Everyone’s got Rockies fever, it seems – and some theater audiences are calling in sick.
The Rockies entered the weekend with playoff games scheduled for three of the prime theatergoing nights of the week. That didn’t bode well for theaters (or conflicted theater critics who once covered the Denver Zephyrs minor-league baseball team for this very newspaper).
It seemed inevitable the Rox would take a cut into weekend theater attendance, especially after many companies reported attendance declines on Oct. 6, the night of the Rockies’ thrilling, series-clinching win over Philadelphia.
All over town, theaters were reporting patrons calling to switch nights, negligible walk- up sales or higher-than-usual no-shows. That includes the Arvada Center, which had two plays running that night, Town Hall Arts Center’s “Nunsense A-Men,” Modern Muse’s “Thom Pain” and Miners Alley Playhouse’s “My Old Lady.”
The Germinal Stage, one of our most bulletproof of theaters, was in the last weekend of “A Touch of the Poet,” normally all but guaranteeing a full house on Saturday. “Instead, we did 53 people – that’s less than 50 percent,” said Ed Baierlein.
Of the Eugene O’Neill play set in 1828, he added with a wink: “We thought of putting a widescreen TV onstage – after all, it is set in Con Melody’s Bar – but we resisted the urge as being contrary to the playwright’s intent.”
Others say they dodged the initial rock slide. Boulder’s Dinner Theatre drew a healthy 269 for “Mid-Life: The Crisis Musical,” and three Denver Center offerings reported business as usual – save for repeated requests for scores at intermissions. Curious and Buntport reported typical Saturday crowds, as did outlying theaters in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs.
Great grants!
The Denver Center Theatre Company and Curious Theatres are recipients of a prestigious new grant from the Edgerton Foundation that will allow them to add one entire week of rehearsals before their upcoming world-premiere productions.
The DCTC won the maximum grant of $37,000 for “Plainsong” (opening Jan. 31), while Curious got $7,000 for “For Better” (opening Nov. 3).
Unlike more typical grants that pay for the commission and development of a new script, the Edgerton’s “New American Play Awards” give creative teams a few more critical days to prepare before their inaugural stagings open.
The 22 inaugural awards, funded by L.A. plastic surgeon Bradford W. Edgerton, will go to some of the most prestigious theaters in the nation, including Chicago’s Steppenwolf and D.C.’s Arena Stage. You have to be invited to apply.
“So for two of these grants to be going to theaters here sends a clear message about the respect Denver has as a place that is launching new plays into the American theater canon,” said Curious founder Chip Walton.
Curious’ extra week of rehearsals also means an extra week with playwright Eric Coble in residence. It also allows Curious to schedule two preview performances a full week before opening night.
“That is so important with a new work,” said Walton. “We usually have two nights of previews, but then we open the next night, so there isn’t time to do anything with what we’ve learned. Now, there is.”
Briefly …
Denver actors Jude Moran and Patrick Mann were invited to perform Terry Dodd’s “Home by Dark” last Friday at the National Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays convention in Washington, D.C. It’s about a 1980s college student struggling to come out and his strained relationship with his father. The cast reunites at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday for performances at the University of Colorado’s Old Main Theatre on the Boulder campus …
The New Denver Civic’s “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” will close Oct 21. Word came just a few days after an extension had been announced through Nov. 18. More on the story at …
An impending strike loomed over Broadway at press time – an impasse between producers and the stagehands union …
And finally… Congrats to Rattlebrain Theater alum Jeff Kosloski. He’s won a speaking role in “NowhereLand,” playing Eddie Murphy’s neighbor. He shot his scenes last week. “I’ve been acting in Denver for 10 years,” he said. “It’s awfully nice to finally have Hollywood throw us a bone.”
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
This week’s openings
Tue.-Oct. 28. National touring production of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” (at the Buell Theatre)
Fri.-Nov. 11. Evergreen Players’ “Our Town”
Fri.-Dec. 9. Playwright Theatre’s “Shirley Valentine”
Fri.-Nov. 17. Colorado Stage Company’s “Lover’s Leap” Lone Tree
Sat.-Nov. 17. Listen Productions’ “Macbeth” (at Buntport Theater)
This week’s closings
Today. Bas Bleu’s “The Lion in Winter” Fort Collins
Today. TheatreWorks’ “Zorro” Colorado Springs
Today. Union Colony Dinner Theatre’s “The Wizard of Oz” Greeley
Today. Nonesuch’s “John & Jen” Fort Collins
Today. Playwright Theatre’s “Eleemosynary”
Today. Dangerous Theatre’s “A Time to Go Walking”
Today. Stage Left’s “Original One-Act Play Festival” Salida
Sat. Denver Center Theatre Company’s “Third” (Space Theatre) and “You Can’t Take It With You” (Stage Theatre)
Sat. Curious’ “How I Learned to Drive”
Oct. 21. Town Hall Arts Center’s “Nunsense A-Men!” Littleton
Oct. 21. Openstage etc.’s “Rag and Bone” (at the Armstrong Hotel) Fort Collins
Oct. 21. Main Street Players’ “Kiss Me Kate” (at former Pinnacle Dinner Theatre) Littleton
This week’s podcasts
Audio: Edith Weiss: This week on Running Lines, Denver Post theater critic John Moore talks with comedian Edith Weiss, one of eight local playwrights who have contributed to Theatre Company of Lafayette’s “The Deep Beep-Beep: Eight Short Plays about Sputnik.”
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Video: The Three Witches: John Moore interviews the actors playing the Three Witches from Listen Productions’ upcoming production of “Macbeth”: Trina Magness, Jamie Romero and Lindsey Pierce. This is the second a series of eight short interviews with the cast, whose play opens Oct. 20. The video will appear at the top of the center column. From there, just press play.
