Podcast: Brian Mallgrave talks scenic design

Plus, Top 10 Colorado Headliners, new reviews, news and more.

In this episode of the OnStage Colorado podcast, hosts Alex Miller and Toni Tresca dive into recent theatre experiences, news, and our Top 10 Colorado Headliners. Also featured: an in-depth conversation with acclaimed scenic designer Brian Mallgrave.

Brian Mallgrave

What We’ve Seen

• Assassins at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center – Sondheim’s provocative musical about presidential assassins
• Sweet and Lucky: Echo at Denver Center Off-Center – An immersive theatre piece about grief and memory
• Elizabeth the First in Her Own Words at BETC – Tammy Meneghini’s one-woman show
• Nine Inch Nails concert at Ball Arena
• Film on the Rocks final event at Red Rocks featuring Shrek 2 with over 9,000 attendees

Theatre News

Philip Sneed announces retirement — Arvada Center President and CEO Philip Sneed will retire June 30, 2026, after nearly 50 years with the organization. A nationwide search for his replacement begins fall 2025.

Remembering Wayne Kennedy — Beloved actor and sound designer Wayne Kennedy died August 16th at age 64 from pancreatic cancer. He was a regular at BDT Stage, Arvada Center and Candlelight Dinner Theatre.

Other News:

• Boulder filmmaker Joe Hill’s documentary Match in a Haystack about Ukrainian dancers is screening at Sie FilmCenter
• Barbara Lynn Jamison officially started as Opera Colorado’s new general director and CEO
• Firehouse Theater Company announces season launch party September 12th

Featured Interview: Scenic Designer Brian Mallgrave

Alex sits down with the prolific scenic designer who has created over 200 sets in Colorado since 2000. Topics include:

• His design process and why he avoids looking at other productions
• The transition from acting to scenic design
• Working with different budgets and technical constraints
• The role of hand-drawn designs vs. computer technology
• Environmental considerations in set construction

Upcoming Mallgrave designs:

• The Mousetrap at Arvada Center (opens September 5)
• Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill at Arvada Center Black Box
• Frozen at Arvada Center (opens November 21)

Colorado Headliners

This week’s recommended shows:

• The Spitfire Grill – A Musical, Durango Arts Center, August 15-31
• Summer Scream, Lakeside Amusement Park, Denver, August 21
• Creeplesque Burlesque Fest, Creepatorium, Denver, August 22-24
• The Screwtape Letters, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver, August 23
• The Legend of Anne Bonny, The People’s Building, Aurora, August 23-September 6
• Dixie’s Never Wear a Tube Top While Riding a Mechanical Bull, Denver Center Garner
• The Narrators: Grades, Buntport Theater, Denver, Aug. 20
• The Great Divide, Breckenridge Backstage Theatre, Aug. 21-24
• Medea, Upstart Crow, Boulder Dairy Center, Aug. 28-Sept. 14
• A Most Pleasant Comedy of Mucedorus, Upstart Crow, Dairy Center, Sept. 3-10

Looking Ahead

The hosts take next week off, returning Sept. 2 with a fall theatre look-ahead and an interview with sound designer Jason Ducat.

The OnStage Colorado podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at onstagecolorado.com for more Colorado theatre news.

Transcript

Created by AI orcs, mistakes were no doubt made.

Alex Miller (00:01)

All right. Hello and welcome to the OnStage Colorado podcast. Once again, I’m Alex Miller.

Toni Tresca (00:06)

And I’m Tony Tresca.

Alex Miller (00:08)

Yeah, and on this episode, the show will be as usual, breaking down some of the things we’ve seen recently, talking through some theater news and arts news, sharing our top 10 Colorado headliners, shows we think you might want to check out. And then I’ll share a conversation I had with scenic designer, Brian Malgrave, whose name is often mentioned on this show, right, Tony?

Toni Tresca (00:28)

Absolutely, he’s a favorite scenic designer of the podcast for sure and that’s because he does consistently impressive work on both a large scale like his work over at the Arvada Center as well as on smaller scale shows in community theaters.

Alex Miller (00:43)

Yep, absolutely. And you have really fun conversation with him talking about the craft and how he approaches scenic design and ⁓ some of the challenges and ⁓ the way things have changed over the years, things like that. So a lot of fun.

Toni Tresca (00:58)

So stick around for that conversation a little later in the podcast. But first, let’s turn to what we’ve seen since our last episode. Alex, I know I’ve been seeing you at the same theaters recently, but let’s kick us off. What have you seen?

Alex Miller (01:08)

I

Yeah, so we were both at Assassin’s at Miner’s Alley on, what was it, Sunday, we were at Sunday matinee. And then we were at Sweet and Lucky, which is the Denver Center’s off center production on, what was that, Friday? ⁓

Toni Tresca (01:27)

That

was Saturday night, it’s opening.

Alex Miller (01:28)

Saturday.

And then I also caught last week on Thursday, Elizabeth the first in her own words at Betsy. So plenty to talk about there. ⁓ So assassins is like, know, as you always like to point out, I’m not a big Sondheim fan. This didn’t change my opinion of Sondheim. And not because I didn’t think I thought it was a good production. thought, you know, was Ward Sheryl directed this really good cast. ⁓ Really interesting ⁓ depiction of all these presidential assassins and the way

You know, actually the story was pretty interesting. I just, I can’t get past the music is like, for one thing, I thought all the songs were fairly forgettable. couldn’t name any of them after the show. And they’re also in this discordant, I don’t even know how to describe it. Maybe I’m a Philistine about this kind of music, but I just don’t find it enjoyable.

Toni Tresca (02:17)

And I think that kind of the kind of dissonant dark ⁓ quality of the music, which was particularly amplified by music director David Nels, who was center throughout the show. And he was playing on this like tiny piano that really added to that dissonant feel. I think that works for this production in which you’re supposed to always feel kind of uncomfortable and like things don’t resolve quite how you want them to.

Alex Miller (02:44)

Agreed.

Toni Tresca (02:44)

But I can

also understand why musically it’s maybe not the most fun to listen to compared to something like Waitress.

Alex Miller (02:51)

Yeah, yeah, if there ever was a place for that kind of sort of unsettling music, it’s here because they’re all basically nine disturbed personalities of various kinds. And it’s really interesting the way they kind of they stumble into each other’s timelines. You know, you’ve got John Wilkes Booth trying to talk Lee Harvey Oswald into shooting Kennedy and stuff like that. It’s very interesting.

Toni Tresca (03:17)

Yeah, I thought this production was very well done by Warren and the team at Miners Alley. Lots of really strong performances across the board. You mentioned ⁓ Drew as John Wilkes Booth already. was very really a really strong leading performance, kind of this archetype of what an American assassin could look like. ⁓ Julia Tobey is the proprietor, this very devil like figure who is clearly kind of manipulating all of these people here.

Alex Miller (03:46)

handing out guns at the top of the show.

Toni Tresca (03:46)

a clerk

literally. And then I thought that was there was kind of fittingly paralleled at the end, Warren kind of there’s a very striking image at the very end of the play in which the audiences then handed the gun, everybody in the show then hands it to them, which I thought was kind of really fascinating and kind of this iterates this idea that’s been repeated throughout the show that anyone could be this figure if they’re just pushed far enough. And you’re like,

That’s a really scary, chilling message, but it rings really true in our time.

Alex Miller (04:17)

Yeah, yeah, or if you’re just, if you just really want to be a headline, you know, there was, there was definitely some talk about like you’re a nobody, shoot a president and you’ll be remembered for all time. Remember Brutus? Yeah, we’re still talking about him. Yeah. And also really great stagecraft, the set by Tina, Tina Brown. I’m sorry, Tina Anderson was, was really cool. It had, you know, had the

the presidents in silhouette in these sort of light up posters that they would shoot at when the time came. That was really cool. it was all, it had this very sort of ⁓ dirty circus feel to it. Like all the costumes were dirty and, you know, tattered and just sort of kind of icky.

Toni Tresca (05:03)

Absolutely, and I thought that the choice of having this tattered American flag hang from the backdrop that characters would enter in out of just really added to this really eerie tone and it told you so much about this world that we were entering that was kind of already broken and Falling apart at the seams just really impressive visual storytelling from the scenic design

Alex Miller (05:26)

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Alice Cadelan reviewed it for us. I haven’t posted a review yet, but she was a little harder on it. She didn’t think it was as strong a production as others she’d seen of it. But ⁓ that’s why we have different opinions. Another one we saw, so Sweet and Lucky Echo, was I think you and I were both a little disappointed because we’d both done stories. We had a podcast. We had Charlie Miller from Off Center on here last week to talk about it. And it just didn’t quite…

meet up to, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting entirely, but I thought it was going to be bigger than it was.

Toni Tresca (06:02)

Definitely you feel the warehouse setting in this one. It’s not really able to effectively convince you that you’re anywhere else outside of this one singular room. The script feels very stuck and stagnant. ⁓ The actors are kind of repeating each other to create this echo effect throughout, which is kind of cool when it’s first introduced, but then becomes really stifling because it means the actors have to be very fixed. And so it doesn’t allow for lot of moments of genuine spontaneity.

or interactivity, even though the piece itself keeps telling you that your memories of grief matter, it refuses to allow that to be true by nature of how the story is structured. there’s just then a lot of dead space in which actors are just kind of meandering around this warehouse set. And I just never felt that the piece had anything larger to say about its themes beyond grief and memory are connected, which

If you’re gonna bring up this kind of sensitive subject of grief and make me think about people whom I’ve lost, you better have something more interesting, some more catharsis ⁓ to do. Otherwise, you’re just gonna leave me bummed out, which is what the show did.

Alex Miller (07:15)

Yeah, think, know, immersive theater is one of the things you don’t want to do is leave the audience wondering what’s going on and why they’re there. And I think there were some times where you could see people kind of looking at each other like, what’s this? And, know, it was really interesting. For me, it was very personal because in the last five years, I’ve done this three times with both with two family members and a friend’s mother who had passed and went through all of their stuff, which is kind of what about this, what this is about.

And there’s a whole lot more to that.

Toni Tresca (07:45)

Yeah, that’s definitely

the framing device for the piece, is that unboxing.

Alex Miller (07:50)

Yeah, and like when I was going through that, there was a real mix of emotions. Some of it was even anger. Like, why did they leave all this shit for us to clean up? Why didn’t they take care? You know, and they didn’t really touch on that. And there was just an ungodly number of boxes, you know, that was ostensibly, I guess, in this deceased couple’s home. And so a lot of that just wasn’t touched on. It just didn’t feel like the story was explored nearly as much as it could have, or that, you know, was thinking, you know, if you had

Toni Tresca (07:58)

Mm-hmm.

Alex Miller (08:18)

you know, let everybody’s probably gone through these things. Not everybody, but a lot of people, could have had some interesting conversations sparked among the audience members about, you know, dumb stuff that, you know, they had to deal with. you know, I don’t know. I just felt like there’s, like I said, maybe a lot of cards were left on the table.

Toni Tresca (08:36)

Absolutely. Yeah, I wrote in my review that’s coming out in Westward soon Hopefully by the time this is up, but I know that it may be it may be a day or so after I wrote that the universal is reached through the specific Sweet and Lucky Echo tries to start universal and ends up with nothing It’s just too vague and unspecific for its own good. You just cut you what you want something kind of personal or tangible

kind of grasp onto, but instead it just feels so emotionally repressed that it’s kind of hard to get into.

Alex Miller (09:11)

Yeah, I mean, I would say that I’m sure this is a fairly long run. think they’re going to be there for three or four months. So I’m sure it will evolve quite a bit along the way and they’ll find some of their beats and grooves as they go. But, you know, unless they’re actually changing the story, it’s going to have some of those those limitations. So, yeah. And then Elizabeth First in her own words is Tammy Amen and Jeannie. Betsy, this is a one woman show about Elizabeth the first ⁓ and ⁓

Toni Tresca (09:30)

Mm-hmm.

Alex Miller (09:39)

really, really cool performance. I would say there are definitely some people who would probably go to that and think, oh my God, kill me now. Because, you know, if you don’t have any interest in English history, it would just be hard to, but I do. And I think anybody going to that just from the title is not like they don’t know what it’s going to be. So I wouldn’t worry too much about that. think Tammy does a fantastic job and she’s done this show before. She did it at Edinburgh Fringe. She’s been doing it for a couple of years and really, really cool.

⁓ show about, you know, England’s probably most famous and often described as most successful or accomplished monarch.

Toni Tresca (10:20)

Yeah, it sounds like ⁓ a really polished version of the production that I saw before it headed to Edinburgh, which was already pretty good. But yeah, that’s great to hear that it’s continued to have a life.

Alex Miller (10:33)

Yeah, yeah, they added ⁓ at some point a guitarist who I wasn’t thrilled with. mean, there were some points where he’s plucking away and I thought distracting from, you know, what Tammy was saying. And one of the like little nit was that, you know, apparently Elizabeth I had terrible teeth, especially towards the end of her life. so she was doing a lot of, you know, kind of old people mouth motions, I guess, for lack of a better term. And it just got I think she probably could have done that back a little bit.

But on that really strong show and they keep selling out and they’ve added some more shows. So you’ve got some more opportunities to see it through next week if you get a chance to check it out at the Boulder Dairy Center.

Toni Tresca (11:15)

In addition to the two shows we’ve already discussed, I also did two other things this weekend. Not exactly theater, but definitely live performance, live event kind of things. First up was I went to the Nine Inch Nails concert over at Ball Arena on Friday night. One of my friends was in town. He’s a huge NIN fan. ⁓ And so he was like, we gotta go to this concert.

Alex Miller (11:32)

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (11:42)

I didn’t really know what to expect. can’t say that I know a ton of Nine Inch Nails songs myself. I’m more familiar with their film score work, but the concert was so fun. Everybody there was really nice. All the punks are just really kind souls. So was a really cool vibe in there. And then the production itself was quite elaborately produced. They had live video that was going the whole time that was kind of being integrated with visual effects throughout on these.

Alex Miller (11:48)

me neither.

Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (12:12)

screens, were switching stages, they had a center stage as well as the traditional kind of ⁓ concert stage at the front of the crowd. It was just very technically impressive show. And Trent Reznor, he still got those chops. He’s like still screaming his heart out.

Alex Miller (12:27)

huh. Right.

And you and Mack, your friend was saying that there was a real like kind of family vibe or like everybody was really kind and friendly, kind of like almost like a fish show or something.

Toni Tresca (12:38)

Literally, yeah, was, it was just, you don’t know, I didn’t know what to expect a year like some, but everybody there was just, cause I’ve been to some ball, some stuff at ball arena and people can be a little bit finicky cause it’s hard to get there. They’re pissed off at the bag policy or whatever on the way in, but everybody there was just in the best mood. So yeah, I, if you, if I can’t imagine that if you like Nine Inch Nails, you miss this concert.

Alex Miller (12:53)

Right.

Toni Tresca (13:08)

But yeah, it was a good time. And then I also checked out, I finally got over to a film on the rocks, which is an event hosted at Red Rocks by Denver Film. And this was the final event of the season. It was Shrek 2 with a Shrek rave before it. And it was completely sold out. So over 9,000 people gathered at Red Rocks to watch this and

Alex Miller (13:31)

Wow. ⁓ wow.

Toni Tresca (13:36)

participate in this rave before. I love Shrek 2, it’s one of my favorite films. So this was kind of, this was the perfect experience to kind of go and watch this in a communal setting. ⁓ I went with some friends, we dressed up as the three blind mice. We were, there were a ton of people in costumes like us, and it just was so joyous. We talked about in recent weeks, the kind of how movie theaters are struggling and it sucks to see some

things in smaller and smaller audiences, but it was just so awesome to be with over 9,000 other people laughing, cheering, booing at the villains all together. You’re just like, this is how movies were meant to be seen. And I think people really do want to show up for those big communal experiences if it’s for the right thing.

Alex Miller (14:13)

huh.

fantastic. Wow, I didn’t realize it was such an event in that they would sell out Red Rocks to show essentially an old movie.

Toni Tresca (14:35)

I mean, true, it’s 21 years old. out in Shrek 2, it came out in 2004. So yeah, it’s not like this is a new release or this is not something that you couldn’t purchase yourself. I mean, I have a DVD copy of Shrek 2. I could have stayed home and watched Shrek 2, but it hits different when you’re with that many people.

Alex Miller (14:52)

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah, I was gonna mention another thing I did on Friday night, took ⁓ my son Andy, was his 24th birthday. So we took him out to Nocturne, the jazz club there in Rhino. Well, you know, ⁓ it’s like a three course dinner along with they had a quintet that was really good. I’m not like a huge jazz fan, but that’s the kind of jazz I like, you know, was ⁓ really fun to get out there. I would say for what the cost is, the food was just kind of not.

the greatest in the world. mean, it’s pretty good, but overall it’s a really fun experience to get out there. ⁓ Be aware if you do go, it’s like going to, I know, I guess like a dinner theater. You can’t really talk a lot while the show’s going on, but it’s cool experience.

Toni Tresca (15:39)

Yeah, I know Andy’s been wanting to go to that for a while. how did, what did he think? Did it live up to the hype in his head?

Alex Miller (15:45)

He

yeah, he loved it. Yeah, he thought it was fantastic. So he felt he felt very fancy. I think he said so. All right. Well, let’s turn to the news. What is going on out there? We heard some big news from the Arvada Center this week.

Toni Tresca (15:54)

Well, that’s good.

Yeah, that’s right. Big breaking news. Philip Snead announced his retirement on Monday, August 18th, that will be effective June 30th, 2026. So a little while away, but he exactly wanted to just give the community a heads up about what was going on and his decision to step away. He’s a 40 year member of Actors Equity Association and his career at the Arvada Center started in 1976 when he performed

Alex Miller (16:12)

That’s a long, yeah, long runway.

Toni Tresca (16:29)

for the first time as a professional actor in The Contrast. then, yeah, was like, he goes all the way back. then acted in some other shows there. And his first foray behind the scenes at the center was when he worked as a scene shop employee in 1983. Then he spent a bunch of time in the California theater scene, returned to the Arvada Center in 2011 to direct The Lion in Winter in Twelfth Night.

Alex Miller (16:33)

Wow.

Toni Tresca (16:55)

And then in 2023, he was hired as the executive director, which the title was then later changed to president and CEO. And he said in the press release that leading the Arvada Center has been the greatest achievement of my working life. I am honored to have been able to play a key role in the organization during times of both crisis and opportunity. And I’m so proud that I can end my leadership career where I began my professional life in the arts almost 50 years ago.

Alex Miller (17:23)

Wow, that’s great. Yeah, somehow our paths never cross, but it’s hard to argue his impact making the Arvada Center a real powerhouse in regional theater with a long list of great shows that you can pretty much depend on if you go to the Arvada Center to see, even if you don’t love the show itself, the productions are always super strong.

Toni Tresca (17:43)

Absolutely. And he’s definitely weathered some interesting times during his over 12 years with the organizations, including the obvious pandemic in which even though they had to reduce budgets to 8 million during that time, he it’s now back up to back up to 36%, which is a massive accomplishment. He also helped transition from a department of the city of Aurora to being an independent nonprofit. That’s a pretty massive kind of

undertaking to have to navigate. He grew philanthropic support, increased programming for diverse efforts, and secured a bunch of different funding for the organization that previously had not been there for it, and just formed a bunch of partnerships with organizations, including the African Leadership Group, the Rocky Mountain Indian Chamber of Commerce, and then the Autism Community Store, just to name a few. So it’s clear that he’s leaving a legacy of

pretty big legacy over there and there will be some pretty big shoes to fill when he’s leaving.

Alex Miller (18:44)

Yeah.

Is there an heir apparent or are doing a big search?

Toni Tresca (18:48)

This is a great question. I have no idea if there is somebody in mind over there. I don’t have any special insight into that. I won’t claim it, but the press release did mention that the center would begin a search for its future president and CEO in fall 2025. This comprehensive nationwide search will be conducted by Campbell & Co. A position description and details will be available soon.

If you are an up and coming arts administrator who has a vision for how to lead the Arvada Center into the future, be on the lookout for this job description coming in the fall.

Alex Miller (19:24)

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, these search firms charge an awful lot of money to find people. It’s sometimes eye popping numbers, so be curious to know what they’ve got to pay Campbell and company. It’s a pretty good racket, think, looking for top people like that. All right, well, what else is in the mail bag?

Toni Tresca (19:45)

Well, a little bit, this next bit of news is a little bit on the sadder side. Actor and sound designer Wayne Kennedy has passed away. He died peacefully Saturday, August 16th of pancreatic cancer at age 64, according to reporting by John Moore of the Denver Gazette. Kennedy was diagnosed in April, 2024, which was just three months after BDT stage closed for good, a theater where he worked very regularly. And he had just finished

his run as a sound designer at the Arvada Center in great in Tasha Pierre and the Great Comet. Like I mentioned, he worked regularly at both BDT and the Arvada Center. He was cast in two shows at the DCPA and he worked a lot over at Candlelight Dinner Theater where he played his final role as the title character in Scrooge.

Alex Miller (20:33)

Yeah, definitely. Everybody had seen Wayne in lots of shows, particularly at BDT stage and in other stages as well. Really well known.

and beloved member of the Colorado theater community. to me, he’s just so young. Pancreatic cancer is a really tough one, apparently, a really hard one to get past. In fact, I have a friend of mine who runs an organization called Mission Cure, which is like a big philanthropy to try and find a cure. So if you’re interested in helping with the search for pancreatic cancer cures, missioncure.org. But yeah, very busy.

busy stage career for sure.

Toni Tresca (21:13)

Absolutely. One of his kind of seminal roles was the lead character in Fiddler on the Roof, which was the last performance I saw him in over at BDT stage. he really, he’s just so touching in that role and he’s such a kind figure off stage as well. It’s been really beautiful to see the outpouring of support and memories that people are sharing.

Alex Miller (21:20)

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (21:37)

online and discussing in person of his life and legacy. And if you want to learn more about that, I definitely recommend heading over to the Denver Gazette to check out John Moore’s excellent obituary.

Alex Miller (21:49)

Yeah, yeah, he does a really nice job there. by the way, John texted me, we were talking last week about his getting to his stories on the Gazette can be kind of hard and paywall. But he texted me and said his stories aren’t paywall. But since we were talking about them, did check and I still couldn’t quite get to it. I popped the URL into an incognito window and it worked okay. yeah, I don’t know, I’m not sure. Other than buying a subscription.

But yeah, it’s definitely worth checking out on there.

Toni Tresca (22:20)

Definitely. mean, he always does a really good job with these remembrances, whether it’s in the obituaries or features or in the in memoriam compilation that he does every year at the Henry Awards.

Alex Miller (22:32)

Yep, yep, he does. And it’s so important. In my many years as a newspaper editor, it was something I always felt was really important, a really top priority, make sure you got everything correct. And it means so much to the people left behind, of course, the family especially.

Toni Tresca (22:47)

Absolutely. Another cool bit of local news that was also first reported by John, a Boulder journalist and filmmaker, Joe Hill’s film, Match in a Haystack, is playing at 3 p.m. daily through August 22nd, except for Thursday at the Sea Film Center in Denver. This documentary follows eight members of Ukraine’s innovative female contemporary dance group as they navigate being young artists when their country is at war.

And the film itself is dedicated to a dancer who traded her ballet slippers for a bulletproof vest and was killed in the conflict. And just sounds like a really hard harrowing film, but it’s one that I’m planning to check out later today, actually.

Alex Miller (23:32)

Wow, yeah, who is Joe Hill?

Toni Tresca (23:35)

He’s this Boulder-born guy. He actually has a background in the arts. He is a tap dancer turned war reporter, which is not a sentence you say out loud often, or I can say honestly ever. I’ve never said that out loud, but that’s his background. And he initially was reporting what became Matching a Haystack as a vice project. But after that organization went bankrupt, he got a team together and produced this film.

Alex Miller (23:43)

Wow. No. ⁓

Hahaha

Toni Tresca (24:04)

himself because he just felt that this story needed to be told.

Alex Miller (24:08)

That’s fantastic. Yeah, you love to hear about a project that is so important that they just like, this has got to happen and self-produce. Anything else?

Toni Tresca (24:18)

Yeah, just wanted to quickly say Barbara Lynn Jamison, who was named to replace Greg Carpenter as the general director and CEO of Opera Colorado back in April is now officially on the clock working here in Colorado. Quote, Denver is a robust city that deserves a robust and exciting opera company as well. She told John Moore, I’m honored to join Opera Colorado at this meaningful moment in history.

Yeah, that’s quite an understatement, I would say. Colorado has been going through quite a few public struggles. They’ve announced major budget shortfalls. They’ve reduced their season from three main stage shows, now down to just two. And then also, obviously, Carpenter announced that he would be stepping down, which ushered in the company’s first major leadership transition in 20 years. It’s just been a really interesting time for them.

but she’s coming in on the pretty strong season of La Triviote and Madame Butterfly, which are two big operas that are going to put butts in seats.

Alex Miller (25:26)

Yeah,

for sure. Well, best of luck to Opera Colorado. City like Denver’s gotta have an opera.

Toni Tresca (25:33)

Absolutely. ⁓ Final bit of news from me. Just wanted to quickly say that Firehouse Theatre Company in Denver is hosting a season launch party on Friday, September 12th. They invite you to come celebrate with us, meet friends and actors, hear from each of the season’s directors, and see snippets from each play. Light refreshments will be served. And although there is no charge for the event, they ask that you let them know if you’re coming so that they can plan accordingly.

And if you do plan to go, they’ve got a sign up genius page set up for that event on their Facebook.

Alex Miller (26:08)

Yeah, there’s a number of season announcements coming up. know Aurora Fox is doing one. They also have new seats ⁓ to ⁓ debut that we’ve talked about and some other companies. All right, well, we’re going to take a quick break. And when we’re back, we’re going to go through our top 10 Colorado headliners, as well as my interview with scenic designer Brian Malgrave.

Alex Miller (26:35)

Onstage Colorado is brought to you in part by Miners Alley Performing Arts Center, whose production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins runs August 8th through September 14th. Assassins is a provocative, Tony Award-winning musical that explores the minds and motives of history’s most infamous figures who attempted to assassinate U.S. presidents, blending dark humor and compelling narratives to examine the American dream’s darker side. Tickets at minersalley.com. Also supporting Onstage Colorado is a Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater in Grand Lake.

Their 2025 summer season runs from June 6th all the way to 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 in Johnstown. 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 coloradocandalite.com.

We’re also supported by the Boulder Ensemble Theater Company whose production of Cry It Out plays August 1st through the 3rd at the Denver Savoy and at the Boulder Dairy Center August 8th through 24th.

Cry It Out is a smart and candid comedy about parenthood and class in America today and the hard choices all mothers make. Get tickets at BETC.org.

Alex Miller (27:58)

All right, we’re back and ready to hit this week’s Colorado Headliners. So these are some of the upcoming shows we think you should know about and in no particular order. what have you got to start?

Toni Tresca (28:08)

kicking us off with a musical that has already opened but it’s down in Durango and sounds pretty interesting so wanted to recommend it. Also apologies if there is some background noise I’ve currently got all of the city’s emergency vehicles outside my apartment.

Alex Miller (28:22)

You’re in the big city now, so you’re going

to get some sirens.

Toni Tresca (28:26)

That’s right. But it’s the musical, The Spitfire Grill. It’s being produced at the Durango Art Center, August 15th through the 31st. And it follows a troubled young parolee who’s yearning for a fresh start, follows her dreams to Wisconsin. It’s based on a page from an old travel book, and it kind of explores the healing power of community. And it’s set to a melodic folk inspired score. So if you’re in the area, definitely sounds like an intriguing production to check out.

Alex Miller (28:56)

All right. My first headliner is one we’ve talked about a little bit. Dixie’s never wear a tube top while riding a mechanical bull at the Denver Center Garner Galleria, August 20th through September 7th. We had Dixie on the podcast a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to mention it just to remind her that it’s your last chance to see Dixie Longgate in this iconic role she created. ⁓ sort of the opposite of Tammy Meningini in Elizabeth the First. She’s just this Alabama kind of ⁓ Hick character who’s talking about all of her ⁓

kind of trailer trashy life and stuff like that. yeah, definitely it’s a lot of fun.

Toni Tresca (29:33)

Yeah, if folks have not listened to the interview that you do with her, they are missing out. It’s really funny.

Alex Miller (29:40)

It was. It was a

lot of fun.

Toni Tresca (29:43)

My next pick is, it’s an event, it’s Summer Scream that takes place at the Lakeside Amusement Park, and this is a fundraiser for the Denver Film Group, which I mentioned earlier. They also do film on the rocks. They’re the organizers of the Denver Film Festival, and then they run the Sea Film Center in Denver. And this is their big summer party that features an open bar, unlimited rides at the Lakeside Amusement Park, immersive experiences, and more.

So if you want to support them and have a good fun time at this cultural hub, you can do that. And the theme this year is Camp Summer Scream. So something campy or something summer camp or something both are all accepted. And they’ve also got a film series screening going along in conjunction with this event that features fun, really fun things like Showgirls and Moonrise Kingdom.

that combine those campy and summer camp elements all in some all there and so just a good time and a good reminder to get out and support dindra film they’re the only non-profit film center in in the area and as we talked about it’s great to see as i talked about earlier it’s great to see films in big settings and this helps them make that possible

Alex Miller (30:58)

Yeah, absolutely. All right, my next headliner is The Narrators. This is from Bundport Theater. It’s a monthly, more or less monthly thing they do. This one’s on August 20th. So it’s a live storytelling ⁓ show and also a podcast. I guess they record it and you can listen to the podcast while I think they’re a little bit behind when they actually get the podcast live. But this one, the theme is grades. So I have…

no idea what that means but that’s the the glory of the narrators you go and you have no idea and it’s just a pay-pay-what-you-can kind of thing and always a lot of fun there out at Buntport.

Toni Tresca (31:35)

Absolutely, yeah. They’re definitely behind though. I think they haven’t released a podcast in over a year and a half or so, but it it’s really kind of preserves the integrity of the live show. It makes it more important to go out, I suppose.

Alex Miller (31:41)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yep.

Toni Tresca (31:52)

My next headliner is a festival that’s taking place over at the Creepatorium in South Denver, August 22nd through 24th, and it is a one-of-a-kind event produced by Consensual Circus and Alabastered Productions. It is a celebration of the unconventional and bizarre all-in-the-world burlesque. Basically, they are kind of billing this as anything that’s too weird for the other stages.

Alex Miller (32:21)

You

Toni Tresca (32:21)

ends up

in this festival. So it’s dedicated to performers who embrace the creepy, weird, horrifying, and just plain odd.

Alex Miller (32:30)

Creepatorium is a good place for that. Be curious to know what they’ve got coming up there around Halloween season this year. My next headliner is kind of more of like a work in progress. It’s called The Great Divide at the Breckenridge Backstage Theater. It’s this weekend, August 21st through 24th. So this is a new folk inspired original musical. It’s kind of like the early Colorado.

spirit ⁓ and kind of detail some of the rise of Breckenridge, which is a really, really colorful history that of course I covered, knew a lot about when I lived up there. Really ⁓ fascinating history there, the gold mines, the long winters and ⁓ that. It’s ⁓ cool because it was written by Brandon Smith, who’s been the creative producer there for ⁓ the last few years. So he writes and directs, so if you happen to be up

⁓ looking at ⁓ doing some hiking in the Breckenridge or even if you’re just going there to see this, you want to check out a great divide at the Backstage Theater either on Ridge Street in Breckenridge.

Toni Tresca (33:33)

Cool. My next pick is a one day event happening at the Ellie Cochran’s Opera House in Denver on August 23rd. It’s the Screwtape Letters. This is an adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s satirical story that follows Screwtape, who is a senior tempter in hell, as he schemes to capture the soul of an unsuspecting human on earth and reveals spiritual warfare in

to in order to capture that soul. So I, it’s interesting that this performance is being done in the Ellie Calkins Opera House itself, which is fairly big venue, ⁓ which is a bit of an understatement. ⁓ But yeah, it sounds like a really cool, it looks like a very cool visually interesting performance from the photos that I’ve seen of it. And so if you are at all interested in checking us out, it’s here for just one day. So get those tickets.

Alex Miller (34:12)

Yeah.

Yeah,

wow. All right, my next one going from a brand new production at the Backstage Theater at Upstart Crow is doing something that first debuted in 431 BC, that is Medea. So this is a story from ancient Greece. It’s a revenge story. It’s got King Creon, his daughter, and it’s a Euripides play that I have never seen. And it’s like,

I know if, I’d love to get out and see this if I can get to it, because it’s certainly stood the test of time. People are still doing it. If you’re Euripides lying there in your grave, thinking, wow, man, I never thought I’d go this far.

Toni Tresca (35:13)

That’s funny. Yeah, probably

not, yeah. It was written back in… was this written for a contest and whatnot?

Alex Miller (35:22)

Yeah, it was at the City Dionysia Festival in Athens. So yeah, I mean, it was like the fringe festival of the day, I don’t know.

Toni Tresca (35:31)

Yeah, that’s a funny way to think about it. Yeah.

Alex Miller (35:34)

Yeah, and I’m

just going to add my last one in here because it’s also from Upstart Crow. It’s interesting there because this that they were saying is Medea is so heavy they want to do something funny along the way so they’re doing something called this is the title of all titles a most pleasant comedy of Musa Doris the king’s son of Valencia and Amadine the king’s daughter of Aragon with the merry conceits of mouse. It’s a short funny play that was apparently popular in 16th and 17th century England that they’re kind of mixing in there along with Medea.

Toni Tresca (36:04)

Interesting, short funny play, long hard to say title.

Alex Miller (36:07)

Yeah,

titles longer than the plates,

Toni Tresca (36:11)

That’s fun. Well, my final headliner for this week is the world premiere of a new musical, The Legend of Anne Bonny. It’s being produced by Two-cent Lion and Shifted Lens Theater Company at the People’s Building in Aurora, August 23rd through September 6th. I got to sit in on a rehearsal. I chatted a little bit about that on a previous podcast episode.

Alex Miller (36:18)

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (36:34)

This is just a queer pirate musical. It’s got kind of folk inspired music. The creators describe it as kind of a mashup between Anastasia and Hades town in terms of the kind of musical sound of the piece. And it’s based on real historical events that have just been brought to life. So it’s always interesting to see a world premiere. We will see if it sinks or swims.

Alex Miller (36:59)

Yeah, yeah, we had a little few ups and downs with the last few shows from Two Set Lions, so see how they do with this one.

Toni Tresca (37:07)

Absolutely. Well, that is it for our Headliners this week. Now we are going to throw it to Alex’s conversation with Brian Mallgrave.

Alex Miller (37:26)

All right, we are here today with Brian Malgrave, ⁓ scenic designer whose work you have probably seen in just any number of productions in Colorado over the past what, how long have you been working in Colorado, Brian?

Brian Mallgrave (37:41)

man, I think I’ve been here since year 2000.

Alex Miller (37:45)

Okay, so over the last quarter of a century, have you ever counted up how many sets you’ve designed?

Brian Mallgrave (37:48)

Thank

You know, I did at one point and I’m past that. So I think it was like 200. ⁓

Alex Miller (37:56)

⁓ huh.

huh. Yeah, it’s amazing. Well, I was just looking at like, so I know you’re doing, you do a lot of work at the Arvada Center, of course. And you have the mousetrap coming up. We’ll talk about that in a little bit. But I mean, you’ve done ⁓ Clyburn Park, Noises Off, ⁓ Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, which is a really ⁓ very different kind of set and kids show, Year with Frog and Toad.

Sylvia, know you’ve done a few for Platte Valley Theater Arts recently. Did you do Bridges?

Brian Mallgrave (38:28)

I didn’t know.

Alex Miller (38:30)

Okay, but you did ⁓ Cabaret, I believe, in the cottage. Yeah, the…

Brian Mallgrave (38:33)

Yeah, Cabaret and the cottage. Yes, Kelly is so

lovely to work with that whenever I’ve got a good opportunity to jump in and work with her. It’s always just a great experience. So I like to contribute whenever I can.

Alex Miller (38:47)

Yeah, yeah. Well, suffice to say that you’ve done an awful lot of sets here in Colorado. you know, this is part of our sort of ongoing or occasional series of behind the scenes where we talk to the, you know, the people that aren’t on stage or directing. so I want to ask you a little bit about just the craft. I mean, how do you approach translating a script’s world into a physical design? Like, can you talk a little bit about your process, how it starts?

Brian Mallgrave (39:15)

Absolutely, it’s a great question too. I think I’m really fortunate because a lot of my work is super original and a lot of the people I work with kind of encourage that just so that we aren’t ever kind of taking intellectual property from somebody else and so that everything can really be its own in terms of helping to tell the story. So I guess what I would say is first and foremost, I always get into the script a couple times, maybe like.

like four times overall, just so I don’t really miss anything. And then I try to stay far, far away from anything else that’s being produced that’s similar so that I can kind of start sketching and creating ⁓ what I can based on the space we’re working in and based on just some preliminary conversations that I have with the director.

Alex Miller (40:03)

Uh-huh. And I would imagine, depending on the director, can range from, you know, very meticulous, here’s exactly how I want it, to just figure it out for me, please. Is that kind of a range? Yeah.

Brian Mallgrave (40:12)

Absolutely, it runs the gamut. Yeah, and some directors

are more tech savvy than others, which is great, both are great, just because it’s kind of different and a lot of variety to work with. But yeah, some people come in with kind of a preconceived idea about how they wanna tell the story ⁓ from a physical perspective. And then other people are kind of more open, and then I’ll start bringing in information in terms of sketches and ideas.

And usually ⁓ that’s where that kind of director will blossom more and kind of support what I’m doing there.

Alex Miller (40:48)

Right. So there’s a management there with the director’s vision versus your own creative instincts. So how does a collaboration evolve? And I’m sure there’s sometimes where the reality hits the wall and it’s like, look, you can’t do this unless you have another 10 grand or something like that.

Brian Mallgrave (41:06)

Absolutely, and the director is always the head of the ship and the person that I try to appease in terms of helping to give them the resources I think they’re looking for and helping them to tell the story in the best way they possibly can. But ⁓ there are lots of ⁓ questions, there’s lots of input, there’s lots of times where ⁓ my experience might come in a little more handy.

Whereas if we’re working like say on the Arvada Center main stage and working with some of the complications that exist around that setup that I can kind of ⁓ listen to what their needs are, but also offer some knowledge in terms of, well, you know, sometimes that doesn’t work so well because of the way the lights are set up. And so is there something that I can do to help bring that idea to fruition, maybe in more of a compromise kind of way.

Alex Miller (42:01)

⁓ So I would imagine that alongside the director, the lighting director is probably the person you probably work closest with ⁓ on the tech side of things.

Brian Mallgrave (42:12)

Absolutely. ⁓ Getting ready to take on Frozen at the Arvada Center. And that one in particular is so light heavy because of all of the magical kind of special effects and tricks that are interlaced throughout everything. So I just had a meeting with John Duncan ⁓ outside of the regular ⁓ production team so that we could really just hammer out some fine details to help us both get on the same page.

Alex Miller (42:42)

⁓ So, ⁓ do you run into like, I mean, I’m sure you run into like technical constraints, size constraints, depending on the theater, but what are some of the biggest ones that you have to like kind of, you know, wrestle with?

Brian Mallgrave (42:55)

Absolutely and totally it’s the budget. But it also ⁓ kind of propels me to get a little bit more creative in terms of how we can problem solve some elements. yeah, budget is always first and foremost and always much more constricting. And if we’re working in a place that’s kind of a smaller organization, of course they don’t have as many resources, not only with budget, but in terms of maybe mechanics or

Alex Miller (42:58)

Of course, yeah.

Brian Mallgrave (43:25)

other elements to kind of elevate a design. So it’s all about working with the resources and then being able to kind of create our own special event.

Alex Miller (43:37)

Sure. So if you, without naming any names, like what’s the range of dollars that like between like a smaller theater production and a big one? mean, how much can you spend on a set other than like, you know, as much as you want? Yeah.

Brian Mallgrave (43:47)

⁓ It varies, varies so much.

And sometimes, you know, the more difficult budgets we work with, the more creative we get, and oftentimes the more interesting the design can become. But it would range anywhere from, I’d say, I’m still working on budgets that are like, I’d say 3000 to maybe 30,000, just in terms of like materials and what people can do with the

Alex Miller (43:59)

Yeah.

huh.

Brian Mallgrave (44:16)

with labor and just kind of mixing it all up and giving kind of a final number of what to work with, but it’s all over the place.

Alex Miller (44:26)

Yeah, I’m sure. I was just wondering, just kind of a range. ⁓ So, you know, I’ve seen some of your hand drawings, you know, of ⁓ sets, ⁓ but do you also use, mean, has there been some technology ⁓ updates in the world of scenic design, like CAD design, or what are the things that you use on a computer to work things out?

Brian Mallgrave (44:48)

Absolutely.

I’m still really computer ⁓ savvy, but ⁓ I found that when I’m working, the way that I work is a little bit more traditional. And through the years working with different companies, when people find that my skill set is more hand drawn, focused, people start to get a little more excited about it and really think of it more as art. And so sometimes that’s actually gotten me different projects that have been really, really wonderful to take on.

But even nowadays, working with things like just kind of creating different environments even to springboard from, I use AI, I use all kinds of tools that get me into sort of even give me a basis or grounding from where to go from there. But I don’t think I’m ever gonna really let go of the hands-on part of what I do.

From a technical standpoint, it really helps me understand every exact inch of everything on stage and what’s gonna happen with it, even how it’s trimmed with casing or baseboard or something like that. But also it just makes me feel so much more a part of the process from an artistic perspective. ⁓ I think I did about two years in Vectorworks ⁓ just sharing drafting information with a…

theater companies and I would come to find so much more. They would prefer the hand drawn stuff because it has the ability to get so much more personalized and detailed that people, like I said, started to actually get more excited about me doing that. So I just kind of kept doing it.

Alex Miller (46:25)

Right. So when you say hands on, do you stay around for the whole construction process of a set? you there for all that?

Brian Mallgrave (46:34)

So

it’s always ⁓ different depending on the experience we’re working in. So a lot of the times, some of the smaller theater companies around in the community don’t necessarily have resources to be able to have others kind of ⁓ be a supportive set of eyes while the set’s being put together or while things are happening with dressing. And so… ⁓

In those particular circumstances, I tend to be around a lot more just to help out with those kinds of things and also be a resource because, you know, if I put my name on something, I definitely want it to look its best. And then I also want to go through the process with the entire artistic team so that ⁓ I feel like my contribution has really helped to tell the story. At larger facilities, we often have ⁓ additional helpers.

with those kinds of elements. So my position’s kind of strange at the Arvada Center. also run the prop shop. So I’ll be able to have ⁓ some other coworkers go in and take a look at some of the techs while I’m doing ⁓ some work with the prop personnel. ⁓ And then I can jump in a little bit later. But like I said, that’s a completely different situation from a smaller ⁓ organization.

Alex Miller (47:53)

Yeah, for sure. I’m sure that it’s all over the place. And following from that, was going to ask you ⁓ if you had any advice for, say, some little theater and somebody’s like, hey, you know how to swing a hammer? Can you make a set? And it’s like, well, who’s going to design it? It’s like, you are. ⁓ What would you tell that person if they said, Brian, please help me? How do I start? Are there tools that they can use to help?

Brian Mallgrave (48:19)

Absolutely. So what I think had really helped me, I was fortunate, I had lot of experience as an actor being on stage, like right next to the set and all of the other elements that come into play. I was really able to kind of look at that stuff close up and from a far away perspective. But I think that experience just helped me to learn, you know, what general pathways are like that are comfortable for an actor.

Alex Miller (48:37)

Mm-hmm.

Brian Mallgrave (48:45)

⁓ and just general setups with like perspective and space. So I think that really helped me. What I guess I’m getting at is the more experience that you have in all different facets of something that’s such a big collaborative art form like theater. I think the better off people are in terms of just being able to offer more ⁓ with resources and knowledge and abilities. And then also everything is ⁓ based on what we see.

in theater, so it’s just so wonderful and great to never stop learning and to keep seeing as much theater as you possibly can. That really helped me to learn different ⁓ methods and styles and just kind of hone in on my abilities and be able to make things ⁓ more original from my own standpoint.

Alex Miller (49:35)

Uh huh. So, can I ask a little bit how you did get started? So you said you were acting. Did you ever, did you take, like, I don’t know, interior design classes in school or anything like that, or just kind of learn as you go?

Brian Mallgrave (49:48)

Actually, I was ⁓ really fortunate because I went to the University of Nebraska at Omaha and ⁓ it took me about six years to get through the program and it’s because I was working at the same time as going to school ⁓ and ⁓ it helped me to, ⁓ I think, take my time a little bit more with some of the ⁓ extracurricular classes that we took.

So I started taking lots of design courses on the side of my acting courses. And so there were lots of independent study courses. ⁓ I mean, I guess what I’m saying is I took my time a little bit more with my education and that afforded me ⁓ the ability to ⁓ take some extra classes on top of what I was required to take because I started to find that I was really intrigued by the design element and how that.

rooted everything else ⁓ in terms of theater. ⁓ So I was just fortunate in that I had those experiences and really just loved it. I loved every minute of it. I didn’t ever think that that’s what I would be doing kind of officially is being a scenic designer, was gonna be an actor. And I did so for about 12 years and then ⁓ opened up my portfolio one day.

Alex Miller (51:00)

Alright.

Brian Mallgrave (51:08)

I was just like, you know, I really enjoy doing this stuff. I would like to see what happened if I started sending my resume and this portfolio from school out into the community and I just happened to get some bites and people were interested. And then it just kind of snowballed and it made me ⁓ super comfortable with that element of theater, even more so than acting. I’ve always loved acting, but this is kind of a different level of stress from like a different standpoint.

And so I think I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the challenge a little bit.

Alex Miller (51:42)

Right, sure, you’ve got a hard deadline that you’ve got to hit and a pretty strict budget parameters and things like that. going back to what you said earlier, when you’re talking about the beginning of your process, you said that you want to make sure that you’re not doing anything that anybody else has done. Does that mean you research and try and find photos of other sets from these shows? Because ⁓ that’s what I was going to say, yeah.

Brian Mallgrave (52:06)

No, it’s the contrary. I don’t see. Yeah, I don’t want to see anything.

And it’s funny even hitting on frozen again, I guess I’m talking about that because I’m kind of working on it right now. ⁓ Everybody’s seen like the Disney Plus version or West End version or some other kind of Broadway version or something ⁓ in person or what have you. And I’ve stayed far away from all of that because I just I don’t I don’t want to mimic anybody else’s work. But actually with Disney,

You have to get heavy duty approval prior ⁓ to being ⁓ allowed to do a scenic design for them and in order to do that nothing can look like anything they’ve produced before but they still want it to have kind of a flavor of what people’s expectations are. So ⁓ that in particular is why I stayed away from everything before drawings for Frozen.

Alex Miller (53:01)

Okay, so yeah, I do the same thing with theater reviews, but I will say that I will occasionally after I’ve finished your review, look at some other reviews to just see like, am I crazy? did I, you know, see that? Do ever look at some sets after you’re done so they don’t spoil your? ⁓

Brian Mallgrave (53:14)

Absolutely, yeah. And sometimes I’m like,

wow, that was a really interesting take. That was very different than mine. Or it’s just interesting to see other people’s work and how they’re interpreting some of that stuff. But again, that’s how you just continue to learn and you continue to develop and you continue to get a little bit more dimensional about the way you think about that kind of stuff. So it’s all helpful.

Alex Miller (53:37)

Right, right. So, I was trying to think of some of the bigger more elaborate sets of yours that I’ve seen recently. ⁓ And I know Beauty and the Beast was a big one at the Arvada Center. And Natasha and Pierre was a very interesting set because it had that cabaret sort of vibe to it. what are some of the like more challenging sets that you’ve done in recent years that you can think of?

Brian Mallgrave (54:05)

gosh, ⁓ I would say you hit the nail on the head. Beauty and the Beast is extremely large musical and ⁓ working in a facility like the main stage at the Arvada Center, even though it’s kind of a big stage, there’s not really much of a backstage. And so you start to have to get really creative in terms of solving some of the backstage problems that can exist with something like that, yet still have, you know, the audience.

see everything from the front as though it’s just this magical product. So that was particularly difficult just because of how many scenes there are. Also with the newer shows, there’s a Rock of Ages at Pace Center, with shows of that nature, they’re really riding off of a more of a kind of a movie cinematic standpoint where there might be 80 scenes.

Alex Miller (54:50)

Uh-huh.

Brian Mallgrave (55:01)

And so those things are always challenging because of the budget and also because you don’t really want to skimp out on anything that really gives a flavor of where location is or what we’re trying to portray in terms of the story. So I end up getting really pretty creative with under those circumstances, which is always, always really challenging, but always super fun for me to. Natasha and Pierre, what a, what a.

wonderful opportunity to work on that. ⁓ That I think was probably one of the biggest designs that ⁓ I’ve ever worked on. I felt like the biggest compliment was I heard that people thought that the theater actually looked like that already ⁓ before the design. So I thought that was actually a really, really huge compliment. ⁓ But that space and that…

Alex Miller (55:47)

huh.

Brian Mallgrave (55:55)

particular show was difficult because we had to work all around all of the dimensionality of everything since it was so immersive. So it was almost like designing the backstage along with everything people saw and then knowing that they were gonna, you know, see the backs of things from certain angles of chairs too. So it just seemed like it was a completely full interior design for that particular show.

Alex Miller (56:20)

Right, right. Yeah, another one I was thinking of was ⁓ Cinderella at Arata Center. That was another.

Brian Mallgrave (56:28)

Cinderella was really cool. I thought that was fun because yeah, it requires so much in terms of just like even scenic elements. And so not necessarily to save money as a first priority, although the budget was definitely an issue, but that was one of the reasons why we put like a spin on the carriage and the pumpkin when it turned into the carriage and then started to create more of a 1920s feel out of the show.

Alex Miller (56:30)

Yeah.

Brian Mallgrave (56:57)

that was sort of intermingled with some modern elements as well. ⁓ The director’s input for a lot of that show was he really enjoyed the, I guess the old kind of feel that was created for the Wednesday series, but still yet it’s like modern. And so we were kind of riding off of that vein to create our own look for things.

Alex Miller (57:21)

Mm-hmm, that’s great. One of the questions I was to ask you, when you think about ⁓ just all of the repurposing stuff and like the sets can be like a big source of ⁓ waste if not handled properly. So what goes into like thinking about what can I reuse and how do I ensure when this set goes down that it’ll be, you know, somehow have a second life or at least the usable parts.

Brian Mallgrave (57:50)

Well, we’re lucky at Arvada because they think they have such a recognition when they’re doing more of the big musicals that sometimes will give away the sets to high schools that are producing the same musicals whenever that’s a possibility. Also because of the lengths of the run for stuff at the Arvada Center, we often build things out of steel, out of a steel structure or base. And so that is always recyclable and ⁓ melted down into ⁓

know, becoming another piece of steel. So we’re able to contribute in good ways to the environment from that perspective. But overall, ⁓ it is not the greenest industry. ⁓ Which sometimes isn’t the ⁓ best feeling. But I think also we do.

Alex Miller (58:31)

Yeah, yeah.

Brian Mallgrave (58:39)

continue to ⁓ build up our stock and our inventory and our props and our furniture pieces and then bits and pieces of scenic elements that we know we can definitely reuse. And we try to be as conscious of that environmentally as we possibly can be.

Alex Miller (58:56)

Right, yeah, it certainly helps if you’ve got the room to store some of the stuff, which not many theaters have. So, well, I wanted to talk about a couple of these upcoming shows. We’ve touched on them first. I know you’re working on Frozen, which opens at November 21st, so you’re definitely way out ahead of it. I’m guessing Mousetrap is close to done. It’s under construction now. I assume this show starts September 5th.

Brian Mallgrave (59:00)

Absolutely.

It is,

it’s about 75 % built, I’d say.

Alex Miller (59:25)

And can you tell us a little bit about this set? What can people expect to see when they walk in the theater? Okay.

Brian Mallgrave (59:28)

I can. So this is not my first mousetrap. And my

first one was actually at the Arvada Center. I want to say, if I’m correct, I want to say it was like 2013, something like that. And it was actually created in the black box. And so I absolutely love the show. I love murder mysteries and anything that’s even kind of horror related, I always get kind of excited about. And so.

Alex Miller (59:41)

⁓

Brian Mallgrave (59:54)

When we did it the first time, it was, I think, a lot more along the lines of what people expected, where it was very much ⁓ an interior ⁓ with Tudor architecture and wooden paneling and ⁓ suits of armor and ⁓ stuff of that nature. ⁓ So this time, being that it’s the 50th anniversary of the Arvada Center, we wanted to kind of celebrate. I know a lot of the shows were picked off of this ⁓

reasoning too, but we wanted to just kind of celebrate the 50th year. And so I think that gave us a little bit of license to be a little bit more grand and creative with what we were doing with the set for Mouse Trap. So like I said, I’m just, love horror movies. I’ve always been a horror fan. And one of my favorite horror movies is The Shining and not completely related to The Mouse Trap, but.

Alex Miller (1:00:33)

Uh-huh.

Okay.

Brian Mallgrave (1:00:48)

Knowing that all of these folks are stuck in this manor house and this huge snowstorm and that’s why they are all forced to be in the situation just reminded me a little bit of The Shining. And so I know The Shining had taken place in a couple different locations all over the US. But the one that was the interior shot was the Iwany Hotel in California, which was also created in the 20s. And so I just

started thinking about them, like that would really give us a different look because even looking at that design of that lobby interior, it’s very grand yet it still feels really like kind of isolating and ⁓ and like it’s entrapping everyone in that circumstance because of the snowstorm and everything that’s happening outside. But also it’s really intricate, interesting trim work and detail work that’s sort of like a Spanish revival sort of feel.

And I wouldn’t want to necessarily put Spanish revival into mousetrap. But if you start looking at elements, stuff really speaks to each other in terms of like regions and different ways or styles in which things are created. So if you really look at it, a lot of the Spanish revival style is kind of related to kind of a Tudor style. And so I just looked at different elements like that. And then I looked at, you know, what if this manor house in

Alex Miller (1:02:09)

Mm-hmm.

Brian Mallgrave (1:02:15)

England was more of a worldly feel and more of a worldly idea. So like the lobby is very American from that that hotel ⁓ and there’s some American history that they play with and decor and so of course I didn’t want to incorporate that into the English manner but the ideas of the stucco walls, the really heavy beams, the heavy woodwork that ⁓ surrounds everything just kind of got more intriguing.

So I just kind of showed a couple of pictures to the director, Lynn Collins, for Mousetrap. She got excited about it too, just because it was kind of different. And so as soon as I got that ⁓ approval, I just kind of went for it. And so Mousetrap is really one of those unique shows where ⁓ everything is scripted. All of the stage directions and where the locations are, are all scripted.

A lot of times I really don’t pay a of attention to that as long as I’m still able to kind of get the essence of the script and what we need in terms of telling the story. But for something like Mousetrap, I found, you know, if you kind of veer too far from that, you can kind of mess up some timing with what’s happening with some of the mystery ⁓ in and around the rooms. So in keeping all of that, the exact foundation, then I was able to kind of take the walls and sort of play around with some more ⁓

⁓ I guess different kind of ⁓ an idea. So ⁓ just to give you an example, working with the 20s as thinking like the manor was created in the 20s, but we’re still set up in the 1950s in the show. With the manor in particular, I used a bunch of 20s elements, like there’s ⁓ wallpaper in sets that are made of chinoiserie ⁓ design, which is kind of an imitation of some Asian prints.

that Europe was really excited about during the time in the 20s and then some of those prints that I was able to pull for the wallpaper have birds that are kind of praying in the the wallpaper print and so for me that was kind of a cool connection because it also made it seem like the birds are sort of praying on the mice in the show or the representation of the mice in the show. So and then I started to look at a lot of different

Alex Miller (1:04:28)

huh.

Brian Mallgrave (1:04:33)

design elements from the 20s and found a lot of them were very kind of grid like, which was sort of like a cage. And so that helped me to create a lot of trim work and a lot of door panels and window work and stuff that also represented that. So there’s a lot of that in the show. ⁓ You know, a lot of times people don’t really ⁓ grasp that idea right away when they’re looking at the set, but I think subliminally there might be some kind of message there that really helps and supports that kind of stuff. So it’s always.

Alex Miller (1:04:58)

Mm-hmm.

Brian Mallgrave (1:05:01)

part of the fun of putting those little elements into a set design like this one.

Alex Miller (1:05:06)

Yeah, wow, that sounds really cool. I’m looking forward to seeing that. When you talk about that kind of wallpaper, is that something you can buy online? Do you have to make it somehow or paint it or?

Brian Mallgrave (1:05:15)

absolutely.

So, and a lot of people will approach that stuff differently. Like some people are more apt to have a scenic artist recreate that. For me, I feel like ⁓ with this particular show, which is very, very different than the way we’re approaching Frozen, this particular show is super realistic. So if I go in and look at wallpaper, I feel like we’re not gonna be able to recreate ⁓ as perfectly.

⁓ the wallpaper design that we’re going for. So I tend to actually pick the wallpaper. So we did purchase the wallpaper for ⁓ this particular setup. Yeah.

Alex Miller (1:05:49)

⁓ So switching gears to, a completely different show that you’re working on, Frozen. ⁓ What are the challenges there?

Brian Mallgrave (1:05:59)

I think ⁓ it’s pretty much using every trick in the book ⁓ for this show just because of the way it’s set up. It is a wonderful story. I always say that it’s sort of Disney’s version of Wicked, ⁓ but it is a wonderful story. ⁓ But ⁓ anything Disney-oriented like Beauty and the Beast or other shows of that nature are completely reliant on spectacle. So that always kind of comes first and foremost.

Alex Miller (1:06:14)

Mm-hmm.

Brian Mallgrave (1:06:27)

For this in particular, feel like Frozen is very modern. And even though it takes place in 1840s, like Nordic territory, fantastical Nordic territory, it does give us a lot of license to play with the idea of the magic and the things that are happening throughout. So we are really using a lot of modern resources with it, which is super cool. So we have lots of light elements that are intertwined off throughout the scenic design.

And then ⁓ we’re heavily reliant on a lot of projection, not only from the back of the theater to help us create some of our backdrops, but also from the front to help supplement a lot of the magic and a lot of the snow ⁓ elements that are happening. ⁓ So that in conjunction with a lot of specialty light instruments and ⁓ combining all of that together is really making up kind of the foundation of what should

be a pretty strong technical show, I think.

Alex Miller (1:07:25)

Right, yeah, I can imagine that’s just a really fun one to work on. But that made me think projections. That’s big ⁓ newer thing that since those have gotten so much, that technology has gotten so much better and more affordable. What’s your take? I think sometimes Tony and I, Tony’s particularly ⁓ critical of projections. We think, you know, if they’re not used properly, what’s your take on how to use them the right way?

Brian Mallgrave (1:07:49)

I have to

be honest, in this day and age, if you don’t have the proper equipment to be able to produce a good look and to be able to ⁓ work with some of the challenges that you have when you’re using projections, like if your light, your stage light is too bright, it really does wash them out. I feel like they can be kind of a, I don’t wanna say they’re a cop out, but they’re just an easier way to deal with stuff sometimes, just because, ⁓

Alex Miller (1:08:17)

Mm-hmm.

Brian Mallgrave (1:08:18)

It’s a lot easier to create a two-dimensional look from projection equipment and a screen than it is to create more of the tangible three-dimensional stuff. However, in this particular circumstance, it’s gonna work so well with what we’re doing and be so cohesive. so with me being so hand drafting heavy and…

Drawing heavy, I’m actually drawing most of the projections, most of the backgrounds myself. And then they’re being given over to the projectionist who’s able to work some really incredible magic with all of them and add color and add cohesion and then animate them and be able to fully support what we’re doing with the hand drafted set design. So I feel like in this case, not only is it necessary because of all of the magical elements that people are really going to expect to happen,

Alex Miller (1:08:51)

huh.

Brian Mallgrave (1:09:14)

⁓ But it’s a wonderful addition to the basis for the scenic design overall.

Alex Miller (1:09:21)

Yeah, I think ⁓ designs that really successfully incorporate projections with the practical parts of the set, that’s a challenge, but when it’s done right, it can really be impactful. And I was thinking, I saw the Cirque du Soleil show that’s up right now has this enormous cube set piece.

that they’re able to project onto, but it also has all these moving parts. If you get a chance, you might be interested to see that. It’s really cool how they did it. But yeah, it’s just like kind of a new frontier in a way that, you know, it’s like AI, you gotta be careful how you use it, right?

Brian Mallgrave (1:09:58)

Absolutely, absolutely. And it’s its own art form, you know, and so it’s just another kind of dimension where everybody really has to be on the same page and be able to coordinate all of it together. So it’s really cohesive and makes a great statement in terms of what we’re ultimately doing, which is supporting the story.

Alex Miller (1:10:20)

Absolutely. Well, I know you have your hands full with Mousetrap and then Frozen coming up. What’s next after that?

Brian Mallgrave (1:10:28)

So actually in between, this is wonderful project. I’m so excited about it. We’re doing Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. And talk about another kind of very different ⁓ situation. We’re ⁓ kind of doing a mini immersion in the black box at this point. And we’re creating a small bar set up there with a three piece band and then ⁓ the woman playing ⁓ Billy and then all of the surrounding tables.

Alex Miller (1:10:35)

yeah.

Brian Mallgrave (1:10:57)

⁓ It’s a smaller setup, so we have about eight tables around the stage for the more immersive part, and then the rest of the audience seating is more like spectator. But what a fantastic script. was, when I first, I’d never seen it before. When I first heard we were doing it, I was so, I love Billie Holly’s music, and I’d.

you know, I love jazz. And so I was really excited about that. But then once I actually read the script, I was like, this is completely different than anything I thought it was going to be. It’s very dark and it’s very serious. And not only does it celebrate the highlights and the wonder and incredible journey of Billie Holiday’s life, but it also goes into pretty dark places and it’s very realistic. And so that particular take on that design is also ⁓

⁓ very, very detailed. And it’s not only because it’s a smaller, more intimate space, but I think the way that we’re gonna be able to help transition some of those moments of more of the sad elements going into like when she starts singing and it is reminiscent of kind of her glory days, we’re able to transport that through lighting and through some of the things we’re doing with the set that will support that stuff too. So it’s really, really cool. ⁓

show.

Alex Miller (1:12:16)

Yeah, well, yeah, I know I’d read about ⁓ the end of her, you know, she kind of lost, you know, fell out of favor or whatever. And she, I think she had a lot of trouble with drugs and alcohol or, and so she was kind of at the bottom of the barrel, but she still kept performing. And so this is a ⁓ CD bar in Philadelphia where she’s doing one of her last shows. That’s really interesting.

Brian Mallgrave (1:12:27)

Yes.

Yeah, really, it really well written. It’s just beautiful.

Alex Miller (1:12:44)

All right, well, Brian Mallgrave ⁓ thanks so much for taking the time to talk about scenic design with us here at On Stage Colorado. We’re fascinated ⁓ by all aspects of theater, but this is one of the really cool ones, and of course the most visible of the actors themselves.

Brian Mallgrave (1:13:01)

Absolutely.

Alex Miller (1:13:03)

All right, well, best of luck breaking, do you say break legs to scenic designers? I guess so. Okay, break legs. Break legs, just don’t break any set pieces for these next three shows. All right, Ryan, thanks again, appreciate it.

Brian Mallgrave (1:13:07)

Absolutely. Break a window, break a door, break lamps.

Well, thank you for having me.

Toni Tresca (1:13:22)

Always great to hear from Brian. I’m so glad he had some time to stop by and chat with you on the pod.

Alex Miller (1:13:27)

Yeah, he’s a busy guy. I felt very honored that he was able to spare some time to talk to me. He’s very, gracious with his time, of course, and a lot of fun talking to him.

Toni Tresca (1:13:38)

Absolutely. Well, that brings us to the end of our show for this week. Alex, what’s on the pod next week or what’s not on the pod next week?

Alex Miller (1:13:47)

Yeah,

I think we’re going to take next week off. after that, think we’ll have an interview with sound designer Jason Ducat just to talk about the craft of sound design. And we’ll have ⁓ some other things to talk about, I’m sure. yeah, so yeah, just don’t look for us next week. We’re going to be, ⁓ I don’t know, at the beach, at the bar, or somewhere. Yeah.

Toni Tresca (1:14:10)

somewhere in between. Anything

coming up on the site soon that folks should be on the lookout for?

Alex Miller (1:14:18)

Yeah, I mean some of the shows coming up that we’ll be covering, we’re starting to get into September already. So yeah, we’ll have, ⁓ I was gonna get out and see The Legend of Anne Bonny that you were just talking about. There’s a show at Springs Ensemble Theater Company that April’s gonna be at called The Shark is Broken. It’s got, I believe it’s interesting, it’s got something to do with the making of Jaws and it actually has Robert Shaw’s son or grandson ⁓ involved in that project. So that’s gonna be interesting.

⁓ And then, yeah, we’ve got some other things like Mousetrap at Avada Center is coming up, Eureka Day at Curious, some of the other shows that are kicking off this fall’s theater season. So lots of fun stuff coming up on the site.

Toni Tresca (1:15:03)

Yeah, I’m thinking maybe our next episode of the pod might need to be a fall theater roundup. Time to kind of curate all the madness.

Alex Miller (1:15:08)

Maybe, yeah.

Good idea.

Toni Tresca (1:15:14)

Well, if you want to stay up to date on all that’s going on in theaters across the state, the best way to do that is by subscribing to the Onstage Colorado newsletter, which comes out pretty much every week on Thursday. And then rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast so that it goes right to your feed right when it comes out.

Alex Miller (1:15:32)

Right, I know there’s always thousands of fans waiting for it to come out on usually Tuesday mornings. We’re running a little late today. But anyway, well, thanks for listening. That’s all for this week. I’m Alex Miller.

Toni Tresca (1:15:43)

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