Shakespeare ran a new-works theater 400 years ago, so why shouldn’t festivals that bear his name today be just as committed to bringing original plays to the stage?
Boulder’s Colorado Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare and Company of Lenox, Mass., have launched a cooperative effort to co-commission and co-produce a cycle of plays covering the history of America.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s 10-play, 350-year history cycle and jump-started by a $15,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the companies officially launched the American History Play Project at a conference this weekend in Boulder.
The CSF has hired Constance Congdon, and their Massachusetts partners have tapped Brooklyn playwright J.T. Rogers to write the first two plays, with the hope of staging them as part of their 2012 seasons. Congdon is a Colorado Springs native who adapted “A Servant of Two Masters” for CSF in 2007.
“We draw inspiration from Shakespeare’s impact on his community and country,” said CSF producing artistic director Philip Sneed, who hopes his cycle similarly informs Americans about their own times and national identity.
The central question for these plays: What can we learn about our future by exploring our past?
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will join what Sneed hopes grows into a national network of collaborating partner companies. The goal is to have each play produced by as many member companies as possible, and perhaps toured to communities large and small throughout the country.
“I firmly believe we can’t just keep doing the canon of the past,” Sneed said. “We have to be responsible for creating the canon of the future.”
How soon that future comes is up to the economy. The NEA matching grant will get the first two plays written. But funding still must be secured for their productions.
PHAMALy actor updates
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In January, we told you that Jeremy Palmer, star of the handicapped company PHAMALy’s “Barefoot in the Park” (pictured at right), would need a third open-heart surgery to replace an aortic valve. That procedure took place Thursday, and wife Lyndsay Giraldi-Palmer said, “There were miracles performed.” Doctors nicked Palmer’s aorta, and he was put into an induced coma for 31 minutes, requiring 8 pints of blood. Given all that, “He is doing amazing,” she said. “It was so scary, but we knew God was there to protect him.” …
And when the Denver Center announced it will phase out its National Theatre Conservatory masters program, that stopped the search for the incoming class cold. We told you that PHAMALy’s Regan Linton had advanced to the final round of auditions, leaving her and many others in a lurch. Linton, who will play LeFou in “Beauty and the Beast,” opening July 15, has since been awarded a full, three-year scholarship into the graduate program at the University of California-San Diego, which is affiliated with the renowned LaJolla Playhouse.
Two new arts centers for south Denver
Ground has been broken on the voter-approved, $18 million Lone Tree Arts Center, a multi-venue arts facility to be run by executive director Lisa Rigsby Peterson. The center, to include both 500- and 225-seat theaters, will be located a half-mile west of Interstate 25 on Lincoln Avenue.
Peterson, the Denver Center’s director of administration from 2001-06 and then managing director at Curious Theatre, said there won’t be a resident theater company at first. The center will instead host a variety of arts groups.
And in Parker, ground will be broken April 22 on the new Parker Arts, Cultural and Events Center. PACE will be located on the southeast corner of Mainstreet and Pine Drive.
Both facilities are expected to open in the fall of 2011.
Briefly …
Jose Mercado made a splash in 2004 when the then-North High School teacher brought his student production of “Zoot Suit Riots” to the Buell Theatre. Mercado, now a member of the Historic Elitch Theatre Foundation board, will remount that colorful musical July 22-24 on the grounds outside the fabled 119-year-old theater at West 38th Avenue and Tennyson Street. Proceeds go to the ongoing $6 million campaign to reopen the Elitch Theater as an education-based, performing-arts and community resource. Last month, Cloris Leachman came to town to spur fundraising efforts. Call 303-623-0126 for info …
And finally . . . Congratulations to Denver Center Theatre Company mainstay Lyle Raper. She’s retiring next month after 26 years as company stage manager.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
This week’s theater openings
Opening Thursday, April 15, through April 25: Red Rocks Community College’s “Ardy Fafirisin” Lakewood
Opening Thursday, April 15, through Saturday, April 17: Harrington & Kauffman’s “Cabaret Terrarium” (at Buntport Theater)
Opening Friday, April 16, through May 16: Vintage Theatre’s “Leading Ladies”
Opening Friday, April 16, through May 1: Adams Mystery Playhouse’s “Murder on Pirate Island”
Opening Friday, April 16, through Sept. 25: Iron Springs Chateau’s “Yo Ho Ho and a Barrel of Fun” Manitou Springs
This week’s theater closings
Today, April 11: Magic Moments’ “The Child,” Cherry Creek High School
Today, April 11: Butte Theatre’s “Rounding Third” Cripple Creek
Today, April 11: Today: Lake Dillon Theatre Company’s “Same Time, Next Year”
Saturday, April 17: Carousel Dinner Theatre’s “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” Fort Collins
Saturday, April 17: Aurora Fox’s “Dearly Departed”
Saturday, April 17: Su Teatro’s “La Carpa de los Rasquachis,” Denver Civic Theatre
Saturday, April 17: Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s “The Clean House,” at the Dairy Center
Saturday, April 17: Curtains Up’s “The Secret Garden”
Sunday, April 18: Theatre ‘D Art’s “Between Time and Timbuktu” Colorado Springs
Sunday, April 18: Backstage’s “The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged” Breckenridge
Sunday, April 18: Fremont Civic Theatre’s “Daddy’s Girl” Cañon City
Most recent theater openings
“The Child” Magic Moments’ annual, all-comers musical revue featuring up to 250 special-needs and able-bodied performers. This year, the story plays out between a veteran and a child who have lost all hope of ever being loved. Songs are taken from Lady GaGa, U2, Little Feat, Broadway musicals and more. Through today, April 11. At Cherry Creek High School, 9300 E. Union Ave., Greenwood Village, 303-607-7555 or
“Daddy’s Girl” Gary Ray Stapp’s comedy puts together a mischievous angel, a grouchy diner owner, a talking portrait, a ditsy waitress, a snobby restaurant critic and more. Through April 18. Presented by Fremont Civic Theatre at the Washington School, Ninth Street and College Avenue, Cañon City, 719-429-7719 or fremontcivic
“Greater Tuna” Welcome to Texas’ third-smallest town, where the Lions club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies. Two actors play the 24 residents of Tuna, offering a humorous look at smalltown life. Through May 1. Presented by the Colorado Stage Company at the Lone Tree Golf Club, 9808 Sunningdale Blvd., 303-471-8171 or
“Hamlet” and “Tartuffe” The National Theatre Conservatory’s graduating masters students perform both plays in repertory. See story, Through April 24. Conservatory Theatre, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893-4100 or
“Mariela in the Desert” A young painter returns home to the Mexican desert to reconcile with her dying artist father. Playwright Karen Zacarías won the National Latino Playwriting Award for this play. Through May 15. Denver Center Theatre Company at the Ricketson Theatre, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893-4100 or
“Oleanna” David Mamet’s highly charged confrontation between a college professor and a failing student who files sexual harassment charges against him. Through May 8. Presented by the Firehouse Theatre Company at the John Hand Theatre, 7653 E. 1st Place, 303-562-3232 or
“The Rainmaker” N. Richard Nash’s Depression- era tale finds finds the Curry family desperate for rain and a suitor for daughter Lizzie, a discouraged wallflower her brothers have resigned to a spinsterly future. When a slick salesman named Starbuck comes to town with the promise of rain (for a price), Lizzie’s father pays as much for a few days of hope as he does for rain. Starring Karen Slack, Tupper Cullum and Paul Borrillo. Through May 9. Aurora Fox, 9900 E. Colfax Ave., 303-739-1970 or
“The Secret Garden” This musical, based on the children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is about a young orphan sent to live with her uncle and discovers the treasures of a magical, locked garden. Through April 17. Curtains Up, 3900 W. 32nd Ave., 720-308-2920 or
“What the Bellhop Saw” Comic farce about a mild-mannered young man whose indiscretion in an expensive New York hotel quickly, and absurdly, spins out of control. Through April 25. Arvada Festival Playhouse, 5665 Olde Wadsworth Blvd., 303-422-4090 or
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page. Or check out our listings or
The Running Lines blog
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