Applause -- Kimberly Akimbo, September 22 - October 5, 2024
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SIGHTLINE
BY JANICE SINDEN
WWelcome to the launch of our 2024/25 season!
For those joining us for KIMBERLY AKIMBO, you are in for a treat… and an exclusive first look at this national tour, which kicks o in Denver. We are delighted to have been selected to launch our fourteenth national tour thanks to the incredible enthusiasm of our local audience.
Across the galleria in the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex is a three-show lineup that kicks o the Denver Center Theatre Company’s 45th season: Hamlet, directed by none other than our Artistic Director Chris Coleman; Avaaz, the hysterical story of an Iranian immigrant written and performed by her son, and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter based on the acclaimed novel and soon-to-be movie.
Over in the Weeks Conservatory Theatre on October 18, we’re opening a charming production of Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” designed to introduce PreK through third graders to the joy of theatre.
Plus, if you’re out and about in the community, join us for two events. First, O -Center’s MONOPOLY LIFESIZED: Travel Edition makes its US premiere at Broadway Park® (Broadway & Alameda) and DCPA Education’s Shakespeare in the Parking Lot travels throughout the metro area with free abridged versions of Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Visit denvercenter.org/community for details.
Finally, starting this season, you will see a change in how we display ticket prices. Rather than adding fees as the final step of your purchase, you will see the total price up front. This is not a price increase; rather, this change aligns with Colorado’s new ticketing transparency law. The price you see on our website is the price you’ll pay — including the base ticket cost, all fees, and the city seat tax.
Whether you’re a loyal season subscriber or a first-time theatregoer, thanks for joining us for our 2024/25 season. We’re glad you’re here.
Vladimir Script
Warm regards,
Janice Sinden
Janice Sinden, President & CEO
HONORING OUR ELDERS
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts honors and acknowledges that it resides on the traditional and unceded territories of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Peoples. We also recognize the 48 contemporary Indigenous Tribes and Nations who have historically called Colorado home.
Applause is published eight times a year by Denver Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with The Publishing House, Westminster, CO. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Call 303.893.4000 regarding editorial content.
Applause magazine is funded in part by IN THIS
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter pg 10
Avaaz pg 14 Hamlet pg 18
KIMBERLY AKIMBO pg 22
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF UPCOMING SHOWS:
Angie Flachman, Publisher For advertising 303.428.9529 or sales@pub-house.com coloradoartspubs.com
Denver Center for the Performing Arts is a non-profit organization that engages and inspires through the transformative power of live theatre.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Hassan Salem, Chair
Ruth Krebs, Vice Chair
David Jacques Farahi, Secretary/Treasurer
Nicole Ament
Dr. Patricia Baca
Brisa Carleton
Jerome Davis
Deb Kelly
Kevin Kilstrom
Lynn McDonald
Susan Fox Pinkowitz
Manny Rodriguez
Alan Salazar
Richard M. Sapkin
Martin Semple
William Dean Singleton
Robert Slosky
Tina Walls
Dr. Reginald L. Washington
Sylvia Young
HONORARY TRUSTEES
Navin Dimond
Margot Gilbert Frank
Jeannie Fuller
Robert C. Newman
Daniel L. Ritchie
Cleo Parker Robinson
HELEN G. BONFILS FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Martin Semple, President
William Dean Singleton, Vice President
Dr. Reginald L. Washington, Secretar y/Treasurer
Nicole Ament
Marco D. Chayet
Kevin Kilstrom
Ruth Krebs
Susan Fox Pinkowitz
Hassan Salem
Robert Slosky
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
Janice Sinden, President & CEO
Jamie Clements, Vice President, Development
Chris Coleman, Artistic Director, Theatre Company
John Ekeberg, Executive Director, Broadway & Cabaret
Charlie Miller, Executive Director & Curator, Off-Center
Lisa Roebuck, Vice President, Information Technology
Charles Varin, Managing Director, Theatre Company & Off-Center
Allison Watrous, Executive Director, Education & Community Engagement
Jane Williams, Chief Financial & Administrative Officer
LEGACY MONTH
HONORING OUR HISTORY AND THE LEGACIES THAT ENSURE OUR FUTURE
Every September, we celebrate Legacy Month at the DCPA. Our mission as a non-profit — to engage and inspire through the transformative power of live theatre — is made possible each generation thanks to the generosity of donors and the legacies of those who came before.
If you believe in the transformative power of live theatre, we invite you to make your legacy a part of ensuring our future. Connect with us, share your story, and make a legacy pledge to include the DCPA in your will, IRA, or retirement giving Scan the QR code below to learn more!
To connect with us about your DCPA legacy or to learn more about Legacy Month and the various opportunities and benefits of legacy giving, check out our website or reach out to Connor Carlin, Associate Director of Development, Major Gifts: ccarlin@dcpa.org | 303.446.4842 | denvercenter.org/legacy
Bobby G 2023, photo by McLeod9Creative
Leslie Alexander and Sophia Dotson in A Little Night Music
Photo by Amanda Tipton Photography
Adams Design + Photo
Photo by McLeod9Creative
UPCOMING ADDED ATTRACTIONS
Complement
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN FRIENDS
The Making of I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER with Playwright
Isaac Gómez and Director Laura Acalá Baker
BY MARLOWE MOORE
WWhat’s going to happen at the Denver Center Theatre Company starting in September has been years in the making. Longtime friends and collaborators Isaac Gómez, playwright, and director Laura Alcalá Baker reunite for the first time since the pandemic for I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an adaptation of Erika L. Sánchez’s award-winning novel. For the first time, the play will take place in-the-round, giving audiences unprecedented access to the rich, inner world of Júlia, the main character who is painfully aware of how much she is not the perfect Mexican daughter. Isaac picked up Sánchez’s novel shortly after its publication in 2017. From the first words, they knew they were reading something crackling with life, transmitting a razor-sharp, inescapable truth: YOU ARE SEEN. Júlia struggles. She laughs. She dances. She grieves, she says the wrong things, she hurts. Júlia loves. She fails. She causes the most awkward public scene at the worst possible time. Her rage is real, her despair is real, her flawless sarcastic timing never fails to make the exact point no one else dares to confront. Isaac read the opening line in the bookstore, then immediately shut the book. “I couldn’t read it in public. The book was going to make me feel a lot of things I knew would touch on parts of me that I hadn’t experienced in literature before.”
Isaac was sitting in the tech rehearsal of their play La Ruta for Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company when they finished the book. “I was so blown away by it, and I thought ‘this would make an excellent play,’” Isaac says. They pitched the idea to Hallie Gordon at Steppenwolf, and she immediately bought in after reading the novel.
“I’ve told Erika that, from the opening line, there’s something about the way that this story is written that makes me feel very naked and vulnerable.”
“I identify as non-binary,” says Isaac, “but I was raised in a household of all brothers. And as the outspoken, surly rebel of my family who was very alternative and the daughter that my mom never had but always wanted — I, too, wasn’t the perfect Mexican daughter. Because I couldn’t be. For me, there was so much about Júlia’s story and her voice…when I talked with Erika about this, she was like, ‘the person most like Júlia is you’.”
Isaac adapted the novel, preserving the crackling energy and unflinching vulnerability, as they are known for in their work. “Finding my way to this story and adapting it for the stage remains one of the greatest honors of my career,” says Isaac. “This story just feels very close.”
The story grabbed Laura, too. “This play feels so raw,” says Laura. “I had to put it down multiple times while reading it. The vulnerability thing is really real. It feels like it is cutting so close to the vein — really fast, too. She shows all of her ugly. It’s so brutal, it’s so hard. And with a story like this, the playwright has to embody the narrator to pull the story and the audience along.”
“I find, inherent with all of Isaac’s work,” says Laura, “that we are speaking the same language. Isaac has this way of making people feel known. There’s something about an Isaac Gómez play
I find, inherent with all of Isaac’s work, that we are speaking the same language. Isaac has this way of making people feel known. There’s something about an Isaac Gómez play where I go “oh! I know these people! I know how it breathes, I know the heartbeat,” and that makes my work exciting.
— LAURA ALCALÁ BAKER,
DIRECTOR
where I go ‘oh! I know these people! I know how it breathes, I know the heartbeat,’ and that makes my work exciting.
“So, Isaac called recently and was like this [Mexican Daughter] is happening in Denver, and I put your name forward. You’re the one I want for it. There’s nothing like having a friend and a person you admire say you’re the one for this. It makes you feel chosen and seen. At this point, I have an understanding of their writing. Even as I read the first page, I was like ‘I know what this is, let’s go.’”
When we enter Júlia’s story at the start of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, a terrible thing has happened. From the moment the lights go up, we’re on this turbulent ride with Júlia, rolling up and down in her mind, her writing, her memories, as she tries to make sense out of a fatal accident that undoes her sense of reality. “The mental health piece of it is probably the most significant part of Júlia’s journey,” says Isaac. “This is the story of a young woman who desperately wants to feel seen, to feel heard, and whose dreams are bigger than anyone else’s.”
When Isaac and Laura reunited for this play, they knew the challenge of staging it in the round. “When you’re in the round, you’re on display all the time. Every single thing has to be so intentional, everything is on purpose,” says Laura. Inspired by the energy of Isaac’s script, she decided to create a version of this play, as she says, “that no one has ever seen before.” The openness of the theater-in-the-round lets her take I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter deeper into Júlia’s “mind palace,” so that the space itself becomes Júlia’s rich, complex, funny, and complicated inner world, with the textures of Chicago, Mexico, and her home life woven into it.
“I’m most excited to see Laura’s vision,” Isaac says. “She’s one of the most brilliant directors I’ve ever worked with. This is going to be a notyour-typical production of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.”
“I’m so glad to be back in the room with Isaac,” Laura says. “It’s going to be an incredible adventure, and we’re not letting the audience go.”
I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT
MEXICAN DAUGHTER
SEP 27 – NOV 3 • KILSTROM THEATRE
ASL Interpreted and Audio Described performance: Oct 13 at 1:30pm
Stay for a post-show discussion on select dates following our 7pm performances: Oct 10, 17 & 22
READ THE FULL ARTICLE
• All people are equal • Moments are shared • Differences are valued
• Discussion is encouraged
We respect that everyone experiences our stories differently.
AVAAZ: SUCCEEDING AGAINST ENORMOUS ODDS
BY MISHA BERSON
IIn a workshop on playwriting some years ago, Michael Shayan was instructed by the leader to put a hand over his heart, to feel the heartbeat of a character — and to “just listen.”
The voice he heard was one Shayan had known all his life. It was that of his remarkable Jewish-Iranian mother, Roya.
Writing about one’s mom is not an easy exercise — though many playwrights (and other scribes) have been moved to do it. And immigrant parents often have fascinating stories to tell.
Roya is one such colorful and extraordinary person. And her relationship with her son is both close and complex, as many parent-child kinships are. So that assignment eventually blossomed into the critically acclaimed new play, Avaaz, which comes to Denver Center Theatre Company this fall and marks the beginning of a national tour.
“It’s an honor to take Avaaz across the country, particularly at a time of overwhelming anti-immigrant sentiment,” says Shayan. “Avaaz offers a different narrative and grapples with complex truths in a fabulous, decadent party on stage.”
“Avaaz,” in Farsi and several other languages including Hindu and Urdu, means (aptly) “voice” or “song,” more specifically “a song as it is being sung.” And to portray her in this solo theater piece, Shayan adopts his mother’s unique voice, her love of Iranian culture, her bitter and sweet memories in her homeland and adopted country.
Avaaz proved to be not just a great vehicle for Shayan the actor-playwright (he has also worked as an Emmynominated screenwriter and television producer) but also an opportunity to learn more about the woman who raised him.
Avaaz was also a chance to meld his mother’s extravagant humor and joy with a serious exploration of the hardships Roya faced as a political refugee, the difficulties and rewards of raising her son after departing an abusive marriage, and the challenges of accepting Michael’s open homosexuality.
What first beguiled Denver Center Theatre Company Artistic Director Chris Coleman about Avaaz, however, was Shayan’s comic flair.
“I saw Avaaz in its world premiere at South Coast Repertory Theatre, and I had no idea what to expect,” recalls Coleman. “At first, I just thought it was hilarious. Michael has standup comedian skills, and was ridiculously funny.”
But as the show unspooled, continues Coleman, “I realized how political and poignant it is too. That was tucked so deftly inside the humor, you were happy to digest it.”
Coleman’s admiration for Avaaz and decision to share it with Denver theatergoers in DCTC’s 2024/25 season, spurred his own research into the history of ancient Persia and its modern equivalent, Iran. Though Denver has a relatively small Iranian community, he tapped into it via discussions with investor-philanthropist and Denver Center for the Performing Arts Board member David Jacques Farahi, whose Jewish family also hails from the country.
“Jews have been in Iran for several thousand years,” notes Coleman. “Actually, most of us in America know little about Iran, other than from current news headlines. We don’t know what it’s like to live there, how deep the intellectual and literary community is, how old the culture is, or the Jewish community’s place in the country’s history.”
Avaaz alludes to all of that, beginning with the spread of foods, flowers and cultural objects arrayed on an eye-popping set created by Tony Award-winning Broadway designer Beowulf Boritt, and with Roya’s flowing brocade robes, an Iranian-style garment designed by Emmy winner Joshua “Domino” Schwartz. The production is helmed and directed by the celebrated Tony Award-nominated director Moritz von Stuelpnagel (I Need That, Hand to God ).
A witty, elegant woman, Roya graciously invites the audience into this decorous environment to celebrate Nowruz with her. She explains that Nowruz is a traditional New Year’s holiday observed for centuries each spring (by Iranians, but also by people in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Kurdish Iraq and other nations). She’s prepared a larger-thanlife celebration that features music, dancing, storytelling, as well as symbolic foods laid out in a ritual arrangement called a haft-sin
As the play unfolds, Roya waits for her son to show up (they haven’t been on good terms recently, she confesses). She speaks of fleeing to the United States as a young adult and finding refuge in an area of Los Angeles where many Iranian expats have settled. And she jokes about the culture adjustments and culture clashes she encountered in her new country.
With little money, Roya and Michael shared a small L.A. apartment in Westwood. In the only bedroom, they slept on twin beds “so close we could feel each other breathe” and studied together as they each pursued their educational goals.
But that bond was tested once Michael grew up and came out as a gay man. Roya’s pride in his attending Harvard University and becoming a professional actor-writer, was tempered by her difficulty in fully accepting his queerness.
Shayan doesn’t glide over the difficulties in their relationship. But it is clear that, despite the tensions and differences, their fondness for one another remains. Avaaz offers a fresh, new perspective on mother-son dynamics that is both specific and deeply universal; it’s one we rarely see on stage.
At the performance of Avaaz he attended, Coleman got a look at the real-life Roya — a glamorous woman, Sheri Rabeie, who has a successful career as an engineer.
The play, says Coleman, “is a success story. It’s about somebody who against enormous odds comes to this country, and builds a life. It’s enormous fun, and we can learn from it. But it’s not a lecture. It’s a discovery.”
Denver Center Theatre Company presents the Olney Theatre Center production of AVAAZ
OCT 4 - NOV 17 • SINGLETON THEATRE
ASL Interpreted and Audio Described performance: Oct 20 at 1:30pm
Stay for a post-show discussion on select dates following our 7pm performances: Nov 6 & 13
WOMEN’S VOICES FUND
Join the DCPA in creating dedicated opportunities for female artists and leaders in theatre.
Established in 2005, the Women’s Voices Fund is an initiative designed to foster and elevate the work of women in the theatre. The fund helps create, develop, and support the voices of women – past, present, and future – and advances their work in the American theatre repertoire.
Become a Women’s Voices Fund member today and help support women in theatre! Help us give equal voices to women in theatre.
For more information please contact: Caitie Maxwell cmaxwell@dcpa.org 303.446.4840
(above) Samantha Steinmetz and Amelia Pedlow in Emma
(left) Minita Gandhi. Cowboys and East Indians, Colorado New Play Summit 2024. Photos by Jamie Kraus Photography
Revisiting HAMLET Through New Eyes
BY JOANNE OSTROW
Cby Kyle Malone
Chris Coleman never aspired to direct Hamlet
The Artistic Director of the Denver Center Theatre Company never saw himself in that role. He had played the title character onstage twice — senior year in college at Baylor University and again at Actor’s Express, a theater company he founded in Atlanta — and “literally never wanted to direct it because I couldn’t get those (productions) out of my head.”
But now, as director of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s season opener, Coleman said, “it’s like visiting an old friend, seeing it through new eyes.”
His understanding of the play has evolved as he has aged. He now sees it as “a play about growing into your destiny. What’s at stake politically in that kingdom is giant. I don’t know that I felt that or got that in earlier times.”
The setting Coleman has created for his Hamlet is inspired by Norse legends, referring back to the peak of the Viking period. “I told the costume designer everybody should look like they could go into battle within half an hour. We’re not trying to be literal about it, but that gives us permission to have the story make sense.”
Coleman is a self-described history nut, political junkie and lover of Shakespeare. Those interests all come together in directing this play — he sees parallels and historic relevance everywhere.
In the course of discussing Hamlet, he references a number of historic and contemporary world figures and cultural moments that echo for him. Elizabeth I (someone who was groomed for the throne from childhood,
unlike Hamlet), Barack Obama (a professorial leader and nuanced thinker who, like Hamlet, could be slow to act), Alexander the Great, Elizabethan theater and preChristianized Viking Scandinavia.
The history and politics combined with the incredible language, he said, “just feels so rich and fun to play with.”
Two of his undergrad professors first turned Coleman on to Shakespeare and he’s felt connected ever since.
“Every time I’ve worked on one (of his plays), I’ve learned a little bit more about how to decode the structure of the language.” Directing Hamlet has been “the most glorious pleasure in the world,” he said.
In Elizabethan times, Coleman said, the revenge story was the runaway hit of the day, akin to our actionadventure story. Audiences couldn’t get enough. What Shakespeare did that was revolutionary was allow the audience to see inside the mind of the hero in a way they hadn’t before.
“Shakespeare revealed consciousness before psychology was defined as a science,” Coleman said.
“It’s almost like Hamlet’s psyche is transparent to us. We get to see every internal twist and turn that he is struggling with.”
Rather than depict Prince Hamlet as depressed or inactive, as some literary critics suggest, Coleman prefers to believe “he’s heartbroken at the beginning of the play.” He feels deceived by his mother, Gertrude, who has married his uncle, Claudius, shockingly soon after the death of his father. Hamlet takes a long time testing
Illustration
whether the ghost encouraging him to avenge his father’s death is a benevolent spirit or, as he says, “a demon come to lure me into hell.”
“What I never considered as a young man,” Coleman said, “is, if Hamlet were a more intuitive politician, like Alexander the Great, who charged into battle when his father was stabbed in the middle of the court…” things would have gone differently. Imagining an alternative fictional history, Coleman wonders, for instance, what if Hamlet had met Fortinbras and his army at the border, where the Norwegian crown prince is waiting to regain territory his father lost?
“But that’s not who he is.” A different political mind could have pursued it, Coleman said, but not Hamlet.
Instead, “it takes Hamlet the whole play to become the man who is as ruthless as he needs to be to operate at this political level.”
In most productions, Hamlet is cast as a mature man. But Coleman believes the character is quite unformed. “I think he’s a kid, he’s in
Every time I’ve worked on one [of his plays], I’ve learned a little bit more about how to decode the structure of the language.… [Directing Hamlet has been] the most glorious pleasure in the world.
— CHRIS COLEMAN, DIRECTOR
college, completely unprepared to step onto the throne.”
Coleman cast actor Ty Fanning to play Hamlet, an accomplished actor who, Coleman is happy to say, can appear to be mid-20s. That suits the director’s idea of the prince as youthful, even immature.
The character is “very overwhelmed with his emotions at the top of the play. He’s got an amazing mind…he’d be a great professor. He can see every facet of a possible action. But that can be paralyzing. I think in some ways about Obama, such an inspiring speaker and person but if your thinking is that nuanced…it was tougher for him to get to a solution.”
Given his many insightful reflections on history and the relevance of Shakespeare’s play, does Coleman perhaps see parallels to a certain modern revenge-seeking politician in the play that is all about revenge?
“I would rather leave you room to see the correlations that you find,” he said. “Certainly there’s a lot to be thought about.”
Ultimately, how does a director approach such an iconic play, often cited as the greatest of all time?
“It’s like, how do you eat an elephant? A bite at a time,” he said. “You take it a piece at a time and pay attention to the story, that’s the exciting part, decoding the language enough to get to hear the truth of the story.”
HAMLET
SEP 13 - OCT 6 • WOLF THEATRE
ASL Interpreted, Audio Described and Open Captioned performance: Sep 22 at 1:30pm
Stay for a post-show discussion on select dates following our 7pm performances: Sep 24 & Oct 1
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A DYNAMIC DUO: KIMBERLY AKIMBO ’ S
JEANINE TESORI AND DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE
BY JOANNE OSTROW
KKimberly Akimbo is one of those magical musicals that makes you wonder, “how did they pull that off ?” An intimate, smart, deeply human musical that arrived on Broadway without a big star or a recognizable title, it nevertheless became the talk of the town by winning over audiences and critics alike and by making them rethink what a Broadway musical can be.
And while the story of Kimberly Akimbo may seem atypical for a Broadway musical, its combination of heart and humor has earned it five Tony Awards, including 2023’s award for Best Musical, with a score by Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home) and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole).
The story concerns a New Jersey teenager who is about to turn 16 but who looks 70-something. Kimberly Levaco has a rare genetic condition that causes her to age rapidly.
The show is both laugh-out-loud funny and heart wrenchingly sad, a wise collision of humor and suffering with mortality at its core.
“That’s where David’s house is built,” Tesori said in a joint interview, “at the corner of Humor Street and Heartbreak Avenue.”
“It’s why Jeanine and I connect so much and collaborate,” Lindsay-Abaire said. “We have a similar sensibility. We both grew up in a very specific way, working-class, our family experienced a lot of pain and suffering. The way we mostly coped with that is through humor. And so it’s not something we try to do, it’s where we live.
“Our show is about living life to the fullest in whatever
time you have left.” he said. “It’s funny, it’s life-affirming, but it’s also about a teenage girl facing her own mortality and facing her first experience of first love and she has a deeply dysfunctional family, but everybody’s trying to be better. It says life is as funny as it is sad and at least for us, maybe most people, that’s the way they experience life. It’s complicated.”
Their shared worldview allows them to dig into the sad-funny themes with a punch. When asked how their personalities work together, Tesori just laughs. And laughs.
When she finally stops laughing, she says, “I think David is the most hilarious person I’ve ever met. He’s not about jokes, he’s about finding things very funny, and that life is heartbreaking and hilarious and his plays are a deep reflection of that…it’s like if Christopher Durang and Thornton Wilder had a baby…”
“I wish they did have a baby.”
“They did, and it’s you.”
They banter breezily. “Obviously, Jeanine and I share a sensibility and a very twisted sense of humor,” he said. “We are so similar in our tastes and also very different in the way we approach the craft of it sometimes. I am much more a control freak than Jeanine is, and I structure; Jeanine is very free-wheeling. She pokes at things and breaks things apart in a way that makes me uncomfortable.”
Only occasionally will she go too far, he said, and he’ll have to pull her back.
The play is about growing up and growing old, not necessarily in that order. But it’s more profound than that.
The Original Broadway Company of KIMBERLY AKIMBO photo by Joan Marcus.
“I really think it’s about the time of your life,” Tesori said, “I mean that both ways. People can have the time of their life even when your life is timed. I mean she knows—and don’t we all know—that life ends. I don’t think it’s fun to talk about and it can be seen as something that’s morbid, or it can be seen as an opportunity to look at the time that you have.”
It ’s about living in the moment.
Tesori references Thornton Wilder once again, paraphrasing a line from Our Town: “does anybody really know about life while they’re living it? “I think that’s why the play is so great,” Tesori said, “like, this play’s going to remind you to go outside and live differently.”
Our show is about living life to the fullest in whatever time you have left. It’s funny, it’s life-a rming, but it’s also about a teenage girl facing her own mortality and facing her first experience of first love…
— DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE, BOOK & LYRICS
Lindsay-Abaire recalls the time during previews when an older man was exiting the theater, looking angry. Lindsay-Abaire braced for negative feedback as he approached. “The man asked, ‘are you with the production?’ He said, ‘I just want you to know that tomorrow I’m going to live more fully because of this!’ He had tears in his eyes, he just walked out the door. I thought, ‘Good lord, that’s the nicest gift you could give to a writer.’ So, it worked for him that night. If people walk away with that, then we’ve done our job.”
Besides living at the intersection of tears and laughter, Kimberly Akimbo lives in the world of smart, small-scale tragicomedy while much of Broadway is given over to huge spectacles tied to superheroes or superstars. Is it a continual struggle?
“If you look at the history of Broadway,” Tesori said, “it came from operetta and vaudeville. It’s always going to be a dance between those things. One says ‘come here and leave life,’ one says ‘come here and look at life’.”
“There will always be those mega-hits based on movies audiences know the names of,” Lindsay-Abaire said, “and people will plunk down some money to see that and that’s fantastic. The good news is, there’s also room for Kimberly Akimbo to go into a little room and win the Tony Award. There are nine people in our show and we won Best Musical!”
So, what’s next for this team, the multi-Tony and Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright and lyricist, and the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history?
That’s under wraps for now. The good news is, “we’re working on something.”
SEP 22 - OCT 5 • BUELL THEATRE
ASL Interpreted, Audio Described and Open Captioned performance: Sep 29 at 2pm
COMING UP FROM BROADWAY
HAMILTON
Hamilton is returning to the Buell Theatre this fall. This epic saga following the rise of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow’s acclaimed biography and set to a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and Broadway. Hamilton features book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire.
Hamilton took the world by storm in 2015. Did you know these five fun facts about the revolutionary musical?
Hamilton began as a project by Lin-Manuel Miranda called The Hamilton Mixtape
Hamilton premiered Off-Broadway in February 2015, where its severalmonth engagement was consistently sold out. It wasn’t until August 2015 that the musical officially opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
The original Broadway cast recording for Hamilton debuted at 12 on the Billboard 200, making it the earliest entrance for a cast recording since 1963.
The first non-English version of Hamilton opened in Hamburg, with the production translated into German.
When the filmed stage production premiered, the film was one of the most-streamed films of 2020 and was named one of the best films of the year by the American Film Institute.
Don’t throw away your shot to see Hamilton in Denver from October 16 to November 24.
CompanyHAMILTON National Tour(c) Joan Marcus.
SEASON SPONSOR
DAVID STONE
ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY
JAMES L. NEDERLANDER LACHANZE JOHN GORE PATRICK CATULLO AARON GLICK
Book & Lyrics by Music by DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE JEANINE TESORI
Based on the play by DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE
Starring CAROLEE CARMELLO
MIGUEL JIM EMILY DANA GIL HOGAN KOCH STEINGOLD
GRACE SKYE ALYSSA DARRON PIERCE CAPELESS FRIEDMAN HAYES WHEELER
SARAH LYNN REGENE SEVEN MARCUS BAILEY BRANDON VALERIE MARION ODON PHILLIPS RYON SPRINGMAN WRIGHT
Scenic Design Costume Design
Lighting Design Sound Design DAVID ZINN SARAH LAUX JEANETTE OI-SUK YEW KAI HARADA
Hair, Wig & Makeup Design
Video Design Casting J. JARED JANAS LUCY MACKINNON THE TELSEY OFFICE CRAIG BURNS, CSA
Orchestrations
Additional Orchestrations Music Coordinator JOHN CLANCY MACY SCHMIDT ANTOINE SILVERMAN
Production Stage Manager
Company Manager
General Management SHAWN PENNINGTON CANDACE HEMPHILL 321 THEATRICAL MANAGEMENT
Marketing & Press
Tour Booking
Production Management Producing Associate PHILLIP ALEMAN THE ROAD COMPANY JUNIPER STREET TIMOTHY BLOOM STEPHEN LINDSAY BRETT SIROTA PRODUCTIONS, INC.
Music Supervisor CHRIS FENWICK
Choreographed by DANNY MEFFORD
Directed by JESSICA STONE
Kimberly Akimbo was developed, in part, at the 2017 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at the Sundance Resort. World premiere produced by Atlantic Theater Company, New York City, 2021. present
Carolee Carmello
Miguel Gil
Jim Hogan
Emily Koch Dana Steingold
Grace Capeless
Skye Alyssa Friedman
Darron Hayes
Pierce Wheeler
Sarah Lynn Marion Regene Seven Odon
Marcus Phillips
Bailey Ryon
Brandon Springman
Valerie Wright
CAST
(in order of appearance)
Kimberly CAROLEE CARMELLO
Seth MIGUEL GIL
Delia GRACE CAPELESS
Martin DARRON HAYES
Teresa SKYE ALYSSA FRIEDMAN
Aaron PIERCE WHEELER
Buddy JIM HOGAN
Pattie DANA STEINGOLD
Debra EMILY KOCH
STANDBYS AND UNDERSTUDIES
Standbys and understudies never substitute for the listed players unless a specific announcement is made at the time of the appearance. Standby for Kimberly—VALERIE WRIGHT. Understudy for Buddy—BRANDON SPRINGMAN; for Pattie/Debra—SARAH LYNN MARION. Understudy for Delia/Teresa—BAILEY RYON; for Seth/Aaron/Martin—REGENE SEVEN ODON, MARCUS PHILLIPS.
Dance Captain BAILEY RYON
SETTING
1999. Before kids had cell phones. Somewhere in Bergen County, NJ
THERE WILL BE ONE 15-MINUTE INTERMISSION.
Scan here for any updated cast replacement announcements for this performance
The use of any recording device, either audio or video, and the taking of photographs, either with or without flash, is strictly prohibited. Please turn off all electronic devices such as cellular phones, beepers and watches.
“The Inevitable Turn” Pattie, Buddy, Debra, Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa
“Now” Seth, Kimberly
“How to Wash a Check” (reprise)
Debra, Aaron, Delia, Martin, Teresa
“Before I Go” ...............................................................................................................................Kimberly, Buddy, Pattie
“Hello, Sister” Kimberly, Seth
“Great Adventure” Company
ORCHESTRA
Music Director (Conductor/Keyboard 1)—LEIGH DELANO
Associate Music Director (Keyboard 2)—RYAN EDWARD WISE Reed 1—AVEION WALKER; Reed 2—ALEX LEMMA; Drums—FRANK ZAMBRANO; Bass—DOMINIC LAMORTE; Guitar—AZANA HIGHTOWER; Cello—KEVIN IRVING
Orchestra Contractor: Antoine Silverman
Electronic Music Design: Billy Jay Stein and Hiro Iida for Strange Cranium Music Preparation: JoAnn Kane Music (Kyle Brenn, Russell Bartmus, Jessie Rosso)
CAROLEE CARMELLO (Kimberly) is a 3-time Tony nominee and has appeared in 16 Broadway musicals: Mamma Mia!, Kiss Me, Kate, The Addams Family (Drama Desk nomination and Outer Critics Circle nomination), Parade (Tony nomination and Drama Desk Award), Lestat (Tony nomination and Drama Desk nomination), Tuck Everlasting, Finding Neverland, City of Angels, Falsettos, Scandalous (Tony nomination and Drama Desk nomination), The Scarlet Pimpernel, Urinetown, Sister Act, two revivals of 1776, and most recently the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Bad Cinderella. Off-Broadway: john & jen, Das Barbecü, I Can Get It For You Wholesale, Hello Again (Obie Award), A Class Act, The Vagina Monologues, Elegies and the critically-acclaimed, immersive Sweeney Todd. Her screen credits include: “Dopesick,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Madam Secretary,” “Blue Bloods,” “Evil,” “The Good Fight,” “The Deuce,” “Smash,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Frasier” and “Remember W.E.N.N.” (SAG Award nomination). Ms. Carmello has toured with Les Misérables, Big River, Falsettos and Hello, Dolly! and her concert appearances have taken her across America and Europe, including engagements at Lincoln Center, Town Hall and Carnegie Hall.
MIGUEL GIL , he/him (Seth) is making his National Tour debut! Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo. Regional: Bye Bye Birdie (The Kennedy Center), In the Heights (The Muny). NYC: Follies (Carnegie Hall), The Jimmy Awards (2021). Shoutout to his friends, family, CESD, Luber Roklin and The Telsey Office. Miguel holds a lot of gratitude for this opportunity (and for you being here). Venezuela is in the house! IG @Miguelito.Gil
JIM HOGAN (Buddy). Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo (OBC). National Tours: Waitress, The Phantom of the Opera, Spring Awakening. TV: “America’s Got Talent” with vocal group, T.3 (@t.3official). Their debut album, Option Up, is available on all streaming platforms and they’re currently touring a city near you! Many thanks to 321, the Kimberly Akimbo creative team, CGF Talent, Telsey, family and Emily, who’s playing Debra.
WHO’S WHO
Despite what she does on stage, she’s actually pretty cool in real life. @jimhogan220
EMILY KOCH (Debra). Broadway/ National Tours: Elphaba in Wicked, Waitress, Kimberly Akimbo. Regional: The Full Monty (North Shore) The Secret Garden (Broadway Sacramento), Godspell (Berkshire Theatre Group), Little Women (Palo Alto TheatreWorks), Violet (FPAC), In the Bones (APAC). Proud Interlochen Arts Academy, Carnegie Mellon alum. Many thanks to 321, BRS/Gage, the Kimberly creative team, Telsey, Matt Farnsworth, Sarah Brown, her parents, and Jim Hogan who plays “Buddy” in this show, Emily’s boyfriend of seven years. @embkoch
DANA STEINGOLD (Pattie). Original Broadway Casts of Beetlejuice (Girl Scout) and The Cottage (Dierdre). First National: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Logainne). Off Broadway/New York: Avenue Q (Kate/ Lucy), The Visit (Otillie opposite Chita Rivera), Saturday Night (Mildred), Anyone Can Whistle (City Center Encores!). Regional Includes: Paper Mill Playhouse, North Shore Music Theatre, George Street, Weston, KC Rep, North Carolina Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Barrington Stage. TV: “Inventing Anna” (Netflix), Saraline Timbers on Nickelodeon’s “Welcome to the Wayne.” @dsteinface
GRACE CAPELESS (Delia). Broadway/ New York: Disney’s The Lion King, Matilda, A Christmas Story (OBC), Radio City Christmas Spectacular, 30 Years of Stephen Flaherty Carnegie Hall. Film/TV: Beaches, Landing Up, Frozen Fever, “Lost Girls,” “The 67th Annual Tony Awards.” Current MT major at CCM. Love and thanks to my family, the Akimbo team, Mara Entertainment, CESD, and Telsey. @gracecapeless
SKYE ALYSSA FRIEDMAN (Teresa). National Tour Debut! Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo, Annie. OffBroadway: The Lucky Star (59E59), Kimberly Akimbo (ATC). Regional: The Audience (MJT). Film: Lemonade Blessing (upcoming), Busybody, Mute TV: “ I Am Frankie” (Nickelodeon). Pace University BFA Acting graduate. Eternally grateful for this
“great adventure” and everyone in it. www.skyealyssafriedman.com; IG: @skyealyssafriedman
DARRON HAYES (Martin). Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo. Australian Theatre: Pharus in the Australian Premiere of Choir Boy with The National Theatre of Parramatta. Off-Broadway/New York: I Can Get It for You Wholesale, The Gospel According to Heather, Notes From Now, Love Around the Block TV/Film: “FBI: Most Wanted” and “American Idol.” All the love! Instagram: @darronhayes_
PIERCE WHEELER (Aaron) recently finished his junior year at New York University after traveling with the National Tour of Dear Evan Hansen Pierce is overjoyed to collaborate with such generous creatives and a beautiful cast, especially with this story. Gargantuan thanks to his family, friends, mentors, and The Telsey Team for their support! @pierce_wheeler
SARAH LYNN MARION (u/s Pattie, Debra). First national tour! Off Broadway: Ordinary Days Regional: Kinky Boots, Beehive, All Shook Up. TV: “Law & Order SVU,” “High Maintenance.” BFA University of Michigan. Proud auntie and cat mom. Don’t take yourself too seriously. @sarahlynnmarion
REGENE SEVEN ODON (u/s Seth, Aaron, Martin). National Tour Debut! This is for Mommy Rose. Eternally grateful for Take3Talent, Rebel, and The Prep. Thanks to Michelle, Natasha, Shannon, Jimmy, Nicky, and Theresa. Endless love to Mama, Papa, Jilian, Jillaine, and my friends. @regeneodon
MARCUS PHILLIPS (u/s Seth, Aaron, Martin). Recent/favorite credits: Spring Awakening (East West Players), The Prom (First National Tour), Dog Man: The Musical (National Tour). BFA in Theatre & Film, #longliveL7! Love, hold, and listen to one another. @who.is.marcus
BAILEY RYON (Dance Captain, u/s Delia, Teresa). Broadway/National Tour: OBC Matilda The Musical (Matilda - TONY recipient). How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Cindy-Lou Who). James Madison University BA: Musical Theatre. Thanks to my friends and family! Representation: Evolve Talent Management. www.bailey-ryon.com
BRANDON SPRINGMAN (u/s Buddy).
An Anagram for Thankful is “Flunk Hat.” First National Tour of Come From Away. Regional: Sacramento Music Circus, Paramount Theatre, Marriott, Chicago Shakespeare, Drury Lane. Thanks to Stewart Talent. For my Family & Michelle.
VALERIE WRIGHT (Kimberly Standby). Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo; Tuck Everlasting; Elf ; Annie Get Your Gun; Damn Yankees; Steel Pier ; Sally Marr and Her Escorts; Song and Dance; Cats. Numerous Regional Theater, OffBroadway and National Tours. Film: Sleepless in Seattle, Ordinary Heroes, Second Glance, The Life List. Valerie is the recipient of two Helen Hayes Award nominations and a Jefferson Award. She is a director/choreographer and is married to actor Mark Lotito. They proudly share sons Luca and Gio.
DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE ( Book, Lyrics, Original Play) is a playwright, screenwriter, lyricist and librettist. He received Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Book of a Musical for his work on Kimberly Akimbo. Other Broadway credits include Rabbit Hole (MTC, Pulitzer Prize); Good People (MTC, NY Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, Horton Foote Prize); Shrek with Jeanine Tesori (Kleban Award for Lyrics); High Fidelity with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. Off-Broadway: at ATC, Kimberly Akimbo (Lortel, NYDCC, OCC and Drama Desk awards for Best Musical); at MTC, Ripcord, Kimberly Akimbo (the play), Wonder of the World, Fuddy Meers ; at Soho Rep, A Devil Inside . Film: The Family Fang, Rise of the Guardians, Rabbit Hole, Oz the Great and Powerful, Poltergeist, Inkheart, Robots. Member: Dramatists Guild, WGA, ASCAP. David is also, along with Tanya Barfield, co-director of the playwriting program at The Juilliard School.
JEANINE TESORI ( Music ) is a composer of musical theatre, opera and film. She is a two-time Tony Award winner for Best Score, for Kimberly Akimbo with David Lindsay-Abaire and for Fun Home with Lisa Kron. Her other musicals include Caroline, or Change (with Tony Kushner); Shrek (David Lindsay-Abaire); Thoroughly Modern Millie (Dick Scanlan); Violet (Brian Crawley); and Soft Power (David Henry Hwang), which was her second work after Fun Home to be a finalist for
the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Her operas include A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck (Tony Kushner); The Lion, The Unicorn and Me (J.D. McClatchy); and Blue (Tazewell Thompson). Her latest opera, Grounded (George Brant), marks Tesori as one of the first women, along with Missy Mazzoli, to be commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and will open the 2024-2025 season. In addition to her work as a composer, Tesori is the founding artistic director of New York City Center’s Encores! OffCenter series, the supervising vocal producer of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and a lecturer in music at Yale University. Proud member of the Dramatists Guild.
JESSICA STONE (Director) worked as an actress on and off Broadway, in television and film before transitioning to directing. Her directing career began in earnest with her all-male 2010 production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She has since been nominated for two Tony awards for her work on Broadway in Kimberly Akimbo (2023) and Water for Elephants (2024). In addition, both productions garnered nominations for Best Musical, with Kimberly Akimbo taking home the prize. She has directed all over the country at such theatres as The Old Globe, A.C.T., Shakespeare Theatre Company, Huntington Theatre Company, Two River Theater and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Productions include As You Like It, Kate Hamill’s Vanity Fair, Barefoot in the Park, Dancing at Lughnasa, Bad Dates, Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood! (world premiere), Ripcord, Bad Jews, Arms and the Man, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Charlotte’s Web, June Moon, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Absurd Person Singular. As a performer her Broadway credits include Anything Goes, Butley, The Odd Couple, The Smell of the Kill, Design for Living, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Grease.
DANNY MEFFORD (Choreographer) choreographed three Tony Award winners for Best Musical: Kimberly Akimbo, Dear Evan Hansen (also Olivier, Best Musical) and Fun Home Direction: a national tour of Shrek and three upcoming projects: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Kennedy Center, The Gorgeous
Nothings and The Fitzgeralds of St. Paul. Choreography highlights: Titanic, Love’s Labour’s Lost, February House, Miss You Like Hell, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Sound of Music and Good Person of Szechwan TV: theatrical sequences for “Rise” on NBC, “Dickinson” on AppleTV+, and “Fleishman is in Trouble” FX. MFA in Acting from Brown University/Trinity Rep.
DAVID ZINN (Scenic Design). Broadway: scenic design for Stereophonic, The Notebook, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Funny Girl, The Minutes, Diana, Torch Song, The Humans; scenic/costume design for Choir Boy, The Boys in the Band, SpongeBob SquarePants, Amélie, Fun Home, The Last Ship; costume design for Enemy of the People, Almost Famous; A Doll’s House, Part 2; Airline Highway; …the vibrator play; Xanadu Also: Playwrights Horizons, Atlantic Theater, The Public Theater, NYTW; National Theatre and Young Vic (U.K.); Theater Basel; and the Berlin Staatsoper. Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Hewes awards.
SARAH LAUX (Costume Design).
Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic, The Band’s Visit, Fully Committed, The Humans. Selected Off-Broadway: Dead Outlaw (Audible); Wish You Were Here (Playwrights Horizons); The Wanderer (Paper Mill Playhouse); Prayer for the French Republic (MTC); Kimberly Akimbo, This Ain’t No Disco, The Band’s Visit (Atlantic Theater Company); Jerry Springer: The Opera (New Group, Obie Award); A Play Is a Poem (Taper Theatre); Before the Meeting (WTF). Film: Not Okay, The Sixth Reel, Freakshow Television: “High Fidelity,” “Godfather of Harlem” S2-4
JEANETTE OI-SUK YEW (Lighting Design). Award-winning designer for theatre, dance, opera, musicals, music performances and large-scale immersive installation. The NY Times described her designs as “clever” and “inventive.” Credits include: The Thanksgiving Play (Broadway), The Connector (MCC), King Lear (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Manahatta (The Public), Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre), Cullud Wattah (The Public), Golden Shield (MTC), The Nosebleed (LCT3), American (Tele)visions (NYTW), Oratorio for Living Things (Ars Nova), Snow in
Midsummer (CSC), Suicide Forest (Ma-Yi), KPOP (Ars Nova), WILD: A Musical Becoming (A.R.T.), Walden (Theaterworks), Blue (Detroit Opera), Theatre of the Mind (with David Byrne). www.jeanetteyew.com
KAI HARADA (Sound Design). Broadway: Once Upon a Mattress; The Days of Wine and Roses; Merrily We Roll Along (Tony Nomination); Spamalot (co-design); New York, New York (Tony Nomination); Kimberly Akimbo; The Old Man and the Pool; Mister Saturday Night; Head Over Heels; The Band’s Visit (Tony Award, Drama Desk Award); Amélie; Sunday in the Park With George; Allegiance; Gigi; Fun Home; On the Town; First Date; Follies (Tony, Drama Desk Nominations); and Million Dollar Quartet. West End: Crazy For You; Million Dollar Quartet. Many other musicals worldwide.
J. JARED JANAS (Wig, Hair, and Makeup Design). Broadway: Our Town, Once Upon a Mattress, Mary Jane, Prayer for the French Republic, Purlie Victorious, Good Night, Oscar, Sweeney Todd…, Ohio State Murders, & Juliet, Kimberly Akimbo, Topdog/Underdog, How I Learned to Drive, American Buffalo, Jagged Little Pill, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Gettin’ the Band Back Together, Bandstand, Indecent, Sunset Boulevard, The Visit, The Real Thing, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Motown, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.
LUCY MACKINNON (Video Design) is a projection designer and video artist who lives in Brooklyn. She is a two-time Tony Award nominee whose Broadway design credits include The Notebook, Kimberly Akimbo, A Christmas Carol, How I Learned to Drive, Jagged Little Pill, The Rose Tattoo, Lifespan of a Fact, Six Degrees of Separation, and Deaf West’s revival of Spring Awakening.
THE TELSEY OFFICE (Casting). With offices in both New York and Los Angeles, The Telsey Office casts for theater, film, television, and commercials. The Telsey Office is dedicated to creating safe, equitable, and anti-racist spaces through collaboration, artistry, heart, accountability, and advocacy. thetelseyoffice.com
JOHN CLANCY ( Orchestrations ). Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo (Tony nom.), Mean Girls (Tony nom.), 1776 (2022 revival), Fun Home (Tony/
Drama Desk noms.), Diana, The Prom, Tuck Everlasting, Shrek (Tony/Drama Desk noms.), Cats 2016 (dance arr.). Off-Broadway/regional: The Karate Kid, The Notebook, The Secret Life of Bees, Gun & Powder, Becoming Nancy, Soft Power (dance arr.), The Fortress of Solitude, Jasper in Deadland, Just So.
MACY SCHMIDT ( Additional Orchestrations) is an honoree of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for her work as founder/CEO of The Broadway Sinfonietta, an all-women and majority women-of-color orchestra. Broadway: Tina. U.K./international: RIDE, Monsoon Wedding, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical macyschmidtmusic.com | CAA
CHRIS FENWICK (Music Supervisor). Music director: Soft Power (Pulitzer finalist), Sunday in the Park With George (2017 Broadway revival), Fun Home (Tony Award, Best Musical; Pulitzer finalist), the original productions of Michael John LaChiusa’s Giant, Los Otros, Queen of the Mist and See What I Wanna See. Music supervisor: Once on This Island (Tony Award, Best Revival); Good Night, Oscar (Goodman Theatre). Founding music director, City Center Encores! OffCenter. Music director for Patti LuPone at Carnegie Hall and more.
ANTOINE SILVERMAN ( Music Coordinator). Thrilled to be involved in his eighth production with Jeanine Tesori including Fun Home and Caroline, or Change . Other shows include The Secret Life of Bees, SpiderMan, Tuck Everlasting, Paradise Square, Assassins (CSC) and many more.
LEIGH DELANO (Music Director) Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo, Some Like It Hot, Spamalot, Once Upon A One More Time. Regional: Gun & Powder (Paper Mill Playhouse), American Prophet (Arena Stage), Grace (Ford’s Theatre), Catch Me If You Can (Arena Stage), Gun & Powder - Premiere (Signature Theatre), Once Upon A One More Time (Shakespeare Theatre).
STRANGE CRANIUM ( Electronic Music Design). Billy Jay Stein, CEO and founder. Hiro Iida, lead designer. Credits: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Grammy Award); The Radio City Rockettes NY Spectacular; MJ; Kimberly Akimbo; 1776; Paradise Square; Caroline, or Change; Diana; Tootsie; Mean Girls; The Band’s Visit; Fun Home; Spider-Man; Hairspray;
RYAN EMMONS (Associate Director). Broadway: Water for Elephants, Kimberly Akimbo, Groundhog Day, Matilda, Ghost. National tours: Matilda and Miss Saigon. Ryan is co-artistic director of the indie theatre ensemble No.11 Productions and teaches at IAMT. Gratitude to Jane, Brandon and Beckett! www.ryanemmonsdirects.com
BRITTNEY GRIFFIN ( Associate Choreographer). Credits include Kimberly Akimbo on Broadway, Dreamgirls International Tour (Associate Choreographer/Director). Film: Bolden, A Jazzmans Blues (Netflix). Special thanks to Mom, Dad, Danny, and Lucille. Love you Darius.
ARABELLA POWELL (Production Supervisor). Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo, The Lion King; What the Constitution Means to Me; The Rose Tattoo; John Leguizamo’s Latin History…, Ghetto Klown and Sexaholix; Eve Ensler’s The Good Body; Kat and the Kings. Select Off-Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo, Richard II. WNYC/ Public; Théâtre de Complicité’s Mnemonic; Trumbo; Tap Dogs West End & international tour. Program member, Open Stage Project.
SHAWN PENNINGTON (Production Stage Manager). Broadway: Wicked, Next to Normal, Sondheim on Sondheim. First National Tours: MJ, Come From Away, Bright Star, Fun Home, If/Then, Peter and the Starcatcher, Rock of Ages. Regional: Gypsy (The Muny), Up Here (La Jolla Playhouse). Love to Mom & Mark.
GEOFF MAUS (Stage Manager). First National Tours: MJ, Come From Away, Bright Star, Fun Home, Matilda. Other (selected): The Woodsman, Come From Away-Lincoln Memorial. Training: Juilliard, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Proud AEA member.
MAYA BHATNAGAR (Assistant Stage Manager). Tour: MJ. Broadway: Almost Famous, Dancin’, Prima Facie. OffBroadway: Merrily We Roll Along (NYTW). Graduate of Shenandoah University. Love & thanks to family, friends, mentors, educators –especially Shawn, Geoff, & the full company.
CANDACE HEMPHILL ( Company Manager ) has spent the majority of the last two decades on tour having
traveled over 500,000 miles and has performed in 49 states. Tour: Kimberly Akimbo , Disney’s Frozen, Pretty Woman, Disney’s Aladdin, An American in Paris, 42 nd Steet, Once, Sister Act, Avenue Q, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Rent. Regional: Chautauqua Theatre Company. BFA Drake University, MFA Wayne State University. @ATPAM1
JUNIPER STREET PRODUCTIONS
( Production Manager ) is Hillary Blanken, Guy Kwan, Ana Rose Greene, Victoria Bullard, Ross Leonard, Christopher Batstone, Sadie Alisa, Hannah Wilson and Abby Filiaggi.
JSP has helped create over 100 Broadway, Off-Broadway and touring productions. Currently: & Juliet, Bad Cinderella, Come From Away, Funny Girl, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, MJ, Moulin Rouge!, Some Like It Hot, Take Me Out and The Piano Lesson. www.juniperstreet.com
321
THEATRICAL MANAGEMENT
(General Management). Credits include Wicked (worldwide); The Outsiders (Tony Award for Best Musical); Kimberly Akimbo (Tony Award for Best Musical); Gutenberg! The Musical!; Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play); A Strange Loop (Tony Award for Best Musical); Is This a Room; Dana H.; What the Constitution Means to Me; The SpongeBob Musical; War Paint; Oh, Hello on Broadway; Fully Committed (Broadway revival and original Off-Broadway); Fun Home (Tony Award for Best Musical); If/Then; Peter and the Starcatcher; Bring It On: The Musical; Sister Act; Traces; Next to Normal; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee; The Vagina Monologues; Man of La Mancha; The Graduate; I Love You, You’re Perfect; and Bat Boy
DAVID STONE (Producer) is currently represented around the world (on stage and screen) by Wicked. He has also produced Kimberly Akimbo, Topdog/ Underdog, The Boys in the Band, War Paint, If/Then, Next to Normal, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Three Days of Rain, Man of La Mancha, The Vagina Monologues, Fully Committed, Lifegame, The Diary of Anne Frank, Full Gallop, The Santaland Diaries and Family Secrets . David serves on the boards of The Broadway League and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
He also serves on the advisory board of Second Stage Theater. David has lectured on theater at Yale, Princeton, Columbia and his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.
ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY (Producer). Neil Pepe, artistic director; Jeffory Lawson, managing director. Our aim is singular: to empower simple and honest storytelling that fosters greater understanding of our shared world. Founded as an ensemble of impassioned students in 1985, we have grown into a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning Off-Broadway company and world-renowned Acting School. As a producer of compelling new works from emerging and established artists, we are committed to uncovering and celebrating all storytellers.
JAMES L. NEDERLANDER (Producer). Credits: Tammy Faye; The Outsiders; An Enemy of the People; Some Like It Hot; Titanique; MJ; Mr. Saturday Night staring Billy Crystal; Tina: The Tina Turner Musical; The Lehman Trilogy; My Fair Lady; The Band’s Visit; On Your Feet!; The Elephant Man ; I’ll Eat You Last ; Next to Normal; The Color Purple; Movin’ Out and many others.
LACHANZE (Producer) is thrilled to continue to serve on the producing team for Kimberly Akimbo. LaChanze has also served as producer on the lauded Topdog/Underdog (Tony Award), Here Lies Love, and Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Tony Award nomination) and is currently a producer on The Outsiders (Tony Award). As an actor, LaChanze has starred in The Color Purple (Tony Award), Once on This Island (Tony Award nomination), Trouble in Mind (Tony Award nomination), Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (Tony Award nomination), If/Then, A Christmas Carol and many others. With over 38 years of experience on Broadway, LaChanze is committed to producing theatre that transforms, transcends and inspires. She is the proud president of Black Theatre United, an advocacy organization dedicated to protecting Black bodies, Black talent, and Black lives on and off our stages.
JOHN GORE (Producer) has won 20 Tonys, an Olivier, and an Emmy Award. He is a British producer who is Chairman, C.E.O., and sole owner of the John Gore Organization family of companies, including Broadway Across America, Broadway.com, The
Broadway Channel, BroadwayBox. com, Broadway Brands, and Group Sales Box Office. The company has produced shows on Broadway, in London’s West End, Japan, China and presents in 48 cities across North America. Presentations include The Phantom of the Opera, Disney’s The Lion King, Wicked, The Book of Mormon and Hamilton. Recent U.S. productions include Hell’s Kitchen, Stereophonic, Kimberly Akimbo, MJ, and Moulin Rouge! The Musical.
PATRICK CATULLO (Producer) is a Tony and Olivier-award winning producer. His recent credits include Merrily We Roll Along, An Enemy of the People; Here Lies Love, Illinoise and Gutenberg! The Musical. Patrick has also produced Kimberly Akimbo; Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man & The Pool; David Byrne’s American Utopia (for which he received a Special Tony Award as well an Emmy nomination); Girl From the North Country ; Fleabag; Network ; The Boys in the Band; War Paint ; 1984; Nick Kroll and John Mulaney’s Oh, Hello on Broadway ; Fully Committed; Gypsy (West End revival); The Elephant Man; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; If/Then; Next to Normal; and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Education: Yale.
AARON GLICK (Producer) is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer. Broadway, Touring and West End Credits include: A Wrinkle in Time (Arena Stage, Upcoming), Next to Normal (West End), Hello, Dolly! (West End), Sweeney Todd (Tony Nomination), Kimberly Akimbo (Tony Award), What the Constitution Means to Me (Tony Nomination), & Juliet (West End only), The Boys in the Band (Tony Award), Fully Committed, Gypsy (Olivier Award), and The Old Man and the Old Moon. Aaron is also a producer with David Stone and has worked on such shows as: Three Days of Rain, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Wicked, Next to Normal, If/Then, War Paint, and the Tony-Winning Topdog/Underdog. Aaron is a Full Member of the Broadway League, a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College, and the recipient of Hal Prince’s T Fellowship.
Culture Strategist Alexander Consulting Group/ Christina Alexander
321 Theatrical Finance Director KeriAnne Murphy
321 Theatrical Business Manager Rebecca Peterson
321 Theatrical Management Michael Altbaum, Katie Andrew, Abri Berg, Kendall Booher, Maddy Cohen, Sasha Cohen, Theresa Cooper, Katherine Engel, Madison Goldberg, Marissa Gonzales, Jason Haft, Jovan Kala Hannah, Jen Harris, Stuart Levy, Logan McDonald, Charlie Meffe, Emily Powell, Steve Quinn, Jenelle Russell, Roseanna Sharrow, Spencer Smith, John Tupy, Michelle Yard, Jasmine Zang
Accountant WithumSmith+Brown/ Robert Fried, CPA; Karen Kowgios, CPA
Banking City National Bank
Payroll Service Checks & Balances
Insurance Claudia Kaufman/Elena Sleys AON Insurance Services, Inc.
Scenery built and painted by Global Scenic Services and PRG Scenic Technologies, a division of PRG Broadway LLC. Lighting equipment provided by PRG Broadway. Sound equipment provided by Masque Sound. Video equipment provided by 4Wall Entertainment. Props provided by More Good Productions, R.Ramos Upholstery, and BrenBri Properties. Custom pregnancy padding by Sarah M. Reever. Kimberly costumes built by Colin Davis Jones Studios.
ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chair Olaf Olafsson
Vice Chair Carol Auerbach
Treasurer Kevin R. Lyle
Secretary Betsy Pitts
Chris Boneau, Joy Bunson, Jennifer Danielson, Suzanne Friend, Clark Gregg*. Wolf Hengst, Hilary Hinckle*, Blair Husain, Roger E. Kass, Jane King, Scott Korf, Katie Leede, Monique Long, Mary McCann*, Ilona Nemeth Quasha, Hilary Edson Polk, Mahlet Seyoum, Michael Slosberg, Mary Turner Minard, Claudia Wagner, Manny Weintraub, Joanne R. Wenig, Susi Wunsch
*Atlantic Theater Company Ensemble members
Kimberly Akimbo was rehearsed at Baryshnikov Arts Center.
Kimberly Akimbo is dedicated to the memory of Darius Barnes, our friend and collaborator.
THE ACTORS AND STAGE MANAGERS EMPLOYED IN THIS PRODUCTION ARE MEMBERS OF ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, THE UNION OF PROFESSIONAL ACTORS AND STAGE MANAGERS IN THE UNITED STATES.
The musicians employed in this production are members of the American Federation of Musicians.
The Director and Choreographer are members of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.
The designers at this theatre are represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA 829 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
Backstage and Front of the House Employees are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (or I.A.T.S.E.).
ATPAM, the Association of Theatrical Press Agents & Managers represents the Press Agents and Company Managers employed on this production.
DRAMATISTS GUILD
The writer/s of this production are members of the national trade association of professional playwrights, composers, lyricists, and liberettists.
This production is produced by a member of The Broadway League in collaboration with our pro fessional union-represented employees.
DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE FOLLOWING SUPPORT IN ITS 2024/25 BROADWAY SEASON
PLEASE BE ADVISED
• LATECOMERS and those exiting the theatre are seated at predetermined breaks in designated areas.
• PHOTOS, RECORDING & CELL PHONE USE are prohibited.
• CHILDREN 6+ are welcome in our theatres and must be ticketed.
• DRINKS are allowed in provided containers.
• ASSISTIVE LISTENING DEVICES, LARGE PRINT PROGRAMS & BOOSTER SEATS are available in most theatres. Ask an usher to direct you.
• BRAILLE PROGRAMS are available with 2 weeks’ notice to amcmullen@dcpa.org or 303.446.4836
Members of Denver Theatrical Wardrobe, Wigs, Hair and Make-up, IATSE Local 719
Robin Appleton
Julie Bassignani
Vonnie Clough
Craig Cory
Cyndie Cory
Steve Davies
Anne Davis
Amber Krimbel
Carolyn Dore
AnnSue Gunter
Judy Holabird
Will Holabird
Lauren LaCasse Kelsey Lambert
Mark Anthony
Perry Elliott
Kiko Marra
Leslie Lambert
Sarah Lambert
Sharon Millikan-Hale
Callie Morrow
Tim Nelson
Lisa Parsons Wagner
Laura Payne
Dave Poole
Alan Richards
Elisa Spadi
Amy Tepel
Eliza Vlasova
Barbara Wilson
DPAC House Crew
Albert Sainz Sr.
Josh Thurman
Derek Tovar
David A. Wilson
Allen Olmstead
The Denver Performing Arts Complex is owned and operated by Denver Arts & Venues for the City and County of Denver. City and County of Denver
Mike Johnston, Mayor Denver Arts & Venues
Gretchen Hollrah, Executive Director
Tariana Navas-Nievas, Deputy Director
Denver Arts & Venues, Arts Complex Operations
Mark Heiser, Venue Director
Jody Grossman, Assistant Venue Director, Booking
Todd Medley, Facilities Superintendent
Kelly Graham, Safety, Security and Garage Operations Manager
Carol Krueger, Patron Services Manager artscomplex.com | (720) 865-4220
For immediate assistance & security (720) 865-4200
We Fund Culture. SCFD.org
MAKE SHOWTIME A NIGHT ON THE TOWN!
Consider joining one of the DCPA’s premium membership societies for an exclusive experience before and after the curtain rises. DRINK, DINE AND DELIGHT IN THE CULTURAL HUB OF DENVER.
BEST OF BROADWAY SOCIETY
For unforgettable evenings all Broadway season long, treat yourself to first-class dining and seats. Enjoy the best seats in the house, pre-show cocktails, dinner in Kevin Taylor’s at the Opera House and private intermission in the fabulous Wolf Room.
Contact: Marc Ravenhill • mravenhill@dcpa.org • 303.572.4594
DIRECTORS SOCIETY
Want the premium subscription experience at all of Denver Center Theatre Company’s subscription shows for you or your clients? Enjoy our most exclusive seating, fine dining pre-show in the Seawell Ballroom, post-show parties with artists and creatives, behind-the-scenes discussions, and more.
Contact: Marc Ravenhill • mravenhill@dcpa.org • 303.572.4594
CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP
DCPA Corporate Member nights help you enhance client relationships, make new connections, motivate employees, and improve your bottom line. In addition to insider ticketing and pre-show cocktails and dining for eight of our most popular shows each season, your company will receive brand recognition and exclusive perks for your employees.
OCT 18 – DEC 22 A fun-filled musical based on Mo Willems’ beloved children’s books
Get ready for a fun-filled musical experience, leaping from the pages of Mo Willems’ award-winning, best-selling children’s books, that will leave you doing the “Flippy Floppy Floory” dance all night long! Gerald and Piggie take to the stage in a rollicking adventure brought to you by DCPA’s Theatre for Young Audiences program, which is tailored to Pre-K through 3rd grade audiences but welcomes all ages.
$20 CHILDREN* | $25 ADULTS*
Weekday Student Matinees available! Contact Group Sales at 303.446.4829 for more information.
Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!”
Book and Lyrics by Mo Willems
Music by Deborah Wicks La Puma
Based on the Elephant & Piggie books by Mo Willems
Directed by Allison Watrous
THE MAKING OF SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKING LOT
TBY LINNEA COVINGTON
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 Allison Watrous, Executive Director of DCPA Education & Community Engagement.
In 2015 Watrous had a wild idea to start having performances in public spaces, namely, parking lots. After all, she said, creativity isn’t bound to brick-and-mortar locations.
“Now it happens everywhere, and we bring it to schools directly so more students can enjoy it this way,” she said, adding each performance is an abridged rendition of either Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Macbeth.
“I just wanted to say thank you again for this wonderful opportunity, the kids loved it and were talking about it all day,” a Denver Public School middle school teacher wrote to the DCPA.
“This was once again the experience of a lifetime for many of our kids and you have inspired a new kind of love for Shakespeare in your viewers.”
Directed by Watrous, the show travels to other venues too, from libraries to recreation centers to parks and more. Through the generosity of donors, the plays are provided free to the community. Plus, the funds provided the means to buy a prop truck, which gets pulled by a bigger truck to each location. The actors crawl all over it, popping inside, balancing on the roof, and using it as a dramatic backdrop.
The troupe is made up of eight players who do all the roles, often gender-bending the way the original actors in William Shakespeare’s day did. Between in-school and community performances, they often perform six days a week each fall and spring. But already the actors, some who have been a part of the event since the beginning, are ready for next season.
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot returns this fall with free performances every Saturday September 7 through October 12. For locations, visit denvercenter.org/community-events
IN THE COMMUNITY
Join us for FREE public performances of SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKING LOT
Abridged versions of some of the Bard’s most beloved plays performed in and around a pick up truck “set”
Performances take place throughout the community on Saturdays from Sep 7 – Oct 12.
LEARN MORE
Photo by McLeod9Creative
Photo by McLeod9 Creative
MAKE YOUR SEASON BRIGHTER HOLIDAY PARTIES AT DCPA
Throw a party to remember at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, complete with hassle-free event planning plus optional theatre entertainment! Pair your room rental with group tickets to any of the DCPA’s holiday productions for the ultimate show of appreciation for your clients or employees!
Working with our in-house Event Services team with its decades of theatrical experience, you can select from the spectacular Seawell Ballroom or intimate Directors Room plus your choice of:
• Eight caterers
• Customized bar package from Sodexo Live!
• Dramatic lighting design and Broadway-caliber sound
Ask about our holiday package when you book today denvercenter.org/venue-rentals/holiday
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot is a unique way to bring the arts into the community and allow more people to experience the health benefits that the arts can provide.
— MANNY RODRIGUEZ, UCHEALTH’S CHIEF MARKETING AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE OFFICER
PROUD SPONSOR OF DCPA BROADWAY
A SPOONFUL OF SHAKESPEARE TO CURE ALL AILS
BY LINNEA COVINGTON
J
Just as the great Bard had patrons to help produce what would become iconic plays at the Globe Theatre, so does the DCPA’s annual Shakespeare in the Parking Lot. One of the major supporters is UCHealth, which understands the importance of theater, art, and music for the human condition.
“UCHealth is pleased to partner with the DCPA,” said Manny Rodriguez, UCHealth’s Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer. “Shakespeare in the Parking Lot is a unique way to bring the arts into the community and allow more people to experience the health benefits that the arts can provide.”
The community is exactly who the program benefits. After all, the gist of Shakespeare in the Parking Lot is to bring theatre to schools and community centers. It does this thanks to donors who not only support the event, but helped pay for the prop truck that acts as a home, wall, destination, secluded alcove and more during the live performances.
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot typically runs for six weeks in early fall (this year it’s running September 7-October 12) and late spring (April through mid-May). It features eight actors playing all the roles. Each performance showcases an abridged version of either Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Macbeth. The actors gender bend and work so hard that, by the end of the six-week run, they have done more than 30 shows.
It’s a lot of effort to put on the shows, and production costs are steep. This is where UCHealth comes in. Its contribution largely helps cover the costs, making community performances entirely free and school engagements affordable. The later part allows students not only to enjoy the magic of Shakespeare through live performance, but also provides in-class workshops that take a dive deep into how the plays’ themes still resonate today.
“UCHealth is committed to sharing the health benefits of the arts with our youngest community members,” said Rodriguez. “By creating a fund to cover the cost of tickets, classes or workshops, we hope to inspire the next generation of artists and fans.”
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot began in 2015. Allison Watrous, Executive Director of DCPA Education & Community Engagement, not only directs the event, but also built the program too. The idea, she said, was to open up theatre to unconventional places and allow creativity to thrive outside the traditional stage. That, and she wanted to help teachers bring to life the vibrancy of the Bard’s great works, something that’s much better understood live than by reading quietly at home.
The best part is seeing these plays come alive for people in their very own neighborhood, which couldn’t happen without the generous support of loyal patrons of the arts.
PROUD SPONSOR OF DCPA EDUCATION’S BOOK STARS
communities where we live and work, and, with funding from PNC
PPNC aims to strengthen and enrich the lives of our neighbors in the Foundation, we are pleased to once again support the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) in this season’s Book Stars program. Since 2004, PNC Grow Up Great, our $500 million, bilingual early childhood education initiative, has helped prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life by supporting programs, resources and experiences that plant the seeds for a lifetime of opportunities. DCPA Book Stars likewise supports early childhood educators to enhance early literacy in pre-K by working with Title I schools throughout metro Denver.
This innovative program encourages children to become characters and solve problems through creative play and theater-based learning, with teaching artists building relationships with students and teachers over time. By offering Book Stars to schools at no cost, in English and Spanish, we can increase accessibility and help eliminate achievement
schools throughout metro Denver. gaps before they start.
By focusing our support on high-quality early childhood education, we aim to positively impact school readiness, setting children on a path for success. We’re proud to help DCPA continue to grow this program and build more relationships with teachers, students, and
Thank you for your continued support for the arts, and enjoy the
“
families in our region. show!
PNC is firmly committed to early education in Colorado. Investing and advocating for high-quality early education is a logical extension of our commitment as a national main street bank to supporting our communities, and Book Stars is a unique and creative way to develop critical literacy skills in our youngest learners.
— RYAN BEISER, REGIONAL PRESIDENT FOR PNC BANK IN COLORADO “
The Aegon Transamerica Foundation is proud to support the DCPA and the brilliant programs and events it brings to life. From Broadway tours to immersive experiences to educational programs for kids, DCPA is an integral part of Denver’s thriving artistic community — and it’s a big part of what makes our city so special.
— MELISSA SMITH, CHAIR OF THE AEGON TRANSAMERICA FOUNDATION’S DENVER ADVISORY COMMITTEE
PROUD SPONSOR OF DCPA EDUCATION’S HIGH SCHOOL/MIDDLE SCHOOL PLAYWRITING COMPETITION
TTransamerica employees are dedicated to helping people live their best lives, whether it’s saving and investing for the future or protecting themselves and their loved ones. They bring expertise, creativity and heart to everything they do — and to the communities where they live and work.
Transamerica’s private, nonprofit foundation is proud to do its part in helping to create a brighter and more secure future for people in our community by supporting programs that enhance their opportunities and capabilities while broadening social networks, interactions and aspirations. Through our charitable giving and employee volunteer efforts, we contribute to a wide range of worthy causes in Denver, including the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA).
We believe our longtime support of the DCPA — one of the nation’s largest nonprofit theatre organizations — helps to enliven our community and bring new perspectives that can enable Denverites see the world through another’s eyes.
The Aegon Transamerica Foundation looks forward to supporting another great year of DCPA programming. We are proud to play a role helping DCPA make theatre accessible to all.
Transamerica employees help serve meals at Denver Children’s Home.
Transamerica employees help prepare “Bags of Fun” for children fighting long-term or life-threatening conditions.
Transamerica employees help build homes for families in need with Habitat for Humanity.
THANK YOU
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the following donors of $250+ between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.
+ Includes in-kind support
* Deceased
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SPECIAL THANKS
DENVER LANGUAGE SCHOOL
PROUD SPONSOR OF DCPA EDUCATION
DDenver Language School (DLS) is the only K-8 public school in Denver offering Spanish and Mandarin immersion. This distinctive characteristic not only sets the school apart, but also shows DLS’s commitment to providing students with a diverse and globallyoriented education.
Being the sole K-8 immersion public school in Spanish and Mandarin in Denver allows Denver Language School to offer students a truly immersive language experience from an early age. Research has consistently shown the cognitive and academic benefits of bilingualism, such as enhanced problem-solving skills, improved cognitive flexibility, and a deeper understanding of different cultures. Denver Language School’s emphasis on language immersion not only enriches the educational journey of its students, but also equips them with practical skills that are highly relevant in today’s modern society.
Beyond the academic benefits, the school’s focus on language immersion serves a larger societal purpose. In a world where understanding and appreciating different cultures is crucial, bilingual education fosters cultural empathy and open-mindedness. Students at Denver Language School not only become proficient in two languages, but also gain insights into the traditions, histories, and perspectives of the teaching staff who hail from a wide-array of Spanish and Mandarin speaking backgrounds.
The partnership between Denver Language School and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) adds another layer of enrichment to the educational experience. The performing arts play a vital role in fostering creativity, self-expression, and cultural awareness. By supporting DCPA, the school provides students with opportunities to engage in high-quality cultural experiences, including theatrical performances and artistic expressions that complement their language education.
Denver Language School’s status as the only K-8 public immersion school in Spanish and Mandarin in Denver holds significance in promoting bilingualism, cultural understanding, and global awareness. Like language, theatre opens your eyes to the world. Supporting the Denver Center for the Performing Arts further enriches the educational journey by exposing students to the world of performing arts and opening their eyes to new perspectives through the arts, aligning with the school’s holistic approach to preparing students for a diverse and interconnected world.
DCPA
Janice Sinden President & CEO
Donna Hendricks Executive Assistant, President & CEO
Julie Schumaker Manager, Board Relations
ACCOUNTING & FINANCE
Jane Williams CFAO
Sara Brandenburg Director, Accounting Services
Jennifer Je rey Director, Financial Planning & Analysis
Kristina Monge Associate Accountant
Annie Self Accountant III
Jennifer Siemers Director, Accounting
Audrey Smith Associate Manager, Accounting
BROADWAY & CABARET
John Ekeberg Executive Director
Administration
Ashley Brown Business Manager
Alicia Bruce General Manager
Lisa Prater Operations Manager
Garner Galleria Theatre
Abel Becerra Technical Director
Jason Begin+,
Anna Hookana+ Core Stagehands
DEVELOPMENT
Jamie Clements Vice President
Connor Carlin Associate Director, Major & Planned Gifts
Nora Caley, Amy Howard, Robin Lander, Myrisa Martin, Selin Ozcelik, Barbara Pooler, Wendy Quintana House Managers
Safety & Security
Quentin Crump Director
Timothy Allen, Jodi Benavides Lead Security O cers
Calum Abeywickrema, Mayte Armendariz, Samara Attridge, David Bright, Jaron Van Horne, Manuel Amaya-Loera, Isabella Samaniego, Marcus Sanders, Tori Witherspoon Security Specialists
Judy Briggs Front Desk
Administrative Assistant/ O ce Manager
Matthew Campbell Production Manager
Peggy Carey Associate Production Manager
Chris Thile with the Colorado Symphony
Disney in Concert: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with Simon Trpceski
