Playwright Vauhini Vara sits at a table with her peers. Papers and drinks are scattered across the table, the team is hard at work.

Hear from the 2024 New Play Summit Playwrights

Ahead of the 2024 Colorado New Play Summit, we sat down with the four playwrights to hear more about their work. What inspired them, which characters are their favorites, and what do they hope to learn by participating in the Summit? Hear from Matthew Spangler and Nina McConigley, Cowboys and East Indians; Vauhini Vara, Ghost […]

Four actors dressed in medieval garb surround another man who has fainted

Ocean’s 11: Gentlemen of Verona and More with The Improvised Shakespeare Company

The Improvised Shakespeare Company promises laughs, adventure, and more than a wee bit of improv. Each show is different, as audience members are encouraged to throw out suggestions, which create the title of a Shakespearean play that has never been written. This year’s titles have varied wildly in style, respectability, and Shakespeare-ness. Much Ado About […]

Michael Jackson dances in rehearsal, wearing the signature black and white ensemble. Backup dancers join in, facing him.

MJ, a Dream Gig for Dancers

Ask anyone born before the year 2000 and they probably have a distinct memory of Michael Jackson’s music. I can remember family road trips from Atlanta to Chicago where we plugged a boombox into our minivan’s cigarette lighter and played Jackson 5 cassette tapes, singing at the top of our lungs all the way through […]

Emma: A Refreshing Take on a Timeless Classic

It takes something extra to adapt a 200-year-old classic novel that has already been adapted multiple times for stage and screen. Call it guts – call it ovaries – but actor/playwright Kate Hamill has now adapted five novels of Jane Austen, with her latest, Emma, staged at Denver Center Theatre Company. “Jane Austen was a […]

MJ Trivia

You might know Michael Jackson’s music, but do you know the answers to these questions about MJ The Musical? Test your knowledge! QUESTIONS: 1. How many Michael Jackson songs are featured in the show? 2. MJ takes place during rehearsals for Michael’s Dangerous World Tour, which included how many dates? 3. How many 2022 Tony […]

Date Night in Downtown Denver

Clueless’s Cher meets Bridgerton’s Daphne meets…Emma at the DCPA. Jane Austen’s romantic and sharp comedy takes the stage in an irreverent, modern take on matchmaking, mischief, and marriage. Now this is date night material. While there is a plethora of restaurants in the downtown area near the Arts Complex, which ones are best suited for […]

An actor stands onstage, smiling, during rehearsal. She is wearing a colorful scarf and a tan sweater.

Colorado New Play Summit: Where Plays Begin

That buzz you heard the last weekend of February was the sound of creation at Denver Center Theatre Company, where the Colorado New Play Summit sold 2,000 tickets to audiences of playwrights, industry professionals and theater fans. Audiences were treated to staged readings of four new works: Cowboys and East Indians by Nina McConigley and […]

Ginger Cocktails from the DCPA Restaurant Partners

Small but mighty, the Gingerbread Man – known to friends as Gingy – packs a punch in Shrek The Musical. One of the predominant flavors of gingerbread is, of course, ginger. We asked our restaurant partners to provide a few cocktails in honor of Gingy and his formidable personality. The Corner Office | Shrek’s Ginger […]

An actor raises his arm while performing in Macbeth for Shakespeare in the Parking Lot

Shakespeare in the Parking Lot Returns with Free Community Performances

“Something [fantastic] this way comes!” Let’s face it. Shakespeare can be confusing. “Thee” and “thou” can often sound like a foreign language. But enter Shakespeare in the Parking Lot…stage right. DCPA’s Education and Community Engagement Department returns with its popular program for a seventh season. And these aren’t your typical performances. Shakespeare in the Parking […]

In Where Did We Sit on the Bus? Latiné Artists Excavate Their Own Histories

When performer and playwright Brian Quijada was in the third grade, his teacher taught the class a lesson about the Civil Rights Movement during Black History Month. She explained that a woman named Rosa Parks changed the course of history by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Quijada raised his hand […]