First Look: Much Ado About Nothing

A playful comedy layered with all the rich complexity that comes with Shakespeare’s work, Much Ado About Nothing is a snappy, surprisingly timely meditation on gossip, gender roles, and the follies of romance. Take a look at some of the production photos below.

Inside the Orchestra: The Power of Partnership

When you envision attending an orchestral performance, what does it conjure up? Soaring music. Musicians dressed in black. And performers sitting way far away on a stage well outside of arm’s length. Denver-based Inside the Orchestra tosses those conventions aside to create an immersive experience for children through their Tiny Tots program, which is designed […]

My Fair Lady Trivia

My Fair Lady plays Denver’s Buell Theatre Nov 15-27, 2022. Test your knowledge about this iconic production of the stage and screen. 1. My Fair Lady was a stage musical before it became a famous feature film. True False 2. What actor played Henry Higgins in the original stage production AND the film? Richard Burton […]

Kirk Petersen: A Hard Act to Follow

For 41 years, Kirk Petersen’s driving passion at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) was accommodation. As Associate Director of Ticketing Services, he propelled the box office into an industry leader in providing customer service for every patron – and especially for those with special needs. He just never thought that in his […]

The Tragicomedy of Shakespeare’s Tragic Comedy: Much Ado About Nothing

While the names Thalia and Melpomene might mean nothing to you, you would certainly recognize their faces. Also known as Sock and Buskin, the iconic representation of theatre features two masks with familiar laughing and crying faces. Thalia is one of the nine Muses in Greek mythology, the patron of Comedy, represented with the laughing […]

Cocktails with a Twist: The Ramble Hotel Offers Neuro Bar Lab

When you order a drink or two, you accept that your inhibitions may be a bit altered. But what about your perceptions? That’s just the idea behind the neuroscience-inspired Neuro Bar Lab that The Ramble Hotel is serving up in partnership with DCPA Off-Center’s Theater of the Mind. “We were very intrigued by the concept […]

The Temptations’ Ain’t Too Proud Is a Soundtrack for Not Only Yesterday’s but Also Today’s Divided Times

Originally published in Rolling Stone. Reprinted by permission of Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of The Temptations The Broadway musical is based on surviving member and founder Otis Williams’ 1988 memoir, The Temptations. Known for their many R&B love songs and pop crossover hits, like “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me,” “Just […]

Making Over My Fair Lady

To return to the DCPA Subscriber News Center, click here. Americans love a good makeover. If you doubt it, there have been more than a dozen reality TV shows and countless magazines – most, but not all, geared to women – showcasing the benefits of transformation: new clothes, new makeup, new grooming, new hairdo and, voila, […]

Designing for a Villain: Don John in Much Ado About Nothing

If clothes make the man, does it stand to reason that costumes make the villain? That’s the question we posed to DCPA Costume Crafts Director Kevin Copenhaver, who has been tasked with designing 1930s-era costumes for Much Ado About Nothing. Not necessarily, was his answer. “I don’t think costumes make the hero or the villain. […]

A Sicilian-Inspired, Hand Painted Vest in Much Ado About Nothing

Director Chris Coleman will set his version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in the Sicilian port town of Messina. A minor but integral character is Dogberry, the incompetent constable, who unwittingly (and comically) discovers a plot to thwart true love. When Costume Crafts Director Kevin Copenhaver took on the charge to design the show, […]