When the economy tanked in 2008, it was plain that arts organizations were going to have to fundamentally change the way they do things in the new economic reality.
Problem was, no one knew then — or knows now — exactly what to change to.
But Denver’s Curious Theatre has positioned itself to be on the leading edge of a growing national movement focused on creating a prototype for how arts organizations might fundamentally re-invent themselves.
Curious has snagged four big-time grants in the past six weeks, two of which will allow Denver’s second-biggest professional theater company to study and implement new operating strategies.
“It’s an opportunity to be unafraid to ask big questions,” said producing artistic director Chip Walton.
Last month, Curious received a $25,000 “Think It” grant from the MetLife Foundation and Theatre Communications Group to explore big artistic questions, like how to re-invent the resident company concept for the 21st century.
And on Thursday, Curious was chosen by EMC Arts of New York to undergo a nine-month exploration of all things administrative, organizational and economic — including issues of funding. It’s a program supported locally by the Bonfils Stanton Foundation.
“This is an unprecedented opportunity to be asking the same questions about how you go about things both artistically and organizationally at the same time,” Walton said.
The TCG grant “will allow us to explore ways we can make the artistic company more primary, central and vital,” Walton said. And with the EMC grant, Curious gets to tackle thorny funding questions that are unique to Denver.
Curious is among the hundreds of arts organizations, for example, that receive funding from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, a metro-wide penny sales tax on every $10 spent. But because of the way the SCFD is structured, Curious, which now operates on a $1 million annual budget, is locked into receiving not one penny more than it received when it was just a $300,000 company.
With these grants, Curious company members will visit leading theaters around the country, and the company will bring in visiting artists and administrators for brainstorming and questions, questions.
That no one knows the answers to those questions yet is the very reason for asking them, Walton said. “At EMC, the maxim is, ‘You can’t discover new lands without losing sight of the shore.’ ”
And he expects being the “lab rat” will one day benefit other companies in Colorado.
“This is a real exciting opportunity for the entire community because the answers we arrive at will be applicable to other artists, fundraisers and organizations in the community,” he said.
Briefly . . .
Longtime Denver Center composer Lee Stametz died Thursday. To read our full tribute, …
Ken Crow, who has directed and produced more than 200 shows since 1993, is retiring as artistic director of the E-Project in Lakewood, effective with the Dec. 18 closing of “Eleemosynary.” He will be replaced by Rick Yaconis. . . .
Denver School of the Arts alum Gabriel Ebert is playing Stanley in the Broadway revival of Noël Coward’s “Brief Encounter,” opening Tuesday at Studio 54. And 2007 University of Northern Colorado alum Ryan Jesse made his Broadway debut Sept. 14 as Bob Gaudio in “Jersey Boys.” . . .
And finally, the legendary Carol Channing is a “professor in residence” at Colorado State University, where she is teaching a master class this fall. She’ll give a talk at 2 p.m. Oct. 23 at the University Theatre, but all public tickets have been allocated.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
This week’s theater openings
Opening Thursday, Sept. 30, through Oct. 23: Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s “Doubt”
Opening Friday, Oct. 1, through Nov. 6: Vintage Theatre’s “Angels in America: Part 1”
Opening Friday, Oct. 1, through Oct. 31: Aurora Fox’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes”
Opening Friday, Oct. 1, through Oct 31: The Bug Theatre’s “Night of the Living Dead”
Opening Friday, Oct. 1, through Nov. 7: Union Colony Dinner Theatre’s “Always Patsy Cline” Greeley
Opening Friday, Oct. 1, through Nov. 7: 73rd Avenue Theatre’s “Bang Bang, You are Dead” Westminster
Opening Friday, Oct. 1, through Oct. 15: Thunder River’s “The Clean House” Carbondale
Opening Friday, Oct. 1, through Oct. 31: Thin Air Players’ “Werewolves of Poverty Gulch”
Opening Friday, Oct. 1, through Oct. 31: Mercury Cafe Allied Witches’ “Apparition Palestine”
This week’s theater closings
Today, Sept. 26: National touring production of “Tap Dogs,” at the Buell Theatre
Today, Sept. 26: Lake Dillon’s “8-Track”
Today, Sept. 26: Stapleton MCA’s “Happy Days, A New Musical,” at Founder’s Green Aurora
Sunday, Oct. 3: TheatreWorks’ “I Am Nikola Tesla” Colorado Springs
Sunday, Oct. 3: Parker Arts Council’s “Dearly Departed”
Sunday, Oct. 3: Crested Butte Mountain Theatre’s “Moon Over Buffalo”
Most recent theater openings
“Dearly Departed” Funerals have never been quite so outlandishly funny as Bud’s burial somewhere below the Mason-Dixon line in backwoods Bible-belt country. Through Oct. 3. Parker Arts Council at the Mainstreet Center, 19650 Main St., Parker, 303-840-5406 or
“Greater Tuna” Welcome to Texas’ third-smallest town, where the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never died. Two actors play 24 residents of Tuna, offering a humorous look at small-town life. Starring Wayne Kennedy and Scott Beyette. Performances on Mondays and Tuesdays only. Through Nov. 9. Boulder’s Dinner Theatre, 5501 Arapahoe Ave., 303-449-6000 or
“HOT+WAX: On Being Too Big to Fail” This original development work by Denver’s only full-time experimental theater company blends the Icarus story from Greek mythology with the current economic crisis and 1980s 8-bit video games. This interactive evening offers audiences the opportunity to play old-school video games and manipulate the direction of the story. Through Oct. 23. Presented by the LIDA Project at the Bindery Space, 2180 Stout St., 720-221-3821 or
“The House of the Spirits” This new English adaptation of Isabel Allende’s bestseller is a family saga set in an unnamed Latin American country, told through four generations of political, social and familial upheaval. Through Oct. 23. Presented by the Denver Center Theatre Company at the Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893-4100 or
“Innocent Thoughts” This racially explosive drama launched Shadow Theatre in 1997. A Jewish anthropologist is called in as an expert witness in a murder trial. The accused is a white police officer who is alleged to have murdered and buried a black man 20 years earlier. By William Missouri Downs. Through Oct. 10. Shadow Theatre, 1468 Dayton St., Aurora, 720-857-8000 or
“Kimberly Akimbo” David Lindsay-Abaire’s wild adventure about a suburban New Jersey teenager with a rare condition causing her body to age faster than it should. Through Oct. 16. Presented by E-Project at the West Colfax Event Center, 9797 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood, 303-232-0363 or
“Moon Over Buffalo” Ken Ludwig’s popular farce about a hack acting ensemble toiling away in Buffalo. Through Oct. 3. Crested Butte Mountain Theatre, 403 Second St., 970-349-0366, or cbmountain
“Woman and Scarecrow” A woman, gaunt and ill, haggard after giving birth eight times, faces death. What was life? What was love? What else could have been? Full of mordant, bitter humor, this play is a passionate mourning song from one of Ireland’s leading playwrights, Marina Carr. Directed by Erica Borrillo. Through Oct. 30. Victorian Playhouse, 4201 Hooker St., 303-433-4343 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
Catch up on John Moore’s roundup of theater news and dialogue. This week we tackle a reader’s question, “Are you too soft on the Shadow Theatre?”
