Breaking Into the Biz

Are you a budding performer waiting for your breakout role? Do you feel a bit like Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, fiercely determined but constantly turned down? Don’t let that rain on your parade! Take these tips from Grady Soapes, Director of Casting with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA), to help you […]

Piggie grins at the audience clutching an envelope addressed to her. Gerald the Elephant grins at Piggie and holds up a card that reads PARTY!

How to Prepare Your Kids for Their First Show

The feeling of seeing a story unfold live on stage is unlike anything else, and it’s absolutely something to share with your children. When they’re ready, that is. While there’s no set age for when kids can be introduced to the stage — each child is different after all — there are signs to look […]

People seated in rows laugh and smile

The Art of the Audition: Learn how to nail that callback and what directors want

This article was originally published on November 17, 2022 All the books, lessons and performances in the world won’t guarantee an actor a leading role, but mastering the art of the audition just might. That’s why for the past five years Grady Soapes, the DCPA Theatre Company’s Director of Casting, has long taught classes on […]

Pitching Strategies: Insights from Kelly McAllister

Just like Bud Davenport and Doug Simon in Gutenberg! The Musical, creatives constantly find themselves in the position of pitching ideas, whether for auditions or projects. Kelly McAllister, an accomplished playwright, screenwriter, actor, and director, offers invaluable insights from his extensive experience. With award-winning plays produced globally and his role as a teaching artist at […]

Activities to Do: Elephant and Piggie

DCPA Education & Community Engagement presents Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” from October 18-December 22, 2024 in the Weeks Conservatory Theatre. Prepared specially for PreK through third grade audiences, this Theatre for Young Audiences production is based on Mo Willems’ beloved and award-winning children’s books. Dive into a world of make believe, […]

Gerald the elephant and Piggie stand onstage, wearing fun accessories like a pool inner tube, a rainbow tutu, and a top hat.

Elephant & Piggie Books Come to Life Onstage This Fall

Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” adds songs and movement to author Mo Willems’ beloved books When a book has few words, no background pictures, and two simply drawn characters, how does it translate on stage? For Theatre for Young Audiences director Allison Watrous, the addition of music by Deborah Wicks La Puma […]

Activities to Play: Elephant and Piggie

DCPA Education & Community Engagement presents Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” from October 18-December 22, 2024 in the Weeks Conservatory Theatre. Prepared specially for PreK through third grade audiences, this Theatre for Young Audiences production is based on Mo Willems’ beloved and award-winning children’s books. Dive into a world of make believe, […]

Actor in a silvery blue blazer holds Actress in a white sweater and headband as they exchange deep and heart felt looks

The Making of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot

The idea for Shakespeare in the Parking Lot came from teachers who wanted to bring to life the Bard’s beautiful plays to help students truly understand why the works have been so important for centuries. “It is meant as a dramatic text and meant to be performed rather than reading it like a novel,” said […]

Jessica Austgen performing Improv

The Art of Play

We live in fast paced, non-stop culture where we often forget to pause, take stalk of our lives, and make sure to throw a little “me” time in between the hustle and bustle of our everyday activities.