Stories on Stage has come a long way in a decade.
The popular series was founded with a simple, old-fashioned mission: Put great actors on a stage to read contemporary and classic short fiction to a live adult audience. Each program is built around a theme, such as food or the holidays.
“But over time, our audiences began to want someone to tell their own stories as well,” said artistic director Norma Moore. Based on their suggestions, soon she was creating programs on slave narratives, addiction and mental illness. Upcoming topics include end of life and families with autism.
But this Sunday marks a milestone for SOS: For the first time, it will present a program based on its own interviews with members of the local community.
“The Calling to Care” is a completely original piece that tells the stories of those who walk patients through every step of their journeys with cancer. The 75-minute work of “creative nonfiction,” not unlike “The Laramie Project” and “The Vagina Monologues,” will be presented for free at 2 p.m. Sunday as part of festivities marking the opening of the Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Moore likens herself to the curator of an art exhibit. “I take all the pieces and put them together to tell a story,” said Moore, who conducted 38 interviews with oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, mammographers, nurses, dietitians, social workers, administrators and even nuns.
“Everybody had a story,” she said. So much so that her interviews will be made into a book.
What she found: “Cancer caregivers are some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met,” she said. “They rock.”
Moore thought the assignment would be scary and depressing. “And instead, it was thrilling,” she said. “I laugh more because of these people. I enjoy bad days more because of these people.”
Moore knows there are few words more frightening than cancer. She hopes “The Calling to Care” will impart the message “that there is a lot of life in the process of dealing with cancer,” she said. “And the people who will care for you will exceed your highest expectations.”
She’s assembled a who’s-who of readers, including Denver Center Theatre Company veterans Jacqueline Antaramian, Aaron Serotsky, Gabriella Cavallero, Rodney Lizcaino, Kim Staunton, Candy Brown, and Buntport Theater’s Brian Colonna, Hannah Duggan and Erin Rollman.
In celebration of the upcoming Denver Arts Week, SOS will also collaborate with Buntport to read “Little Stones, Little Pistols” Nov. 14-15. It’s a quirky tale following a garage band through their unexpected 15 minutes of fame.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“The Calling to Care.”
Stories on Stage. Exempla St. Joseph Hospital, 1825 Marion St. Written by Norma Moore. 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1. Free, but advance reservations required; call 303-494-0523.
This weekend’s theater openings
Big Love” This is Charles Mee’s contemporary adaptation of Aeschylus’ “The Suppliants.” On the morning of their wedding, 50 grooms arrive at the altar – and 50 unwilling brides run away. With the men in pursuit, the biggest day of their lives dissolves into comic mayhem – and a choice between true love and loyalty that only some survive. Presented by the Aluminous Collective on Thursday, Oct. 29, and Friday, Oct. 30, at Naropa University, 2130 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, 720-221-3821 or Also plays Nov. 6-21 at the Bindery Space, 770 22nd St, Denver.
“Calamity” A two-person Wild West show that re-creates Deadwood’s gender-bending heroine, Calamity Jane, in all her glory, comedy and sexual ambiguity. Stars Ethelyn Friend, with live music. Through Nov. 15. Presented by Facing June Productions at the Rock ‘n Soul Cafe, 5290 Arapahoe Ave., No. 1, Boulder, 720-323-4665 or
“The One-Eyed Man Is King” This modern fable by Carter Lewis, inspired by the H.G. Wells short story “The Country of the Blind,” centers on the charismatic Bendalli, a blind thief who struggles to “see” his way into the lives of those he robs, and Lise, a lonely woman trying to cope with the impending loss of her terminally ill husband. Through Nov. 28. Presented by OpenStage at the Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins, 970-221-6730 or
Complete theater listings
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Catch up on John Moore’s roundup of theater news and dialogue. .
