Performing Arts

When Herbert Siguenza was seven years old, he saw a book by photojournalist David Douglas Duncan called The Private World of Pablo Picasso. Although today Siguenza is perhaps best-known as a founding member of the Latino troupe Culture Clash — the company’s American Night was shown at the Denver Center…

document the everyday struggles of people trying to eke out a living from performing stand-up.

When a comic’s greatest strength is his dynamic physical presence on stage, podcasting can be risky. But while Adam Cayton-Holland has a few sluggish moments during the premiere of his new podcast, My Dining Room Table, his background as a journalist and his genuine rapport with fellow comics make for…

Comedy Central’s The Jeselnik Offensive ran its fourth episode Tuesday, characteristically taking on the politically sensitive news of the day with an irreverent send-up of Adam Strange, a recent victim of a shark attack in New Zealand. “Was he killed? You bet your sweet ass he was,” Jeselnik laughed. “And…

With the regional premiere of The Brothers Size, Curious Theatre has given Denverites their first chance to experience the work of Tarell Alvin McCraney, an African-American writer barely out of his twenties who’s been hailed on both sides of the Atlantic as an important new voice in theater. McCraney grew…

The story of Bat Boy originated in the now-defunct Weekly World News tabloid, which announced that a scientist had found a creature that was half boy, half bat in a West Virginia cave. Many adventures followed: Bat Boy was captured for science experiments and escaped, captured by the FBI and…

Doug Benson’s appearance in Denver this weekend is a welcome addition to a long line of marijuana-themed events that have given Colorado a globally recognized identity as a THC utopia. As the co-star of The Marijuana-Logues and the documentary Super High Me — in which Benson takes on the Morgan…

The opening weekend of Equinox Theatre’s Bat Boy: The Musical last month was a smash — sold-out houses on both nights, and standing ovations for the cast. But a few days later came the horrifying news that Adam Perkes, the intense actor who played Bat Boy, had been found dead…

On the opening night for Jon, the Catamounts served vodka before the show. The drinks — courtesy of Boulder’s 303 Vodka — came in glasses rimmed with blue Kool-Aid, and with ice cubes made of frozen cherry juice. This offering — along with a food wagon decorated with lights that…

With its just-announced 2013-’14 season, the Denver Center Theatre Company remains true to its mission of promoting interesting and exciting new playwrights. Four of the playwrights whose work received readings at the New Play Summit last month are included in the next lineup. See also: – Marcus Gardley debuts Black…

Fresh from filming his half-hour special for Comedy Central, Ben Kronberg returns to Denver this Friday for a show at the Oriental Theater, his first hometown performance in over a year. And that’s generating a lot of excitement in the local comedy community, which has been tickled by Kronberg since…

After twenty years, Ballet Nouveau Colorado has made the leap. The dance company is splitting in two, and the portion now known as Wonderbound has moved into Denver, to 1075 Park Avenue West — at the confluence of Arapahoe Square, Curtis Park and Five Points. Wonderbound is sharing the building…

Last Saturday night, tucked snugly in the middle of the Paramount Theatre for the Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew Reunion Show, I found myself on the receiving end of some vitriolic crowd-work by Carolla, who called me an “asshole from some crunchy newspaper,” among other things, and berated me for…

Comedy Works South threw a pot roast Wednesday evening, luring in over 300 hungry patrons for a feast of second-hand smoke and light-hearted mockery. Hosted by the affable Chuck Roy, the lineup included Comedy Works owner Wende Curtis; such club veterans as Roger Rittenhouse, George McLure and Steve Mudflap McGrew,…

The stage is set up for a cozy Halloween party: autumn-leaf ornaments, joke skeletons on the walls, a red paper lantern. Six people are sitting around a table for a seance. But the table is situated over a graveyard, and pretty soon the participants’ bodies are taken over by ghosts…

Musician and multi-media artist Adam Stone has worked with Buntport Theater Company on four pieces over the last three years. He composed songs for three musicals, all of them among the company’s most exciting works: Seal. Stamp. Send. Bang, which gave hilarious new meaning to the term going postal; Jugged…

Interstate comedy tours have typically been the métier of famous names capable of drawing big crowds and veterans of the club circuit. Many obstacles stand in the way of aspiring comedians eager to earn their living on the road, from bookers who are unwilling to take a chance on an…

It’s official! With two — count them, two — Trekkie-filled, tomb-raiding, Spandex-clad parties behind its name, Bop Skizzum’s Nerd Prom is now an annual event. On Saturday night, hordes of heroes and heroines flew to the Summit Music Hall and shook both the capes and bodies their mama gave them…

Black History Month wouldn’t be complete without an installment of donnie l. betts’s Black Radio Days, the live radio show that picks up where the first nationwide African-American radio drama, produced in Chicago by Richard Durham more than sixty years ago, left off. That boundary-breaking program, Destination Freedom, dramatized the…

Regis University’s Concert for a Cause series is dishing up a whopper tonight, all in the name of the Eating Disorder Foundation, which will benefit from performances by more than twenty acts, including professionals and students alike. Organized by student Zoe Vlastos, a psychology major who turns about to be…

Despite the deceptively fine weather, it isn’t spring yet. But somehow, leaving the theater after seeing The Seafarer, I couldn’t help feeling that it was. This had something to do with having seen four soul-stirring — and completely different — plays in a little over a month. There was James…