Applause Magazine, January 19-February 25, 2018 by The Publishing House

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VOLUME XXIX • NUMBER 4 • JAN – MAR 2018

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ZOEY’S PERFECT WEDDING

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STOMP American Mariachi The Great Leap Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I

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SIGHTLINE BY JANICE SINDEN

Welcome to the DCPA! You are joining us at the height of our season. Not only are we in full swing with The King and I and First Date by our Broadway and Cabaret team, beginning our winter education classes, gearing up for our signature fundraiser in March and welcoming our new Theatre Company Artistic Director Chris Coleman (see page 6), but we also are hosting our annual Colorado New Play Summit, complete with three stagings of entirely new works by diverse playwrights.

First up is Zoey’s Perfect Wedding, a comedy by playwright Matthew Lopez, which tells of Zoey’s wedding day woes. Next is American Mariachi by playwright José Cruz González who brings us another heartwarming story about breaking gender rules in the male-dominated musical world of mariachi. Finally, The Great Leap by playwright Lauren Yee whose dramatic account of an AmericanBeijing basketball faceoff is inspired by her own father’s life. These plays are symbolic of two fundamental values of the DCPA: Our commitment to new plays and the advancement of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). From the programming on our stages and hiring of our staff to the schools we reach and the people we serve, the DCPA is committed to embracing our community and our artists. To us this is a core value of what we want to be — a home for diverse artists, a safe hub for our community and an organization that leads by example. To help us with this effort, we have hired artEquity to guide us on best practices, joined the Theatre Communications Group cohort on EDI, and hired Shaunda Van Wert as Vice President of Human Resources who has extensive experience with equitable recruitment and retention practices. We’ve also turned to our Trustees and staff to guide our efforts. A staff-led, cross functional team is leading the organization’s EDI work. The Board’s Education Committee has expanded its scope to include Community Engagement. We are continuing to host artistic roundtables and embarking on community listening to broaden our perspectives and build new relationships reimagining how we engage across the seven county metro area. This work will be the foundation of all we do as a company because our collective differences elevate our art.

Janice Sinden, President & CEO Denver Center for the Performing Arts

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

ll people A are equal Moments are shared Differences are valued Discussion is encouraged We respect that everyone experiences our stories differently.

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APPLAUSE

MEET CHRIS COLEMAN: INCOMING DCPA THEATRE COMPANY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

“Chris Coleman is not only a gifted theater artist, he’s one of the best community connectors I’ve ever worked with,” a resigned Cynthia Fuhrman added. “That is a rare combination.” Coleman was named the fourth Artistic Director of the nearly 40-year-old DCPA Theatre Company. For the past 17 years, the Atlanta native has led a company with many of the same sensibilities as his new one — 12 offerings ranging from classics to contemporary works to musicals, an annual new play festival, education programs and an array of community events. All of which sounds a lot like the DCPA Theatre Company. With one big difference: He will inherit twice as many performance spaces, and more financial resources. “There is not another theatre in the country with the same administrative and physical infrastructure inside one organization,” said Coleman. In announcing the appointment, DCPA President & CEO Janice Sinden cited Coleman’s “commitment to artistic excellence, community engagement, new play development and discovery of new voices” — all of which she said will resonate throughout the region. Coleman said his

“He just has such a knack for championing a remarkably wide variety of voices in the new play world,” said Lauren Gunderson, author of last season’s The Book of Will and currently the mostproduced living playwright in the nation. “I think that’s because he has such a variety of experiences himself as a director, playwright, actor and artistic leader. What makes him a genius is that he knows every aspect of the creation of art first-hand. “I just think he is a great voice for the American theatre as a whole, and I can’t wait to see what he does to continue Kent [Thompson’s] legacy,” Gunderson, said. “Oh my God, Denver is so lucky to get him.”

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

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“I am interested in telling BIG stories — both from cultures that haven’t found their way onto our stages yet, and those that are waiting to burst out of the mind of the young playwright down the street.”

“I am super interested in figuring out how we put the most resonant work on stage we can,” Coleman said. “Work that really lands emotionally for people. So much so that audiences feel compelled to let us know that we affected them, and that the work has stayed with them.”

Applause is published seven 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.

priorities also include local storytelling.

Among the many rising playwrights Coleman has nurtured along their paths are Matthew Lopez and Lauren Yee, whose latest plays Zoey’s Perfect Wedding and The Great Leap, respectively, are on the Theatre Company’s stages this winter.

EDITOR: Suzanne Yoe CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Rob Silk ASSOCIATE EDITOR: John Moore SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: Adam Obendorf ART DIRECTOR: Kyle Malone SENIOR DESIGNERS: Casey Eickhoff, Brenda Elliott CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Sylvie Drake, Hope Grandon, Genevieve Miller Holt, Douglas Langworthy, Cheyenne Michaels

BY JOHN MOORE

When the Managing Director at Portland Center Stage learned that longtime Artistic Director Chris Coleman was being hired away by the DCPA Theatre Company, she said, “I hope you know you just won the lottery.”

VO LU M E X X I X • N U M B E R 4 • JA N – M A R 2 0 1 8

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES Martin Semple, Chairman Daniel L. Ritchie, Immediate Past Chairman William Dean Singleton, Secretary/Treasurer Robert Slosky, Vice Chairman Dr. Patricia Baca Joy S. Burns Isabelle Clark Navin Dimond L. Roger Hutson Robert C. Newman Alan Salazar Hassan Salem Richard M. Sapkin Tara Smith June Travis Ken Tuchman Tina Walls Dr. Reginald L. Washington Judi Wolf Sylvia Young

HELEN G. BONFILS FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES William Dean Singleton, President Martin Semple, Vice President Judi Wolf, Secretary/Treasurer Lester L. Ward, President Emeritus Roger Hutson David Miller Robert C. Newman Daniel L. Ritchie Robert Slosky Dr. Reginald L. Washington

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B Y G E N E V I E V E M I L L E R H O LT

“It doesn’t have narrative and it doesn’t have dialogue and it doesn’t have melody particularly, but it is totally rhythmically based.” — STEVE MCNICOLAS, Creator/Director

It’s been a while since you heard those clomping, clanging racket makers — racketeers? — right here in your own back yard. Yes, STOMP is back in Denver in all its explosive, syncopated glory with those incredible percussionists who treasure the old adage about one man’s trash… The troupe still doesn’t look at everyday objects the way the rest of the world does. In their hands, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters (we’re not sure about Grouchos and Harpos) and the general detritus of the 21st century takes on a life of its own. STOMP, created and directed by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, is an exploration of the outer limits of rhythmic invention. It’s a Pipe (read drain pipe) and Drum (read anything) Corps for our age. And speaking of age, it has not withered STOMP’s clatter — or fun. STOMP, that concatenation of sound and skill, is back with its rhythms and drumbeats intact.

Photo by Lois Greenfield

The same goes for its nonstop movement of bodies, objects, sound — even abstract ideas. There’s no dialogue, speech or plot. But music?

Absolutely. Uncommon music, created in nontraditional ways — with every day objects ranging from matchbooks to every household item you can imagine. “It’s a piece of theatre that’s been created by musicians,” said McNicholas. “It doesn’t have narrative and it doesn’t have dialogue and it doesn’t have melody particularly, but it is totally rhythmically based.” You’re bombarded by a caterwauling noise that under any other circumstances you would choose to shut out. But not here. Here all is syncopated and choreographed with the precision of an army bugle corps (minus the bugles) and by the fertile imagination of buskers or street performers from the streets of Brighton — the spot where STOMP’s creators hail from and where they dream up versions of this utterly inventive, unexpected, whacked-out show. “Most ideas come from everyday life,” said McNicholas, “but when we put a routine together we are thinking not just in terms of the rhythmic qualities, the sound qualities of the instruments, but also visual impact.” And impact it will have. So sit back, relax, tap your feet, clap your hands. There’s only fun to be had here — from the ringing of hollow pipes to clashing metal weaving its spell, and industrial strength dance routines involving a lot of supremely wellcoordinated bodies.

STOMP • FEB 13 – 18 • BUELL THEATRE Audio described performance: Feb 17, 2pm

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

Cast of STOMP. Photo by Steve McNicholas.

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SEEING YOURSELF ON STAGE IN

BY JOHN MOORE

American Mariachi is a new musical play that illuminates a very specific time and place in Chicano cultural history by telling the story of a young woman who forms her own mariachi band during the male-dominated 1970s. But José Cruz González’s latest world premiere for the DCPA Theatre Company is the furthest thing from a barrier-busting, Norma Rae kind of play that takes on an entire backward industry. It’s a much more intimate story about a daughter who simply wants to learn how to play a mariachi song in the hope that the notes will somehow reach into her mother’s receding mind and awaken her.

“I have never seen myself represented on stage. I see movies or TV shows or plays, and it’s never about me. This was about me.” — FEMALE AUDIENCE MEMBER 10

“This is really a play about families dealing with Alzheimer’s disease and other issues that we all deal with every day and in every community,” González said. The story centers on Lucha, whose mother is succumbing to Alzheimer’s. An estimated 5.5 million Americans have the insidious disease that robs a person of memory and other cognitive abilities. And it crosses all ethnic, gender and economic lines. You would be hard-pressed, González said, to find a person whose life does not intersect with a loved one with dementia. And while González is most proud to have been invited back to the DCPA to debut his third culturally specific play (following September Shoes and Sunsets and Margaritas), he would like to believe his stories are more than curiosities for audiences outside the Latino-American umbrella. “I hope that my plays speak directly to everyone,” he said. And not just because dementia is universal. “This is a play about young women finding their voices — and they could be any women,” he said. “This is also a play with gorgeous live music — and music is the universal language.”

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

But mariachi is not necessarily a universally known musical language. That should make American Mariachi both an opportunity for non-Latino audiences to get a lyrical sense of the importance of mariachi to the Mexican heritage and cultural identity, as well as a point of pride for Latino audiences, he said.

COSTUME COLUMN

Five mariachi musicians will make up the orchestra and perform at every performance, but all nine actors will play a live musical instrument at some point in the show as well. The score will include portions of 14 songs, including the ballad that fuels Lucha’s journey.

Costume designer Meghan Anderson Doyle is deep into all things ’70s as she prepares for the upcoming world premiere production of José Cruz González’s play American Mariachi.

American Mariachi was first introduced to DCPA audiences as a featured reading at the 2016 Colorado New Play Summit, an annual gathering where promising new plays are developed. The first 12 years of the Summit have resulted in 30 world premiere plays staged by the DCPA Theatre Company on its mainstage season.

“The great thing about designing a show that involves 20th century clothing, especially one that takes place after the early 50s, is that we can look at actual snapshots,” said Doyle. “I get to look at actual photos of LatinX families during this time period — baby pictures, family photos, shots from church events.”

Longtime Summit observers who attended the 2016 reading have said they cannot recall another offering that drew a sustained standing ovation before the reading had even ended. González credits that to the universal language. “Music plays such an important role in this piece,” he said. “First of all, it’s live. And that mariachi sound is so fantastic when you fill a room with people and you hear people singing. It’s really a rich mix of world-class musicians and actors, some of whom learned to play just for this show. But that’s OK, because the young women in our story are beginners, too, so they are not supposed to be the best musicians in the world. They’re kind of The Bad News Bears of mariachi bands. But they find their path, and they learn the song. And along the way, they find their places in the world.

Prior to this time period, any photographs or portraits would have been very formal. “After all, if you were going to get a portrait done, you certainly wouldn’t have worn your everyday clothes,” said Doyle. “Having documentation of what people were wearing in various situations is invaluable to a designer.”

“And speaking of found voices, let me tell you: All of the singing voices you are going to hear are incredible.” The DCPA Theatre Company also is making some history with its presentation of American Mariachi. For the first time, the DCPA is staging two new plays this season that will immediately transfer to major theatres around the country. (The other is Lauren Yee’s The Great Leap.) American Mariachi closes here on February 25, and less than a month later (on March 23), the production will re-open at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego with the actors and creative team intact. The director, in fact, is James Vásquez, whose home base is the Old Globe.

The most exciting part of American Mariachi for Doyle? Creating a look for the female mariachi band. “In one of the early drafts of the script there’s a scene where they decide what they’re going to wear. Do they wear those tiny shorts, which were very on-trend during this time? Do they opt instead for the long traditional skirts that kind of mimic the men’s pants?”

González said it is important the DCPA is continuing its longstanding commitment to tell stories that speak directly to the Latino community, a canon that has included titles such as Lydia and Just Like Us. After an earlier public workshop reading of American Mariachi, Vásquez said he was greeted by a young woman who told him, “I have never seen myself represented on stage. I see movies or TV shows or plays, and it’s never about me. This was about me.”

Playwright José Cruz González is familiar to Denver audiences for his plays Sunsets and Margaritas and September Shoes. A professor of Theatre Arts at California State University Los Angeles, Cruz also has written Curious, Among the Darkest Shadows, The Highest Heaven, The Long Road Today, The Astronaut Farmworker and The Magic Rainforest. American Mariachi is a DCPA Theatre Company Commission and a co-production with The Old Globe.

AMERICAN MARIACHI JAN 26 – FEB 25 • STAGE THEATRE ASL & Audio-described performance: Feb 18, 6:30pm

Tia Carmen costume design by Meghan Anderson

“She walked out feeling like she had a place in the world,” Vásquez said, “and I think that is a testament to the play José has written.”

Doyle is exploring various options that give a nod to tradition while underscoring the “girl power” at the heart of this story. Her goal is to capture the essence of these women and present them as the powerhouse revolutionaries that they are.

EVERYONE DESERVES TO BE HEARD

The Women’s Voices Fund enables our DCPA Theatre Company to commission, workshop and produce new plays by women, ensuring all stages (and roles) are shared equally. Contributors to the Fund take a stand against inequality and support a community of forward-thinking theatre creators in an effort to bridge the gap in the years to come. Members are invited to meet the women who benefit from the Fund at events throughout the year. Currently the Fund is one of the largest of its kind at more than $1.3 million and has enabled us to: • Produce 30 plays by women • Commission 19 female playwrights • Hire 23 female directors • Contribute to 13 world premiere plays written by women, including this year’s The Great Leap by Lauren Yee Annual membership starts at $300. One-time gifts are also incredibly appreciated.

DENVERCENTER.ORG/WVF 303.572.4593

(l-r) WVF commissioned playwrights Lauren Gunderson (The Book of Will) and Lauren Yee (The Great Leap). Photo by John Moore

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

Valeka J. Holt and Jasmine Hughes in the reading of Last Night and the Night Before. Photo by Adams Viscom.

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REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL PLAYWRITING WORKSHOPS AND COMPETITION

OUR CLASSES EMPOWER STUDENTS OF ALL AGES

As Applause magazine went to press, students from across the state were finalizing their drafts, readying to hit “submit” and putting the finishing touches on their entries into the fifth annual Denver Center for the Performing Arts Regional High School Playwriting Workshops and Competition. The program is designed to nurture young writers, develop new plays and inspire Colorado high school students to challenge themselves. Students and their teachers may participate in the two-pronged initiative. First, drama and language arts teachers may request a free playwriting workshop with DCPA teaching artists who introduce them to the fundamentals of writing a one-act play. Second, students may submit their one-act plays into the competition; all scripts are judged blindly by DCPA artistic, literary and educational professionals. Ten semifinalists are selected but only three finalists will have their scripts read as part of the DCPA Theatre Company’s Colorado New Play Summit in February. Finally, one winning play is selected for full production each summer as part of DCPA Education’s teen acting program. The winning playwright is part of the rehearsal process as his or her play is brought to life.

Photo by Brian Landis Folkins

The DCPA’s Regional High School One-Act Playwriting Workshops and Competition is made possible by the generous support of Robert and Judi Newman and their Newman Family Foundation with matching gifts from The Ross Foundation, June Travis and Transamerica. Gifts to support this important work are always welcome. To learn more about the program, play readings and the final public performance please visit denvercenter.org/playwriting.

Photo by Adams VisCom

“These young playwrights are the next generation of theatre,” said Executive Director of Education Allison Watrous. “It is our responsibility and our privilege to encourage them and give them the tools to succeed. We launched the one-act playwriting competition in 2013 to nurture Colorado’s promising young playwrights, create new plays and inspire creativity. In just four short years, we’ve been overwhelmed with the response: 577 submissions and nearly 12,000 students served through the program, giving voice to the next generation of American theatre.”

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ROOTING FOR

Every family has stories that get passed down through the years, often taking on mythic proportions. For playwright Lauren Yee, one such story she grew up with was her father’s trip to China in the 1980s to play basketball. “It was like family lore from a very young age,” she says. “I knew that the trip had been a very large part of his life before he had kids.” Larry Yee, Lauren’s father, traveled with a basketball team to play a “friendship game” in China in the period after the Cultural Revolution. Larry was born in San Francisco and this was his first time visiting the homeland of his parents. His international journey became the loose storyline of Lauren’s play The Great Leap.

BY DOUGLAS LANGWORTHY

One part of the story that Lauren was curious about was the idea of being Chinese American and going to China to represent America. “Who do you root for?” Lauren wonders. “Do you root for the people that have the same citizenship as you? Do you root for the people who look like you? Are you ever torn?” Lauren admits she didn’t know a lot about China and basketball going into the project, so she needed to do her research. Her primary source was her father, of course — she loved listening to his “war stories” about the trip. In addition, she attended some pro games. She talked to players. She also spoke with a professor from China at the University of Denver who shared his experiences growing up. “I got a window into what an ordinary person’s life was like growing up in China in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s,” says Lauren. She studied the game of basketball and became consumed by the big philosophical ideas behind the game. “One idea that I found very helpful,” she reports, “was the idea that basketball is all about creating space for yourself on the court. That every pass and every fake and every dribble is made with the intent of losing your defender long enough for you to have a chance to make a shot. And I think that has parallels for our everyday lives — everyone in this world goes about their lives trying to make space for themselves that they can call their own.” She discovered that basketball had a long history in China, something that surprised her: “Even though it wasn’t professionalized until the mid-’90s, basketball has had a very long love affair with China, the way it’s had with America.”

Illustration by Kyle Malone

Lauren’s father also inspired another one of her plays, The King of the Yees, based on Yee family history, sort of. “A lot of this is true,” the play’s inscription reads, “but a lot of it is only kind of true. Just like the stories your father once told you as a child.” Set in San Francisco, Lauren folds herself and her father into the middle of this meta-theatrical play, so that there is an actor playing an actor playing Larry and an actor playing an actor playing Lauren, as well as two actors playing the “real” version of each of them. After Larry saw The King of the Yees and attended a reading of The Great Leap, he turned to Lauren and asked if she was done 16

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

“I go into the writing process like an audience member…. I think in order for [them] to be surprised in a play, I need to be surprised while I am writing.”

COMING UP FROM THEATRE COMPANY:

NATIVE GARDENS COSTUME COLUMN

Playwright Karen Zacarías has noticed a trend: most arguments between neighbors happen over property and a difference in taste or culture. The same goes for our nation and the world at large.

— LAUREN YEE Playwright

“I thought there was something poetic, primal and absurd about what makes us get so triggered and angry that we lose sight of what’s important,” said Zacarías. “I wanted to investigate that with humor.”

[with him]. “I think that’s enough about me,” he said. Lauren isn’t bothered by seeing herself portrayed on stage: “I know by making myself a character I’ve immediately theatricalized it. What I am interested in is someone else’s interpretation of that particular character in those circumstances.”

In her play Native Gardens (April 6 – May 6), a young LatinX couple moves into a well-to-do DC neighborhood next door to an old money, white couple. Things get thorny (and hilarious) when a disagreement over a longstanding fence line spirals into an all-out war of taste, class, privilege and entitlement.

“It was in the play’s DNA from the first scene to set you up to love my father, Larry,” Lauren confesses, “and be disappointed to find out that this play is about Lauren. I set the Lauren character up for being a bit roasted in this play.” When asked to describe her writing process, Lauren says: “I start writing as soon as I can come up with a world I find interesting but don’t completely understand and a character voice that I find really compelling. Usually if I spend enough time in that world with those voices then I am led to some sort of plot and general structure. With The Great Leap, I immediately heard Manford (the central character) and also heard Saul, his coach.

A Mexican immigrant herself, Zacarías couldn’t have known the relevance her early 2016 play would have today when disputes over building a wall on the USMexican border are regularly in the headlines. But she did see the beginnings of what is now a deeply divided country and a possible way to heal it.

“I go into the writing process like an audience member, I don’t know why these characters want what they want yet, but usually, after a couple of drafts, I stumble upon things. So for me, a lot of things that happen in the play were things that I did not know at the very beginning of the writing process. I think in order for the audience to be surprised in a play, I need to be surprised while I am writing.”

“I think in this political climate, we all need a chance to laugh at ourselves and find ways — no matter what side of the political fence you’re on — to have a conversation and to remember we are a community.”

And who doesn’t love a surprise?

THE GREAT LEAP FEB 2 – MAR 11 • RICKETSON THEATRE ASL and Audio-described performance: Mar 4, 1:30pm

Illustration by Kyle Malone

Playwright Lauren Yee’s works include Ching Chong Chinaman, The Hatmaker’s Wife, Hookman, In a Word, King of the Yees, Samsara and The Tiger Among Us. The Great Leap, which was commissioned by DCPA Theatre Company as part of its new play development program, will go on to the Seattle Rep following its Denver debut.

PROUD SPONSOR OF THE DCPA'S ARTS AND EDUCATION SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKING LOT PROGRAM

Anadarko has a strong commitment to giving back to the communities in which we live and operate. We are proud to support more than 100 nonprofit organizations across Colorado. With a shared passion for bringing arts education to students, we have found a natural partner in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). The Shakespeare in the Parking Lot program has reached 54 schools and nearly 25,000 students over the last two years. “We are proud to support DCPA’s Shakespeare in the Parking Lot for a third consecutive year,” said Scott Moore, Anadarko’s Senior Vice President, Midstream & Marketing. “Through this partnership, we see high school students thrive because of direct involvement with the arts on their campuses. Anadarko is passionate about helping others. It’s an honor to invest in the future leaders of the communities that we both operate in and live in with our own families.” Anadarko supports a variety of organizations in the communities where we operate, focusing on STEM Education, conservation and growing the next generation of agriculture leaders. Our community-based

projects contribute more than just funding to local organizations; these projects provide long-term benefits to local Colorado communities. “Giving is not just a word to us; it is a core value at our company,” said Moore. Anadarko is among the largest producers of oil and clean-burning natural gas in Colorado, with a strong commitment to safely and responsibly develop these energy resources, which fundamentally support Colorado’s economy and modern life. Colorado has world-class natural resources, holding almost 10 percent of the nation’s natural gas reserves and almost 2 percent of its oil reserves. Anadarko continues to demonstrate its commitment to working collaboratively with all stakeholders, including communities, landowners, governments and regulatory agencies, to develop the energy we need, support the economy and protect the environment. We are proud to be a part of enhancing America’s energy security, while contributing to the $30 billion economic benefit of the oil and natural gas industry in Colorado.

“Anadarko is passionate about helping others. It’s an honor to invest in the future leaders of the communities…” — SCOTT MOORE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, MIDSTREAM & MARKETING

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT

UPCOMING

SHOWS

Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ biggest stars step into the spotlight — actors, designers, students and you.

First Date Now – Apr 22, 2018 Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I Now – Jan 14 Zoey’s Perfect Wedding Jan 19 – Feb 25

American Mariachi Jan 26 – Feb 25

The Great Leap Feb 2 – Mar 11 STOMP Feb 13 – 18 Hamilton Feb 27 – Apr 1 Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill Mondays • Mar 5 – Apr 23 The Magic of Adam Trent Mar 20

This Is Modern Art Mar 22 – Apr 15

Disney's Aladdin Apr 7 – 28 Native Gardens Apr 6 – May 6 The Who’s Tommy Apr 20 – May 27 Remote Denver Spring/Summer 2018 Human Error May 18 – Jun 24

Photos by Emily Lozow and John Moore

1 BROADWAY’s Breakin’ Convention inspired more than 1,200 attendees to bust a move at its free family festival. 2 THEATRE COMPANY held Talkbacks after many performances of Smart People to discuss the play’s themes with patrons. 3 THEATRE COMPANY’s incoming Artistic Director Chris Coleman (gray suit) is welcomed by his new staff. 4 BROADWAY’s RENT 20th Anniversary Tour cast meets Rodney Hicks (seated), who originated the role of Paul in the show’s 1997 debut. 5 OFF-CENTER inspired patrons to dress the part at its recent production of The Wild Party, which was set in the Roarin’ Twenties. 6 BROADWAY’s Molly Scotto and Hazel Thompson look at The Buell Theatre as they anticipate alternating the role of Lulu in the Denver engagement of Waitress. 7 EDUCATION asked The Snowy Day and Other Stories actors to read the popular children’s book at area bookstores. 20

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

School of Rock May 29 – Jun 10 The Book of Mormon Jun 13 – Jul 1 Les Misérables Jul 25 – Aug 5 On Your Feet! Aug 8 – 19 Beautiful — The Carole King Musical Sep 4 – 9

FOR A COMPLETE LIST, VISIT DENVERCENTER.ORG Tickets for some shows are currently unavailable.

ZOEY’S PERFECT WEDDING

present A DENVER CENTER WORLD PREMIERE

ZOEY’S

PERFECT WEDDING

Matthew Lopez

With Jeff Biehl, Grayson DeJesus, Nick Ducassi, Nija Okoro, Mallory Portnoy, Kristin Villanueva

SCENIC DESIGN BY Dane Laffrey

COSTUME DESIGN BY Dede Ayite

LIGHTING DESIGN BY Charles R. MacLeod

SOUND DESIGN BY Veronika Vorel

DRAMATURGY BY Kimberly Colburn

CASTING BY Elisa Myers Casting / Paul Foquet, CSA

DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Jeff Gifford

STAGE MANAGER Kurt Van Raden

DIRECTED BY Mike Donahue

The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited.

THE SPACE THEATRE • JANUARY 19 – FEBRUARY 25, 2018

SEASON SPONSORS

PRODUCING PARTNER

June Travis

ZOEY’S PERFECT WEDDING

CAST (In Order of Appearance) DJ ..................................................................................................................................................................................... NICK DUCASSI Charlie................................................................................................................................................................................... JEFF BIEHL Sammy .............................................................................................................................................................. GRAYSON DEJESUS Rachel ...............................................................................................................................................................MALLORY PORTNOY Missy ...............................................................................................................................................................KRISTIN VILLANUEVA Zoey ....................................................................................................................................................................................NIJA OKORO

Stage Manager ..................................................................................................................................................KURT VAN RADEN Assistant Stage Manager......................................................................................................................................CORIN FERRIS Stage Management Apprentice..........................................................................................................................AMY LEGORE

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.

SETTING The Ballroom of the downtown Brooklyn Marriott Saturday, November 29, 2008 Zoey’s Perfect Wedding will be presented without an intermission.

JEFF BIEHL (Charlie). At the Threatre Company: Debut. Broadway: Machinal (Roundabout). OffBroadway: The Rape of The Sabine Women... (Playwrights Realm), Charles Francis Chan Jr’s...(NAATCO), 10 out of 12 (Soho Rep), Lives of the Saints (Primary Stages), Poor Behavior (Primary Stages), Isaac’s Eye (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Fulfillment (Flea), Burning (New Group). Regional: Cry It Out (Humana), Scenes From Court Life (Yale Rep), Wellesley Girl (Humana), The Moors (Yale Rep), Three Sisters (ART and Edinburgh International Festival); also, South Coast Rep, Shakespeare Theater, Long Wharf. TV/Film: “The Path,” “Vinyl,” “Mysteries of Laura,” “Forever,” “Southland,” several of all “Law & Orders”, A Master Builder, Ricki and The Flash. GRAYSON DEJESUS (Sammy). At the Theatre Company: Debut. He was last seen in Denver in the first national tour of the Tony awardwinning play War Horse (Lincoln Center Theater). Other Theater credits include: Picasso at The Lapin Agile (Longwharf Theater); Lion In Winter (Repertory Theater of St. Louis); The Importance of Being Earnest, Amadeus, The Tempest, King Lear, The Winter’s Tale (The Old Globe); Romeo and Juliet, All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare Santa Cruz). TV/Film: Kate Can’t Swim, Tasmania, “Conviction,” “Sneaky Pete,” “Forever.” Training: MFA, USD/Old Globe.

NICK DUCASSI (DJ). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Other Theatres: Ars Nova (Love in the Time of Chanukah), City Theater of Pittsburgh (Sex with Strangers), The Vale Collective (Playing with Fire), and workshops at Soho Rep, Naked Angels, and The Lark. TV/Film: Docket 32357, After Hours Trading and Mother’s Milk. In addition to acting, Nick is a comedian, writer, and producer. Training: Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. NIJA OKORO (Zoey). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Regional: The Legend of Georgia McBride (Geffen Playhouse), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Mark Taper Forum), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Mark Taper Forum), The Mountaintop (Cape May Stage), Bossa Nova (Sundance Theatre Lab), Blueprints to Freedom (La Jolla Playhouse), For Colored Girls..., Gallathea, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (Aaron Davis Theatre), Echo in Silence (McCarter Theatre). TV: “Insecure,” “StartUp,” “Southland,” “Monday Mornings,” “Hail Mary,” “Medium,” “ER.” Upcoming Film: Red River, A Doll’s House. Training: The Juilliard School. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram: @nijaokoro MALLORY PORTNOY (Rachel). At the Theatre Company: Debut. NY credits include: Privacy (The Public Theatre/in association with The Donmar Warehouse), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public Theatre/ Shakespeare in the Park) and Oklahoma! (Bard Summerscape,

ranked by The New York Times as one of the top ten theatrical moments of 2015). Regional credits: Williamstown Theatre Festival and Chautauqua Theatre Company. Mallory can be seen in episodes of the upcoming seasons of “Grace and Frankie” (Netflix) and “High Maintenance” (HBO). She is cocreator of the comedy series “Roger, The Chicken” (LA Comedy Film Fest, Friars Club Comedy Fest NYC), and soon to be released “Human Interest”. Training: University of Illinois, Juilliard. KRISTIN VILLANUEVA (Missy). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Favorite credits: Julia in Two Gentlemen of Verona (The Old Globe), Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare & Company), Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice (Playmakers Repertory), Vivian in Swimmers (Marin Theatre Company), Sister in The White Snake (various). Other Theatres: Goodman Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Resident Ensemble Players, Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, Theatreworks Colorado, NAATCO, The Public Theatre. TV/Film: “Elementary,” “Forever,” “Gossip Girl,” Vulture Club, First Reformed, Merry Christmas, Eve. Tours: Singapore Arts Festival, Theatreworks USA. Training: SUNY Purchase. AUTHOR MATTHEW LOPEZ (Playwright). Plays include The Legend of Georgia McBride, The Whipping Man, Reverberation, Somewhere, The Sentinels. Upcoming: The Inheritance at London’s Young Vic, directed by Stephen Daldry. TV/ Film: “The Newsroom.” Matthew was the inaugural Playwriting Fellow at the DCPA.

ZOEY’S PERFECT WEDDING

WHO’S WHO

ZOEY’S PERFECT WEDDING

DIRECTOR MIKE DONAHUE (Director). At the Theatre Company: world premieres of Matthew Lopez’s The Legend of Georgia McBride (MCC, Geffen, Joe A. Callaway Award, Outer Critics Circle Nomination, Ovation Award nomination) and Lauren Feldman’s Grace, or The Art of Climbing. Other Theatres: Labyrinth, The Playwrights Realm, Clubbed Thumb, Woolly Mammoth, Studio Theatre, South Coast Rep, Playmakers Rep, Chicago Opera Theatre, Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, Humana and Williamstown. Mike is a recipient of a Fulbright to Berlin, Drama Leauge Fellowship, Sagal Fellowship (Williamstown), and was artistic director of the Yale Summer Cabaret. Training: Harvard and Yale School of Drama. CREATIVE TEAM DEDE AYITE (Costume Designer). At the Theatre Company: Macbeth. Select Off-Broadway: Children of a Lesser God (BTG), Marie & Rosetta (Atlantic), The Royale (Lincoln Center), Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout), brownsville song (b-side for tray) (LCT3), ToasT (The Public). Regional: The Wiz (OSF), multiple productions at Arena Stage, Cleveland Play House, Baltimore Center Stage, Berkeley Rep, Signature Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Dallas Theatre Center, California Shakespeare Theater, and Studio Theatre. TV/Film: Comedy Central, “Fox Shortcoms” (FOX Network), COPPER Project (Improv Everywhere/BBC America). Awards/ Training: 2017 Helen Hayes, 2015 Jeff Award. MFA, Yale School of Drama. KIMBERLY COLBURN (Dramaturg). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Current literary director and co-director of the Pacific Playwrights Festival at South Coast Rep. Recent world premieres at SCR: A Doll’s House Part 2 by Lucas Hnath, Going to a Place Where You Already Are by Bekah Brunstetter and Future Thinking by Eli Clark. Previously, as literary manager at Actors Theatre of Louisville: world premieres of Partners by Dorothy Fortenberry, The Roommate by Jen Silverman, and Dot by Colman Domingo.

ELISSA MYERS CASTING, Paul Fouquet, CSA (Casting). Three Emmy nominations and one win, and one Peabody Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television. Over 15 films for PBS. Theatre includes seven Broadway shows, and 26 OffBroadway shows. Current regional casting includes Denver Center, Geva Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Magic Theatre, Arena Stage, and Arizona Theatre Company. The office has so far received 16 nominations and has won three Artios Awards for “Outstanding Achievement in Casting.” DANE LAFFREY (Scenic Designer). At the Theatre Company: Grace, or the art of Climbing; The Legend of Georgia McBride (Henry Award). Broadway: Once On This Island (current revival), Deaf West’s Spring Awakening, Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love. Off-Broadway: Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, B.A.M. Harvey, Roundabout, Lincoln Center Theatre, Atlantic, Labyrinth, Vineyard, Second Stage, Soho Rep, many other. Regional: Mark Taper Forum, The Old Globe, Actors Theatre/Humana Festival, Huntington, Williamstown, Dallas Theatre Center many others. International: Tokyo, Osaka, Oslo and throughout Australia. 2017 OBIE Award for sustained excellence CHARLES R. MACLEOD (Lighting Designer). At the Theatre Company: (300+ productions/35 seasons). Two Degrees, As You Like It, One Night in Miami…, Appoggiatura, Shadowlands, black odyssey, Jackie & Me, Death of a Salesman, The 39 Steps, Reckless, When Tang Met Laika, The Diary of Anne Frank, Lydia, The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1001, Gem of the Ocean, All My Sons, A Christmas Carol, Lost Highway: The Music and Legend of Hank Williams, My Way, Forbidden Broadway, Always…Patsy Cline; Love, Janis and Girls Only, The Secret Comedy of Women. VERONIKA VOREL (Sound Designer). At the Theatre Company: Debut. Shakespeare Theatre, Folger Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Theatre J, East West Players, IAMA Theatre Company. Associate Sound Design:

Manhattan Theatre Club, Geffen Playhouse. Themed Entertainment: Walt Disney Imagineering. Training: CalArts, Yale School of Drama. STAGE MANAGEMENT CORIN FERRIS (Assistant Stage Manager). At the Theatre Company: Smart People, Sweeney Todd, All The Way, A Christmas Carol, Lookingglass Alice. At DCPA Cabaret: An Act of God. Other Theatres: Equivocation, Cymbeline (Colorado Shakespeare Festival), Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Skylight Music Theatre, Renaissance Theatre Works, Wild Space, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. Training: BFA Stage Management, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. KURT VAN RADEN (Stage Manager). At the Theatre Company: 50+ productions including Macbeth, The Secret Garden, The Book of Will, Frankenstein, Sweeney Todd, Lookingglass Alice, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Animal Crackers, Hamlet, Just Like Us, Romeo & Juliet, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Three Musketeers, Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, A Christmas Carol, Othello, A Raisin in the Sun, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Richard III, Noises Off, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Pride and Prejudice, Season’s Greetings, Living Out. At DCPA Cabaret: First national tour of Murder For Two. Other Theatres: Over 56 new plays at The O’Neill Theatre Center, The Great River Shakespeare Festival. THEATRE COMPANY LEADERSHIP TEAM CHRIS COLEMAN (Artistic Director). Before coming to Denver, Chris was the artistic director of Portland Center Stage at The Armory for 17 years. In Portland, his favorite directing credits included Astoria: Parts One and Two (which he also adapted), Fun Home, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Threesome (which he also directed Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters), Shakespeare’s Amazing Cymbeline (which he also adapted), Fiddler on the Roof, Clybourne Park, Crazy Enough, King Lear and The Devils. While in Portland, he had the honor of serving as the board president for the Cultural Advocacy Coalition and the director

NATAKI GARRETT (Associate Artistic Director) Featured in the November 2016 edition of American Theatre magazine’s “One to Watch,” Nataki Garrett is the former Associate Artistic Director of CalArts Center for New Performance. Garrett is a Company Member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company a recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors, a NAACP Award nominee and a member of SDC. Recent regional credits include: BLKS (Steppenwolf), Hurt Village (Ubuntu Theater Project), An Octaroon (Woolly Mammoth and Mixed Blood), Pussy Valley (Mixed Blood), Neighbors (Mixed Blood, Matrix), Bullrusher (Skylight Theater Company), Hoodoo Love (Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company), Smoke Lilies and Jade (CalArts Center for New Performance). Radio credits include Biloxi Blues, Tape, 16 Wounded, The Living Room. Opera credits: Wet and Sucktion. For NPR. JEFF GIFFORD (Director of Production) is in his fifth season at the DCPA and oversees everything you see on stage except the actors. Guiding this amazing and talented staff of 75 artists and artisans who create all these wonderful shows is a joy. Working on world premieres is especially exciting and Jeff has

worked on more than 40 of them. Top of the list are The Book of Will, Dinner with Friends, The Violet Hour, and Jeffrey Sellers musical Fly. CHARLIE MILLER (Associate Artistic Director) oversees new and innovative programming at the Denver Center including Off-Center, audience engagement projects, and other strategic initiatives. As cofounder and Curator of Off-Center, Charlie has led its growth from a small theatrical testing center to one of the DCPA’s signature lines of programming. Before joining the Artistic Team full time, Charlie divided his time between OffCenter and the Theatre Company’s Multimedia Department. As DCPA’s award-wining Resident Video Designer, Charlie designed and created projection/video content for 35 productions in nine seasons. Charlie is a Harvard graduate and a sixth generation Denverite. CHARLES VARIN (Managing Director) and his team are responsible for the administrative, financial and business operations for Theatre Company and OffCenter productions and other artistic initiatives. Since joining the Theatre Company in 2006, he has played a major role in executing the artistic vision of the organization and facilitating the production of shows such as Sweet & Lucky, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Sense & Sensibility The Musical, The 12, Sweeney Todd with DeVotchKa and many more. Charles is passionate about artistic innovation and firmly believes in DCPA’s long-standing commitment to new plays and new voices.

The Director is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union. 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. Backstage and Ticket Services Employees are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada. (or I.A.T.S.E.) The scenic, costume, lighting and sound designers in LORT Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.

PLEASE BE ADVISED that once the show begins: • LATECOMERS and those exiting the theatre are seated at predetermined breaks in designated areas. • PHOTOS, RECORDING & CELL PHONE USE are prohibited during the performance. • CHILDREN 4+ 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 ckrueger@dcpa.org or 303.893.4836.

The Theatre Company is grateful for the funds provided by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. Special thanks also to grants from the Helen G. Bonfils Foundation; and contributions from corporations, foundations and individuals.The Theatre Company is a division of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, a not-forprofit organization serving the public through the performing arts. The Theatre Company operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States; and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. The Theatre Company also operates under an agreement with Denver Theatrical Stage Employees Union, Local No. 7 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada. The Theatre Company is constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for not-forprofit resident theatre companies. The costumes, wigs, lighting, props, furniture, scenic construction, scenic painting, sound and special effects used in connection with this production were constructed and coordinated by the Theatre Company’s Production Staff. In addition to DCPA staff, the following crew worked on this production: Forest Fowler, Mallory Hart, Sherry Hern, Tony Nguyen, Camille Stillman, & Jeni Tolifson.

ZOEY’S PERFECT WEDDING

of the Oregon Leadership Summit. Chris originally hails from Atlanta, where he was the artistic director for Actor’s Express, a company he co-founded in the basement of an old church in 1988. He returned to Atlanta in 2015 to direct the world premiere of Edward Foote at Alliance Theatre (Suzi Bass Award for Best Direction, Best Production and Best World Premiere). Chris has directed at theaters across the country, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, ACT Theatre (Seattle), The Alliance, Dallas Theatre Center, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and Center Stage (Baltimore). He holds a BFA from Baylor University and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon. Chris and his husband, Rodney Hicks — who recently appeared on Broadway in the musical Come From Away — are the proud parents of an 18-lb Jack Russell/Lab mix and a 110lb English Blockhead Yellow Lab.

The cast of Hum uman Error Error at th he 20 2017 Color Colorado do N New play Sum mmit. Photo o byAdams VisCom.

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GIUSEPPE VERDI | MAY 5 | 8 | 11 | 13 | 2018 THE ELLIE CAULKINS OPERA HOUSE

EAT. DRINK. SCHEME. REPEAT. One of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters—the rotund knight Falstaff—takes center stage in this brilliant Verdi comedy filled with backfired plans, failed disguises, and uproarious personalities. TICKETS START AT JUST $15!

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DCPA TEAM

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MARKETING, SALES & PATRON SERVICES

SHARED SERVICES

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Vicky Miles................................Chief Financial Officer Gregory W. Towle...................Projection Supervisor Maggie Lamb................................ Executive Assistant Eric Boone...................................Front End Developer Jennifer Jeffrey...........................Director of Financial Topher Blair.................................Multimedia Specialist to the CEO & CDO Heidi Bosk.......................Associate Director of PR & Planning & Analysis Sound Design Integrated Marketing – Broadway & Cabaret Julie Schumaker.......................... Executive Assistant Craig Breitenbach..........................Director of Sound to the CFO & Board Liaison Alex Billman+, Frank Haas+, Jonalyn Bradshaw............................. Education Sales BROADWAY & CABARET Janice Sinden.......................................President & CEO

John Ekeberg.........Executive Director Broadway

Coordinator

Alicia Bruce..........................................General Manager Nathan Brunetti............. Email Marketing Manager Ashley Brown................................... Business Manager Flora Jane DiRienzo.................Director of Strategic Partnerships Abel Becerra..................Technical Director, Cabaret Casey Eickhoff..................Senior Graphic Designer Donna Hendricks........................ Executive Assistant to the Executive Director Broadway Brenda Elliott.....................Senior Graphic Designer

DEVELOPMENT Deanna Haas................Chief Development Officer

Tyler Nelson+...................................Sound Technicians

Jennifer Siemers................. Director of Accounting Kurt Van Raden..........Production Stage Manager Michaele Davidson......................Senior Accountant Christoper C. Ewing............Senior Stage Manager

Linda Erickson................................Senior Accountant Kailey Buttrick, Rachel Ducat, Juliette Hidahl....................................Accounting Clerk Heidi Echtenkamp, Corin Ferris, Chris Lubke, Brianna Firestone................... Director of Customer Kim Stewart.........................................Staff Accountant Rick Mireles, Kristen O’Connor, Lyle Raper, D. Lynn Reiland......... Stage Managers Experience & Loyalty Scene Shop Hope Grandon........................ PR & Events Manager HUMAN RESOURCES

Brittany Gutierrez.............................Communications Shaunda Van Wert..........................Vice President of Eric Moore...........................................Technical Director Human Resources Robert L. Orzolek..............................................Associate Coordinator Megan Fevurly.....................Development Manager Technical Director Jeff Hovorka............Director of Sales & Marketing Aubrey Antonsen.....................................HR Generalist Katie Imhoff...........................Development Manager Jennifer Kemps........................Group Sales Manager Brian Carter..................Human Resources Manager Albert “Stub” Allison..................Assistant Technical Director Melissa Olson......................Development Associate Emily Kent...................................Director of Marketing Jamie Hawkins......................................HR Coordinator Louis Fernandez III............................Lead Technician Marc Ravenhill.................................Associate Director David Lenk...............................................Video Producer Jill Martinez............................................Payroll Specialist Tyler Clark, Brian “Marco” Markiewicz, David Zupancic...............Director of Development Emily Lozow..............Marketing & Digital Manager Monica Robles............................Mailroom Supervisor Wynn Pastor, Kyle Scoggins, Kyle Simpson – Broadway & Cabaret Mara Zimmerman........................Scenic Technicians Adam Lundeen....................Marketing Technologist INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION Prop Shop Allison Watrous..............................Executive Director Kyle Malone......................................................Art Director Yovani Pina...........................................Vice President of Robin Lu Payne............................ Properties Director Information Technology of Education Carolyn Michaels............................................Copywriter Eileen S. Garcia.......Assistant Properties Director Patrick Elkins-Zeglarski........Associate Director of Cheyenne Michaels............Marketing Coordinator Rick Bennett.................................................Director of IT Jamie Stewart Curl, David Hoth, Education and Curriculum Manager John Moore................................Senior Arts Journalist Simone Gordon.........................IT Program Manager Georgina Kayes, Stuart Barr.................Education Technical Director Adam Obendorf...........................Senior Art Director Christopher Hoge......VoIP/System Administrator Katie Webster..........................................Props Artisans Claudia Carson........................................... Bobby G and Joseph Schurwonn.........................Financial Analyst Paul Howell...........................................................Help Desk Paint Shop Playwriting Coordinator Bobby Jiminez......Senior AudienceView Analyst Jana L. Mitchell...........................Charge Scenic Artist Jill Schwager.Audience Development Associate Leslie Channell................................Business Manager Jacob Parker................................Software Developer Melanie Rentschler.......................Lead Scenic Artist Andrew Sanders................................Project Manager Melissa Sumner..........Office Manager & Registrar David Tschan................................................Director of IT Kristin Hamer MacFarlane....................Scenic Artist Rob Silk.........................Director of Creative Services Linda Eller................................................................Librarian John H. Voorheis............Manager of Infrastructure Costume Shop Suzanne Yoe..............Director of Communications Tim McCracken......................................Head of Acting & Cultural Affairs Janet S. MacLeod.........................Costume Director/ Andre Rodriguez..............................Teaching Artist & Costume Design Associate THEATRE COMPANY Shakespeare Coordinator THEATRE SERVICES Meghan Anderson Doyle.............Costume Design ADMINISTRATION David Saphier....................Teaching Artist & School Carol Krueger................ Theatre Services Manager Associate Charles Varin...................................Managing Director Coordinator Carolyn Plemitscher, Jackie Scott..............Drapers Adam Alberti, Ethan Aumann, Nora Caley, Ryan Meisheid.........Associate Managing Director Elizabeth Schmit...........................Assistant Registrar Samantha Egle, Jahnice Jones, Hadley Cathie Gagnon..................................................First Hand Allison Taylor..................................Company Manager Rachel Taylor.....................Teaching Artist & At-Risk Kamminga-Peck, LeiLani Lynch, Sheila P. Morris..............................................................Tailor Katie Grayson..........Assistant Company Manager Coordinator Aaron McMullen, Gregory Melton, Costume Crafts Douglas Murphey, Joyce Murphey, Justin Walvoord........... Teaching Artist & Teacher Kevin Copenhaver..........Costume Crafts Director ARTISTIC Professional Development Coordinator Margaret Ohlander, Dylan Phibbs, Valerie Schaefer, Lauren Veselak Chris Coleman.......................................Artistic Director Chris Campbell...............Costume Crafts Assistant Chloe McCleod, Joelle Montoya, Mica Ward..........................................Theatre Company Maggy Stacy, Robyn Yamada....Teaching Artists House Managers Nataki Garrett................Associate Artistic Director Wigs Charlie Miller.................Associate Artistic Director/ Diana Ben-Kiki.................................................Wig Master Off-Center Curator House Crew TICKETING SERVICES FACILITIES & EVENT SERVICES Shawn Bayer....................................Associate Director

Clay Courter..............................................Vice President, Jennifer Lopez.......Director of Ticketing Services Douglas Langworthy.....................Literary Director/ Director of New Play Development Facilities & Event Services Kirk Petersen..........................Assoc. Dir. of Ticketing Services – Patron Relations Melissa Cashion.................................Artistic Producer Dwight Barela, Zachary Brent, Clint Flinchpaugh, Micah White............................Assoc. Dir. of Ticketing Grady Soapes.............................Associate Producer/ Michael Kimbrough.........................................Engineers Director of Casting Services – Subscription Services

Doug Taylor+..........................Supervising Stagehand Jim Berman+, Jennifer Guethlein+, Stephen D. Mazzeno+, Miles Stasica+, Tyler Stauffer+, Matt Wagner+.............Stagehands

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THE KING Madeline Trumble as Anna and Jose Llana as The King of Siam in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.

B Y S Y LV I E D R A K E

How unfamiliar can anyone possibly be with the plot, music and subject of The King and I? It’s only been around for 66 years and it has hardly stopped playing somewhere in the world since it was launched in 1951.

Little did this gutsy Victorian widow dream that, all these years later, this uncommon episode in her life would become the basis for one of America’s most beloved musicals. 24

At first, incredibly, composer Richard Rodgers and book-writer Oscar Hammerstein II resisted writing this musical, doubting there would be much of an audience for it. Yet the musical about to emerge from their serendipitous collaboration turned out to be their fourth gigantic Broadway-and-beyond success. It made Yul Brynner virtually a onerole star; he played The King 4,625 times over a 34-year span. At an uninterrupted clip, that’s 12 years, seven weeks and five days. But a stage musical is not an endurance test (although there is that), but the result of a creative impulse. And The King and I is that result, plus the triumphant survivor of changing theatrical fashions and wildly changing times.

It all began in 1873 when Anna Leonowens decided to write her two books of courtly memoirs, The English Governess at the Siamese Court and The Romance of the Harem. Little did this gutsy Victorian widow dream that, all these years later, this uncommon episode in her life would become the basis for one of America’s most beloved musicals. When the urbane English comedienne Gertrude Lawrence chanced on a Margaret Landon novel called Anna and the King of Siam, inspired by Leonowens’ five years at the Siamese court, the aging Lawrence recognized Anna as a potential comeback role for herself. After failing to cajole Cole Porter into writing a musical for her based on the Landon novel, she turned to Rodgers and Hammerstein II, who had just delivered three successive Broadway megahits: Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945) and South Pacific (1949).

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

The two men had heard about the Landon novel from their wives, and the wives must have insisted, because eventually their husbands offered not only to write The King and I (a title Lawrence reportedly did not like), but also to produce it. Opening in March 1951 with Lawrence in the lead, it became the fourth Broadway megahit for its creators, winning five Tonys®, including Best Musical. (A fifth, The Sound of Music, would follow in 1959.) The production was an all-Broadwayroyalty affair. Aside from the glittering Gertie Lawrence, it had fabulous songs (“Getting to Know You,” “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Shall We Dance?”), Jerome Robbins’ charismatic choreography, opulent sets by Jo Mielziner, lavish Irene Sharaff costumes and, in the role of the King’s son — on Broadway and on tour, until his voice broke — a very young, very personable Sal Mineo. As for The King, after turndowns from Nöel Coward, Alfred Drake and Rex Harrison (who’d played The King in the 1946 nonmusical film with Irene Dunne), it went to that little-known Russian-born actor with a funny name who had been a circus acrobat in Europe, the one-of-a-kind Yul Brynner.

“Yul was remarkable,” she says of Brynner, who continued to draw worldwide admiration if, later in life, also a different set of whispered adjectives (try arrogant, demanding and imperious). Over time, Morison insists they became the best of friends. “Yul had broken every bone in his body when he was with the circus and had built himself up again,” she says. “He was wonderful with the children. Every Monday night he would hold acting classes for the actors and dancers. At Sal Mineo’s final performance he and Sal were both in tears.” Her biggest challenge? “Dealing with the 60-pound ball gown Anna wears in ‘Shall We Dance?’ It was quite a scramble to dance and leap around in those enormous crinolines.” The King and I features José Llana as The King at The Buell, a role he’s played twice in this 2015 Tony-winning Lincoln Center revival directed by Bartlett Sher. Madeline Trumble is his Anna. Sylvie Drake is a former theatre critic and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, a translator, a contributor to culturalweekly.com and American Theatre magazine, and a former Director of Media Relations and Publications for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Patricia Morison, who at the time had created her own Broadway sensation in Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate, was Rodgers’ first choice to replace Lawrence. But Morison was in London with Kate and had a year to go on her contract. She eventually joined Brynner in 1954, continuing the Broadway run of The King and I for another four months — the fourth longest of that decade — before going on the road with Brynner and the show for more than three years.

COMING UP FROM BROADWAY:

DISNEY’S ALADDIN Remember watching Aladdin for the first time? When the genie says you can’t wish for more wishes? Come on! That’s the whole point. But did you ever think you’d see it on a stage? I mean, how do you make a carpet fly? Really?! Maybe you wished you had a magic lamp. Well, the seats are close enough you can practically reach out and touch it, so first wish granted. Now you’re cautious. Perhaps you wished to discover 10 things you may not know about Aladdin. [Big flash of light and smoke, then suddenly…]

1 The show has 18 scenes. 2 There are more than 150 moving lights.

3 20 tons of scenery were constructed.

4 Each piece of clothing was made by hand by 350 people.

5 There are 337 costumes — based on 136 individual designs.

6 1,225 fabrics were selected and 712

different styles of beads were used.

7 There are 1,428 Swarovski

crystals on a pair of men’s pants in the finale.

8 There are more than 100

automated scenic effects.

9 161 pairs of custom shoes are used. 10 There are 108 costume changes taking place in less than one minute.

As for wish number three? Hold up, smarty pants. Careful. Don’t waste it. It’s already coming to Denver (Apr 7 – 28). You can buy a ticket online (but you better hurry because no genie can help you if it’s sold out).

RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S THE KING AND I JAN 2 – 14 • BUELL THEATRE ASL, Audio-described and Open Captioned performance: Jan 14, 2pm

©Disney

Q Lim as Tuptim and Kavin Panmeechao as Lun Tha in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.

So Lawrence got her wish, but while she created Anna on Broadway, she did not get to savor it for long. Developing cancer, she died in September 1952, after remaining with the show until the last possible minute. By then, Brynner was well on his way to making The King synonymous with himself, eventually wresting top billing and fulfilling the title’s promise, which placed The King before the I.

Still lucid and luminous at 102, Morison gladly shares memories of those heady days, recalling especially the joy of working and traveling with all the young children in the company and their mothers.

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ZOEY’S I

In this painfully protracted period of ideological divisiveness in the country, there is perhaps one (single) thing we can all agree on: America could use a laugh.

NOT-SO-PERFECT

WEDDING BY JOHN MOORE

But despite the preponderance of comedies high and low to be found on screens large and small, American playwrights have not been widely producing flat-out, laugh-out-loud comedies for generations. And that, says playwright Matthew Lopez, is a good thing. Because theatre can do better than that.

“Comedy has one of two functions: To make you think or to make you forget,” he said. “The best make you forget that you’re thinking. I hope we’re the latter.” Lopez is the author of the DCPA Theatre Company’s 2014 breakout hit The Legend of Georgia McBride, which went on to be performed Off-Broadway and at theatres across the country. He’s back with another world premiere comedy called Zoey’s Perfect Wedding, which is anything but. “I’m allergic to the notion that, in the face of trying times — or perhaps more accurately put: in the face of a full-scale national disaster — it’s preferable to simply check out,” Lopez said. “Checking out really isn’t an option in a democracy. One could argue that’s how we got into this in the first place. However, we don’t always need to think directly at the thing.” There’s nothing wrong with people spending two hours laughing and having fun at the theatre, Lopez believes. But the route to funny must pass through true understanding. Zoey’s Perfect Wedding presents a wedding where disaster after disaster follows the blushing bride down the aisle, from boozy and brutally honest speeches to obliviously self-absorbed supporting characters to a wildly incompetent wedding planner. Aren’t weddings fun? Lopez has been to enough to know that self-absorbed people often turn weddings into a referendum on their own lives. Put another way, he said: It’s shockingly easy to act like a narcissist at someone else’s wedding. “It was once said of Teddy Roosevelt that he was the bride at every wedding, and the corpse at every funeral,” Lopez said. “I think that applies to more people than anyone cares to admit.”

Illustration by Kyle Malone

It’s also true what they say about your misery being another person’s funny, because Zoey’s Perfect Wedding was inspired by a train wreck of a wedding Lopez was right in the middle of a few years after college.

“It was the weekend after Thanksgiving,” Lopez said. “We had all just seen each other two days before, and here we were back again with nothing really more to talk about than what a fun night Thanksgiving was. Then one friend began to pick at a scab of something that bothered them from Thanksgiving and, before we knew it, we were all in a full-scale verbal brawl that eventually ended up ruining the night for most of us. “I’m certain that, had this been a dry wedding, we all would have had a much better time. And I am certain that is the first time those words have ever been uttered.” The characters and events in Lopez’s play are pure imagination. But the notion of friends showing up to a wedding and forgetting they’re at a wedding and acting like it’s just another night out at the bar? “That, I am ashamed to admit, is true,” he said. APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

Comedy has one of two functions: To make you think or to make you forget.

COMING UP FROM THEATRE COMPANY:

THE WHO’S TOMMY In May 1969, four British rockers (Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Pete Townshend) collectively known as The Who, premiered their rock opera Tommy at a London club. One month later, it hit the charts and, by August, the quartet performed Tommy at Woodstock.

— PLAYWRIGHT MATTHEW LOPEZ

“It’s a story about [how] the child is the star in the family in a way,” Townshend said at a 1992 press conference announcing the world premiere staging of Tommy at the La Jolla Playhouse. “And how, when we bring the children up and we make them the stars, we sometimes play a much more subtle and sometimes even more obvious part in their downfall than we care to really face up to.

But it was the underlying fuel propelling that booze-soaked fire that interested the writer in Lopez. “These characters wrestle with commitment, loyalty and honesty,” Lopez said. “They wrestle with the difference between our expectations and our reality — and those are things we all grapple with in one way or another every day.” Which is why it’s misleading to label his new play a simple comedy. Lopez would like for us to move beyond distinctions between comedy, tragedy and their many variations. The fact is, a great many plays are comedies…until they simply aren’t anymore.

“‘See me/Feel me/Touch me/Heal me’ is a line that echoes for many people today,” Townshend said, “but it has never left me….I am passionate about seeing Tommy grow.”

“Things aren’t funny if they aren’t true,” Lopez said. “Even sight gags require the laws of physics be obeyed in order to work. If and when a comedy veers unexpectedly into drama, perhaps the question one should ask is: ‘Is that true?’ Here’s an example: Is August: Osage County a comedy or a drama?”

And grow it did. Tommy inspired a ballet; the London Symphony Orchestra released an all-star symphonic recording; all-star staged-concert versions multiply; it was arranged for marching bands; it became a Broadway sensation, and Ken Russell directed Elton John, Eric Clapton, The Who, Oliver Reed, Ann-Margret and Jack Nicholson in the psychedelic ’70s movie.

The same can be said about a great joke in the middle of an unquestionably serious play. If the moment is rooted in character, then it is rooted in truth. “Humans are funny. Humans are sad. Humans are sometimes funny and then, the next second, tragic,” Lopez said. “Life does not fit neatly into categories and neither should our stories. At the end of the day, it all comes down to story. And if stories are not rooted in some kind of recognizable truth, they are worthless. “Lest we forget: There’s a fart joke in Waiting for Godot.”

Tommy had a visceral impact, shocked the airwaves, rocked across generations. Tommy. We can hear you.

Matthew Lopez is the author of two DCPA Theatre Company world premieres — Zoey’s Perfect Wedding and The Legend of Georgia McBride. In the 2014/15 season, Lopez also was named the company’s first Playwriting Fellow. In this role he served on the artistic team to give the playwright a voice in the production process, participated in season selection and was the Playwright Host of the Colorado New Play Summit.

ASL & Audio-described performance: Feb 25, 6:30pm

Portions of this text were taken from an article originally written by Constance Harvey, former publicist at the La Jolla Playhouse.

Illustration by Kyle Malone

ZOEY’S PERFECT WEDDING JAN 19 – FEB 25 • SPACE THEATRE

Make sure you hear The Who’s Tommy re-envisioned by DCPA Theatre Company in its season-closing musical production playing The Stage Theatre April 20 – May 27.

PROUD SPONSOR OF THE DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Together, the DCPA and CU enhance our community through theater and the arts, making Colorado an exceptional place.

The University of Colorado is proud to support the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, which shares our commitment to excellence and our passion for the vibrant work of singers, playwrights, artists, dancers, musicians, designers and actors. Since 1876, CU has celebrated and supported the dynamic energy and creativity of artists in everything from vaudeville acts to classic dramas, from comedies to Broadway musicals. As Colorado’s higher education leader, CU fosters a community of students, scholars and artists who make the creative and collaborative processes the core of education. With focuses on dance performances, musical theater, choreography, theory, and sponsorship majors, CU provides students valuable experiences. Its accomplished faculty are committed to the growth and wonder that theater, music and the arts provide. CU’s longstanding commitment to the arts and arts education makes it a natural partner with DCPA, which has its own focus on preparing the next generation of artists through the DCPA Education program. CU offers highly regarded theater and arts programs at its campuses in Boulder, Colorado Springs and Denver, as well as a commitment to promoting and advancing the arts in communities large and small.

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

The cast of Julius Caesar • Photo by Jennifer M. Koskinen

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Together, the DCPA and CU enhance our community through theater and the arts, making Colorado an exceptional place.

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At Transamerica, we’ve been empowering people to feel better about their future for more than 100 years. But we believe our responsibility goes far beyond financial wellness. That’s why we are proud to support organizations such as the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). In the spirit of inspiring others to live well and pursue their passions, Transamerica is in its second year supporting grants to aspiring young playwrights and their teachers taking part in the DCPA’s Regional High School Playwriting Workshop and Competition. While the competition focuses on creative literacy, Transamerica also enjoys promoting financial literacy. Through Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain, Transamerica employees help middle and high school students develop good budgeting, spending, and savings habits to build a strong foundation for prosperous futures. And as some volunteers take to the classroom, others hammer nails to build actual foundations with Habitat for Humanity. In 2017, Transamerica employees helped construct two Habitat homes in Denver. “Having a safe, comfortable, and affordable place to live is a key component in overall well-being and long-term financial security,” said Marijn Smit, head of Transamerica Asset Management. “We call that the connection between wealth and health.” Transamerica continues to make overall wellness a central part of everything we do. After all, what good is wealth if you’re not healthy enough to enjoy it?

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(l-r) Hazel Thompson and Molly Scotto each received a congratulatory pie from Centerplate when named to the role of Lulu in DCPA Broadway’s recent presentation of Waitress. Photo by Emily Lozow.

Centerplate is pleased to serve as the preferred hospitality and catering partner at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, including providing DCPA Broadway guests exceptional service in the newly renovated mezzanine at The Buell Theatre. For the past three years Centerplate has been hosting post-show receptions following the opening night of Broadway subscription shows for the cast, crew, media and Best of Broadway Society members. These events provide a great opportunity for the cast to celebrate the start of their show in a new city and gives local enthusiasts a chance to mingle with the actors. This year Centerplate is customizing each menu to play on the themes of the shows. The Waitress cast party, for example, will be themed around pies due to the main character, Jenna’s affinity for them. The menu will feature chicken cordon bleu hand pie and pulled pork and sweet potato shepherd’s pie in addition to a variety of dessert pies. Centerplate looks forward to another great season as they strive to continually enhance the experience that patrons have come to enjoy. Centerplate’s highly trained and awardwinning culinary team is committed to making the live experience as memorable as possible, a passion that comes across in the form of superior

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

cuisine that is artfully blended with innovative presentation and style. “From a lavish reception for 10,000 guests to an all-day executive workshop, our team custom tailors a menu and program that perfectly fits the unique needs of that specific event,” said Daniel McGaughey, General Manager of Centerplate at the Arts Complex. “We think tirelessly about how to enhance the experience, so our guests have positive lasting memories from their time with us.” Centerplate makes a conscious effort to practice sustainability in all of its processes, adhering to recycling and compost programs that save hundreds of thousands of pounds of waste on an annual basis. It sources products from various local Colorado vendors and farms, while also maintaining a proprietary onsite farm — The Blue Bear Farm — that harvests the fresh produce and herbs that get used on a daily basis. In addition, Centerplate partners with “We Don’t Waste,” which allows the company to minimize the waste of nutritious and wholesome foods by donating leftover items to local nonprofit organizations. Contact the team at Centerplate today to book your next catered event: Daniel.McGaughey@centerplate.com or 303.520.0660.

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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLDS OF THE KING AND I, STOMP, AMERICAN MARIACHI, THE GREAT LEAP November 2017 AND ZOEY’S PERFECT WEDDING Test your knowledge of the worlds of our latest offerings: The King & I, Stomp, American Mariachi, The Great Leap and Zoey’s Perfect Wedding 1

4 5 6

10 11

16 17

19 21

DOWN

APPLAUSE • JAN – MAR 2018 • 303.893.4100 • DENVERCENTER.ORG

American Mariachi playwright José Cruz González also wrote the DCPA’s premiere play Sunsets and _______

6 STOMP started as two miming British street artists performing a genre widely known as ______.

2 Matthew Lopez was named the DCPA’s first-ever _________ Fellow in 2014.

8 Zoey playwright Matthew Lopez also wrote The _________ Man. 10 Lyric: “Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect and whistle a ____ tune.” 12 STOMP features eight performers who employ unconventional variations of this type of musical instruments. 13 Zoey playwright Matthew Lopez also wrote The Legend of Georgia _______.

18 In the 1970s, it was unheard of for this gender to be playing mariachi music. 20 Mariachi bands generally wear this kind of suit in performance.

CROSS

1 The most famous American to play professional basketball in China to date is Stephon _______.

17 The King and I is set in this city, which also has bloodlines to a famous song from Chess.

1 The most famous American to play professional basketball in China to date is Stephon _______ 2 Matthew Lopez was named the DCPA’s first-

DOWN

4 American Mariachi playwright José Cruz González also wrote the DCPA’s world premiere play Sunsets and _______.

14 A performance of STOMP contains none of these, because the creators believe everyone can fully understand it without them.

ACROSS

22 The idea behind STOMP is to try to find music within this, a word that usually describes unwanted sound.

3 Acclaimed baseball play about the first openly gay majorleague player: Take Me _______. 4 Doctors believe playing this can help reach a patient with dementia even as memory fails. 5 Last name of the actor who played King Mongkut in The King and I 4,625 times on stage. 7 The King and I is based on the novel Anna and the King of ____.” 9 The generally very organized wedding _____ is typically not the drunkest person at the party. Typically. 11 According to the playwright, this is the only Western sport that has never been banned in China. 13 The tradition of mariachi music is believed to have begun in this country 15 Song from The King and I: “Shall We ______?” 16 Howlingly well-received current Off-Broadway play about girls’ soccer: The _______ 19 Last name of basketball player who was famous for the accuracy of his underhanded free throws 21 Last (family) name of the Chinese center who played in eight NBA All-Star Games as a member of the Houston Rockets

For answers please visit denvercenter.org/news-center

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