With plush new seats at the Acoma Center, Curious Theatre audiences have never been more comfortable while settling in for a play. Not for long.
“The Denver Project,” Curious’ commissioned, original “tribal song” about homelessness, makes plain from its confrontational opening screed that this is somehow all your fault. It never says why, nor suggests what you might do to change that. But it does want you to know that all those bums occupying every corner in town? They’ll take your money and say “God bless,” but, yeah — they pretty much want to rip your heart out.
Really? Not the 99.9 percent of drivers who never stop to help?
It’s a provocative and antagonistic setup, but kind of thrilling as well. Unfortunately the evening quickly settles into a series of lyrical pontifications, prettily presented in a highly stylized theatrical way that belies the nitty-gritty realism of homelessness. And that prevents this artfully esoteric piece from landing with any kind of blunt-force impact. It’s a piece with a chip on its shoulder — and a song in its heart.
Impeccably timed for the run-up to the Democratic National Convention, “The Denver Project” is, in concept, just the kind of thing that makes Curious such a vital force in our community — not just our theater community. This is an enormous opportunity for all of us to examine together the causes and solutions of a deeply rooted societal problem.
But this isn’t an interactive play; it’s a series of exquisitely crafted musical monologues set to a capella percussion sounds known as “beat boxes.” This thrilling vocal underscore feels as visceral as vibrations from a passing train, but it’s all one-way communication. The characters are not even slightly interested in real dialogue — with one another or the audience. And what is theater — or community problem-solving — without dialogue and interaction? We’re simply being talked at all night.
Just as there is a wall between the haves and the have-nots in real life, Bronx-based playwrights Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz have built a wall between actors and audience because their haunting music gives their searing words too soft a place to land.
So it’s never made clear what exactly “The Denver Project” is, much less what it ultimately wants to say. It’s not advocating for change. It offers no solutions. It holds no one responsible save for the collective “we.”
The slight story is set under the new Millennium Bridge off Platte Street, where the ugliness of homelessness dwells in the shadow of the city’s beauty. The community of homeless people living there is its own microcosm: a couple married 20 years; an Iraq vet with post-traumatic stress; a teenager; and others.
The writers dutifully communicate various causes and consequences of homelessness, dwelling particularly on homeless-on-homeless violence. A strength is how this tale shows us that the line separating us is not all that deep. Lose a job, a house or a spouse and you, too, could easily be tomorrow where they are today.
The thread to all this is Tie (a remarkable Tyee Tilghman), a battered cart-man who hears noises in his head. The most effective scene by far comes when Tie stops rhyming and starts talking to Skully, the homeless teen who beat him (a wonderfully raw Akil LuQman, who six years ago was playing Young Simba in the Denver-born “Lion King” tour).
The piece needs more conversations like that. There’s one half-hearted attempt to convey the elitist attitude that the law of nature demands that there must always be some proportion of dregs. But the man making the case (played by John Jurcheck) is dismissively presented as a country-club buffoon, not someone to be taken seriously.
Curious’ production team has outdone itself in several production areas, (notably lighting designer Shannon McKinney and sound guru Brian Freeland). For those seeking comparison, it should be said that “The Denver Project” is leagues better in scope, content and value than Curious’ most recent original musical about Wal-Mart. It’s worthy of your own consideration.
But I regret the lack of insight that might inform me for how I might handle my next encounter with a homeless person. Do I feed the man or the meter? For a piece with a lot of words, it doesn’t offer many tangible opinions.
In the final moments, an angry social worker (Misha Johnson) makes it clear that the plight of the homeless is unacceptable. Fair enough. So what are we going to do about it? “The Denver Project” is too busy waxing poetic to offer answers.
Instead, it offers us a beautiful musical poem. But there’s just nothing musical, poetic or beautiful about homelessness.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“The Denver Project” **1/2 (out of four stars)
Tribal song Presented by Curious Theatre, 1080 Acoma St. Written by Steven Sapp and Mildred Ruiz. Directed by Dee Covington. Starring Tyee Tilgman, John Jurcheck, Jamie Lujan, Jude Moran, Candy Brown, Misha Johnson and Akil LuQman. 80 minutes, no intermission. Through June 21. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. $25-$32. 303-623-0524 or .
This weekend’s theater openings
“3 Mo’ Divas.” Marion J. Caffey’s “theatrical concert” featuring three female singers performing 35 songs that span from 1770 to 2003. Through June 29. Denver Center Theatre Company. Stage Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893-4100 or and here you can
“The House of Yes.” Wendy MacLeod’s dark comedy treads the line between disturbing and hilarious, profound and absurd. The Pascals are a dysfunctional family whose world is permeated with secrets and mind games. The play explores tragedy on simultaneously intimate and national scales. Through May 24. Square Product Theatre, ATLAS Center, University of Colorado, Boulder,
“Greater Tuna” Two actors play 24 residents of Tuna, Texas’ third-smallest town, Through Aug. 17. Nonesuch Theatre, 216 Pine St., Fort Collins, 970-224-0444 or
“The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” Bertolt Brecht’s morality tale basically recasts Hitler as a 1930s Chicago mobster. Through June 14. Countdown to Zero Productions. At the Bindery Space, 770 22nd St, Denver, 720-221-3821 or
“John Gabriel Borkman” Henrik Ibsen’s penultimate composition, written in 1896, is based on an incident from an earlier period in his life: The attempted suicide of an army officer who had been accused of embezzlement. Through May 31. Upstart Crow, Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, 303-444-7328 or
“Fiddler on the Roof”The classic musical about the small town of Anatevka as it comes together to celebrate life, mourn death, rejoice in marriage, and care for one another. Through July 6. Union Colony Dinner Theatre, 802 9th Ave., Greeley, 970-352-2900 or
Running Lines turns 2! …
John Moore is on assignment but next week we’ll kick off the first of four straight special episodes marking two full years of “Running Lines” podcasts with the local and national theater communities. First up: Find out who John met up with trolling the streets of New York City. The audio fun begins Thursday, May 22.
