Podcast: Reviewing the reviewers

A look at how we approach theatre criticism at OnStage Colorado, plus the week's Top 10 Colorado Headliners and a conversation with the Denver Theatre Ensemble.

In this episode of the OnStage Colorado Podcast, hosts Alex Miller and Toni Tresca turn the critical lens on themselves, digging into the craft — and the controversy — of writing honest theatre reviews. As Toni's criticism has grown sharper over five years of covering Colorado's stages, so has the response: from grateful notes to hurt feelings aired on social media. What does it mean to be kind and honest at the same time? And where is the line between candor and cruelty?

Toni also catches up on a busy stretch of shows: Steven Dietz's intricate Fiction at Three Leeches in Lakewood, the bracingly timely Just Like Us at Su Teatro, a strong but imperfect A Chorus Line at the Lakewood Cultural Center, and the world premiere of Nina Alice Miller's lyrical Daughtering from Dirty Fish Theatre at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder.

Later, Alex sits down with Rhianna DeVries and Tess Neel, the artistic director and producing director of Denver Theatre Ensemble — a young, DU-rooted company now in its third season and gearing up for an all-world-premieres lineup that includes a collaboration with Picnic Theatre Company in Steamboat Springs.

IN THIS EPISODE:
- Recent show catchup: Fiction, Just Like Us, A Chorus Line, Daughtering
- News: Arvada Center 2025-26 season announcement
- News: Yates Theatre in Denver's Berkeley neighborhood moves closer to reopening as a 300-seat indie cinema
- News: Can anyone make a living in theatre? A viral Facebook post sparks 115 comments
- Main topic: Theatre criticism — honesty, kindness, community theatre and editorial integrity
- Interview: Rhianna DeVries and Tess Neel, Denver Theatre Ensemble
- Top 10 Colorado Headliners

TOP 10 COLORADO HEADLINERS:
- Phantom of the Opera — Denver Center Buell Theatre, March 18-April 5
- Goodnight Moon — Parker Arts (stage production + Fiber Tale exhibit), through March 29
- Pen Pals — Theatre Aspen, March 20-21 only
- Little Women — Phamaly Theatre Company, Parsons Theatre, Northglenn, March 19-April 4
- The Cottage — OpenStage Theatre, Fort Collins, March 21-April 18
- Cheap Thrills — Telluride Theatre, Sheridan Opera House, March 20-21
- Proof — Magic Circle Players, Montrose, through March 28
- Bonnie & Clyde — Bright Heart Stages, The People's Building, Aurora, March 20-29
- Women's Theatre Festival — Millibo Art Theatre, Colorado Springs, through March 22
- Red Willow — Control Group Productions, South Platte Park, Littleton, March 20-April 4

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hey, hey, hello. Happy St. Patrick's Day, and welcome to the Onstage Colorado Podcast. I'm Alex Miller.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

And I'm Tony Tresca. As usual, we are going to be discussing some of the recent shows we've seen, talking through some theater news, and then we'll also be discussing our top 10 Colorado headliners, which are a roundup of upcoming shows that we think are of interest. And for our main topic this week, we are going to be diving deep into the subject of theater criticism itself.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yeah, we're going to critique the critiquers ourselves and dig into some of what goes into our process of reviewing theater here in Colorado. So stick around for that in just a little bit. Later in the show, we have an interview I did with Rihanna DeVries and Tess Neal from Denver Theater Ensemble. So this is a relatively new theater company started by these two DU alums, along with uh Aina Marlowe, a well-known Chicago theater artist, who's now a theater professor at DU. And I think they'd been in like in a scene study class of hers, and that's how the kind of the ball got rolling. So it's an interesting conversation about how they came to form the company, what they want it to be, their upcoming season, and some of the challenges that come with starting something new.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Yeah, absolutely. Looking forward to hearing that conversation a little bit later in the episode. But as usual, let's kick things off with what we've seen recently.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Yeah, well, you've seen more than me. I actually, not by design, but just the last couple of weeks. I have not gotten out to shows. I was sick last weekend, and then the weekend before I was in uh Mexico City for a family uh event. So I've been I've been kind of off the circuit, but you've been out there. What uh uh what have you been out to see?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Quite a few different things, uh, some really interesting stuff. I I started my uh uh theater activities off this week by going over to the Three Leeches space in Lakewood to check out Stephen Dietz's production of fiction. Now, Stephen Dietz is probably a familiar name to folks. He's a Denver boy born and raised friend of many of his plays. Yep. Friend of the pod. Many of his plays are produced quite a bit. But this is not really one of them. But I would say it's a really fantastically intricate love triangle about like really complex love. It's you're following these two writers who you watch them meet and develop this really seemingly honest relationship. Then uh the wife gets a diagnosis that she's about to die. It's terminal cancer. And she asks to read her husband's journals, and you just see, as played by Paul Jickweath, his face falls when she asks because he's like, he knows that there's something in that journal that is going to destroy all of their years of trust. And then you watch that in real in real time, his wife read the journals, and then kind of on separate parts of the stage, these scenes from the past are played out. And it's kind of complicated because, as it's established early on, writers are natural liars, and so you're never fully sure if what you're reading or what you're hearing is the truth or a lie, and that goes all the way to the very, very end of the show. I I found this to be very entertaining. It was really taughtly directed by Melissa Leach, uh, the director over there, three-person cast, good use of this small kind of thrust space over there. This is formerly benchmark theater space, and before that it was the Edge Theater. Uh so familiar to folks in Colorado. Uh, but it's kind of it can be a tricky space to use correctly, and I think this is a really good match for that space.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Cool. So that's fiction at Three Leeches in Lakewood. And then you saw Just Like Us at Sue Teacha, which you just had your uh review posted yesterday. This was another one you thought was uh a pretty, pretty strong show.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

It was. This was the original production was originally produced back in 2013. It's based on a book by Helen Thorpe, who is a journalist and the at the time mayor of uh John Hickenlooper, uh, who mayor of Denver. And this is based on her book about these four uh immigrants uh who she follows from high school through college. Two of them are documented, two of them are undocumented, and she's kind of chronicling originally for articles, she thinks, uh, their friendship and how these kind of mixed statuses affect them as they are applying to schools and kind of trying to acquire jobs. Uh, but it's really becomes this kind of complicated question about like who gets to be an American, why do we scrutinize immigrants more than our own politicians who are also uh human beings and commit terrible crimes. I mean, I think that particular part of the show rung out to me in particular, as we said in 2026. Uh but I I've I found this to be just a really well-done production. It's co-directed by uh Mika, uh who is daughter of Tony Garcia over there, and Fidel Gomez, who is uh co-directed over there. Um really, I think, done just it's a really sharp production, one of the better things that I've seen from the company. And uh it's a cool Denver chance to see a Denver story told by a Denver-based cast. Although it was done at the Denver Center, that was largely out of state folks who were in that cast. So as uh Mika Garcia, uh, she uh told folks on opening night, this is the first time uh that people in Denver are able to see a Denver-based cast do this show about Denver.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

That's great. That's great. And then another more familiar title, A Chorus Line.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, this was done over at the Lakewood Cultural Center, the 1975 musical about what it takes to be a Broadway dancer. This kind of story will always, I think, be relevant to the theater community because it tells the uh it's about putting yourself out there and either get ex getting accepted or rejected, which is kind of something that you are constantly doing in that field. And this musical requires a bunch of dancers. You're watching 17 dancers uh who are selected for this audition. Um, and the performance now has put together a really strong ensemble uh of really powerful movers over there. Uh, I this show is one that I quite like, and I think that there is a really a lot to appreciate here. I had a couple, as I'll get into in my review, there are a couple kind of directorial choices. The show is famously set on a bare stage with often nothing more than mirrors, and there is an element of a camera that is employed in the back of the stage that is kind of sometimes it's on, sometimes it's not on, and you're able to see the action kind of projected on the screen. Um, and you're not ever sure kind of why. Uh, I am that was one element that I think kind of I quibbled with. And then there were a couple of pacing issues in the second act, which I'll uh get into a little bit more in my review. But overall, I think uh this is a really strong production of a chorus line with some really exceptional dancing and some standout performances.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Okay. And then I'm also looking forward to seeing your review of Daughtering, which is another, I believe, a new work by a female playwright uh here in Colorado. I think uh of uh three or four new plays by female playwrights in the last month or so.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

That's right. This is by Nina Alice Miller. It's a Dirty Fish Theater World premiere over at the Dairy Arts Center uh in Boulder, and it follows these three generations of women. Uh it's a four-person cast. Um you have the grandmother who is uh Olga, you have her daughter, Lisa, and then her Lisa's daughter, um Natalie, as well as uh Mare, who is Natalie's cousin, and the uh daughter of Lisa's sister, who is deceased, because that's kind of the conceit of the whole uh one of the conceit of the show is that you're watching all these different daughters gather together at the 10-year anniversary of the death of their grandfather and uh the and mare's mother, Julie. And so there are these two urns that are at the center of the show, and the grandmother believes that they the ashes have are coming to life. There is a sense of unease in this house. Um, and you're basically then watching this awkward homecoming in which there are a lot of things that have not been said directly that are being put out on the table for the first time. It's really intimately staged. There is this kitchen set that is very believable at this home table. Uh the grandmother is constantly baking cookies and putting them out for every for everybody to consume. And then there is this room that's elevated above that is not discussed for the majority of the show, but it becomes abundantly clear this is Julie's room as it kind of unpacks and it's just been preserved exactly as it is. And I found the show it's a there are some things that didn't 100% work about it. There's not a ton of action until the second act. Um, there's a lot of really incredibly poignant moments. Uh, Nina is a really gifted writer. There's a lot of really lyrical, poetic passages in here that I'll be thinking about. There's this incredible moment of yoga, simultaneous yoga staged between mother and daughter at the end of act one that is just a really beautiful piece of theater making. And so, while I think that there are a couple of bumps along the way, this was a really exciting new work uh that a lot worked about.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

All right, great. Look forward to reading that review. So, all right, well, moving on to the news, we had a season announcement from the Arvada Center. So um, they are doing uh Misery in September in their main stage, and then in the black box, they're gonna be doing Neil Simon's Stalwart, Barefoot in the Park. Uh Christmas season, they're doing Joseph and the Amazing Technic Colored Dreamcoat, and then in February, Doubt by John Patrick Shanley, and they'll close out their season in March with Dear Evan Hansen. So nothing too groundbreaking there, but I would say, you know, crowd-pleasing shows. Uh I've never seen Doubt. Um, so I look forward to seeing that. That's a show that I think that's uh been produced uh quite a number of times here in Colorado.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

It has, but it's a it is a really good show. Definitely looking forward to seeing that produced with a budget behind it over at the Avada Center. Um Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Code is apparently something that the center used to do a ton around the Christmas holiday season and was like a big box office hit for them. And so I I think sensing I was like you mentioned, this is a very commercial season overall. They're definitely trying to build back audiences by programming titles that if they if people haven't seen, they're at least familiar with, like Stephen King's Misery or uh who who wrote Barefoot in the Park? That's uh Neil Simon, right? Neil Simon, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All really familiar names. I think probably the most uh interesting thing on the season is they're doing the regional premiere of Deerevan Hansen, and I wouldn't exactly call that uh super, super risky. That's a musical that's come through the Buell. It's got a proven track record, uh, but it'll be nice to see that one staged over at the center with with some pretty substantial resources behind it.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yep. Uh and then you had news from Denver's Sunnyside neighborhood about the Yates Theater. What's this all about?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Yeah, so there have been decades of efforts to try to reopen the historic Yates Theater over in Denver's Berkeley neighborhood. And as of last week, it took a major step forward. Uh, the Denver Board of Adjustments approved a critical zoning adjustment that will allow the long vacant space to reopen as an independent cinema at 44th Avenue and Yates Street. Um it's this cut really cool cottage-style building that kind of blends in seamlessly to the homes and other architecture that surrounds it. It was originally built back in 1926 and officially opened the next year as a 500-seat silent movie house, but has largely sat vacant since the 1980s. And there have been several projects that have been trying to organize over the years to fill the space, but now married couple, uh Macy Lau and Kyle Hagen, uh, they signed a 10-year lease in 2015, and now their plans to open the Yates as a 300-seat indie cinema with an attached hipster lounge that they're calling Way Station is going to be able to move forward.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Okay. That's really cool. Yeah, so that I I know uh so it's Sunnyside or Berkeley neighborhood. Is that kind of on the north side of town?

SPEAKER_00 14:37

It is, yeah. I would it's definitely uh kind of on the northwest side of Denver. Um, and it's a more of a residential neighborhood, um, which is part of why there have been a lot of hiccups to reopen the building. Um, a lot of the neighbors don't want this space to be reopened, actually, as an event space because it's going to be loud, there's going to be alcohol sales here, there are going to be events that are low that are potentially late. And so in order to make this happen and get this approved, the uh couple actually signed a good neighbor agreement with the neighborhood association to make it happen, meaning that they and they've agreed to not have any events past midnight, for instance. They've got limitations on the signage, the type of lighting that they can put up, how parking is going to work, the flow of traffic in and out of the theater, maximum number of folks. They they made a lot of concessions in order to make it happen, which I think is honestly good. That's a good faith way to approach the neighborhood. They're like, listen, we want to be a part of this. And so this uh GNA was really a core part of why this vote was able to go off without a hitch.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

All right. Um the next piece here was uh you titled it Breaking News. It's hard to be an artist. And I saw some of this action on Facebook too. Do you want to describe uh this piece?

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Yeah, I I wrote that uh title for the section a little bit tongue-in-cheekly, because it's not exactly breaking news, but there was some pretty significant chatter on Facebook in early March when local actor Justin Papas posted on Facebook in the Colorado Theater People Group the question: Is anyone actually able to make a decent living off of theater alone? I'm not talking acting and waiting tables. I'm talking enough to take a family on a ski trip one time a year working on stage. And that question really went off like a bomb. As of recording, there are 115 comments on that initial post. And while many responded, yes, it is possible to make a living as an actor, they did admit that it's incredibly hard to do without another source of income. And they answered a definitive no to the ski trip part of that question.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah. Nobody can afford to go on a ski trip anymore. Um yeah. It's interesting. I mean, um, you know, John in in his piece in the Denver Gazette um talked about how people most of the people making making it are in full full-time positions in like administration, fundraising, education, marketing, uh, but only a handful of actors manage to cobble together a full-time living. Um, but that's kind of the you know, it's it's unfortunate. At the same time, it's like it's what it is. It's like I'm gonna be a coal miner, I'm not gonna complain too much, not gonna get dirty uh or something like that, you know, if you're gonna be uh at the same time, like you know, as writers, we know that it's you know, you can't just survive on, you know, uh, I don't know, a certain type of writing. Like, you know, I, you know, we do we do theater writing, but we also do other types of writing to supplement our income, some of which is not really as fun as writing about theater, but we do it for the money, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Yeah, I was like, is this conversation honestly I think is just happening to a lot of different parts of the economy. This is not very different from what I kind of think through as a journalist these days. I kind of have to have multiple gigs. Luckily, they are all in the journalism writing kind of world, at least right now. Uh, but um you kind of have to have multiple streams of income in order to make it work in this really just fickle state of the world we're in right now.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Yeah, absolutely. And I I'd I'd still add the caveat though that I wish actors and people that are doing great work on stage could somehow be paid a a living wage. They should all get$100,000 a year or more and and have ski vacations. Uh it's just unfortunately not uh people doing other types of work are always gonna get get more for some reason. It's just the way the world is. So all right. Well, let's move on to our main topic, theater criticism. Uh to so to set the stage, Tony, you you've recently been getting a lot of feedback on some of your reviews. And I would say part of that is that as you've matured as a theater critic in the last few years, you've felt more comfortable uh, you know, writing more um sharp reviews about things that uh, you know, and um that didn't add up to you for a particular show. And I th I I think, you know, as a person who's editing your pieces, that, you know, you do a really good job of explaining, you know, if you say something is not good, you don't just say, ah, that sucked. You know, you take pains to describe it, but you've been getting some blowback. And uh do you want to talk a little bit about what that's been like?

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Yeah, I mean, as you mentioned, uh over the years, I think when I first started critiquing in 2022, I didn't really have nearly as strong of a uh kind of a frame of reference, essentially. I I was starting as kind of just getting to know the theater community, and so I was able to write reviews basically just about what I had seen the few shows before. Now that I've been doing this for about five years, I kind of been able to see multiple productions from most companies. I have been able to see different designers, different actors around town. And so I think that I just have been able to kind of raise that critical bar by just being able to have like a stronger sense of like what's going on in the community. Is this really an exceptional production for this company? Is this more of the same, or is this kind of a step back for them? And I think my role as a critic, uh what I've really been hoping to do over particularly over the past couple of years, is I feel I've started to really find my critical voice, is help the theater community become better. I think that's the ultimate goal of my of my position here as a critic, is to spotlight the good, be like this is really exceptional, be like this is the stuff that is holding things back if there are those elements in a production. And yeah, I mean, I I've been really excited to hear engagement from the community. I've heard a lot of people who are supportive of the work. They've found that the criticism is helpful. And at the same time, I've also had quite a few people reach out and be like, hey, this was mean and I or this hurt my feelings, or I wish you had been just a little bit nicer in how you say that. And I really am appreciative of those comments and those feedback. I I always I read pretty much everything everybody sends me or writes on a comment or and things, and I really enjoy that because it helps me just think more critically about the things that I write and its impact out in the world.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Yeah, and just like uh people putting things on stage open themselves up to criticism. Certainly we are publishing publicly and we are open to criticism as well. And sometimes we get something wrong, uh, things like that. But of course, the nature of criticism, it's it is subjective, it's one person's opinion a lot of times. And uh, you know, as opinions go, not everybody's gonna agree with it. So uh, you know, we noted uh, you know, just recently a performer who didn't like one of your reviews uh posted on Facebook about their depression and saying they thought that you hated them, uh, you know, which obviously you don't, it's strong stuff, but it does speak to how impactful a review can be on someone's feelings, their ego, their their self-worth as a theater artist. And and that's why we try very hard to ensure that when we do criticize things negatively, we explain why. Uh and uh and all of our reviewers get our manual of style and procedure, and I'll just read uh uh just a part of it on this topic. So uh our direction is it's okay to point out flaws, but do so in a respectful manner. Criticism should be kind and if possible, constructive, never cruel. Our goal is to help a production be a better version of itself. Our goal is never to tear anyone down or point out flaws in a hurtful way. So if you're criticizing a show, it's important to explain why exactly you're doing so, simply saying something is bad. Or whatever is not sufficient.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Yeah, and I I think that's a really important never being cruel and focusing on being constructive is a key part of what we really try to do at Onstage Colorado and what I try to do anywhere that I write a review is I've said this on the podcast before, but I adhere to a principle myself that I'm not going to write anything in a review, in a story, that I would not be comfortable reading out loud to whomever I wrote it about. It might be really awkward, it might be uncomfortable. If they might be like, I really disagree with you, and I wish you didn't say it like that or whatnot. And that's totally all of those are valid, but it's going to be from a fundamental level of I have a respect for you as an artist and as a human being. And this is my genuine, honest, authentic reaction to the show. You can take it or leave it. I am one schmuck with an opinion. Everybody has an opinion. And I you can so you can take it or you can leave it. I hope it's helpful. That's the ultimate kind of way I to approach it, is I want to be provide that helpful feedback so that the next show down the line is able to be even better than where you are now. But if you don't want to hear it, um at least I'm going to be incredibly respectful about it.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Yeah, I mean, uh, you know, I think I can speak for both of us when I say would always much prefer to write glowing reviews and let people know that a show is awesome. Uh, but clearly that can't always be the case. And the alternative to to whitewash every show and ignore any flaws that we notice is dishonest. So for one thing, the whole premise of review of a review, whether it's a theatrical, a production, or a review of a toaster on Amazon, is to share your true opinion about something with the goal of informing the public. So get this thing, watch that show, or don't.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Yeah, and for theaters, if all they ever hear from critics is just how wonderful they're doing, even if that's not necessarily true, then it leads to a false sense of quality of what they're delivering, and I should add, charging people for. Because believe me, in 2026, audiences are discerning. If you have a technical hiccup, they notice. Uh you can recover from it. I definitely factor in recovery as a huge part, it's a live experience. If you're able to make the mistake into a moment and kind of move forward, bonus points for that, as long as the error doesn't happen again. But if it's a consistent thing, like for instance, I was over at the Lakewood Cultural Center, and during the second act of a chorus line, there were a lot, there were a lot of sections in which the the audio mixing was just massive feedback and things. And audience members were turning around and looking at the booth and being like, what's going on? People notice these things. And when you're charging people um for full price for a ticket, um, you better be able to deliver an experience that is up to that price of the ticket. And so those are just kind of like that's the one specific example. I don't mean to harp on that production of a chorus line. That's just what I saw recently this weekend. Uh-huh.

unknown 26:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Yeah. It reminds me of like another factor is that, you know, how we evaluate professional productions versus those for, say, a community theater. Uh, you know, and there's no doubt that when we've reviewed something like a professional Broadway touring show coming through the Denver Center, we're looking at it a little differently than say a community production from elemental theater or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Um, and that's just, you know, that's fair. Yeah, 1,000%. I feel that it is not appropriate to hold a touring production that goes to the Buell standard and like a community theater production to the same level and expect them to deliver exactly the same thing. The productions coming through the Buell have exponentially more resources, and they are so much more expensive for audiences, and they take a lot more work for people to get to. They have to factor in parking or other transportation options in order to get to the center. That can get expensive quickly. Tickets are often upwards of$100 just to get in the door. I know there are rush options and some student discounts and things like that that are available, but if you're not in the know, if you're just going out on a date night, that's expensive. And so, for instance, like I was extremely critical of the touring production of the notebook that came through. And I don't feel bad about it at all because that production was really expensive. It had multiple technical failures in which the show quite literally had to stop and hold on in the opening night, and the show itself really was flimsy, and I saw tons of audience members fleeing throughout the show, signaling that they clearly, even though they had paid for their ticket, did not think the experience was worth it. I feel I don't feel bad about that at all. But if like I see a community theater production in which things are not firing on all cylinders, I'm gonna give them a lot more grace. Not gonna say that it's perfect, that's also dishonest and I don't think acceptable. Even when you are in that community theater space, they deserve an honest review. But I don't expect them to have like the most amazing set that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars or seasoned equity actors. But I do kind of expect a base level of kind of competence. Like, why did you do this show? Is there a reason for you doing it? Does it say something about our moment? Oh, that's interesting. If so, if not, why not? Why are we doing this show? Is there does it move? Uh is there unnecessary, clunky blocking? Those are simple like technical things that no matter your size or scale, you can deliver on. And so I kind of expect that even at the community theater level. But yeah, it's not, I'm not gonna be as nearly as critical or expecting the same level of production value at that scale.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Right. You know, but they're still they're putting something on stage for public consumption and also inviting us to review their show. Usually it's rare, but we do occasionally get requests to not review a show, which we always honor. Uh, also rare than there have been a few times when we've chosen not to review a show we've seen. Usually it's because the show was maybe it was sort of a disaster from start to finish, and there was not really anything good to say about it, or because it was uh so off the wall that at least for me I didn't feel qualified to write about it. Like I've seen a few shows where I'm like, I felt like I was watching something in Swedish, or I just didn't connect with it at all and didn't feel like I'd write about it intelligently. But uh have you ever had any of those, Tony?

SPEAKER_00 29:49

I can't say that I have yet. Um if I've been assigned a show, I usually try to I usually try to find something to say about it or do uh do some research uh if it's if I'm like totally lost so that I can maybe help guide audience members and be like, I was also lost. Here is a bit more research on X, Y, and Z to can you fill in the gaps and what I wish the play had maybe said or done. Well um, but no, I haven't yet actually not reviewed. Okay. Maybe I'm sure that will happen someday, but it just hasn't yet.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

So I was, you know, when I was thinking about uh this topic, I poked around a little bit. And the onstage blog, which is a national uh you know blog about theater, they've written about this a number of times, specifically about community theater reviews. And so I just wanted to hit on a couple of points that they made on a couple of pieces. So in 2024, their writer Skip Maloney uh in a piece uh titled, We Should Review Community Theater honestly said, you know, overly nice reviews are the norm and they hurt everyone. So um the assumption that unpaid performers can't be held to professional standards is quote, nonsense. Budget doesn't determine quality, which you could argue that. Um I've certainly, you know, we've seen equity actors on stage at the Buell who didn't think we're very good. Uh, and also little, you know, some actor in a tiny little community theater who just blew doors, you know. So yeah, that that can be true. Uh like you said, soft reviews can mislead audiences and let performers think they're doing good work when they're not. Um and also talked about like many community theater reviewers also like the background to assess a production properly, especially the director's role, which is a great point. Uh, but that brutal honestly serves the community better than just kindness. Uh and then in the same blog, uh the same publication in 2025, Chris Peterson uh wrote um How Honest is too honest, uh, and talked about the meaningful difference between honest critique and cruelty, which is something I think we we can all agree on, that there's no place for that. Um and that you know, good reviews meet the work in context, and like we were just talking about, not comparing a community theater to a production uh of a Broadway revival, not giving it a free pass either. Um and uh and then finally he also wrote inviting the critic, uh, this is to theaters, means uh opening yourself up to the possibility that they might not like your show. And that doesn't make them wrong, it doesn't make them the bad guy, it doesn't even make them unkind, it just means they had an experience with the work you put into the world and their job is to speak truthfully about it. Sometimes that truth feels great, sometimes it stings, both are valid.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

Yeah, I mean, I I think that is just kind of part of it about anything when what you put yourself out there. Uh I mean, like like we were started the conversation with, we both put ourselves out there every single time we write a review. Our names are on it, and we get engagement from people who say it's good and people who say it's bad. That's all valid. That's total, and I think that's just a part of the process of putting yourself out into the public sphere. And I think just building up a tolerance for that is an important part of existing in the real world.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Can you talk just a little bit about when you're when you're writing, whether it's a less flattering or view or just part of a maybe it's an overall great show, but there was something you were talking about. What are the kind of pains you take to explain the critique uh and how how hard is that to do?

SPEAKER_00 33:26

I would say that that is definitely the hardest part of the job. I as you said earlier, it's much more fun to write reviews that are when you're getting to share about this incredible experience you had, and you just get to gush and you're like, this is something that you cannot miss. It takes a lot more, or I take a lot more work whenever I'm having to write a more critical review, because I really want to make sure that if I'm being critical, I'm being specific and I'm being fair. And I'm trying to, if it didn't work for me, uh then who might it work for? Can I connect it to some other folks? So I kind of think of it in those three parts. I I really try to be lay out exactly what went wrong. For instance, during Chorus Line, there were multiple sound board failures during the second act that interfered with the audibility of the production and the clarity of it. That is incredibly specific. Then you kind of go into like why that impacted the show, as I just said, and it impacted, it interfered with like the actual legibility of the experience and kind of and was noticeably disruptive for the audience. Um, and then yeah, just and then from there kind of being like trying to, I'm still going to connect and contextualize that in my review and be like, despite that, I think that is a thing that they can clean up as they go on. I hope that they do. And there are these other, there's a lot of other stuff that's working in this show specifically. And here is whom I think will enjoy this experience about the plight of dancers. Um I I think that there even when you are being critical, you have you have to think about who, if you're not the intended audience, if it didn't work for you, whom might it work for? And is the thing you're criticizing, can it get better? Because there are some things that you can't, like that you can't, like the for instance, if you're if I'm critical of the costume design or the script, for instance, those are things that are not going to be able to change. And so I'm really gonna be incredibly thoughtful about those elements rather than like the sound failure. I'm just gonna lay that out there. That happened, that is something that literally. It's undisputed. It's undisputable. And I will also acknowledge that that is just like one of the things about going to live theater is that those things happen. It shouldn't. You want to, when you're going, you and that is one of the things that you would hope gets cleaned up, and I'll uh nod to that. But yeah, I think that there is kind of also that difference there between those glitches and the more kind of text uh like hard, these are things that are going to be really tricky to change. And so you have to be really thoughtful about that. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

Yeah, the the negative, the negative parts is the hardest part of what we do in these uh for sure. And I know I agonize over those reviews, uh, especially when I know the theaters worked really hard on their production, and for whatever reason, I just find things that weren't good. The easy road is to gloss over them or ignore them altogether. Uh and to be completely honest, we do have a handful of theater bloggers in Colorado who do just that. But uh as we've grown on as we've grown onstage Colorado into the top site for theater reviews uh in the state with 165 reviews last year, our goal is to provide honest, thorough reviews of everything we see, and uh that's that's the mission.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Yeah, I think kind of nodding back to those onstage uh blog posts about community theater reviews. We're in the in the Colorado market, I think we're not really in a place where uh we're having those overly mean, critical, cruel reviews right now. Um I like that Chris Peterson was suggesting. I think I err much more on the skip Malone perspective that we do need uh to review community theaters honestly, as I've articulated throughout this, while also still, again, respecting the artistry that goes that goes into it. And I think here at Onstage Colorado, we've definitely people I've heard from folks that it was like onstage used to be a lot nicer. You got and I think there have been some growing pains as we've kind of on Onstage did right, I think, right, start from a place of being more about there's no other voices here. We just need to uplift the theater community. Uh I mean, I know from you that's exactly why you started it. And as we've matured, and there are other now theater blogs who are doing that kind of cheerleader work, I onstage is maturing, and I think taking on that more critical voice and filling that void that is being left in the Colorado marketplace since pretty much every single newspaper outlet in the state has just destroyed all theater criticism. It's gone from everywhere except for the occasional piece that gets in here, into the post or westward every now and then. But by and large, that's gone. And so I think uh I speak for both of us when I say that we really do see on stage Colorado maturing into that leading critical voice for the state. And as we kind of go through that process, we really appreciate getting feedback from folks along the way. I know uh all of my information, my personal information is very publicly available. You can tell my phone number is on my website. People call me and I'll pick up pretty much as long as people want to engage in a good faith, honest conversation about the work. You know what? But I I would I love the engagement. I'm happy to talk to people um as long um, particularly uh pretty yeah, particularly if they want to, if they're like, I quibble with you on this. Why did you say this? Can you explain more? I'm always happy to talk through that kind of stuff. And hearing from folks, good or bad, is always really rewarding because it means that folks are engaging with the work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Yeah, you know, those those emails that we get either either way, whether they're critical or sometimes they're emails thanking us for something that was critical but that they thought was fair. Um and uh Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, the reality is that directors and usually the cast members know better than anyone how well a show is put together, where the weak weak links are, and that kind of thing. So we may be telling them something they already know, but maybe didn't want to hear, or were hoping others wouldn't notice. And sometimes their reaction is to kind of get pissed about it, and that's human nature.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

Yeah, and because I know sometimes I hear from people who just tell me, you got it completely wrong, which is perfectly fair. I for instance, I know that I have had people who, when I give a critical review to a performer or something, they'll provide some behind-the-scenes information that is just like, I could not have possibly known that, me or any of your audience members. And so, because of that, I'm kind of like, that fact is kind of irrelevant. I I under I understand it on a human level, and I'm like, maybe that might be worthy of like a feature store news story, depending on like the specific circumstances. But as a reviewer, I write about what I see as an audience member, not really about my kind of role as a reporter and like actor A was sick, or this designer quit three days before tech. That that's that is not my job when I am in the review chair.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Absolutely. So one other thing I wanted to touch on is the conflict of interest piece. Uh so just, you know, we do take advertising from some theaters, and it can be a little tricky to navigate that at times. And yes, we've had some theaters stop their ad buys with us because they didn't like a review. And even if I regret that lost revenue, uh to me it's well worth it to never compromise the editorial integrity of Onstage Colorado for a few bucks. And generally speaking, I think our advertisers would rather see an unbiased, honest forum for theater criticism rather than one that does any kind of pay and a play, you know, ever.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

But isn't it more challenging when that separation between editorial and advertiser is is fuzzy? Like you're operating both at Onstage as the editor and the publisher.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is uh Onstage Colorado is the first time I've ever held the publisher role, really. Uh in my years as a newspaper editor, I was often on the wrong side of the publisher, you know. And there were uh a number of occasions where things I'd written or allowed to be published resulted in advertisers pulling ads and lost revenue, and I definitely would hear that from the publishers. But for the most part, I was also fortunate to have publishers who stood behind the newsroom, and that push and pull is something that's kind of part of my DNA. So even if it hasn't happened very often, if a theater says, you know, we're pulling our ads because we didn't like your review, my only response is to say, you know, thanks for your business, but it changes nothing, and I've just got to keep that, you know, that separate.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

I mean, that certainly is great to hear as a writer who is pretend known to write potentially, you know, as we've been talking about, perhaps divisive takes and uh maybe maybe has been the subject of some of those theaters' uh not favorable reactions, let's say. So it really means a lot as a writer and as a journalist in 2026 when it there was a lot of scrutiny on this industry and in this in this profession that to know that sites like OnSage Colorado have have my back as a writer, because I want to be able to just be speak my mind and have other people speak their mind too, without like worrying about that.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Yep, absolutely. So all right. Well, to wrap this up, I would just say that you know theater criticism only has value if it's honest to the audience trying to decide how to spend their evening, to the art form itself, and to the practitioners who want to grow. The goal is never to be the bad guy or the good guy. Pulling punches doesn't serve anyone. And the theaters we cover deserve to be taken seriously enough to receive a real opinion and done right. A tough review is uh it's a form of respect, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:29

I absolutely think so. It's uh I I think, yeah, I think that's the right way to think about it. I I'm gonna and just know that even if I write a bad review about you this time, I'm gonna keep showing up for the you. I'm here for the theater community. I think you think the same thing, Alex. One one bad show does not a bad company make. I think it's uh it's one night, it's one experience, and I respect you enough as an artist to tell you honestly that it did not work this one time around. But I'm gonna come back the next time and I'm gonna give you another chance because it's a new show, and you deserve that respect as an artist. Okay. Now we are going to throw to a conversation that you had with Tess Snell and Rihanna DeVries from the Denver Ensemble Theater.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

All right. Today we are talking to some folks from the Denver Theater Ensemble. So on the podcast today, we've got the artistic director Rihanna DeVries and producing director Tess Neal. Welcome to the On Stage Colorado Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 44:31

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much for having us.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Yeah, absolutely. So um I I first wanted to start by uh um asking how uh so it's not often we see a artistic director and a producing director. So can you explain how the how you two work together to uh to uh make things happen with Denver Theater Ensemble?

SPEAKER_03 44:53

Yeah, absolutely. Um so with uh being producing director, um uh my role is uh really more on the technical side of things and uh kind of bringing together design teams. Uh, making sure that like contracts are signed. So I uh producing director and managing director are kind of interchangeable in uh my job title, I guess you could call me either one, but I so I help manage like all of the kind of admin um and technical side of things and kind of help with the producing side of stuff. So I help um source all of our materials and make sure that sets are being built and uh speakers are being plugged in and everything's kind of working. Um, and then uh Rihanna, as our artistic director, handles uh all things artistic. Rihanna, do you want to talk a little bit more about artistic direction? God, I dare you to try and stop me.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

Um I get to do the fun creative stuff of deciding what we do with our season, um, deciding how the art we make aligns with our vision and continues to explore the way that we center process in everything that we do. Um so as artistic director, my job is to center the artistry and make sure that we can do everything that we do in an ethical, kind, excellent, artist-centered way.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Okay. And so the and then the the third person who's met with us today is is uh Aina Marlowe, who's the board president for uh DTE. And so uh she's got quite an impressive resume. She uh founded the Touch Tone Theater, ran the organic theater company. She worked with Edward Albee, she won a Jeff Award and uh all this uh amazing stuff. And um, I guess the theater uh grew out of uh Dream Scenes, a scene study class that Aina and Rihanna led together. Can you talk a little bit about how that uh came into being, how the theater uh you know was like, hey, let's start a theater and how it came into existence.

SPEAKER_03 46:59

So Rihanna and I uh met uh freshman year of college at DU and we were pretty unique in our class because we were both uh double majoring in theater and business. And so uh we were pretty unique in that um situation, and we quickly became friends and really um found out that we wanted to start our own theater company independently. Um and so we started to really kind of daydream about what that could be, um, what that what we could do with it, um, how we could grow it, what we could do with the theater. Um and uh it was it was a really fun daydream to have throughout college. And then um junior year, Ina uh was a guest professor. Um and we both took uh her class and we just all kind of kismically fell in love with each other. And um Ina became our collective mentor, uh, which was really lovely and uh very honoring for someone um with that uh repertoire to pick us out of the group and kind of really um put a lot of love and um care into um her relationship with us. And so um after college, we the three of us would daydream about what the cedar could be. We worked on um the board of a different cedar company um briefly um after college um that Aina brought us on to. And then uh kind of one thing led to another. And uh in 2023, all of our lives just kind of lined up um perfectly. And we were sitting at brunch one day um and we were talking about life and catching up because at that time uh Rihanna was living back and forth between LA and New York, um, professionally acting. And I was having my own career in theater in Colorado um within the prison system, and things were just kind of kismically lining up where I was looking ready to um change uh my trajectory, and Rihanna was getting ready to move back to Colorado, and Aina was like, I think this is time um to start this thing. And so um that's that's kind of how the three of us fell into each other's lives and really uh became the trio that we are. Um, but Rihanna, do you want to talk a little bit more about dream scenes?

SPEAKER_02 49:34

Yeah, yeah. I mean, um when like Tess said, we met Aina during our education at DU. And Ina has always been a huge advocate for artists and protecting the artistic spirit and the artistic process. She's always emboldened us to continue the tradition of upholding and empowering artists. And that included both Tess and I. To be honest with you, I'm so overwhelmed with all that Aina has given us. She is a total embodiment of how, as part of the artistic process, when you zoom out, as an artist, it's all about uplifting others, continuing to create the creative work, emboldening the people that are coming after you and making sure that you're leaving the door open so that any artists that want to come through that door can. And Aina has opened so many doors for so many people. And so she kicked some of those doors open, man. Like it's almost like I dare you to try and stop her. She would not take, she just wouldn't take no. If she wanted to do something, she would do it. She would make it and she would make it happen, and she would make sure everyone was taken care of along the way. And that included Tess and I. Um and I think Tess and I really just absolutely jived with that mentality and philosophy surrounding creating art from the beginning. And I think that, like Tess said, it just kind of kiz like cosmically aligned to make it so that we could create this thing where we could continue to make an artistic space that uplifts and emboldens artists. Um and so with Dream Scenes, Dream Scenes was kind of our we were dipping our toes into what it would look like to create that artistic space. And Dream Scenes was this scene study class where we would take actors, bring them into the fold, and ask them, what do you want to do? What do you want to make? Don't wait to make it. We will help you make it now. Explore characters and scripts that maybe you've never seen before, you've never gotten to dive into. And you get to do that in a compassionate, safe, creatively charged environment. Um, and then after Dream Scenes happened, it just snowballed into this should be a theater company. It should be process-based, artist-driven. And we should make sure that everyone involved feels uh creatively invigorated.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

So um looking through your website, I noticed that there's a lot of there's a phrase reinvent tradition all over your materials. Cook, can you give an example of uh what that means to you, whether it's the casting choice or the kind of material you want to do or uh how you run the company? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Of course. So reinventing tradition, when we came to that mission, it was sort of inspired by the relationship that we have with Aina. We have this intergenerational um mentorship happening where she is emboldening us with all of this wisdom, empowering us with inspiration to make a space that we feel proud of being a part of. And reinventing tradition is about taking what works and leaving what doesn't. And moreover, we use the word reinvent because I like to apply a sort of scientific method to the processes that we have at hand. And so each season, I like to play with a different variable inside of the artistic process when I'm choosing our programming. Um, our first season, we did something old, something new. We did a world premiere and also uh a solo performance of The Wasteland by T.S. Elliott. And then in our second season, we played with the variable of time in terms of how long a rehearsal process is or how long any one person on the creative team has spent working on a single piece. And then this year, the variable that we've changed is that we're doing all world premieres. And so reinventing tradition is all about uplifting and upholding the things that make art the most human thing it can be, a human experience, a universal experience, an experience that allows escape and reflection and connection, and leaving behind anything that could harm the artists or harm the audiences involved. It's about diverse casting choices, making choices that reflect our diverse world. It's about altering the artistic process in the rehearsal room, making sure that everybody's taken care of, making sure that we move with kindness and grace and are creatively open.

SPEAKER_01 54:47

Okay. So so yeah, so for the you mentioned the wasteland in your first season, and then you did circling by season two, you did Chekhov at Doll's House Part Two, and White Rabbit, Red Rabbit. Uh so now that you've kind of got two seasons behind you, how'd it go? And uh how is it informing? Uh like uh what surprised you and uh what what do you think you might be doing differently in in season three?

SPEAKER_02 55:11

I mean, doing building this thing, um, even though we have um this incredible leader on our side, Aina, who, as you mentioned, founded Touchstone. Even though we have this wealth of information available to us and wisdom available to us through Aina, it's still an absolute learning curve, wouldn't you say, Tess?

SPEAKER_03 55:36

Yeah, absolutely. Um, and I mean, I'm I'm really proud of um our theater company and how much we have grown, um, specifically in just two seasons. Um, if I were to throw numbers into the equation, um I we actually doubled the amount of audience attendance between season one to season two. Um and uh we were able to significantly expand um our ability to hire more artists. Um, so we were able to do larger shows. Um with uh White Rabbit, Red Rabbit for uh example. We hired 12 actors um to perform that show. And uh that was our longest running performance, our production uh performances. So we did 12 productions or uh 12 performances for that production. Um, and it's it's been really wonderful to see this thing that we have dreamt about for so long and talked about for so long grow and be received with such excitement. Um, I I would say that um it's been really heartwarming um to see that. And I think that um starting your own business in general is really hard. Um, but also starting a theater company is really hard, and being able to really see that growth so quickly um has just been an absolute dream.

SPEAKER_01 57:15

That's great. And you know, you mentioned that you both have uh a business background as well as the you know the theater background. So how is that informing um, you know, I'm assuming you've got like a business plan and you're really trying to probably hit some hit some numbers. And can you describe a little bit of what that's like so that you can uh sort of ensure the company's long-term success financially?

SPEAKER_03 57:37

Yeah, absolutely. Um so for our first year, um, we spent a lot of time on our business plan, on our vision, on um what our goals are long term. Um, and what I think is also uh really wonderful is um we even did um a uh company check-in um with the three of us. So um me, Rihanna, and Aina um all got together um this past October and we sat down and we we revisited the business plan because as much as you can put your hopes and dreams and goals and plan on a piece of paper, um, life happens and things happen, and um it sometimes doesn't go exactly how you put it on paper. Um, and so uh what I thought was really wonderful and beautiful about our team is we are always checking in with each other and checking in with our individual goals as artists, as well as our company goals as a collective, um, and really figuring out how this company can grow um in a way that is fulfilling to us, to the artists that we employ, um, and maintaining um a work-life balance in a way that um is sustainable. Um, because that's also I think a large part of um, for me at least, reinventing tradition. And um, there's I think this um mentality around theater where you just gotta put your head down and you just gotta work, work, work, work, work to get um the art done um and to get to the final product. And yes, there is elements of that in any business, um, especially art making and storytelling, but um it's also about making sure that we're taking care of our people and creating a business that can sustain us also having a work-life balance. Um, and so I think that that's been a large part of what our business plan has been is figuring out how we can grow this business um to be the best thing that we can put forward while also keeping our autonomy as individual artists, as well as um fulfilling, um having a fulfilled life um outside of just running a company as well. Um, so I think that a large part of that has been um us just constantly checking in with each other in terms of growing the company. I mean, I think ideally in our absolute dream world, we want this company to be lifelong. Uh Rihanna and I talk about um how we want to be doing this in 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now. Like we we want this company to grow and just be um something that people can come to and seek out um and feel a part of um in a way that is new and refreshing and attainable. Um and so that's that's a large part of how we're trying to tackle our business plan. Um, so not only do our artists feel taken care of, but we also can um maintain this growth in a healthy way and not burn ourselves out.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:55

And with that, it also comes to we were really clear about how we prioritize um where the money goes. And every single time we prioritize making sure that we can compensate our artists at least competitively. Um, we really want to work up to being able to pay folks equity rates. Uh, but from the beginning, it's always been our priority to make sure that folks are compensated for their time. Any amount that we can give, we give.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:25

Okay. And so you have this strong du connection, and you've been using the University of Denver's black box and white box spaces, uh, which are, you know, they're they're great little spaces, but they're on the smaller side. Is that is that uh something that you're gonna continue? You're looking at uh a permanent space or a bigger space, or are you gonna be good there for a while?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:45

Yeah, we have we are so grateful for our connections to DU. Um our um professors um from when we were in uh students there um have been so wonderful and so supportive that even some of them are on our board and are always actively working with us. Um Stephen McDonald, um, who's one of my personal um mentors um since college uh individually, um, he has been a godsend. He he helps in every way that he possibly can. He's a huge advocate for us um in that space outside of um DU as well. And I just uh we're so grateful for that support from all of um the DU faculty um in the theater department. Um and we do plan on uh continuing to flourish that uh partnership um this summer, but um we also are uh working towards expanding um beyond that as well and growing and finding spaces that also fit um the growth of the company. And um that's that's actually kind of happening uh starting this season. Rihanna, do you wanna um talk about all that?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:01

We have a really exciting season coming this year. Um one of our partnerships is with Picnic Theater Company out in Steamboat Springs. And the way that that's looking is that we're partnering on two shows. One, only one of the shows is going to take the DTE stage. We have a devised piece, and we have Romeo and Juliet that's been adapted for a cast of five. Um, and the way that that's looking is that the devised piece and Romeo and Juliet, they're going to be run in rep. The same cast will be used for both, and we'll have the devised piece hit the DTE stage, and then we'll go up to Steamboat, and then the cast will perform Romeo and Juliet and the Devised Piece in repertory in Steamboat Springs for the month of July. And then uh we'll come back down to DU and we'll be doing Closing Times by Derek Murphy, which is a world premiere. It's very, very good. I'm very excited for that show. And after that, we have a uh benefit, which is being directed by one of DU's professors, Brandon Bruce, um, called The Orbital Decay of Saturn by Rook Riley. And so we're starting to expand into different spaces and forming partnerships with different arts organizations around Colorado. And it's been a real, real joy to hold hands uh across theater organizations.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:24

Great. So that's your season.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

That is our season.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:27

All right. That's there, it's been announced.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:30

There it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:31

Yeah. So you're operating in a market with, you know, the Denver Center, Curious Theater, the Boulder Ensemble Theater Company, Aurora Fox, and some other established companies. Uh, what is Denver Theater Ensemble like well, where do you see it fitting into that ecosystem? And what are you offering that audiences that maybe can't get at some of those other theaters?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:50

Oh, that's such a good question. Um honestly, the goal of Denver Theater Ensemble is to be a home for artists. And I think that artists find their homes in all of the theaters that you listed. But more art is always good. And having more artistic spaces across the Denver landscape is always a good thing, in my opinion. And so it's about adding to the abundance of artistic sensibility that Denver has going for it. It's about creating more opportunities for artists and designers and theater workers and production managers and everyone involved in this absolute team sport. Um, and it's about just creating more variety of culture and more opportunities for audiences to sit down and enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:44

Great. All right. Well, uh, any uh parting thoughts before we we wrap up here? Uh Tess, toss it to you.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:53

I just first want to say thank you, Alex, for uh having us on here. Um we greatly appreciate uh the time um to chat with you and share a little bit more about um our small but mighty theater company that is actively growing and actively getting bigger. And um I just I am I'm really excited um for this season and I'm really excited for people to see the work that we have planned. Um we have some really amazing um artists involved in these shows um from a design aspect. Um, we're actively working on um auditions right now as well. So, and I know that Rihanna is gonna find some incredible um actors for the shows um through that process. And um, I just I really hope that people um are excited to see something new and different, especially with this uh with our season focusing on uh world premieres and new works and um what uh what new stories we have to tell. Um I I think it's gonna be a really amazing season, and um I'm I'm really excited. For people to see it. So thank you so much for having us.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:10

Of course. Rihanna? Oh, I I thought Tess dropped the mic. I would just, I would mimic everything Tess said. We're just so grateful to be here making art. Um, and thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:29

Uh Rihanna DeVries, artistic director, and Tess Neal, producing director with Denver Theatre Ensemble. Break legs out there. Thanks for coming on the podcast, and we look forward to seeing uh what you come up with out there.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:42

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:43

Well, that was a really awesome interview from a new up-and-coming company in Colorado. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It was fun to talk to them. All right. Well, now we are going to close out our show, as usual, with our top 10 Colorado headliners, which are some of the shows coming up in next week or show or so that we think you should consider checking out. Alex, uh, what do you got to start us off with?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:08

The big boys rolling into town, the Phantom of the Opera. Uh, so this is one that uh just comes around every year or two, uh, the Touring Broadway production at the Buell. So this will be up March 18th through April 5th. Um, and you know, gotta remember that there are still plenty of people that haven't seen it, newer, younger people that uh, you know, there's always there's always time to to get familiar with the Phantom, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:32

I've never seen Phantom of the Opera, Alex. What? Maybe you should get out and see this one. I've seen the movie, uh, but uh yeah, I I I was considering getting out to see it. Um but uh tickets are actually, you know, Alex, tickets are pretty expensive. And so I was like, you know what? Uh maybe I'm I'm not sure I'm willing to drop like it's gonna be like 150, starting at like 150 bucks for one person, and uh I'm buying for two. So I was like, I don't know, I'm not sure about that. But that's not to say that you shouldn't. Okay. Exactly. All right, what have you got? Uh my first pick is the stage production of Goodnight Moon slash Goodnight Moon of FiberTale over at Parker Arts this March. So this is a two-part thing. They've got the FiberTale part of this, which is a life-size hand-stitched replica of the iconic Great Green Room from Goodnight Moon, meticulously crafted by Colorado artist Dundee and Lee, that's on display in the area through the 27th of March. And if you have not seen this installation, it is incredible. When they say life size, they do very literally mean it takes up the full scope of the room, and they have out of uh out of yarn meticulously made every single aspect that you remember from this book. And so that in and of itself is reason to go over to Parker Arts, but they're pairing that with the production, a stage production of Good Night Moon that is over from the Denver Center. Folks who will remember, may remember that. They did it pre-pandemic, I believe, and then brought it back last year, and now it's over here at Parker Arts. So if you've got some young ones or you are a lover of this uh book, have any nostalgia for it at all, get over to Parker Arts and check this out while it's still in the metro area.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:32

All right. Sounds great. All right, my next headliner is a blink if you blink if you uh blink or you'll miss it kind of show. Pen Pals at Theater Aspen. It is playing uh just this week on March 20th and 21st. And it stuck out to me because I haven't seen Theater Aspen announce a show in a while. You know, they have a pretty robust summer program, uh, but not as much in the winter. So uh this is a Limited Engagement. It's a story of a 50-year-old, 50-year correspondence between two women, one in England and the other in New Jersey. So if you happen to be in Aspen, check out Pen Pals.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:06

Nice. My next pick is the regional premiere of Aaron Riley's 2019 adaptation of Little Women being staged by Family Theater over at the Parsons Theater in North Glen. This is Louis May Alcott's beloved story, uh, The March Sisters. It's being directed by Shelly Gaza. Um and uh yeah, it's a it's a new, I'm not quite sure what makes this adaptation unique, what the Riley spin of it all is, but I am gonna go check it out um this weekend, so I will be able to report back.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:46

So next up is The Cottage at Open Stage Theater in Fort Collins, March 21st through April 18th. So this is Sandy Rustin's uh sort of taking a page out of the Noel Coward uh book. Uh it's a it's kind of a sort of a wacky comedy set in 1923 in an English countryside inn that uh when I saw it at Platte Valley uh last year or so, I was a little tepid on the script itself, but it's certainly it's got a lot of opportunities for great costumes and fun, you know, it's pretty funny. Um and so probably worth checking out.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:19

I think you're gonna go up and review that one, aren't you? That is correct. I'm not able to make it out on their opening night the uh next Saturday, but I'm going the following weekend to check it out. Yeah, I'm I'm very curious to see this. We need I I love a drawing room comedy in theory. Uh it's all about execution in this case. And I've heard from you as well as a couple other people that the script is maybe not the best, but on the same on the same token, it keeps getting produced. So clearly, some folks in the theater community do see a lot of value in it. And uh I so I'm I'm curious to check this production out up in Fort Collins.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:58

Yep. It makes me think that playwrights need to jump on jump on this uh apparent appetite for more drawing room, newer drawing room comedies so they can wield all those British accents and fancy costumes.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:11

Yeah, otherwise companies are just gonna keep doing the importance of being earnest because it sells out. It does, yes. All right, what have you got next? Um it's very, very different from a drawing room comedy. It is Cheap Thrills by Telluride Theater over at the Sheridan Opera House. This is their two-day annual fundraiser uh that resurrects the raucous and raunchy variety shows of Telluride's vaudeville era featuring dancing, comedy, acrobatics, and beautiful local women. That's their words, not mine. Um, and it's Cheap Thrill is the graduation of their beginner class, and so there's going to be a bunch of performances, comedies, and plenty of pasties.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:55

I think that would be so much fun to check out that show tell your ride sometime. It's just so far away. Speaking of far away, uh Magic Circle players in Montrose are doing proof. David Auburn's uh play, March 13th through 28th. So uh this is about a young woman who spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a mathematician who's recently passed away, and so she's grappling with his death and and wondering, uh worrying that she might have inherited her father's mental illness along with his mathematical genius. So uh that's a pretty cool play uh for uh Magic Circle to do out there in Montrose.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:34

My next pick is a musical, Bonnie and Clyde. Uh this is the adaptation by Frank Wildhorn that tells the story of the infamous Depression-era outlaws, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Uh, and it blends rockabelli, blues, and gospel music to tell this story. Um what really it's being produced by Brightheart Stages over at the People's Building. I've not seen a production by Bright Hearts uh before, so I was that alone piqued my interest. And then the cast included Genesee Pierce, who we gave an Asuka Award for her performance in Bright Star over at Candlelight, um, Jazz Mueller, also in that production, Patrick Case, who folks might know recognize as Olaf most recently over in Frozen at the Arvada Center, but he's done a ton of work around town. And Jolene Courtney Webb, just to name a few of the folks who are in this cast. So I was like, I absolutely have to get my ass over to the people's building. So I'm gonna be seated there on uh the Denver Actors Fund night to check this story out.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:40

Great. Look forward to hearing about that. All right, my last headliner is uh this is the second weekend coming up of the Women's Theater Festival that Milibo Art Theater does uh every year down in Colorado Springs. This uh so this runs through March 22nd. It's uh original short plays, poetry, monologues, movement, and dance uh created for the theater. So that's uh if you're in the springs, uh want to check out some uh some new stuff, some uh different kinds of uh works by women there at Milibo.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:08

Cool. My final pick is a new immersive work. It's Red Willow, which is being produced by Control Group Productions, and it's their first entirely uh new in-house work since 2022. Uh so this performance is a ritualistic preparation for communal resistance that is shared over a two and a half mile journey with audiences through the woods over at South Plot Park in Littleton at dusk. And uh it's it says that the piece is designed to confront surging fascism, climate catastrophe, and the escalating brutality against the environment. And they also note that it is the first work that they created with an all-male caste, and it's designed to probe at the burgeoning social crisis around the embodiments of masculinity.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:01

Whoa, there's a lot going on there.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:04

Yeah, I it's they certainly have a lot of themes at play here. No, no denying that.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:10

Yeah. All right. Well, uh, new reviews on the site include uh coming up fiction from Three Leeches, just like us at Sioux Teatro, a chorus line at Performance Now, all Tony Treska's, uh Birthday Candles coming up, a curious daughtering from Dirty Fish Dairy, which you just talked about, and upcoming. We'll have a review of the production of Love Letters at the backstage. They're kind of skipping the traditional February time frame of love letters and doing it in March, which is interesting. Uh The Wiz at Town Hall, Little Women at Family, and the Fortune, we're just talking about Bonnie and Clyde at the singles building, so you'll have that.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:49

Yeah. Well, that is all for this episode of the Onstage Colorado podcast. If you want to stay up to date on what is going on in theaters across the state, be sure that you are subscribed to the Onstage Colorado Theater Blast, which is the weekly newsletter that comes out every single Thursday and includes all the new reviews as well as the calendar entries for the upcoming weekend so that you can plan your theatrical outings.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:20

And I'm Tony Trescum, and we'll see you at the show.