“For some reason, that triggered something in me,” she recounted during a phone call. “I would never have gone. Nobody was taking me to ‘The Sound of Music,’ you know? And he took us, and that triggered something.”

Around the same time, her grandmother, who also played music, started taking Gilmore to the theater. “When I graduated, she gave me a pair of season tickets for us could go together. Eventually, they were just mine. And that’s how it all started.”

That was in the 1980s. With only a couple of breaks, Gilmore has been a season ticket subscriber at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts ever since.

With its marketing muscle, the Denver Center — both its Broadway and its theater company arms — have made a fine art of building and sustaining its subscription base. That means guaranteed seats, exchange flexibility, and discounts for friends and family, and, for the Broadway division, access to the hot national tour that isn’t part of the season package. Think this fall’s “Hamilton” and next spring’s “Mean Girls.”

The bond between the DCPA and its faithful is among the reasons the premiere arts organization has seemingly rebuffed national trends and continues to rebound from the existential crisis of the pandemic. So touting the joys of the Denver Center season might be a little like preaching to the converted.

But the theater-sustaining power of the season subscription isn’t — and shouldn’t be — the sole purview of one of the region’s biggest arts institutions. The bond a subscription creates between theatergoers and the area’s smaller theaters comes with its own special qualities.

Some tangibles are obvious: time commitment, cost, a comfortable playhouse. Others, to return to the sports vernacular, are shaped by the intangibles: the camaraderie between the audience and the theater-makers.

“Our patrons are just so unique, Boulder’s a very academic place. And so, you have a lot of intellectuals that are just, they just crave this, you know, when we have new readings, new readings, it impacts the house,” said Mark Ragan, managing director of the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company. “I think we are so lucky,” he adds. “… we are so blessed at BETC because our patrons are the most loyal, wonderful, dedicated, trusting people that I’ve seen in my years of working in the theater.”

Ragan’s not alone in his affection for patrons.

“Subscribers are our super fans,” said Len Matheo, producing artistic director of Miners Alley Performing Arts Center. “They’re always there for us, through thick and thin, and we love taking care of them with our subscription packages.”

Because season subscription offers often kick-off as the current season is winding down, the revenue from those packages “brings in a big jolt of income at a time when we usually need it,” Matheo said in an email. Last week, the theater announced its 2025 season, which begins in January.

“It also helps us sell the first two weeks of a production, which can be a challenge, especially if the show is not as well-known. When you give customers a way to participate on a regular basis, you’re building community around your art!”

Looking to deepen your arts and entertainment experiences? Here are five theater companies whose artistic choices, craft and subscriptions may prove habit-forming.

The Curious Theatre Company

One expects the team at the daring company to import the goods from off-off Broadway to its digs in a former church in Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood. The 2024-25 season is rife with regional premieres and a bonus world premiere. Among the playwrights whose reputations keep trending upward: Dominique Morriseau, whose “Confederates” opens in November, and
Samuel D. Hunter (author of “The Whale”), whose “A Case for the Existence of God” opens in early 2025. Actor-playwright Regina Taylor’s “Exhibit” will have its world premiere in late spring.

Tangibles: This year’s season offers a four-pack of shows, starting with Selina Fellinger’s all-female political comedy “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” one of the most produced shows currently in U.S. theaters. Patrons opting for the five-show package have first dibs on Taylor’s one-woman show, which was last year’s recipient of Theatre Aspen’s Solo Flights Project Advancement Fund.

Intangibles: The company’s stated motto? “No Guts, No Story.” Yes, producing deeply engaging theater takes intestinal fortitude. What that looks like onstage comes by way of a heady mix of searing dramas and deft and timely comedies that often pose questions about who we are: to our families, our nation, each other. It also takes ducats. Single ticket sales are a wonderful measure of programming, but not the only. It is subscriptions that enable the work and the risks year-in, year-out. What’s the return on that investment? The center-staging of some of the most incisive and insightful playwrights the nation has to offer.

The Curious Theatre Company, 1080 Acoma St. 303-623-0524 and curioustheatre.org.

Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company

Season 19 will launch in late September in … wait for it … Denver when Henrik Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People” — adapted by Ragan — opens at Denver Savoy Ballroom. The show will open at the Dairy Arts Center in November. Not unlike last month’s searing remount of “Grounded” — which plunged into the moral issues stirred by drone warfare — the Ibsen play engages contemporary concerns.

“It holds up a mirror to our society today,” said Ragan. “Even though it was written in 1882, it’s breathtakingly similar to what we’re going through as a country with polarization, misinformation, the rise of demagoguery. All of that’s in the play.”

Tangibles: A great value for the quality, BETC’s five-play package costs $180 and includes discounts for special productions. Recently, the company created a new tier of commitment: The Director’s Circle is an opportunity for a BETC lover to see the works, of course, but also get the perks of being a sustaining patron: special webinars with the creatives, drinks at the Dairy’s bar, a pre-season dinner with Ragan and artistic director Jessica Robblee and more.

Intangibles: The abiding affection between the company and its patrons is palpable once you walk into BETC’s home at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder or, on occasion, attend shows mounted at the Savoy in Denver. And not just because Ragan often stands in the corner of the theater personally greeting patrons as they head for their seats. Having taken the reins of the company in 2023, Ragan and Robblee have carried on a tradition of expertly produced, intellectually stimulating, engagingly performed work that invites and rewards a theatergoer’s fealty.

Betc.org.

The Catamounts

For years now, this Boulder-based company has been calling its most financially devoted fans Fat Cats. That moniker should give you an inkling that this company doesn’t mind winking. The Catamounts are playfully smart. Or smartly playful? Case in point, their current immersive show “After the End” about the search for a lost book runs, or rather ambles through, the Anythink Library in Thornton until Sept. 14.

Tangibles: The company is a week out from officially announcing its new season but expect a continuation of their civic collaborations with another Colorado history-infused work, this one unfolding in Westminster. They’ll produce a show at the Dairy Arts Center in the fall and in the new year, guests are invited to a FEED, their signature mix of a communal gathering of food, libations and performance.

Intangibles: No matter how one characterizes them, the plays, musicals and immersive experiences of this troupe based in Boulder but showing up in far-flung burgs like Westminster, Thornton or Greenwood Village will likely tickle, warm or charm you. And like the good experimenters they are, the Cats will also make you wonder about the elasticity and possibilities of the very term “theater.”

thecatamounts.org.

Local Theater Company

The Boulder-based outfit dedicated to developing new work has had a string of impressive, home-nurtured productions: GerRee Hinshaw’s solo show “Raised on Ronstadt”, the aching, Phish-inspired joyride “You Enjoy Myself,” and the blisteringly amusing and uncomfortably resonant housing parable “237 Virginia Avenue” come to mind. Earlier this month, the new season launched with a grand experiment: “We the People: The Democracy Cycle,” invited the denizens of three different cities, along with three playwrights, to craft a short play about the pressing concerns of their community.

Tangibles: Although the three, one-night engagements of “The Democracy Cycle” ended earlier this month, the rest of the season is vintage Local, starting with a production of “Stockade” in late September. Written by Andrew Rosendorf with Carlyn Aquiline, the post-WWII, early Cold-War drama focuses on the repercussions of the so-called Lavender Scare, a period of suspicion that presaged the dismissal of LBGTQ soldiers and persecution of those who went on to work in the government. Commissioned by the company, the play received a stage reading during spring’s Local Lab. So did Michelle Tyrene Johnson’s often hilarious comedy “Chasing Breadcrumbs,” set to open in February. The tiered packages are clearly defined on the Local website and, no matter which tier you opt for, they are a bargain.

Intangibles: Subscriptions help budget one’s entertainment dollars and nail down one’s calendar, but purchasing them can also reflect a deeper commitment to art, to artists, and to the culture more broadly. Co-artistic director Nick Chase described the company’s community of subscribers as “theatergoers who are interested not only in the content of a specific play, but the artistry and value system of a theater company as a whole.”

Localtheaterco.org.

Miners Alley

Goodbye Playhouse. Hello, gorgeous performing arts center. For years, Golden’s tenacious theater company peddled its enjoyable wares off the town’s main drag. With the winds of true municipal commitment at its back, it took over the town’s go-to hardware store space, rebuilt it as a theater-education complex and opened a new home with terrific sightlines, a welcoming lobby and Matheo’s local community-savvy programming.

Tangibles: The season doesn’t launch until January. So now is the perfect time to check out the subscriptions that come in a variety of packages.

Intangibles: Sitting in the raked auditorium, enjoying the story unfolding before you (the final mainstage show of the 2024 season, “School of Rock” plays through Sept. 24), it’s easy to forget how much goes into making all that happen, emotionally and fiscally. One of the great things about Miners Alley is that it’s an Actors Equity Union Theatre. This means it’s not only dedicated to putting on a show but is also committed to helping its theater-makers put food on their tables.

100 Miner’s Alley, Golden. 303-935-3044. Minersalley.com

Lisa Kennedy is a Denver-area freelancer specializing in film and theater. 

That’s why the industry has moved further into movie adaptations, proven hits and revivals over new material, from “Mean Girls” and “Beetlejuice” to “Funny Girl” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Producing a Broadway show such as “Hamilton” or “The Book of Mormon” costs $11 to $12 million, according to Playbill. Disney’s stage adaptation of “Frozen,” which saw its pre-Broadway run in Denver in 2017 before its official Buell Theatre debut in June, cost a whopping $30 million. It had already closed on Broadway in 2020, The New York Times reported, as an early victim of the pandemic. But it’s making its money back on the road.

Most touring Broadway shows presented by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) feature a handful of relatively affordable tickets that, while not the best in the house, allow budget-conscious fans to experience the same titles as front-and-center patrons.

Here are five shows coming to Denver Performing Arts Complex that you can see for around $50 — or potentially less, since past ticket lotteries have offered seats for “Hamilton,” “The Book of Mormon,” “Six,” “Wicked,” and other shows for as low as $10. Note: the $50-and-under tickets closely hug the left and right sides of the theater, in both the orchestra and balcony sections, which can result in less-than-ideal stage views (though most action takes place center stage). Not all shows are on sale yet to the general public.

Watch denverpost.com/tag/broadway-theater for the latest ticket lotteries and on-sale dates, and buy passes for Buell Theatre shows at denvercenter.org/tickets-events. All discount tickets are priced at $46.

“Kimberly Akimbo”

Making its national touring premiere at the Buell Theatre Sept. 22-Oct. 5, the road version of this Tony-winning musical promises to be an absurd delight that delves into familiar themes in surprising ways. Comedy and tragedy intermingle (as ever) as the plucky New Jersey adolescent Kimberly readjusts to a family move, social pressures, and a rare genetic condition that causes her to age rapidly. What now? (Exactly.)

“Funny Girl”

Isobel Lennart’s all-time-great musical, which first hit Broadway in 1964, got raves for its New York revival, and now it’s headed for Denver. The new version’s Buell Theatre debut will feature Jule Styne and Bob Merrill’s earworm songs (“Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People”) but also an updated book by Harvey Fierstein and new choreography to tell the tale of Lower East Side hopeful Fanny Brice and her dramatic rise to fame. Runs Dec. 10-22.

“Life of Pi”

This tale of a lifeboat-bound boy and his animal companions is sturdy enough to have morphed from novel to movie to Broadway show with raves at every turn. And if you’ve seen any of them, you’ll know it’s a challenge to bring 16-year-old Pi’s animal companions (a hyena, zebra, orangutan and Royal Bengal tiger) to life — which this production does with puppets. So how did it win a trio of Tony awards? With smart design and being great at everything else. Runs March 18-30, 2025. Tickets are not yet on sale, but a pre-sale is open to subscribers, with $46 general on-sale tickets expected to be available.

“& Juliet”

Revisiting classics from the perspective of different characters is a time-honored move, but “& Juliet” uses Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” as a jumping-off point for a meta-musical about second chances. Playing June 4-15, 2025, “& Juliet” reinterprets the characters with humor and pop music (“Since U Been Gone‚? “Roar,” “Baby One More Time,” “Larger Than Life” — all written or co-written by Max Martin) and asks what her life would be like if she hadn’t ended it over her beau. Tickets are not yet on sale, but a pre-sale is open to subscribers, with $46 general on-sale tickets expected to be available.

“Moulin Rouge! The Musical”

Familiar names abound at the Buell this year this season — see “Mama Mia!,” “Some Like It Hot,” “Addams Family,” “Back to the Future,” and “The Wiz” — but one you shouldn’t miss is “Moulin Rouge.” The second Denver visit from the Broadway adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 movie will be a full-stop triumph that offers everything you could want from a stage production. It’s “remixed,” as DCPA says, with new songs and choreography, and arguably improves upon the romance-heavy, bohemian-vs-aristocrats source material. Running Aug. 5-10, 2025. Tickets are not yet on sale, but a pre-sale is open to subscribers, with $46 general on-sale tickets expected to be available.

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A similar showdown could soon go down in Boulder as it was recently selected as a finalist in a bid to become the new host of the Sundance Film Festival.

While the possibility of Sundance relocating from Park City, Utah, to Boulder has sparked excitement among local leaders who envision the festival as a catalyst for cultural and economic growth, the prospect has also raised concerns about its impact on the city’s own Boulder International Film Festival.

Is this town big enough for both of them?

Local officials rejoice with a resounding yes, while BIFF’s founders said there are too many question marks right now.

Sundance, internationally prestigious, and the world’s largest independent film festival, is held each January in the bustling ski town just east of Salt Lake City. Co-founded by actor Robert Redford in 1981, the festival is a flagship program of Redford’s nonprofit Sundance Institute — a platform that helps develop independent artists, filmmakers and storytellers.

Despite the festival’s long-standing history in Utah, the Sundance Institute announced in April that it would be searching for a new location to host the festival, beginning in 2027, following the expiration of its current contract with Park City, though Park City is still in the running.

In July, Sundance Institute announced that Boulder had been selected as one of six finalists for the program.

Boulder-born Gov. Jared Polis — Boulder Community Hospital-born, in fact — who spent his formative years in town, fervently supports the bid and expressed his enthusiasm for the possibility.

“This is exciting for my hometown to have the opportunity to host the premier film festival in the world,” Polis said. “There’s really no home better than Colorado for it — it shows our own coming-of-age in culture and film that we are a finalist for really helping to take the Sundance Film Festival to the next level for their future and our future.”

Boulder’s not the only town vying for the prestigious honor.

The six finalists were narrowed from an initial list of 15 candidate cities. The selected finalists — Atlanta, Boulder, Cincinnati, Louisville, Kentucky, Park City/Salt Lake City and Santa Fe, New Mexico — were chosen based on a “thorough evaluation” of “each city’s infrastructure, ethos and equity values, event capabilities to host the festival, and how each finalist could sustainably serve and support the ever-growing Sundance Film Festival community of independent artists and audiences,” according to a Sundance release.

A heavy-hitting coalition of state and local entities assembled to submit a bid on behalf of the state of Colorado and the City of Boulder, including the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Boulder), the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Colorado Office of Film Television and Media and a regional coalition of partners, including the City of Boulder, the Boulder Chamber, the University of Colorado Boulder and the Stanley Film Center.

According to the release, the winning city could be announced as early as next month.

To intensify speculation that cements Boulder as a top-runner, just up the hill in Estes Park in May, more than 100 budding movie directors gathered at the famed Stanley Hotel for the Sundance Institute’s Directors Lab. For the first time in 40 years, the immersive filmmaking experience workshop left the Sundance Resort in Utah and came to Colorado.

A good fit

In 2024, the Sundance Film Festival remains one of the top festivals for up-and-coming filmmakers to showcase their work and last year it drew 86,824 people to Utah. Sundance screens a wide range of genres, including feature films, documentaries, short films and episodic content that often highlights bold, creative and experimental pieces.

While the festival is a boon for smaller, independent films, it is also a significant event in the wider global film industry, attracting filmmakers, critics and celebrities from around the world. Many films that debut at Sundance achieve critical acclaim, secure distribution deals, and, in the case of the 2021 film “CODA,” receive Academy Awards.

In addition to film screenings, Sundance hosts panel discussions, workshops and events that foster conversations around cinema, culture and the future of visual media. The festival also has a history of celebrating diversity and inclusivity, often spotlighting underrepresented voices in film.

Boulder seems like a natural fit for the Sundance Film Festival. Like Park City, the town has numerous world-class venues for screening films and hosting post-show panels. Venues like the Boulder Theater, Fox Theatre, Macky Auditorium, eTown Hall, Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder Public Library’s Canyon Theater, Century Theater and the Dairy Arts Center are just a few potential places that could comfortably screen a flick during the festival.

Like Park City, Boulder is an easily accessible, picturesque slice of mountain town that is proximal to a major metropolitan area and an international airport. And, as with Park City, Boulder and Robert Redford go way back — the Academy Award-winning director attended CU Boulder for one year in 1955, and two of his children graduated from the university 30 years later. When he wasn’t hitting the books, he worked as a janitor at The Sink, and though he never officially graduated, he received an honorary degree from the university in 1987, preceded by two of his children, who graduated from CU Boulder in 1985.

Boulder also has a history of iconic filmmakers that stretches beyond South Park creators and University of Colorado Boulder alum Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Stan Brakhage, a giant in 20th-century experimental film, retired as a distinguished professor from CU Boulder after helping to shape the thriving film studies program for more than 20 years. Filmmaker Phil Solomon studied under him.

Boulder is also home to Academy Award-winning environmental films “The Cove” and “Chasing Ice,” and is the headquarters for adventure film company Warren Miller Entertainment, among many others.

Economic benefits

Unlike Park City, there’s a bit more room in Boulder to spread out (although trying to snag a parking spot on Pearl Street on a Saturday doesn’t always give that impression).

“We’re really excited to help make the Sundance Film Festival’s next chapter a success,” Polis said. “That means working with them to make sure we have transit from hotels in Westminster, Broomfield and Denver to Boulder, that we’re able to maximize our capacity for screens as well as hotels in the Boulder area, and make sure that this is a great success — both for our community and for the Sundance Film Festival.”

While logistics to possibly host the festival aren’t completely nailed down, Eve Lieberman, Executive Director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), doesn’t foresee any major challenges when it comes to the festival’s organization.

“I can’t really anticipate any challenges with hosting the Sundance Film Festival,” said Lieberman. “We know it’s really important to have an inclusive festival that’s focused on bringing together artists in the community and engaging diverse audiences, and so we feel that the best place for the festival is in Boulder, and we know that there will be surrounding economic impacts on the Boulder and Denver regions.”

Lieberman added: “We have the capacity — in terms of venues and hotels — and the community thus far has been incredibly excited about bringing in new visitors to add to the vibrant cultural scene already in Boulder and Colorado.”

Should Boulder win the bid for the Sundance Film Festival, the economic benefits would likely be massive. In 2023, the Sundance Film Festival contributed $118 million to Utah’s economy and generated 1,608 jobs for Utah residents, according to Sundance’s 2023 economic impact report.

“The festival will create thousands of jobs for residents in Boulder and the surrounding communities, and tens of millions of dollars in wages,” Lieberman said. “We know that it will help increase visitors from out of state into Boulder and the surrounding regions as well.”

What about BIFF?

But what would Sundance mean for Boulder’s current reigning film festival, the Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF)?

For BIFF co-founder Kathy Beeck, it’s too soon to tell.

“Our initial reaction is concern, certainly, about how that would impact BIFF,” Beeck said. “We definitely have concerns, but, you know, it’s just hard to say. We just don’t know how it will impact BIFF. There’s just a lot of question marks around this whole thing. And a lot of those questions haven’t been answered because Boulder hasn’t been selected.”

Beeck started the Boulder International Film Festival in 2004 alongside her sister, Robin Beeck, who both fell in love with films after working in local movie theaters, including Boulder’s now-defunct Flatirons Theater and Fox Theatre (a movie theater in its younger years).

The Beecks know that Boulder is the perfect town to host a film festival — they’ve already been doing it for two decades. Plus, they are true Boulderites through and through — both graduates of Fairview High and CU Boulder. For 20 years, they’ve been lending their organizational and curatorial prowess to bringing a prominent, internationally acclaimed festival that draws, on average, 25,000 film enthusiasts to the city they call home.

The festival, typically held in late winter, is renowned for showcasing a wide variety of cinema, including local stories told by Colorado-based filmmakers, under-the-radar indie gems and emerging Oscar hopefuls. In recent years, the festival’s Adventure Film Pavilion has become a fan favorite, attracting thousands of outdoor enthusiasts and adrenaline junkies to see the latest and greatest in outdoor adventure film.

Celebrities such as Laura Linney, Alec Baldwin, Blythe Danner and Javier Bardem have graced Boulder’s red carpet, and the festival has hosted many well-attended post-film screenings and panels that feature filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, academic leaders and industry professionals.

Both BIFF and Sundance are similar in a couple of ways: both in their programming, which heavily features independent films (though not identical — BIFF has a special section in its programming for Colorado-based filmmakers, as well as the Adventure Film Pavilion — Sundance has neither of those); and in their timing, both take place in the winter. Sundance is held in late January or early February, and BIFF usually happens in late February or early March.

While nothing has been decided yet, Beeck said that there could be a potential for both BIFF and Sundance to collaborate, or at the very least, coexist.

“We’re certainly open to that, and I think Sundance would be too,” Beeck said. “But again, we just don’t know what that would look like.”

Beeck added: “What is most important to us is that BIFF is able to succeed and to grow, so in any collaboration with Sundance, that’s what we’d be looking for.”

Beeck noted that the 20th anniversary of BIFF, celebrated at the late-February festival this year, has been the most successful festival to date in terms of revenue and attendance, underscoring how far the festival has come since 2004.

“We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved over the past two decades, and grateful for the over 400 volunteers that help us each year, as well as our sponsors, donors, and everyone in our community who have helped get us there,” Beeck said.

‘Enough room for both’

Boulder County Film Commissioner Bruce Borowsky is a shade more optimistic about the fate of BIFF, should Sundance come to Boulder.

“I feel that Boulder is quite capable of hosting two world-class film festivals,” Borowsky said. “I think there’s enough room for both.”

As a longtime filmmaker and former chair of the Boulder Arts Commission, Borowsky has worked with BIFF on numerous occasions. As Boulder County Film Commissioner, he is deeply involved in the region’s film activities and is well-versed in the logistics of hosting major events.

“In my opinion, each festival brings with it its own level of expertise, and I think that if Sundance were to choose Boulder, it would be ideal for the stakeholders to collaborate and find ways for both festivals to succeed in Boulder. That would present the best opportunity for everyone involved,” Borowsky said.

Borowsky said that the prospect of Sundance coming to Boulder is one of the most exciting things to happen during his 34 years of living in Boulder.

“Film is such an amazing medium, and its use is just skyrocketing in the digital age,” Borowsky said. “More and more people are becoming filmmakers and picking up a camera for the first time— teenagers, kids, senior citizens and underserved audiences. It’s huge to have Native filmmakers get opportunities to show their work, to have Black and Brown filmmakers have the ability to show their work — it’s huge and so important. So having two film festivals in Boulder would give us even more opportunities to showcase more diverse work.”

Erin Espelie, associate professor and chair of the Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts department at the University of Colorado, agrees that there’s space for both BIFF and Sundance to cohabitate in Boulder.

“I don’t see the festival as anything that would interfere with any other ongoing arts or culture around,” Espelie said. “I think it could only amplify it, as long as it worked out calendrically — there might need to be a little bit of separation.”

In Boulder County alone, dozens of film festivals take place annually — including the Sans Souci Festival of Dance, Boulder Environmental / Nature / Outdoors Film Festival, Buddhist Arts and Film Festival, Boulder Jewish Film Festival, Dickens Horror Film Festival in Longmont and CU Boulder’s Brakhage Symposium and International Film Series.

And those are just the festivals at the local level. According to Espelie, just because one festival exists, it does not automatically cancel another festival out.

“There are so many different kinds of artists and avenues for exhibiting moving image work,” Espelie said. “I think 10 years ago that might have been a different story, but we’re living in an increasingly image-infused and visually driven world, and having a place for contemplation and consideration of moving image as an art form is incredibly important. I can’t say that there could ever be too much of it,”

In a world where in-person cinema is shrinking, Espelie said that having film festivals and post-festival discussions are more important than ever.

“Cinemas are closing in many parts of the world, and that’s a danger of an increasing online digital culture for engaging with the moving image,” Espelie said. “We certainly have enough space, and more than enough venues in Boulder to keep it alive. We make sure we keep infusing our cinemas with viewers, with the best projectors, the best sound systems and giving space and priority, culturally, for collective viewing rather than individual viewing. To have a place for all of us to come together as a community to watch cinema, and the invaluable post-screening discussions that film festivals provide — I can’t say enough that I think we need more of that. That’s how cinema is meant to be consumed, in community.”

Even Lieberman agrees that Boulder could — and should — host two major film festivals.

“BIFF is a festival that we’ve been proud to support at OEDIT for a long time,” Lieberman said. “It’s an incredible contribution to the creative economy in Boulder, it has held a lot of unique stories from independent filmmakers and it really activates the creative industry and the community in Boulder and the surrounding region. We’re really proud to have historically offered support for the operation and programming and also helped with marketing and social media. So we will continue to help, not only to support BIFF but other film festivals in Colorado.”

Lieberman said that if Boulder were to host the Sundance Film Festival, it will elevate the festivals that already exist.

“It will help create a more vibrant creative economy, and help to tell stories of these artists and engage a more inclusive workforce,” Lieberman said.

But as a deaf person, she often has to fight for basic information. At the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest at Planet Bluegrass in 2019, for example, it took 20 minutes “and the intervention of a band member’s wife” to tape off an area where an American Sign Language interpreter could be seen. At Ball Arena, there was no way for her to learn about penalties or injuries on the stadium’s screens.

“We pay the same price (as everyone else) and should be able to enjoy the entire event,” Garcia said. As for concerts, she explained that more deaf people attend than you might expect. Not being able to hear music doesn’t preclude someone from feeling the vibrations, having a social experience with friends or family, or cheering and dancing along with thousands of other fans.

As is often the case, it fell to Garcia and other disability-rights advocates to force the issue. She contacted Disability Law United, a Denver nonprofit legal organization, to push Ball Arena to add LED open-captions, as they’re called, or standard subtitles. It eventually did. Garcia and others also fought for Red Rocks Amphitheatre to add more disabled seating and better parking (it eventually did), and got Planet Bluegrass to explore on-stage interpreters.

Despite the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990, which prohibits discrimination based on disabilities and sets standards for public accessibility, music venues in particular have been slow to respond. Red Rocks, for example, has been hit with three lawsuits related to accessibility over the last decade, while disability-rights advocates had to pressure the owners of Ball Arena and Empower Field — which both host big shows in addition to sports — to add subtitles to the big screens.

But things are improving slowly, said Emily Shuman, director of the Rocky Mountain ADA Center, which provides guidance and training to organizations for ADA compliance. More arts and culture purveyors are stepping up to see what they can do, and she’s lately been showing them on how technology can assist in accessibility.

That includes assistive listening systems — such as hearing loops, which transmit sound directly to hearing aids equipped with telecoils, reducing background noise and enhancing clarity — as well as live captioning, wayfinding apps for accessible seats, online tools for ADA reservations, touchscreens and Braille displays, and adjustable-text websites with easy-to-see color contrasts.

Some newer venues such as Mission Ballroom and Levitt Pavilion, as well as the organizers of July’s sprawling Underground Music Showcase, are also finally doing right by disabled people, advocates said, with accessibility guides and disabled-patron options that go beyond the average venue.

Still, most venues only meet ADA compliance because they’re forced to, activists said. About 27% of U.S. adults, or 70 million people, have a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC defines a disability as any condition that makes it more difficult to do certain activities, from vision, hearing and movement issues to memory and mental health.

Last year, 4,605 ADA lawsuits were filed nationwide — a stunning 42% increase from the previous year, according to a report from ADA Site Compliance.

“It’s amazing to me that the ADA has been around so long, and yet so many (business owners) still aren’t aware of it,” Garcia said. “It’s a constant battle to ask venues to set aside disabled seating, or have an on-stage interpreter, or really anything (disability-related).”

No excuses

Training is important, Shuman said, since even businesses with good intentions can create obstacles. That means accidentally blocking an ADA bathroom stall with a trash can, but also not training staff on disability etiquette, or the best interior routes for people with disabilities.

“I tend to avoid venues where there’s no seating and all standing,” said Gene Drumm, 76, who has a heart condition brought on by strenuous activity. He’s been attending concerts at Red Rocks for 40 years, but stopped going after he got tired of “hassling” staffers for assistance and information on easy routes to his seat — or any accessible seating at all.

“It was actually painful to deal with the stairs and slopes, and getting in and out in general,” said Drumm, who named Lyle Lovett and Van Morrison among his favorite Red Rocks shows. “And it’s too bad because I loved going. But I have no desire to put up with that anymore.”

There have been recent improvements at Red Rocks, such as an accessible shuttle that runs on a continuous loop during shows from the Upper South Lot to a drop-off point approximately 275 feet from Row 1, according to city staffers.

But it was too late for Drumm. He said he could understand if Red Rocks were a private business, but as a city-owned venue he saw no excuse. In 2022, Denver paid $48,000 to settle discrimination claims that Red Rocks charged more for accessible seating — an average of $130 per seat — than regular seats (promoters Live Nation, AEG and PBS12 also settled). The move recalled a 2016 class-action lawsuit that claimed concert-goers who use wheelchairs were restricted to “all but the most distant seats.”

That was followed by a 2017 lawsuit against the city to force ticket resellers to stop controlling the accessible seats at Red Rocks (also settled).

Earlier this year, however, Denver Arts & Venues, the city agency that runs Red Rocks, touted some improvements. Slopes in parking lots and along ramps have been adjusted to increase accessibility and comply with the ADA, said venue manager Tad Bowman. New parking spots were also added on the south side for those with disabilities, and some bathrooms were updated.

“We’ve heard from fans about not having places to use a restroom while standing in line, but also about keeping the top-circle lot as accessible parking for shows,” he told The Denver Post in February. “This has all been designed to meet ADA requirements.”

Alison Butler, who helped push for the Red Rocks changes and is now now Denver’s Division of Disability Rights director, echoed Drumm, saying there is no excuse for taking decades to comply.

“The ADA is almost 34 years old, so it gets difficult to sympathize with businesses who say, ‘How can I possibly do that?’ ” Butler said. “I fully understand that operating a business is difficult and that there are lots of rules you have to learn and follow.

“The ADA is one of them,” she continued. “So it’s like saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to pay my workers? I have to pay taxes?’ It should just be the cost of doing business.”

The ADA is supposed to be self-enforcing

However, venue owners — particularly at historic and independent clubs — have said there are only so many pricey, time-consuming upgrades that can be done before they go out of business.

Even venues with progressive politics struggle with compliance. When Skylark Lounge manager Bob Ashby applied for a permit to voluntarily install a platform lift in the back of his indie venue’s staircase, he was turned down by the fire department, which said it would narrow the stairway too much. His only other option was to build an exterior elevator shaft, which was quoted by contractors at $100,000.

“It’s a totally prohibitive cost and I’d have to borrow a ton of money,” said Ashby, whose friend, Denver-based rocker Nathaniel Rateliff, co-owns the venue. “It’s just not a sustainable thing to do, but it was a real heartbreaker because we had totally planned on making the upstairs accessible.”

The lack of an elevator still prevents physically disabled people from heading upstairs, something that rankles Kalyn Heffernan, a musician, artist and disability advocate who uses a power wheelchair. This year she put together the 24-year-old Underground Music Showcase’s first-ever accessibility guide.

To do it, she and consultant Jessica Wallach audited venues on their disability access, though she said they weren’t trying to shame anyone or force compliance. They were simply providing information for people with disabilities so they’d know what to expect.

The Skylark hosted one of the stages for the July 26-28 fest, which took place along a mile-long stretch of South Broadway. An Accessibility Team was stationed at The Youth on Record tent near the Showcase Stage, and roamed throughout the festival footprint, Heffernan said, with signs identifying them as such. Heffernan did not judge the character of the 12 venues and four outdoor stages or assign blame, she said, but rather assessed them as straightforwardly as possible.

Heffernan understands that Denver doesn’t provide resources to upgrade venues, and that accessibility is often a negotiation, not an objective state of being.

“If you’re building a playground, I don’t want you to cut out the monkey bars just because I can’t use them,” she said. “I don’t want to take that away from kids, and maybe not everything is perfectly accessible, or equitable to make it that way.”

This year, the UMS website and app offered standard and large-print versions of the guide, rating indoor and outdoor spaces for their ground slopes, proximity to accessible bathrooms, air circulation and views of the stage. It’s helping set a standard for other festivals to follow, she said, although there is still a need for on-stage interpreters and low-sensory areas for people to decompress.

Business operators have some protection in not upgrading. The ADA isn’t enforceable in the traditional sense, Butler said, and buildings constructed before 1992 can be excepted from certain upgrades — even when they’re renovating or building new spaces.

There’s no database that tracks local compliance, either, which puts the onus on disabled people and legal entities to pressure venues into paying attention.

“The ADA is supposed to be self-enforcing in a sense,” said Shuman. “The Department of Justice has authority to enforce it, but there’s no ADA police, and buildings are not inspected for that.”

A glimmer of hope

A few forward-thinking venues such as Ruby Hill Park’s Levitt Pavilion have started going beyond basic requirements by spending tens of thousands of dollars on ADA upgrades — no lawsuits needed, Heffernan pointed out.

Levitt’s project, completed in 2023, included the installation of a level concrete dance floor and an ADA-accessible path connecting it to the main plaza. The venue now has a safer and more durable surface for all audiences, and ADA-accessible areas up front and farther back, said executive director Meghan McNamara. There is also sensory accessibility ASL interpretation during concerts and events.

Drumm, meanwhile, praised the Buell Theatre and other Denver Center for the Performing Arts venues, as well as Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre for their accessibility options. Large venues are quicker to upgrade, he’s noticed, given their resources and scale.

“I think it’s incumbent upon artists and music festival promoters to say, ‘We’re not going to go there,'” the city’s Butler said. “Ultimately, (businesses) will find a way. We’ve made historic buildings accessible, but only if there’s massive pressure. They’ll say, ‘We can’t do it. It’s going to cost $50,000…’ Well, you just lost two major concerts, and that’s $50,000!”

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From a rolling golf course in Westminster to a defunct dairy farm that once supplied milk to the tuberculosis patients of Jewish National Hospital on Sheridan Boulevard. From a marshy open space near the foot of the Flatirons to the sculpture park adjacent to Fiddler’s Green. These are among the municipal (often suburban) spaces that have gotten a fresh, bold charge from collaborations between the theater troupe and its civic partners.

Now, the Boulder-based theater company — which specializes in unexpected, engaging, often achingly wise, increasingly immersive work (under the artistic direction of Amanda Berg Wilson) — has gently commandeered a corner of Thornton’s Anythink Library for its latest immersive adventure, “After the End.”

Part of the Rangeview Library District, this branch is pretty and welcoming even without a beguiling show about — what else? — books. Or one book in particular, one that stands in for all the dusty volumes and their forgotten sagas that end up retired by Adjudicators to make room for other stories.

Audience members are guided through rooms as the story unfolds as participant observers: There’s an oversized closet full of books, a schoolhouse, a train car, a grocery and more.

The story features Lena, a young woman trying to find a copy of the novel that her grandmother wrote. At the outset of “After the End,” Lena bursts into a conference room where audience members are seated and quickly ropes those who are gathered into helping her find the novel Gracelynn Fern penned about a young girl named Mollie Bardo. Mollie was, as the title of the lost book avers, “Stranded in Silver Hill,” thanks to a slew of powerful snowstorms.

Lena didn’t really know her grandmother, and although she came into possession of Fern’s journals, she didn’t read them before they were all but lost. An anonymous letter containing a catalog card (ahem, not the Dewey Decimal System) and a key send Lena (and us) on a hunt. And what better place to seek out a rare volume than a library?

Before we embark on the pursuit, Lena offers a few of the traditional (if cleverly introduced) caveats of libraries and theaters: keep it to a whisper and cellphones off. But she also says something odd and prophetic to the audience: “Oh, and you’re you. I know that’s a weird thing to say, but sometimes I don’t feel quite like myself, like I’m playing a character.”

It doesn’t take long to realize that strange things are afoot. The first stop is that storage closet, called the Library of the Lost. After Fern’s book is found, the group wends its way through the “set.” As Lena and we, the accidental players, read out loud from the pages of “Stranded,” it becomes clear that the novel is eerily like the action. Or vice versa. Are Lena and Mollie melding? Certainly, the schoolmarm Aunt Kit (an archly amusing McPherson Horle) thinks something’s awry in the way Mollie is behaving.

Fabian Vasquez portrays the endearing train porter, Grey John, who tries to put Lena and her fellow passengers at ease once the train can’t go any further. The dance he shares with Mollie — or is she Lena? — is a sweet turning point. Don Randle is rightly officious as the Adjudicator, and amusing as longtime Silver Hill resident and mildly insufferable mayor Cappy Winslow.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, Lena was played with energetic warmth by Min Kyung (Cecillia) Kim, who alternates the role of the searching granddaughter with Adeline Mann.

As immersive shows go, “After the End,” appears wonderfully modest. Through the work to coordinate the sound design (Max Silverman), the period costumes and prop foraging (Joan Bruemmer-Holden and Linda Lea, respectively), the set upon which the audience roves (production designer Matthew Schlief and stage manager Rain Young) is no mean feat.

The charming “After the End” is written and co-conceived by Luke Sorge, who has worked at the library for 13 years. His title: Generalist Guide. When you’re quite literally in the midst of a story unfolding, it’s not always easy to really hear the language. But some of the lines are wonderfully poetic.

“My grandmother wrote it. Her name was — well, still is, even if she’s gone, it’s still her name, right?” Lena says with a concern about the right existential verb those who’ve lost loved ones know well. The script balances melancholy and wonder, confusion and more than a few ah-has, with understated aplomb.

When the Anythink Libraries opened (starting in 2010), they were an intriguing rethink of how libraries could serve citizens. Their mission statement: “We Open Doors for Curious Minds” nicely echoes the Catamount motto: “Theater for the Adventurous Palette.”

“We’re constantly imagining ways to connect our community to things they may want or need, whether that’s traditional library materials like books and computers, or non-traditional things like Cricut machines and musical instruments,” said Sorge in an email.

“Immersive theatre is just an extension of that. Offering a relatively new and exciting form of performing arts — free of charge, like everything at the library — is really in keeping with Anythink’s core values. And, as we do with much of our programming, we love collaborating with local artists and experts like The Catamounts.”

Lisa Kennedy is a Denver-area freelancer specializing in film and theater. 

IF YOU GO

“After the End”: Written by Luke Sorge. Directed by Amanda Berg Wilson. Featuring Min Kyung (Cecillia) Kim and Adeline Mann (alternating performances), McPherson Horle, Fabian Vasquez and Don Randle. At Anythink Library, 9417 Huron St., Thornton, through Sept.  14. For tickets and info: thecatamounts.org.

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Denver’s storied theater company, launched by and made up of people with disabilities, has taken on musicals that test various assumptions — of able-bodied theatergoers, certainly, but also those with disabilities — about what’s possible, what’s surprising, what’s taboo. (For “Cabaret,” that came with lubricious energy. For “Chicago,” a winking roguery.)

What better way, then, to celebrate its 35th year than with a show that is very much about an art form that has often been (not always) the purview of the ablest of physiques: dance.

“We definitely wanted something that would cause a bit of a stir, something that would get back to that rebellious nature that Phamaly originally had,” said Ben Raanan, artistic director since 2021.  He had been in search of that certain something when, listening to his Broadway playlist in the car, the anthemic “What I Did for Love” came on. “I went, ‘Oh, well, that’s what we’re doing,’” he recalled recently over coffee.

“The essence of ‘A Chorus Line’ is what Cassie says, which is, ‘What are you talking about? We’re all special. We’re all different, and that’s what makes us beautiful.’ But for the longest time, ‘Chorus Line’ has been sort of gatekept, to be honest. Like, ‘Yes, we’re all special. We’re all interesting. We’re all amazing, Unless you don’t have a stick-thin body.” Unless one isn’t traditionally, well, a dancer.

But “A Chorus Line” has an aching, even joyful universality that exceeds its own seeming limitations. From its opening number to the finale — from the cacophony of “I Hope I Get It,” to Cassie’s solo “The Music and the Mirror” to the top-hatted, high-kicking “One”—  director-choreographer Michael Bennet and Bob Avian’s creation (with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban and book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante)  resonates beyond its tap shoes and pointe slippers, its leotards and trunks.

“Give me a job and you instantly get me involved,” sings Cassie, the dancer director Zach insists is just too good for a company role. “If you give me a job, then the rest of the crap will get solved. Put me to work.”

Those sentiments “are the stuff of workers everywhere, from aging dancers to coal miners to print journalists,” I noted while reviewing the Arvada Center’s terrific 2021 production. And the lyrics that signal a shift from overheated to quietly existential in the show’s opening number ask plaintively “Who am I anyway? Am I my resume?” Is there a better, utterly relatable lament in the American workplace?

So, who’s got the plum assignment as choreographer for this “Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch … again!” extravaganza? After all, the musical was conceived by one. “We’ve got six,” Raanan replied and smiled. “Which has been beautiful. I decided, of course, in the most complicated show ever, let’s make an experiment.”

The artists are Jari Majewski Price, founder of Feel the Beat, an organization committed to making music accessible to those who are deaf, hard of hearing or have other disabilities; Teri Wagner, executive director of the integrated dance company Spoke N Motion Dance!, which provided opportunities for people with and without disabilities; Latisha Hardy, owner of the titularly named Colorado Springs dance company and studio focused on Afro-Latino dance, along with Ashley Coffee; Claire Hayes; Ashlyn Volk; and Savannah Svoboda, artistic director of Full Expression, A Dance Collective!

Although Price, often Phamaly’s go-to musical partner, choreographed the opener and the finale, Raanan saw an opportunity to do something even more organic, which allowed the artists the time to get to know and consider the bodies of the performers.

“You get to create for them, rather than creating and then fitting them in,” he said. In addition to this more intimate approach, the spreading of the pieces also allowed Phamaly to use choreographers with completely different backgrounds. “The commonality between them is each of their studios is focused on decolonizing dance,” Raanan said.

That diversity is reflected in the ensemble, too. “It was very important during casting that we try as hard as we can to get a broad spectrum of people coming in and people that you wouldn’t expect to be doing dance,” he said. ”We are representing all types of disabilities. We’ve got an actor with dystonia. We’ve got actors with knee braces, seizures, cerebral palsy, deaf, blind, a wheelchair user.”

The musical has no shortage of songs about determination, even obstinacy. “What I Did for Love”? It’s the reason why this theater exists,” Raanan said.

“I talked to the cast the first day and told them, ‘It makes no sense for us to do this show. Didn’t make sense for us to do theater in general. If we were all just disabled folks who didn’t care, we could just, you know, be doing our nine-to-five and taking care of our bodies at night. But no, we decide to push ourselves to this level because we have to, you know, and that’s what Cassie and Co are constantly saying. I had to do this. I have to do this. There is no alternative.’ ”

What the choreographers say

Phamaly’s “A Chorus Line” choreographers shared some thoughts about working with the company and what the experience taught them about dance.

Teri Wagner, “At the Ballet”: “As a dancer myself, one who uses a wheelchair, the biggest challenge I faced was how to teach dance to standing dancers. As you probably know, most dance is taught by example. Being a dancer/choreographer who uses a wheelchair, teaching other dancers who use wheelchairs how to dance is something very familiar to me. Having all physically able-bodied dancers for this piece, that was different. When I went to the first rehearsal, I was introduced to Jari Price, who was assigned to be my assistant. She became “my legs.” As I explained what I wanted, she was able to demonstrate for me. With her help, I was able to create exactly what I saw in my head. It turned out beautifully.”

Claire Hayes, “Dance: Ten, Looks: Three”: “I was really excited to work closely with the wonderful Annie Sand as Val because she is a talented performer and can communicate what makes her feel comfortable and uncomfortable. I knew that for this piece to work, Annie would need to feel extremely confident in herself. Something that guest choreographers can often do when working with Phamaly actors is to create simple choreography instead of starting with the challenge. I’ve learned that the opposite process is more practical and more rewarding. We had a very challenging approach and quickly learned that she didn’t have enough space to breathe and sing her best. From there, we adjusted the choreography to be just as visually dynamic but less physically intense.

Savannah Svoboda, “I Can Do That”: “As a choreographer, it is our job to ensure everyone in the room is set up for success, and that solution often doesn’t happen until you are in the creative process with the cast. You can plan as much as you want but the movement needs to be catered to the needs and energies in the room. Having the tap number to choreograph and being brand new to Phamaly, I initially didn’t have all the puzzle pieces I needed to create, but after working with the cast and seeing the skills and talents in the room, the solution became very clear to me. Even though some of our actors have never studied tap before, I knew there were other movements we could incorporate so that the message of tap was still getting across and everyone was met where they could thrive.”

Ashley Coffee, assignment director to Latisha Hardy, “The Montage”: “Every time we left a rehearsal, we were amazed by the attitude and motivation the cast expressed taking on the choreography. They were always up for the challenge and able to adapt. Walking into that space makes you appreciate dance on a completely different level — not only for what it brings to my life but being able to see what it brings to everyone’s life no matter how they interpret the movement. That is simply the beauty of dance, and how it is always evolving in a flow of change.”

Ashlyn Volk, choreography intern: “One challenge I faced along with the dancers was finding grace and patience with ourselves. This experience opened a completely new view for me. For example, while describing in-depth details of choreography for the blind actors, I was learning the choreography for the first time along with them. So, we all worked together to figure out the steps and continuously reminded each other of the progress we made each rehearsal.”

Lisa Kennedy is a Denver-area freelance writer specializing in theater and film.

IF YOU GO

“A Chorus Line”: Conceived by, originally directed by and choreographed by Michael Bennett. Book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante. Music by Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics by Edward Kleban. Co-choreography by Bob Avian. Directed by Ben Raanan. Music direction by Donna Debreceni. Featuring Shanae Adams, Lily Blessing, Junelle Gabrielle Flores, Sophie Henry, River Hetzel, Katelyn Kendrick and Phillip Lomeo, Casey Myers, Markus Rodriguez, Annie Sand, Mel Schaffer, Trenton Schindele, Jessica Swanson, Juliet Villa and Linda Wirth. At the Kilstrom Theatre in the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex, 15th and Curtis streets. Through Aug. 25, For tickets and info: phamaly.org

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The founding director of the Institute for Theatre & Social Change at the University of Southern California, Blair had been invited by the Local Theater Company to conduct workshops in what is known as “theater of the oppressed.” Based on the techniques of Brazilian theater artist Augusto Boal, who emphasized bringing communities into the process of telling their own stories, the workshop was just the first step in the creation of three distinctive, collectively wrought one acts under the title  “We the People: The Democracy Cycle.”

The next step was the convening of locals in Boulder, Denver and Gunnison, along with playwrights Steven Cole Hughes, Kenya Mahogany Fashaw and Nick Malakhow. Each writer would create a piece around the respective communities’ concerns, successes and senses of what “democracy” means. The citizen participants came by way of the outreach of Local and its partners in this endeavor, the Curious Theatre Company and the Gunnison Valley Theatre Festival.

The first staged reading of the quasi-trilogy took place Saturday at the Boulder Public Library, with Mayor Aaron Brockett living out his theater geek dream by introducing the show. The performances continue with a new special guest star Thursday night in Gunnison and then Saturday at Denver’s Curious Theatre Company. (The readings are free but require tickets.)

At the story circles, there were discussions, personal anecdotes and Post-it boards rife with responses to prompts based on an “I Come From” poem and a question about what were the greatest challenges facing their communities. All the while, the respective playwrights leaned in and scribbled notes.

“When they put out a call for participants in the ‘Democracy Cycle,’ I thought it sounded like a fun way to dive into both the wonderful and challenging parts of our community,” Gunnison veterinarian Ashely Portmann shared in an email.

That was one of the aims of Local’s co-founder and co-artistic director Pesha Rudnick, who hatched the idea of taking on the divides — particularly the rural-urban gap — that  we’ve all heard so much about, in intimate and interactive ways.

“I enjoyed it more than I expected to,” Karen Hausdoerffer, a lecturer in environment and sustainability at Western Colorado University, said of her experience in the Gunnison story circle. “I thought I’d be more stressed by the political aspect in a culture that has so many depressing and divisive factors. Instead, it felt more personal — learning about ideas and solutions and concerns of people in the community that I knew a little bit or not at all. I expected it to be important, but I didn’t expect it to be relaxing and fun.”

Performed by company members, the plays engaged in ways humorous, poignant, urgent. In Coles’ lyrically titled “The Heavy Work That Will Make Everything Lighter,” five Gunnison denizens are chosen because of the placement of their names in a phone book (a takeoff on a quote by the late conservative commentator William F. Buckley) to write “a Bill of Rights for every citizen of the Gunnison Valley.” For the five randomly chosen new city councilmembers, it’s a tall order and at times a hilarious undertaking.

Fashaw’s “Intersectionality” wrestles wildly and meaningfully with that concept, one that has offered deep insights about bodies amid systemic biases but has also been misunderstood in profoundly unhelpful ways. It finds its six characters (one in voice-over) dealing with, among other tensions, Denver’s crisis in homelessness.

Boulder-based Malakhow’s two-hander, “Parallel Lines,” features the meeting of a white, 50-something city council hopeful and a Latino teen. Freddie (Brandon Billings) is home taking care of his trouble-seeking younger brother when Emily (Diana Dresser) knocks on the door of his mobile home in her somewhat clumsy voter registration efforts.

As different as their set-ups were, the plays had some vital overlaps. One was the vibrant performances from the ensemble: Billings, Dresser, Kristina Fountaine, Kate Gleeson, Christine Kahane, Iliana Lucero Barron, Simone St. John and composer-musician Joe Mazza. Just because these are staged readings and not full productions doesn’t mean they aren’t dynamic. Local co-artistic directors Nick Chase and Betty Hart and their ensemble make each one act, sometimes wrenching, other times amusing, ultimately thought-provoking.

Even so, a recurring and more chastising theme centered on the importance of — and the crisis in —  shelter. In “We the People,” home (and the security that should come with it) is where the hurt is, where the central challenge of democracy seems to reside, regardless of whether the story-sharing citizens live in the ostensibly rural Western Slope or the increasingly dense pack of the Front Range.

After Saturday’s reading at Boulder Public Library, Chase heard email feedback from a story circle participant who lives in a mobile-home neighborhood that “Parallel Lines” resonated with her. She then shared, “I just heard from a neighbor that she was there and was so moved by Nick’s play that she crept away to be by herself. Here’s part of what she wrote: ‘I thought it was brilliant and heartbreaking. I hope it gets national attention. I wept through #3.’ ” Adding, “I hope you feel gratified that another MHP resident felt your play spoke for her. I am amazed that you were able to get inside the experience so convincingly that the people who live that story feel it rings true. I marvel at your skill and empathy.”

It doesn’t get much better for a theater company aiming to engage its community. “Their dilemma had been captured,” said Chase.

The Local team and the Front Range playwrights planned on piling into two vans and head to Gunnison for Thursday’s premiere (“I’m baking focaccia for sandwiches,” Chase said). It’ll be the first time that town’s story circle participants get to see something they had a hand in crafting.

“Being part of the story circles exercise was a great avenue for connection with others in the Gunnison community, a nice window into their concerns and hopes for our little town, and an exciting way to tackle our shared problems and vision together,” said Portmann a few days before Thursday’s premiere.

“That felt like true democracy!”

IF YOU GO

“We the People: The Democracy Cycle”: Written by Steven Cole Hughes, Kenya Mahogany Fashaw and Nick Malakhow with the input of the Boulder, Gunnison and Denver story circle participants. Directed by Nick Chase and Betty Hart. Featuring Brandon Billings, Diana Dresser, Kristina Fountaine, Kate Gleeson, Christine Kahane, Iliana Lucero Barron, Simone St. John and Joe Mazza. At the Taylor Studio Theatre 600 Adams Street in Gunnison Aug. 1. 7 p.m. At the Curious Theatre Company, 1080 Acoma in Denver, Aug. 3, 7 p.m. For tickets and info: localtheatreco.org

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Also centered on the Puerto Rican experience, the drama inspired by the poet Julia de Burgos begins a run at Buntport in early August.

In 2021, Marcantoni had been in talks with another writer about developing a story featuring the mid-20th century poet who died in July 1953 in New York City at the age of 39. (She was reinterred in Puerto Rico two months later.) When that collaborator departed for another project, Burgos wouldn’t let him go. He was compelled by her poetry and her biography to figure a way into her creativity and boldness, artistry and activism.

He spent time “deep diving into her poetry and reading everything I possibly could about her,” he recalled over coffee one morning. “Her poetry is incredibly confessional. Which was nice because I didn’t have to assume a lot, like, ‘Oh, how does she feel about this? How does she feel about that?’ She tells you.” Still, he wasn’t interested in telling her story in a conventional way.

“I like a good biopic,” Marcantoni said. “But most biopics are bad. It’s because the formula gets stale. Also, you’re trying to cover too many things in a person’s life, and it just becomes kind of a just-the-facts sort of thing. And the facts of a person’s life often miss who they were as a person.”

Having immersed himself, Marcantoni began noticing themes, which he teased into the play’s four characters: the Poetess (played by Lucinda Lazo), Feminine (Shyan Rivera), Revolutionary (Gisselle Gonzalez) and Wife (Jordan Hull).

“It was just this burst of creativity,” he said. “At times, I felt like I was channeling her in a way, writing out her poetry and just feeling that the essence of what she was putting out into the world. It was a very profound experience writing.”

The intricately woven drama is directed by Narely Cortes and begins its run on Aug. 9. Make that its theatrical run. In an intriguing experiment, Flamboyán has been putting episodes of the play on podcast platforms. The young theater company has also been airing episodes of another of its plays, “Cody,” by Denise Zubizarreta. Titled “Denise” for the podcast, the drama is structurally different from the theatrical script, but is still based on the playwright’s experiences in the military and her encounters with domestic violence. The drama features a late-night deejay who served at Guantanamo and a female caller who stirs up difficult memories. It got a staged reading in spring.

If “Nocturne” spoke to Marcantoni’s political convictions as a Puerto Rican-born writer and supporter of independence, “Empire” embodies his passion to honor artists, whose work is more complex than their ideological stances. Burgos’ concerns were overlapping. She was an activist in a leftist movement dominated by men. She was a Puerto Rican woman in a world that overvalued white colonial heritage over African roots and promoted marriage and motherhood as the singular values for women. All were positions Burgos rebelled against.

In Burgos, Marcantoni appears to have found not simply a muse and a neglected subject to delve into but also a kindred spirit who wrote of Puerto Rico’s abundance and articulated her anti-colonialist views with a revolutionary, upend-the-oppressors’ fervor. For all his low-key ways of expressing his thoughts, Marcantoni’s got a bit of the firebrand in him.

Born in Puerto Rico, Marcantoni moved to Colorado 10 years ago. Much of Denver’s Latiné arts and culture offerings come via Chicano and Mexican arts organizations, like the five-decades-old Su Teatro. A theater company centered on Puerto Rico’s history is notable not least because Denverites aren’t necessarily aware of the city’s Puerto Rican population. And Marcantoni would be the first to tell you that Puerto Ricans make up the second largest Latiné group.

Last fall, Marcantoni took the step of remaking Flamboyán — which he had launched along with an incubator for playwrights the year before  — into a theater company focused on Puerto Rican life and artists.

Like Burgos, Marcantoni’s passion for his birthplace and its riven but also profoundly rich heritage is front and center. “Being a Puerto Rican in the Mountain West can feel isolating and challenging,” he began an email announcing the refocusing. “We do not fit the typical Latino narrative given our relationship with the U.S., which granted us citizenship in 1917 while controlling our resources, land, and people. Puerto Rican social and political identity is splintered within families, friend groups, and even within ourselves.

“Puerto Rico has maintained its national distinctiveness in spite of colonialism, racism, and economic highs and lows … . Puerto Ricans have the distinct experience of knowing the good and the bad of the U.S. in a way that no other Latino people do. Nothing about us is simple, yet it is all relatable to anyone who has yearned to belong.”

So how does he plan to invite new audiences into the theatrical experience? (It’s a question bedeviling many of the city’s creatives about their own theaters.) For Marcantoni, one answer is those podcasts.

“Podcasts have become one of the most influential and popular forms of media. There are a lot of people who may not feel comfortable going to a theater, and that could be for any number of reasons. Some people might just not like theater —  or think that they don’t — and so they’re going to be more open to the podcast idea,” said Marcantoni.

“It’s a little bit of reverse engineering,” he added. “The first step with the podcast is mostly trying to get Puerto Ricans outside of Colorado interested in what we’re doing, exposing them to the stories that we’re telling and building connections that go outside of Colorado, but which indirectly puts Colorado on the map for them. For those other creatives to go ‘Oh, there’s interesting stuff going on.’”

This creation of a local, national, even global feedback loop is something that the best of our local arts organizations continue to practice: introducing local audiences to meaningful work from the nation and beyond and introducing audiences outside the region to the work of area creatives.

Flamboyán’s outreach won’t stop with podcasts. Some of it relies on wonderfully old-school community building. For the Buntport run of “Empire of Solitude,” Marcantoni plans on canvassing the Santa Fe arts corridor with flyers and pitching local businesses an exchange of discounted coupons. When Flamboyán had a release party for the podcasts in June, it was held at the Latiné woman-owned Raices Brewery Company, Artis. Flamboyán’s staged reading of “Cheyanne” by Cipriano Ortega last fall started with a performance by a local poet. So will “Empire of Solitude.” And artisan vendors will set up shop in the Buntport lobby during the run.

Marcantoni thinks of it as a communal marketplace. “You come into it and you’re mingling with people from around the city, and then you get to see a local artist performing,” he said, laying out what is more than a play but an experience. “It puts you in this mindset to then be open to the story itself and then this piece of theater.”

IF YOU GO

“Empire of Solitude”: Written by Jon Marcantoni. Directed by Narely Cortes. Featuring Lucinda Lazo, Shyan Rivera, Gisselle Gonzalez) and Jordan Hull.  At Buntport, 717 Lipan St. Aug. 9-18. For tickets and info: Flamboyántheatre.com

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“Darkfield” is the title of the trilogy, but also the moniker of the inventive outfit that created “Flight,” “Séance” and “Coma,” all of which are presented completely in the dark. The company launched its U.S. tour at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, courtesy of Off Center, the presenter of works that are innovative, immersive, and often very clever.

To describe with too much detail each experience would be a spoiler akin to revealing where every skeleton will jump out during a haunted house tour. What’s the fun in that?

What’s remarkable is the way total darkness tosses out one of the primary senses that many of us (but certainly not all) rely on not just to orient ourselves in our daily lives when we take in stories. Before the attendees enter the container, they are advised in the most chipper way possible that if you are claustrophobic or afraid of the dark, now might be the time to rethink your commitment. There will also be a second chance to bow out, which is more than you get on a roller coaster.

After a brief, recorded salvo inside the shipping containers, the lights go out. It’s the kind of blackout the sleep-deprived are advised to seek out: a dark in which you cannot see the outline of your hand in front of your nose. For a brief moment in “Coma,” there was a little red dot above each bunk bed and then… nothing. Darkness.

Each experience courts a different version of eerieness, fear or unease. “Flight:” crashing and unexpected death. “Séance:” interactions with things that go bump (loudly) in the dark or skeptical encounters with bossy charlatans who exploit beliefs in the supernatural. “Coma”: the simulation of a consciousness that resides on the other side of being conscious.

Those various feelings are prompted by a 360-degree sound design produced by a bi-aural microphone. Although there are less cumbersome examples, one version of this kind of device is a head-shaped, dummy microphone that picks up sounds the way ears do.

This is story-crafting as event, as happening. Although you are seated in “Flight” and “Séance,” and stretched out in a bunk bed in “Coma,” each is an adventure in sensation as well as a scripted experience. Which means each can touch on emotions, sensations, thoughts or a satisfyingly personal combination.

With a headset on, a guest “feels” the space and “fills” it, too. The set gains become more real from the meeting of the sound design and the way we humans already carry the sense (real or imagined) of certain spaces within us. Guests take that knowledge into the shipping container.

“Darkfield” underscores the nice challenges of “reviewing” experiential work of this kind: in that my fears and anxieties may be very different than yours. For instance, I’m an anxious flyer. So much so that I know every hum and whirr of a Boeing 737 and nothing about “Flight” tapped into my primal fears. This doesn’t mean its considerations about death and consciousness, memory and survival, here and elsewhere weren’t intriguing. They were.

Likewise, I overheard a woman who’s attended séances say her experience of them was quite different than that of “Séance,” during which patrons settle in at a very long table facing each other. Lights out. Hands on the table (BTW, I got this wrong by taking too literally the command to keep everything off the table). Noises, thumps and prickly banter ensue.

The day after “Darkfield” opened, co-artistic directors David Rosenberg and Glen Neath and creative director and producer Victoria Eyton led a workshop about the ways their shows are designed: first comes the story, then the physical design and then the sound.

After a primer in the ways bi-aural audio works, the trio divided the attendees into groups that would create their own sound-lead experience. Among the participants were some local creatives known for the richly textured stories they’ve created for area audiences: Off Center’s Courtney Ozaki, Theatre Artibus’ Buba Basishvili and Camp Christmas installation artist, Lonnie Hanzon. That these were some of the attendees underlines the efforts Off Center, under Charlie Miller’s guidance, are undertaking in building and supporting local artists engaged in experiential storytelling.

As for the “Darkfield” trilogy, patrons can buy tickets for one, two or all three experiences and can choose the order in which they dive in. If the chatter that filled the space between each 30-minute experience and the next was an indication, “Darkfield” offers ample fodder for amusing and amused deconstructions over food and drinks. If you have yet to experience an immersive production, “Darkfield” provides a clever and thought-provoking entry point.

Opening weekend, the heat outside was harsh as it hovered around the 100-degree mark. For some, the temperature within the shipping containers, although air-conditioned, was deeply uncomfortable. On Monday, Off Center’s impresario Miller sent an email of apology to patrons, acknowledging that “Due to the extreme heat and technical issues, we regret that the experience may not have met your expectations.” Hopefully the weather won’t reach those highs again, but Off Center and the show’s producers are addressing the issues.

A different caveat: While not every experience is designed to be accessible to every person, expanding opportunities for people with disabilities appears to be an afterthought in the design of too many immersive shows. The one “Darkfield” experience that can’t accommodate people in wheelchairs is “Flight.” But the narrow confines of “Séance” and the tightly stacked bunkbeds of “Coma” don’t seem much better. This observation needn’t sound like a call to toss the baby out with the bathwater. (Denver Center is encouraging patrons with accessibility concerns to email accessibility@dcpa.org.)

Instead, it’s an observation that in creating new realities that mimic our current ones we are allowed to improve upon the limits of the ones we navigate so differently. In doing so we might expand consciousness in the process.

IF YOU GO

Created by Darkfield. Co-directed David Rosenberg and Glen Neath. Produced by Darkfield, Realscape Productions and Off Center at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. At the Bird Lot in Rino, 2532 Larimer Street. At TK through Sept. 1. For tickets and info: denvercenter.org and 303-893-4100.

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Visit Denver, the city’s tourism sales and marketing agency, said last year’s visitor total of 37.4 million was a 3% bump over 2022. And the $10.3 billion in Denver’s tourism revenue last year outpaced the $9.4 billion collected the prior year by nearly 10%.

“Tourism is vital to the Denver economy and we are pleased to see our momentum continue in 2023, especially after the dramatic growth we saw in 2022,” Richard Scharf, Visit Denver’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Denver’s tourism businesses, most of which are small and locally owned, rely on these visitors to fuel their success, which allows them to continue to hire employees – almost 66,000 across the metro area in 2023 – and to generate millions in state and local taxes.”

Overnight visitors totaled 20.5 million last year, a 3% rise from the previous year, generating $8.8 billion in spending in the Mile High City. Overnight leisure visits were top in growth last year, rising by 5% over 2022 to a new high of 17.5 million.

Longwoods International provided the Denver visitor data through its annual visitor profile study, which it has conducted for Denver for 30 years. The company’s president and CEO, Amir Eylon, said tourism in Denver in 2023 returned “to levels more in line with 2019,” the year before the coronavirus pandemic struck the state.

And Denver is doing comparably well nationally, Eylon said, “offering visitors both sought-after urban experiences and easy access to outdoor activities.”

The study revealed that visitors come to Denver consistently year-round, with a “modest surge” of visitors in the warmer months. And Denver International Airport plays a crucial role in moving those visitors in and out, with 40% of overnight Denver visitors arriving by plane in 2023.

The average overnight Denver visitor spent $427 per trip. In total, nearly $3 billion was spent on transportation, $2.5 billion on lodging and nearly $1.5 billion on drinks and food in 2023. Recreation, sightseeing and entertainment garnered the city $749 million last year, a 9.3% bump over 2022.

California, Texas, Kansas and Florida were the top four states, outside Colorado itself, in sending visitors to the Mile High City in 2023. And the top five cities sending overnight visitors to the city were Los Angeles, Albuquerque/Santa Fe, New York City, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Houston.

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