The best chance for the city’s proposed $5 million Studio Theatre to be built in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House comes Monday. The unbuilt theater, which was included in the original blueprint for the now-open, world-class Ellie, was scotched during early planning stages to keep costs down.
But at 2 p.m. Monday, Theatres and Arenas director Jack Finlaw makes a public presentation to the mayor’s Infrastructure Priorities Task Force. Sounds like a thrill ride, but at stake is a possible funding mechanism to build the theater.
The purpose of the task force is to examine the capital facilities and infrastructure needs of city facilities and recommend which the city should finance with bond issues or other means. There are seven subcommittees, including public works, community development, human services, public safety, parks and municipal building.
The studio theater will be examined by the cultural facilities subcommittee, but the competition is steep. It is also considering the capital-project needs of the Museum of Nature & Science, Denver Botanic Gardens, Boettcher Concert Hall, National Western Stock Show and Denver Public Library. The task force will announce its recommendations by Nov. 20.
Second City blows out
Denver Center Attractions will sever its relationship with Chicago’s Second City after prematurely closing “How I Lost My Denverginity” Dec. 31. DCA had hoped Second City would take up permanent residence in the Galleria Theatre, rotating a new show in every year.
But after “Red Scare,” its three-month warm-up effort, “Denverginity” will be shuttered after just five months. A spokesperson said it’s back to more traditional theater and musical revue offerings for the Galleria after this failed experiment with topical sketch comedy.
On a (possibly) unrelated note, the Sept. 28 performance of “Denverginity” had to be canceled when sealant being applied to a coffee shop next door got into the Galleria Theatre’s ventilation system. The toxic stench sent some of the Sept. 27 crowd home early.
“Hell House” reaction
The Colorado-born “Hell House,” which begins with a gang rape and ends with a prayer session, opened as a legit New York production last week, garnering media attention from the Los Angeles Times, New York Observer and many others. The reaction was polarizing.
The creator, pastor Keenan Roberts of Thornton, said, “I think for a New York theater company, it is pretty impressive.” But a clearly shaken playwright Charles Mee (“Salome”) told the New York Observer: “It just seems stupid and preposterous and not funny – just appallingly unbelievable and unpersuasive.” Spectator Amy Slonaker, a 34-year-old lawyer, told reporters, “I’m mostly here to see a freak show.” …
Another Colorado-born production, Thaddeus Phillips’ “El Conquistador,” opened to mixed reviews at the New York Theatre Workshop. Variety couldn’t make up its mind about the one-man story of a Colombian doorman who interacts with videotaped co-stars. It called it “both lowbrow and high concept” … “visually charming but awkward” … “inventive yet unfocused and ambiguous.”
Local “Boyz”
Good news for young Country Dinner Playhouse alums Andy Kelso and Jesse Johnson. Johnson stars as Luke in the 30-week “Altar Boyz” national tour that kicks off in Chicago on Tuesday (no Colorado dates though). And Kelso has been asked back for a second year playing Sky, the primary love interest, in the Broadway production of “Mamma Mia.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
This week’s theater openings
OPENING WED|New Denver Civic Theatre’s “Hats” (open-ended)
THU-NOV. 11|Conundrum’s “Someone Else’s Life” (at Buntport)
FRI-NOV. 4|Hunger Artists’ “An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe” (at Byers-Evans House Museum)
FRI-DEC. 17|Lake Dillon’s “Always … Patsy Cline,” alternating weekly with “The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged”|DILLON
FRI-OCT. 22|Longmont Theatre Company’s “Radio on Stage: ‘War of the Worlds’ and ‘Sorry, Wrong Number”‘ (as one-act radio plays)|LONGMONT
FRI-OCT. 29|Festival Playhouse’s “Doctor Jekyll, No Place to Hyde”|ARVADA
FRI-NOV. 11|E Project’s “This Boy’s Life”|LAKEWOOD
SAT|Union Colony Civic Center’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You”|GREELEY
This week’s theater closings
TODAY|Germinal Stage Denver’s “Tartuffe: Born Again”
TODAY|Evergreen Players’ “Proof”
SAT|Curious’ “I Am My Own Wife”
SAT|”Iron Springs Chateau’s “The Shame of Maudie Jones, or A Fate Worse Than Death”|MANITOU SPRINGS
OCT. 15|Aurora Fox’s “I Hate Hamlet”
OCT. 15|TheatreWorks’ “Alice In Wonderland”|COLORADO SPRINGS
OCT. 15|Performance Now’s “My Fair Lady”|LAKEWOOD
