When you are an “only,” Denver Councilwoman Deborah Ortega said, “You are as essential as a heartbeat.”
More than 95 Colorado theater companies have performed at least one play in the past 12 months. But we have only one black theater company. Only one Chicano troupe. In a state where 28 percent of the population is non-Anglo. With a capital city where, as of August, minority groups make up the majority of the population for the first time.
Shadow Theatre and Su Teatro (“Your Theatre”) have been telling tales of the black and brown experience for a combined 45 years, but on some of the sorriest stages you’ll ever see. Shadow is a nationally recognized black theater, but when Aurora Councilwoman Deborah Wallace got a look at it, her first thought was, “Oh, we have to get them out of here.” In a decade in the McGlone Center, Shadow hasn’t so much as a backstage; its dressing room is a fire escape.
That’s about to change. Both companies are moving into new, state-of-the-art facilities. Shadow is moving on east, into a $585,000 theater that will anchor Aurora’s East Colfax Arts District. And Su Teatro is moving on south, into a $4.5 million multidisciplinary performing-arts center called El Corazon de la Ciudad (“The Heart of the City”) that will anchor the southern tip of Denver’s Santa Fe Arts District.
And frankly, Shadow Theatre founder Jeffrey Nickelson says, it’s about time, “in a very positive way.” That both are happening simultaneously, he added, “shows that Colorado is expanding its human vision.”
Still, Nickelson and Su Teatro executive artistic director Anthony J. Garcia would rather be singled out for their artistic accomplishments than for an adjective. They wish they were one of a dozen companies telling the kinds of stories they tell. That would be indicative of a far healthier overall cultural landscape.
But they aren’t. They’re “onlys.” And when you’re an “only,” your existence is not only about your survival, but your cultural preservation.
Images from Shadow Theatre Company, past and present (story continues below).
“Both of our companies are the result of social phenomena,” said Garcia, whose troupe grew out of the Chicano movement for social justice in 1973. “I think this is a sign that we are finally moving from the margins to the mainstream. I think this says that people are starting to recognize the contributions and the importance of both organizations.”
But to be an “only” can be a double-edged sword, said Ortega. “Sometimes that can help you to prove your credibility, but there are double standards when there aren’t any other trailblazers out there. Su Teatro has been doing what they do for decades, and still they are continually having to prove themselves.”
But neither company is moving forward alone. The cities of Denver and Aurora are partners, each negotiating unique funding packages, without which neither company would be going anywhere.
Aurora extended Shadow a fully forgivable $250,000 construction loan from urban-renewal funds to help build a theater at 1468 Dayton St., two blocks east of the thriving Aurora Fox theater. Denver gave Su Teatro a $1.55 million, no-interest, delayed repayment loan to buy the 19,000-square- foot property at 215 S. Santa Fe Drive. Both measures were unanimously approved by their respective city councils.
Neither company went looking for a handout, and neither is getting one. Both cities are expecting something in return – a sure sign of rising credibility. Aurora is not only expecting Shadow to bring 12,000 people a year into an arts district that has languished for five years – it’s written into the contract. “That means they see economic value in our company, and that’s beautiful, man,” said Nickelson, whose new theater will double his capacity to 150. “That takes us out of the black and the white.”
And into the green.
Denver expects Su Teatro to help draw tenants that eventually will double the size of the Santa Fe Arts District down to Alameda Avenue. The city did not need to be convinced of the cultural and economic stimulation Su Teatro would bring. It brought the property to Garcia’s attention in the first place.
The new Su Teatro will include an outdoor plaza theater and a new 250-seat theater built from the ground up. The existing building will house a studio theater, a store, art gallery and dinner facilities.
Both projects are “win-win-wins” – for the companies, for their cities and for their greater populaces.
Images from El Centro Su Teatro, past and present (story continues below).
“I think it’s something both our communities deserve,” Garcia said. “Historically, we have always been having to settle for what we can get. But it’s not just about our community; it’s about the greater community as well. August Wilson taught us that the African-American story is very much an American story. We say the same thing about César Chávez. He was not necessarily a Mexican hero or a Chicano hero exclusively. His is an American story.”
Shadow is a black theater company “only because of me,” Nickelson said. “More than that, we’re a human organization that’s processed through the lens of the African-American experience.”
Ortega said putting our black and Latino theater companies in state-of-the-art facilities, with the full backing of their respective municipalities, should send a message that these are resources everyone should utilize.
“While stories may differ in terms of ethnic background,” she said, “the struggles of the disadvantaged, the struggle to find a better life, the need for relevancy in society, the want to be a part of America, the will to survive and to take care of your family – those are themes that run through every culture and every ethnicity.”
Su Teatro
Current address: 4725 High St.
New address: 215 S. Santa Fe Drive
Current capacity: 100
New capacity: 225
Planned opening: February 2009
Square feet: 19,000
Buildout cost: $4.5 million
Municipal loan: $1.55 million, zero interest, from city of Denver
Projected first-year attendance: 12,000
Shadow Theatre Company
Current address: 1420 Ogden St.
New address: 1468 Dayton St., Aurora
Current capacity: 75
New capacity: 150
Planned opening: March 2008
Square feet: 9,500
Buildout cost: $583,000
Municipal loan: $250,000, fully forgivable, from city of Aurora
Projected first-year attendance: 12,000
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
