Home is where the art is in The Road to Mecca

Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca, currently playing at Miners Alley, explores huge and unanswerable questions: questions about age, death, love and trust, the meaning of home and the significance of art — how creativity animates our lives, what happens when creativity’s lost. It does this through the lives of…

Dava Sobel’s And the Sun Stood Still shines at BETC

The shining strength of Dava Sobel’s And the Sun Stood Still — which is currently receiving its world premiere in Boulder — is that, at a time when the sciences have been so muddied by sloppy thinking, willful ignorance and financial pressure, it provides insight into the scientific process and…

The ten best comedy events in Denver this April

April is a month of rejuvenation and light-hearted trickery, a season of pranks, afternoon showers, and street-sweeping tickets. The truly April foolish thing to do would be to miss out on the fine assortment of comedy shows in Denver this month. With a visit from the reigning ice queen of late night talk shows, a benefit for down syndrome, some great local showcases and an appearance from improviser, singer, and all-around showman Wayne Brady, there’s plenty of levity available to carry local comedy fans through the month. Fortunately, many of these shows are free, which should provide at least a little relief to the unjustly ticketed.

Chris Fairbanks on Sexpot Comedy, suicidal civil engineers and the Tosh controversy

Chris Fairbanks is a standup comedian, illustrator, and skateboarder who has appeared on Conan, Comedy Central’s Premium Blend,
and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Fairbanks is making the most out of his trip to Denver, with performances scheduled every night. On thursday the 20th, Fairbanks will be at the Deer Pile at 8:00pm, sharing a story for the Narrators podcast. On Friday at 8:00pm at the Oriental Theater, he’s co-headlining Sexpot Comedy’s Vernal Equinox showcase with Rory Scovel and a bevy of local chucklers. Fans can also catch Fairbanks with the Fine Gentleman’s Club at 10:00pm Saturday at the Meadowlark and performing with Andrew Ovredahl, 7:00pm on Sunday at Comedy Works South. Westword caught up with Fairbanks before his busy visit ta talk about Sexpot comedy, Texan highway system and the Tosh rape joke controversy.

Good People is very good theater at Curious

David Lindsay Abaire, who first achieved fame with such surreal and fantastical comedies as Kimberly Akimbo, about a young girl with a disease that causes rapid and premature aging, and Fuddy Meers, in which a woman wakes up day after day remembering neither who she is nor what recently happened,…

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The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a brilliant work, its flaws so intertwined with its crazed strengths that you can hardly separate one from the other. McDonagh grew up in London, the son of Irish parents, and invented an Ireland — and an…

DeVotchKa’s Shawn King on Dreaming Sin Fronteras, art and immigration

DeVoktchKa’s Shawn King may not think too highly of didactic protest songs, but he has devoted himself to Dreaming Sin Fronteras: Stories of Immigration and American Identity, a massive theatrical collaboration about “dreamers”: undocumented students who have been in the United States since they were children and are seeking a…

Now Playing

The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a brilliant work, its flaws so intertwined with its crazed strengths that you can hardly separate one from the other. McDonagh grew up in London, the son of Irish parents, and invented an Ireland — and an…

There Is a Happiness That Morning Is tells some naked truths

As you walk into the theater for There Is a Happiness That Morning Is, you are handed what looks like a school notebook, the kind with a stiff black-and-white-speckled cover. You take your seat before a long blackboard. A bearded fellow watches as you settle in, chiding the latecomers. He…

Anthony J. Garcia on Ludlow: El Grito de Las Minas

Amongst the striking coal miners and their family members murdered by the Colorado National Guard during the Ludlow Massacre were five Mexican-American children. To commemorate this almost-forgotten chapter of history, Su Teatro’s Anthony J. Garcia wrote Ludlow: El Grito de Las Minas (The Cry of the Mines); he’s directing a…

Germinal Stage returns with a new season in a new location

Ed Baierlein founded Germinal Stage in 1973 in a Market Street space, and later moved to a tiny theater on West 44th Avenue, just off Federal Boulevard. Here, for 26 years, he staged an eclectic mix of American and European plays: some experimental, others realistic, some profound and others just…

The ten best geek events in Denver in March

It’s March, the month of college basketball brackets and St. Patrick’s Day. But don’t worry: While the rest of your office is busy throwing money away pretending to care about college hoops and drinking shitty green beer, there’s plenty of great geek fun to be had. March’s ten best geek…

Nikki Glaser on the Weirdo Olympics, stolen jokes and a new mattress

Nikki Glaser is a New-York based comedian with a formidable list of credits and an immediately engaging performance style. Despite their raunchy subject matter, Glaser’s jokes are wryly observant and leavened by her considerable charm. Glaser has appeared on @Midnight and Last Comic Standing, as well as the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno until recently, Glaser could be seen co-hosting The Nikki and Sarah Show on MTV. Glaser has a soft spot in her heart for Colorado; she performed her first set at CU Boulder and appeared the pilot episode of the Grawlix’s Those Who Can’t.This friday, Glaser returns to our beloved city to headline Sexpot Comedy’s Weirdo Olympics.
The Weirdo Olympics will also feature sets from David Gborie, who’s one of San Francisco’s funniest dudes, as well local favorites Kevin O’Brien, Sam Tallent and Sexpot’s go-to emcee, Jordan Doll. The show starts at 8 p.m. Friday, February 28, at the Oriental Theater. Tickets are $15.

In advance of the Weirdo Olympics, Westword caught up with Glaser to discuss the end of her show, having a bit stolen, and why she’d move to Denver if she could.

Jugged Rabbit Stew is a hare-raising experience

Last produced four years ago, Jugged Rabbit Stew is one of Buntport’s best shows, a startling and peculiar mix of comedy, sadness, magic, craziness and erudition that only this troupe could produce. And this revival brings back Evan Weissman, a longtime member who left — sort of — a while…

The Lyons takes you into a family’s heart of darkness

The Lyons begins with a fairly familiar premise: a deathbed vigil featuring the protracted dying of a Jewish patriarch, Ben, and the shallow chatter of Rita, his wife. This cancer-ridden father isn’t wise or long-suffering, however. He’s a mean-spirited monster of blind ego with perhaps one single redeeming feature: He…

T.J. Miller on the No Cancellations tour, bringing absurdity to morning news shows, and hash dabs

Comedian TJ Miller has a commitment to comedic absurdity that has served him well throughout his career. From his roots in the Chicago improv scene, Miller emerged as one of the city’s most unique standups, remarkable for his madman charisma. In short order, Miller stole scenes and joined impressive ensemble casts in movies like Our Idiot Brother and Yogi Bear 3D. All the while, Miller’s hometown of Denver has remained close to his heart and channeled into song on Miller’s Extended Play E.P.from Comedy Central Records. It’s an exciting time for Miller, with Silicon Valley a new HBO series set to premiere on April 6th and a movie, Search Party, due this summer.
This week, Denver’s prodigal comic returns to his hometown for two nights of shows as a part of his No Cancellations tour. He’ll performing wednesday night at Boulder’s Fox Theatre. Doors open at 8:30pm for the 9:00pm show. General admission tickets are $20. On thursday, he’ll be at the Gothic Theatre. Doors open at 7:00pm for the 8:00pm show. Tickets are $20.50 in advance and $23 on the day of show.
Westword caught up with Miller for phone interview to discuss his tour, bringing absurdity to morning news shows, and why he always brings his best to Denver.

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Black Odyssey. Based on Homer’s epic, Black Odyssey tells the story of a soldier, Ulysses Lincoln, coming back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Like his namesake, he is forced to wander for many years before he can return home, encountering supernatural beings and many strange adventures along the…

Top-notch performances illuminate Annapurna

Ulysses is dying alone in a decrepit trailer in Paonia. When we first see him, there’s an oxygen tube taped to his chest and he’s frying sausages, naked except for an apron — which he’s put on not out of modesty, but to protect his private parts from splattering grease…