Steven Dietz is the most accomplished living Colorado-born playwright, but his hometown Denver Center Theatre Company is one of the few regional theaters never to have staged his work. That’s likely to change, now that artistic director Kent Thompson has commissioned Dietz and an all-star roster to write new works specifically for the DCTC.
And Dietz has a dying friend to thank for it.
“I had never spoken to Kent before in my life, but I called him to ask how Scott Weldin is doing,” said Dietz. Weldin, winner of The Denver Post’s 2005 Ovation Award for his “A Flea in Her Ear” set design, has brain cancer. Years ago, Weldin designed the set for the world premiere of Dietz’s “Inventing Van Gogh” in Arizona.
Thompson filled Dietz in, then added, “As long as I have you on the phone, I want you to write a play for us.” Dietz joins Theresa Rebeck, Lee Blessing, and likely Michele Lowe and Regina Taylor among writers who will be creating scripts Thompson will develop through his Colorado New Play Summit. Thompson and new-play director Bruce K. Sevy will have first dibs on each for full stagings here.
“I have waited a long time for this opportunity, and I am thrilled,” said Dietz, who didn’t exactly grow up with the DCTC, which was only 2 when he graduated from the University of Northern Colorado. “I actually didn’t go to plays growing up,” he admits. “I went to Denver Bears baseball games.”
Dietz made his name writing plays such as “God’s Country,” (about assassinated Denver disc jockey Alan Berg), “Lonely Planet” and the recent “Last of the Boys.” He has come back twice to direct for the DCTC, but never one of his own works.
“I’m a little disappointed some of my plays haven’t ended up at the Denver Center before,” said Dietz, a Kennedy High alum, “but the thing to remember here is that no matter who you are or where you are from, nobody owes you a production of your play.”
Dietz isn’t hurting for work. His “Honus & Me,” about a boy who travels back in time to commune with Pittsburgh Pirates great Honus Wagner, opened Friday at the Seattle Children’s Theatre, and his “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure” opened two weeks ago at the Arizona Theatre Company. He has two other commissions in the works, one for Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf.
Dietz is also moving from Seattle to Austin, Texas, to assume a newly created playwriting professorship with the University of Texas. He gets the irony – he’s never taken a playwriting course in his life.
Still, Dietz is about to enjoy a presence in his hometown like never before. In addition to the DCTC commission, Dietz’s “Private Eyes” opened Friday at Golden’s Miners Alley Playhouse (303-935-3044). His recent New York hit “Fiction,” boasting DCTC stalwarts John Hutton in the starring role and Jamie Horton as its director, opens May 13 at the Curious Theatre Company (303-623-0524).
“All my extended family is still in Denver, and they have not gotten to be a part of my career elsewhere,” said Dietz, “so it feels good to bring my plays home to them and for them.”
His advice for the Golden cast of “Private Eyes”: “I wrote it as a comedy of suspicion, and I started with the notion that as much as we love to be surprised in the theater, we hate to be surprised in our real lives.”
Nomad gets another life
Boulder’s Nomad Theatre, a financially troubled little jewel, is coming back from the dead. Taking over the 53-year-old space are the father-son team of James and Steve Carver, and a new board that will inherit more than $150,000 in debt.
Steve Carver is considering “Deathtrap” as the comeback production, but says the slate will include only recognized comedies and dramas – a smart strategy given the immediate need for stabilization.
Briefly …
Douglas County High School alum Beth Malone, whose theater career began as a seating hostess for the Country Dinner Playhouse at age 16, is making her Broadway debut in “Ring of Fire.” Malone was a longtime favorite at the Arvada Center and most recently appeared here in CDP’s “They’re Playing Our Song” in 2004 …
A Broadway-veteran creative team has been in Aspen the past month developing a new musical based on Chris Van Allsburg’s book, “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.” The work in progress was previewed Monday at Aspen High School with a cast including Chad Kimball, who just played John Lennon in “Lennon,” and Patrick Ryan Sullivan, who for two years played Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast.” …
And finally, what’s the longest current running play in Colorado right now? Surprise: It’s the upstart Playwright Theatre’s relationship musical “Party of 1.” It’s already made it five months and is has been extended through July (303-499-0383).
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
