Joe Scott's Pioneers return home to take on three-time defending WAC champion Utah State at Magness Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live on FSN Rocky Mountain, as well as AM 1510 and FM 93.7. Follow DU athletics on the web at http://www.denverpioneers.com/

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 • 7 p.m. Joe Scott's University of Denver men's basketball (0-4) vs. Alcorn State. Magness Arena, Denver TV: None • Radio: AM 1510 & FM 93.7 • Web: http://www.denverpioneers.com/

This year the Pioneers return nine players, including four starters and seven of their top eight scorers, from last season’s squad that went 19-13 overall, 10-8 in the SBC and 15-1 at home. Denver was picked third in the Sun Belt Conference West Division in the annual coaches’ preseason poll, but they have yet to win a game. Through four games, junior Brian Stafford leads the Pioneers with 13.7 points per game, while sophomore Chase Hallam has averaged 10.5 points and a team-high 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

Tonight one price tickets are available. For $15, fans can get a ticket and all the concessions they care to eat. The only exclusions are alcohol, bottled drinks and prepackaged candy. Regular priced tickets also are still available, starting at $9.

Dixie Longate, the fast-talking Tupperware Lady, packed up her catalogues, left her children in an Alabama trailer park and took Off-Broadway by storm! Now, join Dixie as she travels the country throwing good ol’ fashioned Tupperware parties filled with outrageously funny tales, heartfelt accounts, FREE giveaways, audience participation and the most fabulous assortment of Tupperware ever sold on a theatre stage. Loaded with the most up-to-date products and available for purchase, see for yourself how Ms. Longate became the #1 Tupperware seller in the US and Canada as she educates her guests on the many alternative uses she has discovered for her plastic products! “Not your grandmother’s Tupperware Party!” says NBC’s Today Show. DIXIE’S TUPPERWARE PARTY plays the Garner Galleria Theatre through January 2.
NOTE: This show is recommended for audiences 16+. For a video preview of the show, visit  http://www.denvercenter.org/
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts
1101 13th Street, Denver, CO 80204
303.893.4100
Tickets

Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol Opens December 2.

What better way to shine a light in the dark of winter than to enjoy this holiday tradition, the classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge who confronts his ghosts of past, present and future and finally finds redemption. A very special family event for the holiday season, this evergreen story of generosity, kindness and true Christmas spirit comes to joyous life with splendid period sets and costumes. A CHRISTMAS CAROL plays the Stage Theatre through December 24.

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts
1101 13th Street, Denver, CO 80204
303.893.4100 Tickets
http://www.denvercenter.org/
Go behind the scenes with 10 Minutes to Curtain, the monthly online video series

Coach Joe Scott's University of Denver Pioneers men's basketball team returns to Magness Arena to open their home schedule against in-state rival Colorado State on Thursday, November 17 at 7 p.m. MT. Denver has won 15-straight games at Magness Arena, tied for the sixth-longest current home winning streak in the nation. The game will be broadcast live on FSN, as well as AM 1510, FM 93.7 and Pioneer Radio. Follow DU athletics on the web at www.DenverPioneers.com

Shrek The Musical, based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks film that started it all, brings the hilarious story of everyone’s favorite ogre to life on the Broadway stage. In a faraway kingdom turned upside down, things get ugly when an unseemly ogre—not a handsome prince—shows up to rescue a feisty princess. Throw in a donkey who won’t shut up, a bad guy with a SHORT temper, a cookie with an attitude and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits, and you’ve got the kind of mess that calls for a real hero. Luckily, there’s one on hand…and his name is Shrek. Featuring a terrific score of 19 all-new songs, big laughs, great dancing and breathtaking scenery, USA Today proclaims Shrek The Musical, “Altogether irresistible… A big fat hit!” Shrek The Musical is part romance, part twisted fairy tale and all irreverent fun for everyone! SHREK The Musical plays the Buell Theatre Nov 16-28 only. The Denver Center for the Performing Arts

http://www.denvercenter.org/
Go behind the scenes with 10 Minutes to Curtain, Denver Center's monthly online video series

DU Men's Basketball is the Best Sports Entertainment Value in Denver!

Photo: DU men basketball's head coach Joe Scott at media day last year. See me, far left with red DU cap, drinking coffee.

The one sport I've been following and writing about here is University of Denver men's basketball. DU's coach Joe Scott returns with his radio show for its fourth year, beginning Nov. 8 from 7-8 p.m. MT on Mile High Sports Radio AM 1510 and FM 93.7, the flagship stations of Denver basketball.
Once again, the show will air on Monday nights throughout the season at The Pioneer restaurant, located at 2401 South University Ave., just south of the DU campus. I don't know why they don't move it to University of Denver trustee Joy Burn's Burnsley Hotel, I think they'd have a much better chance of developing an alumni audience for the show. How about trying it this year once or twice, then make a change next year if it works out.

Back for his 12th season as the voice of DU basketball is Mitch Hyder, who will once again MC each show, which will also be webcast live on Pioneer Vision located at http://www.denverpioneers.com/.

I often join Mitch and Joe and DU basketball fans at the Pioneer restaurant to ask Coach Scott questions, as well as enjoying the great mexican food. Fans that cannot make it to the Pioneer Inn are invited to call in with questions during the live broadcast at 303-297-1510, or send e-mails any time prior to each week's show to michael.kennedy@du.edu.

The Pioneers open their season at the BTI Tournament in Eugene, Ore., on Nov. 12-14, when they will face UC Santa Barbara, Oregon and North Dakota State over the three days, respectively. Denver opens its home schedule against in-state rival Colorado State on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. MT.

The Denver men's basketball team enters the season with a 15-game home winning streak, tied with NCAA runner up Butler and defending Missouri Valley champion Northern Iowa for the eighth longest in the nation, and have gone 36-7 (.837) at home in Scott's three years as head coach.

Season tickets for the 2010-11 Denver Pioneers are currently on sale. DU continues its commitment to provide the community with the most affordable and exciting entertainment in the Denver metro area. Ticket packages start at $64.
Individual game tickets also are on sale now with prices ranging from $9-$15 for adults. DU students get into the game free with their Pioneer Card.

For ticket information, please visit DenverPioneers.com or call the Pioneer Basketball Ticket Hotline at (303) 871-HOOP.

Do you remember Robert Dubac from his hit one-man show The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?.

I'm told hilarious, intelligent, provocative, and scorching, Robert Dubac’s new solo show Free Range Thinking is comedy on steroids. This time Dubac buckles us up for a fast-paced joy ride over the pot-holed highways of cultural hypocrisy. Armed with intelligent thinking and honest absurdity he crashes head first into the barriers of politics, religion and the media. And he’s not alone. With rapid-fire presentation, he portrays multiple hilarious characters. If you like your satire served up with a clever intelligent edge, don’t miss Robert Dubac’s Free Range Thinking. I'll be there with Mary this Saturday (Oct 30), runs through November
Tickets:
303.893.4100

http://www.denvercenter.org/
Follow the Denver Center on Twitter @DenverCenter

THINGS TO DO FOR HALLOWEEN




Come witness a murder - and then solve it - this Halloween! You are and "extra" in a 1960's movie, "Vampire Circus", when suddenly, there's a murder on the set. You and your table-mates will unravel a story that is not soon to be forgotten. Click here to see KMGH-TV7 interview

WHAT: "HORROR IN HOLLYWOOD" interactive, comedy Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre AND, for Kids (8-14), "MURDER IN THE HAUNTED MANSION".
WHERE: Adams Mystery Playhouse, 2406 Federal Blvd., Denver, 80211
WHEN:

Friday, 10/29 - "Murder in the Haunted Mansion" (for kids) 12:00 noon - 2:15 pm (BYO sack lunch show) - $10 per person

Friday, 10/29 - "Murder in Hollywood" (for adults and families) 6:30pm - 9:30pm - $42 and $46 per person

Saturday, 10/30 - "Murder in the Haunted Mansion" (for kids) 1:00pm - 2:30pm (show only - no sack lunch) - $10 per person

Saturday, 10/30 - ""Horror in Hollywood" (adults&families) 6:30pm-9:30pm - $42 and $46 per person
Sunday, 10/31 - "Horror in Hollywood" (adults&families) 12:00noon - 3:00pm - $42 and $46 per person
TICKETS: Must be purchased in advance, by calling 303-455-1848, or buy online http://www.adamsmysteryplayhouse.com/.

What happens when our best loved founding father is miraculously teleported into a 21st century television studio to face questions from an aggressive group of lively panelists?

There’s more to Ben Franklin than a kite in a storm, as audiences will discover when they attend Ben Franklin’s Tea Party at THEATREWORKS, 14-17 October in t...he Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater at UCCS. The production features Christopher Lowell as Benjamin Franklin. Tea will be served. Ben Franklin’s Tea Party plays Oct. 14, 15, 16 at 7:30p.m, with a 2:00 matinee on Oct. 16, and a 4:00 p.m. performance on Oct. 17. Each performance will be broadcast live on the on the UCCS cable television channel. For reservations and further information, contact the THEATREWORKS box office at (719) 255-3232 or (719) 255-3232, or online at http://www.theatreworkscs.org/.

Saw Dracula at the DCPA tonight,  a powerful performance of a powerful story. Message is still as relevant today, maybe more so, as when  the play was written in the late 1800s as we were ramping up the scientific revolution, "there are things in heaven and earth that are not dreamed of in your philosophy"  basics that just don't lend themselves to understanding through the scientific method.

Made me very glad to be a Catholic.

Non-christians might find the play tedious and difficult if not impossible to understand. The Denver Post reviewer gave it a bad review.

If you take your spiritual life seriously, I say don't miss it! See more about the play and information about how to get tickets below.

University of Denver coach Joe Scott talks about the drive for the conference championship this year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPkMP1nodtw&feature=channel

Grease, TIME magazine’s 2007 pick for “#1 musical of the year,” is rockin’ across the country in this new production direct from Broadway. Take a trip to a simpler time of poodle skirts, drive-ins and T-birds. “Bad boy” Danny and “the girl next door” Sandy fall in love all over again to the tune of your favorite songs: “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’” and “We Go Together” as well as additional songs from the hit movie: “Grease,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and “You’re the One That I Want.” So throw your mittens around your kittens and Hand Jive the night away with the show that’ll make you want to stand up and shout, “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop A-wop-bam-boom!” GREASE plays the Buell Theatre Oct 12-17 only.  http://www.denvercenter.org/
Follow the Denver Center on Twitter @DenverCenter

VAMPIRE CLASSIC DEBUTS ON DCTC STAGE


* * *

Dracula plays the Stage Theatre Oct 1 – 31

Opening Night Thurs, Oct 7

Denver — Charles Morey’s thrilling adaptation of Bram Stoker’s DRACULA will play the Denver Center Theatre Company’s Space Theatre October 1-31 (with a press opening night Thursday, October 7.) Tickets for the original vampire tale are on sale now, by calling 303.893.4100 or www.denvercenter.org.

Directed by Gavin Cameron-Webb, the DCTC production of DRACULA promises to be lushly staged and amply frightening. Charles Morey’s adaptation is loyal to Stoker’s original novel in both plot and style, and mirrors the novel’s overarching sense of threat and dread, says Cameron-Webb. He also notes that what makes this tale so thrilling is that our imagination and our fear of what lurks in the fog and might emerge from the gloom, is more frightening than anything in reality. He aims to play on those fears in the production, while staying true to the classic vampire tale.

Single tickets for DRACULA start at $18 and are on sale now. To purchase, call Denver Center Ticket Services at 303.893.4100. TTY (for Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons): 303.893.9582. Groups of 10 or more, please call 303.446.4829. Tickets may also be purchased at the Denver Center Ticket Office, located at the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex Lobby. Buy and print online at www.denvercenter.org. Student $10 rush ticket are available one hour prior to curtain with a valid student ID subject to availability. Senior and military rush tickets are available one hour prior to curtain, subject to availability. No
children under six will be admitted to any theatre.
Special Events for DRACULA

Perspectives on the Play
October 1 at 6pm

The DCTC’s creative team gives audiences a unique viewpoint about the play they are about to see, which makes the stage experience even more rewarding. In the Jones Theatre.

Student Nights
October 1 at 7pm

Students with ID can purchase $10 tickets in advance along with other social activities. Use promo code STUDENT when ordering. On October 1, enjoy the pre-show “Perspectives on the Play”, the Student Lounge in the lobby and a special for a local restaurant.

Talkback hosted by the Higher Education Advisory Council
October 9

Join the cast for a post-show discussion led by members of our academic community.

DCTC at the TC
October 8 at 12pm

Part of our ongoing partnership with The Tattered Cover LoDo. In the event space on the second floor of the Tattered Cover on 16th Street downtown, DCTC Literary Manager Douglas Langworthy will examine the art of adapting works for the stage. Come and find out why the Charles Morey adaptation of Dracula was selected over several others.

Miners Alley Playhouse presents
“Art”
How much would you pay for a white painting?

How would you feel about your best friend if he suddenly did something you thought so colossally stupid, it made you doubt the very basis of the friendship? When an art lover Serge, buys what is in essence a pure white painting for a horse-choking sum, his best friend, Marc goes ballistic. A third friend, Yvan squeezed in the middle of the conflict, tries to please and mollify them both. Serious questions about the meaning of contemporary art and contemporary friendships (and how they're sometimes not all that different)are bought into sharp relief in this classic comedy “Art”.

Sept 10 – Oct 24
Fri./Sat. 7:30 p.m.; *Sun. 6 p.m. *Sunday, October 24 will be at 2 p.m. There will be no evening show on this date

1224 Washington Avenue (13th and Washington 2nd floor entrance on 13th).
Tickets: $19 - $26.50
Call 303-935-3044 or online at minersalley.com

CARIDAD SVICH’S THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS

PLAYS THE DENVER CENTER THEATRE COMPANY’S SPACE THEATRE

SEPT 17-OCT 23

Denver — THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS, an adaptation of Isabel Allende’s epic novel written by award-winning playwright Caridad Svich, will play the Denver Center Theatre Company’s Space Theatre September 17-October 23 (opening night Thursday, September 23.) Tickets are on sale now, by calling 303.893.4100 or www.denvercenter.org.

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS is a family saga that looks at four generations of political, social and familial upheaval, and the pride, passion and triumph of characters living in turbulent times. Playwright Caridad Svich’s English adaptation of Allende’s novel will receive its first major production at the DCTC. The play has previously been produced in Spanish both in Chile and at Repertorio Espanol in New York City.

Isabel Allende, who last Thursday was awarded Chile’s National Literature Prize, published her debut novel The House of the Spirits in 1982 and it quickly became an international best-seller and critical success. Set in a fictional Latin American country, the novel spans over 50 years and deals with themes of oppression, tyranny, gender and class issues, but also romance, love, healing and forgiveness. These themes greatly interested Svich as she approached the novel to adapt it for the stage, as they echoed topics in her previous plays.

The cast of THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS includes Meaghan Wolf (Alba), Franca Sofia Barchiesi (Clara), Allison Pistorius (Rosa the Beautiful/Blana), John Hutton (Esteban Trueba), Drew Cortese (Esteban Garcia), Dena Martinez (Pancha/Woman 1), Jeanne Paulsen (Nivea/Woman 2), Jeanine Serralles (Ferula/Count Satigny/Woman 3), Lanna Joffrey (Transito Soto), Lawrence Hecht (Severo/Pedro Garcia/Fr. Antonio) and Dion Mucciacito (Pedro Tercero/Guard/Barrabas).

THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS, a play with songs by Caridad Svich, is directed by Jose Zayas, who directed last season’s staged reading of the play, the Spanish language version of the play at Repertorio Espanol in NYC, and the Chilean premiere of the adaptation. Costume design is by Deborah Dryden (DCTC’s The Trip to Bountiful). Scenic design is by Robert Mark Morgan (The Diary of Anne Frank), with projection design by Charlie I. Miller (When Tang Met Laika, Mama Hated Deisels) and lighting design by Jane Spencer (Well, The Voysey Inheritance). Arrangements and additional music is by Jane Shaw, with sound design by Jason Ducat (DCTC’s Othello, When Tang Met Laika).

About the playwright: Caridad Svich is a US Latina playwright, translator, lyricist and editor whose works have been presented across the US and abroad at diverse venues including Repertorio Espanol, The Women’s Project, INTAR, 59East59, Cincinnati Playhouse, McCarren Park Pool, 7 Stages, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, ARTheater-Cologne, and Edinburgh Fringe Festival/UK. Among her key plays are 12 Ophelias, Any Place But Here, Alchemy of Desire/Dead-Man's Blues, Fugitive Pieces, Iphigenia...a rave fable, Instructions for Breathing, and the multimedia collaboration The Booth Variations. She is currently working on new play A Little Story and In the Time of the Butterflies (based on the novel by Julia Alvarez). She has translated nearly all of Federico Garcia Lorca’s plays as well as works by Lope de Vega, Calderon de la Barca, Julio Cortazar and new plays from Spain, Cuba and Mexico and has freely adapted works by Wedekind, Sophocles, Euripides and Shakespeare.

Single tickets for THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS start at $18 and are on sale now. To purchase, call Denver Center Ticket Services at 303.893.4100. TTY (for Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons): 303.893.9582. Groups of 10 or more, please call 303.446.4829. Tickets may also be purchased at the Denver Center Ticket Office, located at the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex Lobby. Buy and print online at www.denvercenter.org. Student $10 rush ticket are available one hour prior to curtain with a valid student ID subject to availability. Senior and military rush tickets are available one hour prior to curtain, subject to availability. No children under six will be admitted to any theatre.

Want me to attend your event and publicize it here? Call me on my cell (720)495-4949 and I'll see if the date is available.

I'll be attending this next Saturday, July 24. Join us?


Miners Alley Playhouse presents
The Underpants
By Steve Martin
Adapted from Carl Sternheim original 1913 play Die Hose
Directed by Rick Bernstein
Miners Alley Playhouse presents “The Underpants” through August 29, with performances every Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m.; *Sunday, August. 29 will be at 2 p.m.—no evening performance on this date.* Regular Tickets are $20 ($21 online). Senior, Student and Group rates available. Tickets are available by calling 303-935-3044 or online at minersalley.com.

  Attended preview of the new Biennial of the Americas today (click here for my Facebook photos) 

This should be a lot of fun, events throughout the month of July, starting with concerts this week, including the Colorado Symphony with fireworks in Civic Center Saturday, July 3.

Some of these roundtables, concerts and other events will sell out, so order your tickets now.For complete schedule go to: http://www.biennialoftheamericas.org/

 

This should be fun, click below for more:

http://www.lakewoodonparade.org/

Miners Alley Playhouse presents

The Underpants

By Steve Martin

Adapted from Carl Sternheim original 1913 play Die Hose

Directed by Rick Bernstein

Miners Alley Playhouse presents “The Underpants” July 9 through August 29, with performances every Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m.; *Sunday, August. 29 will be at 2 p.m.—no evening performance on this date.* There will be one Industry Night on Thursday, July 15 at 7: 30 p.m., industry night tickets $15. Regular Tickets are $20 ($21 online). Senior, Student and Group rates available. Tickets are available by calling 303-935-3044 or online at minersalley.com.

Opening night features a great, gala hors d’ oeuvres reception after the show; audience is invited to join the festivities and mingle with the cast. On Saturday, July 17, Miners Alley holds its "Second Saturday" talk back with the cast after the performance. 

In The Underpants, actor-writer Steve Martin has adapted the 1910 social comedy by German playwright Carl Sternheim and turned it into a hilarious, over-the-top farce centered on an unruly pair of knickers. Louise is a pretty, young housewife in turn-of-the-century Germany, whose frilly pantaloons accidentally fall to her ankles while watching the Kaiser's parade, it causes a scandal and sets in motion a zany chain of events. A foppish poet and a nebbish barber, both entranced by the brief glimpse of her underwear, vie to become Louise's lover. Her new-found fame terrifies her husband, thrills her neighbor and brings out her own parade of bizarre suitors.

In "The Underpants" actor-writer Steve Martin turns the 1910 social comedy by German playwright Carl Sternheim into a hilarious, over-the-top farce centered on an unruly pair of knickers.

The cast includes: John Greene as Theo Maske, Haley Johnson as Louise Maske, as Paige L. Larson Gertrude Deuter, Chris Bleau as Franklin Angelo “The Cat” Luigi Versati III, Christian Mast as Benjamin Cohen,  Del Domnik as Herr Klinglehoff.

”Not since Monica Lewinsky's thong almost toppled a presidency has a pair of panties caused such a national fuss. ...a hilarious, over-the-top farce" -The New York Daily News

Miners Alley Playhouse presents

The Underpants

“Never underestimate the power of a glimpse of lingerie”!

July 9 – Aug 29

Fri./Sat. 7:30 p.m.; *Sun. 6 p.m. \  *Sunday, August 29 will be at 2 p.m. There will be no evening show on this date

Industry Night – Thur. July 15 @ 7:30 p.m.. (Industry Night Tickets $15)

1224 Washington Avenue (13^th and Washington 2^nd floor entrance on 13^th).

Tickets: $20 ($21 online)
Call 303-935-3044  or online at minersalley.com

Denver Gains First SBC Road Win
Chase Hallam stars with 19 points and six rebounds

NEW ORLEANS – Freshman Chase Hallam (Mesquite, Texas) scored a career-high 19 points to lead Denver to a 53-45 win over New Orleans in Sun Belt Conference action at Lakefront Arena. Denver earned its first SBC road win of the season and improves to 16-11 overall and 9-7 in the SBC. New Orleans falls to 8-19, 3-13 SBC.

“I really like the way we are playing right now,” DU head coach Joe Scott said. “We overcame a lot of adversity tonight to get this road win. All of our players have been getting better and it was nice our senior Nate Rohnert played at his best when it mattered tonight.”

Nate Rohnert (Parker, Colo.) added 17 points, including 10 late in the second half, and a career-best 13 rebounds as DU won for the first time ever in New Orleans.

DU led 20-10 at the half by outplaying UNO and turning in a stellar defensive effort. Chase Hallam scored 10 points, including DU’s first eight. The Pioneers held the Privateers to a paltry 2-for-17 from the floor, but went 2-of-12 from three-point range, and missed three layups and five charity attempts.

UNO went on an 8-0 run to start the second half, but five points from Travis Hallam (Mesquite, Texas) and a three-pointer from Justin Coughlin (Yuma, Colo.) gave DU a 28-22 lead.

The Privateers cut the DU lead to 39-38, but eight free throws by Nate Rohnert (Parker, Colo.) and four points from Chase Hallam in the last four minutes iced DU’s first SBC road win.

Denver returns to action at South Alabama on Feb. 25. The Pioneers close out the regular season against Louisiana Lafayette on Feb. 27.

DENVER – The Denver Center Theatre Company prepares to welcome nearly 300 theatre professionals and press representatives from across the nation to Denver and the 2010 Colorado New Play Summit this weekend.  For video overview see  http://www.denvercenter.org/10Minutes

Photo: (L to R front) Mike Hartman, Philip Pleasants, Reema Zaman and members of the cast in a Colorado New Play Summit reading of Eventide by Eric Schmiedl, based on the novel written by Kent Haruf. Photo by Kyle Malone

 

In just four seasons, the nation’s youngest major new play festival has premiered nine full productions, read 20 new plays, and presented panel discussions on the subjects of new voices for women, crossing cultures, writing for the stage and television, and what’s next in new play development.  New plays commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company for the Summit have been produced Off-Broadway and at major regional theatres from Yale Repertory Theatre to the Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum, and have been among the finalists for some of the nation’s most prestigious new play awards. 

Centerpiece of the fifth annual Summit are the commissioned world premieres of When Tang Met Laika by Rogelio Martinez – the love story imaginatively set on the International Space Station and Eventide by Eric Schmiedl based on the novel by Kent Haruf – the company’s signature poignant story of Holt, Colorado and the companion piece to the critically-acclaimed play Plainsong (commissioned and premiered by the Denver Center Theatre Company in 2008).  In addition, four playwrights will hear two readings of their new works in development: Caridad Svich based her new play on Isabel Allende’s novel The House of the Spirits, looking at four generations of political and social upheavals through the powerful lens of memory.  Michele Lowe (Inana) introduces Map of Heaven, a contemporary drama with tragic undertones, exploring the devastating consequences of a single lapse in judgment.  In Ken Weitzman’s The Catch, America’s national pastime meets America’s financial meltdown when a failed dot-commer plots to regain his fortune by catching a star slugger’s record-breaking home run ball.  And Jason Grote (1001) interweaves a giant pig on the rampage, mass choreography, Washington and Jefferson selling snacks to the inner city and the search for love and meaning in Civilization (All You Can Eat).

A highlight of the fifth annual Summit is the mid-winter meeting of the American Theatre Critics Association with theatre reporters from Chicago Public Radio, Salt Lake Tribune,

Miami Herald, Albuquerque Journal, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Chicago Tribune, Pittsfield Gazette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and many of the nation’s top theatre websites.  National theatre philanthropist Jim Steinberg of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust will moderate a discussion of “New Works and the Critics” with four ATCA members – Christine Dolen from The Miami Herald, Jeffrey Eric Jenkins editor of Best Plays Theatrical Yearbook, Chris Jones from The Chicago Tribune and Christopher Rawson from The Pittsburgh Post - Gazette.

Theatre professionals scheduled to participate in the Summit February 11 -13 include artistic directors, literary managers, agents, actors, dramaturgs and directors.  They represent: Utah Shakespearean Festival; New York’s Lark Play Development Center, Primary Stages, Chautaqua Theatre Company and Clubbed Thumb; California’s Cornerstone Theatre, TheatreWorks, Center Theatre Group and Native Voices at the Autry; Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company; Chicago Dramatists; and Denver’s Paragon Theatre and Buntport Theatre.

For more information visit www.denvercenter.org/summit.

Some of the readings are open to the public.

Denver Takes Down Florida Atlantic, 73-63

Nate Rohnert had a game-high 25 points and eight rebounds against the Owls

  

My son John, son-in-law Tim, and grandson Josh joined me to watch the University of Denver men’s basketball senior captain Nate Rohnert (Parker, Colo.) score 25 points and make eight rebounds, as the Pioneers defeated Florida Atlantic 73-63 at Magness Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Freshman guard Chase Hallam (Mesquite, Texas) chipped in 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting for the Pioneers (14-9, 7-5 SBC), while junior guard scored 10 points. Sophomore guard Brian Stafford (Walnut Creek, Calif.) dished out a game-high four assists and added eight points.

Denver shot 61.1 percent (22-of-36) from the floor, the third time in the past four home games that DU eclipsed 60 percent, and 71.4 percent (10-of-14) from three-point range. 

It was Boy Scout day, the arena was packed with enthusiastic young people and we all had a great time!

Game #23: Denver (13-9, 6-5 SBC) vs. Florida Atlantic (12-11, 8-4 SBC)

Saturday, February 6, 2010 • 4 p.m. MT

Magness Arena (7,200) • Denver, Colorado

           TV: None • Radio: AM 950 • Web: www.DenverPioneers.com (Video & Audio)

About Denver: DU enters Saturday’s game after going 1-4 in the past five games, including a 73-62 loss at Arkansas State on Jan. 30. DU is in fourth place in the SBC West Division, two games behind first-place Arkansas State. Denver returns nine players, including all five starters, and 98 percent of its scoring and rebounding from last year. DU was picked second in the Sun Belt West Division in the annual coaches’ preseason poll, and senior captain and guard Nate Rohnert was named to the Preseason All-SBC First Team.  

About Florida Atlantic: The Owls are in a three-way tie for first place in the SBC East Division at 12-11 overall and 8-4 in the SBC. FAU won five-straight and 7-of-its-last-8 games before falling 86-69 at North Texas on Feb. 4. Florida Atlantic was picked to finish fifth in the SBC East Division after finishing 6-26 overall and 2-16 in the SBC last year. The Owls are averaging 75.2 points per game, the second most in the SBC, but they have allowed 74.1 points per game, also the second most in the conference.

The Match-up: The Pioneers and Owls are tied 2-2 in the all-time series with both teams winning a pair of games at home, including a split last season.

 

Magness Magic: The Pioneers have won 12-straight at home, following a season opening loss to Missouri Valley favorite Northern Iowa. Since Joe Scott took over as head coach prior to the 2007-08 season, the Pioneers are 33-7 (.825) overall and 20-4 (.833) against SBC teams at Magness Arena.

A Denver Center Commissioned World Premiere
Eventide
by Eric Schmiedl
From the novel by Kent Haruf
Directed by Kent Thompson
Runs through February 27, 2010  The Stage Theatre

Commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company.


Eventide, the old English term for evening, is the title of the new Denver Center Theatre Company commisioned play that just opened, a riveting drama, set in a small town and a ranch with 3 sections of grass land where the two unmarried McPheron brothers live out their lives as self-confessed old men in a house built by their grandparents.

The epic story of Holt, Colorado began with Kent Haruf’s bestselling novel and Eric Schmiedl’s critically-acclaimed play – Plainsong, commissioned and premiered by the Denver Center Theatre Company in 2008. The McPheron brothers, Harold and Raymond, captured the hearts of audiences from across the Rocky Mountain West and a national Colorado New Play Summit audience of theatre professionals.

The small town story continues for those who loved Plainsong and is introduced to a new audience with the world premiere of Schmiedl’s commissioned adaptation of Haruf’s companion novel Eventide. Haruf's plainspoken and endearing characters – the aging McPheron brothers and Victoria Roubideaux, the pregnant young girl they took into their home – are joined in Eventide by a lonely young boy who generously cares for his grandfather, and a mentally challenged couple trying to hold their family together.

There is a full range of emotions, evoked by skilled actors led by Mike Hartman's outstanding portrayal of Raymond McPheron.

Tickets start at $18 (some restrictions may apply) and are on sale now. The Denver Center Box Office located in the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex is open from 10am to 6pm Monday through Saturday. To purchase tickets by phone call (303) 893-4100 – for those outside the Denver calling area, 1 (800) 641-1222, TTY (303) 893-9582. Buy and print tickets on-line by visiting www.denvercenter.org.

Student $10 rush ticket are available one hour prior to curtain with a valid student ID subject to availability.

Senior and military rush tickets are available one hour prior to curtain, subject to availability.

Groups of 10+ contact 303.446.4829 or groupsales@dcpa.org

Omigod you guys!

Legally Blond opened it's national tour tonight in Denver.
http://tour.legallyblondethemusical.com/

You've got until valentines day February 14 to see this energetic, entertaining play that packs an emotional punch.

Phenomenal Becky Gulsvig, the Elle understudy in the original Broadway cast, is Elle Woods in the tour.

Sorority star Elle Woods doesn't take "no" for an answer. So when her boyfriend dumps her for someone more "serious," Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and sets out to go where no Delta Nu has gone before: Harvard Law.

Like a Greek chorus, Elle's sorority sisters encourage her, a demonstration of the old truth: first we make our friends and then our friends make us, they lift us up or pull us down.

Elle is lifted higher and higher to the emotional Finale.

Be true to yourself, don't miss it!

Want to run a 10K? Triathlon? Climb a fourteener?
http://www.xpcolorado.com/

When Tang Met Laika was too much for the couple that sat next to me, they left at intermission.

A very well-educated and thoughtful friend who attended with me wondered afterwords if there was any real depth to the story; It surprised me that we had very little conversation about it as he gave me a ride home. This after another friend had told me the day before it was one of the best plays she had ever seen.

This morning I wake to look out at a beautiful moon setting behind the mountains to the west as they start to brighten at sunrise.

So I'll be thinking about the play, it's author http://www.goddard.edu/rogeliomartinez and it's message this morning.

Have you seen it? What did you think?