Podcast: Curious Theatre’s new chapter, Buntport’s building push and a month of big openings

Jada Suzanne Dixon joins the show to talk about Curious’s building sale and season 29 at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, plus season announcements from across the state

On the first episode of the newly remixed monthly OnStage Colorado podcast, Alex Miller and Toni Tresca dig into a packed news cycle, led by Curious Theatre’s sale of its Acoma Street home to a friendly developer and its temporary move to Cleo Parker Robinson Dance for season 29. Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon joins Alex to walk through what’s next for the building, the company and its ambitious new lineup. Plus: Buntport’s capital campaign, season announcements from DCPA, Theatreworks, Upstart Crow and the Colorado New Play Festival, and a roundup of the shows — from Furlough’s Paradise to Madame Butterfly — you should be putting on your calendar in the next month.

Chapter summary

(00:00) Welcome and format refresh Alex and Toni kick off the first episode of the newly monthly OnStage Colorado podcast, explaining that the shift gives the team more time for field coverage and business development — including bringing a fiscal sponsor on board. They also shout out a wig designer listener they ran into recently at the Denver Center.

(01:42) Best things we’ve seen Toni raves about part two of Angels in America at Vintage Theatre, directed by Troy Lakey with the same eight-person cast from part one, praising its character-focused staging in the intimate 67-seat Bond-Trimble space. Alex recommends White by James Ijames at Firehouse Theatre, directed by Julie K. Wolf — an outrageous comedy about a gay white painter who enlists a Black actress as a proxy to get his work into a contemporary art museum.

(04:17) What to skip: Next to Normal at the Denver Center Both hosts found the Denver Center’s production of Next to Normal emotionally flat, with broad characterizations and busy staging that didn’t deliver on the show’s “dares you to feel” tagline. They point listeners to reviewer Garth’s take on the site, which offers additional perspective from someone who’d seen the show twice before.

(06:38) Curious Theatre’s building sale and season 29 The hosts unpack the big news that Curious Theatre has sold its Acoma Street home to developer David Spira and Acoma Theater LLC, with the company performing its 29th season at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance before returning for its 30th. Curious also announced its upcoming season: Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, One of the Good Ones by Gloria Calderón Kellett, Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison and Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

(09:24) Buntport Theater’s capital campaign Toni recaps his reporting on Buntport’s $2.65 million capital campaign to buy its longtime Lipan Street home after being surprised by a for-sale sign last year. The company has expanded into the full 10,000-square-foot warehouse, opened a new rehearsal and workshop space available to other groups for $50 a day flat, and is about 55 percent of the way to its campaign goal — all while navigating the looming impact of the proposed new Broncos stadium nearby.

(14:21) DCPA Theatre Company’s 2026–27 season The Denver Center announced its season just an hour before recording: Destiny of Desire: A Telenovela Play with Music by Karen Zacarías, The Tempest directed by Chris Coleman, the world premieres bogfriends and How to Conquer America: A Mostly True History of Yogurt, plus Once, Dial M for Murder and And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears. Toni is most excited for Destiny of Desire and How to Conquer America.

(17:23) Colorado New Play Festival 2026 The 28th Colorado New Play Festival in Steamboat Springs will feature four plays in June: Adirondack Chair Circle by Stephanie Alison Walker, The Visitors by Bryna Turner, Natural History by Collin Van Son and Days End by Brett C. Leonard. Unlike the Denver Center’s New Play Summit, Festival scripts must be attached to a producing theatre, guaranteeing a full production after the workshop.

(20:33) Theatreworks and Upstart Crow season announcements Theatreworks in Colorado Springs announced Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Private Lives, What the Constitution Means to Me, Sweat and Dear Elizabeth. Upstart Crow’s 46th season, themed “Thoughtful Comedy for Troubling Times; Or: Is It Real if You Think It’s Real?,” includes Much Ado About Nothing, Harvey, T.S. Eliot’s The Confidential Clerk and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

(23:35) Opera Colorado at the Historic Elitch Theatre Opera Colorado is presenting Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance for one night only on May 16 at the Historic Elitch Theatre in northwest Denver — reportedly the first time the show has returned to that stage in 135 years.

(24:12) Colorado headliners for the month ahead The hosts recommend a packed slate: Furlough’s Paradise by a.k. payne at Curious (the final production in the Acoma Street space before renovation), Anything Goes at Candlelight, English by Sanaz Toossi at the Denver Center, Audacious Immersive’s Van Helsing Society Murder Mystery, Tartuffe at Upstart Crow, Mary Jane at BETC, Opera Colorado’s Madame Butterfly, Menace Theatre’s immersive Ambrosia at Meow Wolf, and For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday by Sarah Ruhl at Thunder River Theatre Company.

(33:41) Interview: Jada Suzanne Dixon on Curious’s next chapter Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon joins Alex to discuss the sale of 1080 Acoma to David Spira’s Acoma Theater LLC, the needed renovations to the 1890s-era building, and Curious’s partnership with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance — a connection rooted in Jada’s personal history dancing in the company’s apprenticeship program and her father’s work helping Cleo’s move to the Shorter AME building. She walks through season 29’s through-line of “Who are we to each other?” and reflects on what it means to align artistic ambition with long-term sustainability while staying rooted in the Golden Triangle as the 5280 Trail project reshapes the neighborhood.

(53:53) Offstage: film, music and beyond Alex recommends the Norwegian crime series Detective Hole on Netflix, based on Jo Nesbø’s Harry Hole novels, along with the new Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary focused on the band’s origins and late guitarist Hillel Slovak. He previews a packed concert calendar including Joe Jackson at Chautauqua, Brit Floyd at Red Rocks, Kurt Vile with Courtney Barnett, Gorillaz at Ball Arena and Jesse Welles at Dillon Amphitheater. Toni recommends the new film The Drama starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya (go in blind), raves about Mel Brooks’s Silent Movie at the Sie FilmCenter’s Sie/Saw retrospective celebrating Brooks’s 100th birthday in June, and flags the upcoming Lorne Michaels SNL documentary and the seventh annual Denver Fringe Festival, June 3–7.

(1:04:58) Upcoming reviews and sign-off Alex previews upcoming OnStage Colorado reviews including Next to Normal (Garth), Colorado Ballet’s Ballet Masterworks (Alice), Romeo and Juliet at Theatreworks (Judith), Hell’s Kitchen (Toni), Murder Prohibited at Evergreen Players (Danielle), Anything Goes at Candlelight (Toni), English (Toni) and the Van Helsing Society Murder Mystery (Toni). Toni reminds listeners to subscribe to the Theatre Blast newsletter and to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast.