Some actors get all worked up when an opening night approaches. Members of our local handicapped theater company keep things a bit more in perspective. When you, say, need an aide to help you get out of bed in the morning, appearing on stage doesn’t seem like that big of a challenge.
Lucy Roucis opened her 16th production with the Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League on Saturday, appearing as burlesque star Dolly Dimples (she calls her the “resident slut”) in the carny musical “Side Show.”
Roucis’ mind is more focused on another date: July 28, when she starts a week of surgeries in Cleveland that will leave her with two dime-sized holes drilled into her head, two electrodes attached to her brain and two pacemaker-like battery packs in her chest.
“I’m going to have square breasts instead of round,” she says with a laugh.
Roucis is one of the many faces of PHAMALy who have shared their deeply personal stories with readers of this newspaper over the years. Roucis, a former model and Hollywood actress, has been living with advanced Parkinson’s disease for 21 years.
“I’m pretty much against a wall now,” said Roucis. “I’ve been putting the surgery off, looking for a cure, but I’ve reached a point where my quality of life has been so compromised, I just have to do it.”
It’s called “deep-brain stimulation surgery,” and if all goes well, it will result in an 80 percent reduction in both symptoms and the need for medication. And not just relief from spasms. It is said to reduce tremors, rigidity, stiffness, slowed movement and difficulties walking because it helps unfreeze muscles.
The downside? It costs $100,000 (Medicaid pays for 80 percent), and, Roucis says, “They are going to turn me into Robot Woman.”
This is the same surgery Olympic cyclist Davis Phinney had in April. His story was featured in the May 11 Denver Post, and in it, his wife said that just three weeks later, “it was as if this mask he had for a number of years just lifted.”
Fish gotta swim
It’s been a whirlwind week for 2000 George Washington High grad Sierra Boggess, Broadway’s “Little Mermaid.” She was featured on the June 1 cover of USA Weekend with Mario Lopez and Megan Mullally for a story recounting stars’ high-school theater experiences.
“That’s how I survived high school, because of my drama department,” Boggess said of learning under the legendary Nancy Priest. (Also featured: 1998 Eaglecrest grad Andy Kelso, Sky in “Mamma Mia,” who swears he was a shy kid before his sister convinced him to audition for a musical.)
Then Boggess learned she won ‘s “favorite breakthrough performance by a female” award. Then she was interviewed backstage by Mark Indelicato of “Ugly Betty” for a special feature during last night’s airing of “Finding Nemo” on the Disney Channel.
Later Saturday, she was taped singing “Part of Your World” for an hour-long Tony Awards Preview Concert, which includes performances from all of the just-ended season’s musicals, and will be broadcast here at 11 a.m. today on KCNC-Channel 4.
She sang the same song Monday, June 9, on “Live with Regis and Kelly. To see the video of her performance,
Briefly …
“This Beautiful City,” the new docu-musical by New York’s Civilians troupe that explores the explosion of evangelism in Colorado Springs, opens Wednesday at the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. It next opens Sept. 21 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles before bowing off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in New York early next year . . .
The Northern Colorado Business Report honored Fort Collins’ Bas Bleu Theatre last week with a Mercury 100 Award as the fastest-growing company in the northern region with revenues under $2 million. . . .
So how did Denver ever even land this week’s prestigious National Performing Arts Convention, held once every four years? Wendy C. Goldberg says look no farther than to Denver Center Theatre Company artistic director Kent Thompson. “His work in creating a body of new theatrical work, and in supporting a new generation of artists, is one of the main reasons the conference is in Denver at all,” said Goldberg, artistic director of the O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Playwrights Conference in Connecticut. . . .
And finally: Nominees for the Colorado Theatre Guild’s third Henry Awards will be released this week. The Henrys, which honor the best in metro-area theater (among member groups), will be celebrated July 7 at the Town Hall Arts Center.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
This week’s theater openings
Opening Tuesday, June 10, through Saturday, June 14: New Denver Civic’s “Asking for It”
Opening Tuesday, June 10, through June 16: Aurora Fox’s “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” (children’s)
Opening Wednesday, June 11, through July 5: Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental’s “The Melting Bridge” (at Buntport)
Opening Wednesday, June 11, through July 10: And Toto Too’s “The Glider” (at Victorian Playhouse)
Opening Thursday, June 12, through July 25: Little Theatre of the Rockies’ “Quilters” Greeley (repertory)
Opening Friday, June 13, through July 20: Aurora Fox’s “Honus and Me”
Opening Friday, June 13, through Aug. 15: Rocky Mountain Rep’s “Oklahoma” Grand Lake (repertory)
Opening Friday, June 13, through Aug. 9: Southern Colorado Rep’s “Lend Me a Tenor” Trinidad (repertory)
Opening Friday, June 13, through July 20: Miners Alley Playhouse’s “Matt & Ben” Golden
Opening Friday, June 13, through June 29: E-Project’s “Wonder of the World” Lakewood
Opening Friday, June 13, through July 5: Hunger Artists’ “Letters to Home” (reader’s theater at the Byers-Evans House)
Opening Friday, June 13, through Aug. 24, 2008: Grand Theatre Company’s “Murder at the Howard Johnson’s” Winter Park (repertory)
This week’s theater closings
Note: The Arvada Center’s “Altar Boyz,” which was scheduled to close June 8, actually closed June 1 without warning.
Today, June 8: Westcliffe Players’ “Rounding Third”
Today: E-Project’s “A Thousand Cranes” Lakewood
Saturday: The Avenue’s “Almost Denver: Songs and Failures of Jim Aurora”
Saturday: Countdown to Zero’s “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” (at the Bindery Space)
Most recent theater openings
“An Arrant Knave”
Thin Air Theatre’s annual summer melodrama is about a harsh Victorian Duke who has killed his way to power — but not everyone he thinks is dead is dead. Through July 26. Butte Opera House, 139 E. Bennett Ave., 719-235-8944 or
“Catch Me If You Can”
No, not the Leonardo DiCaprio movie. This is an American adaptation of the French boulevard play about an advertising man who’s visited by a pretty young girl insisting she is his missing wife. Through July 12. Victorian Playhouse, 4201 Hooker St., 303-433-4343 or
“Crazy Bag”
Autobiographical one-woman show in which a vagabond single mother with baggage unloads all the junk in her trunk. Written and performed by Murphy Funkhouser, a minister’s daughter who recounts her path from rebellion to the rediscovery of home. Through June 29. Vintage Theatre, 2119 E. 17th Ave., 303-839-1361 or or
“Murder on Pirate Island”
A light dinner mystery in which pirates have assembled to crown a new king — but what’s Lady Prudence Twilliger doing in the company of these cutthroats? Through July 26. Adams Mystery Playhouse, 2406 Federal Blvd., 303-455-1848 or
“The Music Man”
Classic musical about a con man who comes to a small town intent on making his mark; instead they make theirs on him. This is the long-awaited opening of the new $6.2 million, 380-seat dinner theater in Johnstown. Through Aug. 31. Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, 4747 Market Place Drive, Johnstown, 970-744-3747, 1-877-240-4242 or or
“The Mystery of Edwin Drood”
The Creede Repertory Theatre, located 250 miles southwest of Denver, opens its 43rd season with Rupert Holmes’ musical takeoff on Charles’ Dickens’ final, incomplete novel. The audience determines one of 11 possible endings. Through Aug. 23. 124 N. Main St., 719-658-2540, 1-866-658-2540 or .
“Reverse Psychology”
Charles Ludlam’s comic send-up of the psychiatric profession, pretentious artists and modern sexual confusion. Through July 6. Germinal Stage-Denver, 2450 W. 44th Ave., 303-455-7108 or .
“Side Show”
The 19-year-old Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League revisits its greatest triumph, the true tale of conjoined twin sisters who became stars of the carnival circuit during the Depression. The musical, including the number, “Come Look at the Freaks,” takes on a whole new meaning when actors with disabilities are performing the roles. Through June 29. Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 303-575-0005 or .
“A Thousand Cranes”
True story of Sadako Sasaki, who survived the bombing of Hiroshima and sought peace in the world. Through Sunday. E-Project, 9797 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood, 303-232-0363 or .
Compiled by John Moore
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of every currently running production in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page. .
This week’s podcast
Running Lines with . . . John Moore. This week, the tables are turned on Denver Post theater critic and Running Lines host John Moore. We’re marking two years of his theater podcasts by bringing you this special episode where he is the guest. Listen in as John is interviewed by Dr. Morris Burns as part of the Bas Bleu speakers series in Fort Collins. Run time: 23 minutes. Listen by
