“All the Rage”and “The Tricky Part”
Sept. 6-Oct. 5 at Curious Theatre Company
Playwright/Performer Martin Moran returns to his hometown with a reprise of his Obie award-winning, one-man show, “The Tricky Part,” about confronting the church counselor he had a “relationship” with when he was 12 and his follow-up, “All the Rage.” In the latter, Moran recounts his travels in search of an anger that is not natural to him. Moran’s stint at Curious marks the return of a native son who has plenty to say.
303-623-0524, curioustheatre.org
“Memphis”
Sept. 9-28 at the Arvada Center Mainstage
Margaret Kasahara in "Ludlow, 1914," a collaboration between TheatreWorks and the LIDA Project.
Margaret Kasahara in “Ludlow, 1914,” a collaboration between TheatreWorks and the LIDA Project. (Provided by TheatreWorks)
What a pleasure that this isn’t a lazy jukebox musical — instead, this blues-honoring show about a white deejay and the black singer he champions, then falls for, comes by way of Bon Jovi founder David Bryan and playwright Joe DiPrieto.
720-898-7200, arvadacenter.org
“Ludlow, 1914”
Sept. 11-28 at Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater, Colorado Springs
Arguably the most promising collaboration of the theater season finds TheatreWorks uniting with Denver’s LIDA Project for a multifaceted work that marks the 100-year anniversary of the attack on the striking coal miners camp in Southern Colorado that left two dozen dead including two women and 11 children.
719-255-3232 or theatreworkscs.org
“Grounded”
Sept. 11-28 at the Avenue Theater
Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company and artistic director Stephen Weitz don’t want Denverites to fear U.S. 36. BETC plans on showing just how easy it is to travel back and forth between the culturally savvy cities when it brings George Brant’s one-woman play about a former combat pilot turned drone operator working in Las Vegas to Denver’s Avenue Theater. Laura Norman — so good in BETC’s “The Ghost-Writer” — stars.
303-321-5925 or betc.org/grounded
“Once on This Island”
Sept. 12-Oct. 5 at Aurora Fox Arts Center, Aurora
Three reasons to see the Fox’s 2014-2015 opener: 1) After her Henry Award-winning stage debut, singer SuCh returns to the Fox mainstage as the lead in this Caribbean fable of star-crossed love and sacrifice. 2) Rosa Guy’s 1985 novel was reimagined by musical-theater titans Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty who tag-teamed “Seussical” and Tony Award-garnering “Ragtime.” 3) The show’s director-choreographer is Candy Brown, one-time dancer for Broadway legends Bob Fosse, Michael Bennett and Hal Prince.
303-739-1970 or aurorafox.org
“Dylan Went Electric”
Sept. 12-Oct. 19 at Miners Alley, Golden
The intimate Golden theater pulls back the curtain on Bob Dylan and the Greenwich Village folk music scene of 1969. Jim Hunt directs the world premiere of Denver playwright Josh Hartwell’s show about friendship, creativity and a watershed moment in time.
303-935-3044 or minersalley.com
“The Year of Magical Thinking”
Sept. 18-Oct. 5, Bas Bleu, Fort Collins
Consider Bas Bleu’s remounting of its production of Joan Didion’s play a return worth returning to, even though it was just onstage last summer. Wendy Ishii portrays the famed journalist in this account of the death of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne.
970-498-8949 or basbleu.org
“The Unsinkable Molly Brown”
Previews Sept. 12-18, Runs Sept. 19-Oct. 26, the Denver Performing Arts Complex’s Stage Theatre
In movie parlance, this Denver Center Theatre Company season opener might be called a reboot. If we were fond of lame puns — and we are — we’d joke that bringing Meredith Willson’s 1960 musical to the stage is a titanic undertaking. Instead we’ll merely assert that Colorado heroine Molly Brown in the hands of director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall and writer Dick Scanlon with new songs from Willson’s songbook should be a bold and buoyant journey.
303-893-4100 or denvercenter.org
Boulder International Fringe Festival
Sept. 17-28, Dairy Center for the Arts and other venues throughout Boulder
This 12-day extravaganza of the eclectic, experimental and wild includes works by local theatrical tinkerers like Boulder’s Band of Toughs (“I Miss My MTV”) and visitors like former Bay Area journalist David Kleinberg (“Hey, Hey LBJ!”) and South Africa’s Shirley Kirschmann (“Whenever I am sad or struck by tragedy I smile to myself because I know with time it will become fantastic comic material.”)
303-803-5643 or
boulderfringe.com
“Rattlesnakes”
Oct. 9-26, Springs Ensemble Theatre, Colorado Springs
Brit playwright Graham Farrow’s drama unfolds in a hotel room where a gigolo has an unplanned and menacing date with the husbands of the women he’s been servicing.
719-357-3080 or springsensembletheatre.org
“Dracula”
Oct. 9-Nov. 2, Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs
It seems like there hasn’t been a theater season without a play or adaptation by native son Steven Deitz, who now splits his time between Seattle and Austin, Texas. As it should be. Deitz is prolific and good. This time out, Deitz has taken seriously the dark, bloody mood of Bram Stoker’s iconic novel.
719-634-5583 or csfineartscenter.org.
“Kindertransport”
Oct. 30-Dec. 7, Mizel Arts and Culture Center
Theatre Or and the Mizel Arts and Culture Center kick off the JAAMM Fest with English playwright Diane Samuels’ drama about the evacuation of Jewish children from Germany. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the British program that relocated the “kinder” to England in the wake of Kristallnacht and escalating anti-Semitic violence throughout Germany. Before beginning its run, the show will honor local Kindertransport survivors — among them theater champion Henry Lowenstein — on Oct. 22.
303-316-6360 or maccjcc.org
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567, lkennedy@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bylisakennedy
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