An Incredible Team Envisions Impossible Things

Courtesy of The Catamounts

Finally, after years of school, school and, yep, more school, Alex is graduating. There’s just one little problem…Alex doesn’t have a clue what’s next.

But not knowing what your future holds is no reason not to celebrate. Instead, audiences are invited to join Alex for a graduation party when The Catamounts, in collaboration with Hanzon Studios and Museum of Outdoor Arts, presents Impossible Things.

“Party guests are invited to mingle with Alex and family members, raise a celebratory glass of sparkling punch (with or without alcohol), offer the graduate their best advice, and engage in other party games,” explained Director Amanda Berg Wilson. “At the party, there is a rift, and Alex’s guests accompany them to the other side of the looking glass, where they journey through the…intersection of childhood and adulthood.”

The experience takes place at Marjorie Park in Greenwood Village, which features the Museum of Outdoor Arts and its newly reimagined Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities. Developed by local artist and DCPA Off-Center collaborator Lonnie Hanzon, the Cabinet is a whimsical immersive exhibition showcasing objects from fairy tales and children’s rhymes that tell stories about particular subjects such as early optics, geometry, magical tools, the heavens and objects of art.

Impossible Things was born out of an invitation from Lonnie to The Catamounts to create a site-specific, immersive experience centered around the Cabinet, continued Berg Wilson. “I was struck by how so many of the elements of the cabinet plumbed deeply embedded childhood memories, and I was reminded of the distance between my childhood and my adulthood. I posited to Lonnie that we begin the experience at a coming-of-age ritual, and we landed on a graduation party.”

Impossible Things is conceived of and performed by Colorado’s top immersive artists, many of whom will be familiar to DCPA Off-Center and Education audiences including:

CREATIVE TEAM

Jessica Austgen, Writer

DCPA connections:
Performer: Theater of the Mind, Between Us: The Deck of Cards, Cult Following, Corduroy, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot

Playwright: DragON, DCPA Off-Center
Teaching Artist: DCPA Education

Amanda Berg Wilson, Director

DCPA connections:
Director/Assistant Director: Theater of the Mind, The Wild Party, Between Us: The Whiskey  Tasting
Performer: Theater of the Mind, Sweet & Lucky

Lonnie Hanzon, Creative Director

DCPA connection:
Creator: Camp Christmas

Leah Cárdenas, Assistant Director

DCPA connection:
The Whiskey Tasting
Performer: Bright Lights of Denver

Kristy Rowe, In-World Graphics

DCPA connection:
Camp Christmas

David Darling, Technical Director

DCPA Connection:
Camp Christmas

Brad Ramsey, Prop Design

DCPA connection:
Camp Christmas

Other members of the creative team include Nika Garcia, Jayne Harnet-Hargrove, Wessie Simmons, Ben Coleman, Lara Maerz and Brosnan Bustamante.

PERFORMERS

Joan Bruemmer-Holden

DCPA connection:
Sweet & Lucky

Betty Hart

DCPA connection:
Director: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Assistant Director: Theater of the Mind

Maggie Tisdale

DCPA connection:
Performer: Goodnight Moon
Teaching Artist: DCPA Education

Other performers include Mark Collins, Christopher Kendall, Min Kyung Kim and Mel Schaffer.

When asked why people should come to Impossible Things, Berg Wilson enthused: “People should come to Impossible Things because they will get an intimate experience of a beautiful and relatively unknown corner of Denver amidst a theatrical journey written by one of Denver’s most beloved local playwrights. They should come because it is a comedy, and there’s not a lot of immersive theatre that is as funny as it is experiential! They should come because it features the work of a cadre of artists who are exploring the uniqueness of immersive theatre for our adventurous population.”

You’re invited to come to Impossible Things, which runs May 25-June 16, 2024 in Marjorie Park located at 6331 S. Fiddler’s Green Circle in Greenwood Village. The production takes place largely outdoors and tickets start at $40.

The Catamounts and Museum of Outdoor Arts are funded, in part, by citizen support of the SCFD.