Tag Archive for: Colorado

11 Black-Owned Colorado Businesses You Should Visit

This season like many others, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts offers a rich sampling of productions written by or starring Black artists, including the upcoming THE WIZ and The Hot Wing King. To celebrate local Black entrepreneurs and creators, here are 11 Black-owned Colorado businesses you should know and support. THE BETTER MATTRESS […]

Banned Books in Colorado

In recent years, the DCPA has presented several productions based on books. A common theme among the novels? Seemingly controversial topics that have led to book bans.   For example, the Denver Center Theatre Company’s production of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is based on the young adult novel of the same name […]

Caring for the Caregivers

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 91,000 individuals ages 65+ in Colorado are living with Alzheimer’s. On the national front, individuals diagnosed with dementia are projected to double from approximately 514,000 in 2020 to nearly 1 million by 2060 as the Baby Boomer generation (1946-1964) ages. At some point in life, it is more […]

Getting Their Due: Women in Colorado History

In the Denver Center Theatre Company’s world premiere play, The Suffragette’s Murder by Sandy Rustin, it’s 1857, and a group of tenants is secretly working to support the bourgeoning suffrage movement. While the play is set in Manhattan, New Yorkers in the 1800s would have found plenty of kindred spirits in Colorado working to advance […]

Keep ’em Laughing

Comedy and tragedy were our first dramatic arts, expressing two sides of humanity’s condition. But at Denver’s legendary Comedy Works, the focus is solely on laughs. And such is the quality of the club that performers accustomed to larger venues in bigger cities carve space in their schedules to keep audiences in stitches both at […]

How the Secret Soap Gang Came to Run Denver

Denver has had its share of secret societies over the years trying to avoid police investigation, but none was more colorful than a gang of criminals known as “The Soap Gang.” It was led by a handsome, black-bearded scoundrel named Jefferson Randolph Smith. Or “Soapy Smith” as he came to be known. Soapy arrived in […]

Along Cherry Creek on the Gateway to Denver

In the opening of The Reservoir, the narrator, Josh, wakes up to a gorgeous sunrise over the waters of Cherry Creek Reservoir, 14 miles southeast of Denver. It’s a fitting place to begin a play that takes place in Denver because Cherry Creek is also where Denver’s story begins. The pretty creek that flows into […]

Publishing a Play: Colorado’s Next Stage Press Elevates Playwrights’ Voices

The evolution of a play has various stages (no pun intended). In an extreme oversimplification, first, you need a script, which for some playwrights can take days and for others can span decades. Then, new scripts often benefit from readings whether in a classroom, playwrights’ group, or a new play festival. Audience feedback helps inform […]

New Year, New Resolution: Support Local Theatre

Each new year brings a wave of new intentions and resolutions. However, many of them start with enthusiasm but often lose momentum. Instead of choosing a resolution to establish or eliminate bad habits, what if your New Year’s resolution for 2025 was rewarding…say to support more local theatre? While the Denver Center for the Performing […]

If Hamilton Visited Denver

This article was originally published on February 4, 2022 Of course, Alexander Hamilton never visited Denver. The city wasn’t even founded until 54 years after his death. But if Hamilton did come to Denver today, what would he visit?