Magic, Possibility & Then Some

Telluride Theatre welcomes new staff, a new office and a scintillating summer schedule

BY EMILY SHOFF

Telluride Theatre’s catchphrase, Magic and Possibility, doesn’t just apply to its shows; the organization itself is all about the enchantment and limitless possibilities that come about through innovation, creativity and hard work.

Take the nonprofit theater group’s recent staffing developments that have led it to have an entirely female-led team. Telluride Theatre hired Mary Higgins earlier this year as its new development and operations manager. Higgins has appeared in Telluride Theatre productions for the last five years and worked extensively in theater nonprofits, as well as at local organizations like the Telluride Academy and Telluride Historical Museum. Now, she will manage Telluride Theatre’s fundraising and grant writing efforts, as well as donor and membership relations. “That makes Telluride Theatre one of a handful of female-led theater groups in the West,” Artistic Director Sasha Cucciniello says, adding that the other invaluable member of their executive trio, Melissa Trn, serves as the troupe’s producing director.

Trn, who was hired in December 2021 and moved to Telluride from L.A., has been instrumental in Telluride Theatre’s successes, according to Cucciniello. “Melissa has an amazing theater background. She goes from top to bottom, working with designers and the people working tech.” Cucciniello also describes how Trn’s work in production frees her, as the artistic director, to really focus on the artistic side — choosing shows for the season, selecting the actors and getting an overarching view of what they are doing as a group. “We are a great team. We balance each other out really well.”

In addition, last summer Telluride Theatre brought a highly regarded California-based director of theater and film, Becca Wolff,

to town to direct the annual Shakespeare in the Park production, which last year was All’s Well That Ends Well. “Wolff instantly connected with everyone in the group,” Cucciniello says of the guest director. “We are an educational theater, one that really strives to be inclusive. Our annual Shakespeare production epitomizes that. We have veteran actors working alongside never-evers. I love this about our company and this town. Becca did a great job of meeting everyone at their level.”

According to Cucciniello, Wolff enjoyed the experience too, falling in love with the town as well as the job. “Some people come to Telluride and can’t quite figure it out. Within weeks, Becca had integrated, Telluride became her place.” The organization is bringing Wolff back to direct Hamlet, this summer’s Shakespeare in the Park production, which takes place July 21-29 on the Town Park stage.

And there are more changes afoot at Telluride Theatre. The group recently secured a new space for staff to work from. “We lost the office we rented for years,” Cucciniello says, reflecting on the challenges of using multiple venues for productions while hunting for an office. “Luckily, we were able to purchase another office in town. It’s tiny but it’s our own.”

This summer promises to be scintillating as Telluride Theatre continues to keep the magic side of its mission alive, not only with Shakespeare in the Park, but also with its annual gala, which as always is a secret shindig in a secret location. Cucciniello muses on the event, which this summer is scheduled for July 1.

“It’s such a fun night that seems to vanish into the ethers afterwards,” she says. “I always walk away wondering if I dreamed it or if it actually happened. A bit like our theater productions.”