Applause Magazine, Feb. 5-Mar. 13, 2016

APPLAUSE

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VOLUME XXVII | NUMBER 5 | JAN - MAR 2016

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FADE Also Playing: The Wizard of Oz All the Way A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Dirty Dancing — The Classic Story On Stage The Nest

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SIGHTLINE

BY SCOTT SHILLER

Where The Wild Thoughts Are

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It’s a little too late to say “Happy New Year,” so I’ll just welcome you to the second half of our 2015/16 theatre season. Although the ball has dropped and we’ve all moved on, every new calendar is like a blank slate. What did I learn from the last year? Can I dream a little bigger this year? These are all probably questions we should ask ourselves more than once a year. But who’s counting?

Our city has been dreaming bigger lately. Recently, Mayor Hancock asked for a pie-in-the-sky vision of what the Denver Performing Arts Complex could be. (Reminder: the City of Denver manages the physical Complex and we, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, present and produce the live theatre within it.) The mayor wanted to look past the current and short-term challenges the Complex faces and just dream. Not to dismiss today’s challenges but to reconsider the Complex’s place in our shared history — and in our shared future.

So Denver’s Arts & Venues, in partnership with other city agencies and the community, launched a master planning process to generate a vision and plan for the 12-acre campus. Experts in the arts, urban planning and development have been working together ever since to imagine the “Next Stage” for the Complex.

See the progress for yourself at artsandvenues.com/nextstage.

Imagine a multi-level parking structure beneath the Complex and the current garage replaced with a completely new music hall. Imagine a School for the Arts on campus, where the next generation of artists and professionals can train and perform.

Imagine a renewed galleria lined with stores and restaurants to make it feel as dynamic as any downtown street. Imagine a Bike House. To find out what that is, you’ll have to visit the link above.

Along with the Mayor and the executive leadership team, I invite you to offer your ideas for the Complex. What’s important to you and your family in a cultural facility? What amenities and/or activities would you enjoy before and after a show? As the theatre organization with a lot riding on the success of the Complex, we have opinions. But you’re the reason we do what we do. So go wild and dream a little bigger about what’s all around you.

We’re listening.

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. 3, DCPA President & CEO Scott Shiller asked where, in this era of dwindling legitimate news, do you seek out arts coverage? He also questioned which means more, the review of a professional critic or a friend?

Excerpts from your responses follow.

To read all of the comments, please visit denvercenter.org/news-center.

The first problem is figuring out what’s on.

Thank you John [Moore, Senior Arts Journalist for the DCPA’s online News Center], for your recent efforts!… News? Once I know what is playing (or coming), what I need to decide is if I want to see it or not. Tell me why I might like it, or not. What did you, the reviewer or journalist, like about it, or not?

From your previous writing/publications, I will know to what extent I am in sync with your opinions on different aspects of a theatrical production. A detailed plot summary, no matter how well written, is worthless; I can Google that. — Don F.

I love that you are addressing this topic!

I’m a local blogger and Facebooker (Go Go Family) who loves to help promote the theatre to families and adults in the Littleton/Denver area. I tend to look to my fellow bloggers, colleagues, family and friends for their opinion on shows. I also trust the opinions of known theatre lovers...John Moore, Eden Lane, Heidi Bosk and Hope Grandon.

— Christen R. I read critic reviews to assist with my decisions regarding which events to attend.

I have a handful of friends whose opinions I respect.…I’m glad to get occasional [Facebook] notices if/when I look at FB. — Cindy I am a resident of Omaha, Nebraska.... I’m afraid that there is such an emphasis in the news, today, about horrible news items and dragging-on political campaigns, that there is little or no coverage given to the arts. All I can do or say is that I will continue to keep DCPA in my thoughts and hope for the best — and for a resurgence of a quest for music and acting. — Pat J.

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APPLAUSE M

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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 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.

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Even a pizza can help support your local theatre community.

From now through July 31, 2016, a portion of your purchase at Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria will be donated to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA).

Just bring your ticket from any DCPA performance and show it to your server. The DCPA will receive 30% of your bill as a donation.

It’s that simple (and delicious) to support local theatre.

Grimaldi’s is located at 500 16th St. #128, Denver, CO 80202.

Check out the full menu at grimaldispizzeria.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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THE ROAD TO OZ

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The Wizard of Oz is one of the most recognizable icons of North American culture. It has been interpreted, reinterpreted, parodied, plagiarized and performed across every medium.

Its latest incarnation, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s creation, comes to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in February, so we thought it appropriate to follow the long and winding road that takes us from L. Frank Baum’s canon to the present.

We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.

1995

Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked reimagines the story of the Wicked Witch of the West.

1900

L. Frank Baum writes an original American fairytale — The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

1908

Dorothy makes her first appearance on the silver screen in The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, Baum’s first attempt to create a cinematic version of his Oz books. He goes bankrupt.

1902

The first musical adaptation premieres in Chicago and then moves to Broadway in 1903.

1910

A silent film based partly on the 1902 stage musical and directed by Otis Turner is released.

1987

The Wizard of A.I.D.S. is an adaptation used as an educational play about AIDS.

1987-89

The 1939 film is adapted for stage again, this time for the Royal Shakespeare Company. It is truer to the screenplay than the adaptation from the ’40s.

1925

Another silent film makes its debut and credits L. Frank Baum Jr. as the screenwriter.

1942

The 1939 film is adapted into a stage musical.

1939

The MGM classic starring Judy Garland is released.

1974

The animated film Journey Back to Oz is released as the official sequel to the 1939 classic.

1995

The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True is a starstudded benefit concert at New York’s Lincoln Center.

A full anime adaptation of Baum’s books called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is created featuring 52 episodes.

Return to Oz is Disney’s unofficial sequel to the classic; it incorporates many characters from Baum’s sequels.

The Tony Award-winning The Wiz puts Oz in the context of AfricanAmerican culture. It is remade as a movie in 1978 starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

A new adaptation is aired live on national TV in 2015.

Oz is an Australian reimagining of the classic film transferred to hard-rocking 1970s Australia.

Maguire’s novel is adapted into a Tony Awardwinning Broadway smash hit musical.

2007

2010 2011

Oz — The Wonderful Wizard is a full-length ballet by the Staatsballett Berlin.

Scott Stanford’s novel Dorothy: The Darker Side of Oz is a modern retelling of Baum’s original story.

2012

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new stage production takes the stage before going on tour.

1976 1975

2003

The Sci Fi Channel released a miniseries called The Tin Man — a reimagined science fiction version of Dorothy’s tale.

1985

ASL interpreted, Audio described & Open Captioned performance: Feb 13, 2pm Tickets: 303.893.4100 • denvercenter.org • Groups: 303.446.4829 denvercenter.org

The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival.

1986

THE WIZARD OF OZ • FEB 7 – 13 • BUELL THEATRE

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2005

2013

Oz: The Great and Powerful, a film about the Wizard’s arrival in Oz is released starring James Franco.

2013

The animated film Dorothy of Oz hits the big screen.

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LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON MEETS ROBERT SCHENKKAN AND SPARKS FLY B Y S Y LV I E D R A K E

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When playwright Robert Schenkkan accepted the Best Play award for All the Way at the 2014 Tonys®, he reminded the American Theatre Wing that it had taken its time coming across with a Tony for his work.

It was 1994 when his six-hour The Kentucky Cycle won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Drama — a first time in Pulitzer history that a play not first presented in New York City was selected.

Cycle, which takes aim at the unvarnished brutality in two centuries of American mythology, was nominated for Best Play when it hit Broadway. Didn’t win.

Twenty years later, Schenkkan dipped into history again with All the Way, a semi-fictional construct of Lyndon Johnson’s chaotic first year in office following the Kennedy assassination.

He’s facing the growing Vietnam War, maneuvering for passage of the civil rights bill, while working to win election to his first full term in office.

Commissioned by, and first produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), the play hit Broadway. That this political drama won the Tony for Best Play was surprising. That it recouped its initial investment, breaking records for selling more dollars-worth of tickets than any other straight play in Broadway history, is astonishing.

Applause talked with Schenkkan during the HBO filming of his adaptation of All the Way coming in May. Applause: American politics and history attract you. Why? Robert Schenkkan: I grew up in the South, where history and the past are very present, with politically active parents who were interested in the life of the mind and who read extensively. So I did as well.

I’ve always found history provocative and deeply pleasurable.

It continues to resonate, to affect us. It has been consciously politicized in this country so it’s about who gets to tell the story. Look at the Civil War. There are textbooks out there — textbooks — that mention slavery almost in passing, and many people resent the notion that the Civil War was about slavery.

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Illustration by Kyle Malone

POLITICAL BRINKMANSHIP

Not from their family’s point of view.

That simply isn’t true. When I wrote Kentucky Cycle, one of the things I touched on, in terms of western expansion, was that the past didn’t matter. You could leave it behind. Re-invent yourself. Part of the point of themes I was working on was how liberating and energizing that concept is — and how damaging.

Still true?

Yes. But opportunities for that are less true. There’s less upward mobility. At the turn of the 20th century, wealth was amassed by a very small group. We are again seeing a consolidation of wealth and power in such a small number of people that the middle class stagnates. We need to turn our ship around. The optimistic view is we’re in that process. Hard to tell sometimes.

What made you pick LBJ and civil rights?

I grew up in Austin — Johnson’s turf. My father knew Johnson in a limited but critical way. He was a pioneer in public television and radio, hired by the University of Texas to create and manage the first public TV and radio station in the Southwest. Job One was to go to then-Senator Johnson and get his donation, because said station would compete directly with Johnson’s media empire. Johnson went on to sign the bill that created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. So he was on my radar.

How much time did you spend on actual events to get the story right, and how much setting them aside, to write a real play?

I worked on All the Way, commissioned by Oregon — and the other LBJ play, The Great Society, commissioned by Seattle Rep — on and off for seven years. I would meet people who introduced me to other people.… There was so much material that it became about “What’s the story? What can I really use?

How do I tell this…?”

What about actors who are not lookalikes playing familiar politicians?

I’ve always resisted this notion of, oh, everybody has to look exactly like the character they’re playing. It’s a trap. It treats the experience like docudrama. It’s not; it’s a play — a carefully selected and translated theatrical vision of history that I’ve taken over. Not everything on stage happens exactly the way it happened in life.

“ There was so much material that it became about ‘What’s the story?

What can I really use?

How do I tell this…?’”

— ROBERT SCHENKKAN, PLAYWRIGHT But doesn’t that then demand an extra suspension of disbelief?

Yes. I’ve been emphatic that actors not go to YouTube to try to capture that actual image. This was especially true for LBJ, because he was a terrible public speaker. Boring. But not in life. Everyone who knew him described him as incredibly charismatic and wildly entertaining. At a party he was funny and profane. The public speaking thing was due to his sense of inadequacy. He didn’t go to Harvard like Jack Kennedy so, when he became president, he developed a speaking style he thought was presidential. It drove his family crazy. I told the Lady Bird Johnson actors that’s not the LBJ Photo composite for All Thewe Waywant. We gave them accents, Compiled

By David Kay Mickelsen dressed [them] in period clothes, as we remember them.

These were improvements to help the audience with regional differences.

No one was going to imitate anyone.

Political plays have other pitfalls. How did you avoid them?

Politics is based in human struggle. I focus on [that] story.

I’m interested — especially in All the Way — in what it takes to make progress, get something done, even something [that’s] arguably a good thing. It comes at a price. People who intend to do good must often question their means.

And motives?

Johnson’s motives, particularly when it came to civil rights, were genuine. This was not necessarily the right liberal thing to do in 1964. It could have gone very badly. The means employed were not pleasant. As the play progresses, the focus increasingly becomes the election, and the audience [sees] Johnson using tactics he used to pass civil rights — for which we mostly cheer him — simply to get elected. He’s playing on the cutting edge of the moral quandary. I find that fascinating.

For the full interview, visit denvercenter.org/news-center.

Sylvie Drake was Director of Media Relations and Publications for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 1994 – 2014.

She is a former theatre critic and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a regular contributor to culturalweekly.com.

ALL THE WAY JAN 29 – FEB 28 • STAGE THEATRE ASL interpreted & Audio described performance: Feb 21, 1:30pm Tickets: 303.893.4100 • denvercenter.org • Groups: 303.446.4820

COSTUME COLUMN

While her fashion did not scream “power house,” Lady Bird Johnson had a classic, chic fashion sense that often paired tailored styles with trendy accessories.

When history looks back on male politicians, their fashion sense is usually overlooked.

But for many women in politics, their clothes played a large role in earning respect and conveying their ideas. In Power Dressing: First Ladies, Women Politicians & Fashion, fashion writer Robb Young explores the choices behind the world’s female leaders: • Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt’s first female pharaoh in 1479 B.C., proved she was entitled to rule as a pharaoh by dressing like one. She sat on her throne bare-chested and wore a man’s kilt, false metal beard and a headdress adorned with cobras.

• Queen Elizabeth’s opulent dresses and jewelry illustrated her kingdom’s wealth. The style made her look imposing and invincible to those who wished to oust her.

• Once American women were allowed to vote and serve in office, their outfits were considered distracting. When Rep. Katherine Langley (KY) wore a blue and red dress in 1920, a reporter commented, “She offends the squeamish by her unstinted display of gypsy colors on the floor.”

• Former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi used her sari to communicate nationalism and seriousness. Gandhi’s saris were made out of khadi, a fabric woven

by Indians to oppose British rule and display their economic empowerment.

• British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would intimidate naysayers by slamming her Ferragamo handbag onto the table to show she meant business.

Explore the fashion sense of LBJ and his contemporaries in All the Way, playing The Stage Theatre January 29 – February 28.

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IN THE

UPCOMING SHOWS

SPOTLIGHT

Murder for Two Now – Feb 21 The Nest Now – Feb 21 Dirty Dancing — The Classic Story On Stage Jan 26 – 31

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

All the Way Jan 29 – Feb 28 FADE Feb 5 – Mar 13 The Wizard of Oz Feb 7 – 13 Cult Following: Secrets & Confessions Feb 12 & 13 A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Feb 16 – 28

1

Riverdance — The 20th Anniversary World Tour Mar 8 – 13

2

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

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3

Sweeney Todd Apr 8 – May 15

1. SATURDAY NIGHT ALIVE attracted a new participant — RK Foundation contributed $10,000 to the March 5 fundraiser, which benefits DCPA Education and our Student Matinee program.

Cult Following: Karaoke Broadway Musical Apr 30 & Jun 3

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Mayor Michael Hancock who helped Tiny Tim trim the tree at a press conference to kick off Visit Denver’s Mile High Holidays.

3 & 4. DCPA EDUCATION and The Denver Actors Fund were beneficiaries of our Holiday Cabaret, a one-night-only fundraiser featuring cast members from Disney’s The Lion King, A Christmas Carol, Murder for Two and The SantaLand Diaries. Local director Christy Montour-Larson (center) enjoyed the evening with A Christmas Carol cast members Courtney Capek and Jake Williamson.

5. DCPA BROADWAY asked Kevin Massey (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love &

Murder) to sing the national anthem at the Broncos-Patriots game.

Photos by Emily Lozow and John Moore

2. DCPA THEATRE COMPANY welcomed

Cult Following: Decide Your Destiny Apr 29 & Jun 4

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

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LOGIC? NOT FOR DIRECTOR DARKO TRESNJAK. JUST GIVE HIM THEATRICAL LOGIC. B Y S Y LV I E D R A K E

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Today’s Quiz: What’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder? (a) A directive on how to avoid commitment (b) An unserious evening of silly theatre (c) A multiple 2014 Tony Award-winner, including Best Musical (d) A veiled tribute to Gilbert and Sullivan (e) A lesson in “offing” inconvenient heirs (f) A n inspired rip-off of Agatha Christie meets the Marx Brothers, with a whiff of Noel Coward. Set to music.

Take your pick. You’ll be right every time.

But talk to the creative team that put this show together, and you’ll find the outcome wasn’t always so inclusive. It took 10 years to get this farcical thriller in shape and the man who helped most joined the venture at halftime.

“Robert Freedman, who wrote the book for Gentleman’s Guide, saw my production of The Women at The Old Globe in San Diego,” volunteered Darko Tresnjak, Artistic Director of Hartford Stage and the directorial mastermind who scored his own Tony® Award for coming up with some of Gentleman’s Guide’s choicest silliness.

“Something about The Women convinced Robert I was the guy for the job. Then I met Steve Lutvak who wrote the music and was co-lyricist, and we hit it off. It was four years leading to the production we mounted in Hartford — and a fifth year to get the show to Broadway.”

Of course, there was more.

Freedman and Lutvak, newbies to Broadway, avoided watching Kind Hearts and Coronets, the 1949 hit movie in which Alec Guinness played all eight heirs to an English fortune, each of whom meets an untimely death at the hands of the ninth, just for being, you know…in the way.

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The film was based on the same 1907 Roy Horniman novel, Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal, and while the premise held plenty of promise, Freedman and Lutvak lacked rights to the movie and mined the novel instead.

Tresnjak, who’d seen the movie in high school, also declined to watch it again, relying instead on his own sly sense of humor and instinct for the right casting.

“I champion great comic actors,” he said. “They’re underestimated. Grad schools don’t teach the craft. I was lucky.

I directed Paxton Whitehead. I directed Dana Ivy. It’s like a science experiment to watch Paxton get the laugh and next night figure out how to subdivide the laugh and get three laughs out of the audience without pushing…

“The older I get, the more it seems like comedy is the perfect response to the absurdity of the world. I wish there were Joe Ortons for our time. Satire is the perfect tool to deal with stupid politics.

“One of the really appealing things about Gentleman’s Guide is its structure, the fact that you have to have a spectacular actor in the revolving-door roles, playing all eight of the aristocratic d’Ysquiths. Every murder’s a gift, because you know that actor’s got to come back in another role. I thought it was really naughty because, like, wow. Monty d’Ysquith kills his whole family and the show ends in a three-way [love affair]. I was like, cool! Sign me on.

It’s a hand-in-the-cookie-jar kind of show.”

Tresnjak, who’s staged a good deal of opera, fell in love with Lutvak’s offbeat score. “It’s not ‘American Idol.’ It’s hard to sing,” he said. “The two women’s roles are precise. There’s no back phrasing. You need crystalline soprano voices. That was a big part of it for me.

“The moment when I knew it was going to work was the ending. It hadn’t been written when I came on board and

National Photo Touring Company. cast with John Rapson as The Tree of Life from The Lion King National Tour. ©Disney.

Credit: JoanThe Marcus.

Lord Adalbert D’Ysquith. Photo credit: Joan Marcus.

A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO… WHAT?

“ The moment when I knew it was going to work was the ending. It hadn’t been written when I came on board and there was a logistical problem. What happens when you kill the star? When the last victim bites the dust? Umm…” — DARKO TRESNJAK, DIRECTOR “The best moment came when we had to redo one of the murders. [We tried] a car going over the cliff, then a plunge off a Ferris wheel. Didn’t work.

I was listening. It was like…the famous skating waltz. I said, ‘start skating…’ ” That time it worked.

“Over lunch that day, Robert and Steven were passing napkins to each other, rewriting lyrics. Kept the tune, changed the words. Then they showed me: As I’m cutting, I am contemplating / And the truth is it’s a tad exhilarating, / With the rhythm of a violinist / I’ll be sawing where I think the ice is thinnest.

“Now that is talent,” said Tresnjak, “and it’s buried. But it’s the most sophisticated lyric in the entire show. Steve and Robert write lyrics together.

Not one fake rhyme. No cheating. They’re completely rigorous.

“You have to believe in a musical,” he summarized, “because nothing takes as much [effort]. I didn’t work on the show all of the time. I directed 20 productions during those five years. But this was really fun.”

John Rapson plays the eight victims to Kevin Massey’s Monty. Both men were in the Broadway company.

“After directing 25 Shakespeare plays I also can say Shakespeare’s plays are not good. Great, but not good. Who cares? It’s theatrical logic. In Merchant of Venice months seem to be passing in Venice, but in Belmont, it’s the next day. So what?

“It’s theatrical logic.”

So, you’re about to discover, is Gentleman’s Guide.

For the full interview, visit denvercenter.org/news-center.

Sylvie Drake served as Director of Media Relations and Publications for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 1994 – 2014. She is a former theatre critic and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a regular contributor to culturalweekly.com.

A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER FEB 16 – 28 • BUELL THEATRE ASL interpreted, Audio described & Open Captioned performance: Feb 28, 2pm Tickets: 303.893.4100 denvercenter.org Groups: 303.446.4820 Right: National Touring Company. Adrienne Eller as Phoebe D’Ysquith and Kevin Massey as Monty Navarro. Photo credit: Joan Marcus.

Original company, North American Tour of Newsies. ©Disney.

Photo by Deen van Meer.

Lord Adalbert D’Ysquith. Photo credit: Joan Marcus.

there was a logistical problem. What happens when you kill the star? When the last victim bites the dust? Umm. You find…a ninth relative! Robert and Steven were, What…?

“I don’t want to give it away, but there’s a janitor who works in the jail. They let me add that. At that point I knew the show was going to be playful. The best thing was we took huge liberties. Some ideas came from the book, but the more we made up our own, the better it got.

COMING UP FROM BROADWAY:

DISNEY’S NEWSIES Long before it was fictionalized for stage and film, the newsboys’ strike of 1899 was a very real struggle for America’s young working class. Here’s the true story of what it was like to be a newsboy at the turn of the century: • Newsies were not employees of the newspapers, but instead purchased the papers from the publishers and sold them independently, earning around 30 cents a day.

• The newsboys’ strike of 1899 was incited by news coverage of the Spanish-American War. As consumers relied on their papers to stay up to date, publishers increased the price of newspaper bundles by 10 cents. While most publishers lowered the prices after the war, The Evening World (owned by Joseph Pulitzer) and the New York Evening Journal (owned by William Randolph Hearst) were notable exceptions.

• In July of 1899, thousands of newsies refused to distribute Pulitzer and Hearst’s papers. They blocked the Brooklyn Bridge with demonstrations and asked the public to boycott the publications.

• Competing newspapers used the strike as an opportunity to lambast the larger papers and covered the strikes by highlighting the colorful characters like Kid Blink, Little Mickey and Crutch Morris.

• The strike ended with a compromise.

The two publishers offered the boys 100% return rights on the papers they didn’t sell, but didn’t lower the prices of the bundles. While the Newsboy Union’s Strike Committee did not agree to the compromise, the newsboys themselves jumped on the opportunity and went back to work.

Get your paper and get your ticket to Disney’s Newsies, playing The Buell Theatre March 23 – April 9.

17

DIRTY DANCING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE

Christopher Tierney (Johnny), Jenny Winton (Penny) and the company of the North American tour of Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

I

In August 1987, every teenage girl in America had a crush on the same actor — Patrick Swayze. His portrayal of Johnny Castle in the hit film Dirty Dancing catapulted him to superstardom. Johnny was from the wrong side of the tracks, but he had a heart of gold (and, let’s face it, he could move).

Enter Frances “Baby” Houseman, on vacation with her overprotective parents and annoying older sister at Kellerman’s, a lavish vacation resort. “That was the summer of 1963. When everybody called me ‘Baby’ and it didn’t occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy got shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn’t wait to join the Peace Corps and I thought I’d never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman’s,” says Baby at the opening of the movie-turned-stage musical.

Introduce one idealistic, sheltered teenager to an older, experienced dance instructor and you’ve got the sizzle of fireworks that tests loyalty, questions worthiness and sparks passion in audiences across the nation.

There’s just something about the story that doesn’t quite go away. In fact, ABC announced on December 8 that it will film a three-hour adaptation of the movie for network broadcast starring Abigail Breslin. Perhaps it’s the “diamond in the rough” story of Johnny or the “comingof-age” plot of Baby. Or it may be that soundtrack. Winner

of a Golden Globe, Academy Award and Grammy, the soundtrack has sold more than 44 million copies and, in addition to number one hits from the 1960’s, includes such songs as “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” “Hungry Eyes” and “She’s Like the Wind.”

In fact the music served as the backbone of the original script development. Scriptwriter Eleanor Bergstein selected the songs she wanted to use and then wrote the story against them. She wanted the music to function as the soundtrack of the story and of the characters’ hearts.

It may be nearly 30 years later, but we’re all sure to await that singular moment at the end of the musical when Baby flies atop Johnny’s arms, asserting her love, her loyalty and her independence. We’re all sure to have the time of our life.

DIRTY DANCING — THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE JAN 26 – 31 • BUELL THEATRE ASL interpreted, Audio described & Open Captioned performance: Jan 30, 2pm Tickets: 303.893.4100 denvercenter.org Groups: 303.446.4829

COMING UP FROM BROADWAY: RIVERDANCE On April 20, 1994, dancers Jean Butler and Michael Flatley performed with their troupe at the Eurovision Song Contest, introducing millions of viewers to their fresh take on traditional Irish dancing. Less than a year later, Riverdance was adapted into a full stage show.

Now in its 20th year, Riverdance has…

• Played 11,000 performances • Been seen live by more than 25 million people in over 467 venues worldwide, throughout 46 countries across 6 continents • Travelled 700,000 miles

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denvercenter.org

• Played to a global television audience of 3 billion people • Sold more than 3 million copies of the Grammy Award-winning CD • Sold 10 million Riverdance videos & DVDs • Won a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album See the energy, sensuality and spectacle of Riverdance — The 20th Anniversary World Tour returning to The Buell Theatre March 8 – 13.

A scene from Riverdance © Riverdance.

Photo by Jack-Hartin.

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DRIVEN BY

BENEFITTING ARTS EDUCATION AT THE DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Featuring an evening with

KELLI O’HARA & BRIAN D’ARCY JAMES Two of Broadway’s brightest stars, Kelli O’Hara and Brian d’Arcy James, will delight Saturday Night Alive guests in the intimate Stage Theatre with an evening of their favorite songs. Kelli is a five-time Tony Award nominee who won the 2015 Tony Award as Best Actress in a Leading Role for The King and I and Brian is a three-time Tony Award nominee and current star of Something Rotten on Broadway.

March 5, 2016 • Seawell Grand Ballroom Patron tickets start at $1,000 • Tables of ten start at $6,000 Cocktails • Silent Auction • Dinner • Dancing

Major Sponsors: Murray BMW of Denver, United Airlines, Colorado Oil & Gas Industry, The Westin Denver Downtown, Alpine Bank, Always Best Care Senior Services, Colorado State Bank and Trust, Epicurean Group, Keith & Kathie Finger, Polsinelli, Triptyk Studios, Tuchman Family Foundation

DENVERCENTER.ORG/SNA 303.446.4812

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LOGO WITH SUBDIVISIONS

presents

A DENVER CENTER WORLD PREMIERE

BY

Tanya Saracho With

Mariana Fernández, Eddie Martinez

SCENIC DESIGN BY Timothy R. Mackabee

COSTUME DESIGN BY Meghan Anderson Doyle

LIGHTING DESIGN BY Richard Devin

SOUND DESIGN BY Tyler Nelson

VOICE AND DIALECT COACHING BY Kathryn G. Maes Ph.D

DRAMATURGY BY Stephanie Ybarra

DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Jeff Gifford

STAGE MANAGER Randall K. Lum

DIRECTED BY Jerry Ruiz

FADE is a commission of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company and was developed at the Colorado New Play Summit in February 2015.

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

THE RICKETSON THEATRE | FEBRUARY 5 – MARCH 13, 2016 Special thanks to the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for its continued support of new play development at the DCPA. Presented by The Joan and Phill Berger Charitable Trust.

FADE is the recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

SHOW SPONSOR

SEASON SPONSORS

FADE

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

FADE

CAST

(in order of appearance)

Lucia................................................................................................................................................................ MARIANA FERNÁNDEZ Abel.............................................................................................................................................................................. EDDIE MARTINEZ

Assistant Director....................................................................................................................................... NATALIE KRATOCHVIL.

Stage Manager.........................................................................................................................................................RANDALL K. LUM. Production Assistant......................................................................................................................................BECKY FRYBERGER Stage Management Apprentice............................................................................................................KRISTEN LITTLEPAGE

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.

TIME: Like, now.

And all scenes take place during the night time, after work hours.

PLACE: An office in a film studio. One of those generic itinerant writer’s offices in the writer’s building where coat after coat of paint covers up years of nail holes and career disappointment. The place has seen decades of bad writing, receding hairlines and frantic all-night writing sessions.

ACTING COMPANY

MARIANA FERNÁNDEZ (Lucía).

At the Theatre Company: Debut.

New York credits include Disjointed Love Shorts (Ticket2Eternity).

Regional: Reasons to be Pretty (Phoenix Theatre Indianapolis), As Bees in Honey Drown (StageWest Fort Worth), Jason and Claire (San Diego Old Globe). Training: BFA, Texas Christian University. MFA, Purdue Actor Training Program.

EDDIE MARTINEZ (Abel). At the Theatre Company: As You Like It. Chicago theatre credits include: Big Lake Big City, Cascabel (Lookingglass Theatre); Our Lady of 121st Street (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); The Sins of Sor Juana (Teatro Vista); Stylin’ and Racial Profilin’ (The Second City). TV/Film: “Sense8,” “Sirens,” The Dilemma, The Break Up, The Weatherman, Nothing Like the Holidays, Let’s Go to Prison and Elsewhere.

PLAYWRIGHT

TANYA SARACHO (Playwright). Born in Sinaloa, Mexico, a playwright, actor, theatre director, and TV writer for “How To Get Away With Murder” (currently co-producing), HBO’s “Girls,” “Looking” and “Devious Maids.” Her work has been produced

by Second Stage (NYC), Steppenwolf Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Goodman Theatre, Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, Fountain Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, NEXT Theatre and 16th Street Theatre.

Saracho is currently developing an adaptation of her play “Mala Hierba” for HBO. DIRECTOR

JERRY RUIZ (Director). Jerry recently directed Mala Hierba by Tanya Saracho at Second Stage, Basilica by Mando Alvarado for Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater

and Philip Goes Forth for the Mint Theater Company. Prior NYC credits include: Enfrascada by Tanya Saracho (Clubbed Thumb), Love Goes to Press (Mint), Mariela in the Desert (Repertorio Espanol), A King of Infinite Space (Summer Stage/ HERE), The King is Dead by Caroline V. McGraw, and Rattlers by Johnna Adams. Regional: In the Heights (UT-Austin); 26 Miles (Arizona State University); Waiting for the Hearse (Mixed Blood); Twelfth Night (Chalk Rep). 2009-2011 NEA/TCG Career Development grant. Member of SDC. ARTISTIC STAFF

RICHARD DEVIN (Lighting Designer). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Richard is an Artistic Company Member at Curious Theatre Company where he has designed lighting for 15 contemporary plays over the past 10 years. Dick also worked with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival for 17 years as Producing Artistic Director and 26 years as lighting designer. He has designed more than 250 productions at 36 of America’s regional theatres, as well as Off-Broadway and in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Cairo. He was Managing Director and Lighting Designer with the Williamstown Theatre Festival and is past president of the U.S. Institute for Theatre Technology.

MEGHAN ANDERSON DOYLE (Costume Designer). At the Theatre Company: Tribes, One Night in Miami…, Appoggiatura, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Jackie & Me, The Giver, Superior Donuts, Well and Ed, Downloaded. Other Theatres: Off-Center (CULT FOLLOWING seasons 1-5, Lord of the Butterflies), DCPA Cabaret (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! and Five Course Love), Curious Theatre Company (Marcus or the Secret of Sweet, In The Red and Brown Water, Good People, The Brothers Size, A Number, Up, tempOdyssey), The Aurora Fox (Metamorphoses), National Theatre Conservatory Rep (2005-2012). Special/Training: DCPA Theatre Company Costume Design Associate 2006-present. BA in Theatre, University of Denver; MFA in Costume Design, University of Florida.

TIMOTHY R. MACKABEE (Scenic Designer). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Broadway: The Elephant Man (starring Bradley Cooper), Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (dir.

Spike Lee). West End: The Elephant Man. Off-Broadway: Lincoln Center Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theatre Company, The Public. Regional: Center Stage, Cleveland Play House, Dallas Theatre Center, Syracuse Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, Philadelphia Theater Company, Williamstown, Ford’s Theatre, The Old Globe. TV/ Film: “Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo,” “Gotham,” “Smash,” “The Today Show.” Training: North Carolina School of the Arts, Yale School of Drama. timothymackabeedesign.com KATHRYN G. MAES Ph.D (Voice and Dialect Coach). At the Theatre Company: The Nest, Tribes, Benediction, Appoggiatura, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Lord of the Flies, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Animal Crackers, Shadowlands, Hamlet, black odyssey, A Christmas Carol, Jackie & Me, The Most Deserving, Just Like Us, Death of a Salesman, When We Are Married, Fences, The Three Musketeers, Heartbreak House, Great Wall Story.

Other Theatres: Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre (Arthur Miller’s American Clock).

Special/Training: Voice and Dialect Coach for numerous professional theatre companies in the United States, Head of Voice at DCPA Theatre Company and the National Theatre Conservatory 1989 to 1992.

Ph.D. in Theatre Arts, University of Pittsburgh; Advanced Diploma in Voice Studies, Central School of Speech and Drama, London, England.

TYLER NELSON (Sound Designer).

At the Theatre Company: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, The Most Deserving, The Giver, and Ed, Downloaded. Off-Center: DATE*, Square of Ice, CULT FOLLOWING season 1, The L&J&J Project, HipHop Jambalaya, Wii: The Ultimate Baseball Game. Other Theatres: Applebox Theatre Company (Buried Child, Summertree). Training: Bachelor’s Degree in Sound Engineering, University of Colorado Denver.

FADE

WHO’S WHO

FADE

STEPHANIE YBARRA (Dramaturg) serves as the Director of Special Artistic Projects at The Public Theater in New York, where she leads the Mobile Shakespeare Unit and Public Forum programs. During her time as an independent artistic producer, Producing Artistic Director of Cherry Lane’s OBIE Award-Winning Mentor Project and Producing Director of The Playwrights Realm, Stephanie developed and produced new work with Tarell Alvin McCraney, Tanya Saracho, Anna Ziegler, Jen Silverman, Jiehae Park, Gregory Steven Moss and more. She holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama.

STAGE MANAGEMENT

RANDALL K. LUM (Stage Manager).

At the Theatre Company: Debut.

Other Theatres: Oregon Shakespeare Festival (World Premieres: Equivocation, American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose, and WillFul), Center Theatre Group (World Premiere: The Royale), Pasadena Playhouse, South Coast Repertory (18 Seasons over 90 productions.

Some World Premieres: The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabbler, Wit, Intimate Apparel, Blue Door, Safe In Hell, Three Days of Rain, Kimberly Akimbo, and The Birds), The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Laguna Playhouse, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, California Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, Seattle Rep, and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley (Resident Stage Manager).

EXECUTIVE STAFF

KENT THOMPSON (Producing Artistic Director) is in his eleventh 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.

Two of Kent’s major accomplishments since moving to Denver have been the establishment of the Colorado New Play Summit, a premier national festival for new American plays, and the Women’s Voices Fund, an endowment that supports the development of new plays by women.

Prior to moving to Denver he was

Producing Artistic Director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival for 16 years. In 1991 Kent created the Southern Writers’ Project (SWP), designed to commission and develop new plays that presented 16 world premieres during his tenure.

He served for eight years on the Board of Directors for Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and as its 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.

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 OffBroadway 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.

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FADE

LOGO WITH SUBDIVISIONS

STAFF EXECUTIVE

Dramaturgs

Costume Designers

Kent Thompson, Producing Artistic Director

Doug Langworthy, Heidi Schmidt, Stephanie Ybarra

Denitsa Bliznakova, Mara Blumenfeld, Angela Balogh Calin, Kevin Copenhaver, Meghan Anderson Doyle, David Kay Mickelsen

Charles Varin, Managing Director Bruce K. Sevy, Associate Artistic Director

Music Directors

Jeff Gifford, Director of Production

Gregg Coffin

ADMINISTRATION

Composers

Charles Varin, Managing Director

Gary Grundei

Mara Blumenfeld, Don Darnutzer, Richard Devin, Charles R. MacLeod, Shannon McKinney, Grant W. S. Yeager

Acting Company

Sound Designers

Adeoye, Colin Alexander, Leslie Alexander, Terence Archie, Jordan Barbour, Stanley Ray Baron, Kevin Bertnson, J. Paul Boehmer, Benjamin Bonenfant, Jason Bowen, Steve Brady, Molly Brennan, Maren Bush, Courtney Capek, Todd Cerveris, Brian D. Coats, Tad Cooley, Stephanie Cozart, Laurence Curry, Paul DeBoy, Allen Dorsey, Kevin Douglas, Napoleon M. Douglas, Diana Dresser, Brian Dykstra, Adrian Egolf, Isabel Ellison, Mehry Eslaminia, Mariana Fernández, Micah Figueroa, Kate Finch, Michael Fitzpatrick, Ella Galaty, Sam Gregory, Edwin Harris, Mike Hartman, Ben W. Heil, Lauren Hirte, Carolyn Holding, Drew Horwitz, C. David Johnson, Donterrio Johnson, Stephen Paul Johnson, Maurice Jones, Geoffrey Kent, Charlie Korman, Emily Kron, Robert Andrew Koutras, Nick LaMedica, Daniel Langhoff, Laura Latreille, Avi Lavin, Tracey Conyer Lee, Kyra Lindsay, Cajardo Lindsey, Brody Lineaweaver, Rodney Lizcano, Lars Lundberg, Victoria Mack, Emma C. Martin, Eddie Martinez, David Mason, Kathleen McCall, M. Scott McLean, James Newcomb, Leslie O’Carroll, Andrew Pastides, Daniel Pearce, Philip Pleasants, Max Raabe, Augie Reichert, Helen Reichert, James Michael Reilly, Jeffrey Roark, Jessica Robblee, Josh Robinson, Christine Rowan, Erik Sandvold, Nate Patrick Siebert, Shannan Steele, Carly Street, Olivia Sullivent, Andrea Syglowski, Samuel Taylor, Charles E. Wallace, William Oliver Watkins, Lindsey Noel Whiting, Jake Williamson, Erin Willis, Matt Zambrano, Samuel Zeisel, Owen Zitek

Craig Breitenbach, Curtis Craig, Ray Nardelli, Tyler Nelson

Ryan Meisheid, Associate Managing Director Allison Taylor, Company Manager Kerri Mirtsching, Business Administrator Alie Quistberg, Assistant Company Manager ARTISTIC New Play Development 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, Artistic Intern Matthew Lopez, Denver Center Playwriting Fellow Commissioned Playwrights José Cruz González, Lauren Gunderson, Kimber Lee, Rogelio Martinez, Kemp Powers, Theresa Rebeck, Anne GarciaRomero, Tanya Saracho, Robert Schenkkan, Eric Schmiedl, Mat Smart, Regina Taylor, Lauren Yee Directors Adrienne Campbell-Holt, David Catlin, Anthony Powell, Jerry Ruiz, Bruce K. Sevy, Kent Thompson, Stephen Weitz Choreographers Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi, Christine Rowan

Designers

Assistant Directors

David M. Barber, Timothy R. Mackabee, Robert Mark Morgan, Lisa Orzolek, Daniel Ostling, Vicki Smith

Geoffrey Kent, Christine Rowan

Scenic Designers

Lighting Designers

Projection Designer Charlie I. Miller Coaches Jack Greenman (Voice/Dialect), Hands on Productions LLC (Deaf Accessibility), Geoffrey Kent (Fight), Kathryn G. Maes Ph.D. (Voice/Dialect) Casting Bruce K. Sevy, Emily Tarquin New York Casting Elyssa Myers Casting/Paul Fouquet, CSA PRODUCTION Jeff Gifford, Director of Production Melissa Cashion, Associate Production Manager Julie Brou, Production and Artistic Office Manager Scenic Design Lisa M. Orzolek, Director of Scenic Design Scenic Design Assistants: Matthew Plamp, Nicholas Renaud Lighting Design Charles R. MacLeod, Director of Lighting Lighting Design Assistant: Lily Bradford Production Electrician: Reid Tennis Multimedia Charlie I. Miller, Resident Multimedia Specialist Multimedia Assistant: Topher Blair

First Hand: Cathie Gagnon

PLEASE BE ADVISED

Tailor: Sheila P. Morris

that once the show begins:

Craig Breitebach, Director of Sound

Stitchers: Belinda Haaland, Kelly Jones, Teresia Larsen, Jeanne Legrand, Ingrid Ludeke, Jenny Milne-Wright, Wanda Price, Beth Walker

Sound Operators: Alex Billman, Frank Haas, Tyler Nelson, Jonathan Ruiz

Costume Crafts

Stage Management

Kevin Copenhaver, Costume Crafts Director

Christopher C. Ewing, Production Stage Manager

Costume Crafts Artisans: Shirleen DiFonzo

Stage Managers: Jonathan D. Allsup, Matthew Campbell, Rachel Ducat, Aja M. Jackson, Randall K. Lum, Lyle Raper, Kurt Van Raden

Wigs

Production Assistant: Becky Fryberger, D. Lynn Reiland

House Crew

Sound Design

Stage Management Apprentices: Corin Ferris, Lexi Holtzer, Kristen Littlepage Child Wrangler: Lauren LaCasse Scene Shop Eric Rouse, Technical Director Robert L. Orzolek, Associate Technical Director

Diana Ben-Kiki, Wig Master

Doug Taylor*, Supervising Stagehand Stagehands: Mariah Becerra*, Jim Berman*, Becky Currie, Jennifer Guethlein*, Frank Haas, Andrew Hamer, Stephen D. Mazzeno*, Dana Nelson, Miles Stasica*, Tyler Stauffer, Mike VanAartsen, Matt Wagner* (*IATSE Local 7 Stagehands)

Josh Prues, Assistant Technical Director

Wardrobe

Lead Technicians: Albert “Stub” Allison, Louis Fernandez III

Brenda Lawson, Director

Scenic Technicians: William Currie, Justin Hicks, Ludwig Hnatkowycz, Brian “Marco” Markiewicz, Keli Sequoia, Mike Van Aartsen, Ross Wick, Topher Yanangihara

Wig Assistants: Maria Y. Davis, Taylor Malott Dressers: Robin Appleton, Amber Donner, Kelly Jones, Amoreena Kissel, Anthony Mattivi, Tim Nelson, Lisa Parsons, Alan Richards

Prop Shop Robin Lu Payne, Properties Director

MARKETING

Eileen Garcia, Assistant Properties Director

Brianna Firestone, Director of Marketing

Props Artisans: Jamie Stewart Curl, Charles Dallas, Georgina Kayes, Tobias Harding, David Hoth, Roo Huigen, Katie Webster

Emily Kent, Marketing Manager

Hope Grandon, PR & Events Manager

The Director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.

Paint Shop Jana L. Mitchell, Charge Scenic Artist Lead Scenic Artist: Melanie Rentschler Scenic Artists: Kristin Hamer, Brian Proud, Jeni Raddatz, Lindsay Senior Paint Intern: Rachel Gibson Costume Shop Janet S. MacLeod, Costume Director/ Costume Design Associate Costume Design Associate: Meghan Anderson Doyle Drapers: Carolyn Plemitscher, Louise Powers, Jackie Scott

The actors and stage managers employed in these productions 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.) Scenic, Costume and Lighting designers are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829, IATSE Member of the Colorado Theatre Guild

• 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.

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.

FADE

Multimedia Operators: Andrew Nicholas Cseresnyes, Kyle Moore, Topher Tananghira

Six celebrated slam poets weave an interconnected story about womanhood, self-discovery and adversity.

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N “ For us, it’s a passion to help the next generation be more successful than we are. It is a core aspect of Noble Energy’s mission to help build strong communities that prepare young people for the working world.”

— CHIP RIMER, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, NOBLE ENERGY U.S. ONSHORE

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Noble Energy is partnering with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) to create an innovative initiative that will support STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education in Denver Public Schools (DPS) and in schools across Colorado. Combining the DCPA’s Dramatic LearningTM program with an engaging STEAM curriculum will help bring concepts and skills to life for students.

Noble believes that incorporating a comprehensive and innovative arts initiative in education provides the critical thinking, communications and creativity skills essential to student and professional success. Taking the traditional STEM program and adding the “A” for arts will help spark students’ imaginations and help students innovate through hands-on projects.

The issue is a real one for Noble Energy. “For us, it’s a passion to help the next generation be more successful than we are,” said Noble Energy Senior Vice President Chip Rimer. “It is a core aspect of Noble Energy’s mission to help build strong communities that prepare young people for the working world.” Noble is working with DPS to identify areas with the greatest needs and how it can help strengthen science courses.

The DCPA’s Dramatic LearningTM program will focus on STEM while also utilizing artistic teaching techniques to enable better understanding and learning in the classroom setting.

“Education is the backbone to the success and growth of Colorado’s energy industry,” said Patsy Landaveri, Noble Energy’s Colorado community affairs manager. “Providing students with STEM knowledge through the DCPA’s Dramatic LearningTM program will expose students to important science and technology concepts, giving them the key skills they need to compete in Colorado’s future workforce.”

Noble has been a long-standing supporter of both STEM curricula and DPS. Through a partnership with the Denver Broncos, Noble has donated thousands of dollars to the DPS Foundation and has helped recognize DPS students who excel in STEM courses. Noble also supports DPS’s 8th grade career fair and Noble employee volunteers are actively involved with the school district’s reading programs and other school projects.

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FADE

PLAYWRIGHT TANYA SARACHO: A MINORITY OF ONE

BY JOHN MOORE

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Illustration by Kyle Malone

W

When Tanya Saracho was awarded her first commission to write a new play, she knew exactly why she was chosen for the job.

“It was because I’m a Latina,” she says with unfiltered and unapologetic enthusiasm.

When she got her start in television, writing for two episodes of Lifetime’s “Devious Maids” without any appreciable experience, she knew the score there, too.

“Listen: I got into television because I was a diversity hire,” Saracho says almost giddily.

And you know what?

“I don’t care.”

And you know why not?

“Because by the second job, I wasn’t a diversity hire,” she said.

“I earned it.”

Saracho is part of a vastly underrepresented demographic in show business. She is a female writer who was born in Mexico.

When you take a look around at the plays that are being presented on America’s stages, or if you examine the racial makeup of Hollywood’s TV writing rooms, you won’t find many Sarachos.

She might just be a minority of one.

“And that’s why I don’t care how I got in,” she said. “I just knew I needed an in — because we needed to be in the room.”

And once she got in the room, she stayed in, parlaying her success into jobs writing for HBO’s “Looking,” “Girls” and, now, ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder.”

Saracho is a native of Los Mochis, Mexico, and a Boston University alum who describes herself as “an Americanized, acculturated Mexican citizen with a green card.”

She was hired by “Looking” because she would be a Latina on an otherwise all-male writing staff. While there, she received news of her unexpected commission to write a new play for the DCPA. “This is the way the commissioning process works at the Denver Center,” Saracho said. “You get this amazing email that says, ‘Tell us what you are interested in writing because we want to support you with some money.’ Let me tell you, that is the best kind of email you will ever get.”

Saracho was interested in writing about Mexican women in Hollywood, namely Lupe Vélez, the first crossover star of the 1920s. But Saracho eventually settled on another Mexican woman in Hollywood — herself. She started writing her own story, which evolved into FADE, currently premiering at The Ricketson Theatre.

“My play is about a first-time TV writer named Lucia who works on an LA-based network show and she doesn’t know what she is doing,” Saracho said. “The only other Latino she ever runs into at the film studio is the janitor, who is a third-generation American Chicano. The play is really about the conversations they have after hours.”

Sound familiar?

— TANYA SARACHO, PLAYWRIGHT

“Yes, I was inspired by the setting while I was literally writing this play at the studio,” she said. “I did develop a friendship with the custodian. I was even going to go on strike with him. So it was very much inspired by that relationship. But then you fill it in with fiction…because I didn’t want to get sued!”

Theatre Company Producing Artistic Director Kent Thompson invited Saracho to workshop her first draft of FADE at last year’s Colorado New Play Summit.

The only problem? She arrived in Denver with only 49 pages — and no title.

No problem, Director of New Play Development Bruce K. Sevy told her.

“He said he wasn’t worried because he knew we were going to have a play by the end — and we did, because that attitude was there and that trust was there,” Saracho said.

Thompson calls Saracho “a funny, gifted, rising writer who is intensely aware of the layers and complexities in the Latino culture — and some of the fissures.”

In FADE, Lucia discovers that her custodian pal not only has a windfall of good plot ideas, he has a more credible understanding of the fictional star character than she does. When Lucia begins incorporating his insights into her scripts, Lucia’s professional stardom rises, but the friendship is compromised.

“This woman came to the studio to fight the system,” Saracho said, “but when she tastes some unexpected success, she realizes, ‘Hey, I am part of this now.

I am part of the problem that I came here to solve.’ ” While gender disparity in the American theatre has become a major topic of national conversation in recent months, Saracho has found Denver to be a fertile, nurturing oasis from all of that.

“The support of everyone here is really amazing because they are just trying to get your play born,” she said. “So it’s like everyone here is a midwife.”

The DCPA has made a major and ongoing commitment to female playwrights and directors through its Women’s Voices Fund (see pg. 36), which now tops $1 million and growing. Saracho hasn’t found that same kind of commitment to women anywhere else. That’s why she and 13 theatre friends created “The Kilroys” — an annual survey of more than 300 new-play leaders that identifies what they believe to be the 50 most promising new plays by female or transgender playwrights. The list couldn’t make it any easier for artistic directors to find and slot new plays by women.

“It was simple but monumental, and I think it’s made the right kinds of waves in the field,” Saracho said. “It’s affecting change that is tangible in many ways.

It’s serving to hang a lantern in a new kind of way to this ages-old problem of inequality on the American stage.”

As Saracho returns to Denver to celebrate the world premiere of FADE, this woman of many words struggles to find the right one to illustrate her fondness for the Denver Center.

“I don’t know how to describe the essence of this place,” she said. “Nurturing is not the right word. I wish I had a better word than that, because nurturing is not enough.”

FADE FEB 5 – MAR 13 • RICKETSON THEATRE ASL interpreted & Audio described performance: Mar 6, 1:30pm Tickets: 303.893.4100 • denvercenter.org • Groups: 303.446.4829

Tom Hagerman, Shawn King, Nick Urata, Jeanie Schroder.

Photo courtesy of DeVotchKa.

“ The support of everyone here is really amazing because they are just trying to get your play born. So it’s like everyone here is a midwife.”

COMING UP FROM THEATRE COMPANY:

SWEENEY TODD DeVotchKa frontman Nick Urata promises Sweeney Todd (playing The Stage Theatre Apr 8 – May 15) will be “loud and proud” once he puts Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece through the Grammy-nominated local band’s sousaphone.

“And hopefully we will sneak some rock ’n’ roll elements in there, too,” Urata told Applause.

This unprecedented programming departure for the Theatre Company calls for members of DeVotchka to play in the orchestra pit every night, with up to five additional musicians.

DeVotchKa’s music comes with a meat-pie flavor all its own. The bass, tuba, trumpet, accordion, violin and percussion all mix together for a Latin and Slavic aural amalgam that is often described as “mariachi polka punk.”

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

Urata had only one demand.

“We all want to have our throats slit, during the show,” he said.

Read the full interview with Nick Urata at denvercenter.org/news-center

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A PROUD SPONSOR OF DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

DENVER’S HEALTHY AND ACTIVE STAYCATION

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From sleeping well in the Westin Heavenly Bed, to eating well with the new SuperfoodsRX in-room menu, to moving well with the Westin Run Concierge, as well as the renovated WestinWORKOUT Fitness Studio and the New Balance gear lending program, the Westin Denver Downtown keeps you active and healthy, even when you are on vacation.

The hotel also is turning its best-kept secret into your best-kept secret: the fourth-floor pool deck with magnificent views of the 16th Street Mall, Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Larimer Square and the entire Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. One of the most spectacular event spaces in Denver, the pool deck hosts evening special events for up to 300 guests.

Thirty years ago, the Westin Denver Downtown opened with a gala that raised funds and friends for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). After three decades, support of the arts and the DCPA remains a priority for the Westin and its guests and employees.

The Westin hotel offers special room rates for performing arts organizations that appear on stage in the performing arts complex, including the DCPA, Colorado Ballet and Opera Colorado. The hotel also is a longtime supporter of Saturday Night Alive, the DCPA’s largest fundraiser that annually raises more than $900,000 to benefit youth education and outreach for more than 80,000 Colorado students.

Thank you for supporting performing arts in Colorado. Together with the DCPA, we hope you will leave feeling better than when you arrived.

The Westin Denver Downtown 1672 Lawrence Street Denver, CO 80202 Reservations: 888-627-8435 www.westindenverdowntown.com

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THE NEST

Illustration by Kyle Malone

THERESA REBECK WIELDS A POINTED PEN

BY JOHN MOORE

C

Celebrated playwright Theresa Rebeck has a soft spot for bar plays. Her newest world premiere, a commissioned work for the DCPA Theatre Company, is a bar play called The Nest. That’s the name of a neighborhood watering hole on its last legs. “But it’s got very beautiful bones inside it,” she says.

The bar is from another time. Its neighborhood is changing and its regulars have dwindled to an anachronistic few. And now the owner has been approached by outside forces to sell. “It’s really about the architecture of our communities and how they are being razed in favor of a much more impersonal and corporate reality,” she said.

That Rebeck has a soft spot for anything might come as a surprise to audiences who gasped through her last Denver Center world premiere back in 2008. Rebeck’s Our House was an angry, cutting satire about the corrosion of journalism and the simultaneous rise of reality TV. It skewered random targets such as media mergers, the gun culture and more…with a slowly expanding pool of blood covering the stage floor. The play was a piece of inspired fury.

Rebeck proudly called Our House “intentionally messy” back in 2008. And eight years later, she summoned the very same expression to describe The Nest.

“I feel like the mandate of any play that takes place in a bar is that it should ramble a bit,” she said with a laugh.

“I think it needs to be a little humanly reckless.”

Rebeck is known for writing uncommonly topical plays that turn a mirror on the contradictions and aggravations of everyday contemporary life. And like most regulars at any given favored watering hole, Rebeck is nothing if not

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refreshingly outspoken. Let her loose in a fictional bar populated by small-town regulars, then add booze, and you open Rebeck’s pointed pen as wide as a whiskey spout for just about any topic she wants.

When drinking at The Nest, no conversation is off limits.

The same holds true when talking with Rebeck. Rebeck doesn’t want you to love her plays. She wants you to listen to what they have to say.

Visitors to the DCPA’s annual Colorado New Play Summit got a sneak peek at The Nest last February. The Summit introduces four evolving scripts each year, and at least two are then selected for full production the next mainstage season. Last year, that was The Nest and Tanya Saracho’s FADE (see pg. 24).

Rebeck looks at the DCPA Theatre Company’s comprehensive new play development program, headed

by Producing Artistic Director Kent Thompson, Director of New Play Development Bruce K. Sevy and Dramaturg Douglas Langworthy, as a national model. Last year, development time at the Summit was expanded to two weeks. Rebeck found the extra time to be invaluable for The Nest, and not only because her play underwent two name changes.

“Going into the Summit, I just had a feeling the play was too tidy and that what I needed was to explode it a little bit,” she said. “And yes, I exploded it.”

Thompson also cofounded the DCPA’s Women’s Voices Fund, a $1 million endowment that specifically supports new plays by women and the hiring of female directors.

The fund (see pg. 36) has allowed the Theatre Company to produce 26 plays by women, commission 16 female playwrights and hire 20 female directors since 2006.

“Kent Thompson absolutely walks the walk,” Rebeck said. “Those three guys have a very delicate touch and an enormous respect for all of the artists they invite here. I love it here. I feel very safe.”

The issue of gender disparity in the American theatre has grown like a national drumbeat in recent months. According to a recent sampling, just 22 percent of all plays produced on American stages between 2011 – 2014 were written by women, even though women generally average up to 61 percent of the theatregoing audience.

But this is a conversation Rebeck has been leading her entire adult life. And frankly, she’s happy to pass the mic. “I am encouraged because I don’t have to be at the center of it anymore,” said Rebeck, who created The Lilly Awards with Marsha Norman and Julia Jordan in 2010 as a way to call attention to the work of women in the American theatre.

“I strongly feel like going to the theatre should always be a lesson in empathy,” she said. “It is something that creates community that can potentially bring us all into the same understanding of our shared humanity.

And I think that’s what The Nest is ultimately about. So I cannot wait until we are working in a post-gender universe.”

That’s why she was happy to hear the following anecdote from last year’s Summit. At the end of a public reading of The Nest, a man turned to his companion and said, “I never would have guessed that was written by a woman.” Rebeck, after all, has been compared to blistering peers such as David Mamet and Neil LaBute. Rebeck, ironically, considers herself to be “absurdly and almost incoherently optimistic.”

But she took the gender comparison to be compliment, she said, “because I think that has to be a person who thinks of women in a certain way, and now he has come to understand that what he thinks about women is not necessarily accurate.

“So I think that’s really good.”

THE NEST JAN 22 – FEB 21 • SPACE THEATRE ASL interpreted & Audio described performance: Jan 31, 1:30pm Tickets: 303.893.4100 • denvercenter.org • Groups: 303.446.4829

“ I strongly feel like going to the theatre should always be a lesson in empathy. It is something that creates community that can potentially bring us all into the same understanding of our shared humanity.”

FIND YOUR VOICE Enjoy a creative learning experience: acting, improv, on-camera and more.

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— THERESA REBECK, PLAYWRIGHT

29

OUR KILLER SEASON IS WELL UNDERWAY...

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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 Anson Nicholson..............................Sound Engineer, 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...................................................................Engineer Dwight Barela......................................................................Engineer Quentin Crump...............................................Security Specialist Clint Flinchpaugh...............................................................Engineer Caitlin Glasgo................................................ Events Coordinator Stori Heleen.................................Event Technology Specialist Michael Kimbrough...........................................................Engineer Jaymes Kimbrough..................Event Technology Specialist Clint King.........................................................Security Supervisor Terry Koch...................................................Director, Engineering John Lower.............................................................. Chief Engineer Brian McClain............................................. Custodial Supervisor Tara Miller, Danielle Porter, Brittany Schoede............................................... Events Manager Brook Nichols................................Director, Event Technology Alyssa Stock....................................Assistant Project 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............................. Strategic Partnerships 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 Micah White..............................................Subscription Manager Malcolm Brown, William Dutton III, Kevin Dykstra, 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, Edmund Gurule, Roger Haak, Rebecca Hibbert, Joel Innes, Alex Jannen, Noah Jungferman, Megan Kelly, Alia Kempton, Michael Lang, Daniel Lindsey, Brett Martinez, Shane Rodriguez, Juan Carlos Sánchez, Hayley Solano, Alec Sydlow, 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 Accounting Sara Brandenburg.........................................Senior Accountant Michaele Davidson.......................................Senior Accountant 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...............................................................Artistic Intern 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, Randall Lum, Lyle Raper, 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, Jackie Scott............................................................................Drapers Cathie Gagnon.................................................................First Hand Sheila P. Morris........................................................................... Tailor Kelly Jones, Jenny Milne-Wright, Beth Walker...... Stitchers Costume Crafts Kevin Copenhaver............................Costume Crafts Director 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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“Most beautiful production I’ve ever seen in my life...”

— Ray Williams, former Managing Director, Medfield Corporation

“I feel like I have been to heaven and back...”

— Deirdre Denise McClain, dancer and dance teacher

Experience a Divine Culture A GRAND PRODUCTION TAKES YOU ON AN UNFORGETTABLE ADVENTURE

“There is nothing beyond this...”

— Jim Crill, Producer

“Absolutely the NO.1 SHOW in the world...”

— Kenn Wells, former lead dancer of the English National Ballet

I

N ANCIENT TIMES, China was known as the Land of the Divine. Everyone, from the emperors to the common people, believed that their culture was a divine gift. They lived in harmony with the universe and saw a connection among all things. And authentic Chinese culture carried these principles for thousands of years—until it was lost.

We now invite you to visit this lost civilization. To make the journey possible, we had to push the boundaries of performing arts. We combine ancient dance with technological innovations, and historically authentic costumes with breathtaking animated backdrops. We let classical Chinese dance do the storytelling, and share with you the beautifully diverse worlds of ethnic and folk traditions. Filled with an enchanting orchestral sound, this is a stunning visual and emotional experience you won’t find anywhere else.

SOLD-OUT SHOWS 2013–2015!

SECURE YOUR BEST SEATS TODAY! ALL-NEW 2016 SHOW | WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA

March 4–6 The Buell Theatre

Perfect Holiday Gift

www.ShenYun.com/Denver 1-888-316-4234

WOMEN’S VOICES FUND $1 MILLION IN 1 DECADE

I

In 2005, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) launched a first-of-its kind initiative. The Women’s Voices Fund is an endowment designed to foster and further the work of women in theatre. At that time, roughly 82 percent of all plays produced in America were written by men.

At that point in its 26-year history, only 17 of the DCPA Theatre Company’s 220 productions were by a woman, which was reflective of theatre nationwide. In fact, between 1918 and 2005, only 11 out of 75 plays to be recognized with the Pulitzer Prize for Drama were by women.

So Producing Artistic Director Kent Thompson set out to change the course of theatre in Denver if not the US. “The United States has a rich history of brilliant women writers,” said Thompson, “but female playwrights have long been neglected on the American stage. Today much of the most exciting, innovative and imaginative writing for the theatre is being created by women.”

Fast forward to 2015 and the endowment now exceeds $1 million, making it not only the first but the largest endowment fund dedicated to plays by women.

“We believe this kind of investment over time will both create opportunities for some of America’s most exciting artists and lead to the creation of the theatrical classics of tomorrow,” Thompson continued.

But raising money is just the beginning. The funds have been put to good and regular use. Since its inception, DCPA Theatre Company has been able to:

“ Today much of the most exciting, innovative and imaginative writing for the theatre is being created by women.”

• Commission 15 female playwrights

— KENT THOMPSON,

• Produce 10 world premieres

DCPA THEATRE COMPANY

• Hire 17 women to direct 24 plays and readings

PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

“There is nothing like this anywhere in America,” said Theatre Company commissioned playwright Michele Lowe (Inana and Map of Heaven). “There is nothing like this anywhere in the world. The Women’s Voices Fund is a miracle, a living breathing American theatre miracle.”

Director Wendy C. Goldberg (The Clean House, Living Out, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Third and Two Things You Don’t Talk About At Dinner) echoed this sentiment: “Creating funding for the development and production of new work is a constant struggle…this unique fund makes it possible to support the most gifted storytellers of our time.”

Contributors to the endowment fund are invited to the annual Women with Hattitude luncheon (May 5), the Colorado New Play Summit and conversations with Kent Thompson as well as to meet playwrights, actors and directors. Gifts of any amount are welcome and may be made online at www.denvercenter.org/wvf or by calling 303.572.4593. Your support will give momentum to the new voices shaping American theatre today.

36

Adrienne Campbell-Holt, director of The Nest

denvercenter.org

Women’s Voices Fund contributors meet playwright Theresa Rebeck.

Photos by John Moore.

2015/16 WOMEN’S VOICES FUND SUPPORTERS LIFETIME MEMBERS

Lifetime membership of $5,000 Geary & Andy Anderson The Anschutz Foundation Lee & Sheri Archer Russell & Carol Atha Philip & Ursula Awad Maureen Barker Fran Berlin Dr. & Mrs. Barry Berlin Marty & Gail Berliner Barbara Boyer Barbara Bridges Dr. Dina Brudenell & Mr. Edward Altman Diane Bryant Joy Burns Merle C. Chambers & Hugh S. Grant James & Jan Chase Isabelle Clark Robert & Elaine Collins Suzanne Collins Jill Irvine Crow Katie Cymbala Lisa Daniel-Johnson Gully Stanford & Dorothy Denny Pam & David Duke Jerry & Charleen Dunn Sharon Dwinnell Dianne Eddolls Anita Edwards Natley Farris Bobbie Farris Lois Felt Heather Fitzgerald Jack Fitzgibbons & Adrienne Ruston Fitzgibbons Dr. Marilyn Flachman & Mr. Wilbur Flachman

Nancy Follett Alan & Katie Fox Victoria Frank Margot & Allan Frank John & Jeannie Fuller Dr. Lynn M. Gangone Alan & Sally Gass Mr. & Mrs. Peter Gregory/ Gregory Family Fund Rod Greiner Celeste Grynberg Terry & Noel Hefty Robert & Laura Hill Robert & Elizabeth Holt Tom & Dianne Honig Denise Horton Jeff Hovorka & Thad Valdez Chris & Tara Hume Mr. Walter Imhoff Gregg Jackson & Patricia Wooster-Jackson Michael A. Karmil Leo & Susan Kiely Jeremy Kinney & Holly Arnold Kinney Mike & Diana Kinsey Elizabeth Kirkpatrick Karolynn Lestrud Dr. & Mrs. Stanley L. Loftness Dr. Kathryn G. Maes & Mr. Lee Maes Charles & Judy McNeil Mike Meisinger Carol Mielke Vicky Miles Shellie Munn Bob & Judi Newman Peggy & Dick Notebaert Paul & Nancy Oberman Bob Grabowski & Ann Padilla Debra Perry & Jeff Baldwin Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp

Frank & Linda Plaut Jane Prancan Jane Quinette Fran Quinlan Elizabeth Rave William & Mary Carol Riaski Tina Risch Walter S. Rosenberry, III Charitable Trust Molly Ross Carol Ann Rothman Peggy Rottner Dutchess Scheitler Donald R. Seawell Dr. Barbara Shannon-Banister & Mr. Guardie Banister Alison Shetter Ruth Silver Bob & Carole Slosky Jim & Lori Steinberg Peter & Janet Swinburn Bea Taplin James & Kate Taucher Sandy Tenenbaum Kent Thompson & Kathleen McCall June Travis Leslie Tweed King Andrea Warner Randy Weeks Carol E. Wolf Marvin and Judi Wolf Christine Yaros

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS Annual membership of $300 Andrea Nicole Ackerman Jamie Angelich Martha Bennett Murri Bishop Maureen Regan Cannon

Joy Dinsdale James and FloraJane DiRienzo Louise Douglass Brianna Firestone Trish Green Julie Gunlikson Ann Hinkins-Steiner Don Johnson & Arlene Mohler Johnson Laura Nachbur Bonnie Neiheisel Dr. Alexis Parker Marc & Margot Pinto Toby Pippin Glenda Rainold Kerry Shiller Marlene Siegel Dean & Adrienne Singleton Cynthia Treadwell Rachel Williams Deborah Woodward

CONTRIBUTIONS AT OTHER LEVELS Alires Almon Jessica Balun Sara Boyd Sue Bruner Megan Calvert David & Jody Charmatz Keri Christiansen Freda Clayborn Marla Corwin Ann DeGroat Allison Dopler Greta Dunn Ms. Jacalyn Durkin-Miller Violet Edwards Deborah Ford Bernice Foster Linda Gibson

Angela Gourden Kathryn Hale Susan Helmer Hon. Robert Fullerton & Beverlee Henry Fullerton Georgia Higgins Angela Hill Mia Hofmann Ashley Hofwolt Jill Jordan Margaret Kelly Joby Koren Lois MacPhee Carol & DirkMcDermott Beatrice Montoya Veronica Montoya Kathy Nesbitt Jane Netzorg Jackie Nordstrom Eileen O’Brien Verna Orsatti Mary Katherine Pagels Delores Pardner Nicole Reinan Wendy Ritter Vada Robinson Marion Smith Debbie Smith Alyssa Stock Susan VanNess Natisha Walton Stephanie Welsh Shirley Whitaker Elizabeth Wiersma Irma Wilborn Suzanne Yoe

Donations can be made all year long. Please contact Megan Fevurly at 303.572.4593 for more information.

WEAR A HAT THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES. 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

MARGOT & ALLAN

FRANK

HILJA K.

HERFURTH

Photo credit: KelliePhoto.com

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DENVERCENTER.ORG • 303.572.4466 DIRECTORS ROOM • SEAWELL GRAND BALLROOM

A MEDLEY OF CROSSWORD TRIVIALITY

Dirty Dancing, The Wizard of Oz, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, All the Way, The Nest and FADE

ACROSS

2 FADE playwright writes for TV’s “How to Get Away with _______” 6 LBJ’s wife (two words) 7 TV’s “_______ Maids” was another Tanya Saracho writing gig 10 Country where Tanya Saracho was born 11 The B in LBJ 13 Theresa Rebeck’s _______ Awards honor women in the American theatre 14 Theresa Rebeck play recently staged by Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company 16 He sang and co-wrote Dirty Dancing’s “She’s Like The Wind” with Stacy Widelitz

DOWN

1 This new version of The Wizard of Oz features new songs by Rice and _______ 3 Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey also appeared in this film (two words) 4 He played LBJ on Broadway 5 Theresa Rebeck’s Our _______ was a 2008 DCPA Theatre Company world premiere 7 In Gentleman’s Guide, the jungle natives have but six words — all of them different words for _______ 8 For the movie, the part of The Wizard was originally written for W.C. _______ 9 Dirty Dancing’s resort dance instructor Johnny _______

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

12 For the movie, The Tin Man cried chocolate _______ 13 “So I’ll tell you something. This could be _______” 15 This Tony Award winner originated the role of “The D’ysquith Family” on Broadway

38

denvercenter.org

Sierra Boggess

february Inside The Score: Holst The Planets FEB 5 T FRI 7:30

march INSIDE THE SCORE

Christopher Dragon, conductor

Shakespeare Festival: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

FEB 6 T SAT 2:30

Sierra Boggess In Concert

Inside the Score: Shakespeare Festival: Colorado Symphony Chorus

F A M I LY

Christopher Dragon, conductor Denver Young Artists Orchestra

FEB 13-14 T SAT 7:30 T SUN 1:00

POPS

Andres Lopera, conductor Sierra Boggess, vocals Colorado Children’s Chorale, Deborah DeSantis, artistic director

Mahler Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” FEB 19-20 T FRI-SAT 7:30

MASTERWORKS

FEB 27 T SAT 7:30 Andrew Litton, conductor Aleksey Igudesman, violin Hyung-ki Joo, piano

SPECIAL

INSIDE THE SCORE

MAR 11 T FRI 7:30

SPECIAL

Christopher Dragon, conductor Colorado Symphony Chorus, Duain Wolfe, director VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Serenade to Music BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story TCHAIKOVSKY excerpts from Romeo and Juliet PROKOFIEV excerpts from Romeo and Juliet ROTA Love Theme from “Romeo and Juliet”

INSIDE THE SCORE

APR 8 T FRI 7:30

POPS

Andres Lopera, conductor Colorado Symphony Chorus, Mary Louise Burke, associate director

APR 15-17 T FRI-SAT 7:30 T SUN 1:00

F A M I LY

MASTERWORKS

Jeffrey Kahane, conductor/piano Gabriel Kahane, vocals/guitar BERNSTEIN Fancy Free GABRIEL KAHANE Crane Palimpsest GERSHWIN Concerto in F

Colorado Symphony Ball APR 23 T SAT 6:00

Andres Lopera, conductor SAINT-SAËNS Carnival of the Animals POULENC The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant

Shakespeare Festival: Romeo and Juliet

Inside The Score: An Evening of Chamber Music

Jeffrey and Gabriel Kahane

Christopher Dragon, conductor Wonderbound TCHAIKOVSKY excerpts from Sleeping Beauty TCHAIKOVSKY excerpts from Swan Lake TCHAIKOVSKY Serenade for Strings

Carnival of the Animals and The Story of Babar

Please join us for family-friendly pre-concert activities in Gallery 2.

MASTERWORKS

A Symphonic Tribute to Mel Brooks

MAR 12 T SAT 7:30

MAR 13 T SUN 1:00

Half Notes

APR 1-2 T FRI-SAT 7:30

APR 9 T SAT 7:30

An Evening with Wonderbound

MAR 18-20 T FRI-SAT 7:30 T SUN 1:00

Béla Fleck: Return of the Banjo Jose Luis Gomez, conductor Béla Fleck, banjo JOHN ADAMS The Chairman Dances VILLA-LOBOS Chôros No. 6 BÉLA FLECK Concerto for Banjo and Orchestra No. 2

Duain Wolfe, conductor Colorado Symphony Chorus, Duain Wolfe, director

Andrew Litton, conductor Colorado Symphony Chorus, Duain Wolfe, director MAHLER Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”

Igudesman and Joo: “BIG Nightmare Music”

MASTERWORKS

MAR 4-5 T FRI-SAT 7:30

Hans Graf, conductor Maureen Thomas, actor Colorado Children’s Chorale, Deborah DeSantis, artistic director TCHAIKOVSKY The Tempest, Fantasy-Overture MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Side-By-Side with DYAO: 100 Year Celebration of the U.S. National Parks

april

FUNDRAISER

MASTERWORKS

tickets

coloradosymphony.org T 303.623.7876

box office mon-fri 10 am-6 pm :: sat 12 pm-6 pm student tickets: $10 at the door with valid student i.d. $12 in advance - call for details

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