Unpacking the Henry Awards

Alex and Toni dig into the 20th annual Henry Award nominations from the Colorado Theatre Guild — 168 nominations across 24 categories, with the ceremony set for July 20 at the Arvada Center. 

The Denver Center combined for 26 nominations across DCTC and the DCPA Cabaret, Lone Tree Arts Center hauled 17 for Nice Work If You Can Get It alone, and Firehouse Theatre landed 14, largely driven by Alabama Story. The guys break down the dominant productions, the geographic spread, the repeat nominees and the notable snubs. They also run through what the review crew has been seeing, share their top 10 Colorado headliners for the coming weeks and catch up on what they've been watching offstage. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

All right, hello, and welcome to the Onstage Colorado Podcast. I'm Alex Miller. And I'm Tody Tresca. In this episode, we are discussing the recently announced Henry Award nominees. This is the 20th annual Theater Award show that is organized and produced by the Colorado Theater Guild. So a little bit later in this episode, we will dig into all 168 nominations that were announced across all 24 categories and discuss some of the trends that we noticed in the nominations.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yeah, it's always interesting to see the when the Henries come out. It's uh, you know, there are definitely some things that it usually misses, uh, just the way they do it, and we'll we'll talk about that a little bit. And then, but also some great recognition for uh a lot of theater companies as well. And uh and some of the things we, you know, we we noticed uh trend wise, and also, you know, sometimes there's there's some some gaps that we will also notice, and I'm sure the theaters do too.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

So definitely. But with like any award show, it's just an excuse to talk about how much excellent live theatrical performances exist across all of Colorado. So we will do that just a little bit later. But first, let's talk about some of the shows that we have seen since we last podcasted.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Yeah, absolutely. So um you saw The Cake and uh really loved it. That's uh that's up at uh Firehouse Theater. Uh and you're it was one of the more glowing reviews you've written recently.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

It was. I I found this play uh that is written by Becca Brunstetter um to just be incredibly moving as directed by Troy Lakey. The premise made it seem like it was going to be kind of didactic and perhaps even a little bit preachy. The premise is this woman comes into a bake shop. She has known this baker uh who is being played by Kelly Uhlenhoff. Uh she's known her her whole life, Dia Delia, Delia, and she asks her to make a cake for her wedding, but it's not just, it's not a homo, it's not a heterosexual wedding. She is getting married to her lesbian partner, and you think it might, it's gonna just end up being kind of a this very on-the-nose um piece, but it's far more nuanced than that, and really digs into it's a four-person play. Everybody here has really interesting character flaws, and they're full, fully rounded, and just this cast on the firehouse theater stage is so kinetic. There's whether they're arguing or crying or both, or doing some kind of raucous sex uh sex capade, because it's also kind of very funny, even though the show kind of has this serious premise. There's so many interesting moments of levity that are intersected into the story throughout. I just cannot really recommend this one enough. It's uh it is still running at Firehouse through June 28th. It's an hour and 50, no intermission. Be prepared to feel big feelings because it's not a play that sits comfortably. It doesn't necessarily choose any sides or offer kind of easy explanations to that central conflict that it introduces. And yeah, I I cause yeah, I think that's I just found this play to be a lot more interesting and moving, largely due to the excellent direction and profound performances by this four-person cast.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

And then you also caught the new Catamount show. I'm not sure if that's still up or not, or is it gone through June?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

It just closed, but I just wanted to quickly spotlight Uncontainable. It's a collaboration between uh two Boulder troops, the Catamounts, which you just mentioned, known for their immersive theater stuff, and Third Law Dancelash Theater, which is another kind of experimental troupe in the Boulder area. And the whole thing is set in shipping containers in a parking garage off Boulder's 29th Street Mall. And when I initially heard that premise, I got flashbacks to Darkfield, the that terrible experience by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts off Center that was all in shipping containers and you were wearing headphones, and it was just so hot and a disaster and not very well executed. But this is kind of an otherworldly piece that is probing um human connection. It's set in the near future where people have largely retreated to the digital space, kind of like our world, and you're watching this renegade artist gather at sundown to kind of recover the intimacy of being together in real time. And that's done through a series of tasks like playing a vinyl record manually, which I had never done before. They actually picked, they were like, hey, can you go put the record on? And I was like, um, sure, but only if you help explain what I'm supposed to do. I g I and so it was this whole piece that really emphasized the kind of tactile mechanical process that goes into the activities that you choose. And all the while you you surrender your phones at the start, and you think it's just you're being immersed in these beautiful uh moments, but the phones start slowly making more and more noise and entreating on this world. And it's I thought it I I found it to be a really radical piece because it's not just saying, like, yeah, you can just go off into the woods and escape everything, and that's how that's a perfect life. No, there's always going to be these distractions and these trade-offs, but you as a human get to focus on what you put your time into, how you choose it. If that one you want to just let everything be automated and hit the easy mode, okay, but you are losing something. And it's not going to be as easy to just go off and escape all this. There's always going to be these distractions. But I just found that choice, the centering of that and our agency to be an incredibly radical concept to frame this whole experimental dance piece around.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah, the Canabats have been on a roll their last uh few shows. I think uh you've you've uh given high praise to as be curious to see what they do next.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

I yeah, I think if you are somebody who likes immersive work, Denver, the Denver metro area had long been talked about as being this amazing ground for building stuff. I think the actual ground is happening up in Boulder County, being primarily led by the catamounts. They are the troop who is doing single-handedly the most interesting stuff in the immersive space, at least in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Aaron Ross Powell Great. Well, I saw kind of a weird mix of uh shows in the last week or so. I saw Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, which is the Torian Broadway show. Um that's uh very much a spectacle, lots of uh really cool effects, uh lots of you know wizardry magic, and uh, you know, it was the story was kind of you know simple, but it's definitely if you're into if you like Harry Potter, you definitely like that one. It's it's up for another. I think it's here through the 21st, yeah, June 21st, if you still have time to catch that. Uh and then I went up to Conifer to see Disaster exclamation point from uh from Stage Door Theater, which was like, oh my God, what a silly, silly, silly show. Uh and uh the the the song list was all these like really hokey pop hits from like the 70s uh and things like that. But it was it was very funny. Uh great cast uh put together by um uh the the theater, just unbelievable. Like Thursday was was in it. She was fantastic. Um and uh yeah, Jennifer Burnett was in there. Yeah, there was it was a really strong cast. And um, so really, really a fun show. And I think that's got one's got another week or two. Uh and then Jen and I went to this thing called Celestia, which uh Yeah, I've heard about this.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Isn't this like an immersive thing inside a is it a church or yeah, it's in St.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

John's Cathedral. So it's a really interesting idea. And it's not really a theater piece, or I don't know if I'd call it an immersive piece. It's more like a I don't know, an exhibition or uh something like that. But the idea is like kind of like you know, when you think about like going to a laser light show, it's projected on an observatory, like a smooth space. This is their idea was to uh use all kinds of LED lights and projections and project them onto the the ceiling and walls of the cathedral, which are anything but a flat, you know, you know, regular uh uniform space. It's got and and it was pretty amazing the way they were able to uh you know to to light up the place. Um and uh it was, you know, so it was a little on the short side. I think it was only about 40 minutes, you know, and you're you're basically looking up the whole time. Um, but uh, you know, I thought it was pretty interesting. Um I wasn't quite sure if it was enough of a meal, uh, you know, to like almost felt like it needed something else. Uh like I don't I don't know what that would be. Um but you know, we were everybody was kind of like, is it over? You know? Uh and uh but definitely cool.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

This reminds me, have you been over to the it's called the Church of Cannabis in Denver? No. Or heard of it? No. Um it's a similar thing. It's in an old converted building. It's on one level kind of just this museum dedicated to to cannabis, weed, as it as it sounds. But then they also have on this another level a light show that takes place on the kind of ceiling in which they do all these projections and cool things. Uh-huh. And the the Church of Cannabis that thing, they do have a little bit more on the entrance and as you leave to make it feel like a full experience. Sounds like maybe that's what this piece could use.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah, I was definitely thinking if you're of the persuasion to get high or uh maybe maybe hit some shrooms to go to something like this, it would probably really elevate the experience if it doesn't freak you out. Um so yeah, interesting. And beautiful church. I mean, beautiful cathedral. It's really cool to be in there. So uh and then uh April saw POTUS uh at uh Springs Ensemble Theater Company. The full title is POTUS or seven women trying to save I can't remember the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

POTUS or behind every great dumbass are seven women trying to keep him alive.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Thank you. Yes. Uh so uh she thought that was a pretty good production down there if you happen to be on the springs. So uh yeah, and we'll talk a little bit about other shows coming up, but we can switch over to our main topic.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

You want to kick it off? Sounds good. For our main topic this month, we are going to be talking about the Colorado Theater Guild's annual Henry Awards. This event is a celebration of last year's theater season that's defined as June 1st through May 15th. So that's June 1st, 2025 through May 15th, 2026. That's the Henry season, according to the Henry eligibility requirements, which if you want to read more, they're all on the Colorado Theater Guild website, and you can read it all. But we've we dug into it, so you don't necessarily have to. This event is a fundraiser for the Theater Guild, and it marks the 20th anniversary of this ceremony. It's gonna take place on Monday, June 20th at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. It's gonna be co-directed by Kenny Moton, Jessica Hensley, with musical direction by Alex Steinhorn. I just I wonder if there will be any nods to the history of this event and the ceremony. And 20 years is kind of a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Yeah, probably. I just wanted to say I think it's July 20th, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Did I say June? It is July 20th. That is correct. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

All right. Um so yeah, I mean, I think they should. And you know, it's uh it's definitely getting to, you know, be a storied tradition uh in Colorado. So um, you know, and it's it's worth just kind of saying what they are. You know, they're named for uh a longtime local theater producer, Henry Lowenstein, uh, who uh passed a few years back and who was just a big name, you know, really influential person in the development of Colorado theater. Um so the nominations are determined through a judging process. They have like more than a hundred uh people statewide. They're like people like, you know, maybe theater professors, other people, you know, theater lovers, uh, things like that. And so what basically they just have a ballot after every show and you just kind of score, like, you know, I don't know, I don't remember what the scale is, like so one to ten, you know, direction, choreography, whatever, all those different categories. And then they just it's very quantitative in, you know, in that respect. And they just kind of tall tally them all up. And if you got the most points, then you win.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

And that is also how how and why ties often do happen in the winners list, is because they are literally just adding up the points from the judges' sheets. And so if two people get the same amount of points and they're the most, they are the two winners, or three or whatever, how many folks tie. So yeah, it's all very mathematical. All shows, in order to be eligible for this award show, must be produced by a member of the Colorado Theater Guild. So you actually have to pay your dues and be a part of the org to be recognized. And then most categories are divided into tiers, two tiers. Um, if you are an organization who has a general annual budget of $500,000 or more, you are in tier one. And if you have less than that, you are in tier two. So it's a pretty clear numerical cutoff line there. And interestingly, uh this year there are no tiers for outstanding play and musical production, play and musical direction, musical direction, ensemble performance, choreography, or new player musical. All other categories are tiered.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Right. Yeah. So I think they made that change a few years back to just to recognize that, you know, somebody with a very small budget is not going to compete on the same level as, you know, the Denver Center or whatever. So um and shows that aren't eligible are things like touring shows, remounts, um, you know, high school, college, uh puppet theater, opera, mime, unscripted or improvised productions, stage readings, children's theater. So there's a there's a lot of it's pretty, it's pretty uh specific to theater.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Uh yeah. And you have to actually be open for at least eight performances in order to give the judges time. Either you can't productions can't be open for less than three weeks or fewer than eight performances. And if you are a pay-to-play model, meaning that you charge people to be in the show, you are also not eligible.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

So another change this year, the acting categories.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Yeah, this was changed last year uh for the first time for the first time, kind of rolled out. But the acting categories are now no longer separated by gender, but rather by lead versus featured performance. So you just have a list of nominees who are all nominated in either lead or featured, tier one and tier two. No, it can be it could be 10 women if that was what it the cat, if that's what the judges selected, could be 10 men, a mix, uh no kind of hard rules there. The only thing that then comes out of this category is judges will then award two recipients per tier, unless, of course, as we mentioned earlier, there's a tie. Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

And then another change this year was uh a conflict of interest thing. So if you're if you're on the Henry or if you're in the Colorado Theater Guild, um, you're not eligible to win any Henry Awards uh while if you're directing the the awards ceremony.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

So it's a fairly small number of people, right? Correct. Yeah. So for this year, that's just Kenny and Jessica. So if you were wondering why Kenny Moton wasn't nominated for director, despite his production of Come From Away over at the Arvada Center or Lady Day being recognized in other major categories, that could be why. Of course, we don't know what the judges actually put on their ballot. Maybe he would have been nominated, maybe not. But with this new rule change, he absolutely was inel.

unknown 15:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

So uh so yeah, this uh 20th anniversary season, they had 24 nomination categories, uh 19 named categories, resulting in 168 nominations. And then they have a lifetime achievement award given out, and the that uh person will be announced later in June. So, what were your kind of immediate takeaways uh from the list of winners or nominees?

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Well, it's uh it's a good year to be at the Denver Center. Uh, the DCPA led the nominations with 26, and that is across uh their theater company division as well as their cabaret division, but for our purposes, we just kind of lumped those together for 26. While Lone Tree had the most dominant single production of the nominations, with nice work if you can get it, receiving a whopping 17 nominations.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

That's amazing. That must be like, is that a record?

SPEAKER_00 16:51

I don't know if I've heard 17 for one show. I couldn't find I I didn't do spend a ton of time looking at the most nominees for any shows, but it's the most in recent years for sure, since I've been covering it. I can't speak to the history uh past like 2023, but it's a huge slew. A lot of it comes from their acting categories, which we'll get into a little bit later. Uh, but I also noticed the noticed that the Firehouse Theater in Denver also had a huge year. They got 14 nominations with Alabama Story doing much of the heavy lifting there. Um, and then another big surprise for me was that Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater only earned one nomination this year. Outstanding performance by Paige Daigle in Guys and Dolls. And that's pretty surprising because the company dominated last year's ceremony, winning seven Henry Awards overall. So this is a huge drop-off for them.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yeah. Yeah, another another one that stuck out to me was Stage of Life Theater Company was nominated for Cabaret. And since I'd never heard of them before, they're in Carbondale. Uh, and it looked like their website primarily IDs them as a children's theater company with classes and stuff like that. So, but I guess they do the occasional adult shows, like, wow, where did they come from? Uh, I thought uh, you know, Thunder River was the only game in town in Carbondale.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yeah, I I guess not. I I I was reading in John Moore's piece for the Gazette that apparently this is a a collection of former students who had worked um with Stage of Life Theater Company coming together for an adult production of cabaret, and apparently it was just splendid, but yeah, I hadn't heard of it either.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Interesting. So, yeah, the full list of nominations are on our website as well as the Colorado Theater Guild website. So uh you want to uh start and just kind of run through some of the the uh these non-tiered categories. So, like Outstanding Production of a Play, uh Another Medea by Bob Blue up in uh Fort Collins, Cry It Out, Boulder Ensemble Theater Company, Silent Sky, way down south, a Creed Repertory, Dracula, a comedy of terrors, which is DCPA Cabaret Show, uh, and English at the Denver Center Theater Company, as well as the happiest man on earth at the Denver Center Theater Company. So they don't split out comedies from drama, so it's all lumped into play. So that's why you see something like, you know, Silent Sky next to Dracula, a comedy of terrors.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Yeah, pretty notable. Three of the six nominees here produced by the Denver Center. Uh pretty, pretty good showing for them there here. Um, outstanding production of a musical. The nominees are Come From Away at the Arvada Center, Next to Normal, produced by the Denver Center Theater Company, Nice Work If You Can Get It, by Lone Tree Art Center, DreamWork Theatrix Shrek, the musical, produced by Sasswatch Productions and Parker Arts, Cabaret by the previously mentioned Stage of Life Theater Company, um, in Carbondale, and Million Dollar Quartet, produced by Theater Aspen.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

And then for Outstanding Direction, uh Hamid DeGani for English at the Denver Center, Tara Falk for Silent Sky at Creed Rep, Hunter Foster for Driving Miss Daisy at Theater Aspen, Gordon Greenberg for Dracula Comedy of Terrors, Christy Montor Larson for Birthday Candles at Curious. Um, so that's the lineup of directors.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

And then the outstanding direction of a musical lineup is Kate Gleason for Nice Work If You Can Get It at Lone Tree, Nancy Keystone for Next to Normal at the Denver Center, Christopher Page Sanders for Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill at the Arvada Center, Luke Ryan for Cabaret by Stage of Life, and Warren Sherrill for Assassins at Miners Alley Performing Art Center.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Pretty good lineup. And then for musical direction, uh Jacob Carl for Next to Normal at Denver Center, Jay Chang Tablada for Alanis Morissett's Jagged Little Pill at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, David Niels, Come From Away at Arvada Center, Alex Steinhorn for Nice Work If You Can Get It at Lone Tree, and Brad Weiss for a Million Dollar Quartet in Theater Aspen.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

And then over in Outstanding Ensemble Performance, the nominees were the Company of Birthday Candles at Curious Theater, Come From Away at the Arvada Center, It's a Wonderful Life, a live radio play at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center. Henry Henry judges love that show. Every time it's a wonderful life, a live radio play gets staged around Colorado. They seem to want to nominate that one. Same with this next one: The Mouse Trap at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities. And finally, nice work if you can get it, Lone Tree.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

So for outstanding choreography, Jeffrey Denman for Mary Poppins at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. Christopher Page Sanders, once again, nice work if you can get it. Sarah Parker for Jagged Little Pill at the N at the Fine Arts Center. Uh Luke Ryan for Cabaret, Stage of Life, P.O. Wyatt. Uh for the Wild Party at Thingamajig Theater Company. Boy, I don't think I've seen Thingamajig nominated for anything in a long time. They are down in Pagosa, I think, Pagosa Springs. And uh I would always I'd love to go down there sometime and see what they're doing in the summer.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's good good for them for getting on the board though. Yeah. And then the final category we're just gonna read out is Outstanding New Play or Musical. So this is world premieres that happen in the Colorado marketplace. Nominees include Godspeed at the Denver Center, Miss Manhattan, which was co-produced by 19K Productions and Center Stage Theater Company, Stocking Stuffers over at Miners Alley Performing Arts Center, H. E. Double Crooked Letter at Firehouse Theater Company, and Cowboys and East Indians at the Denver Center.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

Wow. You know, this Miss Manhattan, I don't remember uh ever appearing on my radar last year uh with 19K Productions and Center Stage Theater Company. So good for them.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

I yeah, I I I saw the workshop of it uh I I guess it was a couple years ago. I I didn't, I guess I all I also missed this full production, so I can't comment on it. But it's it was nominated in a couple of spots throughout here. So clearly the Henry judges took notice and thought it was pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Yep. And we always like to kind of do the you know, tally up, you know, and and like you said, Denver Center had 26 uh nominations, Lone Tree 17, Firehouse Small But Mighty with 14, uh, and beat out the Arvada Center, just numbers-wise, with with had 12, and this unknown stage of life theater company had 10. Uh, and Theater Aspen and Platte Valley Theater Arts, they're up in Brighton, uh, both had eight. Open Stage in Fort Collins had seven. Uh, the Fine Arts Center and Colorado College and Miners Alley both had six. Brightheart Stages, Curious Theater, Performance Now, and Springs Ensemble Theater all had five. Uh, so those are some of the ones that kind of had those multiple awards that they can they can brag about.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Yeah, and overall there were 32 companies, including a few co-pros, that were nominated for an award. Um, but like I mentioned at the top, uh the DCPA really did have a big haul. And that's because they had a lot of different shows that were recognized. Uh, Denver Center Theater Company got 15 nominations, and the cabaret division got 11 nominations.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Which is very rare for the cabaret, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:47

I mean, that is a very good point.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

They're often touring shows. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Correct, yeah. And so, and even sometimes if they are not touring shows, they don't always cast locals 100% of the time. This was a pretty much all local show, and uh that was reflected in the nominees. I think all every actor in that in Dracula Comedy of Terrors was nominated for their work, which certainly helps you rack up their nominee production. Absolutely. Um and so the Denver Center Theater Companies were spread out across a couple of different productions. So they were nominated for English, Happiest Man on Earth, Next to Normal, Godspeed, Cowboys and East Indians, and Cat on a Hot Ten Roof. Well, in contrast, the Cabaret's 11 nominations all came from Dracula, a comedy of terrors.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Yep. And like you said, the most nominated show was uh nice work. If you can get it at Lone Tree with the 17. Um, and uh also and Comedy of Terrors we were just talking about got 11. Cabaret got 10, a stage of life, Alabama story at Firehouse got 10. Mousetrap at Arvada got five, come from away. Also at Arvada got five. Um and uh yeah, just the the list goes on, but uh it's just interesting to see how how some of these really land um in uh in groups, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:10

That was one of the things I really noticed this year about the nomination toll is that when the judges liked something, they really liked it. There was not a desire to kind of like spread the love, or even necessarily within a comp particular company's season, spreading the love to different shows, like Firehouse Theater. They got a couple other nominations, but it really was they loved Alabama story, and so they nominated them there. Um, another couple other examples like this: Lone Tree Art Center got six featured performances in a musical nominations for nice work if you can get it. Um, I that is crazy. We also nominated uh this musical in our awards, the on stage Colorado uh theater awards, the Oscar's, uh, but we did not award it this much.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Yeah. Yeah, and it's it would have been it's it'd be more interesting if we could compare directly, but since we we do a calendar year, so uh the our awards only covered uh the half of the year that uh Henry's did. Um Totally. Uh but yeah, they also um you know they uh we we uh gave an Oscar to um the uh Dracula show for best comedy.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

So a little bit of overlap there. Um Yeah. And Dracula Comedy of Terrors got those five featured performances in a play nominations. Firehouse had five featured performances in a play nomination, plus four performances in a play nomination, driven by Alabama Story. Brightheart stages got four performance nominations. It's just like if they liked your show, they were gonna nominate everybody whom they everybody who was possible to nominate, it seemed.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Yep. So um how about individuals who appeared more than once? Um we had a couple of we had a really interesting uh grouping of uh a married couple, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:03

Yeah. Uh Adrian Lee Robinson and Marco Alberto Robinson were a a couple who famously has got to act together quite a few times on Colorado stage last season, and both of them were nominated for their roles in Nice Work If You Can Get It and for Dracula Comedy of Terror.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

Yeah. Yeah, that's got that's really special for them. And they really are great together on stage, um, you know, in in two very different shows. Definitely. Um and then David Neals got uh music for music direction, both for Stocking Stuffers and Come From Away, uh so um at the Arrata Center. Stocking Stuffers was Miner's Alley, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Yeah, that was Miner's Alley. Yeah. Yeah. And uh I there was a ton of these folks who got nominated for more than one award. Megan Van Vandee, Brady Wees, Steve Emily, Jeffrey Parker, Luke Ryan, Christopher Page Sanders, Nicole Harrison, and Jeff Jesmer were all nominated twice. And sometimes in different categories. Uh well, actually, all in all cases, in different categories. But I just thought that was really odd that it was so incestual inside the nomination list, so many of the same names showing up over and over again. I it did make me wonder if perhaps there should be a cap on how many times a particular person can be nominated for their work, just in an effort to continue to spread the love and honor more folks who are working in our community. Because I'm not trying to sit here and say that like Jeffrey Parker did a bad job in Frankenstein or South Pacific. He didn't. He was very good excellent in those, but he did take up two spots in acting categories that potentially could have gone to another folk person.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Aaron Powell Yeah, that's a good point. It's like, you know, uh the the nature of how these shows are nominated is very much uh dictated by by sheer numbers, but you can you could monkey with that a little bit by putting those kinds of caps uh on things so that yeah, the love gets shared a little bit more. I'm sure that I'm sure the Henry board has discussed that. They're always making little tweaks here and there and um and hearing from from people uh you know, uh with strong opinions about how things should be done. So if you look at the uh by part of the state, the metro area in Denver certainly still dominates. Um the um metro foothills bucket has 95 nominations, uh, but 69 of them came from just four theaters: Denver Center, Lone Tree, Firehouse, and Arvada. So uh it suggests a very few strong seasons, but not necessarily an across-the-board metro sweep.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

Yeah, and the Northern Front Range had a pretty steady season uh between Platte Valley, Open Stage, Betsy, the Arts Hub, Center Stage, Flash 19K, Both Blue, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and Candlelight added up to 32 nominations, but no single company in that grouping dominated the ballot the way that Lone Tree, Denver Center, Firehouse, or Avada did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

Yeah, and the mountain resort theaters had a had a decent year, not just Rocky Mountain rep, but um they had uh there were 30 nominations that came from the that Seoul Theater, Theater Aspen, Creed Rep, Thingamajega, Thingamajiga, and Thunder River, um and the same along the front, northern front range uh and boulder grouping. Uh so Roaring Fork area punched above its weight with the addition of this Seoul Theater Company and as well as uh Theater Aspen and Thunder River. Um and then if you go all the way down south, uh you know, from Colorado Springs down, uh, they had uh not quite as many. Uh, you know, the Fine Arts Center and Springs Ensemble combined for 11 nominations, but well behind uh some of the other areas. So what about the theater companies that seemingly did a lot of good work but got no or few nominations?

SPEAKER_00 32:59

I think speaking to the kind of lack of nominations in the southern Colorado area, I found it surprising that theaterworks um did not appear at all on the list for any of their productions. They uh they do pretty consistently strong work. I I had a couple of quibbles with some of the with a couple of the shows I saw there last year, but I still thought that they were in many ways excellently uh tech technically designed in many cases. And so I was surprised that they got blanked. Same with the Aurora Fox.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

Yeah, Aurora Fox got completely blanked. Um Theatreworks is part of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, but I don't think they're they're not student productions. So I they you know they should be in the same category as the Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, which you know is is are also not student productions. But um I I jotted down catamounts before I read the rules again, so no immersive, which I don't know, why not?

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Well, no, no. So that is act so they do technically immersive could be awarded because immersive doesn't mean non-scripted um by any means, particularly with the catamounts. They have a they have a very detailed script for all almost all of their shows. And so no, this is just the judges not nominating the catamounts slash perhaps the catamounts did not submit their shows to be nominated. I don't I don't know the answer to that question, but they do nominate a immersive is eligible.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Okay. Another word.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

I guess I should say it's just not it's just not made ineligible by the current rules. There immersive, the word doesn't appear in the requirements.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Okay.

unknown 34:36

All right.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Uh another uh little bit of a surprise, Buntport, uh previous multi-award winner. Was it last year that they got they got a bunch, or is it the year before, but yeah, they've they've often appeared and then Yeah, Eyes Open, Mouth Agape, I think was the last time they really had a big showing at the Henry's. Yeah. And then uh a couple of theaters in Summit County, Theater Silco in Silvathorne, and I don't think Breckenridge Backstage. Did they get any nods? I don't think so. I don't think so, yeah. Yeah. And I thought you know, I thought Theater Silco wasn't eligible because they weren't a CTG member, but I was looking on the member list and they were on there. So um yeah, but other was other ones, local theater company, Two Cent Lion, you pointed out, no and Bonnie, which uh was a great uh new new work, right?

SPEAKER_00 35:24

I thought that was a huge omission by the Henry judges to not nominate this homegrown musical that was produced uh very excellently by Two Cent Lion and Shifted Lynn's Theater Company over at the People's Building in Aurora. I I think there was a there's two or three that were nominated in the best new work uh uh play or musical that I would have taken off to make space for Anne Bonnie. And then I think there's some other acting and technical stuff that they could have thrown in as well for that musical. But and it's not like the Henry judges are unfamiliar with Two Cent Lion. They've been awarded in the past, so they just ignored this show.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Yeah. Uh also uh ignored since 2020 is Family, Denver's Disability Affirmative Theater Company that uh, you know, does does decent work and sometimes really good work.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

They had had a little bit of a rougher season last year. I'm not gonna sit here and try to argue that. Pippin, Dance Nation, not their strongest work, but I was a little women that they did um in, I believe it was March of this year over at the in North Glen was excellent. I thought maybe there could that might have made an appearance here, but yeah, I I think the Henry judges really need to take a look at themselves and ask why Family Theatre Company has not been nominated for a single award since 2020. Because it's not like that this company has not done stellar work since then. Midsummer Night's Dream, a chorus line, just off the top of the dome. Some of the best stuff I've seen in the metro area in the last five years. And so uh I just take note of that, Henry Judges.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

I wonder I don't know. Another biggie was uh the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. I mean, they had this amazing production of The Tempest that didn't get a single. They got one nomination, I can't.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

One nomination well deserved for Karen Slack's performance as Caliban, which when I wrote in my review, I identified Slack's performance as being the highlight of the show. She really made your heart break with her caliban. But I was just astounded that that didn't that that didn't get a nomination for direction for Kevin Rich, best play, costume design. Um the sound in that show was otherworldly. Um I I just there were a lot of categories. Some of the things exactly.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

Yeah, so kind of strange. Um and then Town Hall Art Center uh wasn't on there at all, but then uh you had a note in here that they pulled out. What was that all about?

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Yeah, so according to reporting from John Moore of the Denver Gazette, quote, Town Hall Art Center pulled out of the Henry Awards consideration without comment after last year's staging of On Your Feet, which was nominated for one Henry Award for Outstanding Performance in Musical Tier One for Brandon Lopez. However, because of its decision to pull out, that meant that its productions of The Wiz, Spamilot, and Avenue Q were not eligible.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

So if you pull one show, you're you're out for all everything. Is that how it works?

SPEAKER_00 38:24

So they chose to s to not submit their other shows. On your feet was was submitted and did get one nominate did get that one nomination, but then for whatever reason, the company just declined to submit the rest of the shows for consideration. And that's totally within their right. Uh but it's it is a it's an interesting decision.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

And then uh Vintage Theater, which is a theater company that probably produces more shows than any other company besides the entirety of the DCPA. They only got one nod for a well-deserved nod for Andrew Uhlenhop and Angels in America, um, but nothing else.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

Yeah. I I mean Vintage has they do pretty consistently good work. Uh they often they do sometimes have a couple of technical bumps here and there in some of the stuff that they do, but the acting is usually always uniformly strong over there. There's some excellent design elements that popped from several of the shows from their past season. I thought maybe a shark is broken that they did at vintage might be nominated for its scenic design, which I thought was really inventive over there. But so yeah, I was just I was surprised. Obviously, Andrew Uhlenhopp was astounding in Angels in America. His Roy Cohn is permanently seared into my brain and in a good way. Um and so I was happy to see that. But yeah, it's an interesting for result for Ventich, who does produce so much. And yeah, then even though birthday candles cleaned up for Curious Theater, I was surprised to see that uh Eureka Day and Job, which I thought were just fantastic productions, particularly Job, got totally blanked.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

Curious had a great season. I mean, everything they put up was was really strong. Um, so but yeah, at least birthday candles got recognized. So I don't know if I'm gonna make any predictions. I mean, it seems like nice work if you can get it is probably gonna, you know, do pretty well with 17 nominations and the Denver Center always does does pretty well. But uh do you have any other any thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 40:25

Yeah, I I I agree. I'm inclined to agree. It seems like nice work if you can get it is probably gonna have a really good night. I'm curious to see how outstanding production of a play shakes out. I feel like uh if you're just going off the math, Dracula Comedy of Terrors with its 11 nominations in there is definitely the most awarded production in that category. But I wonder if maybe the Henry Judges might go with a slightly more prestige pick or if having uh in here, but I don't know. Could just be that since Dracula was so ranked so highly on the ballots, it's just gonna walk away with a clear win in this category.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

Yep. Well, we will find out at the awards ceremony next month, right? And uh we'll have all those results uh when they come out. So um no interview this month. Uh so we can just uh move on to our Colorado headliners. So these are shows coming up that uh we think are well worth checking out. Um and uh what have you got uh to start off, Tony?

SPEAKER_00 41:27

I've got a homegrown production that's taken place in Cripple Creek. Uh, it's called Under the Colorado Moon, and it is billed as a Cripple Creek melodrama that's written by Chris Swarenson. It was last seen on the Butte stage back in 2022, and it tells the story of Brett Armstrong, who is in financial distress after he lost a wager and was falsely accused of forgery. So he must fake his own death and flee for a new life in the rough and tumble mountain town of Crip Cripple Creek, Colorado. He assumes a new identity, and what do you know, hijinks ensue.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Yep. I gotta get down to Butte uh sometime. They've been doing the melodramas down there, but they're they're pretty solid. Uh, you know, they're super corny, but if you've never seen one, uh you've got to check check them out. They're they're a lot of fun. Speaking of a lot of fun, the Improvised Shakespeare Company is back at the Denver Center's Garner Galleria. They're there, it's up now, and it runs through July 26th. So this is a an improv troupe who just takes a sim a single suggestion from the audience and creates from whole cloth a Shakespeare adjacent uh sort of production with, you know, I mean, a plot and different characters. I mean, it's it's pretty amazing uh how they do it, and it's very, very funny.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

Yeah, the DCPA cabaret stage, there's a lot of touring acts that come through here that are not really all that good. But this is not one of those. They every time they've come through, and it's been multiple times at this point. What is it, four, five, maybe six times? They love Colorado.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

Yeah, they've got to do that.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

They sure seem to. And Colorado audiences seem to love them because they they sell really well every time they appear at the cabaret and for very good reason, like we just discussed. My next one is Do You Feel Anger? This is being produced at Three Leeches Theater over in Lakewood by the experimental, edgy, up-and-coming theater troupe, The Mute Point Project. This is an absurd comedy that follows Sophia, who was recently hired as an empathy coach at a debt collection agency and has her work cut out for her. Um it's apparent, it's I was just chatting with uh the director of this show. She actually works over at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in their uh in their like the merch stand, and she was telling me all about this. She's like, Yeah, it's gonna you're gonna be laughing a whole lot during the show, but then by the end of the show, you're gonna feel kind of gross.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

So oh, that sounds great.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

Speaking of gross after theater.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Yeah, I was just gonna say speaking of gross, uh my next one is the Garbologists at the Ent Center in Colorado Springs through June 28th. So this is about a couple of uh sanitation workers, I guess you call them. Danny's a white-collar uh uh or I'm sorry, a white, blue-collar born and bred New Yorker, and Marla is a black Ivy League educated uh woman. And they've just joined the sanitation department, and they've got uh, you know, um there's a lot of bickering and bonding and uh uncovering of expected truths and a banger cast. I mean, it's directed by Jerry Henshaw and starring Jada Dixon and Josh Robinson. So uh that that should sound like a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

Yeah, I was uh I just was looking at some set pictures of that this morning on Facebook. It looks really cool. They've got a bunch of massive garbage truck in there that they're using. I was like, oh, nice job, guys. It's cool. Um up north in Johnstown, Candlelight Dinner Theater is they've got a real big family friendly musical that they're staging this summer. Roll dolls Matilda the musical. Uh this tells the Story of a precocious girl who has some trouble at school with a really intense headmistress and an eccentric family, but is able to find her own way through the power of reading and some magical powers as well. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

Speaking of, um, Andy and I, my son Andy and I went up to uh see um anything goes at Candlelight on its closing weekend because he loves Cole Porter. Uh he was like, oh, we got to get up to the right. And it was so good. I mean, of course, we often see shows near the beginning of a run, and you know, shows always get better, and they were just so spot on. The choreography, all the dance moves, uh great singing sets, the whole shebang. It was a really good show.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Up a candlelight. I uh I saw that one a little bit closer to its opening. And even at the even when it was opening, it was already so polished. And how about those tap numbers, Alex? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

I was telling, I was telling Andy, I'm like, Dad, Tony loved this show because he loves the tap. Uh yeah, and huge tap numbers, like with like, I don't know, 15 people tapping at the same time in places. Although I can't say the food has gotten any better since the last time I was there, but uh, you know, it's uh it's what it is. You win some, you lose some. Yeah. Uh so my next one is My Fair Lady. This is a performance now show at the Lakewood Cultural Center. It's up now going through June 28th. And I know this is probably a great show because it's directed and choreographed by one of the GOATs, Kelly Van Osbrey. Uh and uh, you know, she she had said to uh to us when we had her on the podcast that she was trying to get out of the directing and choreographing business to try and keep her sanity, but uh she sounds like she hasn't gotten out of that completely. So uh My Fair Lady is one of the best uh of the old school musicals, in my opinion. It's one I really still enjoy seeing, and uh the performance now I'm sure is doing a great job with it. So check that one out in Lakewood if you can.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

I'm going next weekend to catch this one. I've never seen My Fair Lady live. I've seen the movie before, and I'm very familiar with the music, but I am very I actually am kind of excited to see it with this cast, and obviously with uh since KVO is directing, you're like, how bad could it be? Yeah. My next headliner is uh it's a whole season. Central City Opera is about to open its 2026 season. This is its 94th summer festival, and they've got some really cool stuff that they're cooking up over there. Their season kicks off with the uh The Marriage of Figaro. This is by Mozart, and it's kind of a follow-up to last summer's Barber of Seville. And by kind of, I mean it's actually a direct sequel to that world of scheming servants and servants and letteress aristocrats that Mozart wrote then. And so, but you don't have to have seen Barber of Seville to underst to understand this current production. It's just a described as this kind of wacky standalone comedy with larger-than-life servants uh trying to make their way. They've also got the Ballad of Baby Doe, which is this is a Colorado musical. It was produced originally by Central City Opera 70 years ago. Tells the story of the Silver King Horace Tabor, his wife Augusta, and his mistress Baby Doe Tabor. And then the final show of their season is Masterclass by Terrence McNally, which is about Maria Callis, who is terrorizing aspiring singers in a Juilliard teaching session. So street playing.

SPEAKER_01 48:49

Yep. All right. Well, my uh next one is a familiar title. It's being done around Colorado quite a bit, Million Dollar Quartet. Uh so much so that you can just say NDQ and people know what you're talking about. But uh but this one will be up at Theatre Silco in Silver Thorn, running June 19th through August 2nd. So it's always fun to go up there, especially at the mountains in the summertime on a hot day. Um, and uh they do a great job up there at Theatrosilco with their professional rep company in summer, summertime.

SPEAKER_00 49:19

Yeah. My final production is a it's a new musical that is written by local composer April Alsop. It's called Broadside, and it is described as being a messy breakup story set to music set in pre-revolutionary Boston when broadsides were everywhere, and broadsides are defined as kind of being the first social meme. They were kind of texts that were written out and shared widely, and broadside kind of reveals how satire and rumor spread through these messages kind of influenced pre-revolutionary Boston. It's doing a local run in Aurora over at Vintage Theater before it goes overseas to participate in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.

SPEAKER_01 50:03

All right. Well, my last one is another familiar title, but uh, this one I'm staying in Summer County here. This is the Breckenridge Backstage Theater. It's Murder on the Orient Express, June 24th through August 9th. So this is the Ken Ludwig adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel, which means that it's pretty funny. Uh Ken Ludwig, of course, is known for a lot of his famous farces like Moon over Buffalo and um what else? Now I'm now blanking on some of his other ones, but that that was one of his famous ones. Lend me a tenor. Of course, yeah, lend me a tenor. Um so that one also good place to go, cool off, Breckenridge at 9,600 feet is a good place to be on a hot day.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

So come in soon to the site. We've got a review up now of POTUS by Springs Ensemble Theater Company. Uh Alex's review of Disaster is on the site. We'll have Celestia up soon. I've got my reviews of Violet, which is produced by Family, and the Aurora Fox, as well as a review of Twelfth Night by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival coming soon. Also, No Se Paga, No Se Paga at Suit Theatre, Do You Feel Anger by Moot Point, Million Dollar Quartet, Julius Caesar, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater. So no shortage of theater reviews.

SPEAKER_01 51:20

Yeah, so you're heading up to Grand Lake to check out RMRT, huh?

SPEAKER_00 51:24

I, you know, after they won so much at the last year's Henry's, I was like, I have to make it up there this season. And so Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I've this is another one. I've seen the movie, but I've never seen it live. I was like, I want to go see it there. And so yeah, I'm gonna make the drive. It's about two hours uh up there, but I'm excited to check it out.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

Yeah. All right, switching over to our offstage category. So this is other arts, film, concerts, etc., that we saw or are looking to see. So you've been on a big movie kick, uh, Tony.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

Yes, I have. Uh since we last potted, I've spent a lot of time at my local AMC. I saw Is God Is, which is actually a really incredible film. It's based on a play. The writer adapted her own play and directed it in this movie. It's about these two sisters who are incredibly scarred by fire, and they go on this revenge mission to uh get revenge on the person who did it to them. Awesome movie. I'm not gonna say too much more than that, other than highly recommended great and a great adaptation of a play. Um, I also saw I Love Boosters, a couple of horror movies, Obsessions, Backrooms, Scary Movie. Uh, and then I saw all of those were varying degrees of good. Obsession is my favorite of that crop. Um, scary movie, despite being so dumb and played out, it still got some laughs from me here and there, so I can't say it was a total waste of time. Like, unlike the Mandalorian uh and Grogu, which I fell asleep during. I could not even Really. Yeah, it was really dull. It just felt like a television show stretched out, which I know it was based on a television show, but it shouldn't feel like that in the theater. Yeah. And then uh this weekend, most recently, I saw Disclosure Day, the new Steven Spielberg film.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

Yeah, what was your take on that? Andy and Jen and I went and saw it, and uh I I thought it was pretty corny. Uh Andy didn't like it at all. Um, but you know, I'm kind of used to Spielberg movies, you know, so I was expecting some of that kind of stuff, but a lot of it just didn't really make sense to me.

SPEAKER_00 53:29

I I also was very underwhelmed by Disclosure Day. I without getting into too too much spoilers here, I just found it to be a lot more straightforward and uninteresting than I was expecting. I didn't really connect to the characters. I thought I didn't think any of the performances were particularly all that special. And then it kind of had an odd message that I just didn't feel like it just didn't feel relevant in 2026. It's like, if we can just reveal the truth to everybody, then our society will be okay. And it's like, yeah, okay, but we're also the same country in which we have all seen Trump's grab them by the pussy video or whatever, and we still have a sizable percentage of our population who is just willing to ignore it so or write it off or whatever. And so I'm like, just kind of, I don't know if I buy the premise that if we just say aliens exist, then we'll all come together and rally around empathy, like the film tries to suggest. It it just felt kind of like an out-of-touch film for me, which is hard to say. I like a lot of Steven Spielberg, I grew up on him, but this was a miss for me.

SPEAKER_01 54:30

Yeah. Uh I mean, the idea that you can show videos of uh, you know, uh really stereotypical looking aliens uh in different poses and positions, and have people just be like, drop everything and like, oh my gosh. You know, I think everybody would be like, uh, show me something like, you know, something I haven't seen before.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

I I yeah, I'm like, there's like one offhand line where they're like, yeah, we ran it through the AI detector and it's totally fine. And it's like, yeah, but everybody out in the real world would be like, oh yeah, this is just AI slop. I don't believe this because we see so much things on video these days that we just deny anyway. And so ah, yeah, rough watch for me. Yeah. Sounds like you too.

SPEAKER_01 55:15

Yeah. So uh what else do you had Renfair here? Did you go or are you going?

SPEAKER_00 55:20

I went yesterday to the Colorado Renaissance Festivals, take place in Lurkspur, uh in their very hilly um area. It was an absolutely beautiful day to go to the Renaissance fair. It was the entire time I was there was it was in the 50s and 60s, and it was uh the theme was kind of magical, mythical creatures. And so you just had tons of folks in costumes, goblins, witches, fairies, fawns. Um you I also saw Sauron from Lord of the Rings and Link from The Legend of Zelda, so and some more folks who were in pirate things and time travel apparel. It's just the cosplay there is so excellent. And then I was just, it delighted me to just see all of the performers walking around and getting to riff with the folks who are in character about it. I I chatted with these two women who uh who were telling me that if I wanted to see more of them, I could watch them on Ye Old OnlyFans. And so just funny stuff like that all around. It's a great kind of immersive environment to be in. And uh they seem to have gotten a better uh sense of flow on the parking and the traffic situation because this year did not have to go on this big massive loop around, actually just got to go right through the town, which usually the town shuts that down. So I was very happy to see that change this year.

SPEAKER_01 56:41

Okay. Yeah, I the last time I went to the Renfair, it was like a thousand degrees out and like I don't know, yeah, and the crowds and all that. So it's hard for me to to get excited about going there again, but it sounds like you hit it on a good day.

SPEAKER_00 56:55

Totally I and I I I guess I learned from chatting with some of the folks who work it. If you are somebody who wants to go to the Ren Fair and doesn't want to deal with the crowds, opening weekend, which this was, is always the best time to go because they haven't handed out all the free tickets because their partner, King Supers, is kind of always giving away free tickets to the Ren Festival. Uh folks kind of just don't know that it's online yet. And so it was crowded but not overwhelming. You could walk everywhere really easily. You could go to the bathroom and fill up your water bottle without having to stand in a massive line that wrapped around like two or three blocks. So definitely a good experience.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

All right. And you got a show coming up at Red Rocks?

SPEAKER_00 57:39

Yeah, I'm gonna go on Wednesday. I'm checking out this kind of punk group, uh Amy and the Sniffers. Is it is it Amy or Emile? I think it's like Amil. Amil.

SPEAKER_01 57:51

Take that. A M Y L. Which I I think is like a drug that you sniff um or something like that. I don't think. I don't know. If you ever read any Hunter Ross Thompson, these amul the Aml Poppers or something. I don't know if that's what these are named out of, but I did listen to them. They're pretty hardcore.

SPEAKER_00 58:08

I really enjoy their music. I guess I'd never said the name of the band out loud before until right now, I'm realizing. Um, but I really enjoy their music. They've got a great kind of in-your-face, edgy sensibility. They've got some really crass lyrics uh that are kind of touching the third rail, which I think isn't is really cool. They're a younger group, too. So I'm curious to see what their performance at Red Rocks is going to look like, slash what the crowd is like.

SPEAKER_01 58:33

Yeah. So next month, when we do our podcast, you will have just returned from an amazing experience in Connecticut. So can you tell us about that?

SPEAKER_00 58:42

Yeah. So just a quick heads up for folks, if you are like, ah, where's Tony? Why is why is he not running around Colorado theaters uh for in at the start of July? It's because I was accepted into the National Critics Institute that takes place at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. This is kind of an intensive workshop for theater critics around the country that takes place July 1st through the 12th. And you are working with Chris Jones, who is the chief columnist and theater critic for the Chicago Tribune. And you are getting you're getting lectures from folks, taking different workshops. And I will be going out and seeing new theater works in development that are taking place at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and in the surrounding areas. Uh, and taking in, I believe it also encompasses like reviewing restaurants and things, which I've never done. So I'm curious to kind of dabble in that area and learn some more and also just get to network with some folks who are doing this kind of work all around the world. It's just I I I'm freaking out. I'm super excited to go to this.

SPEAKER_01 59:55

Yeah, I'm I'm really excited for you. I think it's uh gonna be an amazing experience. Uh and you're gonna come back and whip us into shape on our reviews. So with your with your amazing knowledge that you get there. So uh yeah. Um cool. Well, and and uh yeah, on our next pod you can definitely talk about that uh a little bit. So definitely um I I was getting I got out to Red Rocks uh twice. Uh um I went to see Brit Floyd, which was uh really amazing. Uh you know, if you're if you're a Pink Floyd fan. Um I'd actually seen the original Wall concert in 1980 uh in New York. Uh and so it was really fun because they were doing a lot of the wall at this show. Uh and man, they are they are good. Um very good. Uh and then I also saw I went to uh Film on the Rocks, which was the first time I'd been there to see The Princess Bride. Uh so it's the first time I've ever seen a film with 9,000 other people. It was sold out. Um and uh and you know, you got to hear things like everybody saying in unison, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepared to die at the same time. So that was a lot of fun. Definitely recommend going to that at least once uh, you know, uh to check it out. How much shouting of inconceivable happened? Yeah, there was definitely some of that. Uh and then uh yeah, I mentioned Disclosure Day. And the other, the other concert I saw was a throwback to the like late 70s and 80s. Joe Jackson, uh British uh star or pop pop star who's also done a lot of different kinds of music, and he was at the Paramount. Uh he was supposed to be at the Chautauqua, but they're still working on it for uh for the film festival for Sundance. So uh but he was great. I think he's like 70, 72 these days. And man, he was in voice, sounded great and uh really responsive crowd. So uh great show.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:37

Yeah, and if you have been wondering uh why uh you've been seeing more music reviews pop up on Onstage Colorado, that is a pretty intentional thing as part we meant we talked about uh on our one of our recent podcasts how we're expanding to cover uh the screen, a film scene a lot more intensely with our on-screen Colorado. And on Onstage Colorado, we're we are officially launching this expansion to our work there where we're gonna be really covering more live music there. We've got another correspondent who is doing it, uh Maddie Brown. Maddie Browning, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:12

She's got decent experience uh covering music, so she's she's great.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:15

Yeah, and you and I are going out to concerts, you're gonna be writing some reviews. You mentioned, you told me you had never written a music review before until you did this. I haven't either. This will be my first.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:25

Yeah, I you know, I I guess uh if I had, it was a long, long time ago. When I was in high school, I used to write album reviews for Tiger Tracks, which is the summit high newspaper. Uh, but I don't think I've ever done a concert before, so that was a lot of fun. Uh and you're gonna you're gonna review uh Emil and the sniffers, right? That's right. Yeah, try it in the basic reviews.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:47

Alright. Well, that is it for this episode. If you want to stay up to date on what is going on uh in theaters all across the state, be sure that you are subscribed to the Onstage Colorado Weekly Blast newsletter, which comes out every Thursday and just rounds up everything that we've done in the previous week. And be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast so you never miss an episode.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:11

Yeah, you noticed that I had to rename it from the theater blast to the weekly blast because we've got more stuff going on there. Uh all right. Well, as always, thanks so much for listening. I'm Alex Miller. And I'm Tony Traska, and we'll see you at the show.