Applause -- The Happiest Man on Earth, September 19-November 2, 2025

APPLAUSE

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SIGHTLINE

BY JANICE SINDEN

WWelcome to our 2025/26 season!

We’re thrilled you’ve joined us for the first of 35 productions, hundreds of classes, and a variety of events designed to engage and inspire our community. The coming year offers Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, Broadway’s biggest hits, and original works crafted right here in Denver. We hope you’ll return to share in the stories that bring us together.

As we look to the future, your support is more important than ever. The City’s Vibrant Denver Bond initiative would allow us to make improvements to the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex including a consolidated entry, lobby refresh, and new security screening equipment. This upgrade would enhance safety and create a more welcoming experience.

You might ask why the DCPA needs bond funds when it benefits from the SCFD. In short, SCFD funds may not be used for capital improvement, so we must rely on fundraising and community support for projects like this.

Speaking of SCFD — the voter-approved Scientific and Cultural Facilities District — I’d like to applaud outgoing Executive Director Deborah Jordy for her nine years of extraordinary leadership, and welcome Andrea Albo who steps into the role. With more than 27 years of experience in public service leadership, Albo’s appointment places the taxing district in reliable hands as it moves toward reauthorization in 2028.

There’s so much onstage and on the horizon. We hope you join us for it all.

Vladimir Script

Warm regards,

Janice Sinden

Janice Sinden, President & CEO

H O N O R I N G O U R E L D E R S

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

The Happiest Man on Earth pg 10

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof pg 14

Disney’s The Lion King pg 20

Shucked............................................ pg 22

FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF UPCOMING SHOWS:

APPLAUSE MAGAZINE

EDITOR: Suzanne Yoe

DESIGN DIRECTOR: Kyle Malone

DESIGNER: Paul Koob

CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS: Lucas Kreitler, Kyle Malone

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Lisa Kennedy, Joanne Ostrow

Applause is published six 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.

Angie Flachman, Publisher For advertising 303.428.9529 or sales@pub-house.com coloradoartspubs.com Applause magazine is funded in part by

Denver Center for the Performing Arts is a non-profit organization that engages and inspires through the transformative power of live theatre.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Ruth Krebs, Chair

Hassan Salem, Immediate Past Chair

Jerome Davis, Vice Chair

David Jacques Farahi, Secretary/Treasurer

Nicole Ament

Marco D. Chayet

Yosh Eisbart

Christopher Hayes

Elizabeth Hioe

Deb Kelly

Robert Kenney

Kevin Kilstrom

Lynn McDonald

Susan Fox Pinkowitz

Manny Rodriguez

Alan Salazar

Richard M. Sapkin

Martin Semple

William Dean Singleton

Sylvia Young

HONORARY TRUSTEES

Navin Dimond

Margot Gilbert Frank

Jeannie Fuller

Robert C. Newman

Cleo Parker Robinson

Robert Slosky

Dr. Reginald L. Washington

Judi Wolf

HELEN G. BONFILS

FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Martin Semple, President

William Dean Singleton, Vice President

Kevin Kilstrom, Secretary/Treasurer

Nicole Ament

Marco D. Chayet

David Jacques Farahi

Ruth Krebs

Susan Fox Pinkowitz

Hassan Salem

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT

Janice Sinden, President & CEO

Jamie Clements, Vice President, Development

Chris Coleman, Artistic Director, Theatre Company

John Ekeberg, Executive Director, Broadway & Cabaret

Angela Lakin, Vice President, Marketing & Sales

Glen Lucero, Vice President, Venue Operations

Laura Maresca, Chief People & Culture Officer

Charlie Miller, Executive Director & Curator, Off-Center

Lisa Roebuck, Vice President, Information Technology

Charles Varin, Managing Director, Theatre Company & Off-Center

Allison Watrous, Executive Director, Education & Community Engagement

Jane Williams, Chief Financial & Administrative Officer

MAKE SHOWTIME A NIGHT ON THE TOWN!

Consider joining one the DCPA’s premium membership societies for an exclusive experience before and after the curtain rises.

BEST OF BROADWAY SOCIETY

For unforgettable evenings all Broadway season long, treat yourself to first-class dining and seats. Enjoy the best seats in the house, pre-show cocktails, dinner at Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House, and private intermission in the fabulous Wolf Room.

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Get the best of both worlds and enjoy a curated mix of our most popular Broadway and Theatre Company shows with our brand-new Premiere Access Membership! You’ll enjoy VIP seating and get access to a selection of Best of Broadway Society and Directors Society events throughout the season, dinner included.

Gareth Saxe, Linda Mugleston, Curtis Wiley, and Matthew Boston in The Suffragette’s Murder .

Photo by Jamie Kraus Photography.

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Throw a party to remember at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Host an intimate reception in our Directors Room or celebrate with up to 900 guests in the Seawell Ballroom. Your event is complete with hassle-free planning, plus optional group ticketing packages to show appreciation for your clients and guests.

Partnering with our theatrically trained, in-house Event Services team, you can select from our spectacular spaces. Packages include professional labor plus your choice of:

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Music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez, book by Jennifer Lee. Based on the Disney film written by Jennifer L and directed by Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee. Originally produced on Broadway by Disney Theatrical Productions. ee

A BLUEPRINT FOR HAPPINESS

BY LISA KENNEDY

WWith his wavy white hair, his dapper blue-gray suit, and gold-rimmed eyeglasses, the nonagenarian did not look a day over 80.

Standing at a podium at a 2019 TED Talk, 99-year-old Eddie Jaku looked out at the audience before he began recounting his experiences of Kristallnacht and the five concentration camps he survived. “My dear new friends,” he said to a packed theater in Sydney, Australia. His talk, “A Holocaust Survivor’s Blueprint for Happiness,” has had more than 2.2 million views.

Although he immigrated to Australia decades earlier with his wife, Flore, Jaku (born Abraham Salomon Jakubowicz in 1920) still had the accent of a man who’d begun life in Leipzig, Germany. Kindly would be a good description of Jaku’s demeanor. Only the word has Germanic roots and Jaku shared near the end of his 11-minute talk that he had vowed many things when his first son was born: “From that day until the end of my life, I promised to be happy, to smile, be polite, helpful, and kind. I also promised never to put my foot on German soil again.” All were promises kept.

Jaku’s harrowing memories and tenacious hope that those memories might make us (the vast collective us) wiser and, yes, kinder fuels his memoir: The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor, published in 2021. He died later that year. He was 101.

In 2023, playwright Mark St. Germain adapted the book for a solo play and sent a draft to the director Ron Lagomarsino. The Happiest Man on Earth starts as cordially as Jaku’s TED Talk did. “We decided to begin

the play with Eddie interacting with the audience,” says Lagomarsino. “He starts out [telling them], ‘I have to speak to my children at synagogue tomorrow, and they’ve never heard this story. I don’t know if I can do it.’ So, he sort of includes the audience, not as co-conspirators, but to join him in the journey.”

Lagomarsino has been with the play since that first draft. He directed the world premiere at Massachusetts’ Barrington Stage Company and its reprise there as well. He also helmed a London production last fall. All starred veteran film and television actor Kenneth Tigar as Jaku.

The memoir isn’t even 200 pages, but it is necessarily relentless. The abject cruelties, the unfathomable losses, the unceasing precarity Jaku bore and witnessed began on Kristallnacht (“Night of Broken Glass”) when Nazis broke into the family home, beat him, killed his beloved dachshund, and burned down the house, which had been in his family for 200 years. That was November 9, 1938. Torments did not cease for him until he made his way to Belgium (for a second time) in 1945. And, even after that, his psychic wounds seeped.

“The memoir is chock-full…so many things that happened to him that you couldn’t possibly put into this piece,” Lagomarsino says. “So, we tried to maintain the essence of the memoir.” For that, he credits the script but also Tigar.

“We were so blessed to have found Ken because he’s truly to the manner born,” Lagomarsino says. “He studied German literature at Harvard. He’s got a Jewish background. He’s so great in the role.”

A couple of decades younger than Jaku, Tigar embodies Jaku as he was at 100 years old but also as a young man living through “my hell on Earth,” as he refers to Auschwitz, the concentration camp in Poland.

Lagomarsino knew he wanted the play to be physical. A one-person piece, featuring a 100-year-old man just talking would slight theater’s powerful tools — the lighting, sound and scenic design. But, for his lead, says the director, “I had to go day by day and see if Ken was going to go along with me and how much I could push him.” The short answers: “He was” and “a lot.”

“He becomes Eddie.”

The memoir is chock-full… so many things that happened to him that you couldn’t possibly put into this piece. So, we tried to maintain the essence of the memoir. — RON LAGOMARSINO, DIRECTOR

What of the emotional demands of the material? How does a director and his actor live Jaku’s horrific memories repeatedly? Because if they can’t there’s a chance the audience won’t be able to either.

“First, I think you need the ability to have some relief from that darkness. There is quite a bit of humor in the play,” says Lagomarsino, adding, “I mean, it’s black humor mostly. Second, I want my actors to feel safe and therefore free to fail, to soar, to whatever it is.”

Lagomarsino appreciates the intimacy depicted between Jaku and the imaginary audience. “Jaku actually thanks the audience for allowing him to realize that he has to get over his fear of this, because this is a story that must always be told, and he must tell the story.” It’s the burdensome and vital blessing of the living — one Jaku embraced with such verve toward the end of his life.

The arrival of The Happiest Man on Earth is, alas, achingly timely. It documents the depravity of Antisemitism, incidents of which are on the rise. But the play is also a testament to Jaku’s deeply humanist grasp of the kinds of civic weakness that undermine moral courage. The kinds of false strength that lead to the cruelties justified in the name of ethnicity, state, fear.

“It’s a challenging experience,” says Lagomarsino, not as a caution but as an invitation. “This play is challenging, but anything worthwhile is.”

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH

SEP 19 – NOV 2 • SINGLETON THEATRE

ASL Interpreted & Audio-Described performance: Sep 28 at 1:30pm Stay for a post-show Talkback on Oct 21 or Nov 2.

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

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

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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

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TENNESSEE WILLIAMS LOOMS LARGE WITH

BY LISA KENNEDY

TTennessee Williams might not be the biggest daddy in American theatre — there is Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, August Wilson — but the Mississippi-born playwright comes awfully close. His early plays became a string of Broadway hits: The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, and Night of the Iguana, among them. Transferred to the movie screen, they left their mark on cinema, too, not least for providing indelible roles for indelible stars: Vivian Leigh, Marlon Brando, Ava Gardner, Katharine Hepburn, Burl Ives, Paul Newman, and Elizabeth Taylor.

For its Broadway debut in 1955, directed and nurtured by Elia Kazan, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof featured Barbara Bel Geddes, Ben Gazzara and Ives. More famously, the 1958 movie starred Taylor and Newman as Maggie and husband Brick and Ives reprising his role as Big Daddy, a cotton plantation baron.

The second Williams’ work to win a Pulitzer Prize (after A Streetcar Named Desire) is the first of his plays Chris Coleman is producing and directing for the Denver Center stage. And, after the 2022 revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, it’s only the second classic by an American playwright, during his tenure. But says Coleman, “I know there’s an appetite with our audience for American classics.”

“People talk about Williams as a ‘poetic realist.’ I’m like, what does that mean?” says Coleman, Artistic Director of the Denver Center Theatre Company. “It sounds like he makes beautiful images — which he does — but I think what I discovered is the reason he has stuck around. Sometimes in these plays, he hits a truth about human existence. It just resonates like 18 layers beneath the surface in a way that feels really powerful.” Williams looms large.

Outsized, as well, is the South he hailed from and often depicted. As regions go, the South continues to compete with the West for the ways its truths and fables, its sins and hopes have shaped the American character. “I grew up in the South,” says Coleman, “and as a young director, I did not want to do Tennessee. I didn’t want to do Southern plays. Those stories, I’ve lived that. And they seemed corny to me. I wanted to do Shaw. And then, a few years ago, I did Streetcar.”

Coleman, who was raised in Georgia and founded a theatre in Atlanta, wasn’t surprised when actors toted some pretty peculiar baggage into the auditions. “What I’ve often found myself saying is, ‘You know, a tad of the dialect is all you need,’” he says, “because the tendency is to try to just play the dialect. I wanted people who could live inside these people.” Headlining the cast is local actor Noelia Antweiler as Maggie and Adam Hagenbuch (“Modern Family”) as Brick. Lawrence Hecht — who appeared with the Denver Center Theatre Company in productions including The Pillowman, Glengarry Glen Ross, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and served as head of the DCPA’s former National Theatre Conservatory and Head of Acting for adult classes — returns to rail against mendacity as Big Daddy.

While the play is set on a Mississippi plantation, much of its hothouse drama unfolds in the bedroom of Maggie and Brick, the once idolized gridiron football star who now throws back whiskeys. Maggie and Brick, as well as Brick’s brother and sister-in-law, Gooper and Mae, have come to join Big Mama for a birthday celebration after the big man clears a cancer scare. Only it wasn’t a scare. At the start of the play, the couples already know the bad news. A doctor and a minister — longtime family friends — are also on hand to break the news to Big Mama.

Coleman recalls his reaction upon rereading the play. “I’m like, holy cow, this is potent — characters are so delicious — and the center of it being a fight over the estate, but also a fight for survival.” At the heart of that throwdown? Maggie.

“I had always thought Maggie’s ultimate goal was to get Brick back because she was in love with him,” says Coleman. “And she is in love with him. But I think Maggie has to secure her financial future at any cost,” Coleman says.

“I think a lot of people now cast Maggie as close to Elizabeth Taylor as they can get, which is off sometimes — really pretty but can’t act it right. What’s tricky about playing that role is you’ve got to fight,” he says. “If she’s too blunt, she’ll feel harsh. And she’s got

Sometimes in [Tennessee Williams’] plays, he hits a truth about human existence. It just resonates like 18 layers beneath the surface in a way that feels really powerful.

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to try to charm Brick. She’s got to try to charm the audience through her humor and storytelling so that we want her to win. So that we’re on her side in the fight.”

Returning to classics offers theatre-makers — but also audiences — fresh angles on the play’s truths. For years, one way into Cat on a Hot Tin Roof focused on the tense dance between Maggie and Brick. It hinged on the fractured love story between a woman who wants and a husband who, since the death of his best friend and football buddy, has been dousing all feeling with liquor. An undercurrent of thwarted desire (hers) and repressed possibly queer sexuality (his) roils the goings on.

So, what happens then when we see Big Daddy anew? When for the first time, we hear the sympathy in the towering patriarch’s approach to his favorite son?

While it was played down in the movie adaptation, the meaning of Brick and Skipper’s love for each other hangs over Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. “I don’t know if he was a gay man,” says Coleman about Brick. “Williams thought he was a gay man, who is so burdened by his shame and his cowardice toward probably the love of his life that he is basically slowly killing himself.”

Brick tells Maggie he drinks to hear a click. “The click I get in my head when I’ve had enough of this stuff to make me peaceful.” What happens when we listen to Williams awaiting our own click — not of peace but of fresh understanding?

In returning to Williams, Coleman remains struck by the playwright’s humor.

“Williams is funny,” Coleman says. “And then he rips your heart out.”

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

OCT 3 – NOV 2, 2025

KILSTROM THEATRE

ASL Interpreted & Audio-Described performance: Oct 12 at 1:30pm Stay for a post-show Talkback on Oct 16 or Oct 29.

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JOIN THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

THE LION KING

“Circle of Life,” The Lion King’s jaw-dropping, much-talked-about opening number, introduces a menagerie of animals who stride, leap, gallop and dance across the stage. A closer look reveals the creative magic at work behind this breathtaking bit of stagecraft.

1. LET’S GIVE THEM A HAND: Julie Taymor, along with Michael Curry, designed, hand sculpted and painted every prototype mask in this scene.

2. THE VIEW FROM THE TOP: Pride Rock rises 12 feet over the African savannah five times during each performance.

3. A REAL LIGHTWEIGHT: Mufasa’s mask, like others in the show, is made of carbon fiber (the same stuff airplanes are made of) and weighs less than a pound.

4. ACCENT ON AUTHENTICITY:

To capture the intangible spirit and sound of the savannah, South African performers are cast members of every production of The Lion King around the world except Japan, where the local artists mastered the pronunciation of the five different African languages used in the show.

5. LADDER OF SUCCESS: The tallest animals in the iconic opening number are the giraffes at 14 feet high. Two actors climb six-foot ladders to fit inside the puppets, mount stilts and enter stage left.

6. MAKE ROOM FOR BERTHA: At 13 feet long and nine feet wide, the elephant, nicknamed “Bertha,” is the largest animal in the show, requiring four cast members to maneuver her down the aisles of the theatre.

7. QUICK-CHANGE ARTIST: One Ensemble Dancer part requires 16 costume changes. Some actors have to perform quick changes in less than a minute.

GLOBAL EDUCATION STARTS

SHUCKED

THE SWEET TASTE OF CORNQUEST: A DSA GRAD’S JOURNEY TO SHUCKED

BY LISA KENNEDY

OOkay, he gushed. Ryan Fitzgerald had just seen Shucked at the invitation of the show’s writer, Robert Horn — or as the actor says only half-jokingly, “The man. The myth. The legend” — and, yup, now he was gushing.

Fitzgerald, who is in the ensemble of the first national tour of Shucked, met the writer of Broadway’s Tootsie and television’s “Designing Women” while working on Hercules at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2023. “He got all of us in the company and said, ‘My show’s on Broadway right now. I would love for you all to come and see Shucked,” recalls Fitzgerald who was raised in Longmont, Colorado. “Not only did I laugh my heart out, I sobbed.”

For a show with slightly fewer puns than South Dakota’s Corn Palace has ears in its mural façade, that last bit might come as news. Although the story of the small fictional Cob County town that must reach beyond its borders when a mysterious blight hits its beloved crop actually does have a touching amount of sweet corn pathos.

Ryan Fitzgerald

“I sobbed because I was just like, oh, my gosh, this show is everything I want to be in. It is so light-hearted, yet so deep, so rich and so silly,” Fitzgerald says on a video call, his laptop stationed in the kitchen of a shared Airbnb for the DallasFort Worth leg of the tour.

And so, he walked up to Horn, still crying and now gushing. “This is incredible!” he told him. “This is like what we want to see!” And “I’ve been wanting to do something like this since I got to New York City!” And finally, “You built that!?”

Consider that moment the delightfully corny part of the Ryan Fitzgerald show. But, not unlike Shucked — which won a Tony Award and was nominated for eight more, including one for Horn’s book and one for Nashville luminaries Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally’s original score — his story has its share of grit and gumption. What happened next was far more intentional and disciplined. Or as he says, with an impish smile, “I started scheming.”

When the tour was announced, he knew he had to “advocate for myself,” says Fitzgerald. He texted Horn. “I want to be in Shucked,” he wrote. “I want to be in it. I obviously have my eye on certain things, but whatever it is, I will jump. And ask, ‘how high?’ on the way up.”

After Fitzgerald got an audition for a lead role, he messaged Horn again. “I don’t want to mess this up. Even if it doesn’t go my way, I want to walk in with my best foot forward. I want to leave a good impression. Because you never know, right?” Horn gave him some insights into the

The Cast of The North American Tour of

Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman.

characters and, says Fitzgerald, “really put me on the right path so that I was in that place so I could flourish.

“The rest” — with multiple callbacks and a troupe of people to wow — “was history,” he says. Fitzgerald landed a role in the ensemble.

If you shuck the great outcome part of that account, you’ll discover an invaluable get-to-work kernel. One that Shawn Hann, Fitzgerald’s theater teacher at the Denver School of the Arts back in the early aughts, recognizes immediately.

“I see a work ethic,” she says, pinpointing that certain something in her former students who’ve become theater professionals. “Because DSA is a sixth-through-12th-grade program, to see that when a kid’s a 10- and 11-year-old — the priority, the focus, the drive — that’s crazy. And then as they get to high school, it’s more about creativity and being a good person. Ryan’s a good person,” Hann says.

“I really do feel like for the kids that go on, it’s a selflessness,” she adds. “It’s not, ‘what can I get from this?’ It’s ‘what can I do for you? How can I be in this ensemble? What can I give to you?’”

A performing arts incubator, the Denver School of the Arts can be foundational to building a robust arts-forward city, that in turn bolsters the nation’s arts identity. Think of it as cultural infrastructure. And during her 25 years, Hann has fashioned an alumni network that spans the theater and entertainment industries.

I think from an early age, that sort of focus [at Denver School of the Arts], that dedication, that diligence, I guess, really, really led into my work ethic.

— RYAN FITZGERALD, ACTOR

As a kid, Fitzgerald saw Fame at a community theater in Longmont. “Wow,” he remembers thinking. “I was talking to this girl, and I said, ‘Wouldn’t that be so amazing to go to a place like that where you could focus on these things?’ And they said, ‘Well, that actually exists. There’s one in Denver and you should audition.’” His first year, Fitzgerald would get up at five, catch the bus from Longmont to Denver and then a city bus to DSA in east Denver. “I think from an early age, that sort of focus, that dedication, that diligence, I guess, really, really led into my work ethic.”

Shucked is not Fitzgerald’s first Broadway tour hoe-down. In his twenties, he traveled with the international tour of West Side Story Still, there’s something a little mind-bending about returning to his hometown to be in a production at the Denver Center. (Last season, Fitzgerald appeared in the Arvada Center shows Beautiful Cinderella.) Something worth gushing about.

“We saw Phantom of the Opera there. We saw Thoroughly Modern Millie. We saw Grease. We saw all the things there,” he says. “And I can’t believe that I get to add my signature to the Buell’s Actor’s Alley alongside casts of legendary shows that have played Denver.”

SHUCKED

OCT. 7 – 19 • BUELL THEATRE

ASL Interpreted, Audio-described & Open Captioned performance: October 19 at 1pm

NEXT UP FROM BROADWAY THE NOTEBOOK

This holiday season, Denver audiences are invited to experience one of the most beloved love stories of our time in a breathtaking new way. The Notebook, based on Nicholas Sparks’ best-selling novel that inspired the iconic film, comes to the Buell Theatre Dec. 16–28.

Directed by Broadway visionaries Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen) and Schele Williams (The Wiz), this deeply moving production features original music and lyrics by acclaimed singersongwriter Ingrid Michaelson, a book by Bekah Brunstetter (“This Is Us”), and choreography by Katie Spelman. The show brings to life the timeless romance of Allie and Noah, both from different worlds, who share a lifetime of love that defies all odds.

Praised as “absolutely gorgeous” by the Chicago Tribune and “a love story for the ages” by the New York Daily News, The Notebook promises an unforgettable theatrical experience that portrays the enduring power of love. Whether you’re reliving the story or discovering it for the first time, The Notebook offers a beautiful opportunity to share an evening of soaring music, heartful emotion, and connection. Bring someone you love and create memories that will stay with you long after the curtain falls.

Broadway Cast. Aisha Jackson (Middle Allie) and Ryan Vasquez (Middle Noah).

Photo by Julieta Cervantes (2024).

Chris Coleman, Artistic Director

Charles Varin, Managing Director

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH

BY Mark St. Germain

BASED ON THE MEMOIR BY Eddie

Jaku

STARRING Kenneth Tigar

STAGE MANAGER: Sage Hughes

SCENIC DESIGN BY James Noone

COSTUME DESIGN BY Johanna Pan

EDDIE JAKU UNDERSTUDY Robert Zukerman PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT BY Matthew Campbell

LIGHTING DESIGN BY Harold Burgess

SOUND DESIGN BY Brendan Aanes

PRODUCED BY Good Soup Entertainment GENERAL MANAGEMENT BY Evan Bernardin Productions

DIRECTED BY Ron Lagomarsino

THE SINGLETON THEATRE • SEP 19 – NOV 2, 2025

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH is presented through special arrangement with TRW PLAYS 1180 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 640, New York, NY 10036. www.trwplays.com

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

CAST

Eddie Jaku

Kenneth Tigar

UNDERSTUDY

Robert Zukerman (Eddie Jaku Understudy)

SETTING

A Theatre in Australia

THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH will be performed without an intermission.

Stage Manager Sage Hughes

Stage Management Associate Anna Cordova Understudy Casting Grady Soapes, CSA

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.

ABOUT EDDIE JAKU

April 14, 1920 – October 12, 2021

Eddie Jaku was born Abraham Jakubowicz in Germany in 1920. In World War II, Eddie was imprisoned in Buchenwald and Auschwitz concentration camps. In 1945, he was sent on a “death march” but escaped. Finally, he was rescued by Allied soldiers. In 1950, he moved with family to Australia where he lived for over 60 years. Eddie was married to his wife Flore for 75 years, and they had two sons, four grandchildren and five great grandchildren. In 2013, Jaku was honored with the Medal of the Order of Australia. He died peacefully in October 2021, at the age of 101.

WHO’S WHO

ACTING COMPANY

KENNETH TIGAR

(Eddie Jaku)

originated this role in the world premiere of the play at Barrington Stage Company in the United States. His performance won best actor awards from the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association and Broadway World; he recently reprised the role at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. Mr. Tigar has appeared in New York in Larry David’s Broadway hit Fish in the Dark and in the world premiere of Joshua Harmon’s Prayer for the French Republic Regional theatre credits include Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Salieri in Amadeus, and James Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey into Night. He received best actor awards from the drama critics’ associations of Los Angeles and South Florida. He is likewise known for his work as a director, staging numerous operas in California and a national tour of The Gin Game, starring Kim Hunter. Mr. Tigar is also a familiar face on both the large and small screens. His credits span the distance from American TV’s legendary “Barney

Miller” and the Lethal Weapon movies to “House of Cards” and The Avengers He was recently seen as Heinrich Himmler on the television series “The Man in the High Castle”. Mr. Tigar has both a BA and a PhD in German Literature from Harvard University; his translations of Wedekind’s Spring’s Awakening and Büchner’s Woyzeck have recently been published by Broadway Play Publishing.

ROBERT ZUKERMAN (Understudy Eddie Jaku) is pleased to make his DCPA debut. Regional credits include Arena Stage, Florida Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Barrington Stage, and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (1975). Two dozen shows Off Broadway, narration for the Library of Congress, and tour of USAF bases for the USO. Trained at London’s Guildhall School, PhD in Theatre History; former Theatre Program Director for the New York State Council on the Arts.

PLAYWRIGHT

MARK ST. GERMAIN has written the plays Freud’s Last Session (Off Broadway Alliance Award), Camping

with Henry and Tom (Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award), Forgiving Typhoid Mary (Time magazine’s “Year’s Ten Best”), and Becoming Dr. Ruth, the story of Dr. Ruth Westheimer. He’s written Eleanor starring Harriet Harris and Relativity starring Mike Nussbaum, as well as the plays Best of Enemies, Ears on a Beatle, Scott and Hem, and Out of Gas on Lover’s Leap. The Happiest Man on Earth premiered at Barrington Stage Company as did his newest play, Forgiveness. With Randy Courts he has written the musicals The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller, and Jack’s Holiday. Mark’s musical, Stand by Your Man, The Tammy Wynette Story, was created for Nashville’s Ryman Theater. With John Markus he wrote the comedy with music, The Fabulous Lipitones and with Josh Bergasse co-created the dance musical, A Crossing. Great Barrington Public Theater premiered his plays Dad and Public Speaking 101 Mark wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Freud’s Last Session, which starred Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode. He co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard’s Warner Brothers film, Duma. His play The God Committee has been made into a film with the same name. He directed and

produced the documentary, My Dog, An Unconditional Love Story, featuring Richard Gere and Glenn Close among others. Television credits include “The Cosby Show” and Dick Wolf’s “Crime and Punishment”. His books include the comedic memoir Walking Evil and the thriller, The Mirror Man. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer’s Guild East and an Associate Artist at the Barrington Stage Company. Barrington Stage named its second stage “The St. Germain Stage.”

DIRECTOR

RON LAGOMARSINO (Director) most recently directed The Happiest Man on Earth at London’s Southwark Playhouse, following the staging of its world premiere at Barrington Stage Company (multiple Berkshire Theater Critics Awards, including Best Director; Broadway World Award). He helmed the world premieres of Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy (Drama Desk Award nomination, Pulitzer Prize) and The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Tony Award for Best, Pulitzer Finalist). The national tour of Driving Miss Daisy (Helen Hayes nomination) starred Julie Harris and Brock Peters, and Dame Wendy Hiller led the West End cast. For his productions of Daisy, Christopher Durang’s Laughing Wild, and Timothy Mason’s Only You he received the Outer Critics Circle Award. He directed Joseph Dougherty’s Chester Bailey at Irish Repertory Theater in New York (Outer Critics Award nomination for Outstanding Play), following its acclaimed run at Barrington Stage (NY Times Critics Pick; multiple BTC Awards, including Best Director), and its world premiere at A.C.T. in San Francisco (multiple Theater Bay Area Awards including Best New Play, Best Production). Other premieres include works by John Patrick Shanley, Beth Henley, Jane Anderson (Ovation nomination for Looking for Normal), and Joseph Dougherty’s Digby (Drama Desk nomination). On Broadway Ron directed the Joseph Dougherty/Lynn Ahrens/Stephen Flaherty musical My Favorite Year. His own play Jerome was a Finalist at the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and twice workshopped at NY Stage & Film. His extensive television credits include the pilots of David E. Kelley’s Emmy Winning “Picket Fences” (Directors Guild of America Award), and “Homefront” (Emmy Award nomination). Favorite episodic work includes “thirtysomething,” “My SoCalled Life,” “Ally McBeal,” and “Pretty Little Liars.” Ron served as Co-Executive Director of “Ravenswood,” the spin-off of “Pretty Little Liars.” Movies for TV include the Hallmark Hall of Fame My Sister’s Keeper, starring Kathy Bates and Lynn Redgrave (National Association for Mental Illness Media Award for Direction). The recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship,

Ron has served as Resident Director of Hartford Stage Company and Associate Artistic Director of Berkshire Theater Festival. A native San Franciscan, he is a graduate of Santa Clara University (valedictorian) and New York University School of the Arts.

CREATIVE TEAM

BRENDAN AANES (Sound Designer). Recently: Taylor Mac’s Bark of Millions (International tour), Forgiveness (Barrington Stage Co.), The Cherry Orchard (St. Ann’s Warehouse), Orlando (Signature Theater), Fire in Dreamland (The Public Theater), Balls (One Year Lease, Drama Desk Nomination), Catch as Catch Can (Page 73), Tip The Ivy (Performance Space), Chester Bailey (Irish Rep), Beep Boop (HERE), and my lingerie play (Rattlestick) International: Great Comet of 1812 (Shanghai Grand Theater), Edinburgh Fringe, Magic Mike Live (Vegas/London/Berlin/Australia). Credits outside of theater include interactive sound installations with David Byrne and other artists.

HAROLD BURGESS (Lighting Designer). Based in the Baltimore/ Washington, D.C region, Harold has been designing for the last 25 years. This is his first production at the DCPA. INTERNATIONAL: The Happiest Man on Earth (Southwark Playhouse, London, UK). REGIONAL: Where the Mountain Meets the Sea, Clyde’s (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Magdalene, Kevin Kling: Unraveled, The Happiest Man on Earth (Contemporary American Theatre Festival); Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Signature Theatre); My Children! My Africa! (Studio Theatre); Radio Golf, Nine Night, Nollywood Dreams, A Boy and His Soul, A Doll’s House Part 2 (Roundhouse Theatre); Intimate Apparel, Broken Glass (Theatre J); A Doll’s House, Part 2, Grounded (Northern Stage); Aubergine, Thurgood, Grounded (Olney Theatre Center); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Primary Trust, And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, Flyin’ West, Sweat, Grounded, Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Brothers Size (Everyman Theatre, resident designer). AWARDS: 2020 Independent Artist Award, Maryland State Arts Council. TEACHING: Director, College Park Scholars Arts Program, University of Maryland. EDUCATION: MFA, University of Maryland. Member, United Scenic Artists, Local 829. WEBSITE: haroldburgessdesign.com

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.

JAMES NOONE (Scenic Designer) has been a scenic designer in NYC since 1983. James has worked for some of NYC’s most prestigious theatre companies including Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, and numerous others. Off-Broadway he designed the original productions of Terrance McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Three Tall Women, and Full Gallop and Fully Committed. Other Off-Broadway shows include Cowgirls, Breaking Legs, the original production of A Bronx Tale, the first revival of Boys in the Band, and the musical Ruthless. Broadway productions include Sunset Boulevard (revival), Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Jekyll and Hyde, and A Class Act. For Tony Randall’s National Actors Theatre, The Persians, Judgement at Nuremberg, Night Must Fall, The Sunshine Boys and The Gin Game He has designed at many of the leading regional theatres as well as numerous national tours including, The Shakespeare Theatre DC, Center Theatre Group, The Guthrie, Long Wharf, Goodspeed Musicals, Old Globe, Cleveland Playhouse, Baltimore Center Stage, Studio Theatre DC, Signature Theatre DC, Williamstown Theatre Festival and many others. His work in opera has been seen at the Glimmerglass Festival, NYC Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Washington National Opera, Canadian Opera, Chateau de Versailles Spectacles. For television he has designed for Live from Lincoln Center, Great Performances, and the HBO production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. Head of Scenic Design Program at Boston University.

JOHANNA PAN (Costume Designer). Costume and sometimes scenic designer for Theatre, Film, Dance and Opera, a textile and visual artist. They first discovered theatrical design while competing in the creative thinking competition Odyssey of the Mind and has never looked back. Johanna’s artistic practice is centered around decolonizing the imagination, breaking down the notions of feminized labor, and anti-racism. They continue to harbor hope for a more sustainable humankind in the face of adversity. BFA: Ithaca College, MFA: NYU/TISCH, @jpandesign

GOOD SOUP ENTERTAINMENT

(Producer) a production company founded by Charlie Stone and Adam Maust (itsgoodsoup.com). Projects include Just In Time (Broadway), Gatsby Immersive (Off-Broadway), and The Happiest Man on Earth (Off-West End). Charlie has 18 years producing experience on Broadway and national tours. Past credits include The Band’s Visit (Tony Award), Once (Tony Award), and The Glass Menagerie (Dir John Tiffany). Adam has 18 years experience successfully managing hundreds of campaigns throughout the country. He is the founder of creative agency Mighty (mightyones.com).

EVAN

BERNARDIN PRODUCTIONS

(General Management) has managed over one hundred productions in New York City, London, and touring markets. New York credits include: Masquerade, Here There Are Blueberries (Lortel), The Jonathan Larson Project, Seven Deadly Sins (Drama Desk), Douglas Carter Beane’s Fairycakes, The Great Gatsby: Immersive, Fatherland, Afterglow, and We Are The Tigers. Touring: On Your Feet!, Dreamworks’ Madagascar, Million Dollar Quartet, Sony Pictures’ Insidious: The Further You Fear, and the current concert tours of Avatar The Last Airbender and Twilight. Regionally: Velour: A Drag Spectacular at La Jolla Playhouse, Las Aventuras de Juan Planchard at Miami New Drama, and Reefer Madness in Los Angeles.

STAGE MANAGEMENT

SAGE HUGHES (Stage Manager) Previously at the DCPA: The Suffragette’s Murder, Hamlet, Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, Emma, Cebollas, A Little Night Music, Theater of the Mind, Colorado New Play Summit, Choir Boy, Rattlesnake Kate, and A Christmas Carol. Other regional credits include UNDONE: The Lady M Project and Local Lab 12 (Local Theater Company); Kinky Boots, The Revolutionists, and The Phantom Tollbooth (Hangar Theatre Company); and Shoes for the Santo Niño (Santa Fe Opera) Production management credits: Sweeney Todd, Queens Girl in the World, Lost Girl, and The Sun Serpent (Hangar) Sage holds a BA in Theatre and English from the University of New Mexico.

THEATRE COMPANY LEADERSHIP TEAM

CHRIS COLEMAN (Artistic Director) 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 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.

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.

TAKING PHOTOS AT THE THEATRE

We welcome you to take photos in the theatre before and after the performance. If you post on social media, please credit, and tag the DCPA and the design team:

@denvercenter

Playwright: Mark St. Germain

Director: Ron Lagomarsino

Scenic Designer: James Noone

Costume Designer: Johanna Pan

Lighting Designer: Harold Burgess

Sound Designer: Brendan Aanes

Photos and the video and/or audio recording during any part of the performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited

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.

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

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 Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is one of the largest non-profit theatre organizations in the nation, presenting Broadway tours and producing theatre, cabaret, musicals, and immersive productions. In its 2023/24 season, the DCPA offered 908,685 engagements, generating a $193.4 million economic impact.

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.

In addition to DCPA staff, the following crew worked on this production: Andy Bruening, Jason Bushey, Lisa Ehrle, Christina HadleyDike, Nikki Mayer, and Ava Rast.

Evan Bernardin Productions

Evan Bernardin Hillel Friedman Jenna Lazar

Sarah Battaglia Will Blumberg Ella Lieberman Lico Whitfield

SWEET & LUCKY RETURNS WITH ECHO

BY JOANNE OSTROW

SSweet & Lucky, the 360-degree, dream-like dance-theater experience that catapulted Denver, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, and Off-Center to the forefront of the immersive theater world in 2016, returns with Sweet & Lucky: Echo. Neither sequel nor prequel, Echo has been incubating for years and aims to be similar enough but different enough to engross fans of the original.

The same creators, design team, and many of the same performers are back, this time in a different Denver warehouse with a different theatrical structure, scaled differently but with the same themes.

If the original Sweet & Lucky was about facilitating a sense of intimacy, Echo is about fostering a sense of community.

During the Covid shutdown, Denver native Zach Morris of New York’s Third Rail Projects relocated here to be close to family. He and Charlie Miller of DCPA’s Off-Center met regularly (six feet apart, with blankets and a heater in Miller’s backyard) to discuss what might come next. After Miller collaborated with David Byrne on Theater of the Mind, “we started talking more seriously about Sweet & Lucky: Echo being our next produced show,” Miller said. “We’ve been actively working on this one since 2022.”

According to the collaborators, the structure of the original was invisible to the audience as attendees were led in a more solitary experience through a labyrinth of rooms and encounters; the structure of this work is visible to the audience, as a central space transforms around them. As before, individual audience members will see different combinations of scenes.

Sweet & Lucky: Echo centers on a couple, their love relationship. It’s about memory, loss, and making sense of what’s left behind in someone’s life.

— CHARLIE MILLER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CURATOR, DCPA OFF-CENTER

Don’t expect it to be like a night at the Buell, although there will be optional seating available through much of the show.

Describing a changed financial reality, physical constraints, and a socially different atmosphere, Miller said, “we couldn’t remount the show even if we wanted to. What has emerged is a new play, a new experience, that has the heart, the soul of Sweet & Lucky, staged in a new way.”

Having a larger audience is necessary to make it financially viable and also is now central to the show, he said.

How will the story be different for those who enjoyed the original Sweet & Lucky? Associate directors Edward Rice and Rebekah Morin of Third Rail said via email, “We have been thinking about the story as though it has been refracted through a prism. Some moments are being

amplified and duplicated, while others are seen through a characterspecific lens. We get to experience both the present and the memories of the past and consider how they affect each other.”

The 27,000 square-foot warehouse where Echo is taking shape is where the immersive MONOPOLY LIFESIZED: Travel Edition took place in 2024, previously the site of the former Dollar Tree on South Broadway. The DCPA has a lease on the building for another year.

The space will accommodate 192 audience members with 14 actors, two stage managers, five crew plus front of house personnel. This time, Miller is glad to say, “we built a real bar with real plumbing.”

Beyond what’s on offer at The Keepsake Bar, this experience promises to feel very different.

Careful to avoid spoilers, Miller will only say that “instead of moving room to room, the audience is in one large primary space that transforms around you.” The themes are familiar, as Echo uses the same source material, and some scenes are reimagined or replayed. “It centers on a couple, their love relationship. It’s about memory, loss, and making sense of what’s left behind in someone’s life.”

Three of the original performers return — Amanda Berg Wilson, Diana Dresser, and Jenna Moll Reyes. And the design team is the same as in 2016 — Lisa M. Orzolek, scenic design; Meghan Anderson Doyle, costume design; Charles R. MacLeod, lighting design; and Sean Hagerty, composer and sound design. Audiences will note some familiar faces from DCPA shows. Additionally, a couple of Third Rail veterans have relocated here to be part of this show.

2016’s Sweet & Lucky was “a defining moment for our artistic community,” Miller said. Denver’s immersive scene now is considered one of the most robust in the country. “I’m eager to see what this new version spawns as well.”

The route to Echo has been “a rollercoaster,” Miller said. Not least, the site had a number of restrictions and required a hefty financial investment to build out the space. The ceilings aren’t high enough to make it rain, for example. But, Miller said, that has ended up being “a liberating artistic opportunity.”

Expect “no rain, but other exciting reveals,” he said.

The production will offer 24 premium tickets each night, which entitles participants to what Miller describes as “a cool keepsake and participation in a special scene 30 minutes after the show ends, in a private space, not an epilogue but a sort of bonus content,” in which they can go deeper into one of the storylines and have a chance to connect with the performers.

Not that premium tickets will help the production break even.

“The cost of creating these shows from scratch is so high, we would have to run them for years to recoup the investment. It is not revenue positive,” Miller said diplomatically. That’s where sponsors, donors, and grants come in.

“The immersive theater landscape has greatly expanded in the last decade,” Rice and Morin said. “Traditional theatergoers have certainly embraced immersive theater, and you can see that in Broadway taking on elements of the form. We have also seen people who wouldn’t normally consider themselves theatergoers get interested in this form because it has expanded into multiple performance practices: live-action role-play, escape rooms, murder mystery dinner parties, haunted houses, and 360 visual installations etc.”

Echo is none of those things, but an innovative step in multisensory theater.

SWEET & LUCKY: ECHO

NOW PLAYING AT BROADWAY PARK®

407 S. Broadway at Broadway & Alameda

Alberto Denis. Photo by Jamie Kraus Photography.

SETTING THE STAGE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING

BY SUZANNE YOE

In 1985, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) launched its arts education program with a simple school tour. By 1992, it had expanded to include acting instruction for students of all ages — and its impact has only grown.

From career readiness and early childhood literacy to in-school residencies and student matinees, DCPA Education engages nearly 144,000 students each year through 12 programs including the popular Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) early childhood production.

The program debuted in 2017 with a pilot production of Oily Cart’s In a Pickle. Now the program welcomes as many as 43,500 children ages PreK through third grade each year. This season, Goodnight Moon returns by popular demand, running Oct. 24, 2025-Jan. 25, 2026 in the Weeks Conservatory Theatre

Created specifically for the DCPA by playwright Chad Henry and director Allison Watrous with in-house design by Denver Center Theatre Company artisans, this show brings Bunny, kittens, bears, cows, the red balloon, and a (not-so-quiet) old lady to life on stage.

Thanks to support from the Genesee Mountain Foundation, Chevron, DaVita, Alan & Carol Meny, and the Rollie R. Kelley Family Foundation, Theatre for Young Audiences has grown so popular that DCPA Education lengthened the run by more than 40 performances. To broaden access, the DCPA offers $16 tickets to its student matinees and regularly supplements ticket costs with discounts and scholarships. Of the nearly 21,560 tickets distributed last season, 67% were free or low-cost. Plus, school groups are always treated to a complimentary pre- or post-show activity that enriches the experience.

“Experiencing live theatre allows children to connect their experiences to stories on stage,” said Watrous. “Theatre for Young Audiences is the first steppingstone of our curriculum that — paired with classes, residencies, and all of the DCPA’s wonderful productions — fosters a lifelong love of theatre.”

To learn more about Theatre for Young Audiences and how you can support all of the DCPA’s educational opportunities, visit denvercenter.org.

Photo by McLeod9Creative.

BALLYHOO

SEASON AT THE DCPA

From festive favorites and holiday classics to heartwarming stories and laugh-out-loud comedies, the DCPA transforms into a wonderland of storytelling and connection during the season of gathering.

Since 1965, ABC Custom Framing has been Denver’s trusted choice for museum-quality custom framing.

From fine art to heirlooms, memorabilia, and more, we craft frames that preserve, elevate, and transform your space. Framing isn’t just about protection—it’s about making a statement.

Denver

Complimentary dessert

&

IN DOWNTOWN DENVER

Panzano

Three-course Pre-Theatre Menu for $60 per person with an optional wine pairing for $30

Complete the perfect outing with special offers from our DCPA Restaurant Partners.

Just show your theatre tickets and enjoy!

range

Complimentary valet parking and dessert with purchase of entrée

Complimentary valet parking and 20% off bill

Dazzle

Rioja Free glass of our proprietary Barcino C3 Cava

STK Steakhouse

Champagne Tiger 10% off Final Bill before tax

A PROUD PARTNER OF THE DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

CChevron has invested in Colorado for more than 90 years and today Chevron is the largest oil and gas producer in Colorado, with close to 1,000 employees. We know how to deliver affordable, reliable, and ever-cleaner energy and we are investing resources and time to find ways to drastically lower the carbon intensity of the energy we produce while maintaining the important pillars of affordability and reliability.

Our company and our employees take pride investing our time and talent into the many communities we call home. Chevron invests millions of dollars and volunteers thousands of hours with community organizations across the state. Our focus areas include meeting essential needs, promoting diversity and inclusion, enhancing education, providing arts experiences, and protecting the environment.

Through several different partners, Chevron supports science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects at universities, community colleges, K-12 schools, and career technical education centers on the Front Range and Western Slope.

We also work with non-profits whose programming encourages young boys and girls to explore STEM in various ways. Our support of robotics programs in several schools enables youth to have hands-on learning.

We have proudly supported the Denver Center for the Performing Arts for more than three years, believing in its vital contribution to the state’s creative energy. The arts are for everyone, and Chevron’s contribution enables DCPA’s educational programs, youth theater, budding teen playwrights, Denver’s own theater company, and Broadway productions.

Congratulations on another wonderful year bringing the performing arts to all the Front Range, and indeed, Colorado.

To learn more about Chevron and our community investments, please visit https://colorado.chevron.com/

Supporting communities is a treasured and fundamental ethic of Chevron employees. They are proud to volunteer at food banks, environmental projects, fundraisers, and more.

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

— ANDY AYE, CO/AZ/NV/NM

MARKET

LEADER, GIS

TThe 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.”

THANK YOU

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the following donors of $250+ between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025.

+ Includes in-kind support

* Deceased

EXTRAORDINARY GIVING

Scientific and Cultural

Facilities District

PLATINUM CIRCLE

($100,000+)

Chevron Corporation

Marike & Greg Fitzgerald

Genesee Mountain Foundation

Robert & Judi Newman

The Shubert Foundation

U.S. Bank

GOLD CIRCLE

($50,000-$99,999)

Bret & Cindy Bolin

Estate of Isabelle Clark

Dorota & Kevin Kilstrom

Lewis E. Myers, Jr.

Scholarship Fund

The Morgridge Family Foundation

Everett Schneider & Robert Phifer

Martin & Jo Semple

SILVER CIRCLE

($25,000-$49,999)

Anonymous

The Anschutz Foundation

Tom & Mary Bagley

CIBC Private Wealth

Management

Edgerton Foundation

Keith & Kathie Finger

Elizabeth & Nelson Hioe

Deborah Kelly

Betsy Kiley & Steve Knox

Ruth Krebs & Peter Mannetti

MDC/Richmond American

Homes Foundation

Ralph & Trish Nagel

Eva Schoonmaker

Mark Sexton and the Sexton Family Foundation

The Sheri and Les Biller

Family Foundation

Robert & Carole Slosky

June Travis

Ken & Debra Tuchman

Tim & Stephanie White

Walter Wilson & Drew Englund

Xcel Energy Foundation

Sylvia Young & David Young, M.D.

BRONZE CIRCLE

($15,000-$24,999)

Antero Resources

Brownstein Hyatt Farber

Schreck, LLP

The Buell Foundation

BuildStrong Foundation

Cruiser Accessories

David & Laura Merage

Foundation

DaVita Inc.

FirstBank Holding Company of Colorado

Susan Fox Pinkowitz &

Ted Pinkowitz

Michael Gosline & Don Werner

Norma Horner & John Estes

IMA Financial Independent Financial

Barbara Kelley

Nicholas & Jennifer Kemp

Diana & Mike Kinsey

Lori & Bill Kurtz

William & Kim Lewis

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc.

Gayle & Steve Mooney

PNC Bank

James & Stacy Rechtin

The Sam and Beth Coyle

Family Charitable Fund

Steven Schenbeck

Janice Sinden

Dean Singleton

George & Kristin Strompolos

Bea Taplin

Transamerica

Pamela & Joe Woods

SPOTLIGHT VISIONARY

($10,000-$14,999)

Alpine Bank of Colorado

Susan & Andrew Anderson

Anonymous

Delaney & Kristine Bensler

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THEATRE BUILDER

($5,000-$9,999)

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ARTISTIC DREAMER

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THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS

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Jonathan Miller

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Karen Musick

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Andrew Martin

David & Vicky Norris

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Dan & Jeanne O’Shaughnessy

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Fred & Ayliffe Ris

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Bret Roberts

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Susan Rodger

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RPM Parking Companies

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Family Fund

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Christine Shore

Terry Siek & Randy Fitch

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Martha Sloven

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Steinberg Giving Fund

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Mark Stotik

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ENSEMBLE

($250-$499)

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Susan Daggett

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Baryn Futa

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Cindy Garcia

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Larry Green

Shannon & Maya Green

Kristin Hakalmazian

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THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS

Karen Hamilton

Linda Hamilton

Daniel Harris

JoAnne Hart

Steven Heil

Tim Held

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Connie Hewitson

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Kathy Hodak

Wendy Hodges

Carol Hunziker

Vivian Iniguez

Jason Richter MD

Charitable Fund

Paula Jensen

Heather Jordan

James Judge

Lara A Kendrick

Gwen Kerby

Derek Kiernan-Johnson

Tom Kirkpatrick

Roland Kjeso

Melvyn & Roberta Klein

Zeena Kohr

David Krell

Laff Foundation

Richard Leaman

Robin Lee

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Joseph McTee

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H Michael Miller

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Ann Reid

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Joe Schweid

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Dawn Song

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Charles Wehrwein

Wendy Weil

Mary Werth

Tim Wieland

Cynthia Williams

Susan Willson

Young Americans Center for Financial Education

Eugene & Tita Zeffren

Brian Ziolkowski

GIFTS IN KIND

Ameristar Casino Resort Spa

Aramark Destinations

The ART Hotel

Balani Custom Clothiers

Bonneville Denver

Jane Boone

The Brown Palace Hotel

The Buell Foundation

Carboy Winery

CBS Colorado

Central City Opera

Champagne Tiger

Christine June Photography

Cirque du Soleil

City Floral Garden Center

Club Greenwood

Colorado Public Radio

Colorado Sightseer

Colorado Symphony

Comedy Works

Chris Davis

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Delta Airlines

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Denver Divers and the Swim School of Denver

Denver Film Society

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

The Denver Post

Denver7/KMGH (ABC)

Disney Theatricals

El Semanario

Emma Lynn Esthetics

Event Rents

Devon & Hannah Fitzgerald

The FlyFisher Guide

Service LLC

The Four Seasons and EDGE

Restaurant and Bar

The Fox Hill Club

Garbarini

Grand Hyatt Vail

Halcyon Hotel Cherry Creek

Darrell Hammond

HEARD Digital Marketing

Robin Heppler-Seay & Jon Seay

Hermes Worldwide

Hermitage Bookshop

Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center

Hydrate IV Bar

Inside the Orchestra

The Jacquard Hotel

Jay’s Valet

Jiang Photography

Kendra Scott Jewelry

Kroenke Sports Enterprises

KUSA/Channel 9 News

Le Meridien Denver

Downtown

Limelight Hotels

Charles MacLeod

Kyle Malone

Mark Stevens Photography

Graham Marsden

McNeil Designer Portraits

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc.

The NOW Massage

Ordinary Fellow Winery

The Oxford Hotel Denver

Panzano

Planet Bluegrass

Populus Hotel

The Publishing House

range Restaurant / Renaissance Denver

Downtown

Redstone Castle

Rioja

Rocky Mountain Events

Sage Hospitality

Resources, LLC

Saks Fifth Avenue

Salt Water Social

Scissors & Scotch

Serendipity Catering

Skin Spirit

The Slate Hotel

Sonnenalp Vail Hotel

Michelle & Roger Stansbury

STK Denver

Terra Bella

Trinchero Family Estates

UCHealth

Julie Ulstrup

Vintage Theatre

Westin Denver Downtown

Wines for Humanity

ENDOWMENTS

& LONG-TERM FUNDS

SUPPORTING DCPA PROGRAMS AND PRODUCTIONS

Boettcher Foundation Endowment

The Doug Langworthy Fund

Frost Endowment

Hearst Foundation Endowment

Janice Sinden Endowment

The National Theatre Conservatory Fellowship Fund

The New Play Fund

The Randy Weeks Fund

Robert & Carole Slosky Endowment

Robert & Judi Newman Endowment

The Women’s Voices Fund

BEST OF BROADWAY SOCIETY MEMBERS

Alpine Bank of Colorado

Susan & Andrew Anderson

Antero Resources

Tom & Mary Bagley

Mary & Barry Berlin

Bret & Cindy Bolin

John Carlen & Jean Gleason

Chevron Corporation

The Chotin Foundation

CIBC Private Wealth

Management

Robert* & Kathleen Clark

Lisa & Tom Corley

Cruiser Accessories

Greg & Allison D’Argonne

Margaret DesCombes

John & Kathryn Dunn

Judy Dunn

Edgemark, LLC

Heidi Elliott

Kathie & Keith Finger

Adrienne Ruston Fitzgibbons

William Fortune

Genesee Mountain

Foundation

Norma Horner & John Estes

HRM Resources LLC

Kathy Huwaldt

Barbara Kelley

Dan & Lisa Kelly

Nicholas & Jennifer Kemp

Kevin & Dorota Kilstrom

Ruth Krebs & Peter Mannetti

Lori & Bill Kurtz

Land Title

William & Kim Lewis

Ron Litvak & Amy Gaines

Yoav Lurie & Lana Kimayeva

Scott & Ingrid Lynn

Jodell Mizoue

Monarch Casino &

Resort, Inc.

Gayle & Steve Mooney

Erica Motes

Emily & Amit Mrig

Ralph & Trish Nagel

Robert & Judi Newman

Sherri Nitta

Craig Ponzio

Nancy Rebek

James & Stacy Rechtin

Cheri & Alan Rubin

Everett Schneider &

Robert Phifer

Martin & Jo Semple

Mark Sexton

Alison & James Shetter

Steven & Kerri Siegel

Dorothea Simmons

Dean Singleton

Stonebridge Companies

George & Kristin Strompolos

Steve Talley

Debi & Jerry Tepper

June Travis

Ken & Debra Tuchman

U.S. Bank

Matthew Van Praag

Steven & Tricia Vath

Ron Villarreal

Judi Wolf

Pamela & Joe Woods

Xcel Energy Foundation

Sylvia Young & David Young, M.D.

DIRECTORS SOCIETY MEMBERS

Tom & Mary Bagley

Mary & Barry Berlin

Rasmani Bhattacharya & Claude Pumilia

Patricia & Chris Billinger

Joan Briggs

John Carlen & Jean Gleason

Brent & Christine Case

Jennifer Caskey

Mike & Pam Copp

Margaret DesCombes

Matthew & Karin Dolph

Judy Dunn

Matthew & Lisa Emerson

Caryl & Ken Field

Larry & Joanne Fisher

Adrienne Ruston Fitzgibbons

Susan Fox Pinkowitz &

Ted Pinkowitz

Rich Garvin

Margot Gilbert Frank

Michael Gosline &

Don Werner

Elizabeth & Nelson Hioe

Deborah Kelly

Kevin & Dorota Kilstrom

Diana & Mike Kinsey

John & Joanne Kirby

William LaBahn

Ron Litvak & Amy Gaines

Alan & Carol Meny

Christian & Katrin Mezger

David Miller & Katherine Dines

Jonathan Miller

Ralph & Trish Nagel

Robert & Judi Newman

Nancy & Paul Oberman

Timothy O’Donnell

Patricia Robinson

Cheri & Alan Rubin

Martin & Jo Semple

Dean Singleton

Robert & Carole Slosky

Alan & Gayle Talesnick

Debi & Jerry Tepper

June Travis

Rosalind Ward

Walter Wilson & Drew Englund

Judi Wolf

While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our donor listings, we apologize for any errors or omissions. Please contact us at 303.446.4812 if we made an error in your acknowledgment so that we can correct our records for future listings. Thank you!

The DCPA would like to extend an extra measure of gratitude to our Encore Society members, who have made a long-term commitment to the theatre by including us in their estate plans.

Thanks to you, the show will go on!

JOIN THE ENCORE SOCIETY

One of our core values at Carboy is growing a community and creating a cultural experience for wine in Colorado.

— KEVIN WEBBER, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, CARBOY WINERY

COFFICIAL CORPORATE WINE SPONSOR OF THE DCPA

Carboy Winery is excited to announce its partnership with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA), bringing together Colorado’s flourishing wine scene and the city’s dynamic arts community. This collaboration reflects Carboy’s ongoing commitment to enriching the local landscape and fostering meaningful connections through wine.

Known for its innovative and bold approach to winemaking, Carboy has played a pivotal role in the Colorado wine renaissance. “One of our core values at Carboy is growing a community and creating a cultural experience for wine in Colorado,” says Kevin Webber, CEO and cofounder. “Partnering with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts allows us to further that mission by supporting one of the state’s most influential creative institutions.”

Carboy Winery remains steadfast in its mission to increase awareness of Colorado wine and embed it into the state’s ethos through a variety of imaginative initiatives. This partnership with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts exemplifies Carboy’s dedication to that vision. By blending the art of winemaking with the energy of live theater, Carboy seeks to make Colorado wine an essential part of the community experience. The collaboration provides an opportunity to highlight the unique character of Carboy’s wines while engaging audiences in a way that celebrates the innovation and vibrancy of the region. Through this alliance, Carboy is redefining how people experience both wine and the arts, inspiring a deeper connection to Colorado’s adventurous spirit.

FEATURED EVENTS

Oct. 3-12: Pride and Prejudice

By Kate Hamill Tickets $32

THEATRE & DANCE

Oct. 24 and 26: Dead Man Walking

Music by Jake Heggie, Libretto by Terrence McNally Tickets start at $18 COLLEGE OF MUSIC

Nov. 7-16: The Olive Tree

By Satya Chávez Tickets $24

THEATRE & DANCE

Nov. 13-16: Cabaret

Book by Joe Masteroff, Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb Tickets st art at $32

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

DCPA TEAM

DCPA

Janice Sinden President & CEO

Donna Hendricks Executive Assistant, President & CEO

Julie Schumaker Manager, Board Relations

ACCOUNTING & FINANCE

Jane Williams CFAO

Sara Brandenburg Director, Accounting Services

Jennifer Jeffrey Director, Financial Planning & Analysis

Kristina Monge Associate Accountant

Eric Montoya Accountant

Rachel Rodriguez Manager, Accounting

Jennifer Siemers Director, Accounting

BROADWAY & CABARET

John Ekeberg Executive Director

Administration

Ashley Brown Business Manager

Alicia Bruce General Manager

Lisa Prater Operations Manager

Garner Galleria Theatre

Abel Becerra Technical Director

Jason Begin+, Anna Hookana+ Core Stagehands

DEVELOPMENT

Jamie Clements Vice President

Sarah Darlene Manager, Grants & Reports

Kara Erickson-Stiemke Manager, Annual Giving & Stewardship

Emily Kettlewell Director, Development Operations

Caitie Maxwell Senior Director, Major Gifts

Marc Ravenhill Director, Donor Relations

Sarah Smith Development Coordinator

Megan Stewart Associate Director, Special Events

EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Allison Watrous Executive Director

Stuart Barr Technical Director

Leslie Channell Director, Business Operations

Lyndsay Corbett Teaching Artist & Manager, Bobby G

María Corral Director, Community Engagement

Heather Curran Teaching Artist & Manager, Playwriting

Elliot Davis Evening Registrar & Office Coordinator

Rachel Ducat Executive Assistant & Business Manager

Rya Dyes Registrar & On-Site Class Manager

Gavin Juckette Teaching Artist & Manager, TYA Engagement & Music

Timothy McCracken Head of Acting

Rick Mireles Manager, Community Engagement

David Saphier Teaching Artist & Manager, In-School Programming

Charlotte Talbert Librarian

Rachel Taylor Teaching Artist & Manager, Literary Engagement & Resiliency

Justin Walvoord Teaching Artist & Manager, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot

Samuel Wood Director, Education & Curriculum Development

EVENT SERVICES

Danielle Levine, Blair Quiring Senior Sales & Event Managers

Stori Heleen-O’Foley Event Technical Manager

Shane Hotle Audio Engineer

Phil Rohrbach, Jacob Noon Sales & Event Managers

Tara Miller Event Sales & Operations Director

Brook Nichols Event Technical Director

Benjamin Peitzer Event Technical Lead

Savannah Singleton Event Captain

Michael Harris Lighting Designer

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Lisa Roebuck Vice President

For security purposes, the IT team has been omitted.

MARKETING & SALES

Angela Lakin Vice President

Whitney Testa Executive Assistant, Marketing & Broadway

Communications

Suzanne Yoe Director

Heidi Bosk, Brittany Gutierrez Associate Directors

Todd Metcalf Media Producer

Creative Services

Kyle Malone Director,

Sofia Contreras, Lucas Kreitler Graphic Designers

Paul Koob Senior Graphic Designer

Noelle Norris Traffic Coordinator

Digital

Michael Ryan Leuthner Director

Erin Bunyard Senior Strategist

Harper Anne Finch Manager, Social Media

Hannah Selwyn Manager, Email

Sergio von Kretschmann Manager, Web

Insights & Strategy

Emily Kent Director

Dan McNulty Analyst

Marketing

Claire Graves Director

Emily Lozow Associate Director

Emmy VanLangevelde Manager

Julie Whelan Manager

Maddie Young Manager

Mikayla Woods Coordinator

Ticketing & Audience Services

Jennifer Lopez Director

Valery Ackley*, Jessica Alverson*, Zeah Edmonds*, Lauren Estes*, Jen Gray*, Noah Jungferman*, Holly Stigen*,

Asheala Tasker*, Bronwen VanOrdstrand*,

Rob Warner* Ticket Agents

Kirsten Anderson*, Scott Lix*,

Liz Sieroslawski*,

Greg Swan* Subscription Agents

Jon Collins Manager, Subscription

D.J. Dennis*, Edmund Gurule*, Hayley Solano*, Sam Stump*, Andrew Sullivan*, Alfonso Vazquez*, Max McCord* Counter/Show Leads

Billy Dutton Associate Director, Operations

Katie Davis, Claire Hayes, Ella Mann,

Lane Randall Managers, Box Office

Chris Leech VIP Ticketing Associate

Katie Spanos Associate Director, Subscriber Services

Group Sales

Jessica Bergin Associate Director

Elias Lopez Associate

OFF-CENTER

Charlie Miller Executive Director & Curator

OPERATIONS

Sarah Arzberger,

Danielle Freeman Managers

Aaron Chavez Lead

Ruben Cruz, Jordan Latouche Engineers

Simone Gordon Director

Kyle Greufe Senior Analyst

Maria Herwagen Junior Analyst

Brandon LeMarr Associate Director

Alison Orthel, Tara Perticone Analysts

Joseph Reecher Senior Engineer

PEOPLE & CULTURE

Laura Maresca CPCO

Equity & Organization Culture

Seán Kroll Specialist

Human Resources

Brian Carter Senior Business Partner

Andrew Guilder Recruiter & HR Generalist

Michaela Johnson Mailroom Assistant

Paul Johnson Manager, Payroll & Compliance

Jocelyn Martinez Business Partner

Kinsey Scholl Manager, Operations

THEATRE COMPANY

Administration

Charles Varin Managing Director

Emily Diaz Business Admin./ Asst. Company Manager

Jessica Eckenrod Line Producer

Alex Koszewski Company Manager

Ann Marshall General Manager

Artistic

Chris Coleman Artistic Director

Grady Soapes Artistic Producer & Casting Director

Leean Kim Torske Director, Literary Programs

Madison Cook-Hines Literary Assistant

Costume Crafts

Kevin Copenhaver Director

Chris Campbell Assistant

Costume Shop

Janet MacLeod Director/Design Associate

Meghan Anderson Doyle Design Associate

Katarina Kosmopoulos First Hand

Ingrid Ludeke, Carolyn Plemitscher Drapers

House Crew

Douglas Taylor+ Supervisor

James Berman+, Dave Mazzeno+, Kyle Moore+, Heather Sparling+, Matt Wagner+ Stagehands

Joseph Price+, Kelley Reznik+ Assistants

Lighting Design

Charles MacLeod Director

Connor Baker+ Production Electrician

Lily Bradford Assistant

Paint Shop

Kristin Hamer MacFarlane Charge Scenic Artist

Melanie Rentschler, Sasha Seaman Scenic Artists

Production

Jeff Gifford Director

Julie Brou Administrative Assistant/ Office Manager

Matthew Campbell Production Manager

Peggy Carey Production Manager

Prop Shop

Meghan Markiewicz Supervisor

Sara Pugh Associate Supervisor

Bennet Goldberg, Ashley Lawler Artisans

Scene Shop

Eric Moore Technical Director

Albert “Stub” Allison, Robert L. Orzolek, Josh Prues Associate Technical Directors

Jeremy Banthoff, Tyler D. Clark, Amy Wynn Pastor, Kyle Scoggins Scenic Technicians

Louis Fernandez III Lead Scenic Technician

Brian “Marco” Markiewicz Lead Carpenter

Scenic Design

Lisa Orzolek Director

Nicholas Renaud Assistant

Sound Design & Technology

Alex Billman Supervisor

Meagan Holdeman+, Timothy Schoeberl+, Dimitri Soto+ Technicians

Elena Martin Associate Supervisor

Stage Management

Anne Jude Supervisor

Chandra R.M. Anthenill, Corin Davidson, Kristin Dwyer, Elizabeth Ann Goodman, Harper Hadley, Sage Hughes, Melissa J. Michelson, Christine Rose Moore, Nick Nyquist, Kristen O’Connor, Brooke Redler, Malia Stoner Stage Managers

Sage Goetsch, Dylan Hudson, Hannah Iverson, Casey Pitts Apprentices

Wardrobe

Heidi Echtenkamp Supervisor

Robin Appleton^, Amber Krimbel^, Lauren LaCasse^, Lisa Parsons Wagner^, Nicole Watts^, Kami Williams^ Dressers

Wigs

Diana Ben-Kiki Supervisor

Abby Schmidt^, Marisa Sorce^ Wig Assistants

VENUE OPERATIONS

Glen Lucero Vice President

Kristi Horvath Director

Merry Davis Financial Manager

Jane Deegan Administrator

Samantha Egle Manager, Event Operations

Kaylyn Kriaski Manager, Patron Experience

Facilities

Craig Smith Director

Dwight Barela, Mark Dill, Bryan Faciane, John Howard, Iver Johnson Engineers

Saleem As-Saboor, Abraham Cervantes, Carmen Molina, Judith Primero Molina, Juan Loya Molina, Blanca Primero Custodians

Michael Kimbrough Manager, Engineering

Oscar Fraire Manager, Custodial

Brian McClain Supervisor, Custodial

Patron Experience

LeiLani Lynch, Aaron McMullen, Stacy Norwood, Wendy Quintana, Valerie Schaefer Managers on Duty

Kelly Breuer, Nora Caley, Amy Howard, Robin Lander, Melanie Mason, Barbara Pooler, Ayden Smith House Managers

Safety & Security

Quentin Crump Director

Timothy Allen, Jodi Benavides Lead Security Officers

Samara Attridge, David Bright, Ariana Cuevas, Ethan Kemberlin, Jack Leatherwood, Ian Nelson, Ashley Skillman, Zach Stemley, Pamela Winston, Tori Witherspoon Security Specialists