Theater is just different in Colorado’s elevated balcony section, otherwise known as the Rocky Mountains.
Not so much for what takes place on the stage but on the sidewalks afterward. Actors line up to thank tourists and townies alike for coming. An actress bids one visitor safe travel back to Texas; she hugs the next one as thanks for recently babysitting. The milling goes on like the aftermath of a Sunday service.
Scenes like that one play out every day in the 10 Colorado mountain towns that offer summer theater. Over decades, these companies become interwoven with their communities in ways no metro theater, no matter how successful, ever could.
Their impact and presence can be measured in tangible ways. For example, the troupes in Grand Lake, Aspen and Creede alone have been performing for a combined 115 summers. They will entertain more than 42,000 people this summer, even though their combined populations come to less than 7,000.
They each offer outreach programming that benefits local children. The Creede Repertory Theatre even goes on the road to perform for 14,000 schoolkids in three states every year.
Creede Rep, now in its 43rd season, is the largest employer in Mineral County, generating $4 million a year in a county where tourism accounts for 70 percent of all revenue.
But perhaps no measure is more telling than this one: Combined, those three companies’ seasonal programs fill 216 pages, mostly with ads from just about every local business in every town. Like the one congratulating Grand Lake’s Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre managers Chad and Sally Scott on the recent birth of their child.
And their followers put their money where their hearts are. Rocky Mountain Rep is wrapping up a $5 million campaign to open a new 300-seat theater next June. That’s a town with just 450 residents, and yet more than 600 individuals have contributed to the cause. One is 17-year- old Ashley North, who saved up for two years before last week handing over $1,000 to have her name inscribed on a seat in the new theater.
Creede also opens a new $1.7 million theater next summer. And after a $1 million campaign, Theatre Aspen will have a whole new tent theater to perform under next summer in Rio Grande Park.
But while theater is all about characters, mountain theater is all about real, small-town characters. They dot every town, and on a recent caravan to Grand Lake, Aspen and Creede, we sought out three of them:
Paul Stone, Creede
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His name is Paul Stone. But you can call him “The Cannon Guy.”
Stone amuses himself by firing bowling balls off the mountainside next to Creede. He also likes to rocket slabs of ham through a series of blades he’s constructed — it’s an elaborate cannon accessory that produces perfect sandwich slices in a manner David Letterman would dearly love.
Stone moved here in 1972 to work backstage for the Creede Repertory Theatre. He later went on to become the original shop foreman for the Denver Center Theatre Company, among many other national credits.
He just likes to blow stuff up.
“A lot of people think Americans are just a bunch of gun nuts — but a lot of us are into artillery too,” Stone said.
Each May, when Creede Rep’s 70 or so seasonal company members arrive in this remote town 250 miles southwest of Denver, they go off into the national forest with Stone on a cannon-shoot pilgrimage. A typical bowling ball travels a half-mile up in the air and lands about a mile away.
“People get scared when they hear the sound of cannon fire in town,” Stone said, “but I’ve gotten pretty good at not endangering people’s lives.”
This all started 20 years ago as a promotion for a now-defunct local bowling alley. People would drop a ball off a cliff, aiming it at a tiny bowling pin placed all the way at the bottom. “It would bounce like God’s Superball — we’re talking 1,200 feet in the air,” said Stone. He built his cannon as a ball return, “because we got tired of carrying them back up the hill.”
Stone, 59, calls what he does performance art. “It’s the best street theater you’ll ever see — without the street,” he said. “Or the theater.”
So after working at some of the biggest theaters in the country, why has he called Creede home for 38 years?
“I like the peace and quiet,” he said.
Seriously.
Bob Scott, Grand Lake
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Bob Scott is the kind of man who believes every day is wonderful — and tomorrow is going to be better. Ask him how he’s doing, and he’s likely to respond, “Why I’m perfect, of course.”
It’s a Saturday, and Scott is dressed in a turquoise belt and bolo tie. If it were a day later, he said, he’d be draped in 7 pounds of his Sunday-best turquoise.
Scott is caretaker and historian of the Grand Lake Lodge, a rustic retreat and national historic landmark that for 83 years served as the social heartbeat of Grand County, until it closed in the economic crash in 2006. A grand reopening is in the works for next summer.
The lodge sits above the town and offers majestic views of not only Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Lake, but nearly 150 miles away to Buena Vista.
For 100 days each summer, the lodge used to host 230 overnight guests and serve 70,000 meals a season.
Scott arrived from Texas in 1969, the same year Grand Lake began offering summer repertory theater.
“There’s always been a connection between the theater and the lodge,” said Scott, a longtime trustee for the 43-year-old Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre. Each summer, about 20 mostly college- age students are selected to perform here. “And you see, we love these kids before they even hire them,” he said.
Boy, do they: The kids get to swim at the lodge pool on the grounds Scott has managed to keep immaculate in its dormancy. There are horseback rides with steak cookouts.
And then there are the famous gourmet meals Scott delivers to the company each week — served with fresh flowers, linens and his finest silver, “because Tupperware is unacceptable.”
He loves what the theater brings to Grand Lake, but his real passion is for its outreach programs for local youths.
“We are the only cultural opportunity in this county, and that’s 90 miles in every direction,” he said. “Decades of young people have benefited.”
Joan Hess, Aspen
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You can’t go home again — but you can summer in Aspen.
Joan Hess, once a ubiquitous star in the local theater community (as Joan Leslie Sims) before landing roles in five Broadway musicals, is spending her second straight summer “in heaven on Earth.” She’s starring in Theatre Aspen’s “Same Time, Next Year” through Aug. 20.
“Colorado is such a big part of me, and I carry it around as part of my identity,” she said.
Hess graduated from Pueblo Centennial High School before landing jobs all over the metro area, most recently in the Arvada Center’s 2004 “The 1940s Radio Hour.” She’s been showcased at Boulder’s Dinner Theatre, the Denver Civic and appeared in “Bon Voyage” for the Denver Center Theatre Company. She performed at the Country Dinner Playhouse in “Steel Magnolias” alongside her current Aspen company-mate, Beth Malone.
She calls performing in Aspen “incredibly stimulating and inspiring,” and she says having a Broadway-quality professional theater company performing in Rio Grande Park, “is exactly the quality that belongs here.”
“Aspen has world-class music, and it has a world-class ideas festival,” she said, “so the theater should be, too.”
Summer theater in the Colorado mountains
Backstage Theatre, Breckenridge
Through Aug. 22: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”
Through Aug. 15: “The Storyman Presents Peter Pan” (for children)
Through Aug. 15: “The Menopause Monologues”
Aug. 3-19: “Tuesdays with Morrie”
Sept. 3-6: “Cinderella” (for children, at Riverwalk Center Amphitheater)
121 S. Ridge St., 970-453-0199 or
Creede Repertory Theatre
Through Aug. 7: “Zeus on the Loose” (for children)
Through Aug. 21: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”
Through Aug. 28: “The Ladies Man”
Through Sept. 25: “The 39 Steps”
July 23-Sept. 24: “This Day and Age”
Aug. 20-Sept. 25: “The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite”
124 N. Main St., 719-658-2540 or 1-866-658-2540,
Crested Butte Mountain Theatre
July 29-Aug. 8: “All Grown Up”
Aug. 6-7: “Cups”
Aug. 19-Sept. 4: “The Robber Bridegroom”
403 Second St., 970-349-0366,
Iron Springs Chateau, Manitou Springs
Through Sept. 25: “Yo Ho Ho and a Barrel of Fun”
444 Ruxton Ave., 719-685-5104
Lake Dillon Theatre, Dillon
Through Aug. 27: “Hair” (sold out)
Through Aug. 29: “Rent”
Through Aug. 20: “Rapunzel” (for children, Fridays at the New Pavilion, Keystone)
Through Aug. 26: “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” (Thursdays at the New Pavilion, Keystone)
176 Lake Dillon Drive, 970-513-9386 or
Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre, Grand Lake
Through Aug. 12: “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”
Through Aug. 13: “Carousel”
Through Aug. 14: “Thoroughly Modern Millie”
Aug. 27-Sept. 24: “Always, Patsy Cline”
1025 Grand Ave., Grand Lake, 970-627-3421 or
Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre, Trinidad
Through Aug. 13: “Baby”
Through Aug. 14: “Nunsense”
July 22-Aug. 12: “Squabbles”
At the Massari Performing Arts Center at Trinidad State Junior College, 719-846-4765,
Theater Aspen
Through Aug. 14: “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” (children’s)
Through Aug. 20: “Same Time, Next Year”
Through Aug. 21: “The Marvelous Wonderettes”
400 Rio Grande Place, 970-925-9313 or
Thin Air Theatre, Cripple Creek
Through Sept. 18: “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”
Through Sept. 18: “Gunslinger: The Legend of Billy the Kid”
At the Butte Theater, 139 E. Bennett Ave., 719-235-8944, butteopera
Westcliffe Center
July 23-31: “Arms and the Man”
Sept. 3-4: “New Rocky Mountain Voices”
Jones Theater, 119 Main St., 719-783-3004,
All currently running productions
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
This week’s theater openings
Opening Tuesday, July 20, through Aug. 1: National touring production of “South Pacific” (at the Buell Theatre)
Wednesday, July 21, through Aug. 1: Applebox’s “Summertree” (at University of Colorado-Denver)
Thursday, July 22, and Friday, July 23: Elitch Theatre’s “Zoot Suit” (outdoors)
Friday, July 23, through Sept. 24: Creede Repertory Theatre’s “This Day and Age”
Friday, July 23, through Aug. 29: Germinal Stage Denver’s “Summer Madness”
Friday, July 23, through Aug. 28: Victorian Playhouse’s “Tomfoolery”
Friday, July 23, through Aug 15: Longmont Theatre Company’s “Cymbeline”
Friday, July 23, through July 31: Inspire Creative’s “Guys and Dolls” (at the Newman Center)
Friday, July 23, through July 31: Westcliffe Center’s “Arms and the Man”
Saturday, July 24 and Sunday, July 25: Parker Arts Council’s “I’m Getting Murdered in the Morning” (at the Victorian Peaks Collection)
This week’s theater closings
Thursday, July 22: Little Theatre of the Rockies’ “Steel Magnolias” Greeley
Sunday, July 25: Little Theatre of the Rockies’ “The Lady With All the Answers” Greeley
Sunday, July 25: E-Project’s “Sylvia” Lakewood
Sunday, July 25: Jester’s Dinner Theatre’s “The Music Man” Longmont
Sunday, July 25: Platte Valley Players’ “Our Town” Henderson
Best bet: Paragon’s “The Real Thing”
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Opening Saturday, July 17, through Aug. 14: Paragon Theater struck lightning three years ago when it landed Denver Center Theatre Company stalwart Sam Gregory to spend his summer vacation starring in its award-winning “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”? Gregory and Paragon are reuniting to stage Tom Stoppard’s comedy “The Real Thing,” opening Saturday and running through Aug. 14. In his relationship comedy, Stoppard explores love and honesty in a world where nothing is as it seems – even when it seems like the real thing. Gregory is joined by Emily Paton Davies, Warren Sherrill and Barbra Andrews. Directed by Wendy Franz.
1385 S. Santa Fe Dr., 303-300-2210 or
Most recent theater openings
“All Shook Up” An guitar-playing roustabout shows up in a small 18950s town and teaches them they’ve gotta lot of living to do. Score features 24 Elvis tunes. Through Aug. 8. Presented by Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd, 720-898-7200,
“Beauty and the Beast” It’s the tale as old as time, only this time told through the eyes of the nation’s foremost handicapped theater company. Through Aug. 15. Presented by PHAMALy at the Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 303-575-0005 or
“Glengarry Glen Ross” David Mamet’s darkly comic and profane 1984 Pulitzer winner about four corrupt real-estate salesmen fighting to win a cutthroat sales contest. For mature audiences. Through July 31. Presented by Springs Ensemble Theatre at Watch This Space, 218 W. Colorado Ave., Colorado Springs, 719-447-1646 or
“Measure for Measure” In Shakespeare’s nastiest comedy, a young man is sentenced to death for sexual relations outside of marriage. Will his pious sister sacrifice her virginity to save her brother? Through Aug. 6. Presented by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival indoors at University of Colorado-Boulder mainstage theater, 303-492-0554 or
“The Menopause Monologues” Three actresses present a range of characters who debunk myths and bring to light issues concerning the life-changing journey all women take. Alternating weekends through Aug. 15. Backstage Theatre, 121 S. Ridge St., Breckenridge, 970-453-0199 or
“Our Town” Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-winning tragicomedy of human existence looks at the ordinary lives in the small 1900s town of Grover’s Corners, N.H. Through Aug. 4. Presented by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival at the Mary Rippon Outdoor Amphitheatre on the University of Colorado-Boulder campus, 303-492-0554 or
“Our Town” Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-winning tragicomedy of human existence looks at the ordinary lives in the small 1900s town of Grover’s Corners, N.H. Through July 25. Presented by the Platte Valley Players at the Brighton Cultural Center, 300 Strong St., 303-481-8432 or
“Same Time, Next Year” This romantic comedy follows the affair between two people who rendezvous once a year for a romatic tryst. Stars Broadway’s Joan Hess, a veteran of several local theaters. Through Aug. 20. Theatre Aspen, 400 Rio Grande Place, 970-925-9313 or
“Smokey Joe’s Cafe” A musical revue of the 1950s and ’60s chart-toppers penned by Leiber and Stoller, including “There Goes My Baby” and “Jailhouse Rock.” Thursdays only through Aug. 26. Presented by the Lake Dillon Theatre at the New Pavilion in Keystone, 970-453-0199 or
“Sylvia” The marriage of restless empty-nesters Greg and Kate is threatened when he brings home a stray dog from the park. Through July 25. E-Project, 9797 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood, 303-232-0363 or
“Urinetown” This clever musical satire puts us in a drought-ravaged land where the government is conspiring with big business to create a desperate class of poor on the brink of revolution. If that sounds dour, it’s not — even if it argues that our current way of life is unsustainable. Through Aug. 8. Evergreen Players, 27608 Fireweed Drive, 303-674-4934 or
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John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
