Summer is the perfect time to slow down, sit back and reflect on why we love theatre.  So, we went around to Denver Center employees and asked them what plays changed their lives.  We got some pretty awesome (and touching) responses!  Here they are:

Name: Sylvie Drake

Position @ The Denver Center: Director of Publications

Life changing play: Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Why: A production of Hamlet starring John Gielgud totally changed my life. I couldn’t begin to tell you why, except that the transformative power of theatre hit me over the head and it hasn’t been quite the same since. From that moment on I wanted to work in the theatre. It’s all I’ve ever felt was really worth doing, along with maybe architecture, natural science and astronomy.

Name: Marti Steger

Position @ The Denver Center: Program Manager

Life changing play: God’s Country by Steven Dietz

Why: In 2005, the National Theatre Conservatory performed God’s Country by Steven Dietz as part of REP. In my mind, live theatre is supposed to make people stop and think. A viewer can experience a range of emotions: joy, sadness, confusion or anger. God’s Country did exactly that. Audiences left the show in hushed whispers, tears and sometimes open rage. The lobby was filled each night with patrons talking about the emotional roller coaster they had just been taken on. While I cannot say I liked the play, I love that nearly 6 years later I still get tears in my eyes thinking about the production and the powerful impact it had on everyone involved.

Name: Chris Ewing

Position @ The Denver Center: Production Stage Manager, Denver Center Theatre Company

Life changing play: Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas and Amahl and the Night Visitors (opera) by Gian Carlo Menotti

Why: I was an undeclared major first semester, freshman year at undergrad. I was on the football team. After practice one day, coach called us all together and said a Dr. Richard Clark, the chair of the Theatre Department, would like to speak to us. Dr. Clark was offering one half credit to anyone on the football team who would show up four times on a given Saturday or Sunday night at midnight to “strike” a show that semester. I had no idea what he was talking about. Some sort of labor dispute? Easy credit I thought. I signed up. I thought I should see what this theatre thing was all about. I went to see the college’s production of Under Milkwood on the first Saturday night I had signed up for. I was intrigued, but not enthralled. I stayed after the show and helped “strike” (tear down) the set, lights, sound etc. I had an absolute blast. We finished about four in the morning, ahead of schedule according to the staff. We used the next three hours “loading in” some of the technical requirements for Amahl and the Night Visitors. I was hooked. I later attended that opera and was not blown away but I already had the bug for the backstage aspects of entertainment production. Those two shows changed my life. The rest is history. Some of my favorite live plays/musicals I have worked on since (because I also did rock and roll, Ben Vereen’s act, Suzanne Sommer’s act and some TV and film production, ballet, dance concerts, comedians and corporate events among other things so I’ll stick to live plays/musicals) are Sweeny Todd, The Grapes of Wrath, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Love Janis, Lost Highway. Actually I could go on and on because all live productions change me in some way, mostly I hope, for the better. Nuf’ said.

DCPA Employees - May 2010

Name:

Kirk Petersen

Position @ The Denver Center: Director of Ticketing Services

Life changing play: Evita

Why: It was the first show that I listened to the soundtrack enough to memorize all the words (still know them today!) and through friends got hired on at Robert Garner Center Attractions to help sell tickets to its Denver engagement back in 1982.

Name: Mark Onderdonk

Position @ The Denver Center: Marketing Business Manager

Life changing play: The Who’s Tommy

Why: For me, it was definitely The Who’s Tommy.  Hearing that familiar rock music come to life on stage, combined with terrific choreography, lighting and costumes hit a real chord within me.  It opened by eyes to the artistic possibilities of the stage and the powerful message of performance art.  It also made me want to switch careers to the arts and work at the DCPA, and by the following year I was!

Name: Suzanne Blandon

Position @ The Denver Center:  Associate Director of PR and Publications

Life changing play: The Lion King

Why: Attending the theatre is generally so much more than just the play – it’s the entire experience. So when I brought my 6-year-old son to see The Lion King, the experience was second to none. Not only was the production terrific, but watching his reaction and engagement in the music, movement and story was mesmerizing. We both left the theatre changed and uplifted (ok, by 10:30pm he was just lifted and soon to be snoozing…). Certainly the most memorable theatrical experience of my life.

Name: Doug Langworthy

Position @ The Denver Center: Literary Manager, Denver Center Theatre Company

Life Changing Play: Nicholas Nickelby by Charles Dickens, adopted for the stage by David Edgar

Why: Back in the 1980s I saw the second British touring production of Nicholas Nickelby and was mesmerized. The use of the large company, the imagination and theatricality, the buoyant sense of theatre as something vital and alive. I think this experience helped me firm up my decision to pursue a career in the theatre, as now I knew theatre could do anything.

Stay tuned for more stories from Denver Center employees coming soon!

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