For today’s YouTube Tuesday, Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman talk about how they created the world premiere musical, Mama Hated Deisels, a rambunctious musical portrait of America’s long-distance truckers.  The first preview performance, which is also the $10 Student Night, is on Friday! 

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Photographer and Denver Center Trustee Jim Steinberg has embarked on a journey to photograph the open roads and the truckers who travel them. Photos from his 6.606 mile journey will be featured in Mama Hated Diesels this spring! The play, which runs March 19-May 9 in The Stage Theatre, is a world premiere musical about America’s long-distance truckers.

Follow Jim’s journey on his blog: Colorado Scenic Byways.

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Today was the final day of the 5^th Annual Colorado New Play Summit.   What a journey!

Our day started with a moving  reading of The House of Spirits by Caridad Svich.  This play, based on the novel by Isabel Allende, looks at four generations of political and social upheavals in Latin America through the powerful lens of memory.   After the reading we heard from actor Randy Moore and the playwright herself, Caridad Svich:

Next we took a break for lunch followed by the Panel Discussion in the Seawell Grand Ballroom where members of the American Theatre Critics Association discussed the relationship between new works and the critics.  Here, Charlie talks to critics John Moore, Jeffrey Eric Jenkins and Chris Jones:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwA0w65HXpo

For our last theatrical event of the summit, we attended Eventide in The Stage Theatre.  Read at the New Play Summit last year, this companion piece to Plainsong is based on a book by Kent Haruf and adapted for the stage by Eric Schmiedl.  The play had the audience in tears of sorrow and joy at the end – a great way to end the Summit.

Following the play, a bittersweet Closing Reception commenced in the Seawell Grand Ballroom.  What a great festival.  We hope to see you all next year for the 2011 Colorado New Play Summit.  Also, stay tuned for the announcement of the Denver Center Theatre Company’s 2011 Season next month, which is sure to feature some of the plays read at this year’s Summit.

We’ll wrap things up with some comments posted on Facebook and Twitter this week about the Summit:

Carole Healey The Play Summit rehearsals have begun and I am doing the wonderful new play, Map of Heaven. We read through Michelle Lowe’s gripping script and then, Scott Schwartz, our director led us through a fascinating discussion of themes, characters and we opened up a discussion of topics ranging from health care to art and it…’s meanings…It is going to be an intense week, full of discovery. This is why we love the theatre. Carole Healey

cars21  (answering the question “What was your favorite reading at the Summit and why?”) @DenverCenter HOUSE because it paints a landscape I want to see fully realized & introduced us to a family I want to learn more about.

xagoeson  “Eventide” @DenverCenter was really, really good. You have 2 more weeks. Go see it.

bestplays  After one fully staged production, three play readings and s playwright’s slam, it’s clear that DCTC exists in no other theater’s shadow.

corteseatwork 7th inning stretch for Ken Weitzman’s THE CATCH at the New Play Summit! First act was knocked out of the park!

corteseatwork Full house for EVENTIDE tonight, the final event of the New Play Summit; some great theatre packed into these past few days!

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Phew!  What a long (yet glorious) day of new plays.  Here’s a run-down of our activities today:

10am – Coffee in the lobby (Yessss…).

11am – First reading of the day in The Ricketson Theatre – Map of Heaven, a new play by Michele Lowe.  Michele is best known in Denver for Inana, which was read at the Summit in 2008 and premiered at The Denver Center in 2009.  Map of Heaven is a powerful story of an artist and her husband, a radiologist, and the devastating consequences that occur as a result of a single lapse of judgment.   Afterwards, Charlie Miller caught playwright Eric Schmiedl and director Scott Schwartz for their reactions on the play:

1:30pm – Lunch time!  Everyone gathered in the lobby of the Bonfils Theatre Complex for delicious sandwiches by Jay’s Hot Ticket Café.  Yum!

3pm – Back down to The Ricketson Theatre where we saw the reading of The Catch by Ken Weitzman. The play follows a failed dot-commer as he pots to regain his fortune by catching a star slugger’s record-breaking home run ball.   Here, Literary Manager Doug Langworthy and dramaturg Mike Sablone give their thoughts about the play:

5:30pm – Time for dinner in the Seawell Grand Ballroom.  Between bites, we had the opportunity to learn more about Civilization: (All You Can Eat), by Jason Grote.  Jason also wrote 1001, which premiered at The Denver Center in 2007:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxVVNVHzffc

7:30pm – Again to The Ricketson Theatre for the final reading of the day – Civilization (All You Can Eat).  What a unique show!  The play is a fierce burlesque of America’s love/hate obsession with food.  Here are some reactions to the show:

10pm – Finally, we ended the day with the Playwrights’ Slam in The Jones Theatre.  What a great way to wrap up a long day: Over drinks, several of our commissioned playwrights read excerpts from their plays in the works.

Now – off to bed!   Check in tomorrow night for our final summit recap.

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And we’re off!  The Colorado New Play Summit has officially begun.  First on the agenda tonight was a performance of the world premiere production of When Tang Met Laika, a play by Rogelio Martinez read at the Summit last year.  Because it takes place largely on the International Space Station, the play has a lot of interesting technological elements (video projections, turntables, moving scenery, etc), but they don’t distract from Rogelio’s compelling story.   The audience loved the show;  Actor Ian Merrill Peakes, who plays Patrick, said “The show was great tonight, we had a full house of smart, savy theatre-goers.  It was awesome.”

Before the performance, Charlie Miller had a chance to hear from Artistic Director Kent Thompson and playwright Jose Cruz Gonzalez:

After returning from their (theatrical) journey to space, festival attendees went up to the Seawell Grand Ballroom for the Opening Reception.  DCTC Artistic Director Kent Thompson gave a brief welcome to the enthusiastic crowd and mingling ensued.   At the reception, Charlie chatted with several theatre professionals about When Tang Met Laika:

That’s all for today – check back tomorrow for the next daily recap of the Summit.

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Welcome to the virtual Colorado New Play Summit — an online forum designed to share information about the Denver Center Theatre Company’s fifth annual festival of new theatrical works including the world premieres of WHEN TANG MET LAIKA and EVENTIDE plus readings of four exciting works in development.

Here you can read, comment on and share each day’s recap with your friends and colleagues in the industry. Need a description of the readings? Want to see what others are saying? Can’t wait to watch someone’s opinion of the activities? Make sure to plug in, log on and stay tuned.

Live updates and commentary on Twitter	Live video blogging on YouTube
Photo and video highlights on Facebook	Daily recaps on The Denver Center Blog

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By Douglas Langworthy, Literary Manager, Denver Center Theatre Company

Philip Pleasants and Mike Hartman in Plainsong. Photo by Terry Shapiro.

Here at the Denver Center we are currently mounting EVENTIDE by Eric Schmiedl based on the novel by Kent Haruf, author of the award-winning bestseller Plainsong, which we produced in Eric Schmield’s adaptation a few years back.

What I’ve been thinking about lately is terminology—while it’s true that the events of Eventide occur chronologically after the events in Plainsong, Kent Haruf prefers the term “companion piece” to “sequel.” The term “sequel” implies that you need to have seen the first play/read the first book to fully grasp the meaning of the second and, in this case, nothing could be further from the truth. Both stories stand on their own and tell a complete narrative. Yes, some characters from Plainsong appear in Eventide, but just as Plainsong has a beginning, middle and an end, so does Eventide. It’s true that having seen one enriches the experience of seeing the other, but in truth the plays stand alone and can be seen in any order.

All this got me to thinking about other famous companion pieces of the theatre. Lillian Hellman’s two plays about the greedy Hubbard family come immediately to mind: Another Part of the Forest and The Little Foxes. Forest was written years after Foxes even though in terms of the lives of the characters it chronologically precedes it. Tony Kushner’s Angels in America is composed of two separate plays—Millennium Approaches and Perestroika—but these plays are two halves of a whole (thus the over-arching title Angels in America) and as the action is continuous, should be viewed together to get the maximum impact. The dramatic appearance of the angel at the end of Millennium Approaches heralds (so to speak) the second play, Perestroika. Then there is House and Garden by Alan Ayckbourn, two separate plays played simultaneously by the same group of actors huffing and puffing between two different theatres. These are companion pieces of a sort, as it doesn’t matter which play you see first, but to truly appreciate the skills of the playwright and his acting team you really should see the other.

So to return to Plainsong and Eventide, wouldn’t it be great to produce both companion pieces in the same season using the same actors? To set the two dramas side by side and listen to them speak to one another? To create a true Coloradan event? As both plays have large casts, it would be a costly project, and these days that’s a big hurdle to overcome, but, hey, a guy can dream, right?

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By Douglas Langworthy, Literary Manager, Denver Center Theatre Company

Alan Ayckbourn

Ayckbourn, who at age 72 has written more than 70 plays including ABSURD PERSON SINGULAR which is playing now in The Space Theatre, is considered the most prolific professional playwright living.  Each of his plays has some sort of stylistic device that makes each play easy to remember.  Here is a selected list of some of his more popular titles. Let us know which one you would like to see produced next!

Standing Room Only:  A maternity ward on a double-decker bus

Relatively Speaking:  A romance where no one knows who they’re in love with

How the Other Half Loves:  Three couples attend two dinner parties at the same time

Time and Time Again:  Three men chase after the ultimate trophy woman

The Norman Conquests:  Three plays, one cast

Bedroom Farce:  One night, three bedrooms

Season’s Greetings:  Another average Christmas with affairs and gunshots

Intimate Exchanges:  Two actors, one small decision, eight possible plays

Woman in Mind:  A woman with both a real and imaginary family

A Small Family Business:  Family furniture business turned drug-dealing ring

The Revenger’s Comedies: Two plays, one epic tale of revenge

Body Language:  Two women given the chance to exchange bodies

Time Of My Life:  A family drama that spans the past, present and future

Communicating Doors:  A time-travel comedy-thriller

By Jeeves:  A musical-turned-farce, all due to a missing banjo

Comic Potential:  A robot discovers her comedic acting abilities

House and Garden:  Two plays occurring simultaneously in two different theatres

Virtual Reality:  Miscommunication in a world of advanced technological communication

Damsels in Distress:  Three different plays with the same set and cast

Improbable Fiction:  One story told spanning multiple genres

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(clockwise from upper right): Theresa Rebeck, Octavio Solis, Lisa Loomer and Marcus Gardley

Continuing its commitment to supporting new American playwriting, the Denver Center Theatre Company has recently commissioned plays from four exciting playwrights: Marcus Gardley, Lisa Loomer, Theresa Rebeck and Octavio Solis. Their projects, which will come to fruition over the next year or two, are all part of Artistic Director Kent Thompson’s keen interest in supporting new playwriting. Since coming to the Denver Center five years ago, Thompson has established a vigorous commissioning program (at least four plays per season) as well as the COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT, a dynamic weekend each February featuring full productions and readings of brand new work.

Both Theresa Rebeck and Octavio Solis have received prior DCTC commissions, their plays going on to full productions during the Company’s 2007/08 season. Rebeck’s Our House, a satirical look at reality TV, has had a second production at New York’s Playwrights Horizons. Solis’ Lydia, a dark and haunting family saga set in El Paso, Texas, went on to receive four subsequent productions last year at theatres from coast to coast that included Yale Rep and the Mark Taper Forum.

Theresa Rebeck’s past New York productions include The Understudy, Mauritius, The Scene, The Water’s Edge, Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection, Spike Heels and Omnium Gatherum (co-written, Pulitzer finalist). All of her plays have been published in acting editions by Samuel French. Publications also include Collected Plays Volume I-III and Free Fire Zone with Smith and Kraus. She has won the National Theatre Conference Award, the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, Boston’s Elliot Norton and IRNE awards, a Writer’s Guild Award, and Edgar and a Peabody.

Octavio Solis’ past productions include Man of the Flesh, Prospect, El Paso Blue, Santos & Santos, La Posada Mágica, El Otro, Dreamlandia, The Seven Visions of Encarnacion, Bethlehem and Gilbralter. His adaptation of Quixote based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes was recently produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He received the 2000/01 National Theatre Artists Residency Grant from TCG and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Lisa Loomer’s play Living Out was produced at the Denver Center in the 2006/07 season. Her recent play, Distracted, played at the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York in 2009, had its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum, and is currently being produced in regional theatres and in Europe. Her other plays include The Waiting Room, Expecting Isabel, Birds, Accelerando, Bocon! and Broken Hearts. Her awards include the Jane Chambers Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and The Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award.

Marcus Gardley recently received a Helen Merrill Award for an Emerging Playwright. His most recent play is Love is a Dream House in Lorin. Other produced plays include dance of the holy ghost, (L)imitations of life, and like sun fallin’ in the mouth. He is the recipient of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Gerbode Emerging Playwright Award, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Award, a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Grant and an NEA/TCG Playwriting Participant Residency among others.

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Former Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung has taken his music career in a new direction.  He’s composed the music and lyrics for the new 101 Dalmatians musical, which is headed to The Buell Theatre next summer.  The show – a completely new musical – is currently rehearsing on 42nd Street in New York City in preparation for its national tour.  Check out this video for some rehearsal footage and get the inside scoop on how they’ll be portraying the dogs and humans on the stage.

101 Dalmatians logo

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