After 10 years of presenting only works that are new to Denver audiences, Curious Theatre is opening up its pool of potential plays to include “compelling, contemporary classics that provoke conversations about our daily lives,” according to artistic director Chip Walton.
First up: Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class,” a 1978 drama that may as well be new. Curious is only the second theater in the country to land the rights to Shepard’s 30th-anniversary revision that premiered in San Francisco just a few months ago.
You won’t see a wholesale change in Curious’ mission, Walton said. “Curse” is the only known play in his 11th season. But it’s telling that “Curse” will launch it.
Curious’ commitment to new work is what put it on the map as perhaps Denver’s second most-relevant company after the Denver Center Theatre Company. But staging new works without built-in audiences has proved both blessing and challenge for Curious. Its seasons have traditionally mingled commissioned, original works of local relevance; promising but unfinished works in collaboration with the National New Play Network; and its bread and butter — the best newly available plays from New York.
None of which are widely known to Denver audiences, which can make them the hottest ticket in town for some theatergoers — and the toughest sale in town for others.
Ironically, it was the arrival of the like-minded DCTC artistic director Kent Thompson in 2005 that prompted Walton to rethink his mission statement.
For four straight seasons ending in 2004, Curious scored the most recently available Tony-winning best plays — “Proof,” “The Goat,” “Take Me Out” and “I Am My Own Wife.” But it hasn’t landed one since because as the biggest regional theater in town, the DCTC gets right of first refusal.
Thompson’s predecessor had passed on all those plays. But while Thompson is a major supporter of Curious, that pipeline has narrowed.
In 2007, the DCTC staged a trifecta of hot new plays that Walton had had his eyes on — “Pure Confidence,” “The Sweetest Swing in Baseball” and “Third.” Last season, it was “Doubt.”
Walton says he’s not being reactive but rather responsive, “which I think is different,” he said. “As Kent does more and more new work, I’ve realized that what is already a relatively small pool of new and socially relevant works now becomes even smaller.
“At times it has been challenging to find a whole season of exclusively new works that all had compelling, contemporary issues inside of them,” Walton said, “… or compelling enough for me.”
Walton calls himself a stickler on mission, “but our mission was in some ways handcuffing us in terms of the quality of scripts that were available.”
That left him little choice but to expand his pool to include contemporary classics. He doesn’t define a classic by age. “I think it has more to do with the intrinsic weight of the material,” he said. His short list of recent classics would include “Angels in America” and “How I Learned to Drive” (both of which he introduced to Denver), as well as the current Broadway darling “August: Osage County” — which he has no illusions will bypass the DCTC’s grasp.
His new criteria for a known play: “I don’t want to do shows that have been done recently in the area, or that don’t fulfill that mission-driven goal that it must stimulate conversation,” he said.
One choice that would have fit Walton’s vision for that new slot perfectly, he said, is Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons,” which is about to launch a high-profile, all-star Broadway revival. But Thompson snatched Miller’s wartime family drama for his very first DCTC season back in 2005.
“It was just really a great choice, and the Denver Center’s production was awesome,” Walton said, “But . . . strike that off my list.”
Walton had his eyes on “Curse of the Starving Class” even before Shepard decided to revisit his darkly comic exploration of a dysfunctional farming family on the verge of losing its rundown farm. It is, like a lot of Miller plays, a futile search for freedom, security and meaning.
It is also, Walton said, “freaky relevant” 30 years later, given the current foreclosure crisis in America.
“This family’s situation, while certainly unique, is not uncommon to most families that are suffering from foreclosure tight now,” Walton said. “The bottom line here is that in order to achieve what has traditionally been considered the American Dream — the house, the car, the vacation, the 2.5 kids and the picket fence — we’ve become a nation of debt in order to do that.”
Shepard’s revision isn’t a wholesale rewrite, but rather a surgical revisitation.
“He has subtly but very effectively brushed up small references that resonate really loudly in our current situation,” he said. “For example, he’s added one line about how you don’t even hear the sound of change anymore — it’s all plastic shuffling back and forth.”
But while “Curse” can be seen as a commentary on the economic policies of the current administration, that does not suddenly make Shepard (“True West,” “Buried Child,” and “Fool for Love”) a political playwright.
“I think the play has become political,” Walton said, “not because of the play, but because of what has happened in the contemporary world it now lives in.”
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Curse of the Starving Class”
Drama. Presented by Curious Theatre, 1080 Acoma St. Written by Sam Shepard. Directed by Chip Walton. Featuring Dee Covington, John Jurcheck, Joanna Walchuk, Josh Robinson, Michael McNeill, Tom Borrillo and David Russell. Through Oct. 18. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm. Sundays. $18-$34 (two-for-one Thursdays). 303-623-0524 or .
This weekend’s theater openings
“Bubs, A One-Man Musical” Daring new rock musical performed by a single actor with a band of six. An unusual and poignant story of a songwriter father and his only son. Starring Erik Sandvold. Through Sept. 4. The Avenue Theater, 417 E. 17th Ave., 303-321-5925 or
“Curse of the Starving Class” The 30th anniversary production of Sam Shepard’s 1978 drama about a family in the throes of farm foreclosure. Curious is only the second theater in the country to land the rights to Shepard’s 30th-anniversary revision that premiered in San Francisco just a few months ago. Through Oct. 18. 1080 Acoma St., 303-623-0524 or and here’s
“Midlife: The Crisis Musical” The worst among the raging genre of raging hormonal aging musicals returns to Boulder’s Dinner Theatre, where it was an inexplicable hit last year. Through Nov. 8. 5501 Arapahoe Ave., 303-449-6000 or and here’s
New Rocky Mountain Voices One-act and 10-minute plays by authors from the Rocky Mountain States. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 5-6, only. Westcliffe Players, 119 Main St., 719-783-3004 or .
“ A Nice Family Gathering” A dead man comes back to haunt his youngest son into persuading his mother that he loved her. Through Sept. 20. Arvada Festival Playhouse, 5665 Olde Wadsworth Blvd., 303-422-4090 or .
“Noises Off” The celebrated modern farce about the antics of an inept acting troupe. Through Sept. 27. Longmont Theatre Company, 513 Main St., 303-772-5200 or .
“Nunsensations” Those zany, annoying “Nunsense” nuns return in this light spoof of Vegas revues. Through Nov. 30. Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, 4747 Market Place Drive, Johnstown, 970-744-3747, 1-877-240-4242 or .
“Out of Order” Ray Cooney farce about a governmental figure who plans to spend the evening with one of the opposition’s typists. Of course, things go disastrously wrong, beginning with the discovery of a dead body trapped in the hotel’s window. Through Oct. 4. Victorian Playhouse, 4201 Hooker St., 303-433-4343 or .
“She Stoops to Conquer” Classic comedy by Oliver Goldsmith about a wealthy country girl who pretends to be common to make her suitor fall in love with her. Through Sept. 20. Upstart Crow at the Dairy Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder, 303-444-7328 or .
Compiled by John Moore
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This week’s podcast: Running Lines at …
This week, Denver Post theater critic John Moore reports from Aug. 23 performance of the “Retro Loud,” a surprise celebration of 33-year veteran T.J. Mullin’s 60th birthday. Interviewees include Mullin, Annie Dwyer, Mark Rubald, Rory Pierce, Amie Mackenzie, Melissa McCarl, Bob Moore, Wendy Moore, Mandy Moore, Dan Dobbins, Renato Lunno and Melinda Foster. Run time: 17 minutes.
Bonus: To see a slideshow of photos and video performance excerpts from Mullin’s big night,
