Math is cool. And if you love theatre, this new educational offering will show you why.

It started as a curiosity: Tony Cisek’s scenic design for Anna Karenina would call for an uncommon elliptical-shaped stage floor. Audiences could not miss the dramatic result but, we wondered, how many of them will stop to consider how much math had to have gone into perfectly cutting and laying that stage floor?

Chronicling that process has led to Standing Equation, our new web series on theatre and math, presented by the DCPA NewsCenter. Your host is Denver Center Theatre Company Technical Director Eric Moore, who, along with Associate Technical Director Josh Prues, explained and trained the entire process to the DCPA’s expert building crew.

Moore, a Colorado native and graduate of Aurora Central High School, is the rare theatre artist who majored in math (with a minor in theatre) at Arizona State University. He was first hired into the Denver Center’s scene shop in 1993 as an “overhire” – a term to describe temporary workers who come in at crunch time to help the technical team beat their building deadlines. Moore soon was hired to the full-time position of Lead Carpenter, which he held until 2005.

“You could tell right away he was the smartest person in the room,” said Associate Technical Director Bob Orzolek, who first hired Moore. “Eric’s math skills and analytical thinking are outstanding, so he progressed through the ranks here quite quickly.”

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After a decade as Technical Director for Santa Fe Opera, Moore returned to the Denver Center last year as Technical Director.

“Eric is an example of someone who not only has outstanding skills, but also the ability to apply them to something he really loves to do,” Orzolek said.

Standing Equation is produced by DCPA Senior Arts Journalist John Moore and DCPA Video Producer David Lenk. Look for more upcoming episodes on the Denver Center’s YouTube channel.

Anna Karenina: Ticket information

• Written by: Kevin McKeon, adapted from the novel by Leo Tolstoy; original music by Randall Robert Tico
• Year: Original novel published in 1877; stage adaptation premiered in 2012
• Director: Chris Coleman
• Dates: Through February 24
• Where: Stage Theatre
• Genre: Adaptation of Tolstoy’s classic story of love and marriage in Imperial Russia
  
• Tickets: Start at $30 and can be purchased at denvercenter.org, 303-893-4100 or in person in the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex at 14^th and Curtis streets.

Photo gallery: Scenes from the making of the ellipse stage

The completed, elliptical stage floor designed by Tony Cisek. Photo by Adams VisCom.