Applause Magazine, Apr. 8-May 15, 2016

APPLAUSE

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VOLUME XXVII | NUMBER 6 | MAR – MAY 2016

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SWEENEY TODD Also Playing: Disney’s Newsies Riverdance — The 20th Anniversary World Tour

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SIGHTLINE

BY SCOTT SHILLER

REBEL, REBEL

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Since the start of this theatre season, I’ve been asking questions in this column. Are we welcoming enough to tech-savvy audience members? Where do you get your arts and entertainment news? What’s important to you in a cultural facility? As a recent transplant to Denver, I have my share of observations. And I definitely have opinions on the questions I’ve posed. But I want to know what you think. You are my partners and, together, we’re going to shake things up.

Now, you may not think of yourself as a rebel. Very few rebels do. The reality, though, is that simply by expecting a modern theatre-going experience, you’re shaking things up every time you attend a live event. Live theatre is an art form that has been around for over two thousand years. Over that time, it has continuously evolved and reconsidered its potential. There has never been a time like this, though. Personal (and professional) technology is upending everything about the theatrical experience, from your first search for tickets on your smart phone to the last selfie you post before heading home. There’s something new seemingly every day and the DCPA wants to lead the way.

That said, it’s not all new. We still have stages, actors, sets, props and wardrobe. We still have playwrights and directors and stage managers and crew. Mix well and you have theatre. But then again, now we have “immersive” theatre like our upcoming summer production called Sweet & Lucky that forgoes seats and stages for wandering through theatrical spaces. We have jukebox musicals, dance mash-ups, cirque and other forms traditionalists might not even recognize. Here at the DCPA, we’re even updating some of our theatres (currently The Space Theatre in the Bonfils Complex) to accommodate the new, high-tech, demands of modern theatre making. But here’s the big question — should live theatre stay the same or become something new?

As we move forward, what do you think the future of live theatre should be? What kind of programming should we embrace?

Should we stay rooted in the past with traditional stagings and scripts? Should we tear up the rulebook and see what happens?

If we do either, will you attend more or less? Because whatever we do, you complete it. You are the reason we’re here and we want to hear from you. The revolution will not be televised — but it may be staged.

Let us know your thoughts at denvercenter.org/sightline.

SCOTT SHILLER President and CEO

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LETTERS TO THE CEO In Applause No. 4, CEO Scott Shiller gave an overview of the City’s plans to reimagine the Arts Complex and asked you to offer ideas for this “Next Stage.” Excerpts from your responses follow. To read all of the comments, visit denvercenter.org/news-center.

With a dedicated Family Theatre, Denver Center could become an innovator in works specifically for children, creating pieces that teach young audiences important life lessons without talking down to them… [and] provide a safe and fun respite for families to enjoy an unforgettable experience together.

— Rebecca H. A Music Arts Complex…which would include an award winning venue(s) capable of accommodating performances and music festivals...talented local musicians as well as established bands…. [It] would include a trendy bar…, a coffee house…, a small performance area, practice spaces and possible local artisan co-op area. — Kirsten A. Totally rebuild the Buell Theatre audience area. Too many sound problems throughout the space. Grade the orchestra so that I can really see the stage even if a 6’ 5” man sits in front of me. Take out some of the seats.

— Barbara D. What a waste of money…. Put money, if you have it, into productions. — Bob Replace the current parking garage…with an open public park-like space…. This would allow for gathering and event space, as well as give unobstructed views of the beautiful Ellie Caulkins Opera House and facades of other theatres. — Erica A solution to the parking problem and some restaurants would be great improvements.

— Steve S. A coffee house sounds good to me!… And the idea of tearing down Boettcher and putting in an amphitheater sounds TERRIBLE! Who wants to deal with traffic noise and fumes while trying to hear a concert?

— Joellyn

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APPLAUSE

IN THE

SPOTLIGHT

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VO LU M E X XV I I | N U M B E R 6 | M A R – M AY 2 0 1 6

EDITOR: Suzanne Yoe CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Rob Silk ASSOCIATE EDITOR: John Moore SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: Adam Obendorf ART DIRECTOR: Kyle Malone DESIGNERS: Kim Conner, Brenda Elliott CONTRIBUTING WRITER: Carolyn Michaels

Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ biggest stars step into the spotlight — actors, designers, students and you.

Applause is published seven times a year by Denver Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with The Publishing House, Westminster, CO. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Call 303.893.4000 regarding editorial content.

Applause magazine is funded in part by

Angie Flachman, Publisher For advertising 303.428.9529 or sales@pub-house.com coloradoartspubs.com

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES Daniel L. Ritchie, Chairman William Dean Singleton, Sec’y/Treasurer Robert Slosky, First Vice Chair Margot Gilbert Frank, Second Vice Chair Dr. Patricia Baca Joy S. Burns Isabelle Clark Navin Dimond L. Roger Hutson Mary Pat Link Robert C. Newman Hassan Salem Richard M. Sapkin Martin Semple Tara Smith Jim Steinberg Ken Tuchman Tina Walls Lester L. Ward Dr. Reginald L. Washington Judi Wolf Sylvia Young

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1. THEATRE COMPANY actor Adeoye participates in a video project to commemorate Black History Month. The cast of All the Way read the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the project, which has received more than 64,000 views. Tune in at youtube/denvercenter. 2. DCPA supporter Phil Munishor is applauded by the cast of FADE for his recent gift from The Joan and Phill Berger Charitable Fund to support both the play and renovation of The Space Theatre. 3. DCPA EDUCATION welcomed a packed house of middle and high school students to its Student Matinee of As You Like It. 4. Westin Denver Downtown General Manager John

Everett and Executive Assistant Debbie Smith peruse auction items at the SATURDAY NIGHT ALIVE Patron Party hosted by their hotel.

5. BROADWAY guests gathered for the 2016/17 season announcement, featuring the pre-Broadway debut of Frozen. Photos by John Moore and Amanda Tipton Photography.

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HONORARY MEMBERS Jeannie Fuller M. Ann Padilla Cleo Parker Robinson

HELEN G. BONFILS FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES Lester L. Ward, President Emeritus Martin Semple, President Judi Wolf, Sec’y/Treasurer Daniel L. Ritchie William Dean Singleton Robert Slosky Jim Steinberg Dr. Reginald L. Washington Minumum Width .75” Maximum Width 2”

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EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT Scott Shiller, President & CEO Clay Courter, Vice President, Facilities & Event Services John Ekeberg, Executive Director, Broadway Vicky Miles, Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Nealson, Chief Marketing Officer Kent Thompson, Producing Artistic Director, Theatre Company Charles Varin, Managing Director, Theatre Company David Zupancic, Director of Donor Relations

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2016/17 BROADWAY SEASON...

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With so many award-winning, crowd-pleasing choices at our fingertips, we’re able to bring the best of Broadway to Denver year after year. Start counting down the days to the spectacular shows we have in store and become a subscriber to see them all from the best seats at the best price — up to 25% off.

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AND YOUR FAVORITE NIGHTS OF THE YEAR.

JAN 10 – 22, 2017 THE ELLIE

MAR 8 – 19, 2017 BUELL THEATRE

MAY 30 – JUN 18, 2017 THE ELLIE

COMING SUMMER 2017 BUELL THEATRE

DARREN CRISS IN THE BROADWAY PRODUCTION OF HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH. PHOTO: JOAN MARCUS

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DEC 6 – 11, 2016 BUELL THEATRE

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Photo credits, L to R: Finding Neverland, Laura Michelle Kelly, photo by Carol Rosegg; Fun Home, Beth Malone, Sydney Lucas, Michael Cerveris, photo by Jenny Anderson; The Phantom Of The Opera, Chris Mann and Katie Travis, photo by Matthew Murphy; the 2016 national touring cast of Roundabout Theatre Company’s Cabaret, photo by Joan Marcus; the original Broadway cast of An American in Paris, photo by Matthew Murphy; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Alex Sharp, photo by Joan Marcus.

BROADWAY 2016/17 SEASON SPONSORS

MAY 19 – 21, 2017 THE ELLIE

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We won’t tell you how to behave. But everyone’s a critic.

Please remember, the theatre experience depends on all of us — not just the performers on stage.

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JFS EXECUTIVE LUNCHEON

AL PACI NO UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

EXCLUSIVE 90-MINUTE PERFORMANCE Wednesday, April 13, 2016, Noon to 2:00 p.m.

Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center TICKETS Tickets are available for purchase on March 18 at www.jewishfamilyservice.org/luncheon.

For more information, contact Lisa Benoit at 720.248.4633 or lbenoit@jewishfamilyservice.org.

Generously Sponsored by:

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IN THE CULTURE OF DOWNTOWN DENVER There’s nothing quite like the excitement of a live performance — that is, until you enjoy the premium benefits of our Best of Broadway Society. Treat yourself to first-class service before, during and after the show with front-and-center orchestra seats, pre-theatre cocktails, dinner at Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House and private intermission amenities for most shows.

The 2016/17 Best of Broadway Society includes tickets to eight productions:

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A DELICIOUS TAKE ON THE BARBAROUS BARBER

BY JOHN MOORE

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Illustration by Kyle Malone

SWEENEY TODD:

It didn’t take long for Broadway star Robert Petkoff to learn the DCPA Theatre Company would be performing his favorite musical, Sweeney Todd, with Colorado gypsy punk band DeVotchKa adding its own sanguine flavoring to Stephen Sondheim’s classic orchestrations.

“DeVotchKa is my sister’s favorite band,” said Petkoff.

“When she found out, she wrote me right away and said, ‘Oh my God, I have to get out to Denver and see this.’”

Now Petkoff’s sister has two reasons come to Denver.

Her brother, an award-winning veteran of six Broadway productions, is playing the title role of the barbarous barber.

“But put DeVotchKa at the top of the list,” he said with a laugh. “I am reason No. 2.”

The Petkoff siblings are not the only ones excited to see what happens when Sweeney Todd bleeds DeVotchKa’s Latin and Slavic-infused aural amalgam into Sondheim’s perhaps most powerful (and unquestionably most homicidal) score.

“DeVotchKa will attract a completely different kind of audience,” Petkoff said. “And boy, anytime you can bring a whole new swath of people into the theatre who don’t normally come is a great, great thing.”

Petkoff and DeVotchKa frontman Nick Urata have their own affinities for Sweeney Todd dating back to their very different childhoods. Petkoff remembers hearing the vinyl cast recording in 1979 when he was in high school and the record was hot off the presses. “I was blown away, both by how complex the story is, and by how incredible the music is,” Petkoff said. “I just instantly fell in love. I knew I wanted to play that role one day.”

DeVotchKa has been blurring distinctions between art forms for more than 15 years, notably with its wildly popular annual concerts at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Music fans have been spellbound by the band’s theatricality dating all the way back to its earliest appearances at small Boulder music clubs when Urata and bandmates Jeanie Schroder, Shawn King and Tom Hagerman would enter from the back of a darkened house guided only by the string of lights that line Schroder’s sousaphone.

“I can’t think of a more perfect platform for us than Sweeney Todd,” Urata said, “being that we like coming from a dark and twisted place, and this is the ultimate dark and twisted musical opera.”

Petkoff’s co-star is Linda Mugleston in the delicious role of Mrs. Lovett, maker of those curiously delicious meat pies.

Petkoff and Mugleston have theatrical bloodlines that crisscross Denver and run deep down into Broadway’s sidewalk cracks. Petkoff appeared in the DCPA’s Tantalus, a 10-play epic Trojan War cycle in 2000 — nothing less than the largest theatre project in the 2,500-year history of the theatre. He returned in 2012 for the world premiere of Sense & Sensibility, The Musical and in the Broadway tour of Spamalot in 2007. Mugleston’s Theatre Company credits include The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Quilters and A Christmas Carol.

When the Theatre Company forays into musicals, Mugleston said, they always have something in common with the company’s nationally-acclaimed world premiere plays: Even when telling a familiar story, there is something new about them.

“The Denver Center is always innovative, no matter what they are doing,” Mugleston said. “The creativity is always very high-end, and it never feels like run-of-the-mill, normal fare. It’s always exciting.”

The Sweeney Todd stars appeared together briefly in the 2011 Broadway revival of Anything Goes, during which they swear no throats were slashed. Surprisingly, neither has

ever before appeared in a production of Sweeney Todd.

Sondheim, now 86, has been uncommonly encouraging of young artists wanting to experiment with Sweeney Todd, which first shocked Broadway audiences under the direction of Hal Prince in 1979. It has since been presented in forms ranging from

This is how theatre breathes and grows and evolves.”

When you change the orchestrations, you are not changing the actual notes, Petkoff said, “you are changing how an audience hears them — the rhythm. The style.”

“I get why a playwright might say, ‘Listen, you need to say every word that I wrote.’ But with a musician, you understand that while he wrote every one of those notes, there are so many different ways to play them. And yet, you are still playing the song.”

Photos: Above – Linda Mugleston in The Unsinkable Molly Brown; Right – Robert Petkoff in Sense & Sensibility the Musical. Photos by Jennifer M. Koskinen.

“The Denver Center is always innovative, no matter what they are doing,” Mugleston said. “The creativity is always very highend, and it never feels like run-of-the-mill, normal fare. It’s always exciting.” opera to an intimate chamber piece.

The musical was revived on Broadway in 2004 with only 10 actors all playing their own instruments. In 2014, Sondheim gave his permission for the Landless Theatre Company to concoct a “prog-metal” version in Washington D.C. That’s a form that blends classical music and jazz while using metal to highlight some of the darker elements of the story. Permission to let DeVotchKa envelop Sondheim’s score with DeVotchKa’s signature horns, accordion, violin and percussion was handed down by the master himself.

Urata’s stated goal for the piece is “to make it loud and proud.” And if that sounds too experimental for theatre purists, Urata said, consider that West Side Story was once experimental theatre.

“If I know anything about Sondheim, it’s that he is very open-minded,” said Urata. “I think that’s why we all love him.” That’s because “first and foremost, Sondheim is an artist,” Mugleston said.

Anytime you tell a story, Petkoff added, “who is telling the story changes that story. So people who come to see this show may have an idea what should be in their heads based on what they have seen before. But we have this great opportunity in Denver to tell our own version of the story, and adding DeVotchKa will make it a really unique version of that story.

Imagine, he said, what Broadway audiences who grew up on Camelot and My Fair Lady thought when they first sat watching Jesus Christ Superstar in 1971. “They were outraged,” he said. “’That’s not a musical!’ they said. But there was an influx of younger people who came and became lifelong lovers of theatre. The same thing is happening with Hamilton on Broadway today.

There are people who have never been to a Broadway musical and they are standing and screaming in fits of ecstasy watching Hamilton. It’s wonderful for theatre because we need to change and we need new blood, and this is how you do it.”

SWEENEY TODD

APR 8 – MAY 15 • STAGE THEATRE ASL interpreted, Audio described & Open Captioned performance: May 1, 1:30pm Tickets: 303.893.4100 denvercenter.org Groups: 303.446.4829

DCPA Founder Don Seawell refused to wear one of Judi’s furs to a costume benefit. So to complete the look of the Viking Warrior, he tossed her bathroom rug over his shoulder.

COSTUME COLUMN DCPA Trustee Judi Wolf has been playing in costumes since she was six.

“I started in my mother’s ballgowns,” she said. “I would put them on and get completely lost in them.”

Wolf has been a staunch supporter of the DCPA since the first opening night in 1979, and openings continue to be a very big deal to Judi Wolf.

She wore a toga to the opening of the 10-hour epic Greek cycle Tantalus in 2000.

She arrived at The Little Mermaid in 2007 dressed as Ariel’s mother where she held fish-shaped balloons while her household manager blew bubbles in her wake.

There are method actors and there are method dressers. Imagine what the audience thought when Wolf arrived at The Man Who Came to Dinner in 1990 wearing a cocktail dress and riding in a wheelchair. Reminiscent of the play’s cranky protagonist Sheridan Whiteside who spends the play in a wheelchair, Wolf says she needed it. “I had tripped,” she said, “so I rode to the opening in an ambulance with ice on my knee and ankle.

It was opening night. I wasn’t going to miss it.”

Wolf is a Denver native with a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Denver. She taught Spanish at Graland Country Day School and was named as the Fine Arts Foundation Citizen of the Arts in 2012.

She has sponsored the Costume Corner column in Applause magazine for the past five years because she believes the costume arts must be championed.

“What is theatre without costumes?” she said. “It’s radio!”

We would like to give Judi Wolf a round of applause for her generous contributions toward our costumes and, of course, for her unflagging flair for the dramatic.

Celtic Tales of Love & War March 11-13

Newman Center for the Performing Arts Featuring Brass, Bagpipes, Fiddles, Irish Tenor, Irish & Scottish Dancers

Colorado Remembers May 28 - 2pm

The Ultimate Free American Concert at the Colorado Freedom Memorial!

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UPCOMING SHOWS Riverdance — The 20th Anniversary World Tour Now – Mar 13 How I Got Over: Journeys in Verse Mar 18, 19, 25 & 26 Disney’s Newsies Mar 23 – Apr 9 Dixie’s Never Wear a Tube Top While Riding a Mechanical Bull...

Mar 30 – Apr 24

SCFD: YOUR TAX DOLLARS

Sweeney Todd Apr 8 – May 15 Cult Following Apr 29 & 30, Jun 3 & 4

REFLECTED ON STAGE

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The Realish Housewives of Cherry Creek: A Parody May 3 – 22

In 1988, metro area voters approved a 1¢ on $10 sales tax to support arts and culture. The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) now distributes nearly $55 million to 275 organizations throughout our community. But how has this investment diversified as the community has evolved?

At the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, SCFD funds have enabled us to better reflect the diversity of our community through a number of programs. Here are some recent examples:

once May 24 – 29 NETworks presents Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jun 7 – 12 The Sound of Music Jun 21 – 26 Beautiful — The Carole King Musical Jul 19 – 31

DIVERSE VOICES In addition to a commitment to colorblind casting (as evidenced in the Theatre Company’s recent production of As You Like It), the DCPA is excited to feature a regular mix of programming by, for and starring individuals from a variety of backgrounds. Titles such as Kinky Boots, Drag Machine, One Night in Miami…, Jackie and Me, FADE and Just Like Us among many, many others reflect the diversity within our community and our commitment to new voices on our stages.

But our biggest commitment to new voices is the Women’s Voices Fund — a first-of-its-kind endowment designed to foster the work of a clearly underrepresented voice in American theatre. This initiative has enabled our Theatre Company to commission 15 female playwrights, hire 17 female directors and contribute to 10 world premiere plays by women — all in the past decade.

AFFORDABILITY Our brand new DCPAccess program provides twice as many $10 tickets to each Theatre Company production plus significantly discounted tickets to select Broadway shows. Plus, our popular $10 student ticket program, military and senior rush tickets help eliminate barriers to attendance.

Finally our new Radvantage membership for guests ages 18-30 offers substantial discounts to a variety of programs all year round.

NEW AUDIENCES While performing arts are often viewed as having aging audiences, we’ve launched a variety of programs to attract a younger crowd. Kids Night on Broadway provides a minimum of 200 free tickets for youth to designated Broadway performances. In addition to extensive in-school and on-site school programs, we now host both a High School Playwriting Competition and a High School Musical Theatre Competition. And our newest focus on Millennial engagement is evidenced through our innovative Off-Center programming and our new off-site, immersive production scheduled for late Spring.

For more information on these programs and many more, please visit denvercenter.org.

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An Act of God Opens Fall 2016 The Glass Menagerie Sep 9 – Oct 16 Roundabout Theatre Company’s Cabaret Sep 27 – Oct 9 Frankenstein Sep 30 – Oct 30 A Christmas Carol Nov 25 – Dec 24 The SantaLand Diaries Nov 25 – Dec 24 Hedwig and the Angry Inch Dec 6 – 11 Photos L to R: by John Moore; Kyle Taylor Parker in Kinky Boots, Photo by Matthew Murphy.

ACCESSIBILITY Thanks in part to the SCFD, we have grown our accessibility services to include ASL interpretation, Audio description, Open Captioning, Braille and large print programs, and tactile tours. Improvements to seating, entry/exit routes and enhanced listening systems are planned as part of our Bonfils Theatre Complex renovation.

The Phantom of the Opera Aug 25 – Sep 11

Finding Neverland Dec 20 – Jan 1, 2017 Fun Home Jan 10 – 22, 2017 The Christians Jan 27 – Feb 26, 2017 Colorado New Play Summit Feb 11 – 12 & 17 – 18, 2017 Motown The Musical Feb 15 – 19, 2017 An American In Paris Mar 8 – 19, 2017 Kinky Boots Mar 21 – 26, 2017 Disgraced Mar 31 – May 7, 2017 The Secret Garden Apr 21 – May 28, 2017 The Illusionists May 19 – 21, 2017 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time May 30 – Jun 18, 2017 Frozen Coming Summer 2017

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ANNOUNCING THE 2016/17

THEATRE COMPANY SEASON

POWERFUL PERFORMANCES. PASSIONATE ARTISTRY. STORIES THAT TRANSPORT AND TRANSFORM YOU.

SEP 9 – OCT 16

JAN 27 – FEB 26, 2017

SEP 30 – OCT 30

MAR 31 – MAY 7, 2017

NOV 25 – DEC 24

APR 21 – MAY 28, 2017

PLUS TWO WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTIONS!

For the best seats, biggest savings, and most flexibility, become a subscriber today!

Renew or subscribe today at denvercenter.org/subscribe SEASON SPONSORS

Due to the nature of theatrical booking, all productions, prices and dates are subject to change.

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LOGO WITH SUBDIVISIONS

presents

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

MUSIC AND LYRICS BY

BOOK BY

Stephen Sondheim Hugh Wheeler FROM AN ADAPTATION BY Christopher

Bond MUSICAL ADAPTATIONS BY DeVotchKa

ORIGINALLY DIRECTED ON BROADWAY BY

Harold Prince

ORIGINAL ORCHESTRATIONS BY Jonathan

Tunick

With Colin Alexander*, Jefferson Behan*, Daniel Berryman*, Samantha Bruce*, Kevin Curtis*, Dwelvan David*, Tia DeShazor*, Michael Brian Dunn*, Donterrio Johnson*, Charlie Korman, Kathleen McCall*, Jean McCormick*, Kevin McGuire*, Linda Mugleston*, Robert Petkoff*, Jeffrey Roark*, Danny Rothman*, Christine Rowan*, Lauren Shealy*, Shannan Steele* SCENIC DESIGN BY James Kronzer

COSTUME DESIGN BY Kevin Copenhaver

LIGHTING DESIGN BY Kenton Yeager

SOUND DESIGN BY Zach Williamson

DRAMATURGY BY Douglas Langworthy

FIGHT DIRECTION BY Geoffrey Kent

VOICE AND DIALECT COACHING BY Jack Greenman

CASTING BY Elissa Myers Casting / Paul Foquet, CSA

DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Jeff Gifford

STAGE MANAGER Kurt Van Raden*

MUSIC DIRECTION BY Gregg Coffin CHOREOGRAPHY BY Joel Ferrell

DIRECTED BY Kent Thompson Sweeney Todd is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). www.MTIShows.com.

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

Originally produced on Broadway by Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, Martin Richards in association with Dean and Judy Manos.

THE STAGE THEATRE | APRIL 8-MAY 15, 2016 PRESENTING SPONSOR

PRODUCING PARTNER

June Travis

SEASON SPONSORS

SWEENEY TODD

Scott Shiller, President & CEO Kent Thompson, Producing Artistic Director

SWEENEY TODD

CAST

(in order of appearance) Anthony Hope...........................................................................................................................................DANIEL BERRYMAN* Sweeney Todd.............................................................................................................................................. ROBERT PETKOFF* Beggar Woman......................................................................................................................................... KATHLEEN MCCALL* Mrs. Lovett................................................................................................................................................... LINDA MUGLESTON* Judge Turpin.......................................................................................................................................................KEVIN MCGUIRE* Beadle Bamford..............................................................................................................................................DWELVAN DAVID* Johanna..........................................................................................................................................................SAMANTHA BRUCE* Tobias Ragg.............................................................................................................................................................KEVIN CURTIS* Pirelli........................................................................................................................................................MICHAEL BRIAN DUNN* Ensemble......................................................COLIN ALEXANDER*, TIA DESHAZOR*, DONTERRIO JOHNSON*, CHARLIE KORMAN, JEAN MCCORMICK*, JEFFREY ROARK*, DANNY ROTHMAN*, CHRISTINE ROWAN*, SHANNAN STEELE* UNDERSTUDIES Understudies never substitute for the listed players unless a specific announcement for the appearance is made at the time of the performance.

COLIN ALEXANDER* (Pirelli, Beadle), TIA DESHAZOR* (Johanna), DONTERRIO JOHNSON* (Anthony Hope, Tobias Ragg), JEAN MCCORMICK* (Mrs. Lovett), JEFFREY ROARK* (Sweeney Todd), DANNY ROTHMAN* (Judge Turpin), SHANNAN STEELE* (Beggar Woman)

Swings................................................................................................................. JEFFERSON BEHAN*, LAUREN SHEALY* Dance Captain............................................................................................................................................CHRISTINE ROWAN* Assistant Director...............................................................................................................................................EMILY TARQUIN Assistant to the Director................................................................................................................................ ELI CARPENTER Associate Music Director................................................................................................................................. ERIK DANIELLS Music Assistant............................................................................................................................................BECKY FRYBERGER

Stage Manager............................................................................................................................................. KURT VAN RADEN* Assistant Stage Managers................................................................RACHEL DUCAT*, CHRISTOPHER C. EWING* Stage Management Apprentices................................................................................CORIN FERRIS, LEXI HOLTZER

THE PLACE London: Fleet Street and environs THE TIME The 19th Century *Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

ACT I THE BALLAD OF SWEENEY TODD.........................................................................................................................Company NO PLACE LIKE LONDON........................................................................Anthony, Sweeney Todd, Beggar Woman THE BARBER AND HIS WIFE...........................................................................................................................Sweeney Todd THE WORST PIES IN LONDON...............................................................................................................................Mrs. Lovett POOR THING.....................................................................................................................................................................Mrs. Lovett MY FRIENDS....................................................................................................................................Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Lovett GREEN FINCH AND LINNET BIRD............................................................................................................................. Johanna AH, MISS...............................................................................................................................................Anthony, Beggar Woman JOHANNA............................................................................................................................................................................... Anthony PIRELLI’S MIRACLE ELIXIR.............................................................Tobias, Sweeney Todd, Mrs. Lovett, Company THE CONTEST.............................................................................................................................................................................. Pirelli WAIT......................................................................................................................................................................................Mrs. Lovett KISS ME................................................................................................................................................................ Johanna, Anthony LADIES IN THEIR SENSITIVITIES....................................................................................................................................Beadle QUARTET............................................................................................................ Johanna, Anthony, Beadle, Judge Turpin PRETTY WOMEN..................................................................................................................... Sweeney Todd, Judge Turpin EPIPHANY..................................................................................................................................................................Sweeney Todd A LITTLE PRIEST...........................................................................................................................Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd There will be one 15-minute intermission.

ACT II GOD, THAT’S GOOD!..........................................................................Tobias, Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd, Company JOHANNA....................................................................................Anthony, Sweeney Todd, Johanna, Beggar Woman

BY THE SEA.......................................................................................................................................................................Mrs. Lovett WIGMAKER SEQUENCE/THE LETTER...............................................................Sweeney Todd, Anthony, Quintet NOT WHILE I’M AROUND......................................................................................................................... Tobias, Mrs. Lovett PARLOUR SONGS........................................................................................................................................ Beadle, Mrs. Lovett CITY ON FIRE!................................................................................................................................................Johanna, Company FINAL SEQUENCE.........................................................Anthony, Beggar Woman, Sweeney Todd, Judge Turpin Mrs. Lovett, Johanna, Tobias THE BALLAD OF SWEENEY TODD.........................................................................................................................Company

THE MUSICIANS Conductor/Keyboards............................................................................................................................................. ERIK DANIELLS Drums, Percussion, Keyboards.............................................................................................................................. SHAWN KING~ Accordion, Violin, Keyboards.........................................................................................................................TOM HAGERMAN~ Tuba, Flute, Double Bass, Euphonium, Helicon................................................................................JEANIE SCHRODER~ Violin, Viola................................................................................................................................................TAKANORI SUGASHITA** Bandoneon, Cello.......................................................................................................................................................EVAN ORMAN** Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Flute, Baritone Sax, Tenor Sax.........................................................JONATHAN STEWART** Trumpet, French Horn, Flugelhorn, Percussion...................................................................................SHANE ENDSLEY** Electric, Acoustic, Baritone and Nylon String Guitars, Mandolin.......................................................DAVE DEVINE** Music Contractor............................................................................................................................................................JIM HARVEY** ~ Members of DeVotchKa **Represented by the Denver Musicians Association; AFM Local 20-623

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MUSICAL NUMBERS

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WHO’S WHO ACTING COMPANY COLIN ALEXANDER (Ensemble/ Understudy Pirelli, Beadle). At the Theatre Company: A Christmas Carol. Other Theatres: Noel Coward and Friends, Live in Las Vegas (Edinburgh Festival Fringe); Man of No Importance, Tarzan, Curtains, Miracle on 34th Street, Chess, The Mousetrap, Importance of Being Earnest, A Christmas Carol (Arvada Center); The Explorer’s Club, Guys and Dolls (Lonetree Arts Center); Scarlett Letter (PACE Theater); How Green Was My Valley (Central City Opera); 1776 the Musical (Fine Arts Center); Sweet River County (National Tour). Marriage of Figaro, Merry Widow, Elijah (London).

TV/Film: Emmy-nominated “The Hiding Place.” Special Awards/Training: Henry Award, True West Award, Marlow Award and Silver Angel Trophy Winner.

Training: Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK. JEFFERSON BEHAN (Swing). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Off-Broadway: Second Stage Theatre, The Lion Theatre, Theatre 20/20, Pearl Theatre, and Ars Nova. Regional: Oliver!, Les Misérables, The Producers, Cabaret, Titanic, My Fair Lady, Beauty and the Beast, Brigadoon, Guys and Dolls, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mame, Carousel, Hello Dolly, Show Boat and Funny Girl. Tenor Soloist: The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Notre Dame Cathedral, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Cathedrals of St. John the Divine and St. Francis of Assisi. A native of Davenport, IA, Jeff received his training from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

DANIEL BERRYMAN (Anthony Hope). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatres: OffBroadway: The Fantasticks (Theatre Center). Regional credits include West Side Story (Finger Lakes MT Festival); Hello, Dolly! (MUNY); The Most Happy Fella (Goodspeed); Les Misérables, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (Theatre Aspen); A Little Night Music (Indiana Repertory Theatre), and Rent (The 5th Ave Theatre).

SAMANTHA BRUCE (Johanna). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Off-Broadway: The Fantasticks.

Regional: The Royal Family (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), Gypsy (Symphony Silicon Valley and Harbor Lights Theatre Co.), Boeing-Boeing, Carousel (Sierra Rep).

KEVIN CURTIS (Tobias Ragg). At the Theatre Company: Debut.

National Tour: A Chorus Line. OffBroadway: Invisible Thread (Second Stage); Daniella Uses Dirty Words (Abingdon Theatre Company). Regional: Hairspray (Arvada Center); Witness Uganda (ART); A Chorus Line (TUTS Houston); A Chorus Line, Hairspray, The Student Prince (Pittsburgh CLO); Hairspray, High School Musical (North Shore Music Theatre). TV/Film: “Take Care,” “Newlyweeds,” “Live from Lincoln Center: Tribute to Marvin Hamlisch.”

Graduate of AMDA NY and The Baltimore School for the Arts.

DWELVAN DAVID (Beadle Bamford). At the Theatre Company: Debut. First national tour: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. NYC: Standby (NYMF 2013).

Regional: Sister Act (Tuacahn); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (STAGES/Riverside); The Wiz (TATC); Caroline, or Change (Human Race); Ragtime (Drury Lane); Cats (Carousel); Treasure Island (Fulton); Show Boat (Lyric Opera Chicago); The Nativity (Goodman); Hot Mikado (Marriott Lincolnshire). Film/TV: “Gotham,” “Law & Order SVU,” “Codes of Conduct.” Nominations: BTAA, Louie, Joseph Jefferson. BFA Millikin University. AEA Proud. Instagram: @dwelvandavid TIA DESHAZOR (Ensemble/ Understudy Johanna).

At the Theatre Company: Debut. NY: Marie Christine.

Regional: Phoenix Theatre (Felicia Farrell in Memphis); Fiddlehead Theatre (Sarah in Ragtime); Little Theatre on Square (Hair, Showboat, Hairspray); Light Opera Works (Oklahoma!). National Tour: Junie B. Jones (Lucille). Film: Underneath the Grey. tiadeshazor.com

MICHAEL BRIAN DUNN (Pirelli). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Broadway: Doctor Zhivago, Amazing Grace, Cats, The Life, Guys and Dolls, Big River, Baby, Sweeney Todd. OffBroadway: Death of Von Richthoffen, Lenny & the Heartbreakers (N.Y. Shakespeare Fest); Perfect Crime, Kennedy’s Children, Gifts of the Magi, Secrets Every Traveler.., Love in Two Countries. National/Intl Tours: Amadeus, H.M.S. Pinafore (also Stratford Festival Canada); My Fair Lady, and more.

Regional: The Underpants (Syracuse Stage); The Music Man (Arena Stage); Radio Gals (Cape Playhouse); Crazy for You (Maltz Jupiter); Aspects of Love (The Walnut St); Sunset Blvd (Portland Center Stage); Reckless (Cincinnati Playhouse). Film/TV: Julie & Julia, “Ivan Cousins,” “Law & Order SVU,” “Law & Order: CI.” DONTERRIO JOHNSON (Ensemble/ Understudy Anthony Hope, Tobias Ragg).

At the Theatre Company: Lookingglass Alice.

Other Theatres: Lookingglass Alice (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Jesus Christ Superstar Jeff Award (Theo Ubique); Ain’t Misbehavin’ Jeff nominated, Golden Boy (Porchlight Music Theatre); The Color Purple, Avenue Q (Mercury Theatre); Rent (Brightside Theatre); Under A Rainbow Flag (Pride Films and Plays); Hairspray The Musical ITL Award winner (SRO Productions); Urinetown, Aladdin The Musical, Into The Woods and Kennedy The Musical (Broadway Workshop). Artistic Ensemble Member of Pride Films and Plays. Film/TV: USA’s “Sirens.” Commercials: McDonald’s McPick Two. Training: AMDA Los Angeles.

CHARLIE KORMAN (Ensemble). At the Theatre Company: Lord of the Flies, Shadowlands, A Christmas Carol (six seasons), and Ed, Downloaded. Other Theatres: Oliver!

(Denver School of the Arts); Bye Bye Birdie (StageDoor Manor); Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan (Kids Theatre West); Annie Jr. (Catchpenny Theatre); I Am Alive. Training: Sweatshop Dance, Vocal Training with Bob Downard, Denver School of the

KATHLEEN MCCALL (Beggar Woman). At the Theatre Company: 11 seasons. Kathleen has been a professional actress for over 30 years working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, national tours, and at regional theatres throughout the country, as well as in television and film. She is an inductee of Marquis Who’s Who of American Women in the Arts and a Lunt/Fontanne Fellowship Recipient. Training: London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. www.kathleenmccall.net JEAN MCCORMICK (Ensemble/ Understudy Mrs. Lovett). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Past regional credits include: A Christmas Carol (Geva Theatre); My Fair Lady (Cape Playhouse); Mary Poppins (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); Les Misérables (Northern Stage), and Oklahoma! (Tent Theatre). New York credits include: On The Air (York Theatre Developmental Reading Series); ’Til Death Do Us Part (Gallery Players Overtures Series); Silk Stockings (Lost Musicals); Goldilocks, I Love My Wife (Opening Doors Theater Company). Other credits include: Encore (Tokyo Disney Sea), Hairspray (RCCL), and various studio recordings for both Disney and Royal Caribbean Productions.

KEVIN MCGUIRE (Judge Turpin). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Broadway, National, international tours of Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Jane Eyre, The Secret Garden. Off-Broadway: Forbidden Broadway, Hamlet (Classic Stage Company); Romeo and Juliet (The New York Shakespeare Festival); DonnyBrook!

(Irish Repertory Theatre); The Seagull, Big Maggie, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Moses Man ( NYMTF 2015). Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Hartford Stage Company, Capital Repertory Theatre (Red, Other Desert Cities), The Shakespeare Theatre Company DC (Henry IV Part 1 and 2), Arizona Theatre Company, The Theatre Company Hubbard Hall, The Acting Company (three seasons).

LINDA MUGLESTON (Mrs. Lovett). At the Theatre Company: The Unsinkable Molly Brown, A Christmas Carol, Quilters. Other Theatres: Broadway credits include: On The 20th Century, Cinderella, Anything Goes, Young Frankenstein, Wonderful Town, Nine, Into the Woods, Kiss Me Kate, On the Town.

Off-Broadway/Regional: Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music (Carnegie Hall); Sunset Boulevard (Portland Center Stage); Damn Yankees, The Sound of Music (Muny); Kristina (Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall); Falsettos (Huntington Theatre); Happy End (A.C.T.).

ROBERT PETKOFF (Sweeney Todd). At the Theatre Company: Tantalus, Sense & Sensibility The Musical.

Broadway: All The Way (with Bryan Cranston), Anything Goes, Ragtime, Spamalot, Fiddler On The Roof, Epic Proportions. London: The Royal Family (with Dame Judi Dench) at The Haymarket and Tantalus at the Barbican.

Regional Theatre: title roles in Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Troilus & Cressida, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, The Importance Of Being Earnest and many others at theaters such as Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Old Globe and The Mark Taper Forum. Film: Irrational Man (Woody Allen), Milk & Money, Game Day, Vice Versa. TV: “Forever,” “Law & Order, SVU,” “The Good Wife,” “Elementary,” and “Quantum Leap.”

Robert is an award-winning audiobook narrator. www.petkoff.com JEFFREY ROARK (Ensemble/ Understudy Sweeney Todd). At the Theatre Company: All The Way, To Kill A Mockingbird, A Christmas Carol, Trip to Bountiful, King Lear, White Christmas, Gross Indecency, Hamlet, The Tempest, Dracula. Other Theatres: The Crucible, Evita, Harvey, Man of No Importance (Arvada Center); An Ideal Husband (Papermill); My Fair Lady, HMS Pinafore (Berkshire); Sorrows of Stephen (Blue Heron); Drood, Life is a Dream (Creede); My Way, The Doyle and Debbie Show (DCPA Cabaret); The Last Five Years (Modern Muse). TV/Film: “Rainman,” “Little Man Tate.” Training: BFA, Miami University; MFA, National Theatre Conservatory.

DANNY ROTHMAN (Ensemble/ Understudy Judge Turpin). At the Theatre Company: Debut.

Other Theatres: The Old Globe, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Goodspeed Musicals, Signature Theatre, St. Louis Repertory Theatre, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, York Theatre Company, Fulton Theatre, Stages St. Louis, Stamford Center for the Arts, The MUNY, K.C. Starlight, Pittsburgh CLO, Hangar Theatre among others and has been featured in multiple concerts at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. Awards: Received a Drammy Award for his performance in Portland Center Stage’s production of Ragtime. Training: BFA, CMU. CHRISTINE ROWAN (Ensemble/Dance Captain). At the Theatre Company: Animal Crackers, Ensemble in Quilters; Fezziwig’s Daughter, Wife’s Sister, Street Singer in A Christmas Carol; Tessie in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; Essie in You Can’t Take It With You; Philia in A Funny Thing Happened…

Forum. Other Theatres: Reluctant Pilgrim–the Lesser Known Songs of Stephen Schwartz (New York Musical Theater Festival), FLOPZ (Joe’s Pub), Embrace! (Westside Theatre), Interborough Repertory Theatre, The Duplex, Don’t Tell Mama, Sacramento Music Circus, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Barter Theatre, Sierra Rep, Seaside Music Theatre, Theatre by the Sea, Ryman Auditorium, toured nationally.Training: New York University.

2014 Henry Award Recipient for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for Animal Crackers.

LAUREN SHEALY (Swing). At the Theatre Company: A Christmas Carol (Ensemble). At DCPA Cabaret: Forbidden Broadway (Woman 2), The Doyle and Debbie Show (Debbie), I Love You, You’re Perfect... (Lauren). OffBroadway: Lingoland (Lauren), How to Succeed In Business… (Rosemary).

National Tour: South Pacific (Nellie).

Other Theatres: The Arvada Center: White Christmas (Betty), A Man Of No Importance (Mrs. Patrick), Curtains (Georgia), Miracle On 34th Street (Doris), 1940’s Radio Hour (Anne). Lone Tree Arts Center: South Pacific (Nellie). Other Theaters: Jekyll and Hyde (Lucy), Tick, Tick…Boom (Susan), Phantom (Christine), Oklahoma (Laurie). Training/ Awards: NYU, Tisch School of the Arts; named Westword’s best actress in a musical for 2013.

SWEENEY TODD

Arts Theatre Major. Awards: 2016 NYCDA regional Junior Outstanding Dancer first runner-up.

SWEENEY TODD

SHANNAN STEELE (Ensemble/ Understudy Beggar Woman). At the Theatre Company: A Christmas Carol (Fred’s Wife), Animal Crackers (Understudy).

At DCPA Cabaret: I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Colorado Theater Guild Henry Award nomination), The Last Five Years, My Way. Other Theatres: Over 20 productions with the Arvada Center including Kala in Tarzan (True West Award), Ginger Brooks in The 1940s Radio Hour (CTG Henry Award nomination); Pam in Baby the Musical (True West Award nomination) at Cherry Creek Theater, Church (Theaterworks) and most recently, Reunion ’85 at the Lone Tree Arts Center. Film: Ink. COMPOSER STEPHEN SONDHEIM (Music and Lyrics) wrote the music and lyrics for Saturday Night, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, The Frogs, Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday In The Park With George, Into The Woods, Assassins, Passion and Road Show as well as lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy and Do I Hear A Waltz and additional lyrics for Candide. Anthologies of his work include Side By Side By Sondheim, Marry Me A Little, You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow, Putting It Together and Sondheim On Sondheim. He composed the scores of the films Stavisky and Reds and songs for Dick Tracy and the television production “Evening Primrose.” His collected lyrics with attendant essays have been published in two volumes: “Finishing the Hat” (2010) and “Look, I Made A Hat” (2011). In 2010 the Broadway theater formerly known as Henry Miller’s Theatre was renamed in his honor.

PLAYWRIGHT HUGH WHEELER (Book) was a novelist, playwright and screen writer. He wrote more than thirty mystery novels under the pseudonyms Q. Patrick and Patrick Quentin, and four of his novels were transformed into films: Black Widow, Man in the Net, The Green-Eyed Monster and The Man with Two Wives. For films he wrote the screenplays for Travels with My Aunt, Something for Everyone, A Little Night Music and Nijinsky. His plays include Big Fish, Little Fish, Look: We’ve Come Through and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (adapted from the Shirley Jackson novel), he co-authored with Joseph Stein the book for a new production of the 1919 musical Irene, wrote the books for A Little Night Music, a new production of Candide and Meet

Me in St. Louis (adapted from the 1949 M-G-M musical), contributed additional material for the musical Pacific Overtures and wrote a new adaptation of the Kurt Weill opera Silverlake, which was directed by Harold Prince at the New York Opera. He received Tony and Drama Desk Awards for A Little Night Music, Candide and Sweeney Todd. Prior to his death in 1987 Mr. Wheeler was working on two new musicals, Bodo and Fu Manchu, and a new adaptation of The Merry Widow.

DIRECTOR KENT THOMPSON (Director) is in his 11th season as Producing Artistic Director of the Theatre Company. In Denver he directed productions of Hamlet, Just Like Us, Other Desert Cities, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Plainsong, Eventide, Benediction, Amadeus, The Liar and Measure for Measure, among others.

Three of Kent’s major accomplishments since coming to Denver have been the creation of Off-Center (innovative theatrical experiences aimed at millennial audiences), the Colorado New Play Summit (a premier national festival for new American plays), and the Women’s Voices Fund (an endowment that supports the commissioning and development of new plays by women).

Prior to moving to Denver he was Producing Artistic Director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival for 16 seasons. Kent created the Southern Writers’ Project which commissioned and produced 16 world premieres during his tenure. He served eight years on the Board of Directors for Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and as president for three years. He has served on peer review panels for the NEA (also chair), TCG, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Fulbright Scholars Program, The Wallace Funds, The Doris Duke Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, among others.

ARTISTIC STAFF GREGG COFFIN (Music Director).

At the Theatre Company: 10 seasons: Animal Crackers, A Christmas Carol, White Christmas, Hamlet, The Liar, Othello, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Pride & Prejudice. Other theatres: Minetta Lane Theatre (Off-Broadway), Stratford Festival of Canada (Canada), Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, Guthrie Theatre, Indiana Rep, Pioneer Theatre Company, South Coast Rep, and the Oregon, Utah, Santa Cruz, California, Georgia, Great River, and St. Louis Shakespeare Festivals.

KEVIN COPENHAVER (Costume Designer). At the Theatre Company:

(24 seasons) Just Like Us, Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, The Whale, Dracula, Mama Hated Diesels, A Christmas Carol, Noises Off, A Funny Thing…Forum, Living Out, Crowns, Fire on the Mountain, Boston Marriage, Oedipus Rex, Dirty Story, Blithe Spirit, Lobby Hero, Blue/Orange, Almost Heaven, Scapin, The Miser, Jesus Hates Me, Bernice/Butterfly, Pierre, Inna Beginning, Elevation of Thieves, Servant of Two Masters, Tantalus. Other Theatres: Smokey Joe’s Café; Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Dream a Little Dream; Love, Janis; regional premiere Peter and the Starcatcher (USF). Training: BA in Theatre Design, University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, Centro Maschere e Strutture Gestuali, Padua, Italy.

ERIK DANIELLS (Associate Music Director/Conductor). At the Theatre Company: White Christmas, Animal Crackers. Other Theatres: Guthrie Theater, Sacramento Music Circus, Human Race Theatre Company, Sacramento Theatre Company (A Little Princess, world premiere), Oregon Cabaret, North Shore Music Theatre, Musical Theatre West, Transcendence Theatre Company, national tour of The Music Man with Shirley Jones and Patrick Cassidy.

DEVOTCHKA (Orchestrations).

For more than a decade DeVotchKa has been melting its sweeping influences into an authentic and totally original blend of rock ‘n roll. DeVotchKa’s first big break happened when KCRW introduced LA listeners to DeVotchKa on Morning Becomes Eclectic. The directors of Little Miss Sunshine happened to be listening this fateful day, loved what they heard, and hired the band to write the score for their film. A critical and box office smash, the film was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar and, for DeVotchKa’s soundtrack, a Grammy. The little band from Denver was suddenly known all across the nation, playing large venues and major music festivals, including Coachella, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury. The love spread to Europe, Asia, and South America which are yearly destinations for the band. DeVotchKa is: Nick Urata: vocals, guitars, theremin, trumpet, piano. Jeanie Schroder: acoustic bass, sousaphone. Shawn King: drums, percussion, trumpet. Tom Hagerman: violin, viola, accordion, piano. www.devotchka.net JOEL FERRELL (Choreographer).

Mr. Ferrell is the Associate Artistic Director of The Dallas Theater Center where his duties include directing and producing. Directing credits for DTC include: Romeo and Juliet, Clybourne Park, Reasons to be Pretty, Dividing The Estate, Cabaret, God of Carnage,

JACK GREENMAN (Voice and Dialect Coach). At the Theatre Company: All The Way. Other Theatres: Seven summers at the Utah Shakespeare Festival: Henry IV, pt. 1, Measure for Measure, Private Lives, The Secret Garden, Foxfire, The Taming of the Shrew, The School for Wives, Fiddler on the Roof, Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Music Man, Noises Off, and Macbeth. Other Theatres: Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Roundhouse Theater, Great River Shakespeare Festival, PCPA Theaterfest. Assoc. Prof. of Voice in Theatre Division at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

GEOFFREY KENT (Fight Director). At the Theatre Company: (15 seasons) Hamlet, Richard III, Romeo & Juliet, 1001, Skull in Connemara, King Lear, Superior Donuts. Other Theaters: Othello, Henry 4 Part 1, Macbeth, Treasure Island, Three Musketeers (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Cymbeline, Taming of the Shrew (Orlando Shakespeare Theatre); Lieutenant of Inishmore (Curious Theatre Company); Carmen (Opera Colorado); Land of the Dead (Creede Rep). Henry Award for Achievement in Fight Direction.

JAMES KRONZER (Scenic Designer).

At the Theatre Company: Lord of the Flies, Other Desert Cities, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Ed, Downloaded. Other Theatres: Glory Days (Broadway), Opus (Off-Broadway), The Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theater, St. Louis Rep, Arden Theater, Signature Theater, Portland Center Stage. National Tours: Design Adaptation: The Addams Family, Shrek, Spamalot. Television: Over 55 comedy specials for comedians such as Kevin Nealon, Rob Schneider, Aziz Ansari, Nick Cannon among others, Awards: eight Helen Hayes Awards (DC), two Barrymore Awards (Philadelphia). www.jameskronzer.com DOUGLAS LANGWORTHY (Dramaturg).

At the Theatre Company: As You Like It, Appoggiatura, Lord of the Flies, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Shadowlands, Hamlet, Just Like Us, Sense & Sensibility The Musical, The Three Musketeers, When We Are Married. Other Theatres: The Oregon Shakespeare Festival produced his adaptation (with Linda Alper and Penny Metropulos) of Dumas’ The Three Musketeers and his

translation of Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechuan. Target Margin Theatre produced his translations/adaptations: Medea by Hans Henny Jahnn, Goethe’s Faust, and the opera The Sandman with David Herskovits and Thomas Cabanis. Awards/Training: Elliot Hayes Award for Dramaturgy, National Theatre Translation Fund Award, John Gassner Award in Critical Writing. Yale School of Drama. He is currently working on modern English translations of Shakespeare’s Henry VI parts 1, 2, and 3 as part of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Play On! Project.

ELISSA MYERS CASTING, Paul Fouquet, CSA (Casting). Three Emmy nominations and one win, and one Peabody Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television. Over fifteen films for PBS. Theatre includes seven Broadway shows, and 26 Off- Broadway shows. Current regional casting includes Denver Center, Geva Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Magic Theatre, Arena Stage, and Arizona Theatre Company. The office has so far received 16 nominations and has won three Artios Awards for “Outstanding Achievement in Casting.”

EMILY TARQUIN (Assistant Director).

At the Theatre Company: The Most Deserving; Sense & Sensibility The Musical (Assistant Director). At OffCenter: Cult Following (Director), Lord of the Butterflies (Writer), Drag Machine (Director/Co-Creator). At DCPA Cabaret: Drag Machine (Director/Co-Creator).

Select Credits: Fuddy Meers at Phamaly Theatre Company (Director); Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven at Indiana Repertory Write Now Festival (Director); New Works Festival Producer & Director of Theatre, Perry-Mansfield.

ZACH WILLIAMSON (Sound Designer).

At the Theatre Company: The 12. Zach is pleased to be working on this musical.

Broadway (Associate): Lysistrata Jones, The Ritz, and Pal Joey. Off-Broadway credits: Irish Repertory Theater, Second Stage, American Records, among others.

Regional credits: 5th Avenue Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Kansas City Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, The Ordway, Westport Country Playhouse, Clarence Brown, Long Wharf, St. Louis Rep, Two River, Syracuse Stage, Vermont Stage, St. Michael’s Playhouse, Virginia Stage, Pasadena Playhouse, Goodspeed and Asolo. He is currently an associate designer for the Broadway and two national tours of Wicked. Member USA-829.

KENTON YEAGER (Lighting Designer).

At the Theatre Company: Debut.

Other Theatres: Cincinnati Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Milwaukee Rep, Round House Theatre,

Pioneer Theatre, Folger Theatre, Arden Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Asolo Rep and the Clarence Brown Theatre. As an educator he heads the master’s program in lighting at the University of Tennessee and has taught master classes and workshops across the US and in Germany, The Czech Republic, Austria, Mexico, France, India, Vietnam, Wales and Holland.

STAGE MANAGEMENT RACHEL DUCAT (Assistant Stage Manager). At the Theatre Company: Tribes, One Night in Miami…, Appoggiatura, Shadowlands, black odyssey, The Most Deserving, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, The Giver, Heartbreak House, Two Things You Don’t Talk About At Dinner, The Liar, Superior Donuts, The Catch, The House of the Spirits and Grace, or the Art of Climbing. Other Theatres: Twelfth Night, Treasure Island, Richard III (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); Curious Theatre Company; Jersey Boys, Wicked, Dirty Dancing (Broadway in Chicago); Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Cleveland Play House, Hope Summer Repertory Theatre. Training: BA Theatre Production, University of Delaware.

CHRISTOPHER C. EWING (Assistant Stage Manager). At the Theatre Company: (28 seasons) Animal Crackers, Death of a Salesman, Sense & Sensibility The Musical, When We Are Married, Fences, Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, A Christmas Carol, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dracula, Mama Hated Diesels, Eventide, A Raisin in the Sun, Quilters, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Noises Off, Plainsong, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, A Funny Thing…Forum, The Clean House, Gem of the Ocean, A Flea in Her Ear, Crowns, Fire on the Mountain, John Brown’s Body, The Skin of Our Teeth, Almost Heaven and 2 Pianos, 4 Hands. Other Theatres: Colorado Ballet, DCPA Broadway, Bonfils Theatre.

Training: BFA in Theatre Design/ Technology from Loretto Heights College.

KURT VAN RADEN (Stage Manager).

At the Theatre Company: 35+ productions including Lookingglass Alice, Benediction, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Animal Crackers, Hamlet, Just Like Us, Romeo & Juliet, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Three Musketeers, Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, The Taming of the Shrew, A Christmas Carol, The Liar, Superior Donuts, The House of the Spirits, Othello, Eventide, A Raisin in the Sun, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Richard III, Noises Off, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Our House, Pride and Prejudice, Third, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, 1001, Season’s Greetings, Living Out, After Ashley. At DCPA Cabaret: First national tour of

SWEENEY TODD

Red, The Rocky Horror Show, and eight seasons of Richard Hellesen’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Mr. Ferrell is the former Artistic Director of Casa Manana Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas where he directed more than 40 productions.

Regionally, Mr. Ferrell has directed and choreographed for Portland Center Stage, North Shore Music Theater, Papermill Playhouse, and many more.

SWEENEY TODD

Murder For Two. Other Theatres: Over 48 new plays at The O’Neill Theatre Center (National Playwrights Conference, Cabaret and Performance Conference, Artistic Associate and Production Stage Manager), The Great River Shakespeare Festival.

EXECUTIVE STAFF KENT THOMPSON (Producing Artistic Director). See bio under Director.

CHARLES VARIN (Managing Director) and his team are responsible for administrative, financial and business operations related to producing the Theatre Company’s season of productions and other artistic and educational initiatives. Prior to DCPA, Charles was General Manager for Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY and also has worked at Glimmerglass Opera, Asolo Repertory Theatre and Florida Studio Theatre.

BRUCE K. SEVY (Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Play Development) has directed such memorable Theatre Company productions as Animal Crackers, When We Are Married, Heartbreak House, Mariela in the Desert, The Voysey Inheritance, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Doubt, All My Sons, Master Class, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, A Christmas Carol, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, The Little Foxes, Molly Sweeney, Amy’s View, Valley Song, Pierre, Dinner With Friends and The Cripple of Inishmaan.

As Director of New Play Development, he oversees both the artistic and practical components of the Theatre Company’s successful Colorado New Play Summit, including commissions from outstanding American playwrights.

He has directed for Arizona Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, Lark Play Development Center, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Northlight Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Pioneer Theatre Company, A Contemporary Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Empty Space and Intiman Theatre in Seattle, the Kimo Theatre in Albuquerque, and Utah Shakespearean Festival. His popular production of 2 Pianos, 4 Hands has been seen at more than 20 theatres nationally, including the Theatre Company’s successful 2003 production.

JEFF GIFFORD (Director of Production) is in his third season at the DCPA and oversees every­thing you see on stage except the actors. Guiding world premieres to their first opening night is especially gratifying and Jeff has worked on more than 35 of them. Among his favorites are Dinner with Friends, The Violet Hour, The Beard of Avon, Mr. Marmalade, and the new musical FLY. Jeff holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts.

MATTHEW LOPEZ (Denver Center Playwriting Fellow) is the author of The Legend of Georgia McBride, which premiered at the Denver Center before a successful Off-Broadway run at the MCC Theater, and The Whipping Man, seen at Curious Theatre Company. Since its debut at Luna Stage Company and its New York premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Whipping Man has become one of the most widely produced new American plays of the last several years, with productions in over 50 US cities and abroad. His play Somewhere premiered at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and recently completed a successful run at Hartford Stage where his newest work, Reverberation premiered in the winter of 2015. Other plays include Zoey’s Perfect Wedding and The Sentinels, which premiered in London. Matthew currently holds new play commissions from Hartford Stage, Manhattan Theatre Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, and South Coast Rep. He was a staff writer on the HBO series “The Newsroom” and is currently adapting Javier Marias’ “Your Face Tomorrow” trilogy for Brad Pitt’s Plan B film company.

The Director and Choreographer 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.

PLEASE BE ADVISED that once the show begins: • LATECOMERS and those exiting the theatre are seated at predetermined breaks in designated areas.

• PHOTOS, RECORDING & CELL PHONE USE are prohibited during the performance.

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

• DRINKS are allowed in provided containers.

• 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 ckrueger@dcpa.org or 303.893.4836.

The Theatre Company is grateful for the funds provided by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.

Special thanks also to grants from Arts & Venues Denver; 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 not-for-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-forprofit resident theatre companies.

Member of the Colorado Theatre Guild

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.

Summer Camps June 6 - August 5

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Because Drama Belongs in the Theater.

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DENVER’S OWN “NEWSIES” HAD A COLORFUL PAST

BY JOHN MOORE

I

If not for the spunky street urchins who pedaled papers on Denver’s street corners in the early 20th century, Mile High Stadium might not be named after the Sports Authority retail giant today.

Nathan Gart, patriarch of the Gart Brothers sporting goods empire that has since morphed into Sports Authority, was an entrepreneurial Denver Post newsboy who owned the corner of 16th and Lawrence streets. He learned at age 12 how profitable it could be to buy watches and rings from his regular customers, mark them up and re-sell them. He opened his first store in 1928 selling fishing rods with $500 he saved from hawking one screaming headline at a time.

Gart is just one notable character in the colorful history of Denver’s newsboys, whose plight was positively Dickensian. In 1901, The Denver Times claimed that most newsboys, almost all of whom were orphans, cripples or runaways, made 10 to 15 cents a day selling papers they sold for a nickel. The newsies looked on one boy who made 40 cents a day as “a bloated aristocrat,” the paper reported.

America’s most famous champion of newsboys was Horatio Alger, whose stories presented newsboys as exploited young heroes who succeeded through a mixture of pluck and luck. That is until Disney released Newsies, the 1992 musical film that introduced Christian Bale. The story, inspired by the real-life New York newsboys strike of 1899, was made into a Broadway musical in 2012 with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman and a book by Harvey Fierstein.

But if legend is to be believed, Denver’s newsboys were a much tougher lot than those striking, high-stepping New Yorkers.

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Benny Bee, a crackerjack Denver Post newsboy in his time, was arrested while visiting New York and charged with “disturbing the peace and tranquility of Manhattan,” according to Bill Hosokawa’s enthralling history of The Denver Post, Thunder in the Rockies. His crime?

“Demonstrating to New York newsboys how papers were sold in Denver.”

Benny Bee reportedly introduced the profitable practice of “bootjacking” to his Big Apple counterparts. That’s when newsboys would mix in outdated editions of the daily paper with those that were hot off the presses and sell them to unsuspecting customers as the latest news.

This was at a time when apocalyptic shouts of “Extra!

Extra!” were ubiquitous on Denver street corners. Extras were special mid-day updates to the daily newspaper that would trumpet breaking and often trumped-up news scoops. According to Hosokawa’s book, Denver’s five competing daily newspapers would issue an “extra” at the least provocation, sometimes several times a day. Burning oil fields, the bubonic plague or stolen babies were all handy tools to help newsboys sell more papers. But as soon as any new edition was printed, hundreds of now dated editions were relegated to the trash heap. Until bootjacking.

The decade after World War I was a time when newspapers were Americans’ only source of reasonably real information. TV was unknown and radio was still a novelty.

This was the golden era of yellow journalism, and Denver’s dailies were quick to embellish any story or stoke any flame to sell more papers. In the 1890s, The Denver Post’s downtown office became known as “The Bucket of Blood.”

It may have been a period of contemptible journalism, but it also was the best show in town. The Post, co-founded

Original company, North American Tour Joan of Disney’s Newsies. ©Disney.

The Tree of Life from The Lion King National Tour. ©Disney.

Photo Credit: Marcus.

Photo by Deen van Meer.

EXTRA! EXTRA!

“The public not only likes to be fooled — it insists upon it.”

— DENVER POST CO-FOUNDER, HARRY TAMMEN On October 14, 1925, Denver Mayor Benjamin Stapleton signed an ordinance making it illegal for newsboys to sell papers on the street.

Newsboys over age 12 — “and newsgirls over 21” — would be permitted to sell papers, but only with a free license. And the practice of calling out headlines was made a criminal offense.

In a 1959 retrospective, the Rocky Mountain News interviewed Edward J. Keating, presiding judge of Denver’s District Courts, about his days as a newspaperboy 35 years earlier. He claimed “the majority of judges in Denver and Colorado courts today earned their first dollars toward their educations by delivering newspapers.” Keating used his earnings to pay his tuition at Cathedral High School, which he parlayed into a college scholarship.

“The newspaperboy of today has raised his work to such a high level of respect,” he said, “it has become a mark of pride for every prominent businessman and civic leader who can link his early career with the profession.”

Sam Hartley as the Beast and Brooke Quintana as Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Photo by Deen van Meer.

by Frederick Bonfils and Harry Tammen, once hired comedian Charley Murray to jump off its 12-story building. A crowd of 25,000 gathered to watch what turned out to be a dummy thrown off the roof. Tammen’s mantra: “The public not only likes to be fooled — it insists upon it.”

And newsboys were part of the show — literally. They regularly got together and staged corner minstrel shows for spare change.

Denver’s newsboy tradition dates back to 1870, when young carriers would deliver copies of the Rocky Mountain News on horseback to houses that were considered far out on the prairie in those days — we’re talking what is now 7th Avenue and Broadway. “More than once, herds of antelope sped out of my way as I rode out,” Theodore De Harport once said of his earliest newsboy days.

COMING UP FROM BROADWAY:

NETWORKS PRESENTS DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST After playing for more than 35 million people worldwide in 13 countries, it’s hard to imagine that the music from 1992’s Beauty and the Beast (returning to The Buell June 7 – 12) was never supposed to be written. Here are some little known facts about the beloved Disney soundtrack from animation historian and critic Charles Solomon.

• Artists began to submit storyboards for the film in 1983, which was originally slated to be non-musical. Husband and wife Richard and Jill Purdum were chosen to develop their idea, but after 10 weeks of storyboarding, it was deemed too dark.

• The Little Mermaid premiered in the middle of the process, and its success shifted the focus of the project. Walt Disney Studios head Jeffrey Katzenberg “envisioned the concept of a Broadway musical brought to animation by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken,” said writer Linda Woolverton.

A group of children, probably delivery boys and girls, pose outside of The Denver Post on 16th Street. A sign reads: “The Denver Post, Every Day in the Year.” By Harry H. Buckwalter (between 1890 and 1910).

A portrait of Tom Payne, a Denver Post newspaper delivery boy (between 1900-1920).

DISNEY’S NEWSIES MAR 23 – APR 9 • BUELL THEATRE ASL interpreted, Audio-described and Open Captioned performance: Apr 3, 2pm Tickets: 303.893.4100 • denvercenter.org • Groups: 303.446.4829

• The song “Human Again” was cut from the movie because it added 11 minutes to the length and created a strange time gap for the supporting characters.

• The title song “Beauty and The Beast” won the 1992 Oscar for Best Original Song. Producer Don Hahn recalls Angela Lansbury’s recording session: “She went into the booth and sang ‘Beauty and the Beast’ from beginning to end and just nailed it. We picked up a couple of lines here and there, but essentially that one take is what we used for the movie.”

And the rest, they say, is history.

WEAR A HAT THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES

WOMEN

with HATTITUDE

Photos by Custom Creations Photography

Join our Women with Hattitude benefit for the Women’s Voices Fund at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Enjoy a delicious lunch, a surprise musical performance and a colorful parade of the day’s best hats — all to help women playwrights and directors be heard.

THU, MAY 5 • SEAWELL GRAND BALLROOM • 11:30AM

DENVERCENTER.ORG/HATS • 303.572.4593 Sponsored by

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ANGELICH EVENT CHAIR

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Riverdance Line. Photographer: Jack Hartin

RIVERDANCE: THE THRILL THAT NEVER STOPS

BY GENEVIEVE MILLER

I

It began as a one-time, seven-minute performance: the intermission entertainment at the music sensation Eurovision, a yearly contest that has launched the likes of Celine Dion and ABBA. The segment opened with the haunting sounds of the Celtic choir Anuna. Then a lone dancer came center stage in a simple black dress. Arms flush at her sides, she cavorted across the boards in an intricate pattern of steps and kicks, accompanied by a fast fiddle.

Next came a leaping Michael Flatley, his shoes keeping time with a corps of Irish drums. And out of the shadows emerged two dozen more Irish dancers, storming the stage in a lightning-quick precision of steps, heels tapping in percussive rhythm and giving a performance of Irish dance unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

Julian Erskine, senior executive producer of Riverdance, remembers that night. “It’s hard to describe just how enormous [the audience reaction] was. Not just in the Eurovision venue, where the entire audience let out a spontaneous roar and jumped to [its] feet, but also across all the Irish radio and TV stations and newspapers where it was the number one topic of discussion.”

Such a buzz was created that by the time the routine was repeated live on Irish national television the following Saturday, nearly the entire country was watching to see what the fuss was about.

Erskine and the rest of the creative team didn’t quite know what they had on their hands. With the instant popularity of the act, they planned to follow up the Eurovision performance with a full-length dance show to play Dublin. “The original hope,” he said, “was for a one-month run.”

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That was 1994. Twenty-two years later the worldwide phenomenon of Riverdance continues to play to enthusiastic audiences across the globe. To Americans today, the immense and immediate popularity of Riverdance in Ireland may seem odd. Why the fuss? Isn’t Irish dance ingrained in the culture? Not like this, said Erskine.

“It was a unique event, especially for Irish audiences.

We were not used to seeing Irish dancing as a form of entertainment, and never on such a big scale. Prior to Riverdance, Irish dancing was a low-key cultural pastime, reserved for competitive amateurs and now and then for small-scale tourist attractions…. This show was the first of a new kind of entertainment.”

Immediately upon opening the show in Dublin in February 1995, the creative team was invited to bring it to London. Soon, worldwide invitations began pouring in and, Erskine said, “it was clear that the show had a much wider appeal and was not limited to playing to Irish audiences.”

Celtic music and culture were already gaining fresh popularity in the US, so taking the show across the pond seemed like a natural step. Erskine: “Our first taste of the American reaction was in March 1996 when we came to Radio City Music Hall for St. Patrick’s week. It was fantastic! We were sold out before we arrived and the whole week was one long celebration.”

So just what is so fascinating about Riverdance? To start, there’s the music of composer Bill Whelan, which includes Irish Uilleann pipes and the Bodhran, a handheld drum covered with goat’s skin and played with a wooden stick. When joined with the fiddle, these instruments form

Sam Cieri and Mackenzie Lesser-Roy and the ONCE tour company. © Joan Marcus

the traditional Irish “seisiun” trio, but to quote Erskine, “Perhaps the least known instruments in the show are the dancers’ shoes. With their hard heels, soles and tips, the dancers are not only able to beat out a rhythm, but they can also make music by using their shoes to create bass and treble notes.” The steps, multiplied by 20 dancers all moving in time together, create music of their own.

Those dancers are the heart of the show — skilled athletes whose precise execution may be rivaled only by the Rockettes. When asked if that point-perfect unison is achieved by endless hours of rehearsal or great choreographic direction, Erskine assessed it as a bit of both.

“Mostly it’s down to the competitive background of Irish dance. All of our performers are championship-winning dancers and as such, perform with extreme precision and exceptional timing, usually under intense pressure.”

As most of the dancers have been competing since they were toddlers, this precision and style are deeply rooted. “What seems extraordinary to the audience seems ordinary to the dancers,” he said.

Riverdance, American Wake. Photographer: Rob McDogall

COMING UP FROM BROADWAY:

ONCE

Riverdance returns to Denver after a seven-year absence during which the show toured Asia. During its 2008 engagement, Erskine was uncertain about what lay ahead for the show, but given the enthusiastic embrace Americans have for the show he then said, ”I would never rule out Riverdance, in some form or other, returning to the US in the future.

We’re just happy that that future ended up including a stop in Denver during its 20th anniversary world tour.

Genevieve Miller previously served as the DCPA’s Director of Publicity & Promotions and is now General Manager at Broadway Across America in Cincinnati.

RIVERDANCE — THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY WORLD TOUR MAR 8 – 13 • BUELL THEATRE

Tickets: 303.893.4100 • denvercenter.org • 303.446.4829

The film once became a sleeper hit of 2007, winning over the hearts of critics and audiences alike with its intimate look into the unrequited romance of two musicians. The simple plot, shoestring budget and minimal acting credits gave the movie a sense of reality that most Hollywood affairs miss. Its award-winning soundtrack (Oscar for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly”) was the magical thread that connected the plot and punctuated its most emotional moments.

After all of this, then, it might seem like it would feel out of place on the Broadway stage (returning to Denver May 24 – 29), not necessarily known for subtlety and intimacy. But like the movie, the magic lies in the music and in the people who are playing it. “once has a very huge fan base for the movie and these songs,” said Music Supervisor and Orchestrator Martin Lowe. “[It’s] a huge responsibility to me and to the cast, to deliver those songs to the audience as people remember them while still giving them something that’s new.”

The actors have gotten to bond as a band as well as a company. The excitement to perform as musicians is palpable in the show.

“The fact that we put all of our feeling and love into our instruments, you can sense it in the air,” said Cristin Milioti, who starred in the original Broadway production. “I have never been lifted so much by an action on stage as I have playing an instrument, making a sound.”

We invite you to be lifted with the cast on a journey into the passionate, magical story of once.

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A PROUD SPONSOR OF DCPA’S SATURDAY NIGHT ALIVE SILENT AUCTION

“ For five years, we’ve sponsored the [DCPA’s Saturday Night Alive] silent auction and helped raise thousands of dollars for Arts in Education programs.… We appreciate the opportunity to align our bank with this important access to the arts.”

— BILL SULLIVAN, CSBT PRESIDENT & CEO

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APPRECIATE OPPORTUNITY TO ALIGN WITH THE ARTS

A

At Colorado State Bank and Trust (CSBT) we believe that people do business with people they like and respect. It’s about similar values.

“That’s why we are pleased to support the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Saturday Night Alive,” said Bill Sullivan, CSBT President and CEO. “For five years, we’ve sponsored the silent auction and helped raise thousands of dollars for Arts in Education programs. The DCPA uses proceeds to take arts to the classroom, so in many cases, children are seeing a theatre performance for the first time. We appreciate the opportunity to align our bank with this important access to the arts.”

In 2003, CSBT joined forces with BOK Financial (BOKF), one of the top 25 U.S.–based banks. CSBT has served Colorado since 1908 and BOKF has also been in business for more than 100 years. This partnership enhances longheld mutual values.

Today, CSBT has the sophisticated products, services and lending capacity of a large bank combined with the ability to deliver those solutions in a one-on-one, high touch, community-focused manner.

“Clearly, we’re pleased to have this strength and flexibility,” said Bill. “We have the financial resources to support civic and community activities and the human resources to lend leadership and volunteer time to civic activities, nonprofit boards and community causes. It’s fair to say there’s strength in numbers. If the businesses that flourish here and the people who live and work here contribute as we can, we believe it’s time and money well spent.”

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EVENT SERIES

LORI LAITMAN MAY 7|10|13|15 2016 The 2015-2016 Season is sponsored by: Ken & Donna Barrow. The Scarlet Letter is sponsored by Kenneth and Donna Barrow, Dave and Pam Duke, Noël and Thomas Congdon, Jeremy and Susan Shamos, Joy Dinsdale and Daniel L. Ritchie.

Through literary discussion, poetry, music and more – Opera Colorado will explore the themes of The Scarlet Letter.

OPERACOLORADO.ORG 303.468.2030

“Top of the Town” -5280 Sweet & Savory Pies Pie Shakes Coffee & Tea Apothecary-Inspired Cocktails Colfax & Monroe

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“Dinner Lab is the next generation of the pop-up restaurant, the 2.0 of the supper club.”

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THINK DRINK EAT LOCAL

Show your tickets and receive a free appetizer with your purchase of two entrées.

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Happy Hour, Walking Distance to DCPA, Valet Parking, Complementary Glass of Wine, Beer or Free Dessert with Ticket Stub. Free Valet Parking with 2 Large Entrees and Ticket Stub!

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Wondering what to wear to work tomorrow or how next week’s snowstorm will affect your weekend plans? The CBS4 weather team has you covered! When you want to know where to go, what to do and what weather to expect, the place to turn to is CBS4 and www.cbsdenver.com.

On CBS4 you’ll find the CBS4 weather team of Ed Greene, Justin McHeffey, Lauren Whitney, Dave Aguilera and Chris Spears giving you the latest updates every day, on air and online. You’ll also hear about all of the fun things to do in Denver as we cover local arts and entertainment with the latest music, movie, event and restaurant reviews.

And as a proud supporter of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, CBS4 continues to bring you the latest theatre coverage each season.

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11TH ANNUAL

COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT

BY JOHN MOORE

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At a time when the national theatre conversation is at last fixed on the sadly unchanging topic of gender disparity in American playwriting, the Denver Center’s 11th and largest annual Colorado New Play Summit turned into a veritable celebration of the woman’s voice.

The two fully-produced world premiere plays that were presented for local and national audiences were written by women. Two of the four playwrights whose developing works were selected to be featured at this year’s Summit are women. The second-ever Local Playwrights’ Slam was curated by a company dedicated to supporting artistic contributions by women, and thus featured an allfemale playwriting lineup. And the three teen playwrights whose works were chosen from a field of 212 statewide submissions to be presented in the third annual Regional

High School Playwriting Workshop and Competition are all Colorado female high-school students.

“All of that gives me hope,” said Angela Astle, Executive Director of the Athena Project and host of the Local Playwrights’ Slam held in The Jones on February 13. “We’ve got a movement started that recognizes women are truly underrepresented in the American theatre.

“Only 20 percent of all plays produced in this country are written by women, and we need to change that.”

The 2016 Colorado New Play Summit, which last year expanded to two weeks to add additional development time and a second round of public readings, drew more local audiences and national industry leaders than ever before, with attendees coming from 25 states. Visitors represented companies ranging from The Roundabout

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PHOTOS: 1. Members of the cast of Midwinter by Mat Smart 2. Guadalupe Zarate, Daniel Valdez, Cynthia Reifler Flores, and Vaneza Calderon rehearse American Mariachi by José Cruz González. 3. Tom Pearson and Zach Morris, Co-Artistic Directors of Third Rail Projects, and DCPA Playwriting Fellow Matthew Lopez at the Devised Work Panel 4. The cast and creative team of Two Degrees

by Tira Palmquist 5. Commissioned Playwright Kemp Powers and actor Jason Delane. 6. Candy Brown, Josh Hartwell, and Jeffrey Neuman at the Regional New Play Development Panel. 7. Meet and Greet at the Summit 8. Colorado Playwright Rebecca Gorman O’Neill performs at the Local Playwrights’ Slam, curated and hosted by the Athena Project. Photos by John Moore.

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Theatre Company in New York, the Alley Theatre in Houston, the Arena Stage in Washington D.C., the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and, closer to home, the Creede Repertory Theatre, Su Teatro and Arvada Center.

They were treated to fully staged performances of Theresa Rebeck’s The Nest, Tanya Saracho’s FADE, the four featured Summit readings, several panel discussions hosted by DCPA Theatre Company Playwright in Residence Matthew Lopez (The Legend of Georgia McBride) and a thrilling demonstration of the DCPA’s newest commission — Third Rail Projects’ upcoming immersive, experiential new work slated for May. The four featured Summit readings took audiences from 1616 England to present-day South Pole. Here’s a brief look at each: • José Cruz González’s American Mariachi is a new piece inspired by women who overcame great obstacles to form their own mariachi groups in Los Angeles during the male-dominated 1970s.

• Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will tackles the history right after Shakespeare died by telling how his friends and fellow actors valiantly managed to publish the first folio of The Bard’s great works.

• T ira Palmquist describes her Two Degrees as “a cheery story about climate change.” Her main character is a female climate scientist but her play is really about grief, she said. “Grief for the planet, grief at large, grief on a more personal scale.”

• Mat Smart’s Midwinter was inspired by his time working at a research center on Antarctica. “One thing that’s interesting about the station is that the

people there fall in and out of love and have these epic relationships for, like, two weeks — and it’s very genuine,” said Smart, who calls his story a riff on A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

DCPA Theatre Company Producing Artistic Director (and Summit founder) Kent Thompson’s burgeoning commission program was on full display at the Summit as well. Commissioned playwrights are those who have been contracted by the Denver Center to write a new play for Thompson’s first right of refusal. Among those commissioned playwrights in attended included several handpicked to participate in the secondweekend Playwrights’ Slam. They included some of the biggest names in American playwriting, including Robert Schenkkan (All the Way, The 12), Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami…), Regina Taylor (Crowns), Rogelio Martinez (When Tang Met Laika), Anne Garcia-Romero, Lauren Yee and Andrew Hinderacker.

The 2016 Summit also will go down in history as the first time an event held at the DCPA was livestreamed on HowlRoundTV, a peer-produced online network.

Audiences around the world watched three Summit panel conversations on their computers. One featured Third Rail Projects founder Zach Morris (a Colorado native) and co-Artistic Director Tom Pearson talking about the company’s upcoming partnership with the DCPA. HowlRoundTV also broadcast a dialogue hosted

by Lopez about the playwriting process, as well as the Playwrights’ Slam on February 19.

The Colorado New Play Summit has grown into one of the nation’s premier showcases of new plays. In its first decade, 44 new plays were introduced at the Summit, and more than half have returned as fully staged Theatre Company productions.

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THANK YOU TO OUR SUMMIT SPONSORS: Joy S. Burns, Clos du Bois Winery, Terry & Noel Hefty, Karolynn Lestrud, Robert & Carole Slosky and Daniel L. Ritchie. Special thanks to the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for its continued support of new play development at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

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DCPA TEAM DCPA Scott Shiller..............................................................President/CEO Eve Gordon...........................Executive Assistant to the CEO

BROADWAY & CABARET John Ekeberg........................... Executive Director Broadway Alicia Giersch..................................................... General Manager Alyssa Chacon............. Operations Business Administrator Abel Becerra.................................. Technical Director, Cabaret

DEVELOPMENT David Zupancic.................................Director of Development Shawn Bayer.................................................... Associate Director Chelley Canales...................................Development Associate Megan Fevurly.....................................Development Associate Melissa Olson........................................Development Assistant Marc Ravenhill................................................. Associate Director Valerie Taron.................................................... Associate Director

EDUCATION Allison Watrous........................................Director of Education Jessica Austgen................................................ Teaching Artist & Shakespeare Coordinator Stuart Barr.................................. Education Technical Director Claudia Carson.........................................Bobby G Coordinator Leslie Channell............................................. Education Registrar Patrick Elkins-Zeglarski................................................Education Curriculum Manager Linda Eller..............................................................................Librarian Tim McCracken..................................................... Head of Acting Jannett Matusiak............................................ Business Manager Michelle Patrick...................Corporate Training Coordinator David Saphier..............School Coordinator/Teaching Artist Rachel Taylor......... .At-Risk Coordinator & Teaching Artist Chloe McCleod, Justin Walvoord, Robyn Yamada.................................................... Teaching Artists

FACILITIES & EVENT SERVICES Clay Courter.....Vice President, Facilities & Event Services James Babcock, Dwight Barela, Clint Flinchpaugh, Michael Kimbrough................ Engineers Quentin Crump...............................................Security Specialist Tom Duffin.....................................Manager, Event Technology Caitlin Glasgo................................................ Events Coordinator Stori Heleen.................................Event Technology Specialist Jaymes Kimbrough..................Event Technology Specialist Clint King.........................................................Security Supervisor Terry Koch........................... Director, Facilities Management John Lower.............................................................. Chief Engineer Brian McClain............................................. Custodial Supervisor Tara Miller, Danielle Porter, Brittany Schoede............................................. Events Managers Brook Nichols................................Director, Event Technology Alyssa Stock....................................Assistant Project Manager Will Stowe.....................................Event Technology Specialist Tara Wenger....Facilities/Event Services Business Manager Dawn Williams.....................................Director, Event Services Juan Loya, Carmen Molina, Blanca Primero, Judith Primero, Angeles Reyes Soto, Francisco Trujillo............................................................Custodians

MARKETING & SALES Jennifer Nealson..................................Chief Marketing Officer Heidi Bosk......................... Senior PR & Promotions Manager Nathan Brunetti...................................................Digital Manager Kim Conner.........................................................Graphic Designer Flora Jane DiRienzo...............Director of Strategic Projects Brenda Elliott......................................Senior Graphic Designer Brianna Firestone....................................Director of Marketing Simone Gordon...................................................Project Manager Hope Grandon..........................................PR & Events Manager Jeff Hovorka............................. Director of Sales & Marketing Jennifer Kemps........................................Group Sales Manager Emily Kent...................................................... Marketing Manager David Lenk............................................................. Video Producer Emily Lozow........................................... Marketing Coordinator Adam Lundeen..................................... Website Administrator

Kyle Malone.................................................................... Art Director Carolyn Michaels...........................................................Copywriter John Moore................................................Senior Arts Journalist Adam Obendorf........................................... Senior Art Director Beth Osolin......................Group Sales Business Coordinator Allison Barber Pasternak..... Executive Assistant to the CMO Donna Rossi............................Customer Experience Director Joseph Schurwonn......................................... Financial Analyst Jill Schwager...............Education Group Sales Coordinator Rob Silk................................................................. Creative Director Suzanne Yoe...........................Director of Marketing Services & Cultural Affairs THEATRE SERVICES Carol Krueger.................................. Theatre Services Manager Adam Alberti, Ethan Aumann, Nora Caley, Hadley Kamminga-Peck, LeiLani Lynch, Gregory Melton, Douglas Murphey, Joyce Murphey, Margaret Ohlander, Dylan Phibbs, Valerie Schaefer, Mica Ward..................... Theatre Company House Managers TICKETING SERVICES Jennifer Lopez.........................Director of Ticketing Services Kirk Petersen...........................................Assoc. Dir. of Ticketing Services – Patron Relations David Smith.............................................Assoc. Dir. of Ticketing Services – Subscription Services Jessica Bergin, Katie Clow-Pollard, Tristan Jungferman, Laura Kirby.......Box Office Managers William Dutton III..................................VIP Ticketing Manager Micah White..............................................Subscription Manager Malcolm Brown, Kevin Dykstra, Edmund Gurule, Elisabeth Link, Molly McDonough......................Show Leads Kirsten Anderson, Ashley Brown, Scott Lix, Gregory Swan........................Subscription Agents Maggie Blumer, Rena Bugg, D.J. Dennis, Nicole Giordano, Jennifer Gray, Roger Haak, Rebecca Hibbert, Joel Innes, Alex Jannen, Noah Jungferman, Megan Kelly, Alia Kempton, Michael Lang, Daniel Lindsey, Brett Martinez, Shane Rodriguez, Hayley Solano, Ereece Thomas, J.P. Velez, Tomas Waples..................................... Ticket Agents

SHARED SERVICES Vicky Miles................................................ Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Jeffrey...................................Senior Financial Analyst ACCOUNTING Jennifer Siemers...................................Director of Accounting Sara Brandenburg, Michaele Davidson.....................................Senior Accountants Georgette Maddox...........................................Payroll Specialist Kim Stewart........................................................ Staff Accountant HUMAN RESOURCES Regina Matthews......................... Director Human Resources Brian Carter...................................Human Resources Manager Donald Gabenski.............................................................Reception Jamie Hawkins...................................................... HR Coordinator Monica Robles............................................Mailroom Supervisor INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Chris Calenzo...................................................Help Desk Analyst Jayson Cowley......................................Network Administrator Jim Hipp................................................. Associate Director of IT Christopher Hoge.......................VoIP/System Administrator Bobby Jiminez......................... Senior Audienceview Analyst John H. Voorheis............................ Manager of Infrastructure

THEATRE COMPANY Kent Thompson........................... Producing Artistic Director ADMINISTRATION Charles Varin...................................................Managing Director Ryan Meisheid...........................Associate Managing Director Allison Taylor..................................................Company Manager Kerri Mirtsching.................................... Business Administrator Alie Quistberg...........................Assistant Company Manager ARTISTIC Bruce K. Sevy............... Director of New Play Development Douglas Langworthy ........... Literary Manager/Dramaturg Chad Henry....................................................... Literary Associate Emily Tarquin...................................................Artistic Associate/ New Play Coordinator

Grady Soapes.............................................. Artistic Coordinator Eli Carpenter, Matthew Lause......................... Artistic Interns PRODUCTION Jeff Gifford...............................................Director of Production Melissa Cashion....................Associate Production Manager Julie Brou...................Production & Artistic Office Manager Scenic Design Lisa M. Orzolek................................ Director of Scenic Design Matthew Plamp, Nicholas Renaud..............................Scenic Design Assistants Lighting Design Charles R. MacLeod...................................Director of Lighting Lily Bradford.....................................Lighting Design Assistant Reid Tennis............................................... Production Electrician Multimedia Charlie I. Miller...................... Resident Multimedia Specialist Topher Blair............................Multimedia Assistant/Operator Sound Design Craig Breitenbach...........................................Director of Sound Tyler Nelson.......................................................... Sound Designer Alex Billman, Frank Haas..............................Sound Operators Stage Management Christopher C. Ewing................ Production Stage Manager Matthew Campbell, Rachel Ducat, Aja M. Jackson, Kurt Van Raden.................Stage Managers D. Lynn Reiland......................................... Production Assistant Corin Ferris, Lexi Holtzer, Kristen Littlepage........... Stage Management Apprentices Scene Shop Eric Rouse.......................................................... Technical Director Robert L. Orzolek..................... Associate Technical Director Josh Prues.................................... Assistant Technical Director Albert “Stub” Allison, Louis Fernandez III.......................................... Lead Technicians Justin Hicks, Brian “Marco” Markiewicz, Keli Sequoia, Mike Van Aartsen, Ross Wick.........................................................Scenic Technicians Prop Shop Robin Lu Payne.............................................Properties Director Eileen S. Garcia......................... Assistant Properties Director Jamie Stewart Curl, Charles Dallas, David Hoth, Georgina Kayes, Katie Webster......................Props Artisans Paint Shop Jana L. Mitchell...........................................Charge Scenic Artist Melanie Rentschler........................................Lead Scenic Artist Rachael Gibson.............................................................Paint Intern Costume Shop Janet S. MacLeod..........................................Costume Director/ Costume Design Associate Meghan Anderson Doyle........ Costume Design Associate Carolyn Plemitscher, Louise Powers, Jacki Armit, Jackie Scott..................................................Drapers Cathie Gagnon.................................................................First Hand Sheila P. Morris........................................................................... Tailor Kelly Jones, Ingrid Ludeke, Jenny Milne-Wright............................................................. Stitchers Costume Crafts Kevin Copenhaver............................Costume Crafts Director Shirleen DiFonzo.............................Costume Crafts Assistant Wigs Diana Ben-Kiki............................................................... Wig Master House Crew Doug Taylor*..........................................Supervising Stagehand Mariah Becerra*, Jim Berman*, Jennifer Guethlein*, Stephen D. Mazzeno*, Miles Stasica*, Tyler Stauffer, Matt Wagner* (*IATSE Local 7 Stagehands)................................ Stagehands Wardrobe Brenda Lawson........................................Director of Wardrobe Maria Y. Davis, Taylor Malott............................Wig Assistants Robin Appleton, Amber Donner, Kelly Jones, Anthony Mattivi, Tim Nelson, Lisa Parsons, Alan Richards....................................................................... Dressers

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A NEW PUZZLE: READ ALL ABOUT IT! Newsies, Sweeney Todd and Riverdance trivia

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Named Denver Post’s top underground band of 2002

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n Broadway, Newsies won Tony Awards for O two categories: Score and ____

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Famed owner of the New York Journal: William Randolph ____

14 Riverdance made its US debut at the legendary ____ Music Hall (Two words) 15 M rs. Lovett’s first name

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Famed owner of the New York World: Joseph ____

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Original male leader of Riverdance went on to create “Lord of the Dance”: Michael ____

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P rofession of the man who framed Sweeney Todd

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e also wrote the music for A Funny Thing H Happened on the Way To the Forum

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10 C ity where Riverdance originated 11 What does Anthony buy for Johanna?

For answers please visit denvercenter.org/news-center.

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12 S tar of Disney’s 1992 Newsies film: Christian ____ 13 Leader of the Manhattan newsboys in Newsies: Jack ____

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