You might call 2006 the year of the woman at the Denver Center Theatre Company. All four post-holiday openings in incoming artistic director Kent Thompson’s first season were written by contemporary American women.
But Thompson wouldn’t. He says his commitment to women, Latino and black voices will not change with the calendar.
“I really think women playwrights are coming into their own,” Thompson said Wednesday at the unveiling of his 2005-06 season. “Frankly, this has been a male-dominated and sexist world for a long time. But there are so many new female voices writing for the theater today that we have to start engaging those artists.”
Officials believe the DCTC has not produced four female playwrights in its entire 26-year history. But 2006 will bring Lillian Garrett-Groag’s “The Ladies of the Camellias,” Sarah Rule’s Pulitzer-nominated “The Clean House,” Gina Gionfriddo’s “After Ashley” and Regina Taylor’s “Crowns.” With 63 percent of Broadway tickets being bought by women, Thompson said it’s “time we gave the women in our audiences stories written by them.”
Thompson’s first season also includes two black playwrights, Taylor and August Wilson (“Gem of the Ocean”), and one Hispanic, Jos Cruz Gonzlez (the magical-realism story “September Shoes”). He is the first Hispanic playwright at the DCTC since 1999.
Thompson also announced an unnamed world premiere to debut Jan. 19 and with it a major new-play festival patterned after his highly successful Southern Writers Project, which he has helmed at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival since 1991. During the play’s run, Thompson will mount a weekend of professional readings and seminars he hopes will draw media and theater artists from around the nation.
The 11-play season has been bulked up from nine and does not end until June 10 (the current campaign ends April 30). What that means, Thompson said, “is that I am going to have to go raise some money.”
The season opens Oct. 6 with Arthur Miller’s 1947 family drama “All My Sons.” Thompson will direct “A Flea in Her Ear,” a 1907 French farce by Georges Feydeau.
“A Christmas Carol” will return Nov. 25, but not the familiar Dennis Power-Laird Williamson adaptation the DCTC has staged since 1990. New associate artistic director Bruce K. Sevy will direct the Richard Hellesen adaptation that has been done at the ASF. It’s set in Victorian England and features authentic period carols.
Thompson also will direct “Measure For Measure” but said it was too soon to name any other directors. What that means for DCTC veterans such as Williamson, Anthony Powell, Israel Hicks and Randal Myler remains to be seen. Hicks is hoping to direct “Gem of the Ocean,” the ninth chapter of Wilson’s chronicle of the black American experience in the 20th century. He is attempting to become the first director in the world to direct all 10.
“The Ladies of the Camellias” is a wild comedy that tells of a hypothetical 1897 meeting in Paris between the two most famous divas of the day, Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse. “Clean House,” which opens on Broadway in fall 2006, is a comedy about a cleaning woman who hates cleaning set in what Rule calls “Metaphysical, Connecticut.”
“After Ashley” was the darling of the 2004 Humana Festival. It’s a scathing but hilarious examination of how the media exploits crime victims. The season ends with the highly anticipated “Crowns,” Taylor’s gospel-infused musical celebrating black women and their church hats. Taylor calls it “women with hat-titude.”
“I am very happy they are doing ‘Crowns’ in Denver,” Taylor told The Post. “I think it will be a good introduction to my work for the people there. If there is a theme that goes throughout my pieces, it’s the tenacity and survival of the human spirit, told through people on a journey trying to find their own voice.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com .
DCTC 2005-06 season
ALL MY SONS|Arthur Miller, Oct. 6-Nov. 5 (Space Theatre)
A FLEA IN HER EAR|Georges Feydeau, Oct. 13-Nov. 5 (Stage)
SEPTEMBER SHOES|Jos Cruz Gonzlez, Oct. 27-Dec. 17 (Ricketson)
A CHRISTMAS CAROL|Charles Dickens, Nov. 25-Dec. 24 (Stage)
TBA|World premiere, Jan. 19-March 11, 2006 (Ricketson)
GEM OF THE OCEAN|August Wilson, Jan. 26-Feb. 25, 2006 (Space)
MEASURE FOR MEASURE|William Shakespeare, Feb. 2-25, 2006 (Stage)
THE LADIES OF THE CAMELLIAS|Lillian Garrett-Groag, March 23-April 22, 2006 (Space)
THE CLEAN HOUSE|Sarah Ruhl, March 30-April 22, 2006 (Stage)
AFTER ASHLEY|Gina Gionfriddo, April 13-June 3, 2006 (Ricketson)
CROWNS|Regina Taylor, May 18-June 10, 2006 (Stage)
