Few start-up theater companies come out of the box with the organization, infrastructure and cachet of names that the new Modern Muse Theatre Company has.
The Muse, founded by the Denver Center Theatre Company married team of Stephen J. Lavezza and Gabriella Cavallero, debuted in 2004 with “The Chancellor’s Tale.” At a combination performance, party and news conference Tuesday, the company announced its first full season, which will be performed primarily at the Bug Theatre starting Aug. 19. Its directors will include big names Billie McBride and Jim Hunt.
The season includes a 50th anniversary production of the regrettably still relevant evolution trial drama “Inherit the Wind,” the regional premiere of Morris Panych’s dark comedy “Vigil” and the world premiere sequel to Denver playwright Coleen Hubbard’s 1990 “Motherlode.” “The Raft” will be set 15 years later and features the return of original stars Martha Harmon Pardee (currently in Paragon’s “The Mercy Seat”), Gracie Carr and Julie Elstun Payne. For the finale the Muse moves to the Buntport Theater for the Jason Robert Brown musical “The Last Five Years.”
Lavezza, theater professor at CU-Denver, appeared in “Peter Pan” at the DCTC and was an assistant director to Donovan Marley, Nagle Jackson and Anthony Powell. Cavallero (“A Christmas Carol”) has performed with the DCTC since 1989.
The first season will cost about $80,000, which is substantial for a start-up. An anonymous donor will cover one production, and Lavezza has secured Global Arts as a producing partner. That’s an umbrella group that helps start-up arts organizations get things done. Lavezza said he will employ at least one Equity guest actor per show.
“We believed that we really needed to establish ourselves with an entire season, and we wouldn’t have taken on something this ambitious if we didn’t think we could pull it off,” he said. Call 303-780-2006.
Nomad building for sale
Buyers are now being actively sought for the financially troubled Nomad Theatre’s building in North Boulder, casting the future of the structure and the 53-year-old company in grave doubt. The company is $150,000 in debt, and is primarily drawing buying interest from schools and housing companies. Officials are holding out hope, albeit slim, that a buyer can be found that will keep the building as a theater.
The Nomad may morph into a nomadic producing entity that performs in other venues, or possibly as a foundation.
“After the sale, if there is money left over from paying down our debts, we are considering the formation of a foundation to provide funding to performing arts groups,” board member Brian Miller wrote in an e-mail. “But I don’t know if it will be a sustainable venture if we have less than $100,000 left over.”
“Rocky” goes to Avenue
Frankenstein giving life to that monster was nothing compared to Nick Sugar bringing “The Rocky Horror Show” back from the dead. After a sanitized and shortened run at the Pinnacle Dinner Theatre, Sugar has shed the original Ann Nieman direction and a whole lot of baggage – but not the original cast. He’s taking them downtown to the Avenue Theatre.
A newer, nastier version, re-directed by Sugar, plays at 11 p.m. July 1-Aug. 6, following performances of “Parallel Lives.” This version (led by new bandleader Donna Debreceni) will be more sexually explicit, and welcomes full audience participation (303-321-5925).
Briefly …
The Alabama Shakespeare Festival has hired Geoffrey Sherman to replace artistic director Kent Thompson, who served there for almost 16 years before accepting the same job for the Denver Center Theatre Company. Sherman, a Brit who has lived in the U.S. for 27 years, was producing artistic director at the BoarsHead Theatre in Lansing, Mich., and has directed three ASF productions …
Sara Ramirez, winner of last week’s Tony Award for best featured musical actress (“Spamalot”), starred in the DCTC’s “Barrio Babies” in 1999 …
The lineup for next weekend’s Colorado Community Theatre Coalition state festival in Fort Morgan: NJC Prairie Players, Sterling (“I Never Saw Another Butterfly” and “When God Comes for Breakfast You Don’t Burn the Toast”), Main Street Players, Littleton (“Relative Strangers”); Longmont Theatre (“Casting”); Cliff Dwellers, Wray (“Steel Magnolias”); Openstage etc., Fort Collins (“The Ghost Man”), Stage Left, Salida (“Zeus’s Women”); Fremont Civic Theatre, Cañon City (“A Piece of My Heart”); Evergreen Players (“Down the Road”); Bas Bleu, Fort Collins (“Love Letters”); and Aspen Stage/Colorado Mountain College (“The Laramie Project”). Call 970-704-1271. …
Curious has extended its baseball hit “Take Me Out” through July 23. … Last week I complimented some of the musical arrangements in the Galleria’s “My Way,” but the person responsible was Vince di Mura. …
And finally, it was something of a miracle that director Hugo Jon Sayles was present for the opening of Shadow’s “Topdog/Underdog.” A cardiac incident put him in the hospital for the two days before opening, during which scenic designer Michael R. Duran took over. “I thought I was having a heart attack,” said Sayles, who knew not to mess around. “I lost my dad at age 39.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
