Boulder businessman John Kelly purchased the venerable Nomad Theatre last week and vowed to preserve the 53-year-old building as a community theater.
“We had to save it,” said Kelly, a partner at Boulder Valley Real Estate. “That’s the whole point.”
Seller Arthur Okner, who runs a north Boulder co-housing community of 27 residents surrounding the theater, said if Kelly had not come forward, “the theater almost certainly would have gone to a real-estate buyer who would have demolished it.”
Kelly bought the Nomad for $200,000, which includes “all indebtedness” – unpaid taxes, interest and fines. Okner held the mortgage on the theater but only took title on April 3, when the board defaulted on a $9,000 payment. Okner said he has spent $150,000 of his own retirement savings trying to save the theater since it ceased operations last year.
Kelly, who will own the Nomad under a holding company named Unicomm Productions, plans to open his doors to a variety of performing-arts groups. Rather than maintain a resident company, Kelly has had discussions with the TARA performing-arts school in Boulder, a local film festival and both Renaissance Adventures and eXperience Inc., which offer theater games and “adventure quest camps” for kids.
He also will work with James and Steve Carver, a father-son team that plans to produce family-friendly comedies and dramas starting with “Deathtrap” later this year.
“This is going to be a really wonderful thing for the city of Boulder,” Okner said. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”
New shows coming
Chicago’s legendary Second City, performing “Red Scare” through May 21 at the Galleria Theatre, next will present “How I Lost My Denverginity,” an original revue about colorful Colorado opening June 23. This fills the final open slot in Denver Center Attractions’ 2006 subscription series. Fair game for the lampoon harpoon: local politics, personalities, sports teams, culture, history and media (Tom Tancredo best duck now). Call 303-893-4100. …
The New Denver Civic will host the world premiere of an irreverent new musical revue called “The Yiddish Are Coming … The Yiddish Are Coming!” from June 8-July 16. It’s by Joel Paley and Marvin Laird, creators of “Ruthless, the Musical.” It’s the story of a boy named Christian Von Trapp who wants to be in a show – but they want a Jew. Songs include “Yinglish 101” and “Borscht Belt Betty.” On board is A.C. Ciulla, who choreographed “Barrio Babies” for the Denver Center Theatre Company in 1999 (303-309-3773). …
This is not a misprint: The traditional Littleton Town Hall Arts Center will launch its 25th season Sept. 15 with an uncensored “Cabaret,” directed by and starring Nick Sugar, who helmed two runaway hit productions for Theatre Group in 2002 and ’03. What’s next after that? “Cinderella” (303-794-2787). …
Open and shut out
Not a good week for openings. First the Aurora Fox disinvited critics for its anticipated “Death of a Salesman” – never a good sign, but at least Friday’s opening night took place without us. The Arvada Center has outright canceled its first two performances of “Pippin,” which was to open Tuesday.
This time the issue is structural. Construction on the Arvada Center’s new studio theater right next to the main stage has temporarily compromised available water pressure. And because “Pippin” relies on pyrotechnics, the city wisely said the show could not go on.
Briefly …
I like to call it “The War Anthology Jr.” but it’s really titled “New Voices From the Battlefield” – a one-night program of 11 short plays penned by writers age 15-21 as part of the Curious Theatre’s ongoing “The War Anthology” programming. Actors include Hugo Carbajal, Josh Hartwell, GerRee Hinshaw, Trina Magness, Michael Morgan, Step Pearce, Stuart Sanks and Karen Slack. It’s at 7 p.m. Monday at 1080 Acoma St. $5 (303-623-0524). …
Kerry Max Cook is one of the wrongfully convicted whose stories are told in “The Exonerated,” now playing at OpenStage in Fort Collins and opening in a separate Denver production Saturday by Theatre Group at Theatre on Broadway. He led post-show discussions following last weekend’s performances in Fort Collins. …
John Houseman’s The Acting Company is making its annual return to Colorado: “The Three Musketeers” is Wednesday-
April 23 at TheatreWorks in Colorado Springs; “3M” and “Lottery” April 24-25 at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins; “3M” and “Lottery” April 27 at the University of Denver’s Newman Center; “3M” April 28 at Greeley’s Union Colony Civic Center; and “Macbeth” April 29 at Pueblo’s Sangre de Cristo Arts Center. …
And finally, I only mention this today because, yes, people do still ask: The Pinnacle Dinner Theatre, which effectively ceased operations back in September, will not be opening “Grease” on Wednesday, as previously scheduled.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
This week’s theater openings
WED-MAY 14|Arvada Center’s “Pippin”|ARVADA
THU-MAY 20|Su Teatro’s “Serafin: Cantos y Lagrimas”
FRI-MAY 28|Buntport’s “Synopsis of Butchery”
FRI-MAY 13|Next Stage’s “Chess” (at the Phoenix Theatre)
FRI-MAY 27|Bas Bleu’s “The Swan” |FORT COLLINS
FRI-MAY 7|Main Street Players’ “Hello Dolly”|ENGLEWOOD
FRI-APRIL 30|Coal Creek Community Theatre’s “On Golden Pond”|LOUISVILLE
FRI-MAY 27|Theatre Group’s “The Exonerated”
FRI-MAY 7|Gruntlement Productions’ “Comfort Me With Peaches” (at the Bug)
SAT-APRIL 30|New Denver Civic’s “Hip Hop America’s Dance”
This week’s theater closings
TODAY|Denver Center Attractions’ “Riverdance” (Buell Theatre)
TODAY|Union Colony Dinner Theatre’s “Run for Your Wife”|GREELEY
APRIL 23|Festival Playhouse’s “The Subject Was Roses”|ARVADA
APRIL 23|Cabaret Dinner Theatre’s “Grease”|GRAND JUNCTION
