Extreme heat, wildfire smoke and other climate-related issues are having an effect – especially on outside performances. Plus, Top 10 Colorado Headliners and an interview with Miners Alley Associate AD Warren Sherrill.

The show must go on” has long been theatre’s rallying cry, but climate change is beginning to force a harsh reckoning with that philosophy. From the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s $2 million loss due to wildfire smoke to actors literally collapsing from heat exhaustion during outdoor performances, extreme weather is no longer an occasional inconvenience – it’s an ongoing threat. Yet this crisis is also revealing unexpected opportunities, as air-conditioned indoor venues become coveted refuges during heat waves.

In this episode, hosts Alex Miller and Toni Tresca dive into how rising temperatures and extreme weather are reshaping live performance, then explore this week’s Colorado Headliners including The Mikado in Space, Twelfth Night productions in multiple venues, and Dixie’s Tupperware Party. Plus, Alex sits down with Warren Sherrill, Associate Artistic Director at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center, to discuss his upcoming production of Sondheim’s provocative musical Assassins – a show about presidential assassins that feels particularly relevant in our current political climate.

Episode Summary

Opening & What We’ve Seen

  • Alex’s Reviews:
    • Cirque du Soleil Echo – Outstanding production with amazing digital/practical effects and an enormous Rubik’s Cube set piece at Ball Arena
    • Richard II (Colorado Shakespeare Festival) – Streamlined, engaging production directed by Tim Orr, starring Kevin Rich
    • Woodlands and Wyverns (Audacious Immersiave) – D&D-style immersive theater at First Baptist Church basement; nerdy but fun with improving production values
  • Toni’s Reviews:
    • Some Like It Hot (touring) – Exceptional production with great dancing and smart adaptation of gender themes
    • A Doll’s House Part 2 (Denver Theatre Ensemble) – Well-acted but too much static sitting
    • Nightmare on Strip Street – Fun horror-themed burlesque parody with impressive athletic performances

News Segment

  • Colorado Creative Industries launched Community Revitalization Tax Credit for 10 projects supporting artists, childcare, and affordable housing
  • Memorial tributes to poet laureate Andrea Gibson (died at 49 after cancer battle) and Kevin Ahl (Phamaly Theatre Company co-founder, died at 67)
  • Henry Awards preview – ceremony July 27th at Lone Tree Art Center

Main Topic: Climate Change and Theater

Deep dive into how extreme weather is affecting live performances:

  • Heat Impact: Shakespeare actors collapsing from heat; Town Hall Art Center canceling shows due to excessive heat
  • Financial Losses: Oregon Shakespeare Festival lost $2 million from wildfire smoke cancellations in 2018
  • Safety Measures: Theaters implementing cooling tents, water breaks, lighter costumes, and flexible cancellation policies
  • Equipment Failures: Instruments going out of tune, sound equipment failing in extreme heat
  • Human Cost: Fan deaths at concerts, hospitalizations from heat-related issues
  • Insurance Costs: Weather-related coverage doubling from 1.25% to 2.5% of guaranteed amounts

Colorado Headliners (Top 10 Upcoming Shows)

 

Featured Interview: Warren Sherrill

Associate Artistic Director at Miners Alley discusses:

  • Background: Colorado native from Byers, 30 years in Denver theater
  • Paragon Theater: Co-founded edgy theatre company (2000-2012) focusing on “honest, intimate, and bold” productions
  • Current Roles: Marketing and associate artistic directing at Miners Alley, plus mobile optician business
  • Directing Philosophy: Prefers intimate, character-driven shows with “grit”
  • Upcoming Production: Directing Sondheim’s Assassins (Aug 8-Sept 14), featuring 9 historical presidential assassins/attempted assassins

Website Content Preview

  • Reviews of Cirque du Soleil Echo, Woodlands and Wyverns
  • April’s review of Flyin’ West at Theatreworks
  • Alice’s mixed review of Once Upon a Mattress at Central City Opera
  • Kim Nicoletti’s review of Murder at the Tiki Bar (Adams Mystery Playhouse)
  • Upcoming: Sweet and Lucky Echo interview and coverage

Next Episode: Henry Awards recap and analysis

Transcript

Created by AI weasels, forgive any hallucinations.

Alex Miller (00:01)
Hey, hey, hey, hello and welcome to the OnStage Colorado podcast. I’m Alex Miller and I’m joined as usual by Toni Tresca. Hey, Toni.

Toni Tresca (00:09)
Hey Alex, it’s great to be with you, as usual.

Alex Miller (00:12)
Yeah, so yeah, we were off last week because we’re the bosses and we said we would could ⁓ but also ⁓ Tony Tony you had your folks in town visiting from from ⁓ Texas

Toni Tresca (00:19)
Hell yeah, that’s right.

Yep, that’s right. And they’re not exactly ⁓ theater people. So we did not necessarily do a ton of live shows, save for, unless you think sports are a show, because we did go to the Rockies game. ⁓ And you know what, Alex, they actually won. They didn’t suck. I guess they knew that my family was in town. And so they were on their best behavior.

Alex Miller (00:41)
Okay. Was it a tragedy? Okay.

Okay, great. All right. Well, so yeah, we’re back now and we have what I think is a pretty interesting main topic this week, climate change.

Toni Tresca (01:01)
Yeah, you may not think about theater and performing arts as being impacted by the effects of climate change, but it definitely is a thing.

Alex Miller (01:10)
It is alas. yeah, we’ll get into that in just a bit and we’ll touch on some news, get to our top 10 Colorado headliners and also hear my conversation with the great Warren Sherrill, the Associate Artistic Director at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center and director of their upcoming show, Assassins.

Toni Tresca (01:25)
I am really looking forward to seeing that production. It’s a very ⁓ interesting time to be doing Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, which is a musical about people who have attempted to assassinate the president. ⁓ So looking forward to seeing that take out. And Warren is definitely one of the more well-known and prolific directors around the metro area. not only does the ⁓ artistic direction, associate artistic direction over at Miners Alley and directs a lot for them.

but he’s also been helming shows at Curious Theater Company and most recently over at the Aurora Fox Arts Center.

Alex Miller (02:01)
Yeah, yeah, it’s a fun conversation, sort of a meeting of the Greybeards. So stick around for that in just a bit.

Toni Tresca (02:08)
Nice. All right, well, let’s turn now to what we’ve seen since our last podcast on July 8th. What’d you get out to, Alex?

Alex Miller (02:18)
I get out to a couple of things. So one of them was Cirque du Soleil Echo, which is a very theatrical kind of circus. So I feel very justified in going to it and doing a review of it. I have to say, I’ve seen Cirque du Soleil, I don’t know, three, four, maybe five times over the years. And this one was really outstanding. was really cool. did a nice job blending digital and practical effects together and had this amazing set piece. It was this enormous cube.

Toni Tresca (02:33)
Mm-hmm.

Alex Miller (02:48)
that kind of have to see it to understand it, but it looked like an enormous Rubik’s Cube and it had all these squares that moved around and some of them were digital projections and some of them were actual cubes. so, and it was really a trick to the eyes to see which was which. And of course, on top of all that, you know, great backing band and of course all the amazing gymnasts and tumblers and jugglers and high wire or low wire.

So yeah, really, really good show. Definitely recommend getting out to see that. It’s in the big top there, ⁓ kind of in the parking lot next to Ball Arena.

Toni Tresca (03:23)
You can see it as you drive by Ball Arena. I was driving by with my girlfriend the other day and she was like, what is that thing over there? And I was like, that’s Cirque du Soleil. They’ve set up in the Big Top out there.

Alex Miller (03:24)
yeah, you can’t miss it. Yeah.

Yeah, it’s actually almost like a little city of tents. There’s several of them. Yeah, so that was fun. And I also saw Richard II at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, which, interestingly, I had seen their production of Richard II back in 2013 when they did it. And I remember having a really hard time, I don’t know, enjoying it, I guess you could say. And I don’t remember. Maybe it was hot out that day. I’m sure it was probably outside. But I really like this production.

Toni Tresca (03:43)
⁓ interesting.

⁓

you

Alex Miller (04:09)
directed by ⁓ Tim Orr and ⁓ starring the other director at CSF, Kevin Rich. ⁓ And really, really cool show, really streamlined, does not bog down, really great performances by all kinds of well-known CSF faces. So definitely recommend. If you’ve been kind of concerned that going to one of the histories might be a slog, this is a really good one. ⁓

Definitely thought they did a great job with it. And then the other show was, ⁓ I’m sorry, go ahead.

Toni Tresca (04:45)
I was just curious, would you say that it was funny? Because in talking with Tim a little bit about the production, he said he was inspired by dark comedies like Veep and Dr. Strangelove. Was it funny in that regard or was it just a streamlined version, effective version of the history?

Alex Miller (05:07)
Yeah, I’m sure it certainly had a few lighter moments, but I I thought it was more like Game of Thrones than Veep, know? Because that’s really what it’s about. It’s a bunch of scheming nobles and kind of a dipshit weak king. yeah. And then I saw Woodlands and Wyverns. So this is a production by Audacious Interactive Theater, or immersive.

Toni Tresca (05:17)
Hmm, interesting.

Alex Miller (05:35)
And this was at the First Baptist Church in the basement there in Denver. And this is like super nerd fest. And I think you’ve, you’ve, did you do a story about this?

Toni Tresca (05:39)
Mm-hmm.

no, I did not. So I’m curious to hear your thoughts. haven’t, and you haven’t posted your review at the time of when we’re recording this. So I haven’t read your thoughts yet.

Alex Miller (05:52)
I know.

I haven’t been able to get to it yet, but I’ll write that up this week. yeah, so Woodlands and Wyverns, Traitors at Baddler’s Door is their latest. It’s written by Elizabeth Porter, and it is a full-on nerd fest, like Dungeons and Dragons, like role play, roll the dice, things happen. ⁓ But as Audacious gets better and better at doing these, their production values are getting better and better.

costumes were really good. There were wizards and monsters and barbarians. And so you get assigned, you sort of get assigned a character and a table. So Andy and I were on the barbarians table. And so we had our leader was the barbarian played by Lauren Long. And there’s a storyteller played by Logan Custer. He’s up there and yeah, it’s…

Toni Tresca (06:35)
Okay.

Alex Miller (06:50)
It’s fun, you know, I felt like it might have kind of dragged a little bit here and there. ⁓ But other than that, I mean, the people that were there seem to be really into it. And a lot of people dressed up, people like the people that we were sitting across from were super like to all in like elf ears and, ⁓ you know, some sort of

Middle Earth armor kind of stuff and there was a decent amount of that. So definitely feel free to fly your freak flag if you go to this. yeah, Andy brought his leather helmet that he was wearing for a while. ⁓ So yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Toni Tresca (07:26)
That does sound like a good time. I’ve been seeing a lot of videos about them, actually on social media. They’ve been doing a bunch of like real, like short videos on that I’ve been seeing on Instagram and I’ve been seeing these cool costumes and whatnot. And I believe that people dressed up. I’ve been learning that the Denver metro area apparently has a very vibrant, a cosplaying community. And this is the kind of the big month after there was a big convention at the start of.

⁓ fan expo at the start of July and so a bunch of people already have their cosplay already made from that so maybe they just donned that.

Alex Miller (08:04)
Right? Yeah. So, and they don’t have, they’re not serving any alcohol, but they did have a bar where they were making like mocktails. And I got a couple of these things that basically it was kind of like a fruit punch. And with all these nerds around, I’d sit down and I’m like, I feel like I’m at a bar mitzvah or something where I’m drinking punch and all these nerds are dressed up. But, but yeah. And if you’re into that thing, but I would also say that, you know, there’s definitely an option to like, just kind of check it, just kind of watch. You don’t have to be involved, but you can be more involved if you want. ⁓

So that’s Woodlands and Wyverns, and that plays through, I think it’s got another weekend for it too. People should always put the run dates on the program, Tony. So, all right.

Toni Tresca (08:47)
It’s a great note.

Well, I won’t spend too long on the first two things that I’ve seen since they are both closed as of recording this, but I did check out the touring production of some like it hot at the Denver center. And I got to agree with the review that was posted to the onstage Colorado site. I just thought it was an exceptional production. Definitely one of the best touring things that I have seen since at least Hadeastown come through.

Alex Miller (09:20)
Really?

Toni Tresca (09:21)
So it’s been, which has been a little bit. ⁓ And so, I mean, I really enjoyed it. The dancing was exceptional. There was a laugh or a song. It felt like every 30 seconds. I was just smiling the whole time. Jokes really worked. I thought that the kind of the way that they adapted the plot, which features two men who are cross-dressing across the country was really smart. They have one character who kind of goes on a gender journey and realizes that they feel more at

like themselves when they are Daphne rather than their other self. And so I thought it was a really… They don’t use words like trans or non-binary because it’s not set in contemporary times, but I thought it was really smart way to handle that without feeling like it was forced in any kind of way. if that tour comes back through, definitely get tickets for it.

Alex Miller (10:19)
Okay.

Toni Tresca (10:19)
because it’s just exceptional. I’m sorry you missed it.

Alex Miller (10:22)
Yeah,

yeah, Kim Nicoletta covered that for us and yeah, she definitely really enjoyed it.

Toni Tresca (10:27)
Yeah, the other show that I got out to see was a Doll’s House Part 2 by the Denver Theatre Ensemble. This was being produced in the black box space there. This is a relatively new ⁓ company. They’re still in the early seasons. And this was a pretty ⁓ audacious production to choose. It’s a very hard script. It’s a four-hander. It’s a lot of dialogue, heavy scenes. And while quite a few of the performances really shine through,

Alex Miller (10:50)
Yeah.

Toni Tresca (10:57)
I thought that just too much of the show was confusingly ⁓ staged in two chairs with actors just sitting and talking to each other. The whole play is about Nora coming back and she has to, not because she wants to, but because she has to get these divorce papers signed. And yet, even though her language is all about movement and getting out, Nora is confined to a seat for a large majority of the show, which kind of just…

undercuts a lot of the momentum that could be built and mined from these scenes. So it was just a confusing directorial choice that kind of dampened what was an overall very well-acted production.

Alex Miller (11:39)
huh. Okay. And then I remember you just talking to, the upside of you were thinking of Missy’s direction of Steel Magnolias. Yeah.

Toni Tresca (11:42)
Kind of the opposite of what we, yeah, go ahead, go ahead.

of Steel Magnolia, that’s exactly

what I was going to say. was like, it felt like the total inverse of that in which every ⁓ single scene was rich with action and multiple things going on. This felt just definitely stagnant by comparison.

Alex Miller (12:07)
Yeah. Get those actors up, moving around, earning their pay and those fat paychecks. And then a nightmare on strip street. I remember you talking about this. How was that?

Toni Tresca (12:18)
It was a lot of fun. This is definitely a better parody than the Saw the musical parody that I had to suffer through in Boulder. This is produced by the same team that did the Empire Strips Back, which is the Star Wars burlesque parody. ⁓ And this is a, it’s just a really silly show. They’ve got horror figures from like everything from like Leatherface in the seventies, Texas Chainsaw Massacre to more modern horror.

figures like Megan from that franchise. And it’s just really kind of an impressive athletic feat as well, which is something I was not expecting. I knew in Burlesque it was a lot of dancing and kind of a more of a variety tone. this had like, they had chainsaws that had sparklers on the end that they were kind of

throwing around the stage. They had a ballerina as Pennywise come out and do this really impressive ballet solo, ⁓ dressed as that character. The Megan sequence was this really aerobic kind of poll number that was just all over the stage. It was 90 minutes of just very well-paced entertaining ⁓ riffs on horror icons. And I guarantee you’ve never seen

⁓ Freddy Krueger and the crew in positions like these.

Alex Miller (13:44)
That’s hilarious. so, and what’s the extent of the stripping they actually do it? it more about the theater itself?

Toni Tresca (13:52)
Yeah, that’s a fair question. definitely do the stripping. Stripping is definitely a part of it, but it’s more of a striptease element is that it’s kind of happening as they’re doing these performances. ⁓ And they encourage you to cheer, they’re like, they ask explicitly not to shout at the performers like, show us your boobs or like throwing money at them. It’s not that kind of a show. Yeah, they were, I mean,

Alex Miller (14:14)
Right. Yeah, yeah, that would be gauche.

Toni Tresca (14:21)
And I guess because they say it, they must have had some negative experiences in the past where people get a little too rowdy. So don’t be that guy if you go to the show. And yeah, you’ve got some time to check this out. It is going to be at the NPU venue, the Arch over in Rhino through August 31st. And this is apparently the first, this is like the first tour stop after they rebranded.

Alex Miller (14:25)
Right.

Right.

Toni Tresca (14:48)
because they did a trial run of this show in Portland under a different name, and now they’re doing this show here in Denver before going to Los Angeles, Dallas, and Miami officially, as well as, they’ve said, a number of other cities after that. So you can check it out around the country coming soon.

Alex Miller (15:04)
Okay.

All right, so that’s what we are out to. What’s in the news bag this week,

Toni Tresca (15:13)
So I briefly mentioned this on the last episode of the podcast, Colorado Creative Industries has launched a major tax credit to support creative mixed use community projects statewide. It’s called the Community Revitalization Tax Credit, and it’s going to 10 projects that either support artists or expand childcare access or build affordable housing. All very good things, I think. ⁓

We could definitely use more of that around the state. ⁓ And I actually had a chance to catch up with some of the recipients who shared just how much, transformative these tax dollars would be, particularly in underserved communities ⁓ like Durango, in which they have like a childcare desert. And in addition to kind of expanding the museum, they are working to kind of fill that childcare ⁓ gap with. And so it’s just really cool.

to see that in a time when the federal government is kind of turning away from these priorities, Colorado is stepping up.

Alex Miller (16:20)
Yeah, yeah, that’s great. And your story about it is on the Onstage Colorado website right now so can read all about it there.

Toni Tresca (16:27)
Absolutely. Quickly, I just wanted to say a RIP to two members of the arts community who recently passed away. Andrea Gibson, who is a poet laureate for the state, as well as Kevin All, who is Family Theater Company’s co-founder. Gibson died last week at 49 after a long, pretty public battle with cancer.

They’re a non-binary artist who is known for their raw and political spoken word poetry. And Gibson was a pillar of Colorado’s literary scene and a national voice on gender grief and love. And they have some pretty exceptional pieces that if you have not checked out, I think now is a really, really good time to go. they have some really interesting things in there about ⁓ this kind of.

experience of getting cancer that I would definitely recommend checking out. They’re really resonant now.

Alex Miller (17:25)
Okay, real loss there.

Toni Tresca (17:28)
And then Kevin Ahl, who died at the age 67. And Kevin is credited with coming up with the name Family and has worked with the company since he helped create it back in 1989. So he’s been acting as well as doing other things with the company for a long time. And a memorial service is going to be held for him at 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 24th at Aspen Moratoriums in Arbata.

Alex Miller (17:54)
What a legacy. ⁓ know, created this amazing theater program that’s got a national profile for, you know, ⁓ various abled or disabled people that really helps people out a lot. And they do great work.

Toni Tresca (18:07)
Yeah, absolutely. I imagine it must have felt very good to see this thing that you’ve created kind of on a whim with your friends over pizza and beer kind of evolve into this national organization. And also very, very good with words to come up with ⁓ the family name, which is now so iconic and important to the company.

And so finally, before we move into our main topic for this week, I just wanted to quickly take the pulse of how you’re feeling about this year’s upcoming Henry Awards. Do you have any last minute predictions or hot takes about the ceremony, which is gonna be happening at the Lone Tree Art Center on July 27th?

Alex Miller (18:48)
Hahaha.

I don’t. mean, I know, you there were, you know, who’s got the most nominations. So it’s fair to say that probably the Denver Center will come out on top again. But we also had that a little bit of a dark horse of Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater had tons of nominations as well. So we’ll see.

Toni Tresca (19:12)
Yeah, last year the Denver Center was the top award recipient with seven. And I, like you, think that that could happen again, especially given their strong showing for Little Shop of Horrors, as well as their ⁓ kind of spread out nominations throughout the play categories, where I think that they will rack up a number of wins. But that said, even though last year the Denver Center won the most awards, they were fairly spread out.

compared to previous years in which like the Denver Center and companies like Betsy won nine awards each, leaving other companies to kind of feast on their scraps. Do you think that could happen again or do you think it’s gonna continue to kind of be spread out? I’m not sure based on the kind of, it’s clear the judges have their favorite shows after looking at the nominations.

Alex Miller (19:50)
Hahaha

Yeah, yeah, I mean, it’s a numbers game, you know, so there’s nobody sitting there looking saying, Denver Center’s got too many, let’s move over some over to here, you know, it’s kind of like, ⁓ you know, some of the other big awards, you know, wherever it’s like, ⁓ squid game got shut out. And it’s like, well, ⁓ you know, that’s, that’s the way it rolls, you know, there’s not a master plan behind it all. So it’s gonna be, there’s definitely always a chance that it can be uneven and frankly unfair, but

We’ve chewed this bone over many times about how it’s really impossible to do it perfectly. And I think the Colorado Theater Guild does ⁓ an admirable job of recognizing as best they can.

Toni Tresca (20:42)
Absolutely. And I think kind of in that vein, one of the common kind of qualms with the ceremony is that it’s very Denver Metro heavy, just, and that’s like, because Denver does have so many shows, ⁓ but in past years, the ceremony has definitely skewed Denver Metro. And I think from looking at the nominations that that is likely to be the case again with this year’s awards, which will be much to the chagrin of

companies from like Colorado Springs and up north in Fort Collins who travel this way and then sit there in ceremony. But I think that’s likely to happen again. The only potential spoiler could be Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater because they clearly like their productions of Come From Away, The Music Man, and Kinky Boots. But the question, it’s always a numbers game like you said, did they like them enough to win?

Alex Miller (21:15)
Right.

Yep. Yep. So,

yeah, what about the show itself? Last year, they had really streamlined it we were very happy. It was only two hours and 15 minutes and I would assume they’ll go down that path again and keep it tight.

Toni Tresca (21:49)
I’m hoping so. I haven’t heard anything to counter that. I’m hoping that they just kind of keep it very tight. Last year, I thought that they were able to achieve a really impressive balance. They still had musical numbers from the nominated musicals, as well as performances by some up and coming artists, as well as still having speeches that I thought were pretty effective overall. So yeah, I’m…

Fingers crossed, I’ll definitely be there. I know you’re going to be there, so we will be back next week with our update. I guess that’s probably what we’ll do our bonus episode about.

Alex Miller (22:21)
Yeah.

Yeah, when is it? Is it next Monday, the 28th? Yeah, so, yeah, so that’s, that’s, I guess that’s what we’ll do. So great. Well, ⁓ and you know, if you if you haven’t been to the Henry Awards, they do, it’s a fun thing to witness. It’s always fun to see people winning awards. And, ⁓ and, you know, they do have these little snippets of, you know, some of the musical numbers and things from from the year. So, so yeah.

Toni Tresca (22:31)
Yeah, next Monday. ⁓ Monday the 27th. ⁓

Yeah, but the best part’s the after party, which is really what you should stick around for, is you just get to chat with everybody. ⁓ at that point, nobody is, before, talking with people in the lobby before the show is always, particularly if they’re nominated, is always much more stressful. You feel that they’re not able to really engage. But after the show, win or lose, people are just like, all right, I’m here. We’re gonna have a good time.

Alex Miller (23:01)
Yeah.

Toni Tresca (23:26)
All right, well, that’s it for the Henrys. Let’s turn now to our main topic, climate change and theater, when the show can’t go on. I like that punchy title you gave this segment, Alex.

Alex Miller (23:26)
R

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (23:40)
So today we are going to dive into a topic that’s literally heating up the theater world. It’s how climate change is affecting live performances, particularly kind of focusing on outdoor theater and live music. Although not exclusively, this is something that’s been on my radar lately, as we’ve seen even the heat kind of affecting shows locally, particularly almost over at Town Hall Art Center in Littleton. They had to cancel some performances.

of its production of On Your Feet due to excessive heat and them just not being able to comfortably accommodate folks. And so rather than force people to sweat it out, they just canceled the show. And I know that you’ve also had your experience with ⁓ the Colorado heat kind of affecting your experience at the theater.

Alex Miller (24:33)
Yeah, yeah, I’m the first to complain if things are, you know, it’s just, hard to enjoy a

and if you’re outside, if it’s raining or, you know, so we’re not really so much talking about, of course, you’re always gonna have the, you know, the problem of rain and, you know, especially like, I think open stage theater in Fort Collins has had kind of maybe a disproportionate number of cancellations just because Northern Colorado seems to be a little more prone to like those heavier thunderstorms and even hail. And I know it’s a real challenge for them when they do their outdoor stuff. ⁓ But, you know, we’re talking more about, ⁓ you know,

Toni Tresca (25:03)
Mm-hmm.

Alex Miller (25:10)
safety issues, like an overall trend. So, you know, I came across this really sobering piece from the onstage blog, July 2nd, about a Shakespeare production in June where actors were literally collapsing from heat. So that’s real issue.

Toni Tresca (25:25)
Yeah, I mean, that’s crazy. Tell me more about that. Did the show continue? What happened? I imagine probably not. If the actors are literally passing out.

Alex Miller (25:35)
Well, they actually did push through. mean, they were looking at temperatures in the mid-90s. They in full period costumes. There was some shade. They didn’t mention which theater company it was, but they didn’t have any cooling stations. the actors were going down with heat-related sickness. But they did complete four shows during the heat wave.

Toni Tresca (25:55)
I don’t know, I’m not sure how I feel about that. I don’t feel like that’s actually a good thing to be bragging about. That feels like it’s pretty dangerous and potentially harmful for the performers and the audience who are out there in that heat.

Alex Miller (26:09)
Yeah, and that’s how the blogger put it. That’s not dedication, that’s dangerous. And the kicker is it’s only going to get worse. Summers are getting hotter. think anybody, even if you have your head in the sand about climate change like our administration does, everybody else is like, yeah, this is definitely happening.

Toni Tresca (26:25)
Definitely. And it kind of makes me think about those outdoor venues we talked about, because it’s affecting indoor spaces. Our air conditioning can’t keep up. We go outdoors. How are those bigger, more established festivals kind of responding to this? Are they seeing impacts of the changing climate too?

Alex Miller (26:45)
yeah, yeah, there’s definitely some, you know, came across some stories like the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is kind of the poster child for it in 2018. They lost $2 million because of wildfire smoke forced them to cancel 26 outdoor performances. So again, that’s a thing that happens in the West, but it’s happening more because of climate change. So we can look to see more of that.

Toni Tresca (27:07)
Two million dollars is not like a small amount either. That’s like a lot of money for theater organizations.

Alex Miller (27:13)
It

is, yeah. It was more canceled shows than they’d had in the previous five seasons combined. And each canceled show represented about $50,000 in losses, counting concessions and other sales.

Toni Tresca (27:27)
So, I mean, what are they gonna do about it? It’s not like we can’t just not do outdoor theater anymore. I mean, what is the Colorado Shakespeare Festival supposed to do? They’re getting done with a massive renovation to their outdoor Mary Riffon theater. Are they just screwed?

Alex Miller (27:43)
Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe they’re putting in like, you know, those spritzers that they have in like rooftop bars and stuff. I don’t know. But yeah, it’s expensive and complicated to adapt to this kind of stuff. Oregon Shakespeare Festival has alternate in they have an alternate indoor venue during peak wildfire season, which of course, the Colorado Shakespeare also has the you know, the the the Roe Green ⁓ theater there if they need to, you know, move something in there. So

And, you know, they’ve also shifted their outdoor season back a week to try and avoid the worst conditions and they have what they call a smoke team.

Toni Tresca (28:20)
smoke team. I think they have those on CU Boulder’s campus too.

Alex Miller (28:24)
Yeah, I think they compete on a national level and they do quite well. But yeah, I this smoke team, they monitor

air quality and wind direction throughout the day to kind of try and predict when smoke is going to roll in. And sometimes they’ll cancel shows even when audiences are seeing blue skies because they know it’s coming.

Toni Tresca (28:43)
Yeah, wow, I mean, that’s incredible. mean, thank goodness we have that weather technology, but I imagine that these kind of extreme weather events are not just impacting Oregon.

Alex Miller (28:54)
No, not at all. Even Shakespeare in the park and Central Park in New York had to cancel the first two nights of Hamlet in 2023 because of wildfire smoke from Canada. And the Utah Shakespeare Festival lost half a million dollars from nine smoke-related cancellations in 2022.

Toni Tresca (29:04)
⁓

You think we could get Trump to try to put a tariff on the wildfire smoke coming in?

Alex Miller (29:17)
It’ll be nice if we could

at least get him to stop making cuts to NOAA and the National Weather Service and all these, you know, tools that we have to try and predict this stuff and all that, but that’s another story.

Toni Tresca (29:29)
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it’s really a lot bigger issue than I realized before kind of sitting down to do this topic. I mean, what is what about extreme heat? Because I know that is another factor of this all. And every summer we’re hearing about new record temperatures around the country.

Alex Miller (29:50)
Yeah, for sure. And going back to 2023, which was that terrible year with, you know, was all these waves and smoke and everything. extreme weather affected at least 30 major concerts around the world. had Jason Aldean collapse on stage from heat stroke in Connecticut. band called Disturbed had to cancel a Phoenix show because their equipment literally wouldn’t turn on in the 117 degree heat.

Toni Tresca (30:15)
You know, that’s that, I guess that makes a lot of sense. I hadn’t really thought about like the equipment failing from heat. You, hear about instruments, it being much harder to keep them in tune, ⁓ when, particularly when there’s extreme heat or the temperature changes. But I mean, I guess that it’s funny. The equipment just was like, I’m not doing it today. It’s too hot.

Alex Miller (30:35)
Yeah, and also like, you you think about, you know, a guy standing there with a guitar is one thing, but the drummer is, you know, is really exerting a lot of energy. And it seems like you’d want to have a spritzer on that person too, you know, a fan. But, you know, but they’re also, you know, there are human costs. A 23 year old fan died from heat exhaustion at a Taylor Swift concert in Brazil in 2023, where temperatures hit 100 degrees. But the story said that humidity made the felt temperature more like 138 degrees. That’s like insane.

And also in 2023, 17 fans were hospitalized in an Ed Sheeran concert in Pittsburgh for heat related issues.

Toni Tresca (31:12)
I that’s just awful. So, I mean, here in Colorado, we’re not quite that hot usually, but we do still need to be thinking about these kinds of issues as the climate continues to evolve and change. So what can outdoor theaters actually do to protect people?

Alex Miller (31:32)
Yeah, well, the onstage blog piece had some really practical suggestions like building water breaks, set up cooling tents backstage. Let performers wear lighter clothing, especially during tech rehearsals, you maybe just for the actual show they’ve got the full thing on or maybe you just change the costumes altogether where, you know, they’re not wearing the full on kingly robe, you know, for that outdoor, know, Richard the third or whatever it is. But also creating an environment where the show must go on as ⁓

replaced with a little bit of being able to hear actors say, I’m not okay ⁓ with this, you know, without being seen as unprofessional.

Toni Tresca (32:09)
Yeah, I think that’s a pretty good point. And if actors and other creatives just had a little bit more agency potentially, then could have avoided having actors pass out yet continued to do the shows in extreme heat.

Alex Miller (32:23)
Yep. So, you I think there’s the need to challenge that when safety is at stake, you you’ve got to make changes. The blogger made a great point about audiences too. Nobody wants to sit through 12th night while their brain is boiling and people should be challenged by the story, not the climate.

Toni Tresca (32:39)
Yeah, that’s pretty good way to put it. I I know another thing that some theaters are looking at with these alfresco shows is to kind of just move them back a little bit, like into May or June or even pushing them into the fall. I mean, the flip side is you do miss those summer crowds and maybe some potential revenue if you do that. I mean, speaking of that kind of the business side.

I imagine insurance on anyone doing outdoor theater has got to be getting pricey these days. It’s pricey in any other area.

Alex Miller (33:13)
Oh yeah. Yeah. I don’t think, I’m not sure what like a smaller company, if they’ve got insurance against this kind of thing, but like the bigger concerts certainly do. And there was one citation where they’re talking about how some of these insurance costs have gone from 1.25 % to 2.5 % of the guaranteed amount. So an artist looking to protect a million dollar guarantee now pays 25,000 instead of 12,500.

Toni Tresca (33:23)
Yeah.

I mean, yeah, it’s a pretty big jump for any organization that’s operating on like a tight margin. Like for Red Rocks, instance, that’s probably not going to like sink their concert series, but for smaller players, yeah, that’s a lot.

Alex Miller (33:59)
Yep. And also concerning, like music industry experts in particular say that weather cancellations that used to be rare, but now pretty much every touring artist has a weather incident. when experts said the frequency and severity are definitely increasing.

Toni Tresca (34:16)
Yeah, so are theaters doing anything in response to this?

Alex Miller (34:21)
Well, yeah, so this story talked about some Bay Area theaters that are getting created by using cooling towels, performers being more flexible about postponements. There’s even been a shift in attitude since the pandemic. More understanding that sometimes you have to call off a show and the world doesn’t end if that happens.

Toni Tresca (34:39)
Yeah, I guess that’s one of the silver linings of COVID. It feels weird to say it like that, but it’s good that we’ve learned that flexibility doesn’t make everything end.

Alex Miller (34:51)
Yep. But you know, the big picture concern is that researchers are warning that if weather keeps constantly intervening, it could threaten the very existence of the outdoor event industry and the whole business model relies on being able to make plans, know, schedule a calendar and stick to it.

Toni Tresca (35:07)
So do you think we’ll actually have to lose outdoor theater altogether? Or maybe it could just adapt. I feel like probably adapt is the way to go.

Alex Miller (35:18)
Yeah, yeah, it’s definitely gonna look different. Some venues are changing their seasons entirely. They’re implementing warning systems, even using reflective paint to lower temperatures on surfaces. ⁓ you know, maybe Colorado will be the place to just have all the festivals. You everything’s gonna be in Breckenridge in the summer or something like that.

Toni Tresca (35:28)
Nice.

Yeah, or that in that kind of nifty semi outdoor tent venue that they’ve got in Aspen that they use for their performances.

Alex Miller (35:46)
Yeah.

Yep. So, ⁓ yeah, it’s not just about big festivals. It affects ⁓ community theater, doing Shakespeare in the Park, summer camps, school productions, anybody performing outdoors.

Toni Tresca (36:01)
And I imagine as the climate continues to change, we’re going to see this continue to be reflected on stage as well with shows. There’s tons of writers working on climate change shows at this present time, and a lot of them have even made it to stage. I think the one that comes to mind most quickly is Hurricane Diane. But yeah, what do you think? Do think we’re going to continue to see them on stage?

Alex Miller (36:24)
Mm.

absolutely. Yeah, there’s actually something called the Climate Change Theater Action. It’s a global initiative where theaters worldwide perform short plays about climate issues and it’s been growing every year.

Toni Tresca (36:43)
makes sense that where theater is being affected by climate change, it’s going to respond to it artistically and politically as well.

Alex Miller (36:52)
Yeah, and I think that’s what theater does best. helps us process and understand what we’re going through as a society.

Toni Tresca (36:59)
Yep. So before we wrap up, any takeaways for the theater folks who are listening?

Alex Miller (37:06)
Well, I mean, I’m no expert, but it’s not rocket surgery. And of course, theaters know that if you’re planning outdoor productions, have to build climate weather considerations into every aspect when scheduling to safety protocols to budget planning and the old ways of doing things just aren’t always safe anymore. And theater patrons also need to understand that cancel the altered shows are just going to be part of the reality.

Toni Tresca (37:27)
Definitely. And I mean, it’s not entirely a bad thing either. It just forces us to be more thoughtful about the performers putting on the shows as well as the audience safety. And just makes us more innovative, I think, as artists rather than just kind of sticking to what has always been done and then having people sweat through, sweat through 12th night as that article said.

Alex Miller (37:48)
Yeah, yeah, those are good things, but we shouldn’t have to learn them because people are getting hurt. It’s just, you know, got to think about it.

Toni Tresca (37:55)
Yeah, then on the flip side to all of this, it’s not hard to imagine that if it is hot as fuck outside, people might just be well-inspired head and side to a cool theater rather than sit in the bleachers outside at some game.

Alex Miller (38:09)
Yeah, that’s true. Yeah, I couldn’t find much to show that actually going on, but there was definitely some news from the 2023 heat wave with movie theaters seeing big attendance boosts, know, part of that big Barbenheimer season.

Toni Tresca (38:23)
Yeah, I remember some reports kind of linking the extreme heat to how well ⁓ both Barbie and Oppenheimer did, when it’s that hot outside, people want to go anywhere else. mean, for many people, back in the days, AC in a movie theater was the first time they experienced that technology. So there is some historical precedent there.

Alex Miller (38:45)
Yeah, theaters would advertise that they had it, you know, when they first, the first air conditioned theater, the Rivoli in New York City opened in 1925. Box office receipts increased instantly by $5,000 a week and people lined up at the box office long before the doors open.

Toni Tresca (39:01)
Yeah, that’s crazy and kind of takes us full circle back to the start of our conversation with the air conditioning not working at the Littleton Town Hall Art Center. And that being such an issue, people do nowadays it is expected. It is one of the selling points of getting to go to a show, you know, it’s going to be cold in there. So bring a jacket.

Alex Miller (39:22)
Yeah, ⁓

maybe for the next show you can’t afford to hire a dramaturge, but you need to hire an HVAC technician or something like that. Now don’t make that trade-off, but yeah, we need that HVAC guy. So all right, well, that’s it for this topic. We’re going to take a quick break and we’ll be back with our Colorado Headliners.

Toni Tresca (39:30)
Yeah

Alex Miller (39:46)
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 Theatre Silco, featuring Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville, August 8th through 31st in Sylvathorne. This upbeat and energetic musical is the story of a part-time bartender, part-time singer, and full-time charmer named Tully, who thinks he’s got life all figured out until a beautiful career-minded tourist steals his heart and makes him question everything. Tickets at thesilco.org.

Also supporting Onstage Colorado is the Colorado Shakespeare Festival presenting The Tempest June 7th through August 10th and Richard II July 5th through August 10th. Shows take place in the Rio Green Theater on the campus of the University of Colorado Boulder. Tickets at cupresents.org. 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 (41:48)
All right, we are back. So ready to hit this week’s Colorado Headliners. These are some of the upcoming shows that we think you should know about and in no particular order. Tony, what do you have to start this week?

Toni Tresca (41:59)
kicking us off with a musical this week at the Butte Theater in Cripple Creek. It’s Beehive, the 60s musical, which celebrates the powerful female voices of that era with timeless hits as like My Boyfriend’s Back, Be My Baby, Me and Bobby Ghee, although I’m not sure how timeless they are because I don’t recognize any of those names of those songs. ⁓ But

Alex Miller (42:21)
Me and Bobby McGee?

Come on. Janis Joplin. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. Yeah.

Toni Tresca (42:26)
I cannot say that I know these quote unquote hits, but

it says that it’s told from the perspective of six young women who come of age in this decade. ⁓ And it takes us to their first beehive dance to the challenges that we faced as a nation. what is a beehive dance?

Alex Miller (42:47)
I don’t know.

Toni Tresca (42:49)
Well, I guess you have to see the musical to find out. This runs through August 31st over at the Butte Theater there.

Alex Miller (42:51)
Yeah,

have a beehive hairdo or you actually have to carry a live beehive onto the dance floor and it really influences how you dance.

Toni Tresca (43:07)
I would say, yeah, if there were bees all around me, would certainly have some effect on how I was moving.

Alex Miller (43:13)
All

right, my first one is The Bridges of Madison County. So this is the Platte Valley Theater Arts in Brighton. This is July 25th through August 3rd. this is, you know, I’d seen the film. It was with Clint Eastwood and I can’t remember. It might have been…

Meryl Streep. So it’s based on this bestselling novel. But this is a musical version. So it follows, it’s set in 1965. And so this is an Italian woman living on an Iowa farm and she’s to death, but she has this encounter with a National Geographic photographer. And they have this kind of thing and it changes her life forever. So yeah, I’m keen to go up and check that out. So that sounds cool.

Toni Tresca (43:57)
Yeah, that does sound pretty interesting. I like that play. ⁓ It’s a, but I, excuse me, I like that novel, but I’m curious to see how it would be adapted to be in a musical setting.

Alex Miller (44:09)
Yeah.

Toni Tresca (44:12)
⁓ My next one is a Shakespeare play that is kind of fitting to our last conversation. It is outdoors ⁓ and it is being done in Telluride. So it’s a little cooler there by Telluride Theater. ⁓ They have, this is a, it’s got love triangles, a forest, disguises, and a dog. And this is actually the company’s 35th anniversary of doing Shakespeare in the Park.

Alex Miller (44:24)
yeah.

Wow. Yeah, that’s a real program. So yeah, we spoke with the artistic director from Telluride a few episodes back if you want to check that one out. ⁓ My next one, I love this so much because I love Gilbert and Sullivan. This is the Makato in space. So I don’t know. I know. the Empire Lyric players are a Gilbert and Sullivan operation. do

Toni Tresca (44:55)
I saw this, this sounds so cool.

Alex Miller (45:03)
pretty much one show a year. This year they’re doing it at the Maisel Center in Denver, July 25th through 27th. And so the Mikados, you know, this really well known Gilbert and Sullivan operetta that’s set in Japan. And this one apparently has got a spin on this fan favorite, combines gorgeous melody with instilling this into a family-friendly show.

And there’s a live orchestra, the cast, and a chorus of aliens. A chorus of aliens. So that sounds like an awful lot of fun. So that’s from Empire Lyric. Players coming up this weekend.

Toni Tresca (45:37)
Anything with a chorus of aliens can’t be that bad.

Alex Miller (45:40)
Yep.

Toni Tresca (45:42)
My next headliner is actually a doubleheader. It is Twelfth Night and Fledgling the Ugly Duckling, retold by Picnic Theater in Steamboat Springs. These two shows are being done in rep at a variety of outdoor locations, including the Yampa River Botanical Gardens, the Bud Warner Memorial Library, and the Branahan Amphitheater in Strawberry Park. And these are free shows.

So Twelfth Night is the Shakespeare play that’s very well known, very musical, very fun. And fledgling the ugly duckling retold is, as the title suggests, a kind of adaptation of the ugly duckling that’s inspired by the bestselling book Women Who Run with the Wolves and celebrates the search for identity and community.

Alex Miller (46:34)
Okay, cool. There’s a quickie, but the Little Mermaid is gonna be at Stage Door Theater in Conifer, July 25th through August 2nd. So, you know, there’s this mermaid who would like to swap out her flipper for a pair of legs and chase the prince with all her friends there. they always do a nice job up there at Stage Door, so that’s up in Conifer. Also a cooler place to go.

Toni Tresca (47:02)
Definitely. I’ve got kind of an interesting one out in the Aspen area. The Wheeler Opera House is staging a streetcar named Desire. ⁓ And the reason I’m including it, in addition to it being a very well-written Tennessee Williams play, is the statement that was attached to the piece from the directors. They say, there’s a vital need right now to create a new economically viable forms of theater.

Working class artists must reclaim a central role in the creation and presentation of their own work. In that spirit, director Nick Westraight and Lucy Owen have created a version of a street car named Desire like none other. Presenting Tennessee Williams complete, on a bridge text with no props or set, the production is designed to be performed everywhere. It’s hyper-intimate, completely unique and incredibly revealing, and Strips Bared the Bones, the greatest piece of American drama.

So I thought that was a very interesting kind of statement and it seems like a fairly cool, mean, simple, straightforward. Yeah, you hear it and you’re like, yeah, duh, yeah. To produce the plays with no set and they’ll strip down and yeah, you have a lot more control. It doesn’t cost nearly as much. Maybe you can do more work as an artist.

Alex Miller (48:22)
All right, my next headliner is Twelfth Night, another production of Twelfth Night. This one is going to be right here in the metro area in Littleton, Foothills Theatre Company at Clement Park. And they’ve been doing this for a couple of years now. This is going to run July 25 through August 2. And the big news here is it is free. So this is a free production of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy of mistaken identity and love’s confusion. And you can check it out for Nada Dinero.

I don’t think that’s proper Spanish, but…

Toni Tresca (48:55)
No say on proper espanol,

⁓ but I catch your drift.

Alex Miller (49:03)
Yeah, and of course they’ll be dealing with any potential weather because we do have the monsoon season kind of kicking off and I know, I think it’s supposed to be a little monsoony this week but more hot and dry next week so maybe they’ll be okay at least on the precipitation side if not the heat.

Toni Tresca (49:23)
Fingers crossed they’ve got some contingency plans though, just in case.

Alex Miller (49:27)
Yep.

Yep.

Toni Tresca (49:29)
My final headliner for this week is Cry It Out. This is the first production of the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s ⁓ newest season. It’s the third season with Mark Reagan and Jessica Robly at the helm. And this play is about two newly minted moms who share one thing in common. They’re both feeling isolated and trapped at home with their new babies. ⁓ The play is a smart, candid comedy.

about parenthood and class in America today, as well as the hard choices that all mothers make. ⁓ And this actually being staged in two locations. So it’s first being done at the Savoy in Denver, August 1st through the 3rd. And then if you live up north, it’s being done at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, August 8th through the 22nd.

Alex Miller (50:23)
Great. Yeah, I’m curious to see what that one’s all about.

All right, my last headliner is Dixie’s Tupperware Party. So this is the final season. This is a, it’s gonna be at the Denver Center Garner Galleria, July 16th through August 17th. So this is about Dixie Longgate, the fast talking gum chewing ginger haired Alabama girl who’s bringing your grandma’s Tupperware party into the 21st century. So I guess she actually does have Tupperware on stage and talks about the many uses of it and lots of funny tales and some audience participation and home-sponsored

Wisdom. ⁓ and I’m actually going to be talking to ⁓ her ⁓ on Wednesday for an upcoming podcast. So we’ll have, think her name is Kristen Henderson. think. ⁓ But yeah, I’ll have that coming on an upcoming podcast. that one’s, so, you know, as we’ve talked before, the Garner Galleria can be a hit or miss, and sometimes they get things in that’s like, it’s going to be there for a long time. But this one’s for a month. And I think this is kind of a

tried and true property. think she’s toward the nation, if not the world, with Dixie and her Tupperware party.

Toni Tresca (51:35)
Yeah, I know that she’s definitely done the Denver centers before in this space in the past. So she’s comfortable here at the very least.

Alex Miller (51:40)
Yeah, yes.

Yep.

Toni Tresca (51:49)
All right, now we are going to throw it over to Alex’s conversation with the Associate Artistic Director at Miners Alley and very accomplished director, Warren Sherrill.

Alex Miller (52:09)
All right, hey, we are here with Warren Sherrill, Associate Artistic Director at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center. Warren, thanks for coming on the On Stage Colorado podcast.

Warren Sherrill (52:19)
Absolutely, thank you for having me.

Alex Miller (52:21)
Yeah, well, you’re a really well-known name around Colorado. You’ve been directing shows and ⁓ artistic directing for many years. I think your bio that I came across said 30 years in the Denver area. Is that accurate?

Warren Sherrill (52:34)
Yeah, I’m actually a native of Colorado, if you can believe it. So I’ve been around here a long time.

Alex Miller (52:43)
Uh-huh. Are you native to

the Denver area or somewhere else?

Warren Sherrill (52:47)
No, I actually grew up in a small farming community east of Aurora called Byers, Colorado. Yeah, very small. ⁓ You just leave Denver about 50 minutes east on I-70, but it feels like you’ve gone into a completely different world. ⁓ But yeah, so that’s where I grew up. And then I went to school at CSU and I’ve just been hanging around the Denver area this whole time.

Alex Miller (52:53)
Okay.

Yeah, okay.

Warren Sherrill (53:16)
I kind of don’t like any place better than Denver.

Alex Miller (53:19)
Uh huh. Yeah, it’s a great, great city with lots of theater going on. So good place for someone like you. so, so you’re going to be directing the Miners Alley’s upcoming production of Assassins. And we’ll talk about that in just a little bit. But I did want to talk a little bit more about, about your background and like kind of how, did you get started? Did you start at like many directors as an actor back in high school or college or where did it start?

Warren Sherrill (53:24)
Absolutely.

Yeah,

think growing up, it’s just one of those things. I always just knew I wanted to be an actor. ⁓ even directing was kind of in my blood. My crazy aunt was the one who would always make all of us kids do skits and things like that at holidays for the family. And I would always end up just taking control and just making sure that everybody hated me, all my cousins and siblings.

Alex Miller (54:02)
⁓ huh.

You

Warren Sherrill (54:11)
just make sure that everybody was doing what they’re supposed to be doing. So at a very young age, I knew I wanted to do this, ⁓ but I wanted to focus on acting. I went to Colorado State University, which is a small ⁓ theater program there. ⁓ But what was great about that program was like, got to experience everything. I was kind of forced into experiencing everything, from design to ⁓ directing to costume, all of that. And I think ⁓ ultimately it was…

for the better, because it really gave me a taste of all the aspects and really kind of pushed me into the direction of directing and acting. ⁓ and then since then, I’ve just kind of just, you know, done ⁓ my work around all around different theater companies around Denver and the metro area. Yeah.

Alex Miller (54:49)
Mm.

⁓ Okay.

And so you ⁓ started a company in 2000, it was the Paragon Theater. I can’t remember if I’ve ever, if I ever saw anything. was out of the state for a while in the early 2000s and didn’t move down to Denver until 2012, which was, guess, when Paragon closed. But what was that company all about?

Warren Sherrill (55:14)
Hmm.

That was a great time of our lives. ⁓ At that time, there was either the big, big companies or just a handful of very, very small companies. There weren’t really any materials. was just kind of a… ⁓ And it was, again, being a very different time. ⁓ I had a good friend. He’s actually my best friend, Michael Stricker.

He and I had done a couple of shows together and we just felt like Denver was just missing just a little bit of the more edgy, just some more biting theater. ⁓ And then a lot of theater that we grew up going to school studying, ⁓ like the great British playwrights, ⁓ like Look Back in Anger, Osborne, Pinter. ⁓

things like that, just didn’t, weren’t experiencing. So anyway, we decided to just, let’s just go all out, start a small theater company, applied for a 501 CD3, we had no idea what we were doing. Got a little, very, very little money to put on our first show. And then it just kind of went from there. We just really took pride in doing shows that were, our tag was honest.

Alex Miller (56:32)
You

Warren Sherrill (56:48)
intimate and bold and that’s exactly what we were. We never had a physical home. ⁓ We worked kind of out of different theaters actually right when the Akoma Center, which is now Curious Theater, when Chip was working in the Akoma Center with Curious, he allowed us to do shows there. So we were kind of the second theater in that space, a few shows there. And then Ditchin shows on the theater on Broadway, ⁓ space on Santa Fe. But yeah.

For 12 years we ran hard and ran strong and it just you know it as as all of us know running a nonprofit theater company is tough work. It’s really really hard and. ⁓ Yeah, some might say that ⁓ yeah, so you know it just it came to a point where we we finally had had signed our first lease down in the Rhino area just before it turned into the Rhino area. ⁓

Alex Miller (57:29)
Some might say impossible.

Mm-hmm.

Warren Sherrill (57:46)
And this was in 2011. We signed the lease. opened our first show in 2012, did all the work and we got a lot of flack from the city. I know Julia Toby’s going through that with her new space. It just was really, really, really wearing on all of us. And one night after we opened Miss Julie, Michael and I were sitting in the lobby and during the show was running, but we were unclogging the toilets that were overflowing and

We just said, we just kind of said, guess what? I’m done. Are you done? And he said, I’m done too. It was tough. It was a tough decision, but we, felt like it had a good run and we were done.

Alex Miller (58:18)
You

Okay, got it. Well, I mean to dig into any painful past, but I mean, you know, it’s very interesting. All that’s probably informed a lot of kind of where you went from then. ⁓ What did you learn from that experience that you might pass on to someone like, Julia Tobey, who’s starting up her Ballyhoo in Denver? Now, she’s not a theater company per se, but she’s going to have performance in there. And there’s those other theater companies that have started up in recent years. ⁓ I don’t know, top advice. Other than don’t do it.

Warren Sherrill (58:30)
Yeah

Mm-hmm.

Right. Right.

Other than don’t

do it. No, I don’t think I’d ever say don’t do it because I don’t I do not have any regrets. I I remember Wendy Ishii from Bablu because we were friends from CSU. She said don’t do it, but you know, look at her. She’s still going strong. ⁓ But yeah, it was. I would say top advice is ⁓ just just really. Believe in what you’re doing if you believe in what you’re doing.

Alex Miller (58:55)
Ha ha ha.

Yeah.

Warren Sherrill (59:21)
You can do it. You can totally do it. mean, and somehow it all always works out. It always works out. Just like when you do a production and you know, it’s a week before opening and like, how the hell are we going to get there? It happens and it always happens, you know, the right way. So. Yeah.

Alex Miller (59:39)
Yeah, I guess if if anybody were to ask, which they haven’t, ⁓ me, not that I’ve started a theater company, but what I see from my end here running on stage Colorado is that a lot of theaters just don’t have the marketing thing figured out. ⁓ They haven’t dedicated the resources to it. I think they don’t understand it. They don’t prioritize it. And it’s like, look, if you want butts in seats, man, you’re going to ring the bell. so I wanted to talk to you a little bit about that, because as part of your

duties there at miners alley is you’re the marketing guy, right?

Warren Sherrill (1:00:09)
Yeah, it’s funny. It’s a different part of my life that I actually stumbled into right about the same time we started Paragon. My brother, who’s a marketing genius and he’s also a creative person, an artist, graphic artist. He was working for a high tech company. He started his own marketing company, asked me to join on for my day job. So when I was running Paragon, was doing my day job as a…

working for a marketing agency. didn’t know anything about it. I went into it completely, you know, but the great thing is I had a team of resources, ⁓ resources from that agency that I was able to tap into while we were running Paragon. And yes, it is, it is a massive part of the solution. and so with that, I learned, ⁓ much, much, much about, ⁓ what, you need to do to

Alex Miller (1:00:43)
Mm-hmm.

Warren Sherrill (1:01:06)
to market a theater company and get those butts in seats and that’s the number one priority. And so when I was brought on at Miners, I just happened to throw out to Len, by the way, I have some background in this as well, so that’s why it became a dual role for me and it kind of fit perfectly. And it’s one of those things too where it’s like with my job as associate artistic director there, I’ve got my hands in lots of decisions, but it really, it holds hands with the marketing.

Alex Miller (1:01:21)
Right.

Warren Sherrill (1:01:36)
part of it as well.

Alex Miller (1:01:37)
Right,

right. So ⁓ again, maybe ⁓ if you were to give some advice to some theater starting out, are some of the marketing tips that you would tell them, you know, especially if they don’t have any money for it? It’s easy if you got lots of money.

Warren Sherrill (1:01:49)
Yeah, I know that’s the tough one. ⁓

Absolutely. I think, ⁓ you know, like any company, it’s so important to build your brand, build a brand you can stand by ⁓ and build a brand that really, really expresses who you are. And by that, mean not just a cute logo. I’m talking about what is your core message and how can you put it in the simplest of terms to get that out to your audience. And then from that, it will

help to ⁓ preach everything else that you do. It helps dictate all of the other pieces and parts. When I started Paragon and we were doing marketing there, social media had just barely started. ⁓ So that wasn’t as big of a deal as, of course, it is now. It’s massive. Social media is huge and it’s free. So as much as you can do to jump on that.

on that whole thing, which I think all the young people are doing that. That was a big learning curve for me when I got back into this world.

Alex Miller (1:02:58)
Sure. So now that you’re at Miner’s Alley, which is a pretty big intermediate theater, I guess you would call it, or sort of larger intermediate or something like that, it’s a pretty big operation. is what is the what you just said about a theater defining itself? What is Miner’s Alley’s defining message? And how do you kind of hammer that?

Warren Sherrill (1:03:07)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

I think you know what I’ve learned for being there for my year and a half and what I really ⁓ love about it so much is that the word community is used in everything we do. at first I thought, okay, yeah, everybody can say community, but it truly is. And then not just community in the way of, you know, we’re giving back to the community, we’re trying to form a community at Golden. It’s everything. It’s a community of people that we want to

bring in the community of the types of shows that we do. If you took Miners and compared it to Paragon, we did totally different types of shows. We’re not going to do ⁓ Long Day’s Journey tonight at Miners Alley. We’re going to do shows that do challenge, do educate, but also the biggest thing is we just want to make it

and entertaining fun evening for everyone. And by that we form community. And so it means come to the show, enjoy the show at intermission, sit at the bar, have a drink after the show, you know, hang out. It’s just, it’s the messages. We do really highly professional shows. We do shows that are going to make you feel good. Might, ⁓ might bring some tears. ⁓

but aren’t going to be so heavy that you want to drag yourself out and go home and go to, you know, go hide in a cave. ⁓ So yeah, it’s a big part of that is community.

Alex Miller (1:04:54)
Right, right.

I think family too. mean, I get such a vibe of family when I’m at Miners Alley. just, you know, there’s a lot of, you know, recurring performers, you know, that are kind of part of the extended family. And it’s like, it’s got such a homie vibe, you know, that you can, when you get a drink at the bar, you get it in a mason jar instead of a plastic cup. ⁓ And then, and there’s like little touches, like, you know, a little sign at the, at the entrance to the house that tells you how long each act is, which I have never seen any other theater do.

Warren Sherrill (1:05:05)
Yes.

Right. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Alex Miller (1:05:31)
Which

is just like that little piece because a of times the first time I sit down I open the program like does this thing have an intermission and a of times I don’t even tell you ⁓ and and you just don’t know so, you know things like that I think all of this kind of cumulative and like you said, it’s building that brand That people, you know have a good idea what they can expect when they get there and you know, they’re definitely, know Tony Tresca who’s my podcast co-host Here on most weeks is you know, we’ve all be both puzzled over, you

Warren Sherrill (1:05:37)
Right? Yeah.

Alex Miller (1:06:01)
some of the new theaters that have opened up, not because we don’t think that’s great that they’re trying, but it’s like, why are they, what are they, why are they doing this? or why do they have to have their own space? And it’s like, because we know how hard it is to hang on to that. And, but yeah, so anyway, well, so marketing is definitely a part of your, your biz. I also want to ask, don’t you have another, another business on the side where you do like mobile, mobile prescription glasses?

Warren Sherrill (1:06:13)
Absolutely.

Yeah, I do. do. After we closed Paragon down, it’s so funny because it literally was kind of around the time the bubble burst. 2000, late, you know, the late early 2000, guess, 2008, 2009 was when we were closing down the marketing agency as well, just because of the way things went. oh my gosh, I just lost my train of thought. What was the question? Oh, yeah.

Alex Miller (1:06:53)
The glasses.

Warren Sherrill (1:06:55)
Sorry.

Yeah. So anyway, so I was looking for a, again, a daytime gig to kind of get me through and stumbled onto being an optician through a friend. I got my certification, worked for a private doctor for 10 years ⁓ and just loved it. And then decided I could, I can, I could do this on a mobile scale and just do that. So I am a certified mobile optician. I can come to anyone’s house and I bring my own set of

and people try them on and then I can take their prescription and get their lenses made and it’s kind of cool. It’s kind of fun. Yeah.

Alex Miller (1:07:25)
Uh-huh.

Yeah, yeah,

I didn’t know about it until I think it was Stephen Burge posted on Facebook when you guys were doing the National Bohemians, I guess he needed some glasses. I was like, that’s interesting. I never heard of a mobile ⁓ optician before.

Warren Sherrill (1:07:36)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it’s not really,

it kind of came about during the COVID days ⁓ and that’s, you know, just kind of gone from there. So, but it’s been a great little side gig. Yeah.

Alex Miller (1:07:49)
Yeah.

Mm

hmm. Cool. Well, let’s I want to also ask, you know, while you’re while you’re juggling your associate artistic director, Doonies with with directing and not not always at Minors Alley, you directed ⁓ Curious ⁓ this year, a show ⁓ and you do do go to some other theaters as well. How do you how do you juggle all that and how do you decide what shows you really want to direct?

Warren Sherrill (1:08:18)
Yeah, it’s interesting. think a lot of my cohorts who are around my age or older, you know, as you get older, you get a little more picky about projects that you want to do because you know, you just realize the commitment and all that. Obviously, my number one ⁓ home and my number one goal is to always be there for miners because that’s my full time gig. So that takes precedence over anything. But when someone

Alex Miller (1:08:30)
Yeah.

Warren Sherrill (1:08:47)
calls me up, Jada Dixon from Curious or ⁓ Rich from Aurora Fox, and says, hey, I’m doing the show and it’s this time slot, what do you think? And if it fits in a slot that I feel like I can handle it and do it, ⁓ I’m flattered as hell and I do it. And it is a lot of work, but I just, I love it. And especially to work for ⁓ teams that have such great support and I know it’s not going to be.

you know, a horrible stressful time. ⁓ I am able to fit it in and make it work. And then, you know, especially for the show that I really, really want to do.

Alex Miller (1:09:28)
Yeah. ⁓ What is the kind of show that really piques your interest? And is it a musical? Is it a play? is it depends on just what it is?

Warren Sherrill (1:09:37)
Yeah, I think it depends on what it is. mean, currently, you know, doing assassins just peaks my interest like nothing. that’s also it’s not a typical ⁓ musical, you know, it’s got a lot of grit. It’s dark, obviously. ⁓ So I like shows that have a little grit. ⁓ One of my favorite types of shows typically are straight shows that put three or four people in a room.

Alex Miller (1:09:43)
Haha

Warren Sherrill (1:10:05)
And there’s not a lot of scene changes and it’s just, you know, it’s just a good story. I really, really loved doing ⁓ a case for the existence of God for curious recently, just because, you know, it didn’t even have any blocking. was two men sitting in a cubicle for 90 % of the show. And ⁓ it’s just such great writing. ⁓ And then national Bohemians was the same. You you put these people trapped in a room. It’s that that’s my favorite type of show. Misery.

Alex Miller (1:10:32)
Uh-huh, Misery too. ⁓

Warren Sherrill (1:10:34)
Absolutely.

Alex Miller (1:10:35)
But yeah, that case with existence got curious. That’s a really powerful show that’s ⁓ really impactful that I really enjoyed. So great job on all of those. Cause you won a bunch of, ⁓ you won a Henry for Misery, right? Henry Award ⁓ and some others. So, all right. Well, so let’s talk about Assassin. So this is a Sondheim musical. I wasn’t really familiar with it. Is this one of the lesser performed?

Warren Sherrill (1:10:43)
Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

It’s one of the lesser perform, it’s one of his more, ⁓ I think people, a lot of people are scared to do it, to be honest. Yeah, it’s, but it’s, know, even if you don’t take into consideration our political times, well, you always have to, no matter what time you are in, but ⁓ it’s just a really strong, funny, ⁓ satirical take on history. ⁓ But yeah, it’s… ⁓

Alex Miller (1:11:07)
Uh-huh.

Warren Sherrill (1:11:30)
It’s one of his lesser known, ⁓ but you talk to the really ⁓ deep, dark musical theater person that knows all their Sondheim a lot of times as their favorite. ⁓ Many, many times, yeah.

Alex Miller (1:11:46)
Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about the plot and like how many, big is the cast, that kind of stuff?

Warren Sherrill (1:11:53)
Basically the cast is, it can be like 15 to 20 people. The version we decided, just because of the space we’re in and all of that, we decided to pair it down. There’s basically 10 featured roles. There are nine assassins, true historical assassins or attempted assassins. And then a role that’s called the

proprietor who is kind of the, you know, the, hawker at the sideshow step right up and see, see, see the show. So we’ve leaned into that thematically. ⁓ And typically that’s that’s a male, a male ⁓ cast role, but I, I went with Julia Toby just cause she is such a strong performer in that sense. And I think it’s kind of, there’s no reason we couldn’t cast her in this role. And, ⁓ and then she kind of plays the every man ⁓ she plays different.

different roles here and there kind of coming in and out that wouldn’t otherwise be played by ensemble members. But yeah, the other nine ⁓ assassins, you know, have people like any, any famous assassin, John Hinckley, Oswald, ⁓ Booth, of course. And then there’s some lesser known ones that attempted to assassin Sarah Jane Moore, who just is making news recently because she’s, she’s being released from prison or has been released from prison for attempting to kill Ford. ⁓

squeaky from, you know, attempt to go forward as well. ⁓ It’s just an interesting ⁓ take. And so what the story is kind of this abstract place where they all are together and they interact with each other, but then they each have a moment to tell their story. And it’s not by any way means, you know, here’s my excuse or, you know, we’re not trying to glorify them at all.

Alex Miller (1:13:45)
Uh-huh.

Warren Sherrill (1:13:50)
It is just an interesting look into what drove them to do what they did. And a lot of it is taken literally from the history books. Sondheim has done his homework in that sense. And it’s just, it’s just an interesting take in the dark side of humanity.

Alex Miller (1:14:07)
And are they all presidential assassins or are they different? Okay, so all US assassins. So we have plenty, we have enough homegrown assassins to fill a musical, I’m sad to say. ⁓ So ⁓ David Nels is the music director. Have you worked with him before?

Warren Sherrill (1:14:10)
They’re all presidential. Yeah.

Absolutely.

Sad to say, yeah.

David and I have never worked together. mean, we’ve known each other for a while, but yeah, we’ve, is first time we’ve actually collaborated, which is so exciting. And we’ve already melded quite a bit. We’ve met quite a few times. We just started rehearsals two nights ago, but, ⁓ but yeah, we’ve, we’ve come together on a, on a really nice, strong concept. And he’s just, he’s great to work with. I mean, I sat in the music rehearsal last night. We did a through the whole show after just two days of rehearsal and it’s already brilliant. So.

Alex Miller (1:14:55)
Yeah, yeah, there are a number of people I could say are like the busiest person in Colorado showbiz, but he is definitely in the top five. think he seems like he’s just always doing something. Yeah. And also usually quite good. So great. Well, Warren Sherrill, director of Assassins, this runs August 8th through September 14th at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center in Golden.

Warren Sherrill (1:15:02)
Mm-hmm. He certainly… I agree. Yeah.

Alex Miller (1:15:22)
⁓ And sounds like it’s gonna be a real interesting show. I look forward to coming and checking it out. And also appreciate you coming on the Onstage Colorado podcast to tell us a little bit about yourself and what’s going on behind the scenes there at Miners Alley. So break legs on all that stuff.

Warren Sherrill (1:15:36)
Yeah.

Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It’s been fun.

Alex Miller (1:15:42)
All right.

Alex Miller (1:15:44)
Alright, yeah, we’re back. That was a lot of fun talking to Worrall, as he was saying, we’re looking forward to seeing Assassins there at Miner’s Alley.

Toni Tresca (1:15:52)
Definitely. I’m a big Sondheim guy, although, and I’ve never seen this one staged, so I’m definitely got this one on my calendar and I’m making plans to get out there.

Alex Miller (1:16:03)
Yep, me too.

Toni Tresca (1:16:05)
Well, that brings us to the end of the show for this week. ⁓ Alex, what can people check out on onstagecolorado.com if this just wasn’t enough theater for them?

Alex Miller (1:16:15)
Yeah, well, I my review of Cirque du Soleil Echo. I’ll have my Woodlands and Wyverns review up. We have April’s ⁓ review of Flyin’ West at TheaterWorks at the Center in Colorado Springs, which she loved. ⁓ Alice ⁓ did a review of Once Upon a Mattress at Central City Opera, which she said was kind of a disaster. So not her favorite. Of course, she raved about Barbara of Seville there, but she came back and really, you know, it’s kind of reminded me some other critiques we’ve had of ⁓

shows that were just went too over the top on the comedy and the silliness. And she also felt that these ⁓ more opera heavy performers weren’t quite as up to doing musical theater as she thought. And then also, yeah.

Toni Tresca (1:16:58)
Yeah, I thought that was a, I thought that

was a great review, particularly as it kind of juxtaposed this production with the staging that the Arvada Center did of it recently as well. And she compared it to the more subtle comic sensibility that that show and Kenny Moten brought to that production. Whereas in contrast, I think because opera is so heightened, it’s very easy to go into that over the top silly place that she was not a fan of.

Alex Miller (1:17:08)
Yeah.

Yep. Another thing that we have on the site, which I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, our reviewer Kim Nicoletti got out to see a show at the Adams Mystery Playhouse. It’s a show called Murder at the Tiki Bar. So this is, you know, they do like a dinner theater and kind of a silly show with a lot of audience participation. And she had a great time at it. So her review is up there too, as well as your review of Doll’s House Part Two from Denver Theater Ensemble. Oh, I think that one’s closed by now. But yeah, lots of stuff there.

Toni Tresca (1:17:28)
in her review.

That’s right.

Yeah, and I’ll be getting out to Buntport Theatre to see their touring artist production around the world in 80 Toys this Friday, so I’m going to write a review about that for this site. Anything else upcoming on the docket?

Alex Miller (1:18:15)
⁓ Yeah, I’ll be there on Friday as well. On the podcast, so ⁓ I just spoke to Charlie Miller with the DCPA’s off-center division to talk about the return of Sweet and Lucky Echo. This was the first big immersive event off-center did, I think, nine years ago, and they’re bringing it back in another iteration called Sweet and Lucky Echo.

not to be confused with Cirque du Soleil echo. So it’s fun conversation about this major offering from off center that opens August 13th at their Broadway Park temp venue.

Toni Tresca (1:18:49)
very very excited for this production. I did not get a chance to see this back when it was here in 2016. I’m going to be going to the off-center location on South Broadway next Tuesday to attend a rehearsal of the production in process ⁓ for an article I’m working on and then I’ll be very eagerly awaiting its opening night in August. I imagine I’ll see you there.

Alex Miller (1:19:07)
great.

Yeah, yep, I’ll be there. So all right. Well, that’s it for this week on the OnStage Colorado podcast. Thanks so much for listening. I’m Alex Miller.

Toni Tresca (1:19:25)
And I’m Toni Tresca, and we’ll see you at the show.

Alex Miller (1:19:28)
yeah.

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.