Applause -- Cowboys and East Indians, January 16-March 1, 2026

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EDITOR: Suzanne Yoe DESIGN DIRECTOR: Kyle Malone DESIGNER: Paul Koob CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS: Lucas Kreitler, Kyle Malone CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Misha Berson, Lisa Bornstein, Lisa Kennedy, Madison Stout, Collin Van Son

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Welcome to the theatre!

This is one of the most engaging times of our year when we host the Colorado New Play Summit. Now in its 20th year, this festival features readings of four works in development plus full productions of two world premieres. Over February 14 and 15, theatre aficionados will enjoy:

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Readings: Lemuria by Bonnie Antosh, Influent by Isaac Gómez, You Should Be So Lucky by Alyssa Haddad-Chin, and The Myth of the Two Marcos by Tony Meneses

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World Premieres: Godspeed by Terence Anthony and Cowboys and East Indians by Nina McConigley and Matthew Spangler Since its founding in 2005, the Summit has offered 95 readings, of which 47 have gone on to full production including The Book of Will, American Mariachi, and The Reservoir. These readings provide a pipeline of new works that contribute to the future of the American theatre.

Also on our stages are an all-new tour of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, the return of Mark Twain Tonight! featuring Richard Thomas in the iconic role, and the book-turnedmovie, Water for Elephants, brought to life through stunning puppetry and stage effects.

Your presence demonstrates a commitment to sustain this incredible artform. Similarly, Denver voters gave resounding approval for the Vibrant Denver Bond, enabling us to provide a safer, more welcoming theatre experience. Thank you for your ongoing support that makes this work possible.

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

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IN THIS ISSUE Mark Twain Tonight!.....................pg 11 Water for Elephants....................pg 14 The Music Man ...............................pg 17

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Cowboys and East Indians......pg 18 SIX .......................................................pg 20 4

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DRAMATIC LEARNING: WHERE CREATIVITY MEETS CURRICULUM By Madison Stout

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What if learning math felt like rehearsing a dance? What if science came alive through movement and storytelling? At the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, this isn’t hypothetical; it’s the foundation of Dramatic Learning, a program that integrates theatre into core subjects.

For nearly 30 years, the DCPA has partnered with Colorado educators to bring arts integration into classrooms, helping students become better learners and better humans. Whether it’s acting out the digestive system in a biology unit or using costume renderings to explore character development in literature, the program helps students connect with academic content through creativity, collaboration, and kinesthetic learning.

“All students deserve to feel seen in their learning,” says Allison Watrous, Executive Director of DCPA Education & Community Engagement. “Arts integration honors different learning styles and invites students to be agents in their own learning.”

Arts integration isn’t just about making learning fun; it’s about making it effective. In Denver classrooms, DCPA teaching artists collaborate with educators to co-teach lessons that align with state standards. From Shakespeare and stage combat to science-based improvisation, students experience learning with their minds and bodies.

And the results speak for themselves. The New Victory SPARK study, which tracked students over three years, found that performing arts education led to:

• 50% increase in creative thinking through improvisation exercises

• 55% growth in teamwork skills, with students choosing larger, more diverse teams

• 10% rise in hope for the future, compared to a 5% decline in the control group

• 20% greater interest in the performing arts, especially

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These findings reinforce what educators at the DCPA have known for a long time: the arts don’t just enrich education, they transform it.

Together, arts integration makes core curriculums more dynamic, memorable, and meaningful while equipping students with both academic mastery and 21st-century skills. It also improves academic performance. Students involved in arts programs show enhanced memory, focus, and literacy skills.

And perhaps most importantly, they’re more engaged. “When students are doing the work — creating, performing, reflecting — they’re not just learning facts,” Watrous says. “They’re learning how to think, feel, and connect.

“If you’re a teacher, or know one, who wants to bring creativity into the classroom, reach out,” Watrous encourages. “And if you have a young person in your life, take them to the theater. Go on an artist date.

Spark their imagination.”

To learn more about Dramatic Learning or bring it to your school, reach out to education@dcpa.org.

BECAUSE ARTS EDUCATION ISN’T EXTRA — IT’S ESSENTIAL.

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Through laughter, tears, and a thick fog of hairspray, these women face trials and triumphs armed with their greatest strength: each other.

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GODSPEED: A WESTERN REWRITTEN

BY L I S A K E N N E DY

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“I always loved westerns as a kid — the showdowns, the gunfights, all that,” playwright Terence Anthony said during a video conversation. His own contribution to the genre, Godspeed — a rousing saga about a formerly enslaved woman on a mission in post-Civil War Texas — is having its world premiere at the Denver Center Theatre Company.

In the popular imagination, the Western has made a home in the theater. The movie theater, that is.

After all, film captures the big sky we westerners dwell beneath. It depicts a vastness that humbles the heart but has also fueled ravenous ambitions. Cinema spent much of its first 100 years making manifest onscreen the designs of Manifest Destiny. Yet, in more recent decades it’s offered up revisions of those earlier stories — for good reason.

This is something the playwright gleaned over time. “At a certain point, I realized, ‘Oh wait a minute, why are all the Indians the bad guys all the time? What’s going on?’”

He began paying a different sort of attention.

Anthony reels off a few of his favorite westerns, including two that fall under the revisionist rubric and feature black actors with storylines: 1985’s Silverado with Danny Glover and Lynn Whitfield as siblings and homesteaders, and John Ford’s 1960 drama Sergeant Rutledge, about the eponymous army man (portrayed by Woody Strode) being tried for the sexual assault and murder of a white woman.

“The genre of the Western is just such an amazing vehicle for talking about all the things American. All the

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things that led to where we’re at today,” Anthony said, joined by the play’s director, Delicia Turner Sonnenberg.

“You can really trace back to how the west was ‘won,’ and the histories that were covered up. That a quarter or more cowboys were black, but we never saw that in books or films.”

The black quasi-cowboy protagonist of Anthony’s creation is actually a formerly enslaved woman named Anna who rechristened herself Godspeed. The play is set in Texas, shortly after the Civil War’s end. But it is no Juneteenth celebration. Texas is roiling. The once enslaved are unsure of where to go, how to begin negotiating their new lives: Is there a way to reset economically their relationship to their enslavers?

As for Godspeed, she has retribution in mind. For that dark if righteous payback, she totes a gun with one bullet.

Godspeed is one of the two plays getting its world premiere having had a well-received staged reading during the 2024 Colorado New Play Summit. (The other, Cowboys and East Indians, also wrestles with the ethos of the West.) Its settling in the Kilstrom is cause for applause but also curiosity. How does a genre so doggedly cinematic yield to the intimacy of the theater? Indeed, the script seems to call for cinematic gestures, like intertitles and maps charting Godspeed’s journey from Mexico up through Texas toward a reckoning. It’s easy to imagine the creative team defaulting to visual projections to nudge the storytelling. Cue Sonnenberg.

“Some of the vocabulary of the western — or just the West — is land and sky,” the director said. “I’ve been think-

APPLAUSE • JAN – FEB 2026 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

ing a lot about that. Because we’re in the round instead of a proscenium. All of our theatricality is old school theatricality because it’s just a floor and an audience all around. So, the things that are strong in the play have to be strong in the production, and that is the relationships between the people.”

Sonnenberg is the founder and former artistic director of MOXIE Theatre, a San Diego-based company focused on presenting works by Women+ creatives. “Delicia has told me she usually doesn’t do ‘boy plays,’ so I was very honored that she was interested,” Anthony recalled, smiling.

But then how many plays have a protagonist as ferocious and mysterious as Godspeed? “A person shows up, then we find out it’s a woman, then we find out that she’s changed her name from Anna to Godspeed, and she’s on a journey,” said Sonnenberg. “It grabbed me from the very first scene. And then there’s the dream sequence, right? And then we get a two-person scene and half of it’s in Spanish!” Sonnenberg said that last bit with a hint of marvel.

Because Anthony has paired his thorny hero with — well, in a different era, Peklai Cobos, might have been called “sidekick.” The play’s not having any of that. A Mexican woman of Coahuiltecan descent, she often gives Godspeed as good as she gets — answering, arguing, advising, always in untranslated Spanish. It’s a gesture that will please some and fluster others.

“I think theater is at its best when it’s subversive,” Sonnenberg said about the playwright’s choices. Not just his refusal to translate Peklai’s dialog but his interest in a period of American history in which post-Civil War opportunity was met with the rise of Jim Crow suppression and violence.

At a certain point, I realized, “Oh wait a minute, why are all the Indians the bad guys all the time? What’s going on?”

— TERENCE ANTHONY, PLAYWRIGHT

In navigating the facts and context of the era, the duo found a partner in dramaturg Arminda Thomas. “I am drawn to stories about Reconstruction, and this one is a Reconstruction story in an underexplored setting (South Texas), and with a larger scope than most of those stories, that looks back to the Middle Passage, the annexation of Texas, the Spanish conquest...there’s a lot to dig into!” she wrote in an email.

“Part of what drew me to the play is the ballsiness,” Sonnenberg says.

“I like swagger and it has it. There’s real muscularity in the writing. Like, ‘I’m gonna tell you a story and it’s gonna be good, and here we go!’”

Or, to borrow a phrase, “Giddy up!”

RICHARD THOMAS TAKES ON MARK TWAIN Best known for playing John-Boy Walton in “The Waltons,” Richard Thomas has enjoyed an award-winning career in TV, film, and stage appearing across the nation in Twelve Angry Men and To Kill a Mockingbird. Now — as the only actor authorized to perform Mark Twain Tonight! — he takes on the role of Samuel Clemens made famous by Hal Holbrook.

“When the estate reached out and told me they wanted to run this again and they thought Hal would probably be happy if I did it, I immediately said I would love to,” explained Thomas.

Mark Twain Tonight! offers more than one reflection of public life that will resonate with audiences today. While Holbrook performed the show for more than 50 years, assembling the play from a large cache of Twain’s writings, the material was made available to Thomas to develop his own spin on the piece.

“Actors are intrepid researchers, and Twain is just a bottomless well,” concluded Thomas. “You can just keep drawing good water from it without running dry. I’ve always loved him before in a more general-audience way, but this is giving me a great opportunity to go deep. And he’s a wonderful companion.

He has insights, he makes you laugh, and he makes you think.”

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GODSPEED

MARK TWAIN TONIGHT!

ASL Interpreted and Audio Described performance: Feb 8 at 1:30pm

Includes ASL Interpretation, Audio Description & Open Captioning

JAN 30 – FEB 22 • KILSTROM THEATRE Stay for a post-show discussion: Feb 10 & 17

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THE GEOMETRY OF SPECTACLE HOW WATER FOR ELEPHANTS UNLOCKS THE THIRD DIMENSION B Y C O L L I N VA N S O N

Connor Sullivan and the Cast of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade.

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Most musicals are two-dimensional. That’s not a put-down; it’s a spatial reality. Stages are two-dimensional surfaces, and the actors who travel them are typically limited to two degrees of freedom: they can move upstage or downstage, stage right or stage left. A notable exception is if the show in question also happens to be a circus. Then the actors are welcome to fly.

From the trapeze to the tightrope, Water for Elephants is emphatically three-dimensional. But accessing what circus designer and co-choreographer Shana Carroll calls “real estate in the air” isn’t just an artistic challenge — it’s also an engineering one.

“It’s a lot of geometry,” says Carroll, describing the network of pulleys, wires, and slings whose sheer complexity occasionally brought rehearsal to a screeching halt. Countless hours were spent troubleshooting and reconfiguring. “We did not make our lives easy,” Carroll admits. “We do things on the stage that are kind of crazy to do, rigging-wise.”

In addition to behind-the-scenes headaches, this complexity delivers some remarkable feats of showmanship. Carroll points to the moment when the cast raises the center pole of the Benzini Brothers’ circus tent; what would normally take 30 minutes of pre-show preparation, the cast accomplishes with real-time choreography.

Much like pitching a big top, choreographing Water for Elephants was a team effort. When Jesse Robb joined the project as a co-choreographer, it marked the start of a collaboration that he and Carroll fondly refer to as their “arranged marriage.”

The two soon found that their experiences working for Cirque du Soleil allowed them to develop a common movement language, one that evolves over the course of the show.

Robb describes the show’s early choreography as “very utilitarian,” a reflection of the intense physical labor that a circus requires of all its members. But as protagonist Jacob Jankowski begins to acclimate to life on the road, the choreography gradually takes on the unabashed spectacle of Depression-era circus. “You get a little bit further into act one,” says Robb, “and you’re looking at very Broadway-esque moments in [‘The Lion Has Got No Teeth’]. And then ‘The Grand Spec’ at the end of act one, the language is very much old-school presentational circus. So the choreographic language changes dramatically throughout the show.”

For Carroll, a former trapeze artist, this combination of 1930s old-school circus and modern-day artistry is a major part of the show’s appeal. As a veteran of several traditional circuses, she enjoys recalling her horseback entrances and the onstage poker games she played against an elephant.

“I love the artsy theatrical circus that I now do,” she says, “but I really have so much reverence for the roots... And marrying them — doing in a traditional context some of the newer contemporary language — is really satisfying for me, because I actually don’t like when it’s so delineated.”

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APPLAUSE • JAN – FEB 2026

The importance of unspoken physical language is a theme that Carroll and Robb return to frequently. And when building out such a language, it helps to have what Carroll calls “that little glossary in your head,” a way to find the right pairings of physical movement with an emotional moment.

Through the risks they entail and the images they create, different circus techniques lend themselves to different metaphors. Aerial taps into freedom and liberation. Ground acrobatics calls to mind community and interdependence. Three-high stacking evokes a sense of victory — or at least it always has to Carroll, who at one point in the process found herself needing to revise her personal glossary.

During the show’s development, director Jessica Stone wanted to employ three-high stacking to depict the practice of red-lighting, in which Benzini employees are hurled from a moving train when their services are no longer required. But to Carroll, the violence of red-lighting clashed with her understanding of the three-high stack as a victorious, uplifting image. Eventually, however, she came to realize that, “oh no, if we make it about danger and about the risk and the stakes, we can change that imagery.”

It’s a lot of geometry. We did not make our lives easy. We do things on the stage that are kind of crazy to do, rigging-wise.

— SHANA CARROLL, CO-CHOREOGRAPHER

This kind of collaboration, cross-pollination, and flexibility is nowhere more evident than in the show’s cast. Most circus performers are specialists in a particular discipline such as tumbling or juggling. But in the case of Water for Elephants, the show’s relatively small cast — there are only seven dedicated circus performers — means that versatility is at a premium. As a result, the artistic team was constantly on the lookout for what Carroll calls “unicorns,” performers who could not only soar on a trapeze but could juggle a knife and tumble as well.

While the Benzini Brothers are fictional, the most successful real-life circus of the 1930s — Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey — is still around today, preparing to kick off a new tour in 2026. For Robb, the enduring appeal of the circus has a simple and personal explanation: “I know my impetus [in becoming an artist] was wanting to run away to Cirque du Soleil when I was 20 years old, and it was the idea of finding a community of like-minded people.”

The way Carroll sees it, the power of circus comes back to mechanics.

“If five people are doing a trick and two people are throwing and one person’s catching, [you can’t ignore] the trust and the fact if one person doesn’t do their job, someone dies. It really is just the most profound way of showing interconnectivity and interdependence.”

NEXT UP FROM BROADWAY

HELL’S KITCHEN Alicia Keys’ Hell’s Kitchen (April 14-26) is not just a musical — it’s a love letter to New York City, adolescence, and the power of finding your voice. Loosely based on Keys’ own teenage years in Manhattan Plaza, the show pulses with the energy of 1990s Hell’s Kitchen, blending R&B, soul, and hip-hop into a theatrical experience that feels both personal and universal.

Critics have called the musical “a rousing delight” (Entertainment Weekly), “a glorious tapestry” (Variety), and “easily the best new musical at the Public since Hamilton” (TheaterMania). But Hell’s Kitchen isn’t just about accolades — it’s about connection. The story of a young woman navigating family, ambition, and identity resonates far beyond the streets of New York. Keys reimagines some of her most iconic songs — “Fallin’,” “Perfect Way to Die,” and “Girl on Fire” among many others — to serve as emotional anchors, offering audiences a fresh lens on familiar hits.

As the show travels the country, it brings with it a message that’s both timely and timeless: that music can be a lifeline, and that every city has its own rhythm worth listening to. Hell’s Kitchen is poised to inspire a new generation of theatergoers — one soulful note at a time.

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS FEB 11 – 22 • BUELL THEATRE

ASL Interpreted, Audio Described, and Open Captioned performance: Feb 22 at 1pm

Kennedy Caughell as “Jersey” and Maya Drake as “Ali” in the North American Tour of Hell’s Kitchen, the hit Broadway musical from Alicia Keys. Photo by Marc J Franklin.

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P R E S E N T E D B Y M A R Y E L L E N & DAV I D W R I G H T

JA N. 30 – F E B. 8, 2026

M ARCH 6 – 15, 2026

AL L P ER F OR MANCE S AT THE EL L IE CAUL KINS O PER A H OU SE W I TH LI V E MU S I C FE ATU R I N G THE C OLOR A D O BA L L ET ORC H EST R A

T I C K E T S A T C O L O R A D O B A L L E T. O R G P H OTO S: JENNI F ER G R AC E, LIAM HO GAN , J ESSICA PAYN E, & PAT RICK MIHM B Y R ACHEL N EVILLE

presents

COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS Nina McConigley WRITTEN BY Nina McConigley AND Matthew Spangler BASED ON THE SHORT STORY COLLECTION BY

WITH Sadithi De Zilva, Minita Gandhi, Shawn K. Jain, Christopher Kelly, Shannan Steele STAGE MANAGERS: Elizabeth Ann Goodman, Harper Hadley SCENIC DESIGN BY Chika Shimizu

COSTUME DESIGN BY Meghan Anderson Doyle

LIGHTING DESIGN BY Amith Chandrashaker

ORIGINAL MUSIC AND SOUND DESIGN BY Lindsay Jones

DRAMATURGY BY Leean Kim Torske

PSYCHODRAMATURGY BY Barbara Hort, PhD

VOICE AND DIALECT BY Pavithra Prasad

CASTING BY Grady Soapes, CSA

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT BY Matthew Campbell

DIRECTED BY

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

THE SINGLETON THEATRE • JAN 16 – MAR 1, 2026 Originally produced and featured in the 2024 Colorado New Play Summit at the Denver Center Theatre Company, Chris Coleman, Artistic Director.

Cowboys and East Indians was developed with a commission from the Denver Center Theatre Company, with special support by Enid and Mike Seiden.

PREMIERE SPONSOR

SPOTLIGHT SPONSORS

SEASON SPONSORS

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT

Supported in part by the DCPA’s Women’s Voices Fund | Recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award

COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS

Chris Coleman, Artistic Director Charles Varin, Managing Director

COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS

CAST

(In order of appearance)

Lakshmi “Lucky” Sen............................................................................................................................................... Sadithi De Zilva Rajah Sen...........................................................................................................................................................................Shawn K. Jain Chitra Sen.......................................................................................................................................................................... Minita Gandhi Richard Larson.........................................................................................................................................................Christopher Kelly Nancy Larson...............................................................................................................................................................Shannan Steele SETTING Wyoming COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS will be performed without an intermission.

Stage Manager........................................................................................................................................ Elizabeth Ann Goodman Assistant Stage Manager..........................................................................................................................................Harper Hadley Stage Management Apprentice......................................................................................................................... Hannah Iverson The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers of the United States.

WHO’S WHO ACTING COMPANY (In order of appearance) SADITHI DE ZILVA (Lakshmi “Lucky” Sen) (She/Her). New York credits include: Let’s Talk About Anything Else (The Flea Theater), Vermont (The Wild Project), and We Go East (The Tank). Her short Just One More Thing, which she wrote and produced through her company Scrappack Productions, was an official selection of the New York Short Comedy Film Festival. She also produced Cat Funeral, an official selection of The Big Apple Film Festival. Special Awards/Training: BFA with Honors, Pace University; Hong Kong Youth Theatre Awards; LAMDA Recipient.

SHAWN K. JAIN (Rajah Sen) is thrilled to return to DCPA to work on Cowboys and East Indians. Favorite theatre credits include: Pericles (Target Margin), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Mile Square Theatre), 2nd Murderer (The Flea), Heartland (New Repertory Theater), Clue (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), 12 Chairs (The O’Neill),

Hamlet (Gloucester Stage), Assistance (American Repertory Theater), Guards at the Taj (SoHo Shakes), Our Town (Nebraska Repertory Theatre).

TV/film: “For All Mankind,” “Law & Order,” “WeCrashed,” “FBI: Most Wanted,” “Billions,” “Girls5eva,” “Gossip Girl.” Narrator of over 120 audiobooks. Training: MFA, Harvard. @shawnjain on IG. MINITA GANDHI (Chitra Sen) (She/ They) is thrilled to return to DCPA with Cowboys and East Indians. Regional Theatre: Arabian Nights (Lookinglass Theatre, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Indiana Repertory Theatre), The Voysey Inheritance (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre), The Lake Effect (Silk Road Rising), Muthaland (PCPA, 16th Street Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, toured nationally), Around the World in 80 Days (Theatreworks), The Who and the What (Victory Gardens Theatre).

Minita has been seen in over 30 plays at 20 regional theatres. TV/Film: “Deli Boys,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Chicago Fire,” “Swimming with Sharks,” “St. Denis Medical,” Redux Redux, and Deathwish. Training: Member of the Kilroys/ PCPA, Blackbox (Meisner). Representation: Limitless Management, Gray Talent Group, SBV. Member of the Kilroys.

CHRISTOPHER KELLY (Richard Larson) has performed in Tony Award-winning theaters across the US including: Public Theater (New York), Denver Center, Actors Theater of Louisville, Cleveland Play House, Shakespeare Theater Co., among others. He’s originated roles in multiple world premieres including Grace and the Art of Climbing, Pierre, and House on Fire and has appeared in acclaimed productions of Pericles, An Inspector Calls, The Cripple of Inishmaan, In the Next Room, Marisol, Born Yesterday, Noises Off, Cymbeline, and Mrs. President (Edinburgh International Festival). TV/ Film: “The Blacklist,” “Succession,” “The Path,” “Damages,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” and Jules. Training: MFA, NYU. SHANNAN STEELE (Nancy Larson) (She/Her). At the DCPA: Hamlet, Sweeney Todd, A Christmas Carol, Animal Crackers, My Way, The Taffetas, The Last Five Years, and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Regional credits: Noises Off (Belinda Blair), Into the Woods (Baker’s Wife), Mamma Mia (Donna Sheridan), Tarzan (Kala), and The

PLAYWRIGHTS NINA MCCONIGLEY is the author of Cowboys and East Indians (Viking) and How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder (Pantheon). Cowboys and East Indians was the winner of the PEN Open Book Award and High Plains Book Award. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Orion, O, Oprah Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review, American Short Fiction, and Ploughshares, among others. In 2019-2020, she was the Walter Jackson Bate fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Creative Writing Fellowship. She teaches at Colorado State University.

MATTHEW SPANGLER. The Kite Runner from Khaled Hosseini’s novel (Broadway, West End, US and UK tours); The Beekeeper of Aleppo co-written with Nesrin Alrefaai, from Christy Lefteri’s novel (UK tour); Operation Ajax co-written with Farshad Farahat; Tortilla Curtain from T.C. Boyle’s novel (San Diego Rep); Albatross co-written with Benjamin Evett (off-Broadway); Striking Back co-written with Kellie Hughes, from Mary Manning and Sinead O’Brien’s memoir (Dublin Theatre Festival); Forgotten Empress co-written with Farah Yasmeen Shaikh (Z Space, San Francisco). Matthew is Professor of Performance Studies at San José State University, California, and Writer in Residence at the Hinterland Festival, Ireland.

DIRECTOR CHRIS COLEMAN is passionate about the connection between stories and community. He joined the DCPA Theatre Company as Artistic Director in November of 2017 and has directed Little Shop of Horrors, Rubicon, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hamlet, A Little Night Music, Hotter Than Egypt, Much Ado About Nothing, Rattlesnake Kate, Twelfth Night, A Doll’s House, Anna Karenina, and Oklahoma!. Previously, Chris served as Artistic Director for Portland Center Stage in Oregon for 18 years. Under his leadership, PCS renovated the city’s historic Armory into a new home, saw annual attendance nearly double, workshopped

52 new plays that went on to productions at over 100 theaters around the US and UK, and became a national leader in how theaters engage with their community.

In 1988, Chris founded Actor’s Express in Atlanta (in the basement of an old church), a company that continues to be a cultural force in the Southeast today. He has directed at major theaters across the country, including Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Alliance Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, ACT/Seattle, the Asolo, Pittsburgh Public, 59E59, and New York Theater Workshop. He and his husband, actor/ writer Rodney Hicks, live in Reunion.

Since moving to Colorado, he has hiked Dominguez Canyon, wandered the Cliff Dwellings of Mesa Verde, explored a working mine in Creede, and rafted down the Arkansas River.

CREATIVE TEAM MATTHEW CAMPBELL (Production Manager) is grateful and honored to support, collaborate, and work with our brilliant and outstanding production team, shops, crews, artisans and guest artists to create extraordinary theatre. Previously a stage manager at a few stops in the mid-west as well as numerous Colorado theatres and Assistant Professor of Theatre at Brooklyn College in New York. Joined the DCPA stage management team in 2010 and after several years moved over to the production management team. Every show along the way is a favorite, but some DCPA and OffCenter highlights have been Sweet & Lucky, The 12, Lord of the Flies, Animal Crackers, Frankenstein, The Book of Will, Rattlesnake Kate, and The Chinese Lady.

AMITH CHANDRASHAKER (Lighting Designer). Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic (Tony nomination), Merrily We Roll Along, and Purpose. Off-Broadway: The Public, Playwrights Horizons, NYTW, The Atlantic, and The Signature.

Regional: Second Stage, Manhattan Theater Club, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, The Geffen, and The Huntington. Opera: The Glimmerglass Festival, Houston Grand Opera, and Washington National Opera. Dance: Staatstheater Nuremberg, The Lyon Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet of New Zealand, The Joyce, and The National Dance Company of Wales.

Awards: Drama Desks, Lortel, and Henry Hewes; Trustee for United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE;

MFA, NYU Tisch and faculty at The University of Maryland.

MEGHAN ANDERSON DOYLE (Costume Designer) (She/Her). At the DCPA: (30+ productions/19 seasons) with the DCPA. Select credits: Sweet & Lucky: Echo, Hamlet, Rubicon, The Chinese Lady, A Doll’s House, A Doll’s House, Part II, American Mariachi, The Wild Party, Sweet & Lucky, Xanadu, and Act of God. Other select credits: Noises Off!, The Drowning Girls, and others (Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities); The Book of Will, King Lear, and others (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); The Secretary, The Cake, The Brother/Sister Plays, and others (Curious Theatre Company). Special Awards: Henry Award Outstanding Costume Design – A Doll’s House 2020. Training: BA-University of Denver, MFA-University of Florida.

DoyleCostumeDesign.com BARBARA HORT, PH.D. (Psychodramaturg) has maintained a private Jungian practice in Portland, Oregon for nearly four decades. Dr. Hort has served as the psychodramaturg on numerous productions at the DCPA and Portland Center Stage, providing material on each play’s psychological dynamics that supports the artists creating the production.

She is the author of “Unholy Hungers: Encountering the Psychic Vampire in Ourselves and Others” (1996), “Hollow Crown of Fire: A Discovery of Meaning in the Coronavirus Pandemic and its Predecessors” (2023), and “Feeding Frenzy: A Profile of the Psychic Vampire that Possesses People in Groups” (2025).

LINDSAY JONES (Sound Designer and Composer) (He/Him). Broadway: Slave Play (Tony nominations for Best Original Score, Best Sound Design of a Play), The Nap, Bronx Bombers, and A Time to Kill. OffBroadway: Privacy (Public Theater), Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons), Feeding the Dragon (Primary Stages), and many others. Regional: Guthrie, Center Stage, ACT, Hartford Stage, Alliance, Goodman, and many others. International: Noel Coward (London West End), Stratford Festival (Canada), Royal Shakespeare Company (England), many others.

Audio dramas: Disney, Marvel, DC, Penguin/Random House, Audible, Next Chapter Podcasts. Film/TV scoring: HBO Films’ A Note of Triumph (2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary). Other: Co-Chair of Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA). lindsayjones.com.

COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS

1940’s Radio Hour (Ginger Brooks) (The Arvada Center); and Chicago (Roxie Hart) (Breckenridge Backstage Theatre). Film: Ink. (Director/ Choreographer). Special awards/ Education/Training: Doctor of Physical Therapy, Denver Post Ovation Award, Henry Award nominee.

COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS

PAVITHRA PRASAD (Voice and Dialect Coach) is Professor of Communication Studies at California State University, Northridge. A scholar and creative practitioner, her work brings together critical theory, experimental narrative, and sound art.

Born and raised in Chennai, India, she has written, directed, and performed work in the US and abroad, including in Denver, where she previously taught at the University of Denver.

She holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and lives and works in Los Angeles.

CHIKA SHIMIZU (Scenic Designer).

At the DCPA: Hamlet. Regional: Signature Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, The Old Globe, Alliance Theatre, Paper Mill Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Geva Theatre, Portland Center Stage, TheatreSquared, Northern Stage, Yale Rep (The Caucasian Chalk Circle, CT Critics Circle Award nom.). OffBroadway: WP Theatre, Irish Rep, Epic Theatre Ensemble, The Barrow Group, Yangtze Repertory Theatre.

International: Madama Butterfly (Calgary Opera). Installation: Un(re) solved (Ado Ato Pictures, 2022 SXSW Innovation Award, Emmy Award).

Other recent projects include: Soft Power (Signature Theatre) and Furlough’s Paradise (Geffen Playhouse). MFA in Design from Yale School of Drama. chikashimizu.com GRADY SOAPES, CSA (Casting) is the Director of Casting and Artistic Producer with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Grady has cast over 100 DCPA productions and workshops including Rattlesnake Kate, Theater of the Mind, The Chinese Lady, The Who’s Tommy, and The Wild Party. Choreography credits include A Christmas Carol (3 seasons), Twelfth Night, Goodnight Moon, Anna Karenina, As You Like It, Drag Machine, Lord of the Butterflies, DragON (Denver Center); A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Natasha, Pierre and…, Into the Woods, The Liar (Arvada Center); Comedy of Errors (Colorado Shakespeare Festival). Grady also works as a Casting Director for Sylvia Gregory Casting where he has cast multiple commercials, TV, film, and video game projects.

LEEAN KIM TORSKE (Dramaturg) is the Director of Literary Programs for the Denver Center Theatre Company, where she supports a variety of artistic and administrative projects, including the curation, develop-

ment, and production of new work through the Colorado New Play Summit. Her recent DCTC dramaturgy credits include Cowboys and East Indians, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Suffragette’s Murder, and Hamlet. In the past, she’s served as the Literary Manager and Casting Associate at Northlight Theatre, Director of the Russ Tutterow Fellowship at Chicago Dramatists, a publicist and discussion facilitator at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and a freelance dramaturg and theatre artist working with regional theatres and playwrights across the country.

STAGE MANAGEMENT ELIZABETH ANN GOODMAN (Stage Manager) (She/Her). Broadway: Misery, Romeo and Juliet, The Testament of Mary. Off-Broadway: Hip Hop Cinderella, Romeo & Bernadette (Amas Musical Theatre); Einstein’s Dreams, One Thousand Nights and One Day (Prospect Theater Company); Freddie Falls In Love (The Joyce); About Love, All Our Children, Pushkin (Sheen Center); A Blanket of Dust (Tom Smedes Productions); Hindle Wakes (Mint Theater); The View UpStairs (Invisible Wall Productions); Martin Luther on Trial (FPA);The Total Bent (The Public Theater); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (CSC). Regional Theatre: Dial M for Murder (CSFAC), Annie (Axelrod Performing Arts Center).

National Tours: Pippin. Education: MFA Columbia University.

HARPER HADLEY (Assistant Stage Manager). At the DCPA: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hot Wing King, Theater of the Mind, Elephant and Piggie’s “We Are in a Play”, Little Red! A New Musical Adventure!, Colorado New Play Summit (2022, 2024, 2025), and In the Upper Room. Regional credits: Amerikin and Truth Be Told (Curious Theatre Company); Democracy Cycle and 237 Virginia Avenue (Local Theater Company); A Very Sordid Wedding, Fun Home, When Pigs Fly, and Kinky Boots (Uptown Players).

THEATRE COMPANY LEADERSHIP TEAM CHRIS COLEMAN (Artistic Director) See Director.

CHARLES VARIN (Managing Director) and his team are responsible for the administrative, financial, and business operations for Theatre Company and Off-Center productions and other artistic initiatives. Since joining the Theatre Company in 2006, he has played a major role in executing the

artistic vision of the organization and facilitating the production of shows such as Theater of the Mind, Sweet & Lucky, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Sense & Sensibility the Musical, The 12, Sweeney Todd with DeVotchKa and many more. Charles is passionate about artistic innovation and firmly believes in DCPA’s long-standing commitment to new plays and new voices.

In addition to DCPA staff, the following crew worked on this production: Andy Bruening, Jason Bushey, Lisa Ehrle, Zach Gillen, Christina HadleyDike, Kai Kramer, Phi Le, Nikki Mayer, Mac Sheridan.

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

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

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

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

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is one of the largest non-profit theatre organizations in the nation, presenting Broadway tours and producing theatre, cabaret, and musicals. In its 2024/25 season, the DCPA offered 988,930 guest experiences, generating a $390 million economic impact.

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

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

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

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

PLEASE BE ADVISED •

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

•

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

•

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

•

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

National Tour of Meredith Willson’s THE MUSIC MAN.

PRESERVING A CLASSIC:

MEREDITH WILLSON’S THE MUSIC MAN

BY LISA BORNSTEIN

W

What makes something obsolete – and conversely, what makes it a classic? The very premise of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – the abduction of young women to care for the brothers – keeps it off most stages these days. The King and I requires heavy alterations to overcome its condescension toward the culture of Southeast Asia.

One might guess The Music Man, nearly 70 years old, would fall into that category. Meredith Willson’s 1957 musical was drawn from his own childhood, as well as his days playing the piccolo for John Philip Sousa’s legendary band. In tiny, fictional River City, Iowa, con man Prof.

Harold Hill rolls into town, promising to fix an entire town’s problem by teaching its youth to play band instruments.

But director Matt Lenz sees much relevance in it to our present day.

“I do think there is something to be heard differently today in terms of what’s happening in society,” Lenz says. ”It’s a little bit stuck in its ways, and a little fractured, and a little cynical,” he says of River City. “And I love that the arts can come in and get them to harmonize, literally, and to change their minds” The Denver tour is an entirely new production, a partnership between director Lenz and choreographer Josh Bergasse who previously collaborated on the 2017 production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

“It’s chockfull of those amazing songs,” Lenz says. “The first thing I thought was I need somebody like Josh to do this with me because there are these huge, athletic, fantastic dances in it.”

With a 34-member cast and 10 who are dancers first, the show is bringing back the full choreography that used to be a hallmark of musical theatre.

“We’ve got to make sure we have a crew of real dancers in this, in kind of the old-fashioned way they did musicals,” Lenz says. “I don’t think there are tons of shows on the road these days that surprise people with that full-on dance.”

While little had to be eliminated from the show for today’s audiences, the designers met with an eye toward how today’s audiences would see, hear, and feel, and what they could do to celebrate the musical’s core while reaching those theatergoers.

“The first thing we talked about was the rhythm of the show, which starts right off the bat with the train,” Lenz explains. Its rhythm serves to underlie the heart of the show — a small town that doesn’t want to be thrown off its rhythm.

I love that the arts can come in and get [the residents of River City] to harmonize, literally, and to change their minds. — MATT LENZ, DIRECTOR “‘Rock Island’ is dialogue that…becomes musicalized when the train starts up and you start to hear the rhythm of the train,” Lenz says of the opening number. “I want to find a way to carry that through even more. Is there something to keep them in a kind of rhythmic lockstep?

There’s something about that town just clicking along, and everything being the way it is, and then that relaxing, and then that scaring some people to death.”

And that’s a sensation that never falls into obsolescence.

MEREDITH WILLSON’S THE MUSIC MAN FEB 27 – MAR 1 BUELL THEATRE

ASL Interpreted, Audio Described, and Open Captioned performance: Feb 28 at 2pm

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

APPLAUSE • JAN – FEB 2026 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

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FINDING YOURSELF IN COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS

BY JOANNE OSTROW

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When her play, Cowboys and East Indians, has its world premiere, playwright Nina McConigley thinks it’s going to be mind-blowing for her mother, who was born in India and lives in Wyoming, to see actors wearing saris onstage at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Growing up in Casper, as “the other kind of Indian in Wyoming,” McConigley said, there wasn’t another sari in sight. Nor an Indian grocery store or restaurant. Her Indian/Irish-American family moved to Wyoming when she was a baby. Her mother found it difficult to adjust to the emptiness and new culture, while Nina grew up feeling confused and isolated.

“The play isn’t so much about race; it’s about not seeing a version of yourself and what that does,” McConigley said. “Wyoming is one of the least racially diverse states, and it is a different kind of growing up.”

She hopes the play, co-adapted by Matthew Spangler from her semi-biographical short story collection of the same name, reinterprets the American West for audiences. “I hope it gives people a different look at Wyoming and the idea of rural immigration.”

Like her main character, “I did live back home with my family when my mom had cancer. When I wrote the short story, it was about anxiety for me. So much of my sense of Indian-ness was through my mom and I did think, if I lose her, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Now a professor at Colorado State University, her new novel, How to Commit A Postcolonial Murder, will be published simultaneously with the world premiere of Cowboys and East Indians, which was a hit at the Denver Center Theatre Company’s 2024 Colorado New Play Summit, delivering a smart mix of culture-clash comedy and pathos that sparked tears and laughter in a staged reading.

McConigley and Spangler met in their hometown of

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Casper and followed each other through middle and high school, each harboring a love of the West, the sparse landscape and the people. DCPA Director of Literary Programs Leean Kim Torske, the show’s dramaturg, is also from Wyoming and co-commissioned McConigley and Spangler to adapt the short stories for the Denver Center Theatre Company.

Best known for his stage adaptation of The Kite Runner, Spangler is a playwright and professor of performance studies at San José State University where he teaches courses in how refugees and asylum-seekers are represented through the performing arts. One of his other plays, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, co-written with Nesrin Alrefaai and based on the bestselling novel by Christy Lefteri, will receive its second UK tour this spring.

When she wrote Cowboys and East Indians, McConigley said, she never thought of the story as a play.

Spangler recalled the pair participated in a 2022 panel discussion in Casper and hypothetically talked about how they might approach adapting Nina’s collection of short stories for the stage. Eventually, this hypothetical discussion would lead to a real commission and collaboration.

Although popular culture is full of Irish, Italian, Chinese, Jewish, and other New York City immigration stories, McConigley notes a lack of stories about rural immigrants.

“While it is difficult being an immigrant anywhere,” she said, “unlike cities with diverse ethnic populations, Casper is very monocultural. I just wanted to write about my experience of growing up, brown in Wyoming, really.”

When there is no reflection of yourself in the world around you, your identity is in question. “There was a brief moment as a kid when I [described myself as] ‘Arapaho,’” McConigley said. “Easier than explaining…”

For Spangler, who has generations of Wyoming fami-

APPLAUSE • JAN – FEB 2026 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

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ly history, “the play essentially is about loneliness, how we deal with loneliness, and how we try to create senses of belonging to mitigate loneliness. Sometimes those spaces of belonging are risky.”

“There’s something about [the Wyoming] landscape that’s beautiful, striking, and also its own metaphor for loneliness,” Spangler said.

McConigley recalls visiting numerous book clubs around Wyoming when Cowboys and East Indians came out, “and having many people say to me, ‘I’ve never thought about race in Wyoming.’ And I just thought, ‘What a privilege, you never had to. You just aren’t in the minority.’”

The play isn’t so much about race; it’s about not seeing a version of yourself and what that does.

CREATIVITY

1. BELONGING

We build a respectful and empathetic culture through our active commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility.

— NINA MCCONIGLEY, AUTHOR OF “COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS”

2. COLLABORATION

For his part, Spangler said, “to be able to write a play set in our hometown and work with people I’ve known for decades is something I never thought I’d be able to do.”

Cowboys and East Indians is ultimately a hopeful play that’s packed with wide-ranging emotions and that subverts expectations in multiple ways. “I was surprised people cried during the New Play Summit,” McConigley said. “The play is hopeful. It asks you to look at those around you, and you don’t know the story within them. You just don’t know. I think the play surprises a lot of people. Watching the audience was so interesting, you can visibly see the audience stressed, then relieved, then a little bit confused….”

Both express gratitude to the Colorado New Play Summit and Denver Center Theatre Company. “We learned so much from that workshop,” McConigley said. “The fact that they financially supported us to write this play….” As a mother of young children and a full-time professor, she said, there’s no way she could have done it otherwise.

“I’m definitely wearing a sari on opening night. My mom, too.”

3. COMMUNITY

COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS

JAN 16 – MAR 1 • SINGLETON THEATRE ASL Interpreted and Audio Described performance: Feb 1 at 1:30pm Stay for a Post-Show Discussion: Jan 28, Feb 12, Feb 24

We produce our best possible work together by engaging people with diverse perspectives, lived experiences and talents around our shared goals.

We cultivate open, responsive, affirming relationships and partnerships for a greater collective impact.

4. CREATIVITY

We embrace innovation and imagination in our daily work to advance our mission.

5. INTEGRITY

We act responsibly, with honesty, accountability and transparency.

6. SUSTAINABILITY

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

Learn more about what drives the DCPA, and where we’re going, at denvercenter.org/plan

The North American Tour Boleyn Company of SIX. Photo by Joan Marcus.

HENRY’S EX-WIVES GET THEIR SAY (AND SING) IN SIX E XC E R P T E D F R O M A 2 02 3 A P P L AU S E A R T I C L E BY M I S H A B E R S O N

Need a refresher course on who the “six” wives of King Henry VIII were? Here’s a quick rundown: Henry’s first and longest union (two decades) was with a smart, assertive Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon, who despite many pregnancies only produced one viable child with the monarch, christened Mary. Assuming Catherine would never produce a male heir to his throne, Henry divorced her.

The king then turned to Anne of Cleves, a sort of mail order German bride. Henry loved Thomas Holbein’s flattering portrait of her but rejected her in the flesh. Uncrowned, her marriage annulled, Anne still enjoyed a cushy life at court — and unlike poor Anne Boleyn, kept her head on.

Wife No. 2 was lovely Anne Boleyn, who also gave birth to a daughter (the future Queen Elizabeth I), but alas, no son. To be rid of her, Henry accused Anne of adultery and though historians now doubt her guilt, she was tried and executed.

On to Katherine Howard, a fun-loving young woman Henry called his “blushing rose without a thorn.” That is, until dalliances with two other men led to her own execution.

Next up? Jane Seymour. She produced a male heir, who became King Edward VI — but she died 12 days after his birth.

Catherine Parr was his final bride and reportedly a faithful nurse to the ailing monarch. (After his death she remarried, only to perish in childbirth herself soon after.)

This condensed version omits a lot of political and personal rivalry among Henry, his wives, and their relations and courtiers. But what you get from SIX is its own unique take on the women’s experiences and a big jolt of pizazz: sparkly royal mini-dresses and teeny crowns, catchy tunes and punchy lyrics as the wives (or ex-wives, they remind you) belt out solos, boogie and are each other’s backup singers.

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SIX

JAN 7 – 11, 2026 BUELL THEATRE ASL Interpreted, Audio Described and Open Captioned performance: Jan 10 at 2pm

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CBS Colorado’s Dillon Thomas is known as Your Reporter in Northern Colorado, but around here, he’s better known as Colorado’s connection to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. CBS Colorado’s team of Your Reporters covers Colorado’s vibrant arts scene like no one else and Dillon’s coverage of the DCPA is unique and far-reaching.

His commitment has put him on the road with America’s top traveling productions, including MJ the musical, TINA — The Tina Turner Musical and SIX. “Telling the stories of these extraordinary performers and showing our viewers the long hours behind the scenes and the intense effort these shows require is one of my great honors,” Thomas says. “I’m very proud to represent CBS Colorado and showcase all the incredible talent that the DCPA brings to our theatres throughout the year.”

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We are so grateful to our partners and to the thousands of donors and event participants over the years that have helped to improve and enrich the lives of those in our community.

— THE DENVER POST COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

T

The Denver Post is proud to support the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, both through sponsorship of its acclaimed theatre productions as well as with grant funding through The Denver Post Community Foundation. The longstanding partnership with DCPA has given countless individuals of all ages, the opportunity to experience and develop a lifelong appreciation for the arts.

The Denver Post Community Foundation believes in giving back to the communities in which it serves and proudly supports hundreds of nonprofits’ programs and events. Support is given in many ways: through The Denver Post Community Foundation, employee volunteering, and inkind advertising.

The Denver Post Community Foundation, a recognized 501 (c)(3) nonprofit agency, raises funds through individual and corporate donations, through its unique Signature Events and Programs and through the annual holiday Season To Share campaign. The overall mission is to improve and enrich the lives of those in the Denver community through support of programs that benefit arts and culture; children and youth; education and literacy; and the provision of basic human services. To date, more than $13,250,000 has been raised and distributed.

• Signature Events and Programs These well-established events and programs have become staples in the community. They offer partners, participants and volunteers something unique each year. They include: Pen & Podium Literary Lecture Series, Passport To The Arts, and the Colorado State Spelling Bee.

• The Denver Post Season To Share The Denver Post Season To Share holiday fundraising campaign supports metro Denver nonprofit organizations that help low-income children, families, and individuals move out of poverty toward stability and self-sufficiency. Each year, grants are awarded to more than 50 deserving nonprofits with programs focused on children and youth, health and wellness, homelessness, and hunger. These grants are made possible through the generosity of Denver Post readers, the broader community, corporate donors, and our valued partners.

Donations are matched and accepted year-round. To learn more, visit seasontoshare.com .

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PROUD SPONSOR OF WATER FOR ELEPHANTS

T [The arts] inform, inspire, and uplift while bringing the community together.

Helen Krushinski as Marlena. Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade.

— ANDY AYE, CO/AZ/NV/NM MARKET LEADER, GIS

The arts are a significant part of making Denver an amazing place to live and work. U.S. Bank believes in the power of play, which includes the arts, because it brings joy, encourages creativity, teaches problem-solving skills, and builds emotional learning. That is why U.S. Bank is a long-time supporter of the magnificent programs and spectacular performances at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA).

The arts educate, promote understanding, broaden our perspectives, and enable communities to share rich cultural experiences. Denver is fortunate to have a thriving arts community, which is home to some of the nation’s finest theatres, museums, and artists.

“We’re proud to serve the DCPA because it provides the best in live entertainment, in addition to education for all ages through the art of theatre,” said Andy Aye, Global Industrials and Services Market Leader for Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. “We know the critical role that the arts play in our society. They inform, inspire and uplift while bringing the community together.”

In 2023, the U.S. Bank Foundation committed $96.4 million in corporate contributions to nonprofit organizations across the entire enterprise, $3.1 million of which was invested to Colorado nonprofits. Those contributions had an emphasis on community development diversity and inclusion, financial education, and the environment. Additionally, its employees volunteered more than 360,000 hours, demonstrating that employee engagement is a major component of its community success.

“The DCPA brings us together to appreciate our diversity of thought, perspective, and talent,” said Aye. “I am always amazed at how much we share when we all laugh or gasp during a key moment in a performance. It is a sense of participation and belonging that strengthens our community. Supporting the DCPA is making an investment in ourselves, the arts, and the place we call home.”

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APPLAUSE • JAN – FEB 2026 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

DCPA TEAM DCPA TEAM

DCPA EVENT SERVICES OFF-CENTER Scene Shop Janice Sinden............................President & CEO Tara Miller............................................Event Sales & Charlie Miller.....Executive Director & Curator Eric Moore................................Technical Director Operations Director Albert “Stub” Allison, Robert L. Orzolek, Donna Hendricks.............Executive Assistant, Josh Prues ......Associate Technical Directors President & CEO Brook Nichols ......... Event Technical Director OPERATIONS Jeremy Banthoff, Tyler D. Clark, Julie Schumaker.......................................Manager, Aidan Gagner ..............................Video Engineer Kyle Scoggins......................Scenic Technicians Board Relations Michael Harris ........................Lighting Designer Sarah Arzberger, Stori Heleen-O’Foley..............Event Technical Danielle Freeman .................................. Managers Wynn Pastor.......................Scenic Technician & ACCOUNTING & FINANCE Purchasing Agent Manager Aaron Chavez......................................................Lead Jane Williams....................................................CFAO Shane Hotle..................................Audio Engineer Louis Fernandez III .....Lead Scenic Technician Sara Brandenburg.....................................Director, Kris Lawan, Ruben Cruz, Jordan Latouche......Engineers Brian “Marco” Markiewicz.....Lead Carpenter Accounting Services Savannah Singleton.................Event Captains Simone Gordon.......................................... Director Jennifer Jeffrey...........................................Director, Danielle Levine, Blair Quiring.......Senior Sales Kyle Greufe......................................Senior Analyst Scenic Design Lisa Orzolek.................................................. Director Financial Planning & Analysis & Event Managers Maria Herwagen...........................Junior Analyst Nicholas Renaud......................................Assistant Kristina Monge............ Associate Accountant Jacob Noon, Phil Rohrbach......Sales & Event Brandon LeMarr..................Associate Director Rachel Rodriguez........Manager, Accounting Managers Alison Orthel, Tara Perticone .............Analysts Sound Design & Technology Jennifer Siemers ............Director, Accounting Benjamin Peitzer.......... Event Technical Lead Joseph Reecher ....................... Senior Engineer Alex Billman............................................Supervisor Meagan Holdeman+, Kaden Richter.............................Audio Engineer BROADWAY & CABARET PEOPLE & CULTURE Timothy Schoeberl+, John Ekeberg..........................Executive Director INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Laura Maresca..................................................CPCO Dimitri Soto+.........................................Technicians Lisa Roebuck..................................Vice President Administration Stage Management Equity & Organization Culture Ashley Brown.........................Business Manager For security purposes, the IT team has been omitted. Seán Kroll .................................................... Specialist Anne Jude................................................Supervisor Alicia Bruce...............................General Manager MARKETING & SALES Chandra R.M. Anthenill, Wayne Breyer, Human Resources Lisa Prater ..........................Operations Manager Corin Davidson, Kristin Dwyer, Angela Lakin...................................Vice President Brian Carter................Senior Business Partner Elizabeth Ann Goodman, Harper Hadley, Whitney Testa....................Executive Assistant, Garner Galleria Theatre Andrew Guilder.......Recruiter & HR Generalist Sage Hughes, Nick Mason, Melissa J. Marketing & Broadway Abel Becerra.............................Technical Director Michaela Johnson ............Mailroom Assistant Michelson, Christine Rose Moore, Jason Begin+, Communications Paul Johnson..............................................Manager, Nick Nyquist, Brooke Redler, Anna Hookana+....................Core Stagehands Payroll & Compliance Malia Stoner................................Stage Managers Suzanne Yoe................................................. Director Jocelyn Martinez.....................Business Partner Sage Goetsch, Dylan Hudson, Heidi Bosk, DEVELOPMENT Hannah Iverson, Casey Pitts......Apprentices Jamie Clements............................Vice President Brittany Gutierrez............ Associate Directors Kinsey Scholl................... Manager, Operations Wardrobe Sarah Darlene ............................................Manager, Todd Metcalf.................................Media Producer THEATRE COMPANY Heidi Echtenkamp..............................Supervisor Grants & Reports Creative Services Administration Robin Appleton^, Amber Krimbel^, Julia Dunn .....Manager, Donor Engagement Kyle Malone................................................... Director Charles Varin ........................Managing Director Lauren LaCasse^, Lisa Parsons Wagner^, & Legacy Giving Sofia Contreras, Emily Diaz .................................Business Admin./ Nicole Watts^, Kami Williams^.........Dressers Kara Erickson-Stiemke........Manager, Annual Lucas Kreitler........................Graphic Designers Asst. Company Manager Giving & Stewardship Paul Koob..................Senior Graphic Designer Wigs Emily Kettlewell...............Director, Operations Noelle Norris........................ Traffic Coordinator Jessica Eckenrod..........................Line Producer Diana Ben-Kiki.......................................Supervisor Alex Koszewski..................Company Manager Caitie Maxwell....Senior Director, Major Gifts Ann Marshall.............................General Manager Abby Schmidt^, Marc Ravenhill .............................................Director, Digital Marisa Sorce^................. Hair/Wig Technicians Donor Relations Michael Ryan Leuthner.......................... Director Artistic Sarah Smith..........................................Coordinator Erin Bunyard..............................Senior Strategist Chris Coleman............................Artistic Director VENUE OPERATIONS Megan Stewart....................Associate Director, Harper Anne Finch........Manager, Social Media Grady Soapes......................Artistic Producer & Glen Lucero.....................................Vice President Special Events Hannah Selwyn..............................Manager, Email Casting Director Kristi Horvath............................................... Director Sergio von Kretschmann........Manager, Web Leean Kim Torske......................................Director, Merry Davis ............................Financial Manager EDUCATION & Literary Programs Jane Deegan................................... Administrator COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Insight & Strategy Madison Cook-Hines..........Literary Assistant Samantha Egle..........................................Manager, Allison Watrous ...................Executive Director Emily Kent...................................................... Director Event Operations Stuart Barr ...............................Technical Director Dan McNulty...................................................Analyst Costume Crafts Leslie Channell ............................................Director, Marketing Kevin Copenhaver..................................... Director Facilities Business Operations Craig Smith.................................................... Director Claire Graves................................................. Director Chris Campbell..........................................Assistant Lyndsay Corbett....................Teaching Artist & Dwight Barela, Mark Dill, Bryan Faciane, Emily Lozow..........................Associate Director Costume Shop Manager, Bobby G John Howard, Iver Johnson............Engineers Maddie Lamb, Emmy VanLangevelde, Janet MacLeod........Director/Design Associate María Corral...................................................Director, Saleem As-Saboor, Adriana Fuentes, Community Engagement Julie Whelan, ........................................... Managers Meghan Anderson Doyle......Design Associate Carmen Molina, Judith Primero Molina, Heather Curran.......................Teaching Artist & Mikayla Woods...................................Coordinator Katarina Kosmopoulos.....................First Hand Juan Loya Molina, Blanca Primero.....................................Custodians Ingrid Ludeke, Manager, Playwriting Ticketing & Audience Services Elliot Davis ...........................Evening Registrar & Jennifer Lopez ............................................ Director Carolyn Plemitscher .................................Drapers Michael Kimbrough.....Manager, Engineering Office Coordinator Jessica Alverson*, Zeah Edmonds*, Oscar Fraire.......................... Manager, Custodial House Crew Rachel Ducat..................Executive Assistant & Lauren Estes*, Amanda Foust, Jen Gray*, Douglas Taylor+....................................Supervisor Brian McClain..................Supervisor, Custodial Business Manager Noah Jungferman*, Oliver Knight*, Reagan James Berman+, Will King, Patron Experience Rya Dyes...................................................Registrar & Luchte, Brett O’Neill*, Claudia Ruiz*, Dave Mazzeno+, Kyle Moore+, Heather Kaylyn Kriaski.............................................Manager, On-Site Class Manager Holly Stigen*, Asheala Tasker*, Sparling+, Matt Wagner+................Stagehands Patron Experience Gavin Juckette....Teaching Artist & Manager, Rob Warner*....................................Ticket Agents Joseph Price+, Kelley Reznik+....Technicians LeiLani Lynch, Aaron McMullen, TYA Engagement & Music Kirsten Anderson*, Scott Lix*, Stacy Norwood, Wendy Quintana, Timothy McCracken.................Head of Acting Liz Sieroslawski*, Lighting Design Kelci Rigsby, Valerie Schaefer, Rick Mireles .................................................Manager, Greg Swan* .......................Subscription Agents Charles MacLeod....................................... Director Ashli Townsend....................Managers on Duty Community Engagement Jon Collins......................Manager, Subscription Connor Baker+............ Production Electrician Kelly Breuer, Nora Caley, Robin Lander, David Saphier.......Teaching Artist & Manager, D.J. Dennis*, Edmund Gurule*, Lily Bradford...............................................Assistant Melanie Mason, Barbara Pooler, In-School Programming Hayley Solano*, Andrew Sullivan*, Ayden Smith............................. House Managers Charlotte Talbert.......................................Librarian Bronwen VanOrdstrand*, Alfonso Vazquez*, Paint Shop Rachel Taylor......Teaching Artist & Manager, Max McCord*.................. Counter/Show Leads Kristin Hamer MacFarlane .....................Charge Safety & Security Scenic Artist Quentin Crump........................................... Director Literary Engagement & Resiliency Billy Dutton............................Associate Director, Operations Melanie Rentschler, Timothy Allen, Justin Walvoord.....................Teaching Artist & Sasha Seaman.................................Scenic Artists Jodi Benavides............Lead Security Officers Manager, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot Katie Davis, Claire Hayes, David Bright, Ariana Cuevas, Samuel Wood.................Director, Education & Ella Mann, Production Curriculum Development Lane Randall.................. Managers, Box Office Jeff Gifford.................................................... Director Ethan Kemberlin, Jack Leatherwood, Chris Leech.................VIP Ticketing Associate Ian Nelson, Ashley Skillman, Katie Spanos ........................Associate Director, Julie Brou.................Administrative Assistant/ Zach Stemley, Pamela Winston, Office Manager Tori Witherspoon..............Security Specialists Subscriber Services Matthew Campbell.......Production Manager Group Sales Peggy Carey.................... Production Manager Jessica Bergin.......................Associate Director Prop Shop Elias Lopez, Valery Owen.........Associates, Group Sales & Meghan Markiewicz...........................Supervisor Education Sara Pugh..........................Associate Supervisor * Member, I.A.T.S.E. Local B-7 + Member, I.A.T.S.E. Local 7 Bennet Goldberg, Ashley Lawler ......Artisans ^ Member, I.A.T.S.E. Local 719 Adena Rice.....................................Prop Carpenter Staff list current through August 25, 2025

DENVER LANGUAGE SCHOOL PROUD CORPORATE MEMBER OF THE DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

D

Denver Language School is the only Denver Public School K-8 charter school offering Spanish and Mandarin immersion (K-8) and French (6-8). DLS is committed to providing students with a diverse and globally oriented education, encouraging them to be curious, critical thinkers, and preparing them for the workforce of tomorrow.

Its unique model enhances problem-solving and critical thinking; strengthens cognitive ability, flexibility, and creativity; and builds cultural understanding. The curriculum fosters empathy, adaptability, and open-mindedness, and DLS’s holistic approach combines academic rigor.

DLS is proud to be the number one charter school in Denver on the state School Performance Framework and 28th of 1,825 schools in Colorado, placing DLS in the top 1.5% of all Colorado schools.

“Choosing Denver Language School has been one of the best decisions we’ve made for our children,” said Monica W., parent of DLS students. “Not only are they becoming fluent in another language, but they are also developing a deep appreciation for different cultures.

We see their confidence, curiosity, and problem-solving skills growing every day, and we know they are being prepared to thrive in a global world.”

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) provides Denver with access to world-class theatrical performances and arts programming. These experiences expand creativity, encourage selfexpression, and foster cultural awareness, offering opportunities to engage with the arts in meaningful ways. As a Denver community member, DLS is highly invested in supporting the arts and the DCPA, working to nurture a diverse and interconnected world.

We see [our children’s] confidence, curiosity, and problem-solving skills growing every day, and we know they are being prepared to thrive in a global world.

— MONICA W. PARENT

JOIN DLS FOR A TOUR!

Visit website for dates and times at denverlanguageschool.org

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APPLAUSE • JAN – FEB 2026 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

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The Philip Glass Ensemble Performing Koyaanisqatsi

Valentine’s Day with Pink Martini

Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1

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