DCPA NEWS CENTER
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DCPA Theatre Company Announces 2023/24 Season
DCPA Theatre Company Artistic Director Chris Coleman is proud to announce the 2023/24 season for the producing regional theatre arm of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The new Theatre Company season kicks off performances on September 1 and will feature seven mainstage productions including Stephen Sondheim’s classic A Little Night Music, Lynn Nottage’s critically acclaimed Clyde’s, two world premiere productions from the 2022 Colorado New Play Summit, and the 2022 Tony Award-winning Best Play The Lehman Trilogy.
“I’m delighted to be returning to a full season of seven subscription offerings with productions that pay tribute to cultural titans like Stephen Sondheim, Lynn Nottage, and Jane Austen,” said Artistic Director Chris Coleman. “This lineup brings unlikely heroes to the fore, with some epic journeys and big imaginations. I can’t wait to share these stories with the community!”
| Theatre Company Subscription Shows | ||
| A Little Night Music | Sep 1 – Oct 8, 2023 | Wolf Theatre |
| Clyde’s | Oct 27 – Nov 26, 2023 | Kilstrom Theatre |
| WORLD PREMIERE: Cebollas | Jan 26 – Mar 10, 2024 | Singleton Theatre |
| WORLD PREMIERE: Rubicon | Feb 9 – Mar 10, 2024 | Kilstrom Theatre |
| Emma | Apr 5 – May 5, 2024 | Wolf Theatre |
| Where Did We Sit on the Bus? | Apr 19 – Jun 2, 2024 | Singleton Theatre |
| The Lehman Trilogy | May 3 – Jun 2, 2024 | Kilstrom Theatre |
| Added Attractions | ||
| DCPA Theatre for Young Audiences LITTLE RED A New Musical! | Oct 5 – Dec 23, 2023 | Randy Weeks Conservatory Theatre |
| A Christmas Carol | Nov 17 – Dec 24, 2023 | Wolf Theatre |
| Colorado New Play Summit | Feb 24 – 25, 2024 | Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex |
Theatre Company Tickets and Subscriptions
Subscribers enjoy up to 21% off tickets, free exchanges, payment plans, priority offers to added attractions, additional discounted tickets, a dedicated VIP hotline, free events including talkbacks, and the best seats at the best prices.
New and renewing subscribers can now reserve tickets to 2023/24 Theatre Company subscription packages online at denvercenter.org/theatrecompany. Single tickets will go on sale at a later date. Due to the nature of live performance, all productions, prices, and dates are subject to change.
Please be advised that the Denver Center for the Performing Arts – denvercenter.org – is the ONLY authorized ticket provider for these productions in Denver. As with all productions produced and/or presented by the DCPA, ticket buyers who purchase tickets from a ticket broker or any third party run the risk of overpaying or purchasing illegitimate tickets. Patrons should be aware that the DCPA is unable to reprint or replace lost or stolen tickets and is unable to contact patrons with information regarding time changes or other pertinent updates regarding the performance. Patrons found in violation of the DCPA Ticket Purchase and Sale Terms and Policies may have all their tickets cancelled.
ABOUT THE SHOWS:
(In order by date)
THEATRE COMPANY SUBSCRIPTION SHOWS
A Little Night Music
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Directed by Chris Coleman
Suggested by a Film by Ingmar Bergman
Originally Produced and Directed on Broadway by Harold Price
Sep 1 – Oct 8, 2023
Wolf Theatre
Winner of seven Tony Awards, A Little Night Music has inspired decades of theatre-lovers with its masterful music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (Company, West Side Story), an unforgettable book by Hugh Wheeler (Candide, Sweeney Todd), and its iconic number, “Send in the Clowns.”
Love makes fools of us all. Lean into the comedy of it with A Little Night Music, which traces the plotting, flirting, and foibles of three affluent couples in circa-1900 Sweden. In the perpetual twilight of the Nordic summer, lovers waltz in and out of each other’s lives and arms during a weekend romp in the country.
Join the DCPA Theatre Company for a lighthearted, airy production of one of Sondheim’s most beloved musicals!
Clyde’s
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Jamil Jude
Oct 27 – Nov 26, 2023
Kilstrom Theatre
In this feisty new comedy by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Sweat, Ruined), you’ll become a fly on the wall of Clyde’s, a roadside sandwich shop, in all its gastronomical glory.
At Clyde’s, formerly incarcerated individuals cook up meals that range from sublime to soul-crushing. Even as the surly shop owner tries to keep them under her thumb, their kitchen mentor, Montrellous, guides them on a quest to create the perfect sandwich – and reclaim their lives.
Clyde’s is an extraordinary work that dances effortlessly between moments of searing pain and outrageous humor. It’s a work Variety calls “a flavor-bomb of a new comedy.” It’s the sustenance you didn’t know you needed — until now.
WORLD PREMIERE
Cebollas
By Leonard Madrid
Directed by Jerry Ruiz
Jan 26 – Mar 10, 2024
Singleton Theatre
Three Chicana sisters are forced to take an unexpected road trip from Albuquerque to Denver. Making their way north on I-25, they don’t travel for business or for pleasure. They just need to transport a dead body across state lines. But, then again, what are sisters for?
Speeding past the familiar locales of Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Huerfano, Colorado Springs, and Castle Rock, they reflect on shared family history and muse about the lives their daughters might live. On this seemingly endless stretch of highway, their bickering, laughter, singing, and discoveries will fundamentally change – and strengthen – their relationship.
New Mexican culture and the immutable bond of sisterhood take center stage in this outlandish comedy, which garnered stellar audience response at the 2022 Colorado New Play Summit. Join us for the world premiere of Cebollas next winter!
WORLD PREMIERE
Rubicon
By Kirsten Potter
Directed by Chris Coleman
Feb 9 – Mar 10, 2024
Kilstrom Theatre
Based on a true story, Rubicon tracks the career of one of history’s most effective spies. Starting in the years leading up to World War II, the plot follows Elizabeth “Betty” Pack as she transitions from society wife and mother to steely, seductive agent for British and American Intelligence. As missions take her from Madrid to Warsaw to Washington, Betty uses her charm, beauty, and intellect as tools of espionage, leveraging her sexuality to influence global affairs.
Overflowing with intrigue and wit, Rubicon is an engaging portrait of an unsung heroine and the sacrifices she makes to change the course of the war. It addresses the stigma attached to choosing professional determination and personal agency over traditional gender expectations. It’s a work that’s suspenseful, seductive, and surprising all at once.
An audience favorite at the 2022 Colorado New Play Summit, DCPA Theatre Company is proud to present the world premiere of Rubicon!
Emma
By Kate Hamill, based on the novel by Jane Austen
Directed by Meredith McDonough
Apr 5 – May 5, 2024
Wolf Theatre
A delightfully unconventional and fun adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic comedy.
Ever the romantic, Emma Woodhouse prides herself on being the best matchmaker in town. Goaded by her friend George Knightley, she sets out on a quest to set up the adorable ingénue Harriet with a fitting suitor. But love has its own agenda with plenty of twists and turns in store – including a few for Emma herself.
This rendition of Emma is a joyous, irreverent take in conversation with the Regency novel. In a new adaptation that’s a bit zany and refreshingly contemporary, playwright Kate Hamill infuses the language and perspectives of today into Austen’s beloved characters. You may be surprised by who says what — and how. One thing’s for sure, you’ll never see Emma the same way again.
Where Did We Sit on the Bus?
By Brian Quijada
Featuring Original Compositions by Satya Chavez
Directed by Matt Dickson
Apr 19 – Jun 2, 2024
Singleton Theatre
Nine-year-old Bee Quijada sits in a suburban classroom. During a history lesson on Rosa Parks, she asks, “Where did Latinos sit on the bus?”
What follows is a theatrical mixtape of Bee’s life. It’s a one-person show that immerses the audience in elaborate, layered soundscapes by fusing Latin rhythms, hip-hop, and spoken word poetry. And it’s all made, in-person, in real time, through the magic of live music and storytelling.
Where Did We Sit on the Bus? captures both the innocence of youth and the pressures that come with being the child of immigrants. It asks, “What is my place? Where do I fit in?” It builds from the ground up, one step at a time, taking audiences on a soulful musical journey as its hero finds hope and meaning through art.
The Lehman Trilogy
By Stefano Massini
Directed by Margot Bordelon
May 3 – Jun 2, 2024
Kilstrom Theatre
Winner of the 2022 Tony Award for Best Play and hailed as “a genuinely epic production” (The New York Times), The Lehman Trilogy follows three German-Jewish immigrant brothers, and their descendants, as they navigate fire, flood, war, and panic to build a financial behemoth that changed America.
In 1847, the Lehman brothers open a modest clothing shop in Alabama. But they have big dreams. They evolve as new opportunities arise. They capitalize on railroads, oil booms, personal computers, and, eventually, capital itself. They become so intertwined with the U.S. government, and in the daily lives of millions of stakeholders, that some begin to believe that Lehman Brothers, the institution, is too big to fail.
This extraordinary feat of storytelling uses only three actors to trace 163 years of family history and business. Until one day, in 2008, when it all comes crashing down…
ADDED ATTRACTIONS
DCPA Theatre for Young Audiences
LITTLE RED
A New Musical!
Book, Music and Lyrics by Chad Henry
Directed by Allison Watrous
Oct 5 – Dec 23, 2023
Randy Weeks Conservatory Theatre
The lovable LITTLE RED is back by popular demand!
This charming, song-infused retelling of Little Red Riding Hood finds Little Red at the center of new adventures and new ways of seeing familiar characters. With a wandering wolf, a gardening grandma, singing forest creatures, and characters from other tales joining in, Little Red discovers her own power as a vital doer in her community. Joyous, inspiring, and filled with laughs, the musical captures the warmth of Little Red and her family of smart, engaged females, while also welcoming a new friendship between Red and Wolf.
This adaptation is produced as part of DCPA’s Theater for Young Audiences program, which focuses on performances tailored for Pre-K-3rd grade audiences. Fully realized through the artisans of DCPA, the quality of production, staging, and audience-going experiences of previous titles, The Snowy Day, Corduroy, and Goodnight Moon, will be assured as this new musical returns!
Head back to the forest for this limited return engagement or bring your children to their very first theatre experience and spark a lifetime of wonder!
A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Richard Hellesen
Directed by Anthony Powell
Nov 17 – Dec 24, 2023
Wolf Theatre
Denver’s beloved holiday tradition returns!
Based on Charles Dickens’ classic novel, this joyous and opulent musical adaptation traces money-hoarding skinflint Ebenezer Scrooge’s triumphant overnight journey to redemption. A Christmas Carol illuminates the meaning of the holiday season in a way that has resonated for generations.
Colorado New Play Summit
Feb 24 – 25, 2024
Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex
Our stories start with you…
At the Colorado New Play Summit, it’s your time to shine as you meet some of theatre’s most ambitious writers while helping them fine-tune their newest works. Listen to play readings by fabulous actors, give your feedback on where you think the story should go, and enjoy two fully produced Theatre Company productions: the world premiere of Cebollas and Rubicon, both of which were featured readings at the 2022 Summit.
The inspiration doesn’t stop with the plays. Talk with the featured playwrights, directors, actors and other creatives over tasty meals and at special events like the Summit Wrap Party. It’s your chance to meet the brightest minds in the craft and play an integral part in the future of Colorado theatre.
