by Juliet.Wittman | Nov 16, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
This article originally appeared in Westword. In normal times, the story of Scrooge — his stinginess and bad temper, his visitation by three ghosts and ultimate conversion into a kindly, charitable soul — may seem a bit of a Christmas cliché. Who doesn’t know the...
by Juliet.Wittman | Nov 13, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
This article originally appeared in Westword. In Lawrence Osborne’s short story “Volcano,” a divorced woman searches for meaning and identity on a trip to Hawaii. Anthony Powell, director for Stories on Stage, describes it as “funny — a strange,...
by Juliet.Wittman | Oct 21, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
This article originally appeared in Westword. Ed Baierlein, who founded Germinal Stage Denver in 1973 and oversaw pretty much every decision at the theater, from play selection to casting, outreach to finances and staging to site selection, has closed the...
by Juliet.Wittman | Oct 21, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
This article originally appeared in Westword. Violent. Blood-dripping. Rage-filled. These are terms critics have used to describe the musical Lizzie, based on the story of infamous ax-wielding parent-killer Lizzie Borden. Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune called it...
by Juliet.Wittman | Oct 8, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
This article originally appeared in Westword. The voice on the phone is unmistakable — gravelly, grounded, thoughtful, and perhaps just a touch menacing. I have reached Bill Hahn, one of Denver’s most compelling actors and a member of the three-person cast of The...
by Juliet.Wittman | Sep 24, 2021 | Theatre
This article originally appeared in Westword. Hundred Days, which receives its regional premiere at the Aurora Fox on Friday, September 17, and runs until October 10, is a vivid musical memoir by real-life couple Shaun and Abigail Bergson with Sarah Gancher about how...
by Juliet.Wittman | Sep 13, 2021 | Theatre
This article originally appeared in Westword. John Ashton is well known in the Denver theater world and has worn many hats: actor, director, playwright and impresario. He ran the cozy, late-lamented Avenue Theater for several years, and his play Murder Most Fowl was...
by Juliet.Wittman | Aug 23, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
This article was originally published in Westword. Five creatives have been surprising Denver with original plays and performances at Buntport Theater for over twenty years, and the four members who perform (the fifth, SamAnTha Schmitz, collaborates on all aspects but...
by Juliet.Wittman | Aug 10, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
This post first appeared in Westword When passionate calls arose after the murder of George Floyd for all artists to play their role in the anti-racist struggle, Curious was ahead of the pack, having been focused since the beginning on issues of social justice...
by Juliet.Wittman | Jul 13, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
This article originally appeared in Westword. Len Matheo, artistic director at Miners Alley Playhouse, kept the creativity coming during the pandemic, producing events from kids’ shows to streaming dramas to musical cabarets. Pre-COVID, the company staged an...
by Juliet.Wittman | Jul 13, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
BETC Takes Flight With New Name, the Butterfly Effect, and JQA Aaron Posner’s JQA is a play about John Quincy Adams, generally regarded as an ineffectual president but a highly principled statesman. It has been hailed as brilliant by many critics who say the...
by Juliet.Wittman | Jun 7, 2021 | Language and Life, Theatre, Westword
This article originally appeared in Westword. No theater company in the country is quite like Buntport. This group of five local creatives — Brian Colonna, Hannah Duggan, Erin Rollman, Erik Edborg and SamAnTha Schmitz — stages entirely original productions. The...
by Juliet.Wittman | Apr 26, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
This article originally appeared in Westword under the title, “Intermission Is Over at BDT Stage.” On the day I spoke with artistic director Michael J. Duran to discuss the upcoming reopening of BDT Stage, Alicia Meyers, longtime...
by Juliet.Wittman | Mar 23, 2021 | Theatre, Westword
“This story is originally published by Westword as “Curtain Call: Reflections on Two Decades of Reviewing Denver Theater” Sometimes you find yourself sitting in a drafty, ramshackle room on a winter’s night, rain splattering the floor, an...
by Juliet Wittman | Apr 5, 2020 | Theatre
As the theatre scene implodes, with companies canceling spring seasons and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival going dark this summer, as directors wonder if they can keep their organizations alive in the long term, and artists worry about paying the rent, another...
by Juliet.Wittman | Aug 6, 2019 | Theatre
I’d promised myself I wouldn’t use words like “inspirational” or “life-affirming” to describe the production of Chicago by Phamaly, a company made up entirely of performers with disabilities. These performers are genuine artists who create professional — often...
by Juliet.Wittman | Jul 30, 2019 | Theatre
I first saw Leonard Barrett in 2004, when he was starring as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, staged by the Phamaly Theatre Company at the Space Theatre at the Denver Center. His performance was intriguing, stylish and poised, yet at the same time entirely his own: He...
by Juliet.Wittman | Jul 24, 2019 | Theatre
In Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III: A Future History Play, currently in a regional premiere as part of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s summer lineup, Queen Elizabeth II has died, and Prince Charles — who’s past seventy— has ascended to the throne. He’s grieving...
by Juliet.Wittman | Jun 28, 2019 | Theatre
Buntport Benefit Some eighteen years ago, six actor-writers who had met as students at Colorado College got together to create Buntport, a kind of theater that’s entirely original, in a coldly echoing Denver warehouse. They are Erin Rollman, Brian Colonna, Hannah...
by Juliet.Wittman | Jun 26, 2019 | Theatre
As You Like It Four years ago, Kent Thompson, then the artistic director at the Denver Center, staged a magical production of As You Like It. I remember it in clear, drifting pastels—gorgeous costumes and set, a transcendently beautiful Rosalind, and an interpretation...
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