A rundown of cultural activities for BHM, plus an interview with Zachary Chiero from Durango’s Merely Players

In this episode of the OnStage Colorado Podcast, hosts Toni Tresca and Alex Miller take a swing around the state to see how Colorado is celebrating Black History Month. From exhibits to theatrical performances and much more, there’s plenty to see and do to mark the month-long observance.

Later in the podcast, Alex catches up with Zachary Chiero with Durango’s Merely Players. For 30 years, the theatre has been providing lively productions in Southern Colorado, including their upcoming production of ‘Swing Stag’’ by Rebecca Gilman, opening Feb. 7.

And as usual we run down our Top 10 Colorado Headliners — shows of interest opening in the next week or two. Here’s this week’s list, in no particular order:

Chapters

00:00 Intro

02:42 Recent Theater Experiences

05:45 Theatrical Innovations and Performances

08:42 Arts Funding and Political Challenges

11:44 Honoring Black History Through Arts

14:48 Community Engagement and Local Events

23:37 Celebrating Black Culture Through Events

29:14 Exploring Black History Exhibits

31:12 Theater and Arts in Black History Month

39:13 Colorado Headliners – Upcoming Shows and Performances

01:03:29 Interview with Zachary Chiaro from Merely Players

Listen to the podcast

Transcript

Created by AI fiends; don’t take it too seriously.

Alex Miller (00:00)

Hey, hello and welcome to the OnStage Colorado podcast for February 4th. I’m Alex Miller.

Toni Tresca (00:06)

and I’m Tony Tresca.

Alex Miller (00:08)

And we are recording this on February 3rd. So Black History Month has just started. So happy Black History Month to everyone.

Toni Tresca (00:16)

Yeah, and we will dig into more on that since Black History Month events are our main topic this week. But first, I just want to say thank you for tuning in to another episode of the only weekly show dedicated to covering the richness of the Centennial State’s theater scene. This week, we’re talking about what we’ve seen around the state, some of the most pressing news in the theater community, and our main topic, how the arts community is honoring Black History Month in 2025.

Alex Miller (00:44)

Yeah, yeah, it’s great. There’s definitely a lot going on that we’ll get into. But first, let’s just talk a little do a little loop on what we saw recently. So I was out at the Boulder Ensemble Theater Company production of Hope and Gravity at the Denver Savoy, which I really enjoyed. It’s a funny comedy. It’s a really interesting, clever script. And there’s a couple of really just big performances in it. So

you know, Emma Messenger is fantastic in several roles. But Jason Maxwell really, man, he was just, his ability to be like really big and exaggerated really fit well for the characters that he plays. And there’s one particularly funny scene where that involves a self-help thing for

for liars that he just, the physical comedy in it is just, I mean, just had the house just falling over themselves laughing. But also there was an actor that I hadn’t seen before, Becca Lynn Broz, B-R-O-A-S, Broz, and she was fantastic. I was like, man, if I’ve seen her before, don’t recall it, but she was really outstanding.

Toni Tresca (01:52)

Mm-hmm.

awesome. what did the set kind of look like in the Savoy space there? That’s one of my favorite parts about going to that venue is that people always have got it arranged in interesting configurations.

Alex Miller (02:13)

Yeah, you know, it was kind of set up in more traditional kind of proscenium sort of set up. And it was a fairly, really minimal set by I think it was Tina that did that one. I see. Yeah, Tina Anderson did the set is kind you know, there’s an elevator plays a big part in this. So they had kind of a, you know, flat, you know, the lights moving on the floors on an elevator thing upstage. that was it was it was pretty, pretty straightforward, but really a fun show and and just the

you get a drink ticket when you go in and there’s dessert. So great bar there. So if you want to have a kind of a fun night out there, good one. Yeah. And then the other one is Gutenberg, the musical. So this has been up since November and you and I were talking about how it kind of got off to a shaky start, you know.

Toni Tresca (02:52)

Yeah.

That’s right,

yeah.

Alex Miller (03:03)

And I

have to say they’ve really got it dialed in now. It’s a very fast moving, very well choreographed piece of two-hander comedy that the crowd really enjoyed. And so I would definitely give a recco to that one. And that’s going to be around into early May. So it’s a super long run, I guess due to some of the rules that came down from the producers out of New York, right?

Toni Tresca (03:29)

That’s correct. Yeah, since it’s the technically like the one of the regional premieres of this show and not end of the revival production of Gutenberg, they had to do it for a certain amount of time. And yeah, we we’ve talked about it on the podcast before I talked, I discussed it when I saw it when it opened. And that was in the middle of the first big cold snap in Colorado. And I didn’t even see the two actors who were in the show. had an understudy who was on.

on opening night, I got a very different experience of Gutenberg. And so I was very pleasantly surprised to hear from you that it is really tightened up. And hey, you’ve got another three months to see it. I’m sure it’ll only get tighter by the end of the run.

Alex Miller (04:09)

Yeah, yeah, so, and then the other thing I was just gonna mention is that, know, in kind of commemorating or memorializing the death of David Lynch recently, Andy, my son and I have been watching Twin Peaks, the original series. And man, that is a good show. It’s so unusual. The music from Angelo Badawamente is just, makes it so interesting and the performances and the weird storylines and…

Toni Tresca (04:23)

huh.

Alex Miller (04:35)

And yeah, it’s just been a lot of fun to watch. I remember, so when Twin Peaks came on and like, that was 90, 91, something like that, I was living in New York city. And of course this was before, you know, streaming and all that stuff. And we would gather in, you know, one of our apartments like, and we’d have like 10 people, like people would come over to watch. It was like appointment TV to watch Twin Peaks every week. It was so much fun. And I just remember.

Remember, I remember a few things from it, but a lot of it I didn’t. So it’s been kind of like watching it and new. So it’s great, great show.

Toni Tresca (05:09)

That’s a great recommendation. That’s one of the lynch properties that I have not seen in any form or capacity. Do you think it’s, it sounds like it holds up. How does Andy like it?

Alex Miller (05:21)

He really likes it. yeah, he’s been enjoying it and yeah, it’s a bit of a commitment. The first season’s on the shorter side, but then I think there’s a full 22 episodes. And then of course, there’s the film Fire Walk with me, which you kind of have to watch after, which is a little of a prequel. Maybe you could have watched it before, but… And then of course, there’s the newer version that came out a few years back that apparently was pretty good that I didn’t watch. So anyway, that’s what we’ve been…

Toni Tresca (05:45)

Mm-hmm.

Alex Miller (05:48)

watching when we’re not out at the theater. What did you get out to?

Toni Tresca (05:52)

So this week I went and checked out Gee’s Bend over at the Aurora Fox Art Center. This is the story of the Gee’s Bend quilters from Alabama. It’s set in three different time periods, 1939, 1965, and 2002. And it requires that the actors really age kind of on stage physically in front of you because two actors in particular.

Alex Miller (06:15)

Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (06:19)

their names were Yasmin Amin Hunter and Deja McLeod, who played Sadie and Nella respectively. They really have to age that entire time in front of your eyes. And they’re similar in age to me. So it was interesting to see their kind of physical changes all the way when they’re playing people who are in like around their 80s and whatnot. I thought it was incredibly impressive performances. And the story itself was really moving, too. It’s kind of set. Yes, it’s about these.

quilters and the quilting that they do together and how these quilts get essentially they bought from them really cheap and then distributed around the world and now they’re insanely famous. They’re hanging in a bunch of museums, but it’s also kind of set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement. So one of the characters really desperately wants to go see, go to Selma to participate in the march that MLK is doing there. And so it’s kind of this interesting juxtaposition between

the family roles that we play and or other people want you to play and kind of this desire for free that these characters are fighting for freedom. I found it to be very, very effective staging. It’s about an hour and a half, no intermission. I’m gonna shout out one other element before we move on. Brandon Case’s scenic and projection designs were just immaculate. The set kind of change has to also evolve over time.

And so you’d see that through subtle changes to the physical set pieces, but really this back wall is just fully lit up with projections the whole time that are constantly kind of changing and adding depth to and texture to the other scenic elements rather than replacing them and just serving it. Like when we saw Back to the Future, those projections are just like, they replace all the sets. They’re the houses, they’re everything. Branding Cases was more of the sky.

It’s adding, it’s fleshing out the interior, it’s showing these videos of the march at Selma to kind of physicalize the world. And I just found it incredibly effective, particularly with a story that’s spanning decades.

Alex Miller (08:26)

that’s cool. So for the for the aging the makeup, how did that how did that look? Did they have a pretty good makeup?

Toni Tresca (08:33)

So they chose not to do it with any makeup. was all, it was, I, which I think was a very smart choice because oftentimes when you see people in the kind of the old age makeup, you’re like, really? doesn’t, this is not convincing at all. So they actually did it only through changes to their bodies, voices and lighting. The lighting design actually played a really key part in that last scene in kind of playing with the shadows on their faces to make them look a little bit more aged.

Alex Miller (08:36)

Okay.

Yeah, it doesn’t look. Yeah.

Interesting.

Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (09:03)

And in that, conjunction with the actors’ performances, it really sold it. I went on a Sunday matinee, and in the audience was a lot of older people. There was actually a group of quilters who was from Denver who they had brought their whole quilting group there. And I was chatting with the leader of that group afterwards. And that was what she was most impressed by too. She was like, I cannot believe how effectively they captured being old. She was like, I was convinced and they had no makeup on. I was like, well.

I was like, you’re convinced and you’re kind of the same age as them, I guess they did a good job.

Alex Miller (09:39)

Yeah, that’s great. Very, very interesting. Cause yeah, for sure that kind of, unless you’ve got super high, high pro makeup artists to do that kind of thing, it can look just bad. so what about in the mailbag? What’s, what do you want to talk about there? I think there’s some national news that you were hinting at.

Toni Tresca (09:48)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so on the news side of things, it’s only been about two weeks, Trump, the Trump administration is already cutting and causing chaos left and right and the arts world. Yeah, is right, Alex. And because through his proclamation that he wanted his proclamations that he issued, he he was trying to halt all federal funding, even though that was blocked and later reversed by the administration. That doesn’t mean that many people in the arts community.

aren’t understandably concerned about what this means for current and future federal funding opportunities.

Alex Miller (10:29)

It’s so much easier to break things than it is to build them, isn’t it? You know, it’s really fascinating to watch how they’re just going in and kind of pulling all the wires. It’s so sad and stupid. But yeah, John Moore had a great piece for the Denver Gazette and that was a headline was Will Trump Target Federal Arts Funding Again, which included a reaction from some local arts leaders to the situation. he noted in the story that during the first administration, Trump tried to eliminate both the National Endowment for the Arts. my God.

Toni Tresca (10:33)

Mm-hmm.

Alex Miller (10:58)

and national download for the humanities but couldn’t get it done. So this year 22 arts organizations in Colorado received $435,000 from the NEA, but now the future of this funding source is going to be up in the air

Toni Tresca (11:14)

Yeah, it’s if project 2025 is to be believed, both of those organizations are on the chopping block and he’s been their personal hobby horses for him and his administration. And as Kristen Wilson, who is the executive artistic director of Boulders, Modus Theater, put it in John Moore’s piece, quote, I’ve seen the NEA repeatedly strengthened and weakened over my 58 years of life and Modus Theater, like a lot of arts organizations, will be doing our best to respond courageously, regardless of funding. So I.

I think that’s a good message, pushing, because Modus Theater in particular does a lot of kind of politically engaged work. So it’s great to hear that they’re not backing down, even if it means that their funding might actually be in question.

Alex Miller (11:58)

Yeah, yeah, also in the piece, I quoted Gary Steyer, the president CEO of Bonfield Stanton Foundation who said he’s cautiously optimistic that the NEA will at least survive and noted that Trump tried to eliminate the agency before but it’s been shown over many decades that NEA has had broad bipartisan support, particularly in rural areas and said it’s a difficult time, but time, hopefully they’ll survive. And he says he bets that it will.

I hope, I don’t know if I share that optimism, you gotta think positive, I guess.

Toni Tresca (12:32)

Yeah.

Yeah, just because something has broad bipartisan support does not mean anything in 2025, unfortunately. mean, day one of his current administration came out swinging hard against the arts with Trump issuing an executive order that dissolved the president’s committee on the arts and humanity. And this is a nonpartisan committee too, but it just is, the purpose is to bring together prominent artists and allies to the president to advise on cultural policy.

Alex Miller (12:51)

the

Toni Tresca (13:03)

And it was actually founded in 1982 by conservative Jesus himself, Ronald Reagan. So it’s really strange to see that Trump destroy it because of its quote unquote DEI efforts or whatever bogeyman figure they’re using nowadays to justify what they’re doing. But I guess it’s probably not surprising that he cut this committee given that he actually ended it back in 2017 and it was revived by the Biden administration. So now like much of Biden works.

Alex Miller (13:07)

Ha ha ha ha.

Ugh.

Toni Tresca (13:31)

Biden’s work during his time in office, it’s being rolled back by the current administration.

Alex Miller (13:36)

Yeah, and they’re even looking at forcing organizations that receive federal funding like the National Gallery of Art in Washington to change how they approach programming. But I don’t know, the whole thing is just weird to me, the whole fuck the arts approach by this administration and often by conservative politicians in general. I these types of funding programs are rounding errors in the federal budget and they benefit millions of Americans in blue, red and purple states and…

Like many other government funding programs, rural areas that lean red and less wealthy benefit the most. I mean, public radio is often the only source of radio in rural areas and it’s also often the only local news source.

Toni Tresca (14:25)

Yeah, really is. It’s so frustrating too, particularly with arts funding. Like you said, it’s a minuscule amount of the federal budget. believe I saw it like 0.004 % or something. It’s like a rounding error. It’s nothing. This money doesn’t mean anything to these people, but it means everything to the community and the arts organizations that rely on it.

Alex Miller (14:36)

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (14:47)

I’m just hoping that this does not happen and that we’re able to organize effectively against the current administration to push back against him and his cronies systematic efforts to destroy everything good about this country. but now only time is gonna tell if how these policies are actually going to affect us here in Colorado, but needless to say, we are gonna be watching it like a hawk. And if you’re an artist or an arts leader, we’d love to hear your thoughts on.

how you were approaching creation and art making under the current administration. Because we’re gonna be doing a full episode on that later. So please share your thoughts with us by sending an email to us at info at onstagecolorado.com or contacting us via social media. We’ll kind of curate those responses and use those as the basis for an upcoming episode.

Alex Miller (15:38)

Okay, well, I had one final thought, you know, we don’t typically talk about politics on our website or our podcasts, but that does change when they come for arts funding. So it’s definitely something we’re gonna, like you said, watch like hawks and kestrels and eagles and other raptors. So and by the way, I just added a countdown clock on the homepage of Onstage Colorado. So at the bottom of the homepage, you can always tell at a glance how many weeks and days until January 20th, 2029. Seems a long way off, but that day will come.

Toni Tresca (16:06)

God bless

you, Alex. God bless you.

Alex Miller (16:10)

All right, any other news?

Toni Tresca (16:13)

Yeah, so we got some sad news last week. Dan Ritchie, who is the longtime University of Denver Chancellor, who at age 74 agreed to become CEO and chairman of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Yet he passed away last week. Ritchie had suffered a serious hip injury back in May 2024, and he died at his home in Denver on January 30th at age 93. And it’s been just really touching to see all of the tributes to him, both

from the people who work at the Denver Center, as well as people who knew him. He just sounded like a really gregarious, kind-hearted man who was very passionate about the arts and the local community here. he had just had his hand in so many different organizations and has just been cited as like a key cheerleader for the arts, particularly theater.

Alex Miller (17:02)

Yeah, yeah, well, you know, usually when you get into the 90s, people say, well, he had a good run, but I mean, you know, he really was a big, force and, and theater around here. And I don’t know, people, you know, are, can really make an impact well into their 70s, 80s, 90s. So you don’t have to be young to make that kind of difference. So, um,

Toni Tresca (17:11)

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely.

Alex Miller (17:26)

All right, well, before we dive into our main topic, I just want to mention our interview guest this week. It’s Zachary Chiaro, artistic associate at Merely Players in Durango and director of their upcoming production of Rebecca Gilman’s play, Swing State. So Merely Players has been a force in Southern Colorado theater for 30 years. They formed in 1994. was a couple of, I think, Durango High School theater teachers that started it.

You know, so it’s great to get out and talk to some of the theaters around the state outside the metro area. So we talk a little bit about what they’re up to down there, as well as this play, which is the title, suggests Swing State is very timely in the US right now.

Toni Tresca (18:04)

Yeah, we’ll talk a little bit more about Swing State because that’s one of my headliners for this week. And I’m really looking forward to hearing this interview. It’s like we don’t have a ton of people on the podcast from Durango. So it’s exciting to hear a little bit about how they approach art making in that more rural area.

Alex Miller (18:10)

Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (18:23)

All right, now on to our main topic. We’re talking about how local arts organizations are honoring Black History Month this year. This month is a pretty crucial time to celebrate the contributions of black artists, storytellers, and leaders who have helped shape our culture and communities. But before we dive into the local efforts, let’s kind of talk a little bit about why this month actually matters, especially I think in the face of…

efforts to diminish or erase it like we see under some parts of the Trump administration, like the Defense Department, which declared Identity Month dead in that part of the government in a message to staff. I know, although Trump himself, he did issue a proclamation about Black History Day Month. It’s still kind of scary and very frustrating to see these kind of efforts to diminish the impact of Black people in this country. So Alex, what are your thoughts on all this?

Alex Miller (18:57)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well, mean, Black History Month has been an official observance since the 70s. was 76 when Gerald Ford issued a proclamation calling on the public to celebrate the month every February. it’s roots date back even earlier. So the historian Carter G. Woodson helped launch Negro History Week in 1926, which eventually grew into what we now celebrate each February. So it exists because Black history has been systemically marginalized and the month serves

Toni Tresca (19:22)

huh.

Alex Miller (19:44)

as a reminder to acknowledge and uplift those stories. So unfortunately, as we’ve seen a push to downplay or even eliminate Black History Month in some circles, makes it so important that we continue to celebrate it. So as he said, there were concerns that Trump wouldn’t sign the proclamation, he apparently grudgingly did so on Saturday. I don’t think it would have made much difference. People were still gonna celebrate it, whatever he said. but there you have it.

Toni Tresca (20:09)

Yeah, and I think exactly what you just said is right. I think the best way to kind of push back against this idea that Black History Month doesn’t matter or is not important anymore is to kind of push back and actively participate in honoring the culture and the contributions that African-Americans have made to this country. And that’s why we’re spotlighting some of the incredible ways that the local arts community and other cultural groups are honoring the month this year. So.

Let’s start with a powerful theatrical production that’s happening around Denver. It’s one I just was talking about, Gee’s Bends.

Alex Miller (20:43)

Yeah,

of course. Yeah. So this is going on at Aurora Fox Art Center and you just kind of talked about it directed by Donnie Betts. It weaves together history, music and resilience in a pretty moving way. And it sounds like also a very entertaining piece from what you just said.

Toni Tresca (20:58)

Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of history, if you’re looking for a way to kind of have that come to life, Black History Live is bringing a living history tour that includes portrayals of Harriet Tubman and Louis Armstrong on a statewide tour to cities including Denver, Pueblo, Aurora, Parker, Colorado Springs, Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction, Greeley, Littleton, Fort Collins, and Canyon City, and to kind of sh-

showcase these performances and they take place in this interesting format in which the actors embody the historical figures and then they take questions about their lives both in character at first and then out of character at the end. So it sounds like a really cool way to just kind of get to hear from the voices of those who have shaped the country so much.

Alex Miller (21:49)

Yeah, you know, sometimes you got to really, you know, zip things up to get people engaged in history, but that sounds like a cool way to do it. So, well, for music lovers, there’s Pernell Steen and the Five Points ambassadors at Denver’s Dazzle on February 12th. So it’s just around the block from the Denver Center’s place. So Steen’s a Denver jazz legend and his music is deeply connected to the history of Five Points, which, you know, has been dubbed the Harlem of the West. So, and in fact, Dazzle has a

Toni Tresca (21:56)

Yeah.

Alex Miller (22:18)

whole month. I’m sorry.

Toni Tresca (22:20)

Do know who dubbed it the Harlem of the West?

Alex Miller (22:24)

no.

Toni Tresca (22:26)

I was, I didn’t either.

was actually, I was interviewing Purnell Steen last week and he asked me that same question and I had to tell him the same thing. I was like, no, Purnell, I have no idea. And he told me that it was actually Jack Kerouac, the poet and American writer. He, Purnell actually saw him at the after hour clubs that Denver used to have with, and I quote, my own two beady little eyes.

He was on this transcontinental odyssey and Purnell was telling me about how he was always the white guy who was in the after hours club who was insanely drunk and would talk to anybody as he was writing away at the bar. And one night he turned to him and he said, man, it’s the best damn music I’ve ever heard. This place is the Harlem of the West. And so it’s actually Jack Kerouac who gave five points that nickname.

Alex Miller (23:04)

Ha

That’s cool. Yeah, Kerouac was a big fan of Denver in general and definitely city appears in a number of his works. So, but yeah, they have a whole month of events going on through there, including performances by, I don’t know if you say Adam G.A. or Atomga and the Ken Walker sextet.

Toni Tresca (23:37)

Yeah, and if you want even more music and culture, the Five Points Jazz Roots Festival is happening on February 15th and the 22nd. And this celebration features live music, historical tours, and art exhibitions all along Welton Street that pays tribute to this neighborhood’s Black cultural legacy.

Alex Miller (23:57)

Yeah, and in another area of arts and culture, the Black History Month fashion show is coming up on February 23rd on Oneida Street in Denver that’ll spotlight emerging black designers, models, and performers. you know, fashion’s an important part of cultural expression, so the event will showcase both tradition and innovation.

Toni Tresca (24:16)

Yeah. And for those who are looking for a little bit more of a discussion-based way to engage with issues of social justice, hashtag I’m aware Black history celebration on February 22nd at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Library in Aurora is offering workshops on housing and employment discrimination, law force interactions, and legislative updates for the community. And it’s a great way to learn and engage directly with the issues that actually affect the Black community today in Aurora and Denver.

Alex Miller (24:46)

Yeah. And yeah, let’s not forget all the exhibits that are running throughout the month. So the Museum for Black Girls on 16th Street. This is an interactive and empowering experience dedicated to celebrating Black women’s contributions in art, culture, and society. And there’s also a Dowod Bay Street Portraits at the Denver Art Museum that features portraits of Black Americans taken between 1988 and 1991. And I was looking at some of those. They’re really cool.

Toni Tresca (24:51)

Mm-hmm.

Alex Miller (25:13)

know, just kind of moments in time of different people in different ages. So definitely looks like a really cool exhibition.

Toni Tresca (25:22)

Yeah, I think another must-see exhibit is the OWL Club of Denver, Legacies of Excellence at the History Colorado Center. And this exhibit highlights a historic all-Black debutante club that explores the beauty standards, societal expectations, and the resiliency of the Black community here in Denver.

Alex Miller (25:41)

And if you like a self-guided experience, Denver has put together a Black History Month public art tour that features murals, sculptures, and other artwork celebrating Black heritage. So that’s a cool way to explore the city while learning about Black artists’ contributions.

Toni Tresca (25:55)

And that map that they put together includes quite a few of the exhibits that we’ve already mentioned. So it’s kind of a good way. If you’re just looking to kind of spend a day or two really deeply immersing yourself in the history, it’s a really accessible way for you to do that. They’ve got it all mapped out for you. They’ve got where you should stop and whatnot. So that sounds like a really fun way to engage. And Colorado AAA recommends visiting some of Colorado’s historic black landmarks, of which there are many, including the El

the El Pueblo History Museum in Pueblo that highlights the story of Jen Beckworth, who was a Black explorer and actually the co-founder of the El Pueblo Trading Post. The Fort Carlin Museum and Cultural Center showcases artifacts and stories of the Buffalo soldiers that were stationed there in the post-Civil War era. Deerfield is a former Black

farming community that’s in Weld County, and it stands as a testament to the African American land ownership efforts that were inspired by Booker T. Washington that actually took place here in Colorado. So that I think those are some really cool landmarks.

Alex Miller (26:59)

No, that’s cool. Is that map on the AAA Colorado site?

Toni Tresca (27:03)

Yes, it is. Yeah, the AAA site includes all eight spots. All eight of these spots. let me rephrase that. Yeah, the Colorado AAA site includes all of these spots curated for you in that fun little list.

Alex Miller (27:20)

Okay, cool. And some other cool spots include Lincoln Hills in Gilpin County that was a black resort that once hosted figures like Langston Hughes and others. In Fort Collins, you can visit the former home of the first African-American to win an Academy Award, Hattie McDaniels from Gone with the Wind. And in Denver’s own Five Points Historical Cultural District, you can explore the jazz legacy that drew performances from the likes of Louis Armstrong and Count Basie and…

You know, I’d also like to mention something that maybe people don’t know about because you don’t think of the mountains as being You know a place where you’d find black history, but there’s the Barney Ford Museum in Breckenridge It’s been there for a while. It was it was his house there So it’s a great story Ford was an escaped slave who made his way to Colorado and struck it rich from a series of smart investments and mining real estate as well as restaurants and barbershops and one time he was like the richest man in Denver and he had the

He built this thing called the People’s Restaurant on Blake Street in Denver that included a bar and a barbershop. And he moved to Breckenridge in 1880. but he was also committed to civil rights and helping African Americans obtain freedom from slavery. And he was also the first American elected to the legislature, African American, and to serve on a federal grand jury. So really interesting character in black history in Colorado. And if you’re

So the museum’s open, I think most days from like 11 to four, which is, you might think, that’s when I’m skiing. But you know, if you knock off early from the Hill in Breckenridge, you can head over there and check out the Barney Ford Museum at Washington Street in Breck.

Toni Tresca (28:48)

That’s a great recommendation, Alex. I didn’t know about that one at all. There’s a Barney Ford scholarship that is at CU Boulder that I had heard of in the past, but now I had no idea about the actual history connected to that, so that’s great context.

Alex Miller (28:53)

Yeah.

huh.

huh. Yeah,

and in the Capitol building there’s a stained glass kind of portrait of them in there with other great Coloradans.

Toni Tresca (29:14)

Yeah. And kind of transitioning into some other events. If you like theater, which is likely everybody who is listening to this podcast right now, there are several incredible productions in, in addition to Gee’s Bend that we mentioned earlier, including Chasing Breadcrumbs by local theater company that’s at the Dairy Arts Center. This is about a, it’s a modern play about a black woman writer who is commissioned by this,

historical association to write a play about their founder, only she realizes that the group is asking her to rewrite history and create this kind of more positive PR-y spin on this organization’s founder, who maybe has some unsavory things buried in their past. So it’s kind of a modern view on African-American issues and kind of the appropriation that they’re asked to do, which I saw reading of this back at their local lab festival.

Alex Miller (30:03)

Mm-hmm.

Toni Tresca (30:12)

very very funny. Did you see that one Alex?

Alex Miller (30:17)

You know, I can’t remember to be honest with you, but sounds cool.

Toni Tresca (30:22)

was cool. We’ll talk more about it when it opens in just a couple weeks. But the Arvada Center is staging Clybourne Park. is an adept, kind of a riff on a raisin in the sun that examines the racial tensions and gentrification that’s happening in that same area where a raisin in the sun originally took place, but now in work of a contemporary day. And then over at Firehouse Theater in Denver, you can catch Blues for an Alabama Sky, which is a drama.

that brings the Harlem Renaissance to life.

Alex Miller (30:54)

Cool, so yeah, there’s all kinds of stuff going on. So whether you’re into theater, music, fashion, history, activism, there’s many ways to honor Black History Month in Denver this year. it’s been, the arts are really an integral part of how to tell those stories that challenge injustice and celebrate the culture.

Toni Tresca (31:12)

Absolutely. And just beyond February, let’s make sure that we continue to support black artists, black owned businesses, and black led organizations all year round. It does not have to just be a one month thing in February and then you just forget about it all the rest of the year. You can and should be supporting these groups as much as you could all throughout the year.

Alex Miller (31:34)

Yep, well said. So, all right, well now we’re going to take a quick break to hear from our sponsors and return to share our top 10 Colorado headliners, as well as my interview with Zachary Chiaro from Muralie Players.

Alex Miller (31:50)

The Onstage Colorado podcast is supported in part by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, whose production of In Her Bones runs February 13th through March 2nd. This world premiere production explores the complicated legacy of crypto Judaism in the Southwest, illuminating an unlikely tale of secrecy, faith, fear, and how we pass on culture when written records are too dangerous to keep.

We’re also supported by the Aurora Fox Art Center, whose production of Gee’s Bend runs through February 23rd. Step back in time to the deep South and experience the resilience, artistry, and spirit of the African-American women of Gee’s Bend in this heartfelt, historical play. Tickets at aurorafoxartcenter.org.

Onstage Colorado also received support from Candlelight presenting the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma, where a high spirited rivalry between local farmers and cowboys provides a colorful backdrop for Curly, a charming cowboy, and Lori, a feisty farm girl, to play out their love story. Running January 23rd through March 30th in Johnstown. Tickets at ColoradoCandlelight.com.

Support for On Stage Colorado also comes from the Boulder Ensemble Theater Company, Betsy, whose production of Hope and Gravity plays at the Denver Savoy January 23rd through February 16th, and at Boulder’s Nomad Playhouse February 21st through 23rd. This puzzle of a play touches on love, sex, and the tenderness that lies beneath the surface of our interconnected relationships. Tickets at BETC.org. On Stage Colorado is brought to you by the Town Hall Art Center, presenting Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.

Christopher Durang’s Outrageous Forest is a take on the works of Chekhov that includes a fortune-telling cleaning woman, an aspiring young actress, a farmhouse full of secrets, sibling rivalries, resentments, and trysts for a raucous comedy that plays through February 9th. Tickets at townhallartcenter.org. And we’re sponsored by Miner’s Alley Performing Arts Center in Golden, presenting Morning After Grace through March 2nd,

charming comedy by Carrie Crimm that explores unexpected connections and second chances.

February 14th and 15th. Tickets at minersalley.com.

Alex Miller (33:59)

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

Toni Tresca (34:10)

I’m starting with some improv first off. It’s Love Seat with Mouse Cat, with Mouse Couch, excuse me, over at Rise Comedy in Denver. They perform on the first Friday of every month, and so their next performance is gonna be on February 7th. And they do long form improv, is essentially, whereas short form improv is more like sketches, where they’re like two to three minutes long, they’re riffing on like one joke, and then as soon as they hit

Alex Miller (34:13)

Okay.

Toni Tresca (34:40)

the funniest point of that, they end the scene as quickly as possible and move on to something else. Long form is much more story based. So they’re going to be riffing on the same topic for their whole hour set, kind of creating a long form narrative story that pieces a bunch of disparate characters lives together. So it’s really fast paced comedy and ceaseless surprises over at Rise Comedy. So that’s Love Seat with Mouse Couch.

Alex Miller (35:06)

Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun. My next one, so we often talk about the dearth of theater in Eagle County in the Vale area, but that is being changed this month with curtains from the Porchlight Players at the Brush Creek Pavilion in Eagle. So this is February 14th through 22nd. It’s a musical comedy set in 1959 Boston where they’re investigating a murder during the of town tryouts of a new Broadway bound show. So it’s a musical.

musical theater kind of theme thing and with a romance along the way so that’s up in you know another place if you’re after skiing and val you can head over to eagle and check out curtains from the porch light players

Toni Tresca (35:47)

love to hear about any and all theater happening in Eagle County. That’s great to hear. For my next headliner, we’re going up north to Longmont. It’s Monday, it must be murder by the Longmont Theater Company is running February 7 through the 16th. And it follows Harry Monday, who is posing as a golf playing psychiatrist at the Shady Meadows Country Club.

Alex Miller (35:51)

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (36:13)

which is what he calls a place where old polyester goes to die. But then after club members start dropping like flies, and he kind of starts investigating this, and he realizes that maybe everybody who is attending this club is not as prim and proper and posh as they seem. Some of them may have a murderous intent there. So he’s gonna get to the bottom of this in this kind of comic detective story that’s playing up at Longmont Theatre Company.

Alex Miller (36:18)

You

you

Okay, I got another one along those lines, a brush with murder. This is in Manitou Springs, but from Iron Springs Chateau. This is kind of a dinner theater thing, February 14 through 16. An exciting evening to unveil the newest works of Victor Celeste. The evening begins with cocktails and you meet the staff and mingle with art lovers to look at the newest works. And then after that, you have a three course meal and then have this mystery unraveled. So you move upstairs to the theater is upstairs there and

One lucky person will win a grand prize. There’s a cutest couple of contests. So wear your matching outfits, fun matching hats, or as it says here, whatever inflates your panty hose. I’ve never heard that before. So, yeah, so that sounds like a lot of fun at Iron Springs Shed Town.

Toni Tresca (37:26)

my God. That’s funny.

What’s it with February and all these murder plays? Fair enough, Alex, fair enough. guess that’s the Suffragettes murder, which we’ll probably talk about next week on our headliners. That’s opening on Valentine’s Day, and it’s all about that, it’s interesting. My next headliner is one we’ve already mentioned at the top, and we’re gonna be diving in a little bit more in your interview in just a few moments.

Alex Miller (37:33)

I know. Well, love and murder, you know, sometimes intersect.

Hehehehe

Yeah.

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (37:59)

It is Swing State by Marilee Players in Durango. This is running February 7th through the 16th. And it’s set in a rural area, follows recently widowed Peg, who is tending to the native plants in her 20 acre Wisconsin prairie backyard. But her solitary days are interrupted by visits from family friends with a checkered past. When a mysterious thief alerts the authorities, a string of events unfolds that will forever change their life. This is written by Rebecca Gilman, who is a Pulitzer Prize.

finalist playwright, it paints a portrait of America’s heartland in an era where everything, where it appears that everyone’s way of life is on the verge of extinction.

Alex Miller (38:38)

Wow, yeah, that sounds like a pretty gripping show, but man, I wish I had a transporter beam to get down to Durango to check that out. So I don’t know if I’ll…

Toni Tresca (38:46)

Yeah, we’re still

waiting on one of our listeners to help us connect us with a helicopter. We put out that call a little while ago and we haven’t heard back. So fortunately, no helicopter to take us all around the state.

Alex Miller (38:57)

Yeah, well, hear electric flying cars are coming soon, you know, where it’s just like a single single or two people get this thing and it’s like a I don’t know, it looks like one of those Ospreys, but on a smaller size. so I don’t know if it would go as far as Durango, but you know, maybe we can hope.

Toni Tresca (39:13)

Wait a second, is this- you’re being serious? I thought you were joking at first. What?

Alex Miller (39:15)

these are like, these

are coming. Yeah, I’ve actually, I’m really interested in kind of aerospace and stuff like that. And yeah, I watched some videos from some of these companies that are making them. it’s like, you know, this thing comes to your house and a little thing opens up, you pop in and it kind of, can lift, it can land and take off vertically. And then it kind of turns into a plane and flies.

Toni Tresca (39:40)

The Jetsons are finally here.

Alex Miller (39:42)

Yeah, yeah, and you don’t fly it. It’s all automatic. mean, yeah. Self-flying, yeah. mean, you, man, I don’t know if I’d want to be an early adopter with that, but who knows? So, all right, well, my next one is another love thing for Valentine’s Day. So this is a very common show that pops up around this time of year. Love letters, A.R. Gurney’s.

Toni Tresca (39:46)

All self-driving, or guess self-flying, I should say.

Alex Miller (40:05)

Valentine’s Day play. It’s usually they’re just reading. So it’s an easy thing to stage. don’t even have to memorize lines. it’s about two people with a of a lifelong love affair who wrote letters to each other. So that one is gonna be at Palmer Lake Town Hall, February 14th through 16th from Funky.

Toni Tresca (40:27)

Got another kind of love-themed production. I guess it must be Valentine’s Day soon or something. It’s I & You by the Windsor Community Playhouse, runs February 7th through the 23rd. And it’s set on an afternoon when Anthony arrives unexpectedly at classmate Carolyn’s door bearing a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which is an assignment from their English teacher. Carolyn hasn’t been able to be in school for months because she is deeply ill, but

Alex Miller (40:32)

Yep.

Toni Tresca (40:57)

And she’s kind of, resents Anthony for being there because he’s a little bit more athletic and she’s a little bit more on sensitive introverted side. But as the two of them let their guard down and share their secrets, the seemingly mundane poetry project unlocks a much deeper mystery that’s brought them together. I and You is an ode to youth, life, love, and the strange beauty of human connection written by Laura Gunderson.

Alex Miller (41:21)

Cool. Sounds like a good one. All right, back to more love. At the Butte Theater, they’re doing love stories. This is in Cripple Creek, February 14th through 23rd. And it’s basically, it’s two one-act comedies, The Proposal, which is a farce by Chekhov, and Welsh Honeymoon by Jeanette Marks down at the Butte Theater in Cripple Creek. That sounds interesting. I like short one-act plays. You don’t see enough of them, honestly.

Toni Tresca (41:48)

Yeah, and that’s good idea to do like two back-to-back one-act plays. can have a, you get one full story, a little bit of an intermission, chance to reset, and then you go back and you get a whole nother thing. That’s cool.

Alex Miller (41:56)

Yeah.

Toni Tresca (42:03)

Alright, my final headliner this week takes us away from love and enters the realm of tragedy. It is The Tragedy of Medusa. This has taken place at the People’s Building in Aurora, February 8th through the 22nd. It is written and directed by Olivia Bontane, and it challenges our conceptions of this well-known story by giving the monster a hero’s journey. When the hero Perseus arrives, he announces that he has come to kill Medusa. However, she’s not quite the monster he expected.

Told largely through flashback, this play explores themes of queerness, consent, power, and allyship by interrogating the relationship between gods, mortals, and monsters. this production is produced by one of our faves and friends of the podcast, Two-cent Lion Theater Company, because they’re the resident theater troupe over at the People’s Building there. And really, I’m going to be there on opening night. And I’m really looking forward to checking this one out myself and reporting back.

Alex Miller (43:00)

Yeah, I’ll be at that one too. it Saturday or Friday?

Toni Tresca (43:04)

It’s it is Saturday. So yeah, I guess I’ll see you there. They’ve got a they on their opening nights. They’ve got a two cent line always does a fun reception and things. So it’ll be should be a fun party atmosphere over there.

Alex Miller (43:17)

Yeah. All right. My final one gets right back into that love theme with the Maytag Virgin at Boulder Ensemble Theater Company is doing this on one night only, February 12th at the Dairy Center in Boulder. So it’s a staged reading of this play Maytag Virgin by Audrey Cifoli. Rife with romance, it’s a charming tale of two neighbors that’ll get you laughing, longing and swooning. And in the little footnote here, it says, yes, there is a washing machine.

Toni Tresca (43:43)

thank God, I wasn’t gonna go if there wasn’t a washing machine.

Alex Miller (43:47)

Yeah, well was

either about large appliances or blue cheese, because there’s a Maytag blue cheese, you never know.

Toni Tresca (43:54)

The Maytag Blue Cheese, that’s right.

Wouldn’t it be funny if that was a romance play set around the, framed around mutual love of blue cheese? I could get into that.

Alex Miller (43:59)

Ha ha ha ha!

Yeah, because it’s

like cilantro. People either love it or hate it. I love blue cheese.

Toni Tresca (44:09)

The person who I am currently dating at the moment hates blue cheese and refuses to have it on anything. So I’m very well aware of the strong reactions that blue cheese can evoke in the world.

Alex Miller (44:15)

Ha

Yeah, but Maytag

version has nothing to do with that. It’s something completely different. So check that out.

Toni Tresca (44:26)

Excellent. All right, so that is this week’s Headliners. Now we are gonna throw it to Alex’s interview with Zachary Cherow.

Alex Miller (44:37)

All right, we are here with Zachary Chiaro from Merely Players down in Durango. So Zachary, you’re the artistic associate there and you’re be directing Swing State by Rebecca Gilman coming up here. I wanted to talk to you about that and also a little bit about the theater and your background as well. So thanks for being on.

Zachary Chiero (44:58)

Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Alex Miller (45:01)

Yeah, so I was looking at your resume. You’re kind of a East Coast guy. So you grew up in Pennsylvania or?

Zachary Chiero (45:08)

Yeah, I grew up in New York. I lived in Philly for about 15 years. then my husband, who actually grew up in Durango, he was working as an actor on the East Coast as well, New York and Philadelphia. And when the pandemic hit, we both decided to take refuge back in his hometown for a while. And you can’t get rid of us, so we stayed. Yeah, we found the art scene in this area kind of so lively and interesting.

Alex Miller (45:30)

Uh-huh.

Zachary Chiero (45:38)

It’s been amazing to kind of integrate ourselves into the community in that way. And Muralie Players has been kind of an amazing outlet for us creatively. So yeah, just feel, I feel particularly lucky to have been kind of grandfathered into this incredible community.

Alex Miller (45:52)

That’s great. Yeah. So are you there full time now or do you still split in your time between?

Zachary Chiero (45:57)

I still, I split my time, so I’m back and forth between here and Philadelphia mostly. Yeah, so that’s, know, that’s always a little bit of a puzzle, you know, to with the artist’s schedule. But yeah, I would say primarily I’m out here in the Southwest and I really, I love it here. You know, it’s been such a nice refuge. Yeah.

Alex Miller (46:18)

Yeah,

Durango is cool. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, but I really want to come down and see an early player show sometime. It’s just, so far away. I need to, I need a helicopter to get to some of these theaters around the state, but especially for the… Yeah, yeah.

Zachary Chiero (46:24)

We’ve got to do it. We’ve got the airport. We’ve got the airport.

It’s a small town, what I love so much about kind of merely is that part of Mona and Charles’ mission, since they founded the place in 94, I believe, is that quality theater and the Broadway level theater that you see on the East Coast is not just an urban privilege. It’s something that…

rural audiences deserve to see as well and they don’t have to, you know, they don’t necessarily, they shouldn’t necessarily have to go out to someplace like Denver or Albuquerque, you know, to see it. Like there’s, there’s room for that. And, know, the amazing thing about the Durango community is that there is a desire for strong, you know, kind of like arts programs and different theaters. So there is an audience for it here in this community, which is great.

Alex Miller (47:21)

Yeah, for sure. know the Durango Arts Center has, is it Fort Lewis? that college has also got a program that they do some shows. And then I’m not sure which theater company it is that performs out of the Durango Performing Arts Center.

Zachary Chiero (47:28)

They do,

I believe that’s just their resident company, the Durango Arts Center. have this space and they also do their shows there. So it’s all kind of under one umbrella there. But I know a bunch of other, we have Lower Left Improv. There’s a bunch of different kind of companies that use the DAC space because it’s just a good kind of theatrical space to use.

Alex Miller (47:43)

Okay.

a great resource to have in a time when owning a building or whatever but merely has its own space which is cool. was just looking it looks like it’s kind of out on the outskirts like up by the recycling center in a warehouse area is that what it is.

Zachary Chiero (48:06)

Yeah,

it’s up by the tech center. incredible. I can’t believe they acquired it. But during the pandemic, they were able to move into that space. It’s kind of a black box theater. It used to be a grow house. But yeah, we rent from the people who own the building, who actually operate the business upstairs. But it’s kind of amazing how it kind of worked out because it was a grow house that had all these outlets coming from the ceiling already. we were kind of already some lighting kind of.

Alex Miller (48:32)

huh.

huh.

Zachary Chiero (48:37)

ability for lighting and that sort of thing. But it’s an amazing, it’s an incredibly flexible space. It’s a black box space. And so we’ve rearranged it every which way. Kind of the joy of audiences coming in is they never quite know what they’re going to see when they get there.

Alex Miller (48:51)

Sure, sure. Like what’s the

max number of seats you can pack in there?

Zachary Chiero (48:55)

I think the most we’ve gotten is about 130, which is pretty impressive for a small space like that. But it ranges, depending on the show, from anywhere from 90 seats to about 100, 110, usually. That’s kind of where we land. Yeah, incredibly flexible space. And it’s so fun to kind of find new fun and interesting ways to kind of immerse the audience into the story that we’re telling. Yeah.

Alex Miller (49:20)

Yeah, that’s great. Yeah,

I love black box spaces, especially the flexible ones you can do anything with. So, yeah. So talking a little bit about Swing State. So this one is premiered at the Goodman Theater in Chicago a few years ago, kind of a post pandemic play that I think was very well reviewed. Are you part of the selection committee or did you pick, were you part of the, this or?

Zachary Chiero (49:25)

Yeah, it’s my favorite, yeah.

For picking the show? Well, it’s funny. Mona and Charles actually were on a trip to New York and they were not going to see this play. This play had an off-Broadway run that started in the fall of 2023, actually. And they, at the last minute, decided to go and see it and immediately fell in love with it, which I completely understand. And so, you know, it wasn’t a surefire thing, but Mona kind of gave me the script and was like, just read this and see, you know, what level of interest you have in it. And, you know,

A couple of pages in I was like, this is pretty incredible. And by the end of it, was like, ooh, can I please, please, direct this play? So.

Alex Miller (50:22)

So

what are some of the aspects of the play that really drew you to it?

Zachary Chiero (50:30)

I mean, it’s funny, the title kind of indicates a very political play, but the interesting part of it and kind of the joy of it is that it’s not overtly political. kind of, you know, it very much is talking about, you know, it takes place in Wisconsin, a prairie in Wisconsin. Our main character kind of has been taken care of. She’s lived there and she’s kind of trying to maintain it, keep it thriving.

And what you see is kind of the effects of climate change on the prairie in a very, very real and visceral way. Just, you know, being able to collect seeds, seeing different animal species go away. And this is all very integrated into kind of her daily life. So you see the kind of impacts of that in kind of the moment to moment things that are happening in the play. She’s also just lost her husband, who was somebody who kind of initially started her interest in, you know, botany and…

the nature and and the prairie was kind of the one who was the impetus for them to go buy the place and live on it. And so she’s struggling kind of with these these personal things and then also with kind of the the the surrounding environment and the kind of extreme changes that are happening there. And then there’s there’s only four characters in the play. So it’s very intimate. The characters are beautifully and like very deeply drawn. They are just

so kind of specific in each of their own motivations, in the kind of struggles that they’re dealing with. And I don’t know, I just thought it was so amazing how Rebecca was able to, I don’t know, bring all of these things to the surface in such an organic way. things unfold that become quite dramatic and tragic, but there is humor and there is, you know, joy and hope in these characters and like a real

tenacity in these characters that you would like imagine for people who live out of Prairie in Wisconsin right now, you And all those things are just like very visceral and very present on the page. so reading it, was like, I just, I just kept thinking, my, like, it just kept playing in my head. I was like, I cannot wait to get to a space with people and make these, make these moments happen, bring these characters to life because they are, they’re so beautifully detailed.

Alex Miller (52:29)

Right.

Zachary Chiero (52:51)

flawed and nuanced and complex.

Alex Miller (52:55)

Yeah,

it sounds like a little microcosm of, I don’t know, I guess you could call it the American tragedy of some that we’re sort of living through right now where you kind of seeing almost the decline of the empire sort of feeling the, you know, the differences between the two factions seem sort of unbridgeable. And I was wondering, does Swing State give hold out a little bit of hope that that something might change or is it pretty just kind of sad?

Zachary Chiero (53:25)

No, there is a great deal of hope. I think so much of the tension of the play comes in the form of how can these people who have these very strongly held beliefs or on these very well-defined paths, how can they connect, how can they intersect, how can they find common ground with each other? And I think what is exciting for me is that my

my expectation or my hope is that the audience when watching them will be like, no, these little misconnections, these little moments of not being able to see or hear each other properly kind of lead them further and further to something that, you know, to, you know, the climax of the play. There’s, there’s tragic things that happen. And I, my hope is that audience members will be sitting there going, no, just listen to each other, just connect with each other, just take that moment to, understand each other a little bit further. And,

Alex Miller (54:15)

All right.

Zachary Chiero (54:21)

You know, I think that’s just where the excitement of the play is. These characters are so clear in kind of what their desires and their wants are, but like, will they be able to find that moment of connection, find that common ground? Yeah, I think the audience will be in a position where they just want to shake those people and say, no, and our hope is that then they will take that and reflect that back on themselves. How can we?

better connect with people around us who we have a great deal of history with or we have very little history with.

Alex Miller (54:56)

Where are you at? So it’s January 16th, you’re opening February 7th. Where are you at in the rehearsal process? Midway or early on? wow.

Zachary Chiero (55:02)

Weird, just about to start it. Yeah, we’re

still in the prep stage. Usually, we merely rehearse in the evenings to accommodate people’s work schedules and things like that. It’s amazing the amount of talent in this town, honestly. And it’s even more amazing considering we’re putting on something like Chicago the Musical, but everybody has had to come from a 9-to-5 job and then just come straight here after dinner and sacrifice time with

and that sort of thing to kind of put on this incredible show. we’re lucky in that two of the actors will be coming from New York. One of them is actually a former student of Mona’s who has a successful career in New York City and his wife who also has a successful career in New York City. So the two of them who are Equity performers will actually be joining the cast. and then there’s obviously there’s Mona who’s a part of the play and then Cindy.

La Daria Hill, is a of a favorite in the area, a great actress. The four of them will be able to rehearse during the day. So we will be having kind of like eight hour rehearsal schedule, you know, kind of a typical equity schedule, actually, and three weeks of rehearsal and then we’ll open. So it’ll be intense. And I am we’re still prepping for it. But yeah, we’ll start on on this Monday, the 20th.

Alex Miller (56:14)

wow, yeah.

Okay.

Okay, great. Well, I guess I want to ask my question about like a lot of times when you you start rehearsing a play compared to what you read in the script, you start seeing and finding things that you you didn’t realize were there that but I guess

But, so, so the cast sounds fantastic is it is it usually a mix of locals and folks brought in or is that unusual to have.

Zachary Chiero (56:50)

No, that’s not unusual at all. mean, part of Merely’s mission, you know, on top of the kind of like the programming that we’re continuing to expand upon, have, you know, we have our main stage series, which usually consists of four or five productions that we put on during the year. But we also have a really thriving studio series.

that we are committed to where kind of community members can work on kind of passion projects using our space and then kind of like put those on for the community. And we have kind of like a continuing kind of growing education program as well. We’re offering classes and things like that. part of Muley’s mission has always been to kind of continue the careers of people who have been a part of this community from the get-go. like…

Mona is often contacting students who have gone on to have arts careers in other parts of the country and saying, is this something you’d be interested in auditioning for? We would love to bring you back for this. So my husband, Dallas, who grew up here, Mona was his first theater teacher. And so they have a dear, dear close relationship. He has known her since he was literally 10 years old playing Gavroche in Lame Wizard.

Alex Miller (57:51)

That’s great.

Ha

Zachary Chiero (58:01)

And now he’s back. you know, he helped me choreograph Chicago last year. He directed the musical Hands on a Hard Body last year. And we also have, you know, Adam and Erica, who are the two folks who are coming from New York. We’re also in As You Like It a couple of years ago with us playing Rosalind and Orlando across each other, which is incredible. So, yeah, it’s kind of a part of their stated mission to kind of continue to bring those people who were a part of the Durango community back.

Alex Miller (58:23)

Yeah.

Zachary Chiero (58:30)

after gaining experience and mixing that in with the amazing local talent that we have here. And it just creates a different kind of environment, level of professionalism and care for the work that is kind of unique, I would say.

Alex Miller (58:51)

Yeah, that’s great. And it sounds like you’ve got a community that’s willing to come to challenging material like this and enjoy it. That’s neat that you’ve got the mix of locals and folks coming in because that really, a lot of times smaller community theaters can wind up with the same cast kind of popping up over and over, sometimes that’s fine. anyway, so well.

Zachary Chiero (59:15)

Yeah.

Alex Miller (59:20)

I wanted to ask a little bit about some from you’ve been in Durango for I guess a couple of years now. What is the audience like? You know, during it has a decent tourist population. Do you get tourists coming through to see some of the shows, mix of locals and tourists or

Zachary Chiero (59:33)

Yeah, I would say it’s probably a mix, I think the primarily we have, Merely Players in particular has a very loyal audience. know, my connections with Philly, it’s like I see, I see theaters post pandemic really struggling to kind of bring those audiences back at butts in seats again. It’s just, it’s just a tough thing to do. And Merely Players does weirdly does not have that problem. Like we,

we sell out because we have people who are really dedicated to coming back and seeing what the next thing is that we will do. I think, you know, that’s a little bit of a testament to, it’s definitely a testament to Mona and Charles who just like, I think truly are at the top of their game in terms of both direction, technical aspects of the shows, like the things that Charles is able to create with like a toothpick and a paper clip or just, it’s like insane, you know what I mean? Like with very little resources, but.

We have a very loyal audience and we have very, very loyal donors as well who just want to see us continue to thrive and continue to bring new material. And part of the joy that I’ve had is over the last couple of years is I just start recognizing more and more audience members as they come in. know, Mona and Charles know just about everybody here, you know, having been part of DHS for so long and then still being such a part of the community. You know, they know each and every single person who comes in and

I’m getting to know those faces a little bit more over the couple of years because we do have people who return quite a bit.

Alex Miller (1:01:04)

right. That’s great. Yeah. Well, I wanted to ask a little bit about so the next show coming up will be in April guys and dolls very different kind of show. you going to be involved in that at all?

Zachary Chiero (1:01:15)

I am, yeah. My husband and I actually, Dallas and I, will be choreographing that together, just like we did for Chicago the Musical last year, so that’s exciting. Last year I also played Billy Flynn in Chicago while choreographing, that was kind of wearing multiple hats. This I will just be choreographing with him, so that’ll be a great deal of fun. Yeah, it’s such a classic. We’ve had incredible, incredible casts.

of performers, which is very exciting. Yeah, and it’s music that’s so identifiable, so fun. I am actually really excited to get my hands on some choreography for that, but swing state first, and then we will move on to sit down, you’re rocking the boat. But yeah, yeah, I mean, that’s another thing that I love so much about the seasons that are chosen. They’re so, they vary so, so much. Like this winter alone, we were doing the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

which is a family story. We use a lot of masks and puppets and shadow puppetry and that sort of thing. And at the same time, we were in rep doing Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol, which is like a one-man show with very detailed technical elements. One incredible storyteller, his name is Jeff Johnson. He’s a brilliant performer here.

So like that and then something like Swing State, which is hyper realistic and kind of very intimate and then Guys and Dolls, which will be kind of like a big blowout musical. It’s like we, we really try to do it all.

Alex Miller (1:02:48)

Right.

Yeah. Yeah. If you look at the list of shows from Merely Players in the last couple of years, it’s pretty much touches, pretty much every corner of theater that you can think of. So it’s great to be able to mix it up like that. So, so well, Zachary Chiaro, director of Swing State. This is gonna be opening February 7th at Merely Underground down in Durango and running through the 16th. Break Legs, great, great, best of luck with that.

truncated rehearsal process. You’ll be working it really hard, sounds like.

Zachary Chiero (1:03:18)

Yeah, Fast and Furious, it’s gonna be great.

Alex Miller (1:03:21)

All right. Well, thanks again for being on the OnStage Colorado podcast. We appreciate you taking the time.

Zachary Chiero (1:03:25)

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Alex. I appreciate it.

Alex Miller (1:03:27)

All right.

Toni Tresca (1:03:29)

That was a great interview, Alex. Thank you for taking the time to chat with Zachary all the way down in Durango. Very interesting.

Alex Miller (1:03:35)

Yeah, for

sure. So, all right, well, other stuff on the site this week. We’ve got reviews of the touring production of Dear Evan Hansen at the Lincoln Center, although that one’s already gone. maybe just read it if you’re into it. Although for some reason it’s touring, it’s getting a lot of views on the site. So most people from other cities checking it out.

Toni Tresca (1:03:55)

Well, and I thought

that the I thought the review was actually pretty interesting. Our reviewer kind of framed it in the context of does Evan Hansen kind of matter in a post pandemic landscape? Because a lot of the themes that it explores, I think, of isolation, lonely and loneliness are they only hit harder after everybody, you know, was literally isolated and alone for quite a quite a number of years.

Alex Miller (1:04:05)

Yeah.

Yeah. We’ll also have a review of Morning After Grace at Miner Sally. My review of, that one’s already up, Grapefruit Labs, Jane Eyre, and She Kills Monsters are both there. And I’ll have my review of Hope and Gravity up soon, as well as the one we just talked about, Medusa from Two-Cent Lion. Also next on the weekend, also I’ve been taking little notes here of where we flubbed. It makes it a lot easier for me to edit.

I know. Also next week on the podcast, we’ll have an interview with playwright Sandy Rustin, whose brand spanking new play, The Suffragettes Murder, opens this week. So Sandy was a great interview. She recently catapulted into the status of one of the most produced playwrights around, due in large part to her stage adaptation of Clue. And she was talking about how she’s just like kind of blown away by how this has blown up.

And also just an aside her play The Cottage, which was her first Broadway production is up at Stage Door in Conifer through February 23rd. So great interview with Sandy Rustin. So definitely come back for that.

Toni Tresca (1:05:24)

and lots of Sandy Rustin to check out here in Colorado, sounds like. That’s exciting.

Alex Miller (1:05:28)

Yeah, Sandy Rustin Month

in addition to Black History Month.

Toni Tresca (1:05:32)

and in addition to the month of love. love that. as you can probably… Mark that down, Alex.

Alex Miller (1:05:35)

Yes, yes.

Toni Tresca (1:05:46)

I love that. So as you can hear, we have got lots of exciting things on the way here. If you want to stay up to date on what’s going on in theaters and comedy venues across the state, subscribe to the OnStage Colorado Newsletter, which comes out every Thursday. And if you like what we’re doing here on the podcast, please consider leaving a review wherever you are currently listening now. We’d love five stars, but we’ll accept whatever you feel is appropriate.

It just helps leaving a review and telling people about this podcast if you enjoy it. It just helps connect us to the other theater goers in the world and increase our theater cult that we’ve got going on here.

Alex Miller (1:06:25)

Yeah. All right, that’s it for now. Thanks so much for listening. I’m Alex Miller.

Toni Tresca (1:06:30)

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