Colorado Seen 01/2015
YounG Bards
ALSO: WHAT MLK DAY MEANS n BEFORE THE PARADE
Colorado Seen
From the Editor
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n this issue, you’ll something a little different. A couple of stories shot on film. (Which ones? Think “square” pictures.) Why use film in this digital day and age? Well, the short answer would be — why not? It still works. The long answer would be — because it offers a unique way to perceive and express the world around us. It is, literally and figuratively, a change of pace. An acoustic 12-string guitar to digital’s electric Stratocaster. A different “look.” A different feel. A different interaction with people. You’ll still see lots of digital pictures here, too. Such as the story on the Denver Public Schools’ 2014 Shakespeare Festival. But film will also be a beautiful option.
Colorado Seen An internet image magazine Editor & Publisher Andrew Piper We welcome comments and letters. Submit them to: coloradoseen@comcast.net To submit work or story ideas for consideration, send an e-mail to: coloradoseen@comcast.net If you would like to advertise in ColoradoSeen, send an e-mail to coloradoseen@comcast.net for information on rates and interactive links. Copyright © 2015 ColoradoSeen
On the cover: Daniel Dombrowski tries on the donkey head of “Bottom” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at the 2014 Denver Public Schools’ Shakespeare Festival.
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Just to say I was here
Denver marchers reflect on the meaning of Martin Luther King Day
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ver 30,000 people turned out on Jan. 19, 2015, for Denver’s Martin Luther King Day Marade (march and parade). It is among the largest celebrations in the U.S., running several miles along Colfax Ave. from City Park to Civic Center Plaza. Here’s what a few of the marchers had to say about Dr. King himself, and what his birthday means to them. Click here to see a video about Denver’s 2013 MLK Day Marade.
FLORENCE AYERS Martin Luther King Day means a lot of things to me. But most of all, for this year, with the stabbing of the Voting Rights Act — Let’s honor Dr. King’s legacy by protecting the Voting Rights Act. 4
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JACQUELINE CANTSEE I came out today to support our nation and its freedoms. To have equality in this nation and around the world.
TRAVIS GREEN What it means to me is, for so long we’ve been fighting for civil rights and we still don’t have them. I still see today situations where we’ve been treated wrong. We’re still fighting and we still have to fight. If we don’t do it, ain’t nobody going to do it for us. Even though we do have a lot of help, a lot of help, but Congress don’t hear us. We’ve just gotta keep going — keep going. It means a lot to me to be out here just to say I was here, even though I’m not getting behind the microphone. Just showing up means a lot. 7
VIVIAN WEINSTEIN Martin Luther King was a revolutionary. He talked not just about nonviolence and improving the black community. He talked about everybody — he talked about changing the society completely, which really needs to be done. The Vietnam war, and social issues as well — he understood all of that and when he came to understand all of that, that’s when he was killed. Because then he knew and he wrote that the entire society has to be changed. And he was right.
BRITTANY LINDSEY
Martin Luther King Day means basically a new era. It’s to show support and respect to a person that put their life on the line for other people and how passionate he was about it and how he made a difference in the world, and how it still carries on to this day. 9
JUSTICE AND VICTOR EPHRIM Justice: Martin Luther King freed people so that white and black people could be friends. We’re celebrating his birthday for what he did for people around the world to be friends. Victor: It’s a day of unity with everybody. A lot of people fail to remember there were white civil rights people. There was all different nationalities and everybody came together in order for every one to be one and to get along as one. That’s why I love this parade —because its just a melting pot here and we all get along.
DONALD NASH Martin Luther King stood for freedom to me. Freedom and equality of all. Not just black or white — it’s young and old and everything in between. 10
GABBY GUYON, AMBER EDWARDS & ELISE TUCKER Gabby: This day means equality and unity. It’s nice to see people of all different colors together. Amber: Even though we’re still struggling with police brutality and some equal rights, we still, with his help, made it this far. Elise: Today means respect for others and honoring the fact that everybody’s different.
JOHN HENRY Martin Luther King was a protester. He was a fighter, a non-violent fighter, an organizer. As a union organizer myself, helping the little guy, I just had to come here today, for the first time. I’m protesting with my sign to let people know that the police should not shoot to kill. It’s not a matter of race — it’s not black, brown, white or yellow. Shoot To Kill has got to be stopped. 13
Young Bards Denver’s Public Schools celebrate Shakespeare on his 450th anniversary
Young swordsmen, courtiers and kings await their moment on the outdoor stages at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
Under the May D&F tower (above) in central Denver, DPS students gather for a parade to the Performing Arts
Pictures & Text by Andy Piper
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I
t happens every year. Denver’s public school students descend on the Center for the Performing Arts to spend a spring day celebrating and
performing the works of William Shakespeare. But 2014 had a special meaning — it was the 450th birthday anniversary of the 16th-century English poet and playwright. In 2014, 5,000
students from 63 elementary, middle, and high schools gathered in Skyline Park beneath the May D&F tower for opening ceremonies. After greetings from DPS Superintendent Tom
Boasberg (dressed as a grave digger from Hamlet), and from the Bard of Avon himself (portrayed by André GuillenRodriguez) and his patron, Queen Elizabeth I of England (played by Mia Burnett), the
Center. Mia Burnett and André Guillen-Rodriguez, in carriage, portrayed Queen Elizabeth 1 and Shakespeare.
richly-costumed players paraded to the performing arts complex and the 15 stages under and around its high vaulted gallery. With so many students, each prepared to strut and fret their
moment in the spotlight, each of the stages — The Globe, The Red Lion, The Curtain — was tightly packed with a dozen scenes an hour for over five hours. Students traded off roles from scene to
scene, so that each had a chance to perform, in roles from Romeo or Juliet, to the witches of Macbeth, to kings, princes, and nursemaids. Side events include readings of the Bard’s sonnets, perfor-
mances of Elizabethan music, and practice in swordsmanship. Denver’s festival has received a Stewardship Award from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. n
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n The 2015 Denver Public Schools Shakespeare Festival will take place on Friday, April 24, 2015, and is open to the public.
Denver School Superintendent Tom Boasberg, dressed as a grave digger from Hamlet, greets one of the 5,000 student players at the entrance to the performing arts center gallery.
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Ahh, the theatre. Elizabeth I of England (Mia Burnett) and Shakespeare himself (AndrĂŠ Guillen-Rodriguez) join 5,000 other student actors under the 600-foot-long arcade of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
A young thespian gets made up for a bearded role, with a little help from mom and her teacher/director.
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Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow. Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 2
A chair stands in for a balcony in this performance of Romeo and Juliet.
O happy dagger! Here is thy sheath... Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, scene 3
“Have at thee, Coward.” Swords flash, above, as Capulets and Montagues fight in the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet. A compelling rendering of Juliet’s death scene draws rapt expressions from her director and fellow players, opposite. Amidst a crowd of courtiers, left, Juliet’s nurse pauses for reflection.
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...The play’s the thing, wherein I’ll
— steal the ice cream of the king? With apologies to Hamlet, Act 2, scene 2
On the plaza outside the DCPA, instructors from Denver’s Cheyenne Fencing School offered Festival participants a chance to try out their swordsmanship.
Double, double toil and trouble, Fire burn and caldron bubble!
Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1
Jo Nitzer congratulates her students from Force Elementary School after they win a judges award for
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their production of the witches scene from Macbeth (previous pages).
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Owen Ooms, left, and Ryan Kelly stay in character off-stage, practicing their swordsmanship (and their death scenes) on the lawn of the DCPA. n
Band leader Doug Root, in white tails, counts it down, plays a tune, laughs a laugh, and generally kicks his troupe into high gear while staging for the 2014 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Denver.
a one, a two, a Pictures & Text by Andy Piper
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Before the crowds. Before the applause. When it’s just you and your troupe waiting and practicing in the chill
March air. Those are the best moments in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Denver. In a huge park-
ing lot north of Coors Field, the bands and clubs and military organizations stage to take their place in the big show.
one, two, three
Denver held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1885. After a hiatus from the 1920’s until the 1960’s, an im-
promptu parade kicked off in 1962, with an officially organized parade beginning in 1963. Denver’s pa-
rade is one of the largest west of the Mississippi, with over 300,000 participants and watchers every year. n
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“Let’s HEAR it!” cries Doug Root, as his band starts a jazz riff. At right, Doug Olmos plays baritone horn and Fred Ames tickles a tenor sax.
...four!
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Members of the 1st Colorado Volunteers Civil War reenactment group practice their drumming and drill while waiting for the parade to begin.
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Natalie Vickrey and Dan Daru prepare to ride a real World War 2-era Jeep as a part of the parade contingent of the 40 Thieves Reenactment Group, portraying soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division.
The Foothills Young Marines units sounds off as they jog in place.
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The 2015 Denver St. Patrick’s Day Parade will kick off at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 14. Click here for more info.
St. Bernard rescue dogs nuzzle, above, while at right, Dan McCarthy’s “disc dog”
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Sage, a Belgian Malinois, begs for another chance to chase a flying disc. Sage wears a bandana
and pearls, and mittens to protect his feet during the long walk along the parade route. n
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