BETWEEN US
Meet the creative teams
The Deck of Cards
The Blind Date
The Whiskey Tasting
Between Us Production Team
THE DECK OF CARDS
Co-conceived by Jenny Koons and Christopher Gabriel Núñez
Written by Christopher Gabriel Núñez
Developed and Directed by Jenny Koons
With
Kristen Adele, Jessica Austgen, donnie l. betts
Stage Manager Rick Mireles
The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Special thanks to our Venue Partners: Union Station and Tattered Cover Book Store
WHO’S WHO
CREATORS
CHRISTOPHER GABRIEL NÚÑEZ (Writer) is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at Yale School of Drama where his play In the Palm of a Giant was part of the 2017 Langston Hughes Festival. His play The Surgeon and Her Daughters was workshopped at the 2015 Ojai Playwrights Conference, was a semifinalist for the Sundance MENA Theatre Lab, a finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and was part of the Cherry Lane Mentor Project in 2016 with playwright Rajiv Joseph. He holds a B.F.A. from New York University in dramatic writing with a double major in drama. christophergabrielnunez.com
JENNY KOONS (Director). A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public Theater), Burn All Night (American Repertory Theatre), Instant SPKRBOX (SPKRBOX Festival, Norway), Gimme Shelter (Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games), Theatre for One: I’m Not the Stranger You Think I Am (Arts Brookfield), A Sucker Emcee (LAByrinth Theater Company), Queen of the Night (Diamond Horseshoe Nightclub), The Odyssey Project (2012). She is a 2017 Lilly Award recipient and proud member of the SDC.
CAST
KRISTEN ADELE. At the DCPA: Jackie & Me, Bite-Size, Corduroy. Off-Broadway & Regional Theatres include: Bump (Ensemble Studio Theatre), A Streetcar Named Desire (Portland Center Stage), Skeleton Crew (Premiere Stages), In the Red and Brown Water (Curious Theatre Co.), A Raisin in the Sun (Clarence Brown Theatre), Myrna in Transit (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Clybourne Park (Geva Theatre & Cleveland Play House), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Shadow Theatre Co.). Television credits include “House of Cards,” “Elementary,” “Orange is the New Black,” “The Mysteries of Laura” and “Blue Bloods.” She earned her MFA at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. www.KristenAdele.net
JESSICA AUSTGEN. Denver credits include: Cult Following (Off-Center @ DCPA); Men on Boats (The Catamounts); Sense and Sensibility, All My Sons, Tartuffe, The Crucible and The Women (Arvada Center); Second City’s Twist Your Dickens, Comic Potential, Last Train to Nibroc and The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Aurora Fox). Playwright: Sin Street Social Club (Arvada Center), DragON (Off Center @ DCPA). Special Awards/Training: 2018 True West Award, Colorado Theater Person of the Year. BFA, University of Colorado at Boulder; MA, University of Denver
donnie l. betts is a founding member of two theatre companies in Denver, Colorado: City Stage Ensemble and Denver Black Arts Company. He attended Yale School of Drama. His theatre credits include The Gospel at Colonus on Broadway, The Warrior Ant at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) as well regional performances including Spunk, Driving Miss Daisy, Home, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Theatre directing credits include House With No Walls, Citizen and Black With A Capital B for Curious, Proof, Emperor Jones, Zora, Slut Energy Theory, Denver, Dallas and Cherry Lane Theatre in New York. He is an award-winning filmmaker. Original member Denver Center Theatre Company.
STAGE MANAGEMENT
RICK MIRELES. At DCPA Off-Center: Bite-Size: An Evening of Micro Theatre, Remote Denver, This is Modern Art, The Wild Party, Travelers of the Lost Dimension, The SantaLand Diaries. Other credits: Intern at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Creede Repertory Theatre, and Montana Shakespeare in the Parks and Schools. Training: BA and MA in theatre, University of Texas Pan-American; MFA in stage management, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Rick hails from South Texas.
VENUE PARTNERS
DENVER UNION STATION, originally opened in 1891, has become downtown Denver’s hottest gathering place since it reopened in July 2014 after a $54 million renovation, with a major goal of making the multi-use transportation hub as environmentally friendly as possible. Each day, more than 14,000 people pass through Denver Union Station on RTD’s regional bus, Light Rail and Commuter Rail services, and it is home to the 112-room luxury independent Crawford Hotel and 12 Colorado restaurants and retailers. unionstationindenver.com @denverunionstation
TATTERED COVER BOOK STORE is a large indie bookstore and café with the cozy feel and comfort of smaller bookshops, furnished with comfortable sofas and overstuffed chairs and a world-class newsstand. Bringing people and books together since 1971, Tattered Cover sells new and used books, in addition to crisp pre-discounted bargain editions. The store is a Denver institution, a community gathering place, and an experience you can’t download. tatteredcover.com @tatteredcoverbookstore
THE BLIND DATE
By Capital W
Written and Directed by Lauren Ludwig
Creative Production / Dramaturgy by Monica Miklas
With
Chelsea Frye, Jenna Moll Reyes, Mare Trevathan, Justin Walvoord
Stage Manager: Rachel Ducat
The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Special thanks to our Venue Partner: Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
WHO’S WHO
CREATORS: CAPITAL W
LAUREN LUDWIG (Writer and Director) is the Artistic Director of Los Angeles immersive theater company Capital W. With them she has written and directed Red Flags, Rochester, 1996, And The Drum, and the award-winning Hamlet-Mobile, an adaptation of Hamlet staged in a cargo van. Hamlet-Mobile was included in the Applause anthology “Best Plays From American Theater Festivals 2015” and awarded “Best Game Design” at the 2016 IndieCade Festival. Lauren is also a founder of Wayward, a retreat for womxn artists in Canada. She frequently directs in TV and film and is the Director of the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women.
MONICA MIKLAS (Creative Producer and Dramaturg). Co-founder and creative producer of Los Angeles-based immersive theatre company Capital W. With Capital W: Rochester, 1996; Hamlet-Mobile; Red Flags; and And the Drum. Producer of dozens of performances, fundraisers, and community programs for LA arts institutions including the Autry Museum of the American West and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Founding and current board member of the League of Experiential and Immersive Artists.
CAST
CHELSEA FRYE. Acting work includes Hermes/Dionysus in Rausch (The Catamounts), Yoni Baker in Strong Face (The Athena Projects 2018 Plays in Progress) and various other productions in Colorado. In addition, she participated in the Colorado New Play Summit at the DCPA reading stage directions for The Book of Will (2016) and Holy Laughter (2015). Chelsea is involved with the Improv community performing in multiple shows to teaching and coaching. She attended Denver School of the Arts.
JENNA MOLL REYES. DCPA Off-Center credits: Sweet & Lucky and The Wild Party. DCPA Education: Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. Other regional credits include: The Underpants (Lake Dillon Theatre); Bus Stop, Saturday Night Fever, Miss Saigon (Arvada Center); Water by the Spoonful, Hand to God (Curious Theatre Company); She Kills Monsters, Rent (Aurora Fox); In the Heights (Vintage Theatre).
MARE TREVATHAN loves unconventional theater. Recently, she directed Marginalia as part of DCPA Off-Center’s micro-theater production Bite-Size at BookBar and worked with architects in India to create site-specific performance art drawing focus to built-environments. As Associate Artistic Director of Local Theater Company, Mare develops new works with a mix of community members and “theatricians,” and organizes a monthly professional development program for actors and directors. Mare has narrated 550+ audiobooks and teaches Voice Over and Public Speaking at the Denver Center. Upcoming: Mrs. Capulet in Romeo and Juliet at Colorado Shakespeare Festival
JUSTIN WALVOORD. New York credits include The Apartment (Queens Theatre in the Park); 5 O’clock (Algonquin Theatre). Regional credits include True West (Vermont Stage Company); Expedition 6 (Magic Theatre and Kennedy Center); A Question of Mercy (Artist Repertory Theatre); Sweet & Lucky, Jackie & Me, Measure for Measure, A Christmas Carol (DCPA Theatre Company); The 39 Steps (Theatreworks); The Intelligent Homosexuals Guide… (Curious Theatre Company); Every Christmas Story Ever Told (Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company); Metamorphoses (Aurora Fox). TV/Film: Looking for Sunday and “Law and Order: CI.” Training: BA California State University, Fullerton and MFA, National Theatre Conservatory.
STAGE MANAGEMENT
RACHEL DUCAT. Oklahoma!, American Mariachi, All The Way, Tribes, One Night in Miami…, Appoggiatura, Shadowlands, black odyssey, The Most Deserving, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, The Giver, Heartbreak House, Two Things You Don’t Talk About At Dinner, The Liar, Superior Donuts, The Catch, The House of the Spirits and Grace, or the Art of Climbing (DCPA Theatre Company); An Act of God (DCPA Cabaret); The Snowy Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats (DCPA Theatre for Young Audiences); Twelfth Night, Treasure Island, Richard III (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); Curious Theatre Company; Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Oklahoma!, Jersey Boys, Wicked, Dirty Dancing (national tours); Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Cleveland Play House, and Hope Summer Repertory Theatre. Training; BA Theatre Production, University of Delaware, MBA candidate at University of Denver.
VENUE PARTNER
MCA DENVER. The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver explores the art and culture of our time through rotating exhibitions and public educational programs. Featuring international, national, and regional artists, MCA Denver offers a wide range of exhibitions promoting creative experimentation with art and ideas. Through adult and youth education programs and other creative events, the museum serves as an innovative forum for a culturally engaged community. mcadenver.org | Instagram: @mca_denver
THE WHISKEY TASTING
Conceived by David Jacobi and Amanda Berg Wilson
Written by David Jacobi
Adapted and Directed by Amanda Berg Wilson
With
Janae Burris, Rodney Lizcano, Jason Maxwell
Stage Managers: Corin Davidson, Heidi Echtenkamp
The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
WHO’S WHO
CREATORS
DAVID JACOBI (Writer). Ready Steady Yeti Go (NNPN Rolling World Premiere, Ojai Playwrights Conference), The Couches (DCPA Colorado New Play Summit), MDL (Sideshow Theatre, JAW Festival, Great Plains Theatre Conference). Special/Awards: 2013 Holland New Voices, Relentless Award Semifinalist, Shank Fellowship at Pig Iron Theatre Company. Current: Interact Theatre Core Writer, commissioned by EST/Sloan and South Coast Rep.
AMANDA BERG WILSON (Director). As director: The Wild Party (Off-Center at DCPA); 9 to 5 (Creede Repertory Theatre); God’s Ear, Failure: A Love Story, Mr. Burns: a post-electric play, Rausch, and United Flight 232, among others (The Catamounts). As performer: Sweet & Lucky (Off-Center at DCPA), Detroit (Curious Theatre Company), There is A Happiness that Morning Is (The Catamounts). Amanda is Artistic Director of The Catamounts, a Boulder-based company dedicated to theatre for the adventurous palate. thecatamounts.com
CAST
JANAE BURRIS is a comedian and actor in Denver, Colorado. She is a South Los Angeles native and a California Institute of the Arts alumna. Since moving to Colorado, Janae has worked with Local Theater Company and Colorado Shakespeare Festival. She’s opened for nationally touring comics Michael Che, Roy Wood Jr. and Gary Gulman, and has been featured at Portland’s Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Limestone Comedy Festival in Bloomington, Ind. and High Plains Comedy Festival in Denver. She is the 2016 Comedy Works New Faces Champion, a regular performer at both Comedy Works locations in Denver and a founding member of Pussy Bros, her standup comedy girl gang, who made their television debut on NBC’s “First Look.”
RODNEY LIZCANO. At the Denver Center: The Book of Will, American Mariachi, The Constant Wife, Frankenstein, Hamlet, American Night, The Merchant of Venice, Spinning Into Butter, The Tempest, Gross Indecency, The Rivals, A Winter’s Tale, A Christmas Carol. Other Theatres: Colorado Shakespeare Festival (Richard III, Much Ado, Othello, Henry V, Tempest, Merry Wives, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Equivocation, Cymbeline), The Old Globe, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Dallas Shakespeare, Theatre Aspen, Arvada Center, Boulder Ensemble, LOCAL and Off-Broadway with Actors Ensemble Theater and DreamScape Theatre Company. TV/Film: Silver City (Focus Features) and “Stage Struck” on Bravo. Training: Southern Methodist University (BFA) National Theatre Conservatory (MFA).
JASON MAXWELL is a proud company member of The Catamounts and he is thrilled to be making his DCPA/Off-Center debut. Some choice credits are John N. in the regional premiere of Failure: A Love Story (The Catamounts), Joe in The Ding Dongs (square product), Jesus Costazuela in The Odd Couple (Barth Hotel), Actor 5 in A Christmas Carol (Miners Alley Playhouse), the Conductor in Polar Express (Colorado Railroad Museum), Mr. Rochester in the regional premier of You on the Moors Now (The Catamounts) and most recently as Actor 6 in the regional premiere of United Flight 232 (The Catamounts).
STAGE MANAGEMENT
CORIN DAVIDSON. At the DCPA: Anna Karenina, Corduroy, The Who’s Tommy, Zoey’s Perfect Wedding, Smart People, The Secret Garden, Sweeney Todd, All The Way, A Christmas Carol, Lookingglass Alice. At DCPA Cabaret: An Act of God. Other Theatres: Equivocation, Cymbeline (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, Renaissance Theatre Works, Wild Space, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. Training: BFA Stage Management, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
HEIDI ECHTENKAMP. At the DCPA Theatre Company: The Whistleblower, The Constant Wife, Native Gardens, American Mariachi, A Christmas Carol, The Christians, workshop production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. At Off-Center: The Wild Party. Regional credits include: American Musical Theatre of San Jose (Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, Gypsy, A Chorus Line, Tapestry, Christmas Dream Land); STAGES Theatre (Always… Patsy Cline); Carousel Dinner Theatre (Thoroughly Modern Millie); Lone Tree Arts Center (39 Steps, Sylvia). Other Credits: Teatro ZinZanni: Venue Manager and Production Manager. Seven Devils Playwright Conference: Stage Manager.
presents
World Premiere
BETWEEN US
Off-Center Curator Charlie Miller
Costume Designer Meghan Anderson Doyle
Casting Director Grady Soapes, CSA
Production Manager Kate Coltun
Between Us was commissioned and developed by Off-Center at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in 2019.
Between Us is funded in part by the Wallace Foundation.
DCPA is supported in part by
WHO’S WHO
CHARLIE MILLER (Off-Center Curator) co-founded Off-Center in 2010 and has led its growth from a small theatrical testing center to one of the DCPA’s signature lines of programming. Off-Center’s large-scale immersive and experiential projects, including Sweet & Lucky (2016) and The Wild Party (2017), have garnered local and national praise and helped establish Denver as a hub for immersive art and entertainment. Before joining the Artistic Team full time, Charlie divided his time between Off-Center and the Theatre Company’s Multimedia Department. As DCPA’s award-wining Resident Video Designer, Charlie designed and created projection/video content for 35 productions in nine seasons. Charlie is a Harvard graduate and a sixth generation Denverite.
MEGHAN ANDERSON DOYLE (Costume Designer). Denver Center credits include: Xanadu; American Mariachi; The Wild Party; This Is Modern Art; DragON; First Date; An Act of God; The Glass Menagerie; Sweet & Lucky; FADE; One Night In Miami; Appoggiatura; Lord of the Butterflies; Jackie & Me; I Love You, You’re Perfect…Now Change!; Five Course Love; Ed, Downloaded; The Giver; Superior Donuts and Well. Other Theatres: Colorado Shakespeare Festival (You Can’t Take It With You, Love’s Labours Lost, The Taming of the Shrew, Comedy of Errors), Arvada Center (The Moors, Electric Baby, Waiting for Godot, The Drowning Girls), Curious Theatre Company (The Cake, The Brother/Sister Plays, Good People, A Number, Up, tempOdyssey), Local Theatre Company, Theatre Aspen, The Aurora Fox, National Theatre Conservatory Rep. Meghan holds an M.F.A in Costume Design from the University of Florida. DoyleCostumeDesign.com
GRADY SOAPES, CSA (Casting) is the Director of Casting and Associate Producer with DCPA. Recent casting credits include Oklahoma!, Anna Karenina, The Whistleblower, Last Night and the Night Before, The Constant Wife, The Who’s Tommy, The Wild Party, A Christmas Carol, This Is Modern Art and casting associate on many other Denver Center productions. Choreography credits include Anna Karenina, As You Like It, Drag Machine, Lord of the Butterflies, DragON (DCPA); Comedy of Errors (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); The Music Man (Perry-Mansfield). Grady is the producer of both the Colorado New Play Summit and Colorado New Play Festival and holds a BA from Colorado State University.
KATE COLTUN (Production Manager). Prior to joining the Denver Center, Kate spent 14 years with Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. Favorite credits at the DCPA, CTG and elsewhere: Native Gardens (dir. Lisa Portes), Oklahoma! (dir. Chris Coleman), world premiere of Archduke by Rajiv Joseph (dir. Giovanna Sardelli), world premiere of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (dir. Alex Timbers), Bent (dir. Moises Kaufman), Popol Vuh: Heart of Heaven with El Teatro Campesino, Finding Home (created by Welly Yang; Taipei, Taiwan). Training: BA, Theatre UCLA. MFA, California Institute for the Arts.
DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS TEAM
Between Us would not have been possible without the collaboration of more DCPA team members than it is possible to credit here. View our staff list >
ABOUT OFF-CENTER
An Off-Center experience is unlike any other. These out-of-the-box adventures sweep you off your seat to connect with art and fellow audience members on a whole new level. Interact with stories as they come alive around you, travel to undiscovered places throughout our community and explore the possibilities of performance. Some stories shouldn’t sit still, and neither should you. Come see what surprises are in store and start living life Off-Center.
Recent Off-Center productions include:
- Bite-Size: an evening of micro-theatre at BookBar
- Remote Denver: a 2.5 mile audio tour that seemed to follow you as much as you were following it
- The Wild Party: A decadent 360° musical set in the Roaring Twenties
- Travelers of the Lost Dimension: An adventure comedy trip through Stanley Marketplace
- Sweet & Lucky: A speakeasy antique shop. A labyrinth of devotion, passion, and remembrance. Denver’s largest immersive theatrical experience to date.
Check out the next Off-Center adventure: DENVERCENTER.ORG
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