Early on in my time in Colorado, I was introduced to a fellow theatre critic/hobbyist who asked me what types of theatre I prefer. “The weird stuff,” I told her. “Contemporary, boundary-pushing, immersive, untested. The stuff that might not work.” She told me to keep an eye on the Boulder-based theatre group The Catamounts — […]
Read MoreCirque du Soleil’s Corteo
Dan and I were invited to see Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo touring show in Broomfield. (Full disclosure: tickets were provided.) I already adore Cirque shows (see my previous Cirque-obsessed post), but Corteo hit a special chord for me because: I like my comedy darrrrrrk. Corteo, while certainly fun and comedic and clowny, begins with the line […]
Read MoreReview: Urinetown (Colorado State University Theatre)
The Colorado State University School of Music, Theatre and Dance closed out its mainstage season with Urinetown, an early 2000s Broadway hit every bit as irreverent as the title suggests. Following a devastating 20-year drought, a corporation has popped up with a bold solution to a water shortage crisis: a ban on private toilets. Citizens […]
Read MoreNatural Shocks
On Saturday, Dan and made our way to Boulder to a theater that has quickly become one of my favorites: the Dairy Arts Center. (Read a great article involving the Boulder theatre scene and the Dairy Arts Center at American Theatre.) We were heading to Boulder for a reading of Lauren Gunderson‘s “Natural Shocks.” The […]
Read MoreReview: Dirt, A Terra Nova Expedition (Bas Bleu Theatre)
As much as we all might love Hamlet and Company, it is critical that theatres (and other arts organizations) support new and evolving work that reflects current issues, perspectives, voices. Bas Bleu Theatre, which more commonly produces established plays such as Equus and Waiting for the Parade, has tapped local author Laura Pritchett to create […]
Read MoreReview: And Then There Were None (OpenStage Theatre)
Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None opens with ten strangers gathering on the remote Soldier Island, each having been invited under vague pretenses. Upon arrival, they find that their hosts — whom no one seems to have actually met — have not yet turned up. The guests settle in for what seems like a casual […]
Read MoreColorado New Play Summit
As Dan and I were making our plans to move to Colorado, my friend and colleague Rick Pender gave me a heads-up about the Colorado New Play Summit, a two-week festival of commissioned work that takes place at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. On the first weekend, the Summit offers up staged readings […]
Read MoreReview: Appropriate (Colorado State University Theatre)
I’m starting to find my way through the Fort Collins arts scene, and I believe that CSU’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance will be a regular part of my theatre diet. Last week Dan and I were able to take in CSU’s production of “Appropriate” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. “Appropriate” is a story of a […]
Read MoreBreckenridge
Recently I was offered the chance to take in a show at Backstage Theatre in Breckenridge, Colorado. Breckenridge is about 2.5 hours from Fort Collins, so it would be no small schlep to get there — however, Dan has been itching to try his hand at skiing again. We made a quick weekend of it. […]
Read MoreReview: The Crucible (OpenStage Theatre)
Well, that escalated quickly. In his play The Crucible, Arthur Miller borrows the Salem witch trials as a platform to examine how little it takes to turn neighbor against neighbor. In love with the married John Proctor, young Abigail Williams spreads a bit of gossip about John’s wife Elizabeth. What follows is a hair-raising account of […]
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