Lucy Kirkwood’s Tony nominated play candidly and humorously tackles generational guilt.
Tickets now on sale for performances Sept. 15 – Oct. 8 at the Dairy Arts Center’s Grace Gamm Theatre.
(BROOMFIELD, COLO.) — August 16, 2022 — Regional award-winning theatre company Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado (formerly Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company) blasts into its 2022-2023 season with a post-nuclear disaster thriller that features three 60-something nuclear physicists wrestling with the chaos they are leaving behind for future generations. This timely play, written by award-winning British playwright Lucy Kirkwood and first performed in London in 2016, will be directed by BETC’s co-founder and Producing Artistic Director Stephen Weitz. This is the first time The Children will be produced in Colorado.
“BETC is so very fortunate and honored to produce The Children for our next season,” said BETC’s cofounder and Managing Director Rebecca Remaly. “Climate change and scientific reports of running out of time for our fragile planet are in the news daily, making BETC’s presentation of The Children both timely and relevant. Plus, it is an incredibly well-crafted and exciting play.”
BETC’s production of Kirkwood’s The Children will run Sept. 15 thru Oct. 8, 2022, at the Dairy Arts Center’s Grace Gamm Theatre. BETC seasonal memberships provide discounts and other benefits for theatre enthusiasts. To become a BETC member, link here. BETC’s single tickets to The Children are now on sale here.
BETC has assembled a triple crown cast of actors for The Children with veteran actors Sam Gregory, Martha Harmon Pardee and Gina Walker playing nuclear physicists struggling to come to terms with their personal and professional decisions.
“The issues highlighted in this play aren’t getting any less relevant for any of us. This play is masterful at its avoidance of being a lecture or diatribe. Instead, it powerfully gets its message across through Kirkwood’s characters who beautifully explore both the profound and the mundane,” said Remaly.
The Children represents BETC’s return to a ‘new normal’ in theatrical production since the onset of COVID-19. Instead of interior productions, BETC morphed itself into a virtual theatre company and then launched its traveling BETC theater truck for outdoor productions. In its 2022-2023 season BETC resumes presenting four contemporary plays at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder.
“I am super excited to get to the heart of what we’ve done since we founded BETC. Thrilled to be back inside a real theatre; for the lights to go down, to hear the hush of the audience, and be moved by our BETC actors’ performances,” said BETC co-founder and Producing Artistic Director Stephen Weitz. “It simultaneously feels like it has been a lifetime and as if we’re picking up right where we left off.”
BETC will produce these three other contemporary plays, each at the Dairy Arts Center, and each aligning with its mission to produce theatre as a catalyst for a better world:
- The Royale by Marco Ramirez – Oct. 27 – Nov.19, 2022
- Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson by Kate Hamill – Feb. 2 – Feb. 25, 2023
- Eden Prairie, 1971 by Mat Smart – April 6-29, 2023
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ABOUT THE CHILDREN
Humorous, harrowing, and profoundly timely, in The Children two retired nuclear scientists reside in an isolated cottage by the sea as the world around them crumbles. Together they are going to live forever on yogurt and yoga, until an old friend arrives with a frightening request. In answering her, they must resolve a question we all face: What, exactly, do we owe to future generations?
The New York Times described Kirkwood’s play as “Completely successful as an eco-thriller, bristling with chills and suspense.” It was first performed at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs and was produced on Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Royal Court Theatre.
ABOUT BUTTERFLY EFFECT THEATRE OF COLORADO
Founded in 2006, Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado—formerly Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company—creates powerful and engaging top-quality performances and programs with meaningful impacts beyond the stage. BETC serves and welcomes Colorado’s many diverse communities and cultivates an inclusive environment for artists and audiences.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Actor photos and graphics for The Children are available upon request at sylvia@freshideasgroup.com.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Stephen Weitz | (303) 596-9387 | stephen@betc.org
Sylvia R. Tawse | (303) 913-9650 | sylvia@freshideasgroup.com
