Can theater get any better than the kind that stops traffic?
The initial offerings in the “365 Days/365 Plays” national festival at the Acoma Center created a living, pulsing collaborative energy unlike anything this theater community has produced before.
Fifteen communities around the country have embarked over the next year to perform all 365 plays Suzan-Lori Parks wrote in 365 days. One company in each region gets seven plays and its own week in which to perform them.
The Curious Theatre Company was first up here, and it rallied 28 of the area’s best actors who staged Parks’ seven experimental plays simultaneously in and around the Acoma Center for an amazing hour. On Curious’ final day Nov. 19, a swollen crowd exceeding 150 showed up not knowing what to expect or where to go.
They followed the short stories unfolding around them starting on the sidewalk across the street, onto the theater steps and inside to the lobby, stairs and balcony. This created a walking-tour effect, as crowds wandered from one play to the next while standing around and among the actual performances. Upon completion, each play simply started again.
GerRee Hinshaw and Jude Moran staged Play No. 1, in which a krishna encourages a scared writer to “Start Here” (presumably Parks facing her fear as she first sat down to write “365”).
Parks, who stopped in seven cities in seven days to help launch her festival, found herself following Hinshaw and Moran as they kept trying new settings, even switching roles.
“That was their idea, and it was … awesome,” said Parks, “because when you are a writer, you are both characters – you are a devotee who’s afraid, and you are the guide inside who is saying, ‘OK, you can do this. Let’s go!”‘
Audiences were stunned by the powerhouse husband-wife team of Martha Harmon-Pardee and Erik Sandvold portraying a soldier coming home from war. Upstairs, a death-row inmate (Bryon Matsuno) enjoyed his last meal as the spirits of five women he murdered hovered around him.
“This is just brilliant,” said theatergoer Diana Kinsey. “I feel like I am in San Francisco.”
Actor Trina Magness equated the experience with walking through an art museum, “only the displays you’re looking at are live theater pieces. And if one should catch your eye, you stop and take it in, and then you move on to the next piece.”
Not only did the Curious cycle bring together actors from all over Denver, it exposed them to a form of experimental performance that’s sadly lacking in Colorado. “And that is great because this format allows actors and audiences to just stick their toe in and give it a try,” Parks said. “That’s what experimental theater is anyway.
“What I see are seven beautiful flowers, only one’s an orchid and one’s a lily, one’s a crocus and one’s a daffodil.”
National “365” coordinator David Myers of New York was blown away by the performances and the turnout. “This is a show of power by your theater community,” he said. “Better yet, everyone is making friends.”
Myers, Parks and producer Bonnie Metzgar’s whirlwind week took them to New York, San Antonio and other towns, each performing the first seven plays in completely different ways.
“There is this myth that quality only exists in certain circles,” Parks said. “That’s the brainwash, because quality exists everywhere.”
Vintage Theatre handled Week 2, with El Centro Su Teatro starting Monday. For information on all upcoming performances, go to myspace.com/colorado365.
Town Hall’s coup
Town Hall Arts Center has added two huge names to its board of directors: Nick Sugar, whose “Cabaret” just obliterated that theater’s 24-year sales records; and Robert Wells, who founded and will continue to run the Avenue Theater. “Their knowledge, contacts and positive energy will be invaluable toward enhancing our success,” said executive director Ed Chambers.
Locals added to “Hats”
Changes to the powerhouse “Hats!” cast at the New Denver Civic are coming sooner than expected: Susan Long, a 1981 alumna of the Denver Center Theatre Company (“Starting Here, Starting Now”) started Tuesday, soon to be joined by Anita Boland and Valerie Hill (both from the Arvada Center’s “The Full Monty,”) and Shelley D. McMillion (Arvada Center’s “Violet”). Remaining, for now, are original cast members Nora Mae Lyng, Pamela Myers and Teri Ralston.
Briefly …
“The Ticket,” the new musical about a woman running for governor, and co-written by Cherry Creek High School dean of students Gary Bragg, finishes its off-Broadway run at the Sage Theater on Saturday …
And finally, Tim Robbins had sage advice for actors at his Starz Denver Film Festival tribute: “It’s a difficult business,” he said. “I would say only do it if it’s going to make you miserable not to do it. You can achieve great joy in a community theater production here in Denver, if that brings you a fulfillment you need in your soul.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
This week’s theater openings
TUE-DEC. 31 | Arvada Center’s “Thoroughly Modern Millie”
THU-DEC. 24 | Denver Center Theatre Company’s “A Christmas Carol”
THU-DEC. 9 | Shadow’s “The Spirit of Frederick Douglass” (at the Emerson Center)
THU-DEC. 17 | TheatreWorks’ “Arms and the Man” | COLORADO SPRINGS
DEC. 1-23 | Buntport’s “Winter in Graupel Bay”
DEC. 1-31 | Carousel Dinner Theatre’s “Plaid Tidings” | FORT COLLINS
DEC. 1-10 | Main Street Players’ “The Odd Couple” | ENGLEWOOD
DEC. 1-16 | California Actor’s Theatre’s “A Tuna Christmas” | LONGMONT
This week’s theater closings
TODAY | Vintage’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” (at the Phoenix)
DEC. 2 | Something’s Going On Productions’ “Something’s Going On” (at Theater Café)
