Act like a real theater company, and you will be a real theater company.
The power of positive thinking seems to be working for Modern Muse. An entity that was a sketchy idea a year ago is now enjoying an astounding inaugural season.
Modern Muse pulled off a remarkable four productions in eight months, spread between two venues, in the most ambitious debut of an upstart operation in the region. The husband-and-wife team behind Modern Muse mortgaged their lives to do it, and, in retrospect, it was crazy. But it worked.
“Our friends think we’re certifiable,” said artistic director Gabriella Cavallero.
“We’re willing to stake the farm on this,” said her husband, executive artistic director Stephen L. Lavezza.
Cavallero and Lavezza took a second mortgage on their Park Hill home and continue to lose thousands of dollars on every show. Typically, the box office underwrites 25 to 40 percent of the cost of production. The twin goals for Modern Muse, they say, are to bring professional productions to Denver at a reasonable cost and offer pertinent work that serves as a catalyst for change.
The season lineup: “Inherit the Wind,” the classic by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee directed by Lavezza, launched in August with a cast of 16. “The Raft,” a new drama by Denver playwright Coleen Hubbard brought sell-out crowds to the Bug Theatre at a busy time when competition for theater audiences is intense. “The Last Five Years,” Jason Robert Brown’s musical co-directed by Cavallero and Lavezza, continues its run at The Buntport Theater. “Vigil,” a dark comedy by Morris Panych, debuted this weekend at the Bug Theatre.
An anonymous donor made the season possible. Cavallero and Lavezza never met the “angel.” The couple note they’re not from Colorado and have no connections to big money.
“We’re the mom-and-pop professional theater company in town,” Cavallero said.
Their self-invention wasn’t exactly a case of showbiz magic – “let’s raise the barn and put on a show.” Cavallero and Lavezza have been active in the Denver theater community for years.
She performed with the Denver Center Theatre Company from 1990 to 2005 and still acts (understudying roles in two upcoming Denver Center shows) in addition to doing voice-over work and books on tape.
He got his doctorate in English language and literature with a concentration in theater from the University of Denver and taught literature and drama for more than 20 years. He still teaches part time at University of Colorado at Denver, and tends bar at the Denver Center.
While Lavezza was directing at theaters around town, and when Cavallero was in rehearsal for “The Women” at the Arvada Center “with 30 women in the dressing room for a month,” they became convinced that there is enough talent locally to support more venues.
On long drives to Creede Repertory Theatre, where the couple were co-directing, they brainstormed about producing. They were spurred to action in 2004 when a Colorado Springs Catholic priest garnered national attention for denying Communion to parishoners whose beliefs conflicted with church ideology.
Lavezza, who claims he’s the rare example of a Catholic who wasn’t hurt by his religious upbringing, felt compelled to present “The Chancellor’s Tale,” by Paul Mohrbacher, a pertinent play about the issues rending the church. Cavallero and Lavezza rented the Bug Theatre for four weeks, charging the expense to their credit card.
“Mr. Discover paid for that one,” Cavallero said. She was part of the cast; Lavezza directed. “We lost money, but for us it was a success,” he said.
After talking to artistic directors at area theaters and hashing out a business plan, they jumped in.
“You have to do a season so you can then ask for real money,” Lavezza said. “Funding begets funding.”
After informal readings in their living room by actor friends, the plays were selected. Several theaters lent rehearsal space. Staging one production, “The Last Five Years,” at Buntport wasn’t ideal, losing the “branding” in customers’ minds that comes with holding all the shows in one place.
“We would not have chosen this schedule; we’re not that crazy,” Cavallero said.
“We’re slaves to availability,” Lavezza said.
The season was a go. Then, with three plays in production this winter, Cavallero was tapped for a role in “The Heiress” at the Arvada Center.
“I’d be backstage, dressed in a corset, calling (Modern Muse) subscribers and asking the ladies in the dressing room to help us do a mailing.”
Their schedules have been punishing. Attendance has been uneven, with embarrassingly small houses at times. But Modern Muse exists.
“It’s gutsy,” said actor Patty Mintz Figel, currently in “Vigil.” “I admire the type of work they’re doing. They could do ‘Sound of Music’ and sell the house. That’s not what they want to do. They want to do work with meaning and substance. I hope they win the lottery.”
Even competitors are impressed.
“It does seem extraordinarily ambitious,” said Bob Wells, owner of the Avenue Theatre. “It’s nice they’ve decided to take the whole season by storm. Good wishes to them – it’s so much work.”
“There’s always room for another small theater,” said Ed Baierlein, head of Germinal Stage Denver. “It depends on the work.”
Going forward, Modern Muse plans a more reasonable three shows next season. The company has filed grant applications and is assembling a board of directors under the nonprofit Global Arts Ltd. Sleep-deprived and overextended, the couple remain optimistic.
“There’s a theatergoing audience that just doesn’t know it’s a theatergoing audience yet,” Lavezza said.
Staff writer Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-820-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
