applause magazine feb. - apr. 2013
DESCRIPTION
In-theater magazine produced for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts ComplexTRANSCRIPT
Volume XXIV n Number 6
February - aprIl 2013
ALSO PLAYING…
a weekend with pablo picasso • mark twain tonight!
cAtch me if you cAn
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COMING SOON! PANDORA’S NEW SPRING 2013 COLLECTION.
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Innovation Inspires PerformanceCSU’s Department of Music, Theatre and Dance is helping prepare a new generation for greatness.
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2013HYATT REGENCY DENVER AT COLORADO CONVENTION CENTER
Featuring Mandy Patinkin, Emmy® and Tony® Award-winning singer and actor of stage and screen. Currently starring in Showtime’s hit drama series Homeland.
All proceeds benefit the life-changing work of Jewish Family Service.
Tickets at www.jewishfamilyservice.org/luncheon
JFS EXECUTIVE LUNCHEONLunch well spent.
E
APPLAUSE denvercenter.org 4
APPLAUSEM A G A Z I N E
VOLUME XXIV ■ NUMBER 6 ■ FEBRUaRy - apRIL 2013
For advertising information call The Publishing House 303.428.9529.
7380 Lowell Blvd., Westminster, CO 80030Angie Flachman, Publisher
Editor: Sylvie Drake Associate Editor: Suzanne YoeDesigners: Kim Conner, Brenda Elliott, Amanda Grutzmacher, Kyle Malone
Applause is published eight times a year by The Denver Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with The Publishing House. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part
without written permission is prohibited. Call 303.893.4000 regarding editorial content.
Applause magazine is funded in part by
The Denver Center for the performing arts1101 13th St., Denver, CO 80204
303.893.4000 www.denvercenter.org The Denver Center for the performing arts is a not-for-profit organization serving the public through the performing arts.
BoArd of TrUSTEESDaniel L. Ritchie,
Chairman and CEODonald R. Seawell,
Chairman EmeritusRandy Weeks,
President and Executive Director, Denver Center Attractions
William Dean Singleton, Secretary/Treasurer
W. Leo Kiely III, First Vice Chair
Robert Slosky, Second Vice Chair
Christian AnschutzDr. Patricia Baca Joy S. BurnsIsabelle ClarkNavin DimondMargot Gilbert FrankThomas W. HonigMary Pat Link Edward A. MuellerRobert C. NewmanRichard M. Sapkin Martin SempleJim SteinbergPeter SwinburnKen TuchmanLester L. WardDr. Reginald L. WashingtonJudi WolfSylvia Young_______________________Carolyn Foster,
Executive Assistant to Daniel L. Ritchie
Kim Schouten, Executive Assistant to Daniel L. Ritchie
EX-offICIo MEMBErSDorothy V. DennyMayor Michael HancockGovernor John HickenlooperKent Thompson
HoNorAry MEMBErSJeannie Fuller Glenn R. JonesM. Ann PadillaCleo Parker Robinson
MANAGEMENT CoMMITTEERandy Weeks,
President and Executive Director, Denver Center Attractions
Dorothy V. Denny, Executive Vice President
Vicky Miles, CFO Kent Thompson,
Producing Artistic Director, Denver Center Theatre Company
Jennifer Nealson, CMOClay Courter, Director,
Facilities Management Emily Davidson, Director,
Human ResourcesSylvie Drake, Director,
PublicationsJohn Ekeberg, Director,
Programming and Operations, Denver Center Attractions
Tam Dalrymple Frye, Director, Education
Brianna Firestone, Director of Marketing, Denver Center Theatre Company
Janet Flesch, Director of Marketing
Jeff Hovorka, Director, Media and Marketing, Denver Center Attractions
Ed Lapine, Director of Production, Denver Center Theatre Company
Bruce Montgomery, Director, Information Systems
Jennifer Siemers, Director, Accounting
Charles Varin, Managing Director, Denver Center Theatre Company
Dawn Williams, Director, Venue Sales and Operations
Suzanne Yoe, Director, Marketing Services
AMErICAN NATIoNALTHEATrE & ACAdEMy BoArdKent Thompson,
Chairman and CEOJudi Wolf,
President and COODonald R. Seawell,
Chairman Emeritus
HELEN G. BoNfILSfoUNdATIoN BoArd of TrUSTEESLester L. Ward, PresidentMartin Semple,
Vice President Judi Wolf, Sec’y/TreasurerDonald R. Seawell,
President EmeritusW. Leo Kiely IIIDaniel L. RitchieWilliam Dean SingletonRobert SloskyJim SteinbergDr. Reginald L. Washington
Exciting things are happening at The Denver Center in 2013. We started the year off with a tale of a boy and his horse, two captivating world premieres, an epic romance, and a fast-paced weekend of new play readings at our eighth annual Colorado New play Summit (see pp. 24-25). But there is more. prepare to take off on an esca-pade with Catch Me If You Can and then spend some intimate time on A Weekend with Pablo Picasso. you will walk away feel-ing as if you had a rare, personal glimpse into the life of one of the greatest artists of the 20th cen-tury, complete with the creation of an actual painting on stage. One of the most thrilling projects we have in store for you this year is the world premiere of Sense & Sensibility The Musical. Never before has this beloved Jane austen novel been set to music on such a grand scale. We invite you to embark on a journey of love taken by two sisters who are opposites in temperament but equals in passion. Both struggle
with betrayal, soaring emotions, dashed hopes, and with their indi-vidual notions of ideal love. It is a story of choosing love, a story we can all relate to. We are delighted that Denver audiences will be the first to ex-perience this exhilarating piece of musical theatre history. It will be staged by Tony® award-winning director Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime), with Costume Design by ESosa (Porgy & Bess, “project Runway”) and Set Design by allen Moyer (Grey Gardens). We have engaged an impressive cast of actors to bring this ambitious project to life, including Stepha-nie Rothenberg (Broadway: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying). Stephanie is eagerly anticipating her visit to Denver where her brother is a sophomore at the University of Denver. It is because of the support of patrons like you that The Denver Center is able to accomplish such remarkable works on the stage. performances for Sense & Sen-sibility The Musical are already selling out. personally, that’s the one that I am specially looking forward to. We are grateful for your patronage and hope you en-joy our upcoming productions. ■
Daniel L. RitchieChairman & CEOThe Denver Center for the performing arts
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X 10A WEEKEND WITH PABLO PICASSO
Would you have the guts to impersonate pablo picasso on stage? Herbert Siguenza does.
He also has the guts to deliver an actual painting.
by Mark Bly
CATCH ME IF YOU CANThis clever and vivid musical is based on the youthful misdeeds
of a man who was only too grateful to be caught.
MARK TWAIN TONIGHT!actor Hal Holbrook claims it was all unintended, but his ster-ling incarnation of that wry wit and truth-teller Mark Twain is nearing a 60-year watershed moment as undimmed and pugnacious as ever.by Sylvie Drake
THE SUMMIT REPORTIn its eighth year, the Denver Center Theatre Company’s an-nual Colorado New play Summit hits a new peak of excitement.by Sylvie Drake
Keep the Weather Outside!SAVE $600 off Installed Patio Doors.
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3 0 3 . 8 9 3 . 4 1 0 0TTy: 303.893.9582 • denvercenter.orgAUdIo-dESCrIpTIoN, ASL INTErprETATIoN ANd opEN CApTIoNING AvAILABLE
AT SELECT pErforMANCES; CHECk dATES/TIMES wHEN ordErING.
Performances at The Denver Center are made possible in part through the generous support of:
SCFD
Denver Center Theatre Company 2012/13 Season Sponsors
Denver Center Attractions 2013/14 Season Sponsors
Denver Center Theatre Company & Denver Center Attractions Media Sponsors
Catch Me If You Can
Now – March 10Buell Theatre
The Doyle & Debbie Show
March 2 – July 14Garner Galleria Theatre
Mark Twain Tonight!March 16
Buell Theatre
A Weekend with Pablo Picasso
March 22 – april 28Ricketson Theatre
SpamalotMarch 28 – 30Buell Theatre
Other Desert CitiesMarch 29 – april 28
Space Theatre
World premiere Sense & Sensibility
The Musical april 5 – May 26
Stage Theatre
Blue Man Groupapril 12 – 21Buell Theatre
Mary PoppinsMay 1 – 5
Buell Theatre
Les MisérablesMay 22 – 26Buell Theatre
Ballroom with a TwistJune 8 – 9
Buell Theatre
TracesJune 26 – July 14
Stage Theatre
Peter and the Starcatcheraug 15 – Sep 1Ellie Caulkins Opera House
Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Sep 3 – 15Buell Theatre
Sister ActSep 24 – Oct 6Buell Theatre
Cirque Dreams HolidazeDec 10 – 22
Buell Theatre
EvitaJan 15 – 26
Buell Theatre
Million Dollar QuartetFeb 25 – March 9, 2014
Buell Theatre
onceMay 6 – 18, 2014
Buell Theatre
all shows listed are ON SaLE NOW
In conjunction with the world premiere of Sense & Sensibility The Musical at The Den-ver Center for the performing arts (DCpa),
the pikes peak and Denver/Boulder regions of the Jane austen Society of North america (JaSNa) are hosting an “austen at altitude” conference and Regency Ball april 11-13.
proceeds from the conference and tickets to the april 11–14 performances of the musical will benefit the nonprofit Colorado JaSNa regions and the Chawton House Library (CHL) in Hamp-shire, England, located on the estate of austen’s brother, Edward. Festivities include an optional opening gala reception april 11 and the Regency Ball in the Seawell Grand Ballroom april 12 as part of the Conference. (Instruction in English country dancing and chairs provided for novices and onlookers.)
april 13 conference events include:
• Keynoter Claudia Johnson, Professor of Eng-lish at princeton and distinguished austen scholar;
• A roundtable discussion with the Sense & Sensibility The Musical creative team moderated by professor Emeritus Joan Ray, University of Colorado, JaSNa president (2000–2006), president of the North ameri-can Friends of CHL, and author of Jane Austen for Dummies;
• A post-luncheon talk on CHL by Sandy Lerner, founder of CISCO Systems and major austen connoisseur, who rescued CHL from demolition in 1997;
• A closing session with the witty and knowl-edgeable Susan Greenfield, professor of English at Fordham University, writer of “The Jane austen Weekly” for the Huffington Post, and a public Voices Fellow with the Op-Ed project.
THE CoNfErENCE
Tickets to the musical are included in the conference fee.
For more information or to order tickets, visit www.jasna.org/regions/events/co-apr.html
www.jasnadenverboulder.org/regional_conf_2013.htm
Your Favorite Recurring Dream. Our 35th Annual Spring Sale.
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Costume CollectionJudi Wolf’s He was one of the most prolific artists of the 20th
century and not only did he have a distinctive artistic spirit that would shape the world of art
as we know it, but picasso also had a very individual style when it came to fashion. In A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, the costumes are indeed what make the man. Costume designer, Giulio Cesare perrone, recreated the styles and clothing that picasso actually wore in famous photographs taken by Douglas Duncan, circa 1957-1959. The clothes speak to the essence and vi-brancy that was picasso, which is essential for such an intimate production. He dressed in casual elegance and was almost always found in a striped sailor shirt, baggy linen shorts and sandals. perhaps in today’s fashion world he might best be represented by the nautical designs of Ralph Lauren. This idiosyncratic piece of theatre is the unique creation of performer/painter, Herbert Siguenza. Step into the world of picasso and catch a glimpse of the life of one of the greatest artists of our time, now through april 28. n
denvercenterevents.org303.572.4466
Dramatic EvEnts with drama-free planning
Photo generously provided by our partners at Studio JK
ACT NOW!denvercenter.org/ACT
Denver Center Theatre Academy is
open to kids ages four and up. Acting lessons
range from beginner to advanced…there’s
something for everyone! Denver Center Theatre academyat the Denver Center Theatre Company
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Carlisle Floyd's Dramatic American OperaPresents
Newman Center for the Performing ArtsTickets $11/$30 NewmanTix.com 303.871.7720
SUSANNAHApril 1821
James V. (JIM) Neely, GRI, CNE, SFR
Broker Associate(720) 748-0699 Home Office & Fax(303) 881-3106 Cell(303) 409-1300 Office, (303) 409-6113 Fax
8490 E. Crescent Pkwy., Suite 100Greenwood Village, CO [email protected]
View my promo-video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyZIPIWbkBU
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Mark Bly: What inspired you to write A Weekend With Pablo Picasso?
Herbert Siguenza: I was born with the mysterious gift of being able to draw. Since I was a young boy, I would press crayons against paper and create imaginary worlds and characters. In fact, when I was in second grade, my teacher, Mrs. Sharp, would pull me out of the reading circle and have me draw on giant rolls of butcher paper instead. She kept everything I drew. Later that semester, we went on a field trip to downtown San Francisco to visit City Hall and the Board of Education building. To my great surprise, there was an exhibit of all my work hanging in the halls! My fellow students were very impressed, and I was im-mensely proud as well. That first exhibit made it clear to me that I would grow up to become an artist. That same year, my mother took me to the dentist. While we waited in the reception area, I picked up a photo book by Douglas Duncan called The Private Life of Picasso. The beautiful black and white photos showed a shirtless old man who painted and played like a child. He also had doves, several dogs and a goat. I turned and said to my mom,
“When I grow up I want to be that old man.” “That’s pablo picasso,” she said. “Es loco” [“you’re crazy”]. My dear mother did not discourage me; I knew better. The old man Columbus was not crazy but rather unconventional and free, which inspired me profoundly to later live my own life in that manner. I eventually went to the California College of arts in Oakland were I got a BFa in printmaking and taught for two years. I also worked for ten years at La Raza Silk-screen Center producing posters for cultural and political events. all these experiences have contributed to my personal and artistic growth. I see this play as a result of everything I have ever learned in regard to the visual and theatri-cal arts. It is a perfect and natural marriage for me. a play that I was born to perform starting now. It is a culmination of everything I’ve known since I was a curious child. and yes, I still don’t read very well. Thank you, Mrs. Sharp!
MB: Would you talk about your process as an actor and play-
wright in creating the play? Where does the painter-artist Herbert Siguenza figure into this stage equation?
When Herbert Siguenza performed his A Weekend
With Pablo Picasso at Houston’s Alley Theatre last year, he had a few things to say to The Alley’s Mark Bly
about why he paints and why he took on the perilous
task of not only imperson-ating an iconic artist on
stage, but also of creating an actual painting on stage. Now that the show, painting and all, has come to Denver,
appLaUSE is happy to reprint that conversation.
HERBERT SIGUENZAAn evening with
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My character of Picasso is not an imitation of Picasso because that would be false or impossible. My character of Picasso is me as a rich, old man who paints and lives in southern France.
—Herbert Siguenza
HS: I don’t have a formal education in theatre but rather, as I said,
a degree in art. To a certain extent that has been very liberating, because I never over-think or analyze what I do. I simply act on a real instinctive level, free from academic philosophies. I just do. My character of picasso is not an imitation of picasso because that would be false or impossible. My character of picasso is me as a rich, old man who paints and lives in southern France. It’s simple and direct. after 30 years of performing comedy and drama on stage, I feel ready to take on the challenge of portraying an icon. I could never have portrayed him ten years ago, you know? I wasn’t ready to take on such a giant character. He is Falstaff or Big papa from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Now on the script, I took all the quotes picasso said during his lifetime and con-structed an imaginary weekend in 1957 in his studio, Le Californie. I wanted to rec-reate the sights and sounds of the pictures I saw in Duncan’s wonderful photographs. My only goal as a playwright was for the audience to experience and feel like they are spending an intimate weekend with a master, a genius but also a Spanish man in exile. picasso said that viewing art is a kind of voyeurism. I think viewing theatre is even more voyeuristic, because we are seeing people in their most private moments. In my play I want no separation between performer and audience. The audience is a participant and the reason for the play. There are only a few moments where the audience “is not there” and watches picasso at his most private and most vul-nerable. as a painter I am also vulnerable,
I paint and create in front of the audience. No safety net, no gimmicks—just magic and truth in action. Like my acting, I just do it without thinking. I think picasso would be proud of me.
MB: Picasso’s relationship with 20th century politi-
cal movements was complex and you explore that struggle in your play. Can you characterize that epic “tug and pull” between art and politics that manifested itself in Picasso’s work?
HS: picasso’s long-time friend Jaime Sabartes said that,
“picasso is the most apolitical person I know.” I think to a certain degree it was true. Even though picasso was a member of the French Communist party and con-tributed to many leftist causes, he wasn’t politically or physically involved. He was sort of a Communist from afar. as long as he could paint what he wanted in free-dom, he was content being in the party for idealistic reasons. He was an artist first and foremost and an activist second. I have struggled with that “tug and pull” in my own life as a Chicano/Latino actor-activist. at one point you have to decide what you were meant to do in this life, you know? are you an artist or a politician? picasso remained free and true to his style, he never succumbed to the pressures of the party to paint in a social realist manner. I believe theatre that is didactic and pounds you over the head is the worst kind of theatre and does not accomplish what it wants to do in the first place: make people think. If art does the thinking for
you, what’s the use? That’s why Guernica is so amazingly powerful and eternal. It’s politically charged but aesthetically transcendental. During the Cold War, picasso did not fan the fire of nuclear destruction but rather was a global peace campaigner and contributed art and financial donations to many peace organizations and social causes. In fact, the iconography of the peace Movement—the doves, flowers, children that are used today—was first created by picasso in the late ’50s. picasso was a Humanist who just hap-pened to be a Communist. We are lucky because Guernica, the peace dove, the hands holding flowers were created as if a child had drawn them, and that is why it has lasted so long because it connects with our inner child full of joy, happiness and hope. n
This interview originally appeared in the Alley Theatre’s program for a Week-end With pablo picasso. Reprinted with permission.
Tickets: 303.893.4100 Toll-free: 800.641.1222 • TTY: 303.893.9582 Groups (10+): 303.446.4829 • denvercenter.org
March 22 – April 28 • Ricketson TheatreProducing Partners: Margot & Allan Frank, Judi & robert NewmanSigned & Audio Described • April 21, 1:30pm
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More than ten years ago Margot and allan Frank and their good friends Bob and Judi Newman became the Denver Center Theatre Company’s
(DCTC) first “producing partners.” appropriately, the play was Donald Margulies’ pulitzer prize-winner Dinner with Friends, and the foursome has continued to underwrite a production every season since. This year, the Franks and the Newmans join forces to support Herbert Siguenza’s A Weekend with Pablo Picasso. Why help support a DCTC production? “We appreciate the value of the performing arts,” says Margot. “Great theatre expands the mind, exposes audiences to a different world and encourages critical thinking. We hope we set an example for others to become producing partners.” Bob adds, “We have been very fortunate in our lives. Supporting a play is simply one way we can give back to the community in which we have prospered.” A Weekend with Pablo Picasso lends itself well to community collaborations. The University of Denver’s Theatre Department is hosting a series of classes on Mondays throughout the month of March entitled “I Was a painter and Became picasso: His art, His Women, His politics.” The access Gallery, one of many inside Denver’s arts District on Santa Fe, will open an exhibit on March 15 that features artists inspired by and displaying their interpretations of picasso’s work including a mural of “their” Guernica. a special matinee of Siguenza’s Picasso specifically for area students, including a talkback with the actor/painter, takes place on april 4. picasso once said, “art is a lie that makes us understand the truth.” The Newmans and the Franks hope this unusual production, and the satellite events taking place simultaneously, help people of all ages and walks of life develop their own thoughts about one of the 20th century’s artistic giants. ■
To learn more about the different levels of giving to become a Producing Partner, please contact David Zupancic, Associate Director of Development, at 303.446.4811 or [email protected].
PAINTING A PORTRAITOFSUPPORT
Producing Partners and Community
Collaborations help expand the experience
of A Weekend With Pablo Picasso
Allan & Margot Frank and
Judi & Bob Newman
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World Premiere
| Joy S. burnS | Daniel l. ritchie | June traviS
Anschutz
PRODUCING PARTNERS: SEASON SPONSORS:SHOW SPONSORS:
The most important romantic choice you’ll make this season.Repressed passion? Soaring emotions? Should you listen to your head or your heart? See what Jane austen’s Dashwood sisters do in the original romantic comedy. a performance 200 years in the making, Sense & Sensibility The Musical combines Jane austen’s trademark wit, unforgettable songs, and the irresistible allure of romance, gossip and high society. Staged by Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime) and costumed by ESosa (Porgy & Bess, “project Runway”), this year’s most talked about fresh, new musical premieres right here in Denver.
Tickets are selling fast. Go ahead…choose love.
april 5 - May 26Stage theatre303.893.4100
SenseandSensibility-Musical.com
groupS (10+): 303.446.4829tty: 303.893.9582
SenSe & SenSibility the MuSicalBook and Lyrics by Jeffrey haddow | Music by neal hamptonBased on the novel by Jane austenDirected and Choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge
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Frank W. Abagnale, Jr. is an expert on fraud, scams, deception and beating the system. Between the ages of 16 and 21, he forged and cashed $2.5 million worth of bad checks in the United States and in 26 other countries, while successfully passing himself off as an airline pilot for Pan Am, a doctor, a college professor and a lawyer. He was ultimately caught and served time in French, Swedish and American prisons. Abagnale’s adventures were immor-talized (and somewhat fictionalized) in Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, with Leonardo DiCaprio starring as the young con man and Tom Hanks as the FBI agent who pursued him. The movie, based on a ghost-written au-tobiography, inspired the 2011 Broadway musical of the same name. It’s easy to understand why great sto-rytellers were attracted to this period in Abagnale’s life. His capers were colorful,
improbable, glamorous, ingenious, excit-ing. With each chase, each con, there was also the element of suspense: Would he get away with it? How would he get away with it? It’s a tale that begged to be told.
A bagnale’s life on the lam may be the most entertaining part of his story, but it’s not the best or
the most remarkable. What Abagnale has done since leaving behind his life of crime is both mind-boggling and inspiring. He has used his knowledge as a counterfeiter and scam artist to stop criminals and protect law-abiding citi-zens, initially by working with the FBI—part of his parole agreement—and then by developing a host of fraud prevention programs that are used by more than 14,000 financial institutions, corporations and law enforcement agencies. “Those are the amazing things to me about my life,” he says, “not what I did so many years ago.”
The words “Catch me if you can” were never spo-
ken by Frank Abagnale Jr., a super con on the
lam for five years. Yet no one was more relieved
than Frank Abagnale, Jr. to finally be caught.
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He didn’t set out to be a con artist when he ran away from home to New york City following his parents’ divorce. “It started out as survival,” he says. “I was 16 and tried to get jobs working in a store, like a delivery boy, and I realized they weren’t going to pay me anything. I knew I looked older, and I thought that if I lied about my age, if people thought I was ten years older, they’d pay me more.” abagnale began to figure out ways—none legal—to make great sums of money, more than he ever dreamed. “I’ve always said that the two reasons for my success were that I was very creative and very observant,” he says. “I saw things that no one paid attention to. I was able to look at things and figure out ways around them. I think I got away with a lot because I was an adolescent; I had no fear of being caught… I wasn’t thinking about the consequences.” But he didn’t have half the fun as the stage and screen abagnale.
“I t’s a very lonely life,” he says. “Everyone you meet thinks you’re somebody else. I couldn’t
confide in anybody. I was this teenage boy out on his own, and I cried myself to sleep many nights. Everyone I associated with thought I was their peer, but they were ten years older than I. So I was constantly having to act like an adult. “also, I was being chased, and I knew I had to stay one step ahead. at one point it became a game between me and the FBI agent as to who was going to outsmart whom. But you grow up and mature and you realize you don’t want to live the rest of your life like that. I always knew I’d get caught. I didn’t have it in me to give myself up, but I knew it was a matter of time—and there’s great relief when you’re caught because it’s over.” abagnale was 21 years old and living in France when the French police found and imprisoned him for six months under horrific conditions. He then spent six months in a Swedish jail and was subsequently deported to the US. Before american authorities could take him into custody he ran away again, escaping through the service area of the plane—not by disemboweling a plane’s toilet, as in the movie. “I was desperate, but not that desper-ate,” he quips. He was desperate because he was terrified. “I thought I might go to prison for 20 years or the rest of my life. I had no idea if american prisons were like French prisons.”
He was eventually caught and sen-tenced to 12 years in jail, but was paroled after four on condition that he would use his expertise teaching and working undercover for the FBI. “I didn’t come out of prison saying, ‘I’m a changed person, I will never do this again,’ ” he says. “The truth is, this was a way to get my freedom. I didn’t know whether I would go straight.” It was during one of his undercover assignments that Abagnale met Kelly, the woman who would become his wife.
“S he was working on her mas-ter’s degree, writing a paper and doing an internship at this
institution where I was undercover,” he says. “I met her under this phony name and started dating her. On my last day, I took her to the park and said, ‘I would really like to continue to see you, but I have to explain that I’m not this person, this is not what I do for a living. I work for the government and I’ve been here on assignment.’ “I broke protocol, which you’re never supposed to do. But she listened and she literally changed my life. She believed in me, had faith in me, married me against the wishes of her parents, who eventually came to love me. She saw something in me that other people probably never saw. She gave me three beautiful children. I am who I am and where I am because of the love of a woman and the respect three sons have for their father.” With Kelly, Abagnale’s real redemp-tion began. When his obligation to the FBI was completed, he was asked to
remain on and chose not to. “There were things I wanted to do that I’d be restricted from doing, like writing books and educating people about crime,” he says. “I also had a lot of technology ideas I wanted to develop, but I knew that if I did them while work-ing for the government, the technology would become government property.” So he became a contract employee, working as a consultant and teaching at the FBI academy—where one of his students was his oldest son, now an FBI agent. abagnale works with the FBI to this day and became lifelong friends with the agent who had relentlessly pur-sued him, Joseph Shea (known as Carl Hanratty in the movie and the musical). Shea died in 2005.
a bagnale lives with his past every day. and although three presi-dents offered to pardon him, he
turned them down. “I respectfully declined,” he says, “be-cause I truly believe that a piece of paper cannot excuse my actions. I don’t think it works that way. I made some mistakes in my life and I have to live with them. I know people are fascinated by what I did between the ages of 16 and 21. But what amazes me is where my life went when I came out of prison. I try to do the right thing, and I hope that in the end I’ll be judged for that.” He now has his own security consult-ing firm and is considered a leading authority in the field. He is a dynamic, sought-after lecturer and a self-made millionaire—legitimate this time. Just as surprising, he serves on the advisory board of Wild Wings International, the philanthropic organization of former pan am flight attendants. “Who would have dreamed that?,” he says. “Only in america could something like this happen.” ■
This story was drawn from press materials for this production.
303.893.4100 APPLAUSE 15
CAtCh mE If yoU CAN
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feb 26 – March 10 • Buell TheatreSponsored by The westin denver downtown and HealthoNE
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THE
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“I made some mistakes in my life and I have to live with them. I know people are fascinated by what I did between the ages of 16 and 21. But what amazes me is where my life went when
I came out of prison.”—Frank Abagnale
ART
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aPPlauSe denvercenter.org 16
Team members in the Rocky Mountain Market of Wells Fargo advisors don’t hesitate to roll up their sleeves and contribute to the communities in which they work and
live. In the past year, volunteers have helped to build a new house for the metro Denver Habitat for Humanity, lent a hand during the Concerts for Kids Community Day, and jumped into action during the devastating wildfires around Colorado Springs, among many other initiatives. In 2012, Wells Fargo invested $78.9 million in 28,000 non-profit organizations. In addition, team members contributed more than $60 million through the annual Community Support and United Way campaigns and logged more than 232,000 volunteer hours. The numbers represent the many people who are better off because Wells Fargo advisors is here—and the company is proud to help make a difference for those in need. n
WellS FArgo AdviSorSProudly working together for a better Colorado
A proud sponsor of the 2012/13 Denver Center Theatre
Company Season
Wells Fargo Advisors Rocky Mountain Market team members roll up their sleeves for the metro Denver Habitat for Humanity build.
Wells Fargo Advisors’ Managing Director – Market Manager Marc Beshany presented a check for $10,000 to the Food Bank of the Rockies last year. This year, with corporate sup-port, the contribution to the food bank will exceed $25,000.
Members of Wells Fargo Advisors Colorado Springs office participated in the Light the Night walk to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, Member SIPC, is a registered broker-dealer and a separate non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. 0113-04847
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Save the Date!Women with HattitudeAct Eight
Wednesday , May 1 , 201 3
Show us your Hattitude and join more than 500 women (and a few gentlemen) for The Denver Center’s
annual luncheon benefiting the Women’s Voices Fund Activities.
Tickets $50 per person (or Top Hat tickets of $100 per person provide an additional $50 donation to the Women’s Voices Fund).
reservations or to join our committee:
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Sponsored by:
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sep 3 – 15, 2013BUELL THEATRE
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303.893.4100 APPLAUSE 19
DDid you know…. that actor Hal Holbrook was a member of the first Lincoln Center Repertory Company (1963), did a whole lot of regional theatre, film and TV, won numerous Emmys, including one for his role as host and narrator of Portrait of America, a five-year cable TV project that garnered the 1984 peabody? Of course not. you and the world inevitably think of Hal Holbrook primarily as Mark Twain, thanks to his irrepressible solo performance in Mark Twain Tonight!, a now legendary characterization of the 19th century humorist and writer that grew out of a post-World War II honors project at Ohio’s Denison University. That should give you some idea of how long Holbrook’s been spreading Twain’s gospel to an ever-renewing public eager to listen. To hear Holbrook tell it, this was all an ac-cident. Born in Cleveland in 1925 where his first role in the theatre was in The Man Who Came to Dinner at Cleveland’s Cain park Theatre, he grew up in Massachusetts. He and his two sisters were reared there by their grandparents (and assorted boarding schools) after their mother, a dancer in vaudeville and musical comedy, disap-peared when her children were little, and their father did a similar vanishing act soon after.
By the time Holbrook left Denison, he was married and he and his first wife, Ruby Johnson, had developed a two-person
show consisting of characters from Shakespeare to (yes) Mark Twain. They took it on the road, touring the 8am school assembly circuit in a freezing Southwest, doing 307 shows in 30 weeks, and racking up 30,000 miles on their sta-tion wagon, with costumes that often had to be defrosted before they could be worn. The Twain characterization might have per-ished right there, but Holbrook was cast in a soap opera in New york and became sufficiently bored with it that he began to expand his rep-ertoire of Twain material in sheer self-defense. When TV’s Ed Sullivan saw the polished one-man piece in a small New york theatre and offered Holbrook national exposure on his hugely popular variety show, there was no turning back. The down side of that success was that young Hal was being offered mostly old-man roles. The up side, though he didn’t know it at the time, was that Mark Twain Tonight! would become the singular, solo creation that he’s played all over the country (including Broadway, where it earned him a 1966 Tony® award) that would keep rewarding him—artistically, emotionally, financially—for the rest of his life. It is a lasting achievement without equal. This turn of events threatened, but was not allowed to impede a much richer and fuller career. On stage he tackled everything—from comedy to drama, musicals to Chekhov, Miller
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aPPlauSe denvercenter.org 20
For nearly 60 years, he’s usurped Mark Twain’s persona as his mantle and Twain’s perspicacity as his rapier. Both still apply.
b y S y lv i e D r a k e
HAL HOLBROOK
TONIGHT!
303.893.4100 aPPlauSe 21
Tickets: 303.893.4100 Toll-free: 800.641.1222 • TTY: 303.893.9582 Groups (10+): 303.446.4829 • denvercenter.org
to Shakespeare, careening from Hotspur and Shylock to the vaulting King Lear, without flinching at the sheer magnitude and range of his undertakings.
“I was introduced to acting that way, playing everything” he told this writer in 1996, when
he came through Denver in the title role of Death of a Salesman. (His most re-cent film achievement is playing Francis preston Blair in Spielberg’s Lincoln.) “I dove into the theatre to get behind disguises,” he confessed. “as a kid, I’d scare the neighborhood as the Hunch-back of Notre Dame. If I’d learned just to play myself I might have become some kind of movie star, but I thwarted that by taking on roles that allowed me to get at the heart of a character. “In the theatre, when you deal with the literature, you learn to inhabit those amazing characters.” yet the most amazing of those charac-ters remains his portrayal of the pugna-cious, cigar-chomping Mark Twain, a wit and writer Holbrook deeply admires and with whom he is on very intimate terms after almost 60 years of being him on stage. Not only does he find Twain’s perceptions brilliant, but also extremely modern. He has taken Twain’s writings—paragraphs, lines and sentences—to create an ever-changing, revolving-door script. By changing the words he chooses to say from one per-formance to the next, Holbrook enlivens the event and keeps it fresh.
When we met on a wintry Los angeles afternoon in his home library recently,
Holbrook was fired up. On cue, eyes, energy and indignation blazing, he expounded not only on the astonishing career he has made out of playing one of america’s greatest citizen-philoso-phers (a journey now chronicled in his 2011 autobiography, Harold, the Boy
Who Became Mark Twain), but also on his boundless admiration for what he sees as Twain’s prophetic vision of this country’s often rogue and difficult trajectory and uncertain future. “He was the first tremendously suc-cessful author in this country,” he said. “In the 1870s, after the Civil War, his career took off, he came east, and the country took off. The Industrial Revolu-tion began, fed by Mr. Lincoln saying go ahead, put down the transcontinental railroad. Mark Twain, still in his thir-ties, became the confidant of andrew Carnegie, of Mr. Vanderbilt—he sailed on his yacht—of young John Rockefell-er, of every single one of these people: [Jay] Gould, J.p. Morgan. “In those days, no TV, so they all belonged to clubs, the players Club, the Lotus Club. They all knew each other, had lunches, made fun of each other, had fun with each other. Twain watched them, looked at them, went home and wrote about them. He saw the great turn that had happened in this country, from an agrarian to an industrialized nation, which became, in a period of 30 or 40 years, an industrial giant.
“I am putting in a new piece of material,” he announced with unconcealed fanfare. “This is a
quote: ‘We can’t get out of it now. No mistake. We are the kind of world pow-er that a prairie-dog village is, and our government must stand sentinel on top of our little world-power mound and, with lifted nose, solemn face and curved paws, look out over the vast prairie. and if we see anything that doesn’t look right, because we’re a world power and our civilization is wonderful in many spectacular ways…’ ” The rest of this quote throws down a gauntlet to an america Twain prescient-ly saw as having lost its way. “ ‘It’s a civilization,’ ” the quote sums up, that
“ ‘has destroyed the simplicity and re-pose of life, its poetry, its soft romantic dreams and visions, and replaced them with a money fever, shorted ideals, vulgar ambitions and a sleep that does not refresh.’ ” No wonder Holbrook stands in awe.
“you could start the american Dream with abraham Lin-coln as the epitome of the
Great american Story,” he said. “you go from Lincoln to Twain and the disinte-gration that he began to write about in The Gilded Age and other late works, and you know he was beginning to see the erosion of the purity of our values. “If you think that Mark Twain was just becoming a road exercise for me, think again,” he added. “It’s the only way that I am able to get rid of my anger and frustration. I can get out there and say something that means some-thing to me and, I believe, to the ameri-can public that may not even understand the magnitude of what is going on. It’s become my sword. We all need to think a little bit about what we are doing to ourselves, to our children and especially to our country.” The words will be Twain’s. The passion? all Holbrook. n
March 16 onlyBuell Theatre
MarK tw
ain ToNIGHT!“you could start the american Dream with
abraham lincoln as the epitome of the great american Story. you go from lincoln to twain
and the disintegration that he began to write about in The Gilded Age and other late works,
and you know he was beginning to see the erosion of the purity of our values.”
—Hal Holbrook
When Robert Mondavi founded the iconic winery in 1966, his vision was to create fine Napa Valley wines that would stand in the company of the great wines of the world. He later went on to found Woodbridge by Robert Mon-
davi with the mission of bringing the joy of wine to every american table. Never one to be satisfied with the status quo, he relentlessly explored other growing regions in California leading to the creation of Robert Mondavi private Selection, which brings elegance to the everyday table. With a firm conviction that great wines are the result of soil, climate, vineyard management and winemaking philosophy, the winery continues to pursue Robert Mondavi’s goal of excellence with many of the same convictions held by The Denver Center for the performing arts (DCpa): passion and innovative spirit, moving for-ward with technology, and programs that break barriers and open new frontiers. Denver Center patrons attending VIp Evenings (see page 30) and Directors Society dinners are enjoying Mondavi’s vision as they raise a glass of wine in celebration of the Robert Mondavi/DCpa partnership. This year would have been Robert Mondavi’s 100th birthday (another similarity as DCpa Founder Donald Seawell recently celebrated his 100th birthday). We invite you to celebrate with us, raise a glass of Woodbridge, Robert Mondavi private select or Robert Mondavi Napa wine. Cheers to all! n
aPPlauSe denvercenter.org 22
ART
pArT
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Passion and Excellence
roBErT MoNdAvI wINE
Great wines are the result of soil, climate, vineyard
management and winemaking
philosophy
ART pArTNErS
303.893.4100 aPPlauSe 23
IMPACTCRE TIVITY
A
Impact Creativity is an urgent call to action to save theatre educa-tion programs in 19 of our largest cities. Impact Creativity brings together theatres, arts education experts and individuals to help over 500,000 children and youth, most of them disadvantaged, succeed through the arts by sus-taining the theatre arts education programs threatened by today’s fiscal climate. Impact Creativity is an unprecedented, nationwide consortium of theatres, com-panies and individuals striving together to enrich our society.www.impactcreativity.org
($200,000 or more)The James S. and Lynne P. Turley Ernst & Young Fund for Impact CreativityClear Channel outdoorCMT/ABC ($50,000 or more)AoL ($10,000 or more)Christopher Campbell/ Palace Production CenterThe Ralph and Luci Schey FoundationJohn ThomopoulosJames S. TurleyWells Fargo ($5,000 or more)Christ EconomosMariska Hargitayogilvy & Mather ($1,000 or more)Nick AdamoMitchell AuslanderSteven BunsonPaula DominickRyan DudleyBruce R. EwingSteve & Donna GartnerPeter HermannJonathan Maurer and Gretchen ShugartFlorence Miller Memorial FundTheodore NixonLisa orbergCarol ostrowIsabelle Winkles
B
Special thanks to the following donors who helped
us achieve our matching requirement for our National
Endowment for the Arts grant:
for a new generationshAkespeAre
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Building the next generation of theatre audiences is an important part of The Denver Center’s mission.
We are pleased to report that the Denver Cen-ter Theatre Company received its fifth National Endowment for the Arts Shakespeare In American Communities: Shakespeare for a New Generation grant to support a significant educational compo-nent of this season’s Romeo & Juliet. a dollar-for-dollar matching grant, NEa funding is combined with a mix of donations from the corporate, foun-dation and private sectors to make this program possible.
Nine high schools in the metro area have been selected to participate: Gateway, Hinkley, Lincoln, Denver Center for International Studies Montbello, North, Options Littleton, Overland, Vista PEAK preparatory, and West Leadership academy. This year, two rural schools will participate as well: Wiggins and Bennett High Schools.
More than 1,000 students and teachers are involved in this project which includes intensive teacher training, a series of pre- and post-play workshops for students to help them connect more significantly with the play, in-depth on-line study guides and, of course, tickets to attend special Student matinees in the Stage Theatre. n
The Anschutz FoundationWillis Ashby & Karen BurchDenver Post CommunityAlan & Katie FoxMargot & Allan FrankMr. and Mrs. Samuel GaryNational Corporate Theatre FundThe Ponzio FamilyWalter S. Rosenberry, III Charitable TrustJune Travis U.S. BankXcel Energy Foundation
Participating high school teachers gathered at The Denver Center last fall to gain tips from artists for teaching Romeo & Juliet in the classroom.
S H a K e S P e a r e i n a M e r i C a n C o M M u n i t i e S :
APPLAUSE denvercenter.org 24
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The mood at the Denver Center Theatre Company’s Colorado New play Summit on February 8-10 reflected the weather that greeted it: bracing, often sunny, always
exhilarating. Now in its eighth year, this annual event has become a highlight of the season and a magnet for its dedicated audiences that come from all over the map and seem to get bigger, more varied and more exuberant every year. On offer were two full productions of plays that were read at last year’s Summit—Lauren Feldman’s Grace, or The Art of Climbing, in which a young woman works her way out of depression by finding release as she learns to rock climb, and Michael Mitnick’s Ed, Downloaded, a wild experiment in multimedia that posits the future possibility of downloading the contents of the brain of a dying man. Is it, the play asks, really such a good idea after all? These productions were joined by this year’s readings of five highly imaginative new plays in all spaces of the Helen G. Bon-fils Complex. In addition, a giddy, no-holds-barred late-night playwrights’ Slam, at which playwrights are invited to read from new works in an intimate and relaxed atmosphere, joy-ously reaffirmed the unstoppable energy of the entire weekend. The five plays read at podiums included Laura Eason’s The Vast In-Between, which examined a marriage in mid-life crisis with intelligence, subtlety, humor and some open questions; the risible self-importance of a small town arts council made for crackling one-liners in The Most Deserving, a comedy by Catherine Trieschmann; Marcus Gardley transported Homer’s Odyssey to the streets of Harlem and other environs in a slang satire, titled simply black odyssey and sporting both muscle and poetry; Matthew Lopez took us on the hilarious yet tender jour-ney of an out-of-work performer and about-to-be Dad who finds the most improbable (and uproarious) solution to his desperate need of a job in The Legend of Georgia McBride, while Karen Zacarías dug into one of the country’s hottest political topics in her adaptation of Just Like Us, a book by Colorado’s First Lady Helen Thorpe. Thorpe and Zacarías lay bare the painfully complex ramifications of immigration, legal and illegal, without blinking or oversimplification, as they examined the lives of four Latina Denver high school students—two legal, two not—trying to carve a path to a viable future. The more than 650 guests who came from far and near were a fired up crowd that included industry types and theatre profes-sionals, DCTC subscribers, trustees, playwrights, directors, foundation reps, agents, members of the national press and other dedicated followers of the Summit, many of whom are making this an annual pilgrimage from other cities and states. The place was humming, the networking mile-high, the hous-es full and the excitement as inspired and stimulating as ever. ■
—Sylvie Drake
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Hitting all tHe HigH notes at tHe colorado new play summit
coloradonew play summit
2013
trustee isabelle Clark (l) and Producing Partner
Diana kinsey (r) with Pesha rudnick and Joy Pak.
members of the women’s voices fund, an endowment
that supports women in the theatre.
André De Shields and brenda Pressley in the reading of marcus Gardley’s black odyssey.
(l-r) trustee robert Slosky with his wife Carol
and director Christy montour-Larson.
Stephen Caffrey and marissa Lichwick in Catherine trieschmann’s The Most Deserving.
(l) Chay yew, director of black odyssey clowning it up with playwright marcus Gardley.
Actors fidel Gomez and Julian rozzell, Jr.
303.893.4100 APPLAUSE 25
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MIT
SponSor: Women’S VoiceS Fundproducing partnerS: Joy BurnS,
Leo & SuSan KieLy, danieL L. ritchieSpeciaL thanKS to the haroLd & mimi
SteinBerg charitaBLe truSt For continued Support oF neW pLay deVeLopment at the denVer center For the perForming artS
Director Chay yew works with tia James while rehearsing black odyssey.
trustee isabelle Clark (l) and Producing Partner
Diana kinsey (r) with Pesha rudnick and Joy Pak.
(l-r) Producing Artistic Director kent
thompson with Director of new Play
Development bruce k. Sevy prepare to
welcome the casts.
Lauren feldman at the Playwrights’ Slam. Playwright matthew Lopez in a jovial
moment at the Playwrights’ Slam.
Playwright Laura Eason reading at the Playwrights’ Slam.
Jennifer mudge and brian Shea in Laura Eason’s The Vast In-Between.
(l-r) Dena martinez, yunuen Pardo and mercedes Perez in Just Like Us.
(l-r) Producing Artistic Director kent thompson with DCtC commissioned playwrights Lauren feldman, marcus Gardley and Laura Eason.
(l-r) Playwrights tanya Saracho,
karen zacarías and idris Goodwin.
richard Azurdia and
Sabina zuniga varela.
(l-r) Alejandro rodriguez, Adriana
Gaviria and ryan wuestewald.
Jamie Ann romero and Quincy Dunn-baker in
matthew Lopez’ The Legend of Georgia McBride.
Playwright robert Schenkkan.
10th & Osage
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Pre-theatre 3 course dinner$35 per person
Includes a glass of wine
Fresh Baked Bread • Fresh IngredientsPrepared In-House
FREEGlass ofHouseWineWith
Ticket Stub
Happy Hour Daily 3-6pm & 9pm-CloseHalf Price Pizzas & A Happy Hour Drink List
Brunch Served Every Sat. & Sun.10am-2:30pm Enjoy $10 Bottomless Mimosas
2600 East 12th Ave., Denver 80206303.377.2091
shellsandsauce.net
$5 OFF $30 OR MORELIMIT 1 OFFER PER TABLE/NOT VALID ON SPECIALS (Exp. May 15,2013)
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CHAMPAGNE LOUNGEFRENCH CUISINE
SUSHI & RAW BAR
303.573.50001080 14th Street, Denver, CO 80202
Right next to the theater 14th and ArapahoeValet Available
www.epernaylounge.com
CHAMPAGNE LOUNGEFRENCH CUISINE
SUSHI & RAW BAR
303.573.50001080 14th Street, Denver, CO 80202
Right next to the theater 14th and ArapahoeValet Available
www.epernaylounge.com
APPLAUSE denvercenter.org 28
nExt
Up Tickets: 303.893.4100
Toll-free: 800.641.1222 TTY: 303.893.9582 Groups: 303.446.4829
denvercenter.org
Spamalot March 28 – 30, Buell TheatreWinner of the 2005 Tony® award for Best Musical, this zany musical comedy sensation “lov-ingly ripped off” from the film Monty Python and The Holy Grail, returns to spread laughter and cheer throughout the kingdom. King Arthur and his clunky Knights of the Round Table embark once more on their quest for the elusive Grail, this time making a little mile-high side-trip to the fair city of Denver. ■
Other Desert Cities March 29 – april 28, Space Theatre
Holidays can often be a pressure cooker for families, and that is the case for the Wy-eths of Other Desert Cities. This hyper-articulate family is filled with vivid characters
equally as capable of bringing joy to one another as they are of inflicting pain. Their Christmas reaches a pinnacle of sorts when daughter Brooke shares her soon-to-
be-published manuscript—a memoir that exposes a tragic family secret, reopening wounds that have never quite healed. Written by Jon Robin Baitz, this play had its pre-
miere at New york’s Lincoln Center in January of 2011. It was a finalist for the 2012 pulitzer prize for Drama and received five Tony® nominations, including Best play. ■
Looking ahead…
Sense & Sensibility The Musical april 5 – May 26, Stage TheatreDirected by Tony® award-winner Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime), this is a soaring and much anticipated world premiere musical adaptation of Jane austen’s beloved novel. The book and lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow and music by Neal Hampton will transport us into the tempestuous world of the Dashwood sisters. Different in temper-ament, but determined to find happiness in spite of their impoverished circumstances, Elinor and Marianne struggle with betrayal, difficult emotions and conflicting notions of ideal love. yet each triumphs romantically by remaining true to who she is. Ro-mance is in the air—and it’s contagious! ■
Blue Man Group april 12 – 21, Buell Theatre
Back by popular demand, the Blue Men will thrill Buell Theatre audiences with their unique high-octane theatrical shenanigans. Escape the ordinary and surround yourself with an explosion of comedy, music and technology. If you’ve never seen
Blue Man Group, don’t miss this opportunity to become acquainted. If you’re already a fan, here’s your chance to enjoy it all over again. ■
BEST MUSICAL
2005 TONY AWARD
BEST MUSICAL
2005 TONY AWARD
SPAM is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods, LLC, used with permission here.
303.893.4100 aPPlauSe 29
Tickets: 303.893.4100 Toll-free: 800.641.1222 TTY: 303.893.9582 Groups: 303.446.4829
denvercenter.org
While ECG is loved for its award-win-ning food, it is the dedication of the
staff that is truly the organization’s secret
ingredient.
ART pArTNErS
A proud supporter of The Denver Center for
the Performing Arts
Combining the best of the old with a passion
for the new C U L I N a R y G R O U pEpICUrEAN
a guest at a recent theatre event contacted Epicurean Culinary Group (ECG) to thank our chefs for a particularly spectacular des-sert she had enjoyed at The Denver Center (DCpa). Her generous
praise was followed by a request for the recipe which, in true Epicurean form, was immediately acquiesced. a perfect example that while ECG is loved for its award-winning food, it is the dedication of the staff that is truly the organization’s secret ingredient. “We feel so fortunate to have a team of such committed, talented people.” says Larry Dipasquale, Founder and CEO of ECG. “From culinary to sales to administration, we have been lucky to work with several individuals for more than 20 years. However, the best part about working in tandem with our true-blue colleagues is their eagerness not only to share their expertise with the newbies, but their willingness to consider positive changes. The young, enthusiastic chefs are just as important and as respected as those who have been in the mix for the long haul,” says Dipasquale with a smile. “We really get the best of both worlds. We are open to new ways of doing things, happy to be trendsetters in the industry—and we find that with the new, young, passionate talent that comes knocking at our doors. But we also have been in business for over 30 years and have learned a lot along the way. By combining the expertise of experience and the eagerness of youth, we are able to capture that magic that causes a guest to phone the kitchen with a message of gratitude in the early morning hours. Those are the things that make our days—and our long nights—worth it.” Epicurean Culinary Group and the DCpa are yet another instance of blending innovation with tradition. When Epicurean was asked to act as exclusive caterer at the pre-eminent Seawell Grand Ballroom, both organizations brought their best to the table, resulting in more events and, therefore, more dollars to support Denver’s arts and culture, something that both ECG and the DCpa feel is vital to a thriving community. n
Denver has to of er!Bes seats at th e bes s ows
viP
EvEN
INGS
VIPVIPEvenings2013~14
APPLAUSE denvercenter.org 30
$225 per person
$2,250 table of 10
denvercenter.org/vipFor more information,
email Peter at [email protected] or by
phone 303.446.4815
P R E S E N T S
VIP EVENING SERIES SPONSOR:
A VIP (That’s you!) will enjoy…f Premier orchestra seating to the
best touring Broadway shows
f Catered dinner by award-winning Epicurean Catering
f Complimentary cocktails & wines with dinner
Great for…f The perfect date night
f Entertaining clients
f Special occasions (birthdays, wedding anniversaries, engagements)
the musical legend
WinneR!olivieR 2012
audience aWaRd
Thur. May 23winner! 5 Tony® AwArds
Fri. August 23
Sun. March 9, 2014
Thur. December 12
SPONSORED BY
THE ONLY SWISS LUXURY WATCH WITH A LATIN SOULCRO
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