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Enjoy the best stories and perspectives from the theatre world today.
Enjoy the best stories and perspectives from the theatre world today.
In the opening of The Reservoir, the narrator, Josh, wakes up to a gorgeous sunrise over the waters of Cherry Creek Reservoir, 14 miles southeast of Denver. It’s a fitting place to begin a play that takes place in Denver because Cherry Creek is also where Denver’s story begins. The pretty creek that flows into and out of the reservoir played a vital role in Denver’s history and also connects many of Josh’s experiences in the Mile High City.
Cherry Creek Reservoir
Named in the 1800s by Arapaho Indians because of the choke cherries that grew alongside it, the creek was not much different from the other streams and rivers that tumbled down from the Rocky Mountains onto the high plains. Except for one thing. By chance, it was on the banks of Cherry Creek where it meets the South Platte River that a group of prospectors from Georgia happened to camp in 1858. One of them dipped a pan in the water and made a startling discovery. Gold!
The word of a new gold strike passed through the nation like electricity. In two years, 100,000 men and women walked 600 miles across the Great Plains from St. Louis. Most of them followed the Smokey Hill Trail, which for its last few miles to Denver followed Cherry Creek, passing exactly over where Josh had spent the night.
The oldest surviving building in Denver is on the banks of Cherry Creek. Called “The Four Mile House” it was an 1859 stagecoach stop, hotel and saloon exactly four miles from what was called Denver town and is still open today for tours and special events.
Tattered Cover Bookstore
Just a mile downstream from the old stage stop is a neighborhood called Cherry Creek North. It’s often referred to as the “Rodeo Drive of Denver” with 65 restaurants as well as more than 200 galleries, boutiques, upscale hotels, spas, and high fashion retailers. It was here that the original Tattered Cover Bookstore was located. The New York Times called it the “best bookstore in America.” A half million books filled 20,000 square feet on three levels with a restaurant on the roof. Scattered everywhere were big over-stuffed sofas and chairs and shoppers were invited to sit and read before purchasing a book. Playwright of The Reservoir, Jake Brasch, was familiar with the store. His parents were married there and his mother worked for the Tattered Cover for 30 years.
Another mile downstream, Cherry Creek flows under Colfax Avenue. At 26 miles in length, Colfax is the longest business street in America. Before Interstate 70, every automobile heading west had to drive down U.S. Hwy. 40, or as it was known in Denver, Colfax Ave., and the street is still lined with old motels, former strip clubs, saloons, and hash houses from the pre-interstate era. Playboy Magazine once called it “the wickedest street in America.” Today, you’re more likely to find pot shops, bars, and music venues, but it’s no surprise that the narrator Josh, like most people his age, would find themselves searching out the diversions of Colfax.
Golda Meir House
His Jewish grandfather and other relatives would take more interest and pride in a modest brick house nearby just south of Cherry Creek. It was the girlhood home of Golda Meir, who would become Prime Minister of Israel from 1969–1974. She was Israel’s first female prime minister and the third female prime minister in the world. In 1913, she ran away from her home in Milwaukee and moved in with her sister Shayna Korngold in Denver. The Korngold house was considered a social and intellectual haven by many Jewish immigrants from Russia who had come West for treatment of consumptive diseases at the famous National Jewish Hospital. The house, originally a mile away, was moved to Auraria Campus and is today used for special events and private tours. It was in this home that Golda met her future husband, Morris Meyerson, and began to become deeply involved with Zionism and decide to immigrate to Israel.
Denver Performing Arts Complex
Very close by, on the north side of Cherry Creek, is the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, one of the largest non-profit theatre organizations in the nation, which offered 908,685 guest experiences in 2023/24 and will be home to the production of The Reservoir.
It would be easy for a theatre-goer to cross the street from the performing arts center and get on the paved Cherry Creek Bike Trail that runs in total 42 miles, from Confluence Park where gold was first discovered down south to Castlewood Canyon State Park. Named by USA Today as one of the “Top 5 Urban Bike Trails in the U.S.,” the tree-shaded trail is almost always beside the stream and passes near many Denver beauty spots including tranquil Washington Park. Coming from New York, Josh would appreciate Washington Park. The design of the 160-acre park with two lakes and two formal flower gardens was influenced by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the son of the man who designed New York’s Central Park, which Washington Park resembles.
And, of course, the paved bike trail also passes Cherry Creek Reservoir, where the play begins on a gorgeous sunrise.