Season kicks off July 27 with ‘We the People: The Democracy Cycle’

Press release

Boulder, CO – Local Theater Company (LTC) announces its Season 14 programming, launching on Saturday, July 27, 2024 with We the People: The Democracy Cycle (WTP), staged readings of three short plays inspired by three Colorado Communities. This staged reading presentation, offered free of charge, is the culmination of WTP, a season-spanning, theater-spanning, city-spanning collaboration led by Local Theater Company in partnership with Curious Theatre Company (Denver) and the Gunnison Valley Theatre Festival (Gunnison) that aims to foster civil discourse on the topic of democracy using community-devised theater making practices. WTP is supported by grants from Redline/Arts in Society and The City of Boulder.

In winter 2024, all three theater companies held facilitated story circles within their respective communities in which individuals participated in multi-structured conversations and writing games. The questions and prompts presented in each community story circle were the same; the response from each community was distinct. A playwright representing each theater/region observed their respective story circle and used that material as inspiration for a short play. On July 27, the first of three staged reading presentations will take place at the Boulder Public Library Main Branch. Readings will take place in Gunnison (Tayler Theater) on Thursday, August 1 and Denver (Curious Theatre Company) on Saturday, August 3. Optional post-reading conversations designed to foster continued dialogue between audience members will take place in each region.

From Sept. 26 to Oct. 13, 2024 at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder LTC, will present the first world premiere of the season, Stockade, written by Henry Award-winning playwright (Paper Cut, 2018) and LTC Associate Artist Andrew Rosendorf with seasoned dramaturg and theater-maker Carlyn Aquiline, directed by Henry Award-winning director and LTC Associate Artist Christy Montour-Larson. Stockade is a LTC commission. This play is a thematic prequel to Paper Cut (Local Theater Company world premiere, directed by Pesha Rudnick, fall 2018), Rosendorf’s look at LGBTQ+ soldiers returning to civilian life following tours in Afghanistan. In Stockade, a group of gay soldiers gather for a reunion on Fire Island five years after the end of WWII—and are met by an outsider with a surprise that will cause them to question whether history is best left in the past. This play focuses on an often-overlooked aspect of military and government history: the Lavender Scare. During this time, LGBTQ government workers, many of whom were former or active members of the military, were targeted as subversives and security risks. Their professional and personal lives were threatened and often dismantled due to systemic homophobia. Stockade was a Local Lab 13 (March 2024) selection and received a week-long workshop and public staged reading (dir. Nick Chase).

From Feb. 20 to Mar. 9, 2025 at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, LTC will present the world premiere of Michelle Tyrene Johnson’s (Only One Day a Year, Kennedy Center’s New Vision/New Voices Festival selection) Chasing Breadcrumbs, directed by Local Theater Company Co-Artistic Director Betty Hart. Like Stockade, Chasing Breadcrumbs was a Local Lab 13 selection and received a workshop under Hart’s direction during which the material evolved considerably. The story follows Serena, a Black, female playwright who has been commissioned by an organization with questionable intentions, as she navigates a minefield of “Karens”, creative compromises, and re-written history. Actor Kristina Fountaine (most recently: Cullud Wattah, Curious Theatre Company) returns from Local Lab 13 to play the central role in the world premiere.

Season 14 concludes with Local Lab 14, LTC’s cornerstone new play development program and festival taking place April 25 – 27, 2024 at the Nomad Playhouse in north Boulder. Last year, in addition to the playwrights mentioned above, LTC welcomed Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Hendley to the Local Lab new play festival. LTC has developed over 60 new plays through its Local Lab initiative, many of which have gone on to regional, off Broadway, and international productions. LTC’s Lab reading team is currently reviewing a record-setting 170 new plays and intends to announce finalists in fall and selections in early winter.

In Season 14, LTC will continue its community-engagement program, Come Together, under the direction of Co-Artistic Director Betty Hart. The Come Together series has grown from one post-show conversation and one post-show community meal at every production to include an Out Night in which members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community are encouraged to attend and College Night in which educators, students and all supporters of education are encouraged to attend. A pay-what-you-will performance is offered at every Local Theater Company world premiere this season.

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