Jump to: Call For Plays | Awards | Recent Shows
Please join our mailing list for information on upcoming performances, auditions, and other opportunities.
Auditions for 10,000 Wayniacs: Very Short Plays Inspired by Mr. Las Vegas will be June 10 at 7 PM at the Mary Miller Theater. This production will consist of 11 short comedic sketches about Sin City and our favorite crooner, Wayne Newton. There are more than 30 roles available for men and women. The production dates are July 17 - 20. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the scripts. No audition appointments are necessary. For more information, call 720-209-2154.
Auditions for The Complete History of America (Abridged) will be June 23 and 24 at 7 PM at the Mary Miller Theater. Three roles are available, and the cast will either be 3 men or 2 men and 1 woman. The production dates are August 16 - 30. Actors should prepare a short comedic monologue. Auditions may be scheduled by calling 720-209-2154. Walk-ins are also welcome.
Theater Company of Lafayette Presents The Memo, a Comic Sendoff of Clerical Hell
(Check out the script snippet on the Denver Post—look for "Sample new plays")
For anyone who has ever gotten a memo thrown onto his or her desk…
Satirical humor about corporate bureaucracy hits a funny bone--thus the popularity of the TV show “The Office,” portraying the daily foibles of office employees, and the comic strip “Dilbert,” about corporate white-collar micromanagement.
But before those pop culture phenomena came Vaclav Havel's 1965 play “The Memorandum,” about an organization in which bureaucracy runs amok.
Theater Company of Lafayette is proud to present The Memo,* a new translation by Paul Wilson of Havel's “The Memorandum.” Though inspired by the absurdities of life in Eastern Europe under Communism, the play's depiction of nonsensical office politics can be universally appreciated. The introduction of an artificial language, Ptydepe, is supposed to streamline office communications, but only makes things worse, resulting in a complete breakdown of human relationships.
Havel has characterized “The Memo” as “an expressionistic farce,” said director Madge Montgomery. “In expressionist plays, a central character, who is a sort of average guy or 'everyman,' gets caught up in events beyond his control. He usually ends up making some sort of self-sacrifice, and, though defeated, gains a spiritual awareness that he previously lacked.”
When: Fridays and Saturdays, May 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 30 and 31, at 7:30 p.m.
Industry night is Monday, March 12, at 7:30 p.m. (all tickets $8). Sunday matinee on May 18 at 2 p.m.
Where: The Mary Miller Theater, 300 E. Simpson St., Lafayette.
Tickets Prices: $15 for adults; $12 for students/seniors; $10 for children.
Reservations: 720-209-2154 or online (online discounts apply)
Playwright Vaclav Havel was president of Czechoslovakia from 1989-1992 and the first president of the Czech Republic from 1993-2003. “The Memorandum” made its American debut in 1968 at the Shakespeare Festival's Public Theatre, where it won an Obie Award for best foreign play. “The Memorandum” was produced in London in 1977 and has been revived regularly around the world.
*“The Memo” premiered in 2006 at the Havel Festival in New York City. TCL presents the second U.S. production of Wilson's translation.
Project Two: Separated at Birth: The Lincoln/Darwin Plays
Sabrina Fair has won two Colorado Backstage Spotlight Awards:
Best actress in a comedy: Haley Johnson
Best
supporting actress in a comedy: Linda Suttle
The Frankenstein Experiment has won a Denver Post Ovation Award for "Special Accomplishments, '06"
This project was funded in part by a grant from the Neodata Endowment through the Boulder County Arts Alliance.
Picasso at the Lapine Agile has won a Daily Camera Best of '06 award for "Funniest Portrayal of Famous People"
Theater Company of Lafayette just plain nailed playwright Steve Martin's mixture of smart and silly in its production of "Picasso at the Lapine Agile" — where Pablo Picasso (Matt Ellison), Albert Einstein (Patrick Collins) and Elvis Presley (Evan Marquez) meet for a night of profound revelry. This show, directed by Ian Gerber, was funnier and smarter than the professional production of the play I saw in Denver in 1998.
-- Mark Collins, Daily Camera
Theater Company of Lafayette's Say Goodnight, Gracie Is a Boomer Retrospective
Tom Wolfe described the 1970s as the "Me Decade." In the aftermath of the 1960s sexual revolution, the 70s brought an increase in pre-marital sex, divorce rates and single parent households. Watergate rocked the country, the movie "Jaws" kept everyone out of the water, and "Charlie's Angels" made its jiggly TV debut.
This turbulent era is captured in Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie, a play about a generation at a turning point in 1976. Five 28-year-olds planning to attend their 10-year high school reunion gather in an East Village, New York City, apartment to discuss their dreams, insecurities and pasts. As they while away the hours reminiscing and smoking pot, their conversation becomes funnier-and more revealing-as the smoke thickens, and they try to figure out what to do with their lives as they approach age 30.
"What we have here are 'children of the idealistic 1960s unable to come to terms with the uncertain 1970s,'" said director Ian Gerber. "Those baby boomers are now 59 years old. The play is a melting pot of references from the 1960s and 1970s-audience members will relive memories of Woodstock, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Ernie Kovacs Nairobi Trio, "2001: A Space Odyssey," Led Zeppelin and JFK. Back then, Mick Jagger was already considered an 'old fart.' It's a hilarious look back at times and issues that are still relevant today."
Starring Stephen Blilev, Brock Williams, Ronda Belser, Matt Ellison, and Lexi St. Aubin.
Theater Company of Lafayette Presents Sabrina Fair
Nostalgic romantic comedy shows that all's fair in love
Set in the 1950s on a large Long Island Sound estate, Sabrina Fair is about a rich family named Larrabee and their relationship with Sabrina, daughter of the family chauffeur. After living in Paris for five years, Sabrina returns as an elegant and sophisticated young woman, replacing the shy, awkward girl she once was. She wants to see if she's still in love with the younger Larrabee son, David. But the elder son, Linus, may now have feelings for Sabrina, and at the same time a worldly Frenchman turns up in hot pursuit. Three guys ... one girl ... who wins?
Sabrina Fair, by Samuel A. Taylor, opened on Broadway in 1953 and was the basis for the 1954 movie directed by Billy Wilder and starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden.
"...we used to have communists and duck- and-cover. Now we have terrorists and lockdown drills. This production explores how the launch of this basketball-sized orb changed the direction of the 20th century..."
- John Moore, Denver Post
We're on the radio! (Audio)
"Sputnik was the turning point for Americans," says Colorado playwright Edith Weiss. "They had that great victory in World War II and they became a superpower. And this was the first sting to their confidence — the fact that the Russians had put this up first."
- Daily Camera
"It really felt like the United States was invincible and when Sputnik beat us to the punch on that, it was really shocking."
- Rocky Mountain News
Denver Post's John Moore interviews playwright Edith Weiss (Dancing With the Jihad) on Running Lines. (Audio)
Look, Up in the Sky! It's …. Sputnik!
Theater Company of Lafayette Presents The Deep Beep-Beep: Short Plays Inspired by Sputnik
LAFAYETTE—Before the space shuttles, before man walked on the moon, the Soviet Union launched a basketball-sized satellite named Sputnik I into orbit on Oct. 4, 1957, thus starting the Space Age and the U.S.-USSR Space Race.
Sputnik weighed only 183 pounds and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth, but it caught the world's attention and the American public off-guard.
For the 50th anniversary of the launch, Theater Company of Lafayette is presenting The Deep Beep-Beep: Short Plays Inspired by Sputnik, an ingenious dramatic romp that presents multiple perspectives on the dawn of the Space Age. Eight outstanding playwrights were commissioned to write plays that considered the impact of Sputnik and the ensuing Space Race.
Read the preview articles in Westword and The Yellow Scene.
"...three stars!...thanks to keen direction, a smart set and a good acting ensemble...the play proves an enjoyable detour..."
- Mark Collins, Daily Camera
Selected as a "Critic's choice" by John Moore of the Denver Post.
Theater Company of Lafayette Puts the Pedal to the Metal
New play looks at life both on and off the road
Theatergoers, start your engines. Theater Company of Lafayette (TCL) is staging the world premiere of David Golden's Tales from the Great American Roadway.
“Tales from the Great American Roadway weaves together various vignettes, offering a clever spin on our enduring love/hate relationship with the automobile and all that it represents,” said director Madge Montgomery. “The play follows 16 colorful characters as they seek connections and meaning in their individual journeys. Through longing, loss and missed connections, humor and humanity emerge.”
David Golden's plays have been produced in New York City, Los Angeles and Seattle. He is also a screenwriter for film, TV and commercials. Golden was a contributing playwright for TCL's award-winning production, The Frankenstein Experiment, in 2006.
An excerpt from the script.
"...TCL has been making noise of late with brazen initiatives and artistic consistency...if you can still work it in, it's worth a drink..."
- John Moore, Denver Post (review)
Mark Collins, Daily Camera (review)
Theater Company of Lafayette Presents The Diviners
Earthy, powerful play echoes John Steinbeck's classic Depression-era work
Theater Company of Lafayette brings alive the era of the Great Depression with The Diviners, by Jim Leonard, Jr.
The play centers on a disturbed young man and his friendship with a disenchanted preacher in southern Indiana in the early 1930s.
"The Diviners is set in a small town torn apart by a tragic drowning and the devastating effects of the Great Depression,” said director Ed Schoenradt. “The townspeople struggle to find hope in this funny, poignant and profoundly tragic story. The overwhelming sense of loss is tempered by the essential goodness of the characters and the marvelous humor that resonates throughout the play.”
(Three-and-a-half stars)
"...a better night of laughs than Neil Simon...by the end, Ayckbourn turns the stage into a farcical Freudian nightmare...an evening's worth of chuckles and guffaws turn to gasps..."
- Mark Collins, Daily Camera (review)
Theater Company of Lafayette Presents Woman in Mind
Expect the unexpected: British serio-comedy plays mind games
Theater Company of Lafayette is bringing dark British humor to the stage this March with Alan Ayckbourn's Woman in Mind.
Ayckbourn, known as England's Neil Simon, is frequently cited as that country's second-most performed playwright, after William Shakespeare. Knighted in 1997, Ayckbourn has written more than 70 plays, many of which have been produced in London's West End, at the Royal National Theatre, and at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Woman in Mind revolves around Susan, a suburban housewife starved for affection by her vicar husband and distant son. She fantasizes about an ideal family to make up for her sterile home life, but events spin out of control as chaos and farce build to a comically frenzied and nightmarish climax.
“Ayckbourn's plays often have a dark undercurrent, and Woman in Mind is one of his darker comedies,” said director Jackie Tisinai. “The play is unusual in that the audience hears and sees the same things as the main character, Susan. It also depicts the degeneration of modern families, and the effect that has on Susan when both her real and virtual worlds collapse.
“Though tragedy underlies the entire piece, you're laughing but asking yourself why.”
Theater Company of Lafayette proudly presents Week 7 of the world premier of the 365 Days/365 Plays cycle by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks.
** Our show is over, but you can still catch other theaters' productions.
About the 365 Days/365 Plays Project:
November 13, 2006 through November 12, 2007, Denver will be one of fifteen regions throughout the United States and Canada taking part in the World premiere of this cycle. With Curious Theatre Company as the “hub” - the coordinating organization for the region. 52 theaters across the state of Colorado will each present seven plays, representing one week of the cycle.
Each company will present their seven pieces however they wish, bringing their own aesthetic and mission to the work, thereby creating a unified but incredibly diverse play cycle.
More information about this production.
The show is over, and our thanks and gratitude go out to everyone who helped make this a great success!!!
"...the cast and crew are having a ball, and that's contagious..." — Daily Camera (read the review)
"...is a hoot and half...and seeing Lafayette's own mayor playing Mr. Whipple in the Charmin commercial is by itself worth the price of admission..." — Boulder Weekly (read the review)
Theater Company of Lafayette will relive the Golden Age of Television by staging three remarkable 1960s episodes from The Twilight Zone, "My Favorite Martian" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," plus three vintage TV commercials.
More info about this production
The show is over...thanks for the great support!
Imagine the wild off-stage lives and loves of the three witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth!
Warning: Mature content, partial nudity, Scottish accents
Boulder Fringe's info on Weird Sisters
** THE CRITICS LOVE IT! **
"The production...is the funniest show I've seen this year."
- Mark Collins, Daily Camera (review)
What an awesome run! We sold out almost every show...thanks to everyone for all of their support!!!
Thanks to everyone who made the show a monster of a good time!!!
Read the reviews in the Denver Post, Daily Camera (preview), Daily Camera (Fire and Ice), Daily Camera (Promise and Peril), and Rocky Mountain News.