When Bruce Freestone told wife Denise 35 years ago they should start a renegade theater company in Fort Collins, the mother of a then 1-year-old told him he was crazy.
“And time has proven that I was right,” Denise Freestone says with the hearty laugh of someone who has been proved oh-so-wrong.
Through what Denise describes as gumption, youthful naiveté and sheer audacity, the Freestones (and their offspring) have built a mainstay that has forever changed the cultural landscape in Fort Collins.
OpenStage Theatre & Company has presented 278 plays, making it one of the five most prolific companies in Colorado theater history.
On the eve of its 35th birthday, the Freestones and Peter Anthony, director of production No.279, “Arabian Nights,” opening Saturday, joined us for a written group Q&A:
Q: What really made you want to start a theater company in Fort Collins?
A: We believed a company of artists grounded in their community and having a strong ownership in their art would exert a powerful and invaluable influence on the quality of life of the larger community. These ideas were the inspiration for our name, which signifies that we are open to innovation and are based in the talents of our community of theater artists.
Q: Compare your first season with today.
A: We did two shows in 1973. We didn’t have a formal season. Rather, we did productions as inspiration hit. We presented our first full season in 1978. Today, we produce nine shows per year – six mainstage and three through openstage etc., which is dedicated to developing and experimental works. We have 150 company members today.
Q: One great anecdote from the early days?
A: We had absolutely no funding for our first show, “Thieves’ Carnival,” by Jean Anhouilh. Bruce and I spent so much time on the phone borrowing everything we needed for the production, which we performed in Fort Collins City Park, that our ears were swollen.
One of the hardest “sells” was persuading the city to allow us to perform in a park. They eventually agreed, but they didn’t allow us to charge admission. They only agreed to let us pass the hat for donations. Ultimately, Bruce and I – young, naïve and poor – spent $60 of our own money to mount that show. And to this day, we’re not really sure how we came up with the $60.
Q: Your company roster lists six Freestones, including two daughters and two grandchildren. Any of them have even a fighting chance to become something other than actors or directors?
A: And both of our son-in-laws met our daughters through OpenStage! Bruce and I actually tried to keep our girls (Jessica and Brenna) out of the arts. We kept telling them it was an incredible amount of work with little, if any, financial security. But the passion to create is a siren’s song, and they were both drawn to the performing arts like moths to a flame.
Q: You’ve been through the wars (cultural and otherwise) since 1973. How has your mission changed?
A: The heart of our mission remains the same. Our maturity, expertise, proficiency and sophistication have grown exponentially on all levels. Today we are working to change our organizational culture from one of scarcity to one of abundance.
Q: What are the biggest challenges in continuing to run the company today?
A: Financial stability is always one of the greatest challenges for any arts organization. By consciously changing the way we think about resources, and the way we react to financial limitations, we believe we will create an even more dynamic artistic product.
But the biggest challenge is staying connected to the heart and soul of the bigger picture, while keeping up with with the boring day-to-day minutiae of running a company.
Q: (for Peter Anthony): Why do you think there is such an enduring interest in the tales of the Arabian Nights?
A: The East, with its mysterious exoticism, has always held a fascination for the West. Too often this fascination has turned into fear, distrust, misunderstanding and conflict.
Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation seemed to me a wonderful reminder of how much the Middle East has enriched the West; how much actually has been embraced and become a part of the cultural fabric of the West.
The play beautifully underscores our common humanity, desires, aspirations and longings. Zimmerman’s wonderful theatricality also attracted me. At the play’s end, she adds a contemporary punctuation as the characters rhapsodize about the “nights over Baghdad.”
Q: The Denver Center’s recent production of “1001” simultaneously mauls and energizes Scheherazade’s tales to explore Israel-Palestine politics, as well as the West’s influence on contemporary notions of Arab culture. Did you see it?
A: I did catch “1001,” and was impressed by the cumulative power of the play.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
“Arabian Nights”
DRAMA | OpenStage Theatre & Company | Adapted by Mary Zimmerman | Directed by Peter Anthony | Starring Heather Lawrence, Lindsey-Teal Jandrain and Sotirios Livaditis | at the Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins | THROUGH SEPT. 29 |
8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sept. 16 and 23, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 | $13-$20 970-484-5237 or
