In the Spotlife: Buntport Theater ensemble in 'The Crud'

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MEET THE BUNTPORT THEATER ENSEMBLE
Buntport Theater Company — Brian Colonna, Hannah Duggan, Erik Edborg, Erin Rollman and Samantha Schmitz — is a wee group of theater-making humans who have been making new stuff together for 17 years. “We work collaboratively — without officially designated writers, directors, designers or janitors,” says … well, one of them. “We do all the stuff. Because we love it.” Buntport’s “new stuff’ is often based on “old stuff.” “We are not delusional about our place in history,” says … (who can ever know?) “We are ever grateful to the hundreds and hundreds of people who inspire us — and we steal from.”

  • Buntport QuoteHometown: Buntport was “born” in Colorado Springs, but we made our home in Denver
  • College: We formed while a couple of members were still students at Colorado College
  • What have you done for us lately? The Zeus Problem was a needling of the new regime in Washington, D.C., through a script based loosely on Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound.
  • Twitter-sized bio: This “band” has stayed together for 17 years. We are wondering when we are going to break up so we can move into the “reunion tour” portion of our group career.
  • Web site: buntport.com
  • What’s your handle? @buntport on Twitter and Instagram
  • What was the role that changed your life? We played Chip, Enid, Barb and the Professor in Quixote, Buntport’s first creation. That was the start of what has become a career — and a large dysfunctional family.
  • Buntport FullIdeal scene partner: We would like to work with our celebrity doppelgängers. Here are the celebrities we have most often been told we remind people of:
    Brian: John Belushi (or Jim Belushi in Red Heat); Erin: Rowan Atkinson; Hannah: Tina Yothers; Erik: Jim Carrey. Really, we’d like to just re-cast one of our shows with the above actors and watch the crap out of it.
  • What is The Crud all about? The crud on your floor and the crud in your head and the crud in the world. The crud.


  • Tell is about the challenge of playing these roles. This production was inspired by the stuff we bought in an abandoned unit at a storage auction. The objects told a story about the person who previously owned them. Our challenge was to imbue them with a new life. Some days that was easier than others.
  • What do you hope audiences get out of seeing this play? We don’t have one specific takeaway, but, as always, we hope the audience will meet us halfway. Hopefully one of the themes that runs through it — about the nature of memory, the transience of “having,” our relationship to technology, our need for play and fantasy — strikes a chord with viewers.
  • What’s one thing most people don’t know about you? Long ago, we were hired (as a group) to perform in short musical videos to be aired at an awards ceremony for a giant pharmaceutical company. It keeps us up at night. (But the footage we have is one of our most prized possessions.) 
  • What’s one thing you want to get off your chest? We are passionate about not letting Sam answer any of these questions, even though she has been a part of the company for its entire history. But the rest of us are actors and voraciously take center stage, even in a written interview like this one. (Note: Sam says she is not too keen to hear that in Season 8 of The Great British Bake Off, new hosts are introduced.) (Note on the note: Please ignore the last note. We don’t know how Sam managed to sneak it in here!) 


    • Buntport Theater The Crud    Brian Colonna in Buntport Theater’s ‘The Crud.’ Photo courtesy Buntport Theater.

    Buntport Theater’s The Crud: Ticket information

    • Written, directed and performed by Ensemble
    • May 19-June 10
    • 717 Lipan Street MAP IT
    • Performances 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays May 28 and June 4; one Monday performance at 8 p.m. June 5
    • Tickets $15-20 ($25 on opening night, with reception)
    • For tickets or information, call 720-946-1388 or go to buntport.com

    Cast list:
    • Brian Colonna, Hannah Duggan, Erik Edborg, Erin Rollman and Samantha Schmitz (off-stage). They play Broken Baby Doll Detective, Dear Deer, Barely Bear and “I have no name.”

    More ‘In the Spotlife’ profiles:
    Meet Lauren Bahlman of Wide-Eyed West’s theMumblings
    Meet Mark Collins of And Toto Too’s Lost Creatures
    Meet Carley Cornelius of Colorado Springs TheatreWorks’ Constellations
    Meet Emily Paton Davies of Miners Alley Playhouse’s God of Carnage
    Meet Kelsey Didion of Curious Theatre’s Constellations
    Meet Denise Freestone of OpenStage’s August: Osage County
    Meet Sam Gregory of the Arvada Center’s Tartuffe
     Meet Emily K. Harrison of She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange
    Meet John Hauser of Curious Theatre’s Hand to God
    Meet Jim Hunt of Buntport’s The Zeus Problem
    Meet Jeff Jesmer of Spotlight Theatre’s The Crucible
    Meet Wayne Kennedy of BDT Stage’s Mid-Life 2
    Meet Carla Kaiser Kotrc of Miners Alley Playhouse’s A Skull in Connemara
    Meet Heather Lacy of the Aurora Fox’s Priscilla Queen of the Desert
    Meet Seth Maisel of Town Hall Arts Center’s The Firestorm
    Meet Tim McCracken of Local Theatre’s The Firestorm
    Meet Angela Mendez of Beauty and the Beast
    Meet Tamara Meneghini of The Last Testament of Mary
    Meet Joelle Montoya of Su Teatro’s El Sol Que Tu Eres
    Meet Rebekah Ortiz of The Robber Bridegroom
    Meet Anne Oberbroeckling of Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s Ripcord
    Meet Jessica Robblee of Buntport Theatre for All Ages’ Siren Song: A Pirate Odyssey
    Meet Cory Sapienza of Miners Alley Playhouse’s Hir
    Meet Sean Scrutchins of the Arvada Center’s Bus Stop
    Meet Lauren Shealy of Lone Tree Arts Center’s Evita
    Meet Jane Shirley of The Avenue’s Santa’s Big Red Sack
    Meet Marc Stith of Benchmark Theatre’s The Nether
    Meet Peter Trinh of the Aurora Fox’s Chinglish
    Meet Petra Ulyrich of Germinal Stage-Denver’s Johnny Got His Gun
    Meet Megan Van De Hey of the Arvada Center’s Sister Act
    Meet Sharon Kay White of the Arvada Center’s I’ll Be Home for Christmas

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