“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me,” Frank McGuinness’ cathartic, fact-based play about three Lebanon hostages, is being heroically performed at Fort Collins’ Bas Bleu Theatre. But while the play continues through March 2, its very special ensemble remains intact for only two more performances.
Leonard Barrett plays the American, Charlie Ferrie the Brit and Robert Reid the Irishman — each impeccable performances all three will be proud to look back upon one day as signature. Barrett leaves after Saturday’s performance to star in Magic Moments’ 25th anniversary gala (March 7-16 at Littleton High School). L. Michael Scovel replaces him the final two weekends.
This deeply moving (if a bit too clean) staging, expertly directed by Jonathan Farwell, explores the psychological absurdity of boys’ inhumanity to man — unseen teen captors chaining men to walls — as well as the redemptive power of the human imagination.
These three educated, innocent men keep themselves alive by keeping their brains active. They argue, play games, imagine film scenes and narrate letters home.
One wonders if young people today, brought up to be more passively and sedentarily engaged, thanks to TV, movies, video games and the Internet, would be able to summon such a crucial survival skill amid such oppressive heat, fear, boredom and squalor.
“Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me”
Bas Bleu Theatre, 401 Pine St., Fort Collins. Through March 2. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays. 2 hours, 10 minutes. $12-$19. 970-498-8949 or
Weekly podcast
John Moore mediates a talkback featuring Beirut hostage Thomas Sutherland, his wife, Jean, and the cast of “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me.”
Kritikaraoke
You’ve got to hear this to believe it: Your favorite area theater characters reading portions of John Moore’s reviews. This week: Edith Piaf and Mother Courage read from our review of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s “Lydia.” The link takes you to a miniplayer. There, click the triangular “play” button, and the episode will begin playing without your having to download.
3 more theater
Friday-Saturday. Readings. The success of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s simultaneous world- premiere productions of “Our House,” “Lydia” and “Plainsong” bodes well for what else is in the works. This weekend’s Colorado New Play Summit gives audiences a chance to see staged readings of four more new commissions in various stages of development: Michelle Lowe’s “Inana” (11 a.m. Friday); Steven Dietz’s “Shooting Star” (3 p.m. Friday); Lee Blessing’s “Perilous Night” (10:30 a.m. Saturday) and Cusi Cram’s “Dusty and the Big Bad World” (3 p.m. Saturday). The readings are sold out, but a wait line will be formed. A public panel discussion, open to all, takes place at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. 303-893-4100 for event availability and prices.
Friday-Saturday. Dramedy. Two heroines, half-mad and half-baked, yet charmingly self-aware, navigate life from the trenches of a very contemporary Mexico. In Su Teatro’s “Las Chicas del 3.5′ Floppies.” Young Mexican playwright Luis Enrique Gutierrez Ortiz Monasterio exposes the human repercussions of globalization and poverty with incisive humor and relentless honesty. 8:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 4725 High St. $15-$18, 303-296-0219 or
Opening Saturday. Comedy. D.L. Coburn’s Pulitzer-winning comedy “The Gin Game” shows a simple game of cards between an elderly man and woman passing the time in a retirement home. As the stakes of the game rise, so does the tension between an aging pair who, with humor and poignancy, confront the hands life has dealt them. Starring Patty Mintz Figel and Jim Hunt. Presented by Paragon Theatre through March 15 at the Crossroads at Five Points Theatre, 2590 Washington St. $17-$19, 303-300-2210 or
