Tracy Shaffer
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Wonderbound’s Wicked Opener

Come down to the Wicked Bayou.

Lovers, zombies, a hurricane… what more could you expect from a Wicked Bayou?

Wonderbound Opens Season with Wicked Bayau

If we’ve ever met (or you read my ol’ Huffington Post blog), you’re well aware how much I love Denver’s favorite dance troupe, Wonderbound. Known for the brilliant choreography of Garrett Ammon, artistic collaboration, and live music, Wonderbound is kinetic storytelling of the highest order. The season opens with another fantastic mash up. Ammon is joined by Clay Rose on “Wicked Bayou”, inspired by a song “Old Bayou” by the Zombie death polka band, The Widow’s Bane, who play live during the show. This tale of young lovers fighting for their lives against a hurricane, a zombie puppeteer, and an alligator who feeds on children’s hearts, will haunt your dreams as the stunning images of Ammon’s work and The Widow’s Bane melodies linger. One of a few remaining chances to catch the band before they say farewell. I’ll skip the haunted house and experience All Hallows’ Eve the way it was meant to be!

Tickets for this hauntingly beautiful show show are selling fast, as always, so get your October calendar out and grab a seat on the bayou while you can.

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Tracy Shaffer
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Coming Home to Steel Magnolias

Barbara Rush, Marion Ross... and meIn the long, long ago life— before marriage, before children, before the star-studded Hollywood-excess of a movie and well before COVID— I had the privilege of performing in the National Tour of Steel Magnolias.  We played elegant theatres coast-to-coast, explored beautiful American cities in our month-long stays, garnered solid reviews, even an invitation from First Lady Barbara Bush to a private luncheon at the White House. The year held many amazing experiences, not the least of which was sharing the stage with five extraordinary actresses.

Audiences had not seen this intimate, comedic gem. They experienced it right alongside us, came to know and love each of the characters, making this story of love and friendship a hit. I loved coming out for curtain call after the gut-wrenching last scene to hear the applause amplify slightly, not for me in particular, I think they were just glad I was alive.

Now life, if we let it, has a way of circling back in the sweetest ways. This go ‘round, it’s bringing me home to Chinquapin Parish, to Truvy’s beauty salon, and back to the theatre where I’ll be playing my all-time favorite grump, Ouiser Boudreaux. Not only do I get to play alongside another stellar group of women, I have the honor of working with the fabulous Tara Falk at the helm!

Opens October 1st, 2021 and runs Friday-Sunday through October 24th. Season passes available now, single and group tickets for Steel Magnolias go on sale August 16, 2021 at Cherry Creek Theatre.  

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Tracy Shaffer
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A Walk in The Garden

Did you know that Denver Botanic Gardens is ranked one of The World’s Most Beautiful Botanic Gardens? I’ve walked there every month for a year, sometimes more. Comfortable with the sweetness of time passing, I walk with friends or I walk alone. I always have an extra ticket…

https://www.magisto.com/album/video/eXh8BQYDRAB9dQt0eg1FAXt-cQUEAg

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Tracy Shaffer
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Memorable Night; Sweet & Lucky

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Photo: Adams Visual Communications
To say that life is sweet and we are lucky is a sentiment reserved for the days spent looking backward. Rare are the moments spent fully present, when the experience and appreciation collide. This summer, in a 16,000 square feet warehouse in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood, a confluence of elements comes together to create a unique experience where life comes alive and the past is fully present. Presented by DCPA Off Center in collaboration with Third Rail Projects, Sweet & Lucky is a theatrical time ballet exploring the nature of love, memory and the objects that connect us to both. Lush, romantic, universal, metaphoric and delightful― there is magic happening here and you feel it.

Describing the event without giving too much away- not in plot spoilers, but careful not to interfere- is tricky for this is immersion theatre. Rather than the traditional sitting-in-the-dark-watching-actors-tell-the-story or the interactive style of Tony & Tina’s Wedding, Sweet & Lucky invites you into its world, takes your hand and guides you through it, while leaving space for the sound of your soul to fill the silence.

It is a story of love through decades and the moments that ultimately define us. My first venture into Sweet & Lucky took me on a deeply personal journey as touchstones of the central relationship reveal the heartaches, kisses, treasures and gratitude that make a life. Audience members are allowed to snoop around in the lovers’ psyches; reading letters, guessing outcomes, drinking in the ambiance a taste of the Sweet & Lucky cocktail created by Williams & Graham mixologist, Sean Kenyon.

Everyone starts together in the huge warehouse space, culled into smaller groups, and moved room-to-room as the twelve performer piece unfolds. Each room is its own environment, designed to evoke engagement through the senses with exquisite visuals, tasks, scents and “audio texture”, contributing to a deeply moving and dream-like evening, bearing witness to the core of the story and finding resonance in your own.

Given the opportunity to return, I took my son, August Witherspoon, curious to see how the evening would play in his open, twenty-two-year-old heart and compared notes over a cocktail in the post-show speakeasy. A few questions led us to the realization that we’d each tracked a different cast-

So we saw different actors playing the same story? I like that, and how you were left to fill in the blanks in what happened; we got different views of the same play. I love how as you’re taken from scene to scene, you start to notice trending objects; symbols and motifs become apparent the further along into the story you progress and wrap around again. Like how every sense is pleasantly utilized, from smelling the chamomile and lavender to the taste of the same herbs in the cocktail. I felt these things starting to have an effect on me― they were not only connecting the story together but they started connecting me to my own memories. You’re watching this story, putting together the pieces and becoming introspective into your own memories of loved ones. That’s never happened to me at the theatre. I realized how many memories I’ve made in my short time on this Earth, many of which I hadn’t thought of since the events themselves. It really makes you wonder what creates a memory, and how the more memories you make with someone, the closer you become with them. I guess that’s why they seem to never dissipate.

How true my son. We’re just spinning around on a rock amid the stars, without reason, making all the memories we can. Sweet.

SWEET & LUCKY is produced by DCPA’s Off Center, a commission of Brooklyn-based Third Rail Projects. Running through August 7 (at which time it must close) tickets are limited, non-transferable, and available at 303.893.4100 or online at www.denvercenter.org

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Tracy Shaffer
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Denver Events July Through October

Ever wonder what to do or what’s going on around town? Me too. That’s why I’ve created this easy cheat sheet for Denver Events running from July through October. You’ll find arts and culture, music and barbecues, pet-friendly gatherings and social soirees at your fingertips. Print it out, save it to your phone, grab your sunscreen, a blanket, a friend (furry or not), pack up the family or head out alone to any and all of these great events. They’ll remind you what makes living in Denver so spectacular!
Oh, and if you’d like to beat the heat looking at houses in Denver’s hot real estate market, we can do that too! I’m air-conditioned.

Denver Events July-Oct 2016 - TShaffer [219493]

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Tracy Shaffer
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Prince and Purple Rain Rock Red Rocks

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It was less than 24 hours after the shock of The Purple One’s untimely death that the Denver Film Society announced they would open the annual Film on the Rocks program two weeks early to honor Prince with a screening of “Purple Rain”.
“The film was the thing from the first moment of the sad news”, says Film Society’s Festival Director, Britta Erickson. “We’d just announced our 2016 line-up, but it didn’t take long to pull the trigger on making a decision to add the show.” The epic event, and it had to be epic, meant securing an open date at the Red Rocks venue, negotiating the film rights from Warner Brothers, and pulling together some of Denver’s most talented musicians for a local all-star tribute.” Kristin Nolan stepped it to round up more than 170 performers from a wide range of musical styles, they rehearsed, sound-checked and jammed. In a syncopated collab between Denver Arts & Venues, Denver Film Society and Ms. Nolan, all of this happened in three weeks.
And. It. Was. Epic.
The Red Rocks Amphitheater became a lavender sea as fans and their families filled the seats, squeezing close together to accommodate the record-breaking FOTR crowd; a sell-out at 9000 within 24 hours. The party started appropriately when Andy Rok and the Real Deal took stage to with The Artist Formerly Known’s party anthem, Let’s Go Crazy, as we waited for the dusk to descend. So much more than Prince cover bands, each of the thirteen groups offered an original rendition— Flobots, Shady Elders, Ian Cooke Band with Kevin Johnson of The Bright Silence, Elin Palmer and members of Chimney Choir, Bluebook and more. Wheelchair Sports Camp brought the funk, others were spot on in style, spirit and soul; and some brought a more personal tack with their arrangements that, if not the immediate pop-song ear-worm, revealed the strength of Prince’s music. The Heavy Heavies brought me to my feet, while jazz singer and KUVO hostess, Venus Cruz, brought me to my knees.
The evening turned toward the sacred when 115 members of the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus took center stage for the grand finale; a splendid rendition of Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever”. Hearts were shaken and stirred. This heavenly choir stepped back, allowing the other 60 artists onstage for the title track of the evening, Purple Rain. The stars were out, the house was standing, swaying, singing, and by the time we got to the ooo-ooo-ooo-oooo at the end of the song it was as if there was a great shaft of purple light and love beaming from Morrison, Colorado to the celestial sphere.
Moments later, the movie started to a roar from the sated crowd and just as I remembered— Morris Day was campy, Apollonia was stunning, and Prince… my god he was a star.
Film on the Rocks opens its regular season on May 23rd with Grease and continues with summer favorites, The Big Lebowski and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, cinema greats, Citizen Cane, standouts like Deadpool and closing in September with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. July 27th brings another tribute to another fallen star with the 1986 David Bowie film, Labyrinth. Summer nights just got epic.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Tracy Shaffer
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David Bowie: The Gift of Sound & Vision

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How do you mourn someone you’ve never known? How can loss be so palpable for one you’ve never laid a hand on? There’s been enough death and destruction in our lives lately for us to be not only too familiar, but inundated with it. We know the leaden days that follow endless succession after a personal loss, we are all too intimate with hollow nights where space expands to hold the echo. Paris, Belgium, parents, pets, and people who have touched our lives through bringing their talents so richly to theirs- now gone. How can the days feel empty with the loss of one who never filled them?
I’ve cried over a celebrity death twice before; when John Lennon was shot and the tragedy of Princess Diana. I lived around the corner from the Dakota on that cold December night and I joined the disbelieving vigil, passing candles and singing songs with strangers. With Princess Diana’s death I couldn’t take my puffy eyes off of the news coverage, watching over and over as if truth could be digested one soundbite at a time. That seems so long ago. It was all so unreal; one very macro, the other was a personal experience, and now these shocks and stunners have become so close together, they teeter on the mundane. Until Bowie.

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” – Stella Adler

After a childhood trying to pass as normal, this freak of a teenager found out that there was an English glam rocker hanging out in a club on the Sunset Strip. A high school friend would pick me up, toss me a bag with my outfit for the outing; hot pants, halter and glitter platforms and I’d ch-ch-change from suburban cheerleader to glam-child on the I-5 as we sped toward the center of the Universe; the Sunset Strip. The Strip, post Jim Morrison jumping off the Whisky A-Go-Go, was resurgent with a glam and reckless 70s energy to counter the macramé of my suburban safety and Rodney Bingenhimer’s English Disco was where we’d encounter the Starman. Like Elvis, only better, he was an artist like the world has never seen: exciting and dangerous, a legendary chameleon who could embody the character and the story, our story. The Patron Saint of the Outlier, equal parts showman and shaman, David Bowie burst from my dreams in Technicolor, alien, human, godlike and humble. He gave me the vision of a world beyond my straight-A sister and the fear of spending my adulthood in a world that felt so alien. I wore the grooves off his records, slipping him into the Hi-fi stack among the Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond and CSNY of my elder sibs. I saw him live every chance I got, slithering my way to the front of the stage like the nubile blonde that I was.
During my New York years, he was HERO; LODGER & LOW wafting through the loft, or waiting by the stage door after seeing him in The Elephant Man. David Bowie was an artist I claimed as my own; interesting, relevant, fluid. Bowie’s impression upon my youth was seminal. He not only gave us permission to be our different selves, he demanded we celebrate it, challenged a generation to take creativity to the limit and begin there.
I got home late the night he died, went to bed with a broken heart, knowing the world would be different. I couldn’t bear to see the pain on social media the next morning- perhaps if I don’t don’t logon I can pretend it never happened. But it had. Like everything has. And though I knew I’d have to face the tributes, the Ziggy profile pics and the music- oh god, the music- flooding the airwaves. It was an unavoidable reminder of what we’d lost, and what we’d gained.
In the months that have passed since his death, I’ve wondered why this death was so different. Not only for me (whose Plan A was movie star, Plan B- bear Bowie’s babies), but for millions around the globe. This star extinguished reminds us of our youthful promise to be wholly ourselves. A sobering, somber moment as we check in with our velvet covered middle-aged selves to see how our quest for artistry may have morphed into the mundane, or disappeared in the pursuit of money. For me, this is the challenge, to return to the edge and begin there once again.

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Tracy Shaffer
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The Catamounts Bring Futura to Boulder

rsz_futura_photo_title_and_anne_only_[44058093]When Boulder theater artist, Amanda Berg Wilson returned to Denver from a decade long explore of Chicago what she found here was a lot of great theater. What she craved, was great theater with a Chi-town influence. “There was so much being done in Chicago while I was there, so much of it was unlike anything I’d seen before; exciting voices from playwrights telling multi-disciplinary, non-realistic stories that were offbeat and very theatrical.” That was then. Now in its fifth season, Co-Founder/Artistic Director, Amanda Berg Wilson and the cadre of artists who constitute The Catamounts, continue to surprise and engage like no one else in Denver theater. Drawn to the non-linear tale, this “Theater for an Adventurous Palate” has built a repertoire of edgy experiences for a loyal Denver/Boulder audience that is welcoming of the group’s esoteric, contemporary focus. And they FEED you.
I sat down with some Catamounts and began a chat about the upcoming production of Jordan Harrison’s play, Futura, with a slight detour diving deep into the differences between experimental theatre and performance art and the evolution of the avant-garde movement. “The concept of pushing the boundaries of theatrical convention isn’t new, of course, it just keeps changing” says Amanda. “Where we fit into this as a company is that rather than looking for stories that alienate, we’re looking for stories with a point of entry, for narratives that refine and defy convention while engaging our audience.” So far, so good.
Futura is the season’s second full-length offering; a dystopian allegory written by Jordan Harrison, directed by company member Meridith Grundei. A 2015 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for his play Marjorie Prime, Harrison takes us to the not so distant future where the printed word is illegal. Harrison’s obsession with fonts led him to an exploration of the art of pen-to-paper and the extinction of the printed word in a digitized age where online libraries, e-readers and the rapidly shrinking newspaper industry are the polar ice caps of a font-fetishist’s nightmare. Melancholy for a pre-e world and the collateral damage of the Information Age is a now a font of inspiration for millennial writers. Playwright Annie Baker mourned the loss of film to digital in The Flick, and though Harrison is currently on the writing team for the Netflix series Orange is the New Black, his theatrical forays continue to pay off.
I ask Ms. Grundei, to tell me about Futura and a world where the printed word cannot be written or even read. “It takes place in 2021, so not that far off, when the written word is virtually dead. On her first day back on the job after her husband’s gone missing, a University professor launches into a passionate rant about history, relevance and importance typography and the detrimental effects of the techno world on the human brain. Then she gets kidnapped.”
We continue into the topics explored on the play’s dark side: the ominous Big Brother, capricious Wikipedia and manipulation of information controlled by a select few. “It’s interesting because rather than being a manipulative polemic, we ask at what cost? Futura is a brilliantly written and thought-provoking play about the physical loss of the written page, our privacy in this growing technological world, and the beauty and sadness around the loss of something so simple as an ink smudge.” Says the eloquent Ms. Grundei. “A life without texture” say I. The Catamounts Executive Producer, McPherson Horle, adds, “The largess of Jordan Harrison’s ideas about government intrusion and the power of the written word would be gift enough, but the humor, grace and humanity that pervade this piece are truly remarkable. This is a hopeful story about the importance of human connection, and the art that flows as a result.”
Now tell me about the FEED. Berg Wilson picks up, “FEED is a multi-course, seated dinner where each course pairs a dish, a drink, and a performance piece. All courses revolve around a central theme, and live music weaves the whole evening together.” Go on… “We choose a theme, FEED: Fire, FEED: Illuminate” says Horle. “Then we create a palate of handcrafted food and a specialty drink inspired by that theme. We encourage people to experience the chef’s pairings and the performance- dance, music, literature- each element enhances and compliments the other. It’s truly magical.” I ask MacPherson Horle how that came to be. “Well, first off, we’re foodies. Foodies with an MFA.”
Sounds good to me!

Futura opens April 2 at the Nomad Theater in Boulder and runs through the 16th. Click here for tickets, schedule and special performance events.

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Tracy Shaffer
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Buntport Theater Slathers on the Beauty Products

A gorgeous Saturday on Larimer Square, you’d almost think it was springtime and lucky girl that I am, I got to sit down with two of Buntport Theater Company’s smarty-pants collaborators, Erin Rollman and Brian Colonna. The subject of our conversation should be their new show 10 Myths on the Proper Application of Beauty Products, but swiftly veers to mythological 80’s bands, creative cluster-f*cks and the beauty of Diana Dresser.
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Joining in in this eggy-bagel-sandwich of a morning is musician/author/muse, Miriam Suzanne, whose book in a box, Riding SideSaddle, inspired this current offering.  Suzanne moved to Denver, identified Buntport as kindred spirits and managed to squidge her way into working with the group soon after. Her dark, indie trio, Teacup Gorilla, provided theatrical soundscape for the ReTriplicate performances, inspired by the Clyfford Still Museum  Repeat/Recreate exhibition and now she’s moved front and center.  10 Myths on the Proper Application of Beauty Products is the opener, adapting, supplementing and riffing on themes introduced in Suzanne’s non-linear , “open source” Riding SideSaddle tale, written on 250 index cards to be read in no particular order.

Following a group of friends that resist order, category and completion, this play weaves myth and storytelling with every day rituals. It is about people deeply in love, suffering loss, celebrating strangeness, all while they pluck their eyebrows. It is about the Greek myth of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, who are merged into “one being of both sexes” and about what we see when we look in the mirror. Oh, and the whole thing is underscored by a three-piece band standing in the bathtub.

After a nine-month hiatus to focus on different kinds of creative endeavors- a book on collaborative writing, among them- Buntport Theatre Company returns for their fifteenth season and three back-to-back original shows…because apparently, they missed the joys of summer stock. As a writer, I’m insanely jealous of Buntport’s talents and asked them about their process in hopes I could channel my inner voices into a collaborative style of my own. “It’s always the same” says Rollman. “We get together for a pitch session to see who’s thought of something interesting-“, “And then we Google it”, bumps Collona. Once a topic is chosen, they go their separate ways to research and write singularly, sending their individual offerings to Erin who edits it into a kind of first draft cohesion. “That’s where we start the rehearsal where we rewrite, reshape and revise.  A lot”, she continues. “When it comes to casting, we start with ‘anyone want to play something specific?’ and fill in around that. Usually it becomes clear who should take which role.” (I can’t imagine this happening in many other groups.) Which brings us back to Diana Dresser… “We started working on a different piece with Di, which kind of fell apart. It’s back to the morphing kind of thing our shows go through. We’ve always performed as ensemble so having Diana Dresser and Michael Morgan joining us in  10 Myths is a great and different kind of stretch for us. I’m sure our way of working’s been a bit different for them, too.”

10 Myths on the Proper Application of Beauty Products is the first full-length show of Buntport’s 15th Season, followed by a one-person-piece about a museum guard called The Rembrandt Room, where Erin Rollman goes solo. The ensemble comes together again for the third installment, Greetings from Camp Katabasis, an epic exploration of descent and ResussAnnie.  Don’t ask, just get your tickets. Because when Buntport Googles, people listen.

10 MYTHS ON THE PROPER APPLICATION OF BEAUTY PRODUCTS runs March 4-26th. Tickets available at Buntport Theater Company

Join us at Buntport Theatre when The Card Table opens on March 19th from 3-5pm. We’ll gather, start the schmoozefest and then read from Miriam Suzanne’s book in a box. Because it’s written on INDEX CARDS! You don’t need to bring anything but your reading glasses and maybe a few bucks to toss into the hat for that ‘do-good’ feeling.

 

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Tracy Shaffer
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Paris and the Art of Distraction

Paris“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” – Stella Adler

I spent the first ten days of November in the dark, enveloped in the swirl of the Denver Film Festival, embraced by the magic of movies. My head and heart were filled with the stories of the twenty or so films I’d seen: love stories, tales of triumph and redemption, documentaries and comedies to shine their light on our human foolishness. And there were lots of war stories: old wars, new wars and wars yet to come, each carrying the weight of “why” on their backs like a wounded soldier. By closing weekend the darkness had changed. Paris had been attacked and the world was in mourning once more. Grateful for the darkened theatre, the light as it hit the silver screen, and the gift of being swept from reality for a brief span of time.

Life has always been brutal; it’s that now we have Twitter. Throughout history when tragedy strikes, by the hands of man or the slap of Mother Nature, we have managed to plod on. We survive, sometimes little more.  Healing is a matter of time and the feeling of putting the pieces back together. The leaden feeling lifts and we go on… but how do we make sense of the senseless? Our leaders offer condolences, pledges of support and election year rhetoric. Our pulpits offer duality and confusion as we struggle with loving our enemy. Where do we turn for guidance?

Look to your artists.

Mankind is complex, humanity, elusive; we search for certainty when “the center cannot hold”. We blame, strive to right the world, to get back to normal knowing nothing is certain and there is no normal.  Art has no normal. It has no answers. You can rearrange the pieces as you put them back together, creating something new the world has never seen.   Artists give us what the 24 hour news channels don’t even dream of; context.  After the films were over I was left with nothing but an empty feeling, inundated with the 24 hour news I’d been watching for 48 hours. I switched the channel and there it was, a movie of war and triumph and the power each one of us has on the life of another. The film was Life is Beautiful, and it was.

 

“There’s a moment during every single festival that I love the most, it’s that moment after the speeches on opening night and the anticipation of that first flicker of the image, where it’s a frame no longer and the first story we’ve chosen finally begins.” Britta Erickson, Festival Director Denver Film Society

 

 

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