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We are auditioning for our Lincoln/Darwin festival...
Photo Credit: Ian Gerber
L to R: Brock Williams as Sherlock Holmes and Ashley Van Scoyoc as Watson
"There are some delightful and unexpected twists and turns as the plot unfolds in Devilsmore.....Stancich has created 10 unique characters, each of whose status and background is easily discernible."
—Mark Collins, Daily Camera
Beware the Doom! Truth, betrayal, and passion collide as the world's most famous detective and his beloved Watson investigate a prank turned deadly, in this world premier by playwright C.P. Stancich.
Dates: October 17, 18, 20, 24, 25, 31 and November 1, 7, 8 at 7:30 pm;
October 26 matinee at 2:00 pm
October 20 is Industry Night - All tickets $8.00
Tickets: Adult $15, Student/Senior $12, Children $10 (online discounts available)
Where: Mary Miller Theater, 300 E. Simpson Street, Lafayette
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes"
-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Director Ray Viggiano promises to recreate the magic of the old Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone (as Holmes), and Nigel Bruce (as Dr. Watson). Viggiano says, "They were great fun! At times one had to suspend disbelief with Holmes and Watson thwarting Nazis in WW II! The original stories, written by Sir Arther Conan Doyle, took place mostly in London in late 1880's to 1890's, but who cared? It was Holmes' superior intellect and brilliant deductions that once again saved the day from evil (and usually Dr.Watson as well)! This is a wonderful original stage play written by Chris Stancich, a long time collaborator of TCL, and has all the charm and mystery of the original stories."
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
(3 stars)
"...in relentless and physical over-the-top fashion, they breathlessly sprint through roughly 600 years of American history, play dozens of characters and manage to get much of the audience wet on more than one occasion...it's such a smorgasbord of jokes, jabs and jibes, there's something in it for just about anyone..."
- Mark Collins, Daily Camera (review)
America’s sacred cows better run for cover as three TCL actors cheerfully run riot over 500 years of our country's history in this 90-minute politically incorrect romp, written by the self-proclaimed “bad boys of abridgement” (The Reduced Shakespeare Company).
Be prepared for giant props, goofy wigs, bad musical numbers and – lots of water. (Bring a poncho or umbrella if you plan to sit in the front)!
Isn’t it time you finally found out exactly how many Democrats it takes to screw in a light bulb?
"What the "Daily Show" might be like if it were hosted by the Marx Brothers."
Robert Nesti - Boston Herald
"History has never been this much fun. Or as delightfully mutilated."
Bill Brownstein - Montreal Gazette
10,000 Wayniacs: Very Short Plays Inspired by Mr. Las Vegas
Rolls into town for a limited engagement on July 17, 18, 19 at 7:30 pm, and July 20 at 6:00 pm
Join us for a rollicking fun-filled evening of 11 short original comedic sketches about Sin City and our favorite crooner, Wayne Newton!
Admission: Oh baby! Roll the dice and pay that price; take your chances Las Vegas style,
or buy your tickets in advance to this "hot" show at the "cool" price of only $10 online and be assured of a seat!
Mark Collins, Daily Camera
"...it's like the time someone in middle or upper management at your company decided to introduce a completely new software program for you to learn. You know, right as you were starting to make progress on that big project with the crucial deadline?..."
"...Sugg is a perfect Gross...Secor not only makes her mastery believable, she brings spark to the role..."
Theater Company of Lafayette Presents The Memo, a Comic Sendoff of Clerical Hell
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.”
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.
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.