A look at the summer dreck on the big screen, plus Top 10 Colorado Headliners and a chat with zombie playwright Bryce Edmonds

In this episode of the OnStage Colorado Podcast, hosts Toni Tresca and Alex Miller take a little break from the stage to talk about this summer’s big movies. We also get into lots of news, including a bit of drama at Longmont Theatre, Kenny Moten taking on Associate AD duties at the Arvada Center, Local Theater Company’s upcoming season, Community Revitalization Tax Credits benefitting Colorado arts organizations, and yet another dip into the topic of multi-gender bathrooms.

As usual we also pick out our Top 10 Colorado Headliners: Upcoming shows that might be of interest. Here they are, in no particular order:

Listen to the podcast

One of this week’s Colorado Headliners, ‘Some Like it Hot’ plays at the Denver Center through July 20. | Photo: Matthew Murphy.

Chapters

Introduction & Updates (00:01 – 04:32)

  • Welcome back after July 4th weekend
  • Toni’s big move from Louisville to Cap Hill
  • Walking distance to Denver Center theaters
  • Summer theater lull discussion

What We’ve Been Watching (04:32 – 21:22)

  • Alex: Phenomenomaly at Meow Wolf, Rock of Ages at Pace Center
  • The Eternaut on Netflix (Argentine apocalyptic series)
  • Steel Magnolias at Theater SilCo in Silverthorne
  • Toni: Anastasia at Candlelight, The Book Handlers at Buntport
  • Boulder Comedy Festival, Saw the Musical review
  • Phish concert at Folsom Field, Amazing Acro Cats at Bug Theater

Colorado Theatre News (21:22 – 30:44)

  • $3 million in Community Revitalization Tax Credits announced
  • Kenny Moten joins Arvada Center as Associate Artistic Director
  • Longmont Theater Company board restructuring and legal resolution
  • Boulder’s Local Theater Company 15th season announcement

Bathroom Signage Discussion (30:44 – 33:07)

  • Julia Toby’s Ballyhoo Offense space bathroom signage questions
  • All-gender bathroom trends in Colorado theaters
  • Community reactions and accessibility concerns

In Memoriam: Underground Music Showcase (33:07 – 40:05)

  • UMS shutting down after 25 years
  • Final festival July 25-27 with legacy acts
  • Challenges facing independent music festivals

Summer Blockbusters Discussion (40:57 – 56:26)

  • Mission Impossible Final Reckoning review
  • Jurassic World Rebirth, F1, How to Train Your Dragon
  • Lilo & Stitch disappointment, Thunderbolts, Superman anticipation
  • Movie theater industry future concerns
  • Community viewing experience vs. home streaming

Interview: Bryce Edmonds on “Join or Die” (56:26 – 1:09:48)

  • Zombie horror comedy world premiere
  • Political themes about government and democracy
  • Three types of zombies, historical backdrop
  • Production challenges and casting approach
  • Gender-neutral casting experiment
  • Show details: August 21-24 at Dairy Center

Colorado Headliners (1:09:48 – 1:25:39)

  • Mamma Mia at Theatre Aspen
  • Some Like It Hot at Denver Center Buell Theatre
  • Nightmare on Strip Street burlesque parody
  • The Barber of Seville at Central City Opera
  • Woodlands and Wyverns immersive D&D experience
  • What the Constitution Means to Me at Theater SilCo
  • D-Town boy band nostalgia show
  • Cirque du Soleil’s Echo at Ball Arena
  • Around the World in 80 Toys at Buntport
  • Flyin’ West at TheaterWorks Colorado Springs

Upcoming Reviews & Wrap-up (1:22:40 – 1:25:39)

  • Preview of upcoming OnStage Colorado reviews
  • Newsletter subscription reminder
  • Next episode uncertainty due to Toni’s move

Transcript

Alex Miller (00:01)

Hello and welcome to the Onstage Colorado podcast. I’m Alex Miller and we are here after the long July 4th break slash weekend and of course I’m joined by Tony Tresca. Hey, Tony.

Toni Tresca (00:19)

Hey Alex, it’s good to be with you. How were your holidays?

Alex Miller (00:22)

They were pretty good or holiday or I guess it was a long weekend for a lot of people. For freelancers like us, it’s not like we got like a special day off or anything, but yeah, but it still nice. Did a few things. So, but I’m looking at you, you’re in a bare apartment in your old home and you’re making a big move to Cap Hill today, right?

Toni Tresca (00:33)

True.

That is correct Alex. Yeah, I if my podcast ⁓ audio sounds a little echoey Today it’s because I am in a basically empty room all of the items except for this podcast microphone this desk at my laptop have been moved to my New place in cap Hill and yeah after after we get done recording I’m boogieing on down there to set everything up

Alex Miller (01:07)

That’s great. mean, you’re going to be so much closer. So you’ve been in Lewisville and you’re going to be much closer to the theater scene. You’ll even be able to walk to some theaters, right?

Toni Tresca (01:14)

That’s accurate. Tonight I’m going to see some like it hot at the Denver Center and I am walking. No more parking garage for me.

Alex Miller (01:21)

How long a walk is it to the Denver Center now?

Toni Tresca (01:25)

It’s just a little bit over a mile for me. I could take the bus and be there in minutes, or I can walk and be there in like a leisurely 2025.

Alex Miller (01:28)

wow.

That is a game changer. Well, congratulations on your big move. So, all right. Well, we’ve been in a little bit of a summer dip theater wise, a little bit of a lull, think, before things will pick up again in August or guess later in July too. So we thought we’d talk a little bit about what’s on the big screen.

Toni Tresca (01:53)

or depending on the size of your home, a very large little screen, given that many people these days are opting to watch films at home rather than go out to the theaters.

Alex Miller (02:03)

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So we’ll also touch on some news, get to our top 10 Colorado headliners, and also hear my conversation with Bryce the Zombie Guy, as I’m calling

Toni Tresca (02:13)

Yeah, what is that all about? Bryce the Zombie Guy. It sounds like an interesting character.

Alex Miller (02:16)

Yeah, so well friend

of the pod and stage manager extraordinaire Laura Mairs reached out to tell tell me about a show she’s working on a world premiere called Join or Die at the it’s gonna be at the dairy this next month. It’s written directed and produced by Bryce Edmonds. He used to live in Boulder and now lives in Boise, Idaho. So his show is a political statement combined with a zombie apocalypse. So there you have it. That’s all I know.

Toni Tresca (02:44)

feel like most zombie texts are often political statements with zombies being used to stand in for things, like going back to like George Romero’s films and you see them being stand ins for kind of the communist plot, mind plot that was supposedly going to overtake us all. And I personally, I can never get enough of zombies. I love them. And I know even though you’re not a horror guy, you told me recently you are team zombie. Is that correct?

Alex Miller (03:12)

yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, I saw the original Nine of the Living Dead when I was a kid, the black and white one, and it scared the shit out of me. Zombies are just fascinating. know, a like monsters, they’re really a mirror held up to the characters confronting them. And people are heroes or cowards, and salvation can come from unexpected places. So ⁓ I think the zombie, I don’t know, there’s something about them that, you know, they bring out the best and the worst in people, and they’re a great mirror, like I said, like a dramatic device.

Toni Tresca (03:40)

And I think oftentimes, particularly with modern zombie tales, I’m looking at you, The Last of Us, ⁓ you see that it’s oftentimes revealed that humans are more dangerous than these zombies that that’s in the background and human politics and interactions kind of become the real villain and things that cause problems in the world.

Alex Miller (04:02)

Yeah, yeah, think I saw a reviewer once, can’t remember which film they were talking about, they referred to the zombies as comic relief a lot of times. Usually by the time they get used to killing them, they’re not as scary, they’re pretty easily to whack. So people you have to worry about, of course.

Toni Tresca (04:09)

Mmm.

Definitely, yeah. So let’s turn now back to the theater and live performing space for a second and talk about everything that we’ve seen since we last potted on June 24th. So what’d you get up to, Alex?

Alex Miller (04:32)

Yeah, it seems like an eternity ago, but I didn’t actually didn’t get out to a lot because of all other stuff going on, but I did get out to Phenomenomaly, which we talked about a fair amount on the pod, so I won’t get too deep into that, but I did want to go to it at Meow Wolf and see what it was really like, because it was one of those things, even though we had one of the creators or the GM at Meow Wolf.

on the site to talk about it. You really got to see it. And you’ve been there, you saw rehearsal, right? And I saw kind of like the more of the finished product and went there with my granddaughters and my wife and son and we all had a great time. So like all generations seem to enjoy it. There’s definitely a good family. Family fun. ⁓

Toni Tresca (05:03)

That’s right.

I feel like it really walks that line with immersive where it’s you don’t have to interact at all if you don’t want to and you can just watch really watch it more like a traditional piece which I know probably appeals more to someone like your wife Jen who doesn’t like that element of it but also if you do want to interact with like the misfits and whatnot you can go up and have that conversation so I feel like it kind of is the best of both worlds.

Alex Miller (05:29)

Right, right. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. And then also saw Rock of Ages at the Pace Center, which was a really great production of kind of a stalwart, ⁓ I guess, musical in some ways for the the 80s. People that like the 80s stuff. ⁓ And the other thing I was going to mention, I don’t know, maybe this kind of segues into our talk about the big screen, but I watching the Eaternaut on Netflix. ⁓ Have you seen this? It’s an art. It’s it’s it’s the

Toni Tresca (06:06)

I’ve never even heard of this. What is this?

Alex Miller (06:09)

It’s an Argentine ⁓ series about, it’s an apocalyptic story where everything gets freezing cold and these giant bugs appear from space. So it sounds like a comic book, but it’s really well done. ⁓ And I really enjoyed it, know, in that, and you know, it’s, you know, these bugs could, you could also kind of say they’re sort of like the zombies there, these things that are fairly easy to kill, but there’s a lot of them and.

And there’s all this drama between the characters. I just, at the end, they said it’s coming back for a second season. I’d recommend this one if you like that genre. It’s not quite as ridiculous as it sounds once you’re watching it, because it’s kind of a slow burn before they get to some of the heavier action as the people are trying to figure out what the hell’s going on. ⁓ And yeah, so I enjoyed the Eternade on just one of the…

One of those Netflix shows that pops up from another country, which you never know, sometimes they’re great.

Toni Tresca (07:05)

Yeah, was like, Netflix has really been investing in programming from other countries. That’s how they got one of their biggest hits, Squid Game, so I can see they’re like, okay, this can return big. And sounds like Eternon is another intriguing show for them. At least it’s gonna get another season two.

Alex Miller (07:17)

Yeah.

Yeah, I don’t know. Yeah,

I don’t know what it stands for. But yeah, speaking of SWIG games, Andy and I just started watching that. just watched the first, just the first episode of the new season. So getting into that. But you saw more stuff. Okay, good.

Toni Tresca (07:33)

Nice. I’ll add one, I did.

And I’ll add one more to your list that you saw. You and I made the drive to Silverthorn together to check out Peter Silko’s production of Spheal Magnolias.

Alex Miller (07:46)

my gosh, how did I forget that? Yeah, so we wanted to make this trip because hey, it’s not that hard to get up to Sylvanthorne as long as you don’t get into any I-70 shenanigans or which actually if we had gone the next day, we would have been hosed because there was this terrible accident by the tunnel ⁓ fire and somebody was killed.

Toni Tresca (08:03)

yeah, I think, yeah,

we went on a Wednesday night and it was no traffic, just a smooth ride up I-70.

Alex Miller (08:12)

Yeah, so this is just an amazing show. mean, Tony’s review is on the site now and he really gets into ⁓ the detail about what made it great, starting with director Missy Moore and a fantastic cast with a lot of well-known names like Emma Messenger, Maggie Tisdale, and Terza Schwartz. ⁓

Leslie O’Connor, Carol, I’m sorry. ⁓ And yeah, really great show.

Toni Tresca (08:40)

Yeah, this was my first time checking out this play. ⁓ I had never even read it or I missed the film too. ⁓ And it really affected me. It’s a very gripping story about a Southern community who comes together to support this young woman who has diabetes but is still trying to get pregnant and has a complicated pregnancy. ⁓ And yeah, there are some really blistering performances. I really enjoyed Mackie Tisdale’s work in this show. ⁓

Alex Miller (08:47)

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (09:09)

Her character goes on a really massive arc and she starts getting to play these really comic elements in the beginning, but then by the end of the show, she just leaves you in tears. Me, you, everybody else in the audience who we heard sniffling and could see because it’s in a thrust stage configuration.

Alex Miller (09:24)

Ha ha ha.

Yeah. And

yeah, watching Emma and Leslie on stage together. you know, they’re friends in real life and just great dynamic between them sort of because these women, a lot of them, they sort of spar with each other, especially the older ones. And it’s a it’s a lot of fun. It’s just a great play and just a really, really well done version of I think it’s got another week or so up there. So if you get a chance. What else?

Toni Tresca (09:42)

Mm-hmm.

That’s right. And it was, we,

we, we saw.

Alex Miller (09:56)

Okay.

Toni Tresca (09:57)

We actually saw Missy Moore at the show. She was there rehearsing in the back room of Theater Silco for their next production, which she is starring in, What the Constitution Means to Me. And you actually told me that there is a family connection to this show. Missy is directing it and her mom, Wendy Moore, also directed this show.

Alex Miller (10:02)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, at the Backstage Theater, well, a long time ago, probably in the, I don’t know, 80s or early 90s or something like that. honestly, if you’re a theater director at some point, you’re probably gonna direct Steel Magnetolius or something similar. So, but yeah, it was cool to, you know, having seen Wendy do it many years ago and then seeing her daughter come along to it, it’s always really cool to see that, I don’t know, continuity across the ages or whatever you wanna call it. So.

but Missy has certainly just bloomed into a really fantastic director and so capable of doing all those director things on stage and bringing out great performances, ⁓ you know, and making… And as you pointed out in the review, the action in this play was really great because it all takes place in the same space, but it never stops moving.

Toni Tresca (11:07)

Yeah, this play I feel is deceptively challenging because I easily see how this could become really dull since it’s all in the same location in a hair salon. And it’s all essentially the same action in theory, just like getting hair done. So how do you make that interesting as it takes place across three years? And Missy does that by constantly making sure that there’s always interesting stage business for all of her actresses to be doing and making

and really allowing you have a view of people reacting to the scene at all times. So you have this main scene that’s going on, as well as all of these other reactions and little bits of stage business that are going on, to just make it feel lived in, in a way that sometimes in these kind of smaller plays that are in one setting, it just feels like people sitting in a room kind of reciting dialogue. That is not the case in this production.

Alex Miller (12:03)

Yeah, yeah, and I do remember Wendy Moore when I used to, you know, do some, do some shows back in the day that she always talked about positive wallpaper, you know, if you’re not if you’re not actively involved in the scene, don’t just stand there, you know, I mean, do something interesting, but not distracting and that kind of a thing. And so like, this seems to have taken that to heart and does it very well. So ⁓ great, great show up there. Great to see Chris Solomon, the artistic director up there has been who’s been at it for many years there.

So, all right, well, moving on, what else did you get out to on stage? Yeah, you have.

Toni Tresca (12:36)

It’s been a lot, actually. was pretty busy for me. I also

made the drive up north to Johnstown to check out their production of Anastasia. This is the adaptation of what was originally ⁓ a 20th century Fox film, but since that’s been bought by Disney, I guess it’s technically now a Disney princess film. But it’s been adapted for the stage, and Candlelight does a really splendid job. It’s set during the Russian Revolution and is following

this lost child of the former leaders who is, she’s got amnesia and she gets involved in this con in order that these two ⁓ schemesters are doing in order to kind of extort money from this family. And so they kind of train her to be this princess, but then along the way, no, they realize she is the princess. It was in her the whole time. It’s, but and.

That plot, I just made it sound really trite and silly, and it kind of is, but the music is really lush. They’ve got a really exceptional orchestra playing live things there. The dancing is just exceptional. They’ve got everything from swing dancing to tap, to kind of Russian folk style dancing. It’s just really exceptional work, and the acting is really sharp across the board. My only note from attending the production was there was a couple of microphone issues.

particularly early on with the lead actress’s main solo. It was really inaudible due to the microphone cutting out. Luckily, however, the team was able to swap out that mic pack and get the show rolling smoothly. But other than that, it was a really slickly produced production from Candlelight, which is not a surprise. This is kind of their bread and butter.

Alex Miller (14:22)

Yep, that’s a pretty smooth, well-oiled machine, as you might say. to switch the mic pack, did someone did a stagehand actually come on and switch it while she was bid song? Or how did they do that?

Toni Tresca (14:32)

No, ⁓ no, no, actually she just kind of forced through the number and the remaining dialogue that she had on stage. When she made an exit, they swapped out the mic pack off stage. And so then when she came back on for the next scene, ⁓ the microphone was working.

Alex Miller (14:43)

Okay

Okay. All right. What else?

Toni Tresca (14:54)

I also saw the book handlers, which we’ve talked about on the podcast before, so I won’t spend a ton of time on. This is a remount of BuntPorts 2018 satire about a bunch of workers who are paid to read books for wealthy people so that they can look smart without actually having to do any work. And I found it to just be really exceptional.

work. It’s a really, it’s really funny. It’s built on this larger than life set that goes all the way up to the top of Bunkport’s massive warehouse. It’s got all these kind of Rue Goldberg contractions that they use to swing books across to each other. And I think it’s just a really blistering satire of people who would prefer to stick their head in the sand rather than engage with the issues that are going on in the world around them. And yeah, so I, it’s not, I

think it’s closed at this point or closing very, soon. ⁓ But if they ever do remount it, I guess for the third time, I hope that they don’t have a reason to do it for a third time. ⁓ But if they do, I would definitely say it’s worth the time.

Alex Miller (15:52)

Haha

Yeah.

Yep, and you’ll definitely get a primer on the finer points of marginalia, which is not something you often see.

Toni Tresca (16:06)

That is accurate.

I also checked out the fifth annual Boulder Comedy Festival. One of its shows, it was actually the brunch performance that they did inside the Louisville underground, which is, it’s a weird little venue in the back of a pinball arcade in Louisville. But the show was exceptional. Boulder Comedy Festival is a show that’s built around kind

bringing more diversity into the community. And that is exactly what was featured on the lineup. It was about 10 or 11 comics on the set. they were just, you never knew what kind of joke style you were gonna get. You were getting everything from jokes about the queer community to people talking about their divorces, to people doing more traditional standup stuff. it was just a really fun time. It was completely sold out.

and the crowd seems really into it. which it’s always impressive when you get to me when you can get people out by 2 p.m. on a Sunday for a comedy show and it works because comedy is kind of more of a late night activity. And so if your jokes work during the daytime, you’re doing something right.

Alex Miller (17:12)

Yeah.

For sure, yeah.

Toni Tresca (17:22)

⁓ And then I also checked in the Boulder area. I checked out the national touring production of Saw the Musical, ⁓ which I found to be just torturous. ⁓ It is a beat for beat kind of parody of the first film, ⁓ often with just direct lines of dialogue that are not changed at all, or just like added like a ⁓ really dated joke like.

Alex Miller (17:31)

You

Toni Tresca (17:50)

They were making jokes about Cinnabon or streaming services, which feel straight from like the 2019. And you’re like, just don’t understand how this got staged originally or why any producer would want to then tour this piece of crap around the country. I just found it to be a parody without a point. I, if you…

Alex Miller (17:55)

wow.

So old.

Yeah. ⁓

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (18:18)

If you want to hear more about my thoughts of Saw, I’ve got a review coming out in Boulder Weekly this upcoming week, in which I really just kind of dig into it, because this was one of the more frustrating things I’ve ever seen.

Alex Miller (18:32)

It sucks, read all about it. ⁓ There is a sort of weird enjoyment of reading a bad review. Sometimes they can be very funny, right?

Toni Tresca (18:46)

You know, I tried to make it funny. I think it’s funnier than the show I’ve watched.

Alex Miller (18:51)

Yeah. And I saw you had fish on your list. didn’t know you’re a fish head of any

Toni Tresca (18:57)

I have never been to a fish show before. I am not exactly what I would call a fish head going into it, but my girlfriend is very into fish. And she was like, we should go to the 4th of July show to see fish this year. It’s at Folsom. She lives in Boulder. We got tickets for cheap. And so that is how I ended up going to fish. And I had a blast. I had no idea what to expect really. haven’t. ⁓

Alex Miller (19:11)

huh.

Toni Tresca (19:24)

hadn’t listened to any of their music, so I wasn’t going in with any preconceived notion at all. ⁓ And they do a really impressive thing. They do a really impressive show. It’s massive lighting rigs that are doing these really extravagant designs behind the band the entire time. They play for basically three and a half hours straight, basically never stopping. And the vibes are just so kind, which is not something I usually say about

concert. Oftentimes people are really belligerent and drunk and can get kind of nasty, particularly depending on what show you’re at. I won’t name any names, but I have clicked into a few kind of seedier shows like that. everybody at Fish was super nice. You feel like you could like leave your stuff out ⁓ and go to the bathroom and nobody would touch it. That’s kind of the vibe of the whole event. And so I would definitely go back again. I think ⁓

Alex Miller (20:11)

Ha ha ha!

That’s great.

Toni Tresca (20:21)

I see the appeal, I see why people travel the country to watch these people ⁓ and why I was talking to people. It was weird. I go and see a lot of live performances, but I felt like such a baby in this space because I was talking to people who had seen fish like 150 times or 200 times and they were like, whoa, your first time, you’re such a virgin. You’re so new to this. And I was like, yeah, I guess I am. I know nothing about this world. Exactly.

Alex Miller (20:37)

yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you gotta start somewhere. Yeah.

Toni Tresca (20:50)

But

they were all really excited. It wasn’t very gate-teepee in that, like, they were like, you’re new? That’s awesome. We can’t wait for you to experience the show. We’re like, what’d you think? What was it like for your first time? So it was fun.

Alex Miller (21:03)

That’s

great. That’s funny. know, people always talk about them as kind of the successor to the Grateful Dead scene, which, I was into when I was younger. I saw, you know, 30 something shows, ⁓ which even, you know, it was not even that much for the dead back then. you know, after Jerry died, I never really got back into the whole scene. But I would definitely check out fish if, you know, if they were, if it was ⁓ happening and I was nearby or something like that. You also had on the list your acro cats. Was that, is that something separate or was that, did they warm up for fish?

Toni Tresca (21:32)

⁓ no, this is something separate, Alex. This is a show that takes place over at the Bug Theater. The full title of the show is The Amazing Acro Cats, featuring Tuna and the Rock Cats. ⁓ And it is a 90-minute show that features rescue cats performing tricks on stage with the help of three human trainers. This show has been touring the country since

Alex Miller (21:34)

Acro cats.

Hahaha

Toni Tresca (22:02)

2010, it actually debuted its first like touring show at the Bug Theater in 2010. And they’ve been coming here every other year since. And after seeing the show, I can really see why it was entirely sold out, which I was like, literally every seat in the bug was taken. It’s not a massive theater, but it’s cool. It’s cool to see it completely filled. And these cats are just so silly. Unlike dogs who

kind of do, you can really train them well and they’ll do the trick on command because they love you and need your love. they, the cats are way more fickle. And so oftentimes they would be like, do this trick and the cats would look at them and then like run off the stage, much to the chagrin of the trainers and the amusement of the entire audience. Cause cats, they just have so much personality and this show really allows their personalities to come through.

Alex Miller (22:51)

Hahaha

Was our friend John Moore, major cat fan in the front row with the, you know.

Toni Tresca (23:05)

You know, I didn’t see him in the crowd when I went on, when I went, but I saw that John wrote a piece about the Acro cats for the Denver Gazette. So I would not be shocked if he did attend. And if folks want to learn more about the history of the Acro cats, I would definitely recommend heading over to the Gazette because John does a really good rundown of everything, including their 45 foot cat touring bus that goes across the country and what goes into that.

Alex Miller (23:06)

Bell’s on. Okay.

Okay.

That’s

great. Love it. All right, we’ll switch into the news. I think we have a number of things to touch on. So you had something on the statewide level. What’s this first item here?

Toni Tresca (23:44)

Yeah.

So on June 26, Governor Polis and our friends over at the Colorado Creative Industries announced 10 recipients of the Community Revitalization Tax Credit. ⁓ And this is a program that supports the creative sector’s capital projects. So this includes building studio spaces, performance spaces, or arts education buildings that incorporate features like affordable housing, childcare, retail, or other community spaces. And through the Community Revitalization Program,

These eligible applicants can receive tax credits of up to $3 million to cover 25 % of their eligible expenses. And so some of the recipients, excuse me, all of the recipients were announced today and they include the Aspen Music Festival in school, Boulder Community Broadcast Association, AKA KGMU, that’s going into their building that they’re remodeling, that they’re doing in Boulder, the World Wonder View Tower Project over in the Eastern Plains, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance,

renovations that are going on in Denver, the Foothill Arts Center project that’s happening in Golden, the Headwater Housing Partners in Grand Junction, the Powerhouse in Durango, Spanish Peaks Community Foundation in Walsenburg, and the Attenberger Development in Inglewood. And this work will support the development of 185 affordable housing units, community gathering spaces, ⁓ and other services for the communities.

Alex Miller (25:09)

Wow. Okay, well, you know, as we always like to say, when we hear good news about this kind of thing, we definitely want to celebrate it since there’s plenty of, my gosh, we’re broke, we’re going out of business kind of news ⁓ in ⁓ these regions as well. So that’s great to hear. you know, it’s going to be a really tight, tight time in coming years between ⁓ Colorado’s budget is, ⁓ you know, really screwed up and the federal government, of course, is run by acro cats on speed or something. ⁓ So.

or LSD, I don’t know. So anyway, okay, cool. Well, that’s great news. And then another cool news comes from the Arvada Center. This is really neat. This is somebody really active person in Colorado theater. So what’s this one?

Toni Tresca (25:45)

Yeah.

As of July, Kenny Moten is going to be joining the company’s team as the Associate Artistic Director. ⁓ Kenny is going to be helping current Artistic Director, Len Collins, with casting, producing, and planning for its 2026-2027 theater season, as well as the future of the theater program. And of course, this comes after the Arvada Center had already announced that Kenny was going to be directing this season’s productions of Frozen.

as well as come from away. as you, yeah, Kenny is definitely a man about town. He has been directing shows, not only all across all of Colorado, but across the entire country. And he does really exceptional work. I think one of my favorites of his recently was his rendition of Roger Hammerstein’s Cinderella back in 2023 over at the Arvada Center. That was a really inventive re-imagining of what

Alex Miller (26:48)

Yeah, that was great.

Toni Tresca (26:54)

what it can be a kind of old fashioned fairy tale. It just felt very contemporary and exciting and alive with dynamic choreography and a really specific vision. So if that is what Kenny is going to be the type of productions and imagination that he’s going to be bringing to the Arbata Center, I’d say that this is a really fantastic pick and also just makes sense. He’s been directing so much for them over the past couple of years. You might as well bring them on staff.

Alex Miller (27:22)

Right. Is this a new position, associate AD? OK.

Toni Tresca (27:27)

I believe this is a new position. There was nobody in the position before Kenny. The Arvada Center may have had this in past times before I was covering theater, but it’s not been a recent position.

Alex Miller (27:43)

⁓ All right. And then news from Longmont. What’s this all about?

Toni Tresca (27:48)

Yeah, so Longmont Theater Company announced a new board and I’m reading from its press release that they shared on July 1st, quote, in collaboration with the outgoing board of directors, a new grassroot initiative is bringing fresh leadership and energy to the Longmont Theater Company aimed at securing a vibrant community engaged future for the Longmont Theater Company and the Longmont Performing Arts Center. Effective July 1st, Charlie Wright has accepted the role of board chair, leading a newly appointed board of directors.

committed to community engagement, artistic excellence, and sustainable growth. The previous board members have graciously stepped aside to allow for this transition, and the organization thanks them for their years of service and dedication.

Alex Miller (28:34)

There’s definitely probably a lot behind that story, sounds like. But yeah, they’ve been in a little bit of disarray, so very interesting and exciting. Hopefully this is a positive turn for them. I recall that they were involved in some legal trouble too, so is this related to that?

Toni Tresca (28:38)

⁓ yeah!

Yeah, this situation is definitely a little bit more nuanced and complicated than that press release makes it sound. As people might recall who have been listening to the podcast for a while or anybody who’s been following this, a public power struggle broke out between the board and its longtime president, Lamb, because last June, former board members, Peg Belen and Charlie Wright, who is now taking over as board president, filed a complaint in the Boulder County District Court that alleged that Lamb had

actively conspired to bypass the required participation of company volunteers in major company decisions, including the selection of new board members. That case was set for trial, but on Wednesday, last Wednesday, a resolution was announced that includes a reshuffled leadership. Lamb, the face of the company since becoming the board president in 2016, is now out, along with the rest of the existing board and an entirely new board of directors, including Wright,

Belen, Jay Zdrzynski, Robert Mesh, and Scott Dunn is taking over.

Yeah.

Alex Miller (29:57)

Heavy news from Longmont.

best of luck to them. Hopefully this is start of a great new chapter.

Toni Tresca (30:04)

I hope so. Longmont Theatre Company has been in kind of a little bit of a dark place for a little while. And so I’m hoping that the new leadership really takes some time, listens to the community and what they’re looking for and how they’d like to see that space actualized and then move forward from there. Because it’s a real shame to like see that space be basically dormant for so much of the year. The Longmont Performing Arts Center is a really gorgeous venue and Longmont deserves a really active theater scene because pretty much it’s only been

their museum that’s been picking up the slack with its theater that they built in. Yeah, so I’m cautiously optimistic.

Alex Miller (30:42)

All right, cool. Also in that area, Boulder’s local theater company announced its 15th season. ⁓ yeah, they sent me the press release. I’d already seen it and posted it. I don’t know. So I guess, I don’t know if there were multiple announcements or whatever, but what have they got coming up in their next season?

Toni Tresca (30:59)

So they are doing local listens, queer lineage, which is similar to what they did last season with the democracy cycle in that they’re going to be bringing together community members from around the state for story circles that are going to inspire new plays written by two commissioned playwrights. I can confirm that one of those playwrights will be Steven Burge, who participated in their local lab last year.

Alex Miller (31:24)

Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (31:24)

I

don’t know the name of the other author yet, but as soon as I have that information, I will share it. And so they’re going to be doing these story circles over the course of summer 2025. They’ll then show a kind of a workshop of what has been going on from this about halfway through the process before these 45 minute plays will be presented in April of 2026.

Alex Miller (31:48)

Wow, okay, cool. What else have they got coming up?

Toni Tresca (31:50)

So they’ve also got in October, 2025 at the Dairy Arts Center. They’re doing the world premiere of Corey Alston’s, ⁓ Taste for Black Girls Setting Central Park on Fire. And this is gonna be directed by Betty Hart. And this comes after ⁓ it was supported in a developmental workshop back in 2020. no, ⁓ excuse me. This was from this year’s Local Lab, Local Lab 14.

Alex Miller (32:18)

huh. Okay.

Toni Tresca (32:20)

I remember being a little bit mixed on that reading. It was a lot of kind of esoteric poetry and an interesting mix of gospel music as well as kind of prose about this to tell this kind of cerebral story about a 12-year-old black girl and her life from Brooklyn to Harlem. I think it has potential. I’m curious to see what revisions are made to the piece from Local Lab. But yeah, that’ll be up in October.

Alex Miller (32:49)

Okay, cool. Well, incapable hands there with Betty Hart for sure.

Toni Tresca (32:53)

Absolutely. And then in January and February of 2026, Local is joining forces with Curious Theatre Company for a national new play network rolling world premiere of Bad Books. This is a two-hander about a librarian who clashes with a concerned parent over a controversial book title, Boob Juice, that was recently added to the small town’s public library shelf. So that production is going to kick off at Curious Theatre.

in Denver in January and then it’s going to move to the Dairy Arts Center in February for locals runs.

Alex Miller (33:30)

Okay, well that sounds like an appropriate pairing. Local and Curious definitely have some of the same DNA as it kind of shows that they like to do, so that should be interesting.

Toni Tresca (33:39)

I also thought so. was like, when I read that those two organizations were partnering, was like, that makes so much sense. It’s kind of shocking that it hasn’t happened more often. Just given that they’re both so committed to new plays. ⁓ And there’s, I would imagine there’s probably not a ton of competition for audiences given that one’s in Denver and one’s in Boulder. So this collaboration seems like a really interesting chance to bridge those audiences potentially.

Alex Miller (34:06)

Yeah, yeah, and then of course, they’ll be back in April with their their annual ⁓ local lab new play festival any any more news on that it’ll be at the Nomad again.

Toni Tresca (34:17)

Nope, I don’t have any updates other than it will, it’s for the second year in a row over at the Nomad and it’ll be three plays like usual.

Alex Miller (34:25)

Okay. All right. Well, I don’t know if this is news, but I wanted to mention this one. It’s a topic we’ve touched on before, but it popped up again. And I still find this fascinating. And we’re talking about bathroom signage and such. So Julia told Tubby, of the pod, and we spoke about in the last podcast and how she’s opening the Ballyhoo Offense space in Denver, posted on Facebook, asking people what they thought about bathroom signage and configuration. So this has been a hot topic with some theaters, notably like

Miner’s Alley and Wonderbound and to a lesser extent Vintage, which did kind of a weird take on the all-gender bathroom.

Toni Tresca (34:59)

Yeah, I know that that one’s got a little bit of a really mixed reaction from community members. A lot of people are even taking to going on like Google and leaving negative reviews on there that mention that, is, you know, that is information. ⁓

Alex Miller (35:17)

Yeah. So yeah, so it’s definitely a bit of a trend of creating these all gender bathrooms, like it’s maybe it’s like it like it is at Miners Alley and Wonder Bound is one space with floor to ceiling stalls and a common sink area. And so Julie posted to ask what people thought about what they’re what they’re looking at there in Ballyhoo. So she had one sign that said women slash all gender slash stalls only and another was men slash all gender urinals and stall. And I was like, I don’t know if that seems a little confusing.

Toni Tresca (35:46)

Yeah, it was definitely a bit of a confusing kind of word salad there. was like trying, I’m very sympathetic to this and I want to be as inclusive as possible, but I was kind of like, I’m not, after reading that, I’m not really sure where people are supposed to go. And I was not the only person who was confused. I saw that post that she made about it, had like 75 comments on it.

Alex Miller (36:11)

Yeah, yeah, and they were all over the map. one that stuck out to me was from Jason Rex, who posted, as a cis man, I want to go wherever my presence won’t make someone else uncomfortable. I have to say, when I say Miner’s Alley washing my hands next to a woman, I get the impression that they’d prefer I’d be elsewhere. And I just don’t think that everybody’s as comfortable as some of these theaters think about sharing these facilities, just because it’s such a huge break with

tradition and you know, as I’ve noted before, my wife is kind of a hard no on these setups and she’ll even think twice about going to a theater that has that. it’s just a guess, but I’m also pretty sure that women would prefer not to be within 20 feet of a urinal. And that’s all, that’s all just on the cisgender side. It’s another thing altogether when you start mixing in more gender fluid or trans folks, it’s just such a complicated topic.

Toni Tresca (37:01)

Yeah, it really is complicated. that what you were mentioning was kind of what I, about women being uncomfortable with men being in their spaces, like ⁓ us cis men, that was what was being commented on the Google reviews on Vintage’s page with people saying that they were very dismayed to find a man in what had been the ladies bathroom. And this reviewer went on to say that they would never go back there again because of that. And so it’s a legitimate concern for people.

But you also don’t want to alienate people who are trans or non-binary. And so you have to, you actually have, it’s a much more complicated issue than I think just like change the language on the front of the back, on the bathroom sign as Julie Toby’s post ultimately kind of revealed. It’s a really complicated issue.

Alex Miller (37:37)

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, yeah, and you know, if you have all kinds of space and money, can address it more easily. You could just have, you know, an all gender bathroom and then traditional men’s and women’s rooms or whatever, but not all theaters have that. So ⁓ it makes it tricky. So, all right, well, you had a kind of an in memoriam section here. What’s this one all about?

Toni Tresca (38:07)

Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah, I finally, just wanted to say a quick RIP to the Underground Music Showcase. After 25 years of showcasing indie talent, UMS is going to be shutting down following this summer’s festival. The organizers cite rising costs and shifting industry norms, but they say they’re going to be giving the festival a proper send off this year, July 25th through 27th. So they’ve got legacy acts like Devachka,

and the FlowBots who are gonna be headlining that weekend. But it’s definitely gonna be a bittersweet kind of vibe, I imagine, there on South Broadway during UMS this year, since everybody knows it’s the last hurrah.

Alex Miller (39:00)

Yeah, yeah, and I know our friend of the pod, John Moore, was one of the co-founders of this, and I think he’s written about it in the Denver Gazette, if you want to get some perspective on that. I never went, so I don’t know, I’ve never experienced it. So, sorry to say, but I will try and get to some of it this year.

Toni Tresca (39:11)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it’s a really exciting collection of largely local acts with a few more national headliners who come in. And it’s just spread out in all these really quirky venues across South Broadway Strip. Everybody’s walking around. There’s music flowing out through the doors. Yeah, I’ve been a couple of times and it’s definitely a shame to see it go.

Alex Miller (39:43)

Yeah,

yeah. They’re hard to do. They really are those kinds of things. You know, as we saw with especially like something that requires just all these pieces parts like, you know, Denver fringe, they’re hard to do. You’ve got to have a real dedication and probably be able to absorb some of the cost because it’s probably not going to be a moneymaker.

Toni Tresca (39:48)

100%.

Alex Miller (40:05)

supporting Onstage Colorado is Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater in Grand Lake. Their 2025 summer season runs from June 6th through September 5th and includes Disney’s Frozen,

guys and dolls, Footloose, and Nonsense. Find tickets at RockyMountainRep.com. Onstage Colorado is brought to you by Colorado Candlelight, featuring Anastasia through August 31st. This dazzling show transports its audience from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Tickets at ColoradoCandlelight.com. And we’re supported by Theodore Silko and Sylva Thorne, featuring Steele Magnolius, June 20th through July 13th.

It’s a classic heartwarming drama that’s also got lot of laughs as a hodgepodge of women form friendships as strong as steel which they are forced to lean on when tragedy strikes. Tickets at thesilco.org.

Alex Miller (40:57)

So anyway, well, let’s turn to our main topic. What are we talking about again?

Toni Tresca (41:04)

We are talking about the flickering screen and what’s up with the summer blockbusters this year.

Alex Miller (41:10)

blockbusters. I don’t know. So yeah, I think the only one I’ve seen was Mission Impossible, which was pretty good. It was definitely a blockbuster. ⁓ I don’t have any plans to see some of these others, although I’m usually inexplicably drawn to Jurassic Park movies. But you saw Jurassic World Rebirth, right? And he said it was pretty schlocky but fun or something like that.

Toni Tresca (41:29)

I That’s

exactly right. got myself popcorn. I was wearing the souvenir Jurassic World Rebirth lanyard that they were giving out on the first weekend. And I was there to watch them big dumb dinosaurs. I do feel as though I may have actively gotten stupider from watching it because the writing and the plotting were so contrived and asinine. But I had a good time. The dinos looked cool. It was all shot on film.

Alex Miller (41:40)

Wow.

You

Ha

Toni Tresca (41:59)

So it at least looks good.

Alex Miller (42:02)

huh. It reminds me a little bit of ⁓ the newest Rick and Morty episode ⁓ features a big dive into the world of the mega action thing. And they actually have ⁓ Zack Snyder and ⁓ Robert, is it Robert Gunn? ⁓ Or James Gunn voice themselves in the show. And they have this movie machine that tries to create the perfect like sort of Marvel type movie. And it’s pretty damn funny. But anyway.

Toni Tresca (42:17)

James Gunn.

Alex Miller (42:28)

So other big ones this this summer f1 the movie this is a you know a brad pitt thing a brad pitt vehicle no pun but i have to say i heard it was pretty good i heard it was pretty good but i tell you what i hate race i hate race car driving i think it’s such a stupid waste of gas and i know i just think unless they’re using electric cars but they don’t make cool sounds and i don’t think anybody wants to race electric cars

Toni Tresca (42:36)

Wow, that was good, that’s good Alex.

They’re definitely

not using electric cars. These are gas guzzling ⁓ road machines that they’re using. I saw this one in IMAX. It is really well shot. I also don’t really care about racing and I can’t say I’m gonna watch any racing after seeing the film, but it made me kind of, I was kind of surprised it eventually made me interested in like, I was like, ⁓ what kind of tires are they gonna have to use? ⁓ and I was like, and then.

Alex Miller (42:55)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Toni Tresca (43:19)

Which is, you’re like, I guess that’s the main conflict of the movie, which tire pressure, which pressure of tire to use. And they all have consequences. Which I guess that’s probably not doing a great job of selling the movie to folks, ⁓ but it’s fine.

Alex Miller (43:26)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah. I grew up, my dad was a race fan and I was going to midget races and stuff, stock cars on Long Island when I was growing up out there in Iceland. Used to drag me to IndyCar races down in Phoenix and you know after a couple of laps I lost track of who was where and I was like, ⁓ god.

To each his own, I guess. So also How to Train Your Dragon has come back in a live version, as did Lilo and Stitch, both kind of great animated kids movies from, I guess the 90s or early, or 20, maybe 2010s was How to Train Your Dragon. Yeah, Lilo and Stitch was, I have a couple of generations of sons and I remember Max was super into Lilo and Stitch and then Andy was super into How to Train Your Dragon, which was great.

Toni Tresca (44:11)

to treat you.

Alex Miller (44:23)

movie series but anyway so those are out and apparently doing pretty well but I don’t know if they’re any good or not.

Toni Tresca (44:29)

They’re certainly making a lot of money, but I’ve only seen Lilo and Stitch, but I thought that was really bad. It’s a soulless adaptation of the animated film that somehow misses the point of it in kind of trying to update it for a new generation. I found it very frustrating. And then after seeing that, I was like, you know what? I don’t know why I keep doing this. I don’t know why I keep going to any of these live action remakes of these things. I know I’m going to hate them.

Alex Miller (44:54)

you

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (44:58)

I know they’re gonna be bad and so I was like, I’m not seeing this kind of Train Your Dragon movie. I think it’s just too much. Lilo and Stitch was my breaking point. I’m officially broken, Alex.

Alex Miller (45:09)

Yeah.

I think soulless adaptation would be a great name for a spoof movie about a live action remake of a… Anyway, Mission Impossible Final Reckoning that kind of opened the summer season. That was a good one. mean, I know you saw it. also were watching the earlier ones and it’s definitely, it’s interesting to watch them from the first one or two, which were kind of cheesy.

Toni Tresca (45:17)

home.

Alex Miller (45:37)

second one especially and they kind of got more more polished until you know that they really kind of really dialed it into this it’s a formula but it’s a it’s a damn good formula and you know who knows how much longer ⁓ you know tom cruise who’s my age can be hanging off of airplanes and stuff i think my my hanging off of airplanes years past you know a long time ago so you know more power to them but ⁓ so that one’s still out there definitely a good one to see in in the big

in the big, on the big screen with the big chair. Final Destination, this is an ongoing, how many Bloodlines is the name of the newest one? How many of these films have they made?

Toni Tresca (46:16)

This is Final Destination 6.

Alex Miller (46:19)

Uh-huh. Wow. And this is, is this a series that you’ve paid any attention to? I haven’t.

Toni Tresca (46:25)

This is a series I’ve paid attention to. This new one is a lot of fun. It’s really, it’s arguably got the most plot of any of these movies, but I say arguably because it’s still basically no plot. It’s mostly you are just going to watch hot people get Rue Goldberg to death. Like, and this one delivers in epic fashions. I think my favorite kill was this one.

in which a guy gets sucked dick first into an MRI machine. ⁓ It’s truly one of those sequences that must be seen to be believed.

Alex Miller (46:57)

God.

my goodness. All right, well, I don’t know about that one. Thunderbolts is another one on this list. I don’t know anything about that. What is Thunderbolts? Do you have any idea?

Toni Tresca (47:13)

it’s the new Marvel. I hear the new Marvel’s pretty good. That’s a reference to another movie that came out this summer, Friendship. It’s not a blockbuster, but it is very fun comedy starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. ⁓ And they do a riff about how this really average guy is super excited about the new Marvel. He hears the new Marvel is really good. And that’s how I feel about this Thunderbolts movie. It’s perfectly confidently made.

Alex Miller (47:15)

boy.

Yeah, I’d like to see that.

Toni Tresca (47:42)

But I feel we should, it’s very telling that we’ve gotten to a place with Marvel and the Marvel Cinematic Universe that like, confident is like, good, is good enough. I’m like, so it’s fine. It’s like a very simple story about emotional trauma, which is very in these days. ⁓ But yeah, it’s perfectly passable.

Alex Miller (48:05)

Okay,

and we have another Superman coming up, which I’m definitely skeptical about. I don’t know how you can top… Oh, shit, what the hell’s his name? Who did the last round?

Toni Tresca (48:17)

⁓ Zaxinator.

Alex Miller (48:19)

Now I was thinking about the man, the actor who played Superman. Of course, Henry Cavill, who’s just fantastic in that role. I don’t know. I don’t know anything about this one, although I saw the trailer for it and I was like, holy shit. That just made me, me a headache just watching the trailer. There was so much shit going on with all these different, seemed like he was fighting like 17 different enemies at the same time. I was like, wow. So I don’t know. What do you think?

Toni Tresca (48:22)

Henry Cavill.

I am, seeing this one on Thursday when it opens. I’m gonna be there. This is, I’m very curious about this, about this new adaptation. I like a lot of James Gunn’s past works. I’m not a big Superman fan. And I will be curious to see how like a hero dedicated to upholding truth, justice and the American way plays in 2025 when it feels like

Alex Miller (48:48)

you

Right. What is the American

way? Right. Yeah.

Toni Tresca (49:15)

Exactly. I’m like, can we even agree on what the American way is anymore? And I’m

already seeing Fox News cover like woke Superman movie as being that since it’s apparently James Gunn made some comment about how his Superman is the story is an American story about an immigrant who does good. now so we’re I that’s I feel is perhaps going to be the tenor of the overall discussion. But I’m trying to just tune that crap out and just go and see what the movie is.

Alex Miller (49:24)

boy.

Toni Tresca (49:44)

without, I’m not reading any reviews in advance. I just want to go in and see what it’s like.

Alex Miller (49:47)

Okay.

Okay. And then the last one that I was going to mention is The Fantastic Four, which was a show that I grew up, know, cheesy cartoon on Saturday morning cartoons back in the day that I’d be curious to see how that comes up. It’s certainly not the first film version of The Fantastic Four, but I think this one comes with a lot of expectation.

Toni Tresca (50:09)

Yeah, it’s like this one’s got Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby in the lead. Good supporting cast it looks like. ⁓ I would say that my biggest hold up, like the trailers look pretty interesting, the cast is strong. It’s just Marvel’s track record at the moment. I’m like, do they actually know how to make like a good movie, like an interesting, compelling movie anymore? I think this might be the test of that.

Alex Miller (50:37)

Yeah, yeah, it’ll be interesting to see. Pedro Pascual is also starting to, know, he’s kind of seems like he’s sort of new on the scene. He’s kind of blown up and like in the last what, you know, 10 years, maybe even less, but he’s, he’s already getting a little bit old for that kind of a role. ⁓ It seems like but, you know, he just everybody wants to hire him for everything. And he is he’s a great actor. So

Toni Tresca (50:58)

He is. I’m personally

more excited for Pedro Pascal’s turn in the, it’s not a blockbuster, but it is a, it’s a Ari Aster’s new Western film, Eddington, which is set during the COVID-19 pandemic and stars Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix as two people on opposite sides of the political spectrum going back and forth. It seems really moody. People are really angry about it.

Alex Miller (51:21)

wow.

Toni Tresca (51:25)

already, so I’m just curious to see what all that’s about.

Alex Miller (51:30)

Wow, okay, yeah, definitely, Eddington. All right, well, one of the things that kicked this off was a story that I came across in Variety, and they were talking about, they’d interviewed a bunch of movie cinema executives, I guess, or exhibition executives, as they called them in this survey, and talked about how a lot of them seem to think that the movie theater has less than 20 years remaining as a viable business model, and some of them think even less than that. And it seems…

You know, it seemed for like, almost like a decade ago, we all thought like the movies were gonna, movie theaters were kind of going by the wayside. Then I don’t know, I feel like they had a little bit of a resurgence after the pandemic. And you know, there’s been some interesting things like the movie pass at AMC, which you have and use all the time, which is why you’re always going to movies. What’s your take? mean, what do you think we’ll lose if we don’t have movie theaters to go to?

Toni Tresca (52:17)

This is accurate.

Well, I think it’s similar to why I think that live theater is so important. It’s a really critical point of connection in which people from all different backgrounds and walks of life come together and choose to sit in community for an hour and a half or more. I think that there is something really sad and kind of dystopian about this idea that

or we can just get everything out of entertainment in our own isolated environments alone by ourselves. And that’s like the peak of what we should look for in art and creation. And so I really personally, and why I have the AMC pass and why I go often three or more times a week to the theater is I love going to the theater and talking to people as they’re coming out or hearing people react in real time to this.

things that are going on on the big screen. And I had been feeling kind of pessimistic about the movie theaters as well, but this summer has really picked up. have been, it feels like every, a lot, most weekends have big event films that are getting people out to the theaters. And I think that is, if I was going to make a prediction, I’m not sure if I agree with this movie theaters only have 20 years left, but I do think that perhaps,

we only have a certain amount of time where we’re gonna be showing a variety of films on the big screen. I think I do, I am kind of inclined to agree with the argument that movie theaters, like what’s kind of happening in the live theater space, are moving to like, people will only come out to events. They’re not just gonna come out if it doesn’t feel like they need to leave the house. And so what does that mean? That means only the bigger budget ones or movies that make you feel like you’re missing out on something.

are gonna be the ones that hit big. And I do think that there we will continue to see a winnowing of like mid to small budget films, perhaps getting a theatrical release, which is disappointing, but I guess perhaps an inevitable path of a industry that’s been in decline for years.

Alex Miller (54:31)

Yeah, it is interesting though, if you think about like the AMC 24 in Highlands Ranch or I live is that is enormous 24 screens. And they often have a lot of smaller films there. You know, they’ve of course they’ve got all the big ones, but they also carry it, you know, some of those, some of those, you know, indie films, foreign films, you know, ⁓ reboots of, ⁓ you know, or just re releases of things like that. So I don’t know, it’s, what do you do with a space like that? You know, I mean,

gosh, I would hate to see it be empty. And I really, you I don’t go to the cinema very often. And like you said, usually, I’m one of those people who just goes to like the big action-y films like Dune or Mission Impossible, that kind of stuff. And it’s not that I don’t like the experience or I even don’t think it’s too expensive. I’m just, you know, maybe I’m lazy, but I don’t know. Of course, I go out to the theater all the time. I don’t know, don’t know. Maybe I should go to the movies more. Because I do enjoy it. And you know, and then plus they upgraded the chairs, the seats so much in these theaters too.

Toni Tresca (55:09)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you know, and maybe call me an optimist here, but I also kind of, I kind of feel that perhaps with the advantage of like AI and its acceleration and expansion, perhaps there will just continue to be a pre, there could be kind of a pushback to that and people kind of choosing to cherish like those live experiences and people kind of, and people created content rather than crap on the screens or AI stuff. So I don’t know, maybe I call.

Call me a hopeless optimist, but I, for one, I would like to see the human race and the human spirit continue to endure and create.

Alex Miller (56:06)

Absolutely.

Toni Tresca (56:09)

Well, that is it for our conversation about films. We are now going to toss it to Alex’s interview with playwright Bryce Edmonds, whose zombie piece, Join or Die, opens in August.

Alex Miller (56:26)

All right, we are here with playwright Bryce Edmonds. Call it in. Are you in Boise right now?

Bryce Edmonds (56:32)

I’m here in Boulder now.

Alex Miller (56:33)

Oh, you’re in Boulder, because you’re originally from Boulder,

Bryce Edmonds (56:36)

No, I’m originally from New Jersey, but I lived here. How is it? You know, I was traveling once and no matter like backpacking around the world, no matter where I went, everyone would be like armpit of America, New Jersey. Like, how do you know that?

Alex Miller (56:39)

What exit?

I grew up on Long Island so the wood exit thing is always the joke but you know New Jersey has some very beautiful areas to it. Now, I mean a lot of people I think see the northern part when they’re, you know, around New York City and it’s got it’s got all the really nasty industrial areas and stuff but also lots but anyway. So we’re here to talk about your play Join or Die which is a zombie thing which piqued my interest because I’m a zombie.

Bryce Edmonds (56:58)

It’s it’s true. It’s not the Garden State for no reason, Alex.

for sure.

Alex Miller (57:19)

fan like many of us. ⁓ And so I wanted to ask you a little bit about this play. ⁓ So this is ⁓ a mashup of some sort of historical context with zombies. So can you explain a little bit about what’s the story about?

Bryce Edmonds (57:33)

for sure. So it is a zombie horror comedy. And basically the tagline is, know, sometime in the future, somewhere in the US, the former US, six people meet in secret to try to jumpstart government while zombies rage outside. basically the milieu is sort of, ⁓ it kind of blossoms as the play goes along. You’re not sure where you are quite yet.

you know, information comes to you and meanwhile zombies are raging and other stuff is going on. So that’s the basics.

Alex Miller (58:12)

Okay, well, what kind of zombies are these? Are they fast, slow? Are they plague zombies? Are they living dead? What’s the story there?

Bryce Edmonds (58:21)

So, know, Alex, as I answer some of these questions, I might obfuscate a little bit. might kind of, I might kind of like lean towards the answer. And what I mean is the play is set up as discovery. So as things go along, information is given out. So you’ll develop an idea of what you’re seeing and that idea will grow as you experience the play, right? So my short answer to your question is ⁓ neither and both.

And so ⁓ in my show, there’s actually three different types of zombies and they act in different ways and there are reasons for that and we kind of get into that as the play goes along.

Alex Miller (59:04)

So, there’s a historical backdrop to this show. What can you tell us about that?

Bryce Edmonds (59:08)

For sure, yeah. So, know, Alex, the heart of this is ⁓ an investigation of government. What is it? Why do we have it? How does it work? Now, I don’t mean like in the minutia, the wonkiness. I mean, why do we have government? Why do human beings need that? Or do they need that? Or is it, you know what I mean? So it’s sort of a, it’s an investigation into sort of government as an idea.

And so to do that, ⁓ yeah, I’m looking back at our own history. I’m looking back at the Magna Carta. I’m looking back at, what happened in Greece and Rome and et cetera. Right. So all of these things kind of inform how these six people are talking about the the the goal that they have to to jumpstart government because they feel that it must be there for society to reform.

for society to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to put it in our context.

Alex Miller (1:00:12)

Okay. So in the podcast that this will be part of, which I just recorded the main part of this morning with my colleague, Tony Truska, we were talking about this show and zombies in general. you know, we were talking about how zombies are often, sometimes they’re the comic relief. They’re a mirror to the character, to the human characters and more of a reflection. And, you know, a lot of times in some of these zombie properties that we’re familiar with that, you know, after a while, the characters, you know, the humans get pretty good at whacking them.

and they’re not as much of a threat as they are something else. So what role do the zombies play in join or die?

Bryce Edmonds (1:00:50)

Yeah, for sure. That’s a great question, Alex. ⁓ You know, I’m a little bit older, obviously. You know, George Romero, you know, I can remember being 11 years old and they showed Night of the Living Dead at our school after school. I’ve never been more terrified walking home in the dark in my entire life. Yeah. Yeah. A totally different world we grew up in. But anyway, you know.

Alex Miller (1:01:08)

That’s so funny. Yeah, I was just saying the same thing.

Bryce Edmonds (1:01:17)

It’s just it’s such a it’s just so ripe now for, like you said, to use it kind of in any way you want to. Right. There there are that we’ve developed this character that so often is a reflection of social change or, you know, problems in our society, whatever it is. And for whatever reason, I think we’ve all taken that on like here’s a genre that we love to watch that has.

that is almost always presenting something other than just zombie carnage. You know what I mean? And so as I thought about this and when the play started, we actually started developing it through some device theater techniques. And so as we started working on it, I was like, we were talking about how, what is the media right now that people love that sucks them immediately, right? They love cop shows. They love medical shows.

They love zombie shows. And as soon as we started talking about zombie shows, I was like, well, of course it’s a zombie. Of course there’s a zombie apocalypse. so within that, we can use those zombies. Like I said, there’s three different types of zombies. you know, this is sort of a formula. It’s a formula experiment. Can I use the zombies to mean more than just one thing?

Alex Miller (1:02:37)

Okay.

Bryce Edmonds (1:02:38)

Does that make sense?

Alex Miller (1:02:40)

Yeah, yeah, it would probably make more sense after I see it. so ⁓ I think ⁓ we think about live theater. I think one of the reasons that horror isn’t necessarily done that much and zombies in particular, just because the stage effects are tricky. know, zombie, zombie makeup is not not easy to do to make it look realistic. What are some of the ways that you’re tackling just those production aspects?

Bryce Edmonds (1:02:41)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, that’s such a question, Alex. I think a lot of it we will kind of be leaning into the actors. And what I mean is, you know, the sets are gonna be fairly minimalist. The power of that play, the power of the performance is gonna be what carries it.

Right? It’s not a huge set. I’m an independent guy doing a little show. So we have limited resources and we’re doing our best with it. But what we can do is like, for instance, great sound effects. A buddy of mine in LA is a sound designer is working with me on that. We’re developing some projections right now so we can kind of add elements, but still leave it to the performers to really sell those moments. Sometimes there’ll be more makeup, you know, et cetera, but

Most of the time, we’re just gonna rely on the actors, your imagination, and some lights. Yeah.

Alex Miller (1:04:02)

Okay. Now,

⁓ who is producing this show? it associated with a theater company here in Colorado? I know it’s going to be at the Dairy Center in Boulder.

Bryce Edmonds (1:04:09)

Yeah, it is. So ⁓ I’m working with the Wishbone Theater Collective. So background story is that I developed this play at the beginning with a friend of mine and she is a long form improv actor. ⁓ So we started this together. We were using DeVaia’s theater techniques at the beginning. And then from there, I wrote the script around some big chunks of what we did there.

⁓ Unfortunately, Laurie’s life, I won’t get too far into it, but she just had a bunch of stuff go on in her personal life and she had to back out. now it’s us, but mainly, sorry. Let me do that again. It’s us, but mainly it’s me at this point.

Alex Miller (1:04:54)

Okay. And so do you let you I thought Laura said that you live in in Idaho.

Bryce Edmonds (1:05:00)

I do, yeah. I

live in Idaho now, but I lived in Boulder from about 2000 to 2009. So I spent a pretty good chunk of time here. So been to the dairy many times. And so honestly, Alex, I thought there was no way I’d ever be able to put on a show there, but it turned out they had an open week. And so off we go.

Alex Miller (1:05:20)

Okay, are you going to be in the, is it the grace game? that the smaller theater?

Bryce Edmonds (1:05:24)

It’s like the middle one. It’s not, there’s a, yeah, the Carson I think is even smaller, but yeah. Yep.

Alex Miller (1:05:25)

Okay.

Okay.

Great. And so what are the dates that this show is going to be there?

Bryce Edmonds (1:05:36)

We’re running from the 21st through the 24th. It’ll be five shows, two on Saturday. And Friday night, we’re gonna run a talkback. So we’ll be there kinda hanging out after the show and discussing things with the audience, et cetera. So that’s the general schedule right now. Yeah.

Alex Miller (1:05:53)

Okay. And

can I ask just a little bit about your background? this, ⁓ have you written a lot of plays before or where does this fit in with your career?

Bryce Edmonds (1:06:02)

Yeah, that’s a good question again, Alex. So I’m a writer. I’ve been a writer for decades. ⁓ Mostly, you’d never know it because it’s on the packaging you read. It’s on the you know, it’s the product name that you bought. ⁓ But as they say in Hollywood, what I really want to do is direct. So along the way, I make short films. ⁓ I’m a creative in general, I have a band with my partner and some friends, you know, etc. So ⁓ yeah, I’m a generally creative, but this is my first play.

No, no, it’s a world premiere play and a world premiere me writing a play. ⁓

Alex Miller (1:06:33)

Okay.

And is it like a two act? Is it full length play? ⁓ And then have you had pretty good luck casting some good actors for it?

Bryce Edmonds (1:06:41)

Yeah, it will be. Yep, two hours with intermission. So.

You know, Alex, ⁓ it’s been so much fun reaching out and, you know, a lot because of the timing, you know, again, I will admit to being a sort of dilettante, right? I kind of, I’m dropping into the theater world. ⁓ I don’t know how it works, but I have enough people around me to kind of help, right? So it’s been so much fun to come in here and see who’s available when.

figure out the theater schedule and et cetera. So ⁓ the acting pool is a little bit smaller because I was late to the game, but we found some great folks here in town in Denver and et cetera. So I’m looking forward to hanging out with them and working on it.

Alex Miller (1:07:31)

Okay, so not only your first play that you’ve written, you’re also directing. So I’m assuming this is your first play you’ve ever directed.

Bryce Edmonds (1:07:36)

First play I’ve ever directed. I’ve directed, again,

I’ve directed stuff before, commercials, short films, stuff like that. So it’s not an entirely different skill set, but it is different.

Alex Miller (1:07:48)

Okay. All right. Well, you sound a little like me. I’m a marketing content and stuff like that on the side in between my more fun stuff with the theater and, and whatever. So, you know, you gotta, you gotta do what you gotta do. You can’t always support yourself with the actual thing you’d rather be doing, I guess, but

Bryce Edmonds (1:08:03)

That’s right. What do they tell you in art school? The best thing you can do to be a successful artist is get a trust fund.

Alex Miller (1:08:08)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

All right, well, Bryce Edmond, playwright of Join or Die will be at the Dairy Center here ⁓ in August. So best of luck, break legs all around and I hope I can get out there and see it.

Bryce Edmonds (1:08:24)

Thank you Alex so much for the time. And one last thing, just so everyone knows, you this play is about democracy. So we’ve set it up with the dairy so that we will have $5 tickets at the door. And that’s for, if the seats don’t sell, show up an hour before there might be a $5 ticket. And the five, I would have made it free, but we have to pay the dairy and there are people have to eat and stuff. So yeah, that’s just another part. We want anyone who can see it to be able to see it.

And Alex, one more part that we didn’t talk about if I can. This play is entirely gender casting neutral. Actually, it’s everything casting neutral. So I wrote this play so that every part can be played by any human. ⁓ Doesn’t matter who they are, age, race, gender, it doesn’t matter. So it’s been a very interesting experiment just to open that up, open that door.

and see is this something I can accomplish? Can I get to the end of this using no pronouns? ⁓ So it’s been interesting. It’ll be great to see what happens on the ground and ⁓ see how people respond to that. Yeah. Yeah.

Alex Miller (1:09:37)

Okay, got it. Yeah, that sounds cool.

All right, well, Bryce, thanks again and best of luck to you.

Bryce Edmonds (1:09:43)

Thanks so much, Alex. Hope to see you at the show.

Alex Miller (1:09:48)

All right, we are back. So we’re ready to hit this week’s Colorado Headliners. These are some of the upcoming shows we think you should know about in no particular order. ⁓ Tony, what do you have to start? Let me take that again, because I should have said something about. All right, well, that’s your zombie fix for the week. Looking forward to going and checking out Bryce’s show at the Dairy, hopefully, ⁓ in August sometime. That sounds pretty cool. ⁓ Yeah.

Toni Tresca (1:10:14)

Yeah, absolutely.

Alex Miller (1:10:16)

So all right, now we’re ready to hit this weekend’s, this week’s Colorado Headliners. These are some of the upcoming shows that we think you should know about in no particular order. Tony, what do you have to start?

Toni Tresca (1:10:27)

I’m kicking us off with an oldie but a goodie. Theater Aspen just kicked off its production of Mamma Mia on July 5th. This is the ABBA musical about the mother-daughter who the mom reveals that she has three men who could potentially be her father and they go on this very wacky adventure in Greece at the daughter’s wedding to kind of discover

Alex Miller (1:10:36)

Yeah

Toni Tresca (1:10:55)

who the father is. It’s very fun, it’s very silly. You’ve probably seen it before, but you maybe have never seen it out in either Aspen’s outdoor amphitheater space. And so if you’re in the area and you’ve got some downtime after your outdoor activities, why not head over to Mamma Mia? You know what you’re gonna get.

Alex Miller (1:11:06)

Yeah.

You just,

yep, you just spent $3,000 at the Prada store. You can wander over and check out Mamma Mia there in Aspen. My first headliner is Some Like It Hot. So this is gonna be in residence at the Denver Center Buell Theater, July 8th through 20th. I know you’re gonna be out at it. Our other correspondent, Kim Nicoletti, is gonna be checking that out and doing our review. So, you know, this is one of four four Tonys, including best choreography, best costumes. ⁓ Also, it’s a…

Toni Tresca (1:11:21)

Hahaha

That’s right.

Alex Miller (1:11:42)

All Out Dance Spectacular is what the New York Times said about it. So it’s based on this old Marilyn Monroe film and it’s ⁓ set during Chicago during Prohibition and it’s, I guess it’s kind of like Nuns on the Run, kind of two musicians forced to flee after witnessing a mob hit. So actually I shouldn’t say like Nuns on the Run, Nuns on the Run was clearly.

maybe ripped off from this plot is what it sounds like. But anyway, I’m sure that’ll be a lot of fun. I’m curious to hear what you think of it.

Toni Tresca (1:12:14)

I was sold once I learned that there’s multiple tap dancing numbers. And ⁓ I love a tap. I love a tap dancing number. So I do have to say I am obligated to see it. And I’m fascinated to see how the ⁓ element of the cross dressing is updated because what that plot description notably left out is the two people on the run dress up, dress themselves up as women to go and escape.

Alex Miller (1:12:19)

You love the tap. Tony loves the tap. Yep.

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (1:12:43)

from these gangsters. join an all female band of musicians. And so I am curious to see how that element plays in 2025.

Alex Miller (1:12:51)

Yeah, for sure.

Toni Tresca (1:12:54)

My next headliner is a burlesque show. It’s a Nightmare on Strip Street, a burlesque parody taking place at the ARC in Denver. This is where we saw the Julie Tovey’s GIF-I production of Hedwig last season. And this is from the producers of the Empire Strips Back.

Alex Miller (1:13:02)

Woo.

Toni Tresca (1:13:16)

That’s the Star Wars parody burlesque show. And this is a stage show that slashes its way through classic horror movies, including Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Chuck E’s, and Scream, and many more. And so I will be attending this this weekend. I’m a big horror fan. I’m curious to see what this looks like and praying to God that this is better than the Saw the musical parody.

Alex Miller (1:13:18)

huh.

It sounds like it. mean, it’s got to be somewhat more interesting than that. So great. Well, my next one is a little more traditional, The Barber of Seville. This is the opera at Central City Opera House playing through August 3rd. So our reviewer, Cadelinsot, loved it. She said, just kind of raved about it. Said it was just a really great production of what’s known as opera’s most famous comedy from Rossini. And it’s just a…

just a really fast, funny ⁓ kind of show that and also a great opportunity to go up to the central city and cool off. They have that nice cool theater there and lots of stuff going up there. You can also go gamble your face off after the show or before, right?

Toni Tresca (1:14:24)

That’s right, and pretty soon I hear you might be able to go hit up an adults only stripping club or dance club. I hear that there are plans to build ⁓ a new kind of adult entertainment venue right near Central City, which, an opera house, which people are up in arms about.

Alex Miller (1:14:32)

What?

boy, I bet. I remember back in Summit County there was a guy who wanted to open a strip club in Frisco. And yeah, people lined up, even in a pretty liberal place like Frisco, people were still like, no thanks.

Toni Tresca (1:14:49)

Mmm.

People didn’t want to get frisky and frisco? I’m shocked.

Alex Miller (1:14:58)

Nope. ⁓

Toni Tresca (1:15:01)

Well, I’ll turn now to my next headliner. No stripping in this one. This is a show from Audacious Immersive. It’s their legally distinct comic parody of Dungeons and Dragons, Woodlands and Wyverns? Traders at Baldur’s Door? I think I’m saying that word right. It’s spelled W-Y-V-E-R-N-S. This takes place at the First Baptist Church in Denver.

Alex Miller (1:15:18)

Yeah. I think so.

Toni Tresca (1:15:29)

Don’t let the name scare you. This church is very friendly. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke here back in the 60s. Audacious Immersive has used this space in the past for its performances. So they know what they’re doing in here. And they say that in this experience, audience members will make choices for your character, directing them how to behave and react to the fantastical elements around them on your quest to save Boulder’s door.

Alex Miller (1:15:55)

Yeah, yeah, I’m looking forward to checking this out. think I’m going on the 18th or something like that. ⁓ But yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun, audacious. And also it was cool. They sent out, ⁓ they actually had to kind of reach out and get physical addresses, but they sent this, you know, an invite in the mail looking like, ⁓ as my family said, it looked like I’d gotten my invitation to Hogwarts. Yeah. Yeah, Steele. Yeah, yeah.

Toni Tresca (1:16:18)

It did. It had like a really fancy stamp, like golden stamp on the back of it.

It was, or is it steel? Yeah, it was in this old letter looking thing. It was written in very fancy font, handwritten, I would add. Very, very cool.

Alex Miller (1:16:31)

Yeah. so

props to Ren Manley and crew for doing something innovative in the non decidedly non digital space. So my next headliner is one we’ve mentioned already, but worth mentioning again what the Constitution means to me at theater Silco and Sylvathorne July 11 through August 3, starring Missy Moore. So this is a show that I still haven’t seen yet. So I’m going to maybe try and make it up to this one. But you know, it’s it’s ⁓

play where she character resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between a gathering of four generations of women and founding doc and the founding document that shaped their lives. So think that one will be a real cool one to check out.

Toni Tresca (1:17:13)

Yeah, I would imagine so I saw that production with Jess Robly in the main role when Betsy did it ⁓ Was that two years ago now? ⁓ It was a very strong production. It’s a great script I think if I think you definitely enjoy it and I missy seems like she I haven’t ever seen her I’ve never seen her act so I would be curious to see what that looks like

Alex Miller (1:17:20)

Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

yeah,

she was in a one woman show for Entodo 2 maybe about five years ago. was great in that. So she’s definitely done the one woman thing before.

Toni Tresca (1:17:40)

⁓

Nice. My next pick is for those who are looking for some 90s nostalgia. D-Town, this time it’s personal, over at the People’s Building in Aurora on July 14th. This show has over 30 dudes trying to recreate NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys, complete with dodgy choreography, midlife crisis hair flips, and more nostalgia than your yearbook. This is exactly what it sounds like.

Alex Miller (1:17:55)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (1:18:13)

It’s Denver’s number one over 30 boy band who blast through nostalgic hits in a silly 90 minute stage show.

Alex Miller (1:18:16)

you

Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun. We had him on the podcast earlier this year to talk about another show that they were doing. So check that out if you get a chance if you’re in Aurora.

Toni Tresca (1:18:30)

And I was doing a little bit of research. Apparently this show is available to travel up to 200 miles. So if you want the D-Town boys to come to you, maybe, yeah, hit them up, act now. ⁓

Alex Miller (1:18:40)

Act now! They’re gonna be sewn out left and right so yeah I’m sure that’d

a lot of fun to have those guys show up and do a bar mitzvah or something like that. Yeah oh yeah for sure. All right my next one is a little off the theater path but it says Cirque du Soleil is coming back into town with their show Echo which will be at the ball arena in the sort of the parking lot there they’ll have their big tent set up July 12th.

Toni Tresca (1:18:52)

Or like a bachelorette party or something?

Alex Miller (1:19:09)

through August 17th. So, you know, I was looking at the description of it, it’s like, it sounds like a Cirque du Soleil show, but you know, they’re not, they’re not nothing. They’re really amazing to go see if you haven’t seen them. If you’ve seen Ariel, if you’ve seen acrobatics in any other way, you’ve never seen it quite like Cirque du Soleil does it. are, this is the crème de la crème of these types of performances and artists. And it really is a lot of fun to check out.

Toni Tresca (1:19:37)

Totally. I’ve never seen a Cirque du Soleil show though. I’ve only seen the clips online. I, yeah, maybe I need to remedy that at some point.

My final headliner for this week is a solo performance created by Thaddeus Phillips. It’s called Around the World in 80 Toys. It’s gonna be over at Bunkport Theater in Denver from July 19th through August 3rd. And Thaddeus Phillips, he’s fresh off of creating, co-writing, designing, and directing Disney’s new musical, The Magic Box, which is kind of a

combination of a lot of its shows that they do. He’s now back at Bunfort with a solo performance based on the last days of Georges Malais, who is a French filmmaker and the inventor of cinema who got stuck working in a tiny toy shop in a Paris train station in 1925. And so he uses magical toy box with 80 small toys and a large screen to create this homage to cinema filled with toys, figures, maps and a

of objects.

Alex Miller (1:20:45)

that sounds super cool. was that was the filmmaker that made that trip to the moon film, right? That really early. That’s a great that’s a great.

Toni Tresca (1:20:53)

That is him, yeah. And so

I am gonna be reviewing this for On Stage Colorado. I am very curious to see what this show is all about. It sounds like a very fringe style show. But I’ll be curious. I always like these quirky one person shows.

Alex Miller (1:21:07)

Yeah, it does.

All right, my last show is Flyin’ West. This is the final show of the season for TheaterWorks at the end center there in Colorado Springs. Runs July 10th through 27th. So this is directed by Marissa Hebert down there. And it’s about the 1890s Kansas homesteading Dove Sisters in the black town of Nicodemus. it’s a story about, sounds like speculators are showing up trying to buy up the town from the.

from the outside and an unsavory brother-in-law who might break up the family from within. it definitely sounds like a ⁓ drama. I’m not familiar with this play, but I guess it’s fairly well known by Pearl Kleege or Kleege.

Toni Tresca (1:21:56)

Yeah, Pearl Cleage is definitely kind of a very well-known playwright. Blues for Alabama is probably her most famous play, which is Firehouse. Did they just do that or are they doing that soon? ⁓

Alex Miller (1:22:12)

Yeah, I can’t remember.

Toni Tresca (1:22:14)

Either way, yeah, she’s an African-American playwright who’s pretty prolific. I’ve also not seen this show, but TheaterWorks usually does a pretty strong job.

Well, that is it for this week’s Colorado Headliners and brings us to the end of the podcast for this week. So if people are still hungry for more theater content, Alex, what can people check out on the OnStage Colorado website?

Alex Miller (1:22:40)

Yeah, well, we’ve got reviews of what I was talking about, that Meow Wolf thing, also ⁓ Barbara of Seville is up there. We’ll have reviews soon of some of the shows we’ve talked about, Flyin’ West, April will be at. ⁓ our correspondent Kim Nicoletti is gonna be checking out the Adam’s Mystery Playhouse, which we’ve never done a review of. They have a show called Murder at the Tiki Bar, and she wanted to go check it out. So we’ll have that, which will be great to have. ⁓

someone out there that’s a popular place and they seem to be hanging on year after year. ⁓ Alice Catalin will also be at Central City to review Once Upon a Mattress, which is kind of like their more regular musical that they do every year. I’m going to be at Richard II at Colorado Shakespeare Festival this Sunday. I’ll write about that. I’ve been trying to do my homework. Actually, somebody gave me a copy of Richard II a long time ago, so actually trying to read through it. Also looking at

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival also does these cool videos with the dramaturge to talk about. So if you ever go into a show, I’d recommend checking that out because Shakespeare, really helps to do your homework before you go in otherwise so you don’t get lost, especially in some of these more, in these histories that are a little more complicated. So yeah, so that’s what’s coming up.

Toni Tresca (1:23:57)

And then I’ll also be over at A Doll’s House Part Two this weekend by a newer company. What is their name? Denver Ensemble Theater? Or something like that. I’ve not seen a production by them. I guarantee by the time I write the review, I will know the name of the production company. And I’m gonna see that on its opening night Friday at DU. And I’m gonna be sharing my review about that for On Stage Colorado.

Alex Miller (1:24:08)

Theater ensemble or something? Yeah.

Cool,

yeah, I believe it is Denver Theater Ensemble. And yeah, the Denver Center did this play a few years back and it was just really great, great play. And it’ll be interesting to see how well, because one of the things about the Denver Center was that the costumes were really lavish and the sets and all that. So you’re probably gonna see a slightly different version of it, but hopefully the play stands up.

Toni Tresca (1:24:49)

Yeah, I’ve performed pieces of this show in my acting class in undergrad. I have a… ⁓ I’m very familiar with this text. And so I’m quite curious to see what it looks like staged in a much more intimate space than I imagine it was at the Denver Center. Yeah, it’s in the black box space. It’s not even one of the bigger spaces. So if you want to stay up to date on what is going on in theaters and comedy venues all across the state,

Subscribe to the OnStage Colorado newsletter, which comes out pretty much every Thursday.

Alex Miller (1:25:24)

Yeah, and next week for our bonus episode, we’re not sure what we’re doing or if we’re doing anything, but check it out. If we have something, we’ll do it. But yeah, it’s been a busy time. Tony’s still moving into his new place, so we’ll see what we can do. that’s, yeah. All right, that’s all for this week. Thanks so much for listening. I’m Alex Miller.

Toni Tresca (1:25:39)

That’s accurate, yeah.

And I’m Tony Tresca and we’ll see you at the show.

Editor & Publisher at  |  + posts

Alex Miller is editor and publisher of OnStage Colorado. He has a long background in journalism, including stints as the top editor at the Vail Daily, Summit Daily News, Summit Country Journal, Vail Trail and others. He’s also been an actor, director, playwright, artistic director and theatre board member and has been covering theatre in Colorado since 1995.

+ posts

A Colorado-based arts reporter originally from Mineola, Texas, who writes about the evolving world of theater and culture—with a focus on the financial realities of making art, emerging forms and leadership in the arts. He’s the Managing Editor of Bucket List Community Cafe, a contributor to Boulder Weekly, Denver Westword and co-host of the OnStage Colorado Podcast. He holds an MBA and an MA in Theatre & Performance Studies from CU Boulder, and his reporting and reviews combine business and artistic expertise.