off-Broadway Alliance Award), Sense & Sensibility at Bedlam (originated role of Marianne; winner, Off-Broadway Alliance Award; nominee, Drama League Award); Vanity Fair at the Pearl (originated

Becky; nominee, Off-Broadway Alliance Award); Mansfield Park at Northlight; Little Women at Primary Stages and the Jungle; Dracula at Classic Stage Company; Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson, Apt. #2B at KCRep; Emma at the Guthrie; The Little Fellow at Cygnet Theatre. Other plays include Scrooge for Senate; The Piper (O’Neill Finalist, PlayPenn Fellowship); In the Mines (Sundance Finalist); and The Odyssey. Her plays have been produced Off-Broadway, at A.R.T., the Guthrie, Seattle Rep, The Alley, Folger, OSF, Trinity Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Dorset Theatre Festival, Shakespeare Theatre of DC, Dallas Theater Center, Kansas City Rep, Long Wharf, A.C.T., Actors Theater of Louisville, and many others. World Premieres in 2024: The Scarlet Letter at Two River, The Light & The Dark at Chautauqua Theater Company and more. Kate has been one of the mostproduced playwrights nationwide every season from 2017-current season. Wall Street Journal Playwright of the Year, 2017; Einhorn Award, 2023. kate-hamill.com DIRECTOR MEREDITH MCDONOUGH. At the DCPA: The 39 Steps. Meredith was the Associate Artistic Director at Actors Theatre of Louisville where favorite directing includes Angels in America, Peter and the Starcatcher, and the premieres of Colman Domingo’s Dot, and Airness. She was also the Director of New Works at TheatreWorks where favorites include Spelling Bee and title of show. Regionally: Lily’s Revenge with Taylor Mac (Magic Theatre), the world premiere of Emma and Noises Off (Guthrie), Falsettos (Latte Da), Fair Use (Steppenwolf), Private Lives (St Louis REP). She was the New Works Director for the NAMT and a Drama League Fellow. Education: Northwestern; MFA, UCSD. CREATIVE TEAM MATTHEW CAMPBELL (Production Manager) (He/Him) is grateful and honored to support, collaborate, and work with our brilliant and outstanding production team, shops, crews, artisans and guest artists to create extraordinary theatre. Previously a stage manager at a few stops in the mid-west as well as numerous Colorado theatres and Assistant

JACKIE FOX (Lighting Designer) (She/Her) is a New York based scenic and lighting designer. Selected lighting credits include: Helen. (La Mama); Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson Apt 2B (Dorset Theater Festival); The Oresteia (The Juilliard School); The Wolves (McCarter Theatre Center); Dear Jack, Dear Louise (Northlight Theatre); UNTOLD (PARA.MAR Dance Theatre); Hundred Days (Kokandy Productions); Peter and the Starcatcher (Wagon Wheel Theatre).

Scenic credits include: Pretty Fire (Omaha Community Playhouse); Pride & Prejudice and Comedy of Errors (Wagon Wheel Theatre). For more information go to jackiefoxdesigns.com PALMER HEFFERAN (Sound Designer) has designed over 80 productions across the country. In 2022, she received a Tony Award® nomination for her work on The Skin of Our Teeth at Lincoln Center Theater.

Select credits Broadway: Just For Us (Hudson Theatre); Grand Horizons (Second Stage); The Lifespan of a Fact (Studio 54). Off-Broadway: Fefu and Her Friends (TFANA); The Comeuppance and The Death of the Last Black Man… (Signature Theatre); Merry Wives, shadow/land, Wild Goose Dreams (The Public); Flex, Becky Nurse Salem, Mary’s Seacole (Lincoln Center); Nollywood Dreams, BLKS, Collective Rage, School Girls (MCC). Awards: 2019 Obie Award (Sustained Excellence in Sound Design).

EMILY MICHAELS KING (Choreographer). Regional credits: Emma (Guthrie Theater, PlayMakers Repertory Company), Start Select and We Are Crafty (Walker Art Center), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Moving Company), Falsettos (Theater Latte Da), Jonah and the Whale in the Guthrie Dowling Studio, Hair (7th House Theater), The Hollow (Trademark Theater). Emily

creates and performs solo and collaborative original works including Magic Girl, Digital, In Person, Chicken Wing (Solo Performances); The Show, Animus, Lewis/Clark (E/D); and many shows with Live Action Set including The 7 Shot Symphony, and more.

Education: University of Minnesota; The Ailey School. emilymichaelsking.com LEX LIANG (Scenic and Costume Designer) At the DCPA: The 39 Steps, Hotter Than Egypt. Credits include: 100+ productions, including Judy Gold’s Yes, I Can Say That! currently playing at Primary Stages. Regional: Actor’s Theatre Louisville, Alliance Theatre, Asolo, Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, Dallas Theatre, Geva, Guthrie, La Jolla, Long Wharf, Paper Mill, Pasadena Playhouse, Playmaker’s, Portland Center Stage, St. Louis Rep, Syracuse Stage, and Woolly Mammoth. Lex is the founder and principal of LDC Design Associates, an experiential event design and production company in NYC. Recent projects/clients include Absolut Vodka, Operation Smile, Invesco, The Tony Awards, NYFW, NYWFF, William Hill, and others.

LexLiang.com LDCdesign.com.

GRADY SOAPES, CSA (Casting) (He/ Him) is the Director of Casting and Artistic Producer with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Grady has cast over 40 DCPA productions including Rattlesnake Kate, Theater of the Mind, The Chinese Lady, The Who’s Tommy, and The Wild Party.

Choreography credits include A Christmas Carol, Twelfth Night, Goodnight Moon, Anna Karenina, As You Like It, Drag Machine, Lord of the Butterflies, DragON (Denver Center); Into the Woods, The Liar (Arvada Center); Comedy of Errors (Colorado Shakespeare Festival). Grady also works as a Casting Director for Sylvia Gregory Casting where he has cast multiple commercials, TV, film and video game projects.

PAUL TOBEN (Lighting Designer) (He/Him). At the DCPA: The Book of Will. Broadway: Dana H., The Story of My Life. Chicago: Athena, The Mystery of Love and Sex, Witch (Writers Theatre); Lady from the Sea, Electra, For Colored Girls…

(Court); Macbeth (Chicago Shakes); Dana H. (Goodman); Cry it Out, The Book of Will, Daddy Long Legs

(Northlight); The Firebirds Take the Field (Rivendell). Regional: Emma and Noises Off (Guthrie); The Wolves (Studio Theatre); Angels in America Parts 1 and 2, Peter and the Starcatcher, 4000 Miles, Evocation to Visible Appearance, Airness, Wondrous Strange, The Grown-Up, and The Roommate (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Medea (Dallas Theater Center). paultoben.com LEEAN KIM TORSKE (Dramaturg) is the Director of Literary Programs for the Denver Center Theatre Company. In the past, she’s served as the Literary Manager and Casting Associate at Northlight Theatre, Director of the Russ Tutterow Fellowship at Chicago Dramatists, and a publicist and discussion facilitator at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

As a freelance dramaturg and theatre artist, she worked with theatres throughout the Chicagoland area including A Red Orchid Theatre, Congo Square Theatre, Definition Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, and more. Her play Pity Party is featured in Smith & Kraus’s 105 Five-Minute Plays for Study and Performance.

Most recently, her play And the Wind Howls was commissioned and produced by Relative Theatrics with support from the Wyoming Arts Council.

KATJA ZAROLINSKI, CSA (Casting).

JZ Casting casts productions for theater, film, and television. Theater work includes Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional productions at Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Cape Playhouse, City Theatre, The Civilians, Irish Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Rep, Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theater, St. Louis Rep, Seattle Rep, Signature Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Studio Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre. For more information, please visit jz-casting.com.

JILL WALMSLEY ZAGER (Voice and Dialect Coach) (She/Her) has served as the Resident Voice, Text and Dialects Coach at The Guthrie, American Conservatory Theater and the Milwaukee Rep. She has coached productions across the country including at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival, St Louis Rep,

EMMA

Professor of Theatre at Brooklyn College in New York. Joined the DCPA stage management team in 2010 and after several years moved over to the production management team. Every show along the way is a favorite, but some DCPA and OffCenter highlights have been Sweet & Lucky, The 12, Lord of the Flies, Animal Crackers, Frankenstein, Book of Will, Rattlesnake Kate, and The Chinese Lady.

EMMA

Arizona Theatre Company, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. An actor for over 20 years, she has appeared in over 80 productions. Jill earned her master’s degrees in Voice and Dialects from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (London) and Northwestern University.

STAGE MANAGEMENT SAGE HUGHES (Assistant Stage Manager) (She/Her) Previously at the DCPA: Cebollas, A Little Night Music, Theater of the Mind, Colorado New Play Summit, Choir Boy, Rattlesnake Kate, and A Christmas Carol. Other regional credits include UNDONE: The Lady M Project and Local Lab 12 (Local Theater Company), Kinky Boots, The Revolutionists, and The Phantom Tollbooth (Hangar Theatre Company), and Shoes for the Santo Niño (Santa Fe Opera). Production management credits: Sweeney Todd, Queens Girl in the World, Lost Girl, and The Sun Serpent (Hangar). Sage holds a BA in Theatre and English from the University of New Mexico.

ANNE M. JUDE (Stage Manager) (She/Her). National Tours: Elf, Mary Poppins. Recent credits: Kinky Boots (Maine State Music Theater), Rock of Ages – Hollywood (The Bourbon Room). At the DCPA: Little Red, Hotter Than Egypt, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Regional credits include: What the Constitution Means to Me (BETC); A Picture of Dorian Gray, Othello, Henry V (A Noise Within); The Glass Menagerie, Man of La Mancha, Dreamgirls (Milwaukee Repertory Theater). First Stage Children’s Theater, Fulton Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals. Education: BFA Arts Administration – Viterbo University, La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Proud AEA Member.

THEATRE COMPANY LEADERSHIP TEAM CHRIS COLEMAN is passionate about the connection between stories and community. He joined the Denver Center Theatre Company as Artistic Director in November of 2017 and has directed A Little Night Music, Hotter Than Egypt, Much Ado About Nothing, Rattlesnake Kate, Twelfth Night, A Doll’s House, Anna Karenina, and Oklahoma!. Previously, Chris served as Artistic Director for Portland Center Stage in Oregon for

18 years. Under his leadership, PCS renovated the city’s historic Armory into a new home, saw annual attendance nearly double, workshopped 52 new plays that went on to productions at over 100 theaters around the US and UK, and became a national leader in how theaters engage with their community.

In 1988, Chris founded Actor’s Express in Atlanta (in the basement of an old church), a company that continues to be a cultural force in the Southeast today. He has directed at major theaters across the country, including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Alliance Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, ACT/Seattle, the Asolo, Pittsburgh Public, 59E59, and New York Theater Workshop. He and his husband, actor/writer Rodney Hicks, live in Reunion with their 100 lb. English blockhead yellow lab and their 18 lb. terrier mix. Since moving to Colorado, he has hiked Dominguez Canyon, wandered the Cliff Dwellings of Mesa Verde, explored a working mine in Creede, and rafted down the Arkansas River.

CHARLES VARIN (Managing Director) and his team are responsible for the administrative, financial, and business operations for Theatre Company and Off-Center productions and other artistic initiatives.

Since joining the Theatre Company in 2006, he has played a major role in executing the artistic vision of the organization and facilitating the production of shows such as Sweet & Lucky, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Sense & Sensibility the Musical, The 12, Sweeney Todd with DeVotchKa and many more. Charles is passionate about artistic innovation and firmly believes in DCPA’s long-standing commitment to new plays and new voices.

In addition to DCPA staff, the following crew worked on this production: Jaclyn Bjornson, Andy Bruening, Jason Bushey, Gabriel Crites, Killian Eck, Lisa Ehrle, Eric Hilton, Michael James, Katarina Kosmopoulos, Skylar Lange, Phi Le, Loren Martin, Katie Marting, Nikki Mayer, Fox Rhodvin, Brent Rolfson, Lori Worthman

PLEASE BE ADVISED •

LATECOMERS and those exiting the theatre are seated at predetermined breaks in designated areas.

•

CHILDREN 4+ are welcome in our theatres and must be ticketed.

•

ASSISTIVE LISTENING DEVICES, LARGE PRINT PROGRAMS & BOOSTER SEATS are available in most theatres. Ask an usher to direct you.

•

BRAILLE PROGRAMS are available with 2 weeks’ notice to accessibility@dcpa.org

TAKING PHOTOS AT THE THEATRE We welcome you to take photos in the theatre before and after the performance.

If you post on social media, please credit, and tag the DCPA and the design team: @denvercenter #DCPATheatreCompany #Emma Playwright: Kate Hamill @katastic29 Director: Meredith McDonough @meredithmcdonoughbk Choreographer: Emily Michaels King @emilymichaelsking Scenic and Costume Designer: Lex Liang @Lex92 Lighting Designer: Jackie Fox @jackie_k_fox and Paul Toben Sound Designer: Palmer Hefferan @palmzhefferan Dramaturg: Leean Kim Torske Voice and Dialect: Jill Walmsley Zager Casting: Grady Soapes, CSA @grayzvander and Katja Zarolinski, CSA Photos and the video and/or audio recording during any part of the performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited.

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is one of the largest non-profit theatre organizations in the nation, presenting Broadway tours and producing theatre, cabaret, musicals, and immersive productions.

In its 2022/23 season, the DCPA engaged with nearly 865,000 visitors, generating a $205.6 million economic impact.

The Theatre Company is grateful for the funds provided by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. Special thanks also to grants from the Helen G. Bonfils Foundation; and contributions from corporations, foundations and individuals. The Theatre Company is a division of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, a non-profit organization serving the public through the performing arts.

The Theatre Company operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States; and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. The Theatre Company also operates under an agreement with Denver Theatrical Stage Employees Union, Local No. 7 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada.

The Theatre Company is constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for not-for-profit resident theatre companies.

The costumes, wigs, lighting, props, furniture,scenic construction, scenic painting, sound and special effects used in connection with this production were constructed and coordinated by the Theatre Company’s Production Staff.

The Director and Fight Director are members of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.

The actors and stage managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

Backstage and Ticket Services Employees are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada. (or I.A.T.S.E.) The scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers in LORT Theatres are represented

by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.

EMMA

LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH

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EMMA

A REFRESHING TAKE ON A TIMELESS CLASSIC

Illustration by Kyle Malone

BY LISA BORNSTEIN

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APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024

I

It takes something extra to adapt a 200-year-old classic novel that has already been adapted multiple times for stage and screen. Call it guts — call it ovaries — but actor/playwright Kate Hamill has now adapted five novels of Jane Austen, with her latest, Emma, staged at Denver Center Theatre Company.

“Jane Austen was a proto-feminist,” the New York-based actor and playwright says. “She talked a lot about something I’m very interested in, which is not only the interiority of women’s lives but also what to do when the dictates of your conscience and character are in direct opposition to what your society expects of you.”

In the 1815 novel and the play, Emma is a well-off young woman who, having made a successful match, decides matchmaking is her gift. Comic missteps ensue, as well as a hidden romance.

“When I started thinking about Emma, I was really interested in the frustrations of a woman who cannot work,” Hamill says. “I had an acting teacher who would talk about the tragedy of women before work, who were not able to put their considerable intellect and their talents into work that fulfills them. My Emma became about that, this very brilliant woman who is trying to find someplace to put her excess energy, and matchmaking becomes her outlet, because it’s the only thing she can do.”

Hamill came to playwriting as an actor who was dissatisfied with the roles available to her and other highly educated and trained women.

“I was working, but I very quickly was frustrated, because I felt like I was constantly auditioning to play someone’s wife or girlfriend or prostitute,” Hamill says. “So often, I felt like my identity as a feminist person, which actually predates even my work in theater, was really coming into opposition with the work that I was auditioning for. I would be in these rooms with 600 other women who were all super funny and smart or talented, all of whom were auditioning to play one role out of ten roles. The plays were male gaze-oriented and they were almost always by men.”

Hamill wrote a check for $100 to her friend, Andrus Nichols. “I want to write a new feminist classic, and if I don’t write it, you get to cash it,” Hamill recalls.

The play, her first, was an adaptation of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, partly because Hamill could not find a stage adaptation that had not been written by a man.

Hamill played Marianne, and Nichols played Eleanor.

Her second career had begun. In the decade since, she has written nearly 20 plays, including four Austen adaptations and several original pieces.

The playwright’s approach to Jane Austen isn’t all reverence and bonnets. Rather, anachronistic touches, including recent music and dances, are sprinkled throughout. Emma herself regularly breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the audience.

“I’m always interested in creating a work which is in conversation with the original but which has lots of relevance and unexpected surprises in it,” Hamill says. “I’m always looking to create something that speaks both to people who know the novel very well and also people who have absolutely no relationship with the novel at all.”

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DENVER CENTER.

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This production is the adaptation’s second; it arrives at the Wolf Theatre following its premiere in the 2021/22 season of Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theatre. Once again, Meredith McDonough will be directing, and their collaborative relationship is so strong that Hamill will be in residence in Denver during rehearsals, unusual for later productions.

Along with them will be some of the designers from the Guthrie, as they continue to try to improve the work.

The anachronisms, such as modern makeup and a popcorn machine, are a way for Hamill to bring the audience into what was, when written, a contemporary world, not a costume drama. “Both I and Meredith McDonough, who’s directing this production, we’re both really interested in injecting irreverence and timeliness into this classic work,” Hamill says. “I’m not a dramaturgically rigid adapter, so I tend to come at it from a new-play lens. I tend to come at it as a collaboration between myself and another author — some of whom are currently dead.”

As a writer, she is slightly skeptical of adaptations that hew too closely to the original, as if it were an unmalleable constitution.

“If we played just totally Regency music and Regency dances, it might be a little more dramaturgically accurate, but you’re not going to get the same feeling that [the characters] would get dancing these dances,” she says. “Anytime you have something that’s really dramaturgically rigid, everyone’s about a decade too old, and no one has smallpox scars, and everyone has their original teeth. We understand things through a modern lens. I believe in letting these acts of theater run around in the sun and coloring in crayon on our altars.”

Most of all, though, Hamill wants the audience to realize that this is a comedy. It led her to watch a lot of “I Love Lucy” in preparation for the script.

“She is super, super funny,” Hamill says of Austen. “I think she is often sort of pigeon-holed as a quote-unquote romance writer, but she’s so funny and she’s so smart about people’s characters.”

CORE VALUES.

SUST AIN

My Emma became…this very brilliant woman who is trying to find someplace to put her excess energy, and matchmaking becomes her outlet, because it’s the only thing she can do.

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We prioritize the wellbeing of our team, our finances and the environment to ensure our thriving future.

EMMA

APR 5 – MAY 5 • WOLF THEATRE ASL Interpreted & Audio Described performance: Apr 28 at 1:30pm Post-show discussions: Apr 18 & 30

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BY LISA BORNSTEIN

Anastasia Davidson in Ghost Variations.

Photo by Harper Anne Finch.

Donathan Walters in Godspeed.

Photo by Harper Anne Finch.

COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT:

2024 Colorado New Play Summit Participants

T

hat buzz you heard the last weekend of February was the sound of creation at Denver Center Theatre Company, where the Colorado New Play Summit drew sold-out audiences of nearly 2,000 playwrights, industry professionals and theater fans.

“The festival weekend, it’s a wild, wonderful ride, and there’s a lot that gets packed into it,” said Leann Kim Torske, the Theatre Company’s Director of Literary Programs.

Audiences were treated to staged readings of four new works: Cowboys and East Indians, by Nina McConigley and Matthew Spangler; OneShot, by Andrew Rosendorf; Godspeed, by Terence Anthony, and Ghost Variations, by Vauhini Vara. In addition, the Theatre Company offered fully staged productions of two scripts from the 2022 New Play Summit: Leonard Madrid’s Cebollas and Kirsten Potter’s Rubicon.

The spotlight shone on several local creators this year. A professor at Colorado State University, McConigley collaborated with playwright Spangler to bring her Wyoming-set short story to the stage.

Vara, who lives in Fort Collins, is the rare writer to submit her play unsolicited and have it accepted for the Summit.

It was announced that two plays which received readings at last year’s Summit will receive full productions as part of the Theatre Company’s 2024/25 season. Clue playwright Sandy Rustin has written The Suffragette’s Murder, pairing the voting rights movement with a whodunit. Denver playwright Jake Brasch’s script, The Reservoir, will receive a co-production with three prestigious theaters: the Denver Center, Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, and Los Angeles’ Geffen Playhouse.

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APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024

The playwrights, directors, dramaturgs and casts of (clockwise from upper left): Ghost Variations, Cowboys & Easts Indians, One-Shot and Godspeed.

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THE LEHMAN TRILOGY

Illustration by Kyle Malone

BY MISHA BERSON

I

In 2008 the prominent Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers had 25,000 employees around the world. It carried $639 billion in assets, and was the fourth largest investment bank in the United States — and one of the oldest.

But when its massive portfolio of mortgage-backed securities lost value and the nation’s over-inflated housing bubble burst, the company saw its stock price plummet — while other leading financial institutions also hit the rocks.

By September 15, Lehman had amassed $613 billion in liabilities. With just $1 billion cash on hand and no private or government bail-out, the company shocked Wall Street by filing for bankruptcy.

You might assume a play titled The Lehman Trilogy, like numerous films about financial institutions gone bust during that recession-triggering autumn, focuses sharply on a seemingly invulnerable institution’s demise.

But the Tony-winning drama by Ben Power and Stefano Massini, a hit in London, on Broadway and around the U.S., accomplishes something less predictable and more illuminating than a disaster timeline. It follows the rise of the Lehman firm from its mid-19th century creation by a trio of three enterprising immigrant brothers, up to a kind of coda to its fateful collapse in 2008. And in doing so, it raises questions and concerns about the personal and societal

32

damage wreaked by unbridled financial opportunism, without ethical or governmental guardrails to regulate it.

Based on a verse novel and play written in Italian by Massini, who was born and resides in Florence, The Lehman Trilogy has also been praised for its lean, effective style of theatrical storytelling over three acts. A trio of actors portray the three Lehman founders — Emanuel, Henry (Heyum) and Mayer — as well as transforming before one’s eyes into dozens of other characters, including some of the brothers’ descendants.

Spinning off actual events, the epic begins with the arrival of the Bavarian Jewish siblings in Montgomery, Alabama in 1844. In European countries, Jews had often been banned from owning land or joining unions. In the American South, the Lehmans began their business as a dry goods store.

But they soon carved out a different role as middle men, purchasing large quantities of cotton from plantations (run on slave labor) and reselling it at a profit — spinning cotton into gold, as it were.

After the devastation of the Civil War, the play depicts Emanuel (a financial visionary, always looking for inventive ways to increase profits) moving the company to New York City’s burgeoning Wall Street district. There he embraces the lucrative business of making high-end loans, investing

APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

in such hot commodities as oil, iron and a new cross-country railroad system that forever changed the economy.

But over time, guided by the sons and grandsons of the founders, Lehman Brothers lends enormous sums for massive bundles of increasingly complex “derivatives” — as in mortgage-backed securities, which prove to be unsustainable as impractical loans and defaults multiply.

Yet as much as The Lehman Trilogy is a primer and timeline on the relentless march of American capitalism over several generations, it is also a study of how much is lost to a family with unbridled, singleminded profiteering. Gradually but surely, the Lehmans shed their Orthodox Jewish religious observances, their ties to the Old Country, and their familial trust in one another — as well as their concern for those who suffer from their moves in increasingly risky financial markets.

The Lehman Trilogy began in the theater as a five hour-plus verse work, performed (in Italian) at Teatro Piccolo in Milan. Intrigued, the renowned stage and film director Sam Mendes engaged British playwright Power to adapt the sprawling saga into a three-hour play.

Mendes’ National Theatre staging premiered in London in 2018.

It was an immediate hit, hailed by the Guardian newspaper as an “astonishing” event “spanning 150 years,” and a tour de force for the shape-shifting actors.

When the work arrived on Broadway in 2021, critics were also enthusiastic. The Washington Post review by Peter Marks lauded the show as “a marvelous reckoning with [the Lehman] legacy, and a fascinating audit of a driven family’s psychic balance sheet.”

But The Lehman Trilogy also sparked some controversy. There have been complaints that it pays little attention to the Lehmans’ exploitation of slave labor in the Antebellum South, including the brothers’ own purchase of slaves. (In 2005 the company publicly acknowledged and apologized for its slavery ties.)

Also, charges that the play promulgates harmful caricatures of Jews have arisen. In the Jewish online magazine Tablet, Judith Miller wrote that it “contains subtle but pervasive intimations of the classic antiSemitic tropes it ostensibly laments, with invocations of Jewishness — and Jewish power, and Jewish money…”

During 2008 financial crisis, and sadly to this day, bogus antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jews malevolently dominating and rigging the world economy have swirled online.

Defenders of the play note that Mendes is Jewish, and Massini, though gentile, has been an avid student of Jewish history and religion since his youth.

Also, the National Theatre engaged a rabbi as a script consultant.

Orthodox Rabbi Daniel Epstein (who also consulted on a production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America) advised on the Jewish rituals and Hebrew dialogue in the play, but also participated in lengthy discussions with the authors about how to represent the Lehmans’ Jewishness without stereotyping them.

“The Lehmans were Jews and they ran a bank,” Powers told the SoCal Jewish News. “There’s no getting away from that, but I don’t think the show deals in tropes. I think that their Jewishness and their financial acumen are two separate issues. I’m confident that the play is responsible in terms of the story it tells.”

The Denver Center Theatre Company production will allow the audience to judge for itself.

THE LEHMAN TRILOGY

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NATURE AND NORWAY Caroline Bowman as Elsa in Frozen North American Tour.

Photo by Deen van Meer.

DESIGNER CHRISTOPHER ORAM TALKS ABOUT FROZEN THE BROADWAY MUSICAL

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When Disney Theatrical Group decided to adapt the animated film Frozen for the Broadway stage, they enlisted a team with more than just stellar theatrical bona fides. Not only do they have a collective 16 Tony Awards®, but they also have art and design in their bones.

When it came time to design the sets and costumes, Christopher Oram had an artistic game plan. He filled, as he put it, “sketchbook after sketchbook of scribbles and ideas and shapes” inspired by everything from Nordic architecture to royal costuming. What emerged from those early ideas are the beautifully icy winterscapes and earth-toned greenways that today greet audiences on tour across North America.

Oram said his designs were primarily inspired by research trips he took to Scandinavia, where “glaciers and forests and churches” inspired his lush design concepts that reflect the region’s magic and mystery.

“You’re out in the middle of a fjord and there’s literally no one else around,” he said of his visit to Norway. “You see tiny houses clinging to the bottom of giant steep cliffs.

The water is bottomless beneath you, and it’s pitch black.

You get that there may be goblins in the woods and fairies under the rocks. Nature is so present around you.”

He drew on those inspirations in his scenic design. He took cues from the timber-based architecture in Norway, all heavy woods and pillars and planks. Oram embedded the traditional Norwegian folk art called Rosemåling — a type of decorative painting that features stylized flowers — into many elements of the set. It’s a nod to the “wonderful juxtaposition of heavy wood and delicate floral motifs,” giving a “big masculine space with all this feminine detailing.”

“It’s all in service of the narrative of the story, visually,” he said.

The costumes are just as inspired.

“All Disney animated characters have iconic looks,” he said. “But for the stage you have to interpret that work for an older, more sophisticated audience.”

“You have to conceive of garments in a different way, but make them iconic and recognizable and beautiful,” he said.

Oram did that by maintaining the silhouettes from the film but using fabrics that move in certain ways to give the actors physicality and weight. The costumes feature layers of satins and silks, with beading and embroidery as lush accents. Hand dying created stunning ombré effects in blues, golds, scarlets and whites.

Oram was especially excited about a scene featuring Elsa in a pant suit, a switch which gave her “modern-day independence and fierceness.”

“You can’t stage a fight scene with her in a ball gown,” he said with a laugh.

Oram said he was thrilled to design and conjure the world of Frozen for the stage. Critics agreed. Variety called his work “very theatrical,” and the Los Angeles Times had high praise for the designer’s “imaginative handiwork.”

“I’m absolutely an aesthetic designer,” said Oram. “I love beauty. I love texture. I love design. I love the world around me.”

I’m absolutely an aesthetic designer.

I love beauty. I love texture. I love design.

I love the world around me.

— CHRISTOPHER ORAM, DESIGNER

FROZEN

JUN 19 – JUL 3 • BUELL THEATRE ASL Interpreted, Audio Described and Open Captioned performance: June 29 at 2pm

APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024

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PROUD SPONSOR OF DCPA BROADWAY

UCHEALTH SUPPORTS THE YOUTH ENGAGEMENT FUND The health system celebrates its seventh year partnering with the DCPA.

BY LINNEA COVINGTON

T DCPA is a part of UCHealth’s Ready. Set. CO challenge aimed at helping Colorado get back to the summit of good health and become the healthiest state in the nation.

To learn more about Ready. Set. CO please visit: uchealth.org/readysetco/

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The Denver Center for the Performing Arts and its longtime partner, UCHealth, are teaming up to ensure the youngest community members have more access to arts programming.

UCHealth has a history of incorporating the arts into patient care. For years it has used art and music therapy as tools to help patients in their healing journeys. And, more recently UCHealth teamed up with the DCPA’s presentation of The Secret Comedy of Women to film a virtual reality version of the popular show so that both staff and patients can enjoy an escape during periods of stress.

This year, UCHealth is taking its support of the arts one step further through its commitment to the youth engagement fund. “UCHealth is happy to support the youth engagement fund to ensure the youngest members of our community have an opportunity to learn and draw inspiration from the programs, classes and immersive experiences offered by DCPA,” said Manny Rodriguez, Chief Marketing, Experience and Customer Officer at UCHealth.

Whether offering patients an unexpected arts experience while in the hospital, challenging the community to be the healthiest it can be or providing opportunities for youth to explore the wonders of the live theater, UCHealth knows that culture enriches lives. “Exposure to various art forms has been shown to improve both physical and mental wellbeing,” Rodriguez continued, “and it allows adults and children alike the opportunity for expression as well as provides an outlet for creative thinking and emotions.”

It seems that a trip to the theatre is just what the doctor ordered.

APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

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Breaking News, First Alert Weather & Your Reporters... Covering Colorado First.

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APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

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TCI Wealth Advisors supports Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) because it is Denver’s cultural heart. The tireless work by the professionals at DCPA ensures that Coloradans young and old experience the joys of live theatre.

The impact of DCPA goes far beyond the stage. DCPA creates opportunities for the community to gather. The communal experience of viewing a performance enables neighbors to form bonds with one another through the art they experience. Thus, the arts become the catalyst for weaving a robust social fabric. DCPA touches thousands of lives each year, and Denver is a stronger, more vibrant community because of it.

Through its educational outreach, the DCPA provides the youth of the greater Denver area opportunities to engage with theatre. Its offerings allow kids an avenue to explore their artistic potential, discover new perspectives, develop an early artistic appreciation and share ideas. Arts education is crucial for nurturing creativity, fostering critical thinking and providing a platform for self-expression. It equips students with skills for personal and academic success.

The enchantment of theatre comes to life at DCPA, which presents a playground for imaginations to thrive, capturing the hearts and minds of young and young-at-heart. When lights dim and curtains rise, audiences embark on adventures to last a lifetime, with breathtaking stories and unique characters through landscapes of the mind.

In life, everyone is their own author, crafting storylines and chapters along the way. At TCI Wealth Advisors, the goal is to help assure life’s story can be developed to the fullest. The Advisors at TCI help by ensuring that assets align with the goals each client hopes to achieve. They help guide clients through life’s journey, with its unique combination of opportunities, challenges and successes. TCI Wealth Advisors helps transform financial goals into tangible accomplishments, helping ensure that every client leads their version of a purpose-filled life.

Regardless of the twists and turns in life’s journey, it’s imperative for the Denver community to embrace and support its cultural heart. DCPA’s enduring impact nourishes individual experiences and contributes to the overall vibrancy of the greater Denver community. Each person is an essential element in preserving the enchantment of live theatre for future generations. That is a lasting cultural DCPA legacy that can and will continue to shape and inspire lives for many years to come.

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APPLAUSE • APR – JUN 2024 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

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