Aid recipient: Gloria Shanstrom’s involvement in the Colorado performing-arts community began in 1985 as an usher at Boettcher Concert Hall. She was named the House Manager at the Auditorium Theatre (now the Ellie Caulkins Opera House) in 1997, then the Buell Theatre just before it opened in 1991. In 1997, she was hired as a […]
Aid recipient: Andrew “Metz” Metzroth is a native of Boulder and graduate of Fairview High School who left CU-Boulder with a BA (Religious Studies), a BFA (Theatre Technology and Design) and an MA (Theatre). Overall, Metz has helped create more than 125 shows in the metro area since 2005. He has been an ensemble member […]
Aid recipient: Tim Campbell is a well-known local actor currently working as the Food Service Manager at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, located 45 miles north of Denver in Johnstown. Tim, a graduate of Lakewood High School and Metropolitan State University of Denver, most recently played bumbling alcoholic uncle Billy in Candlelight’s A Wonderful Life. Other […]
Aid recipient: Mitch Jervis is a longtime guitarist in the Colorado theatre community who recently played in the band for the Denver Center’s “First Date” at the Garner Galleria Theatre. Mitch has too many theatrical credits to count, but here are a random few: “Pump Boys and Dinettes” with late local actor Daniel Langhoff […]
Aid recipient: Denver actor Jeff Jesmer, who works at many Denver theatres as both an actor and scenic builder/designer, is currently appearing as David Cameron in Vintage Theatre’s “The Audience.” Other recent roles include John Proctor in “The Crucible,” Richard in “The Lion in Winter” and Paul in “The Champagne Charlie Stakes” (all for Firehouse […]
Aid recipient: Trenton J. Schindele of Broomfield is a longtime actor for the Phamaly Theatre Company, having appeared in many productions including “Evita,” “Fuddy Meers,” “Cabaret” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” (“As Motel, Trenton Schindele is authentic and down-to-earth,” wrote Juliet Wittman of Westword.) Trenton has just been cast in the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s […]
Aid recipient: Jay Louden has been a longtime actor and director with the Evergreen Players, having most recently directed “The Dining Room” and performed in “The Explorer’s Club.” and “Enchanted April.” He has directed more than 30 productions, including “The 39 Steps” last month for StageDoor Theatre in Conifer. Last year, he appeared in […]
Aid recipient: Allison Caw is a Philadelphia native who earned her MFA in Theatre at Naropa University in Boulder and recently appeared in Off-Center’s “The Wild Party” for the Denver Center at the Stanley Marketplace. Other Colorado credits include “_______, An Opera,” and “Beowulf, A Thousand Years Of Baggage” for The Catamounts. She has been […]
Aid recipient: Keegan Flaugh is a longtime actor in the Denver theatre community who will next be appearing as Lord Leonard Aster in “Peter and the Star Catcher,” opening Jan. 12 at the Town Hall Arts Center. Keegan, who is from Cortez, Colorado, graduated from Poudre High School and Colorado State University. Major roles […]
Financial-aid recipient: Don Gabenski has been performing for 15 years with Phamaly Theatre Company, which exists to provide performance opportunities to actors with disabilities, and more recently Spoke N Motion, Denver’s only fully integrated dance company. Phamaly highlights have included playing the patriarch Jacob in “Joseph and Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” The Wiz,” “Guys and Dolls,” […]
Financial-aid recipient: Nancy Warner has been a dresser, backstage crew member and faithful volunteer for Phamaly Theatre Company for many years, most recently as a show-runner for Phamaly’s “Vox Phamilia: Under Construction” at the Community College of Aurora. For nearly 30 years, Phamly has existed to provide performance and backstage opportunities for people with disabilities. […]
Financial-aid recipient: Actor Archie Villeda is a local actor who most recently appeared in Su Teatro’s Dona Rositas Jalapeno Kitchen in 2015. Other titles include Ludlow: El Grito de Las Minas in 20914 and the class comedy La Carpa Aztlan Presents: I Don’t Speak English Only in 2012 (pictured below with Manuel R. Roybal Sr.). […]
Jordana Grolonick, second from left, made a benefit appearance for the Denver Actors Fund with her Arvada Center ‘A Chorus Line’ castmates at the Denver Alamo Drafthouse on Aug. 28. Photo by John Moore. The claim by Jordana Grolnick of Longmont has been confirmed by an official, and an apology has been issued Posted by […]
Financial-aid recipient: Funnyman Mark Shonsey has been an an actor in the Denver theatre and improv-comedy communities since 2003. The graduate of John F. Kennedy High School and the University of Colorado Denver most recently played Nicky in the Town Hall Arts Center’s production of Avenue Q in January. It’s a role he first played […]
Financial-aid recipient: Paul Hartman and his wife, Amanda, are both longtime members of the local theatre community. Paul is a musician who has playing in pits from the Midtown Ats Center Arts Center in Fort Collins to the Candelight Dinner Theater in Johnstown to Performance Now in Lakewood to more. Most recently, he played for […]
Financial-aid recipient: Greg Alan West is a longtime actor and costumer in the Colorado theatre community whose notable roles have included the one-man epic I Am My Own Wife and Lucien in The Boys Next Door for Firehouse Theatre Company; Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival; and Dogberry in Lost […]
Financial-aid recipient: For 18 years, Carol Kelly was the Hair and Makeup Coordinator for Phamaly, the acclaimed Denver theatre company that creates performance opportunities for actors with disabilities. Most recently, she worked on Cabaret at the Denver Center’s Space Theatre. Her medical story: Carol has been put on a two-week medical leave by her doctor […]
Financial-aid recipient: Daniel Perkins, known in your theatre programs as DP Perkins, came to Colorado in 1980 to do a show at the Heritage Square Opera House, and stayed. He was part of a brigade that piled into a car and drove to Golden after the Goldenrod Showboat in St. Louis closed. The group included […]
Financial-aid recipient: Norrell Moore has been regularly performing in the local theatre community since 2012, when she played Vivienne Kensington and Rachel Jackson in high-profile, back-to-back productions of Legally Blonde The Musical at the Arvada Center and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Aurora Fox. Major roles that followed included playing the heart-wrenching hippie conformist Sheila […]
Jaime Lujan, far right, and the cast of The LIDA project’s ‘Watershed, Part 1,’ a 2013 collaboration with Metropolitan State University. Photo by John Moore. Financial-aid recipient: Jaime Lujan is an actor, vocalist and performance artist who has been active in the Colorado theatre community for 17 years. Her credits include the DCPA Theatre […]
Financial aid recipient: Cathrine Floyd (pronounced KUH-TREE-nuh), played Miss Lark in Englewood Summer Drama’s 2016 production of Mary Poppins alongside her daughters, Emma and Hanna. Cathrine’s story: Shortly after Mary Poppins ended, Cathrine was diagnosed with breast cancer. After undergoing chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, Cathrine was found to be cancer-free last month. The bills […]
Financial aid recipient: Actor and producer Emily K. Harrison is the founder of the now 12-year old, intentionally lower-cased square product theatre. She just completed a controversial turn playing child beauty queen and murder victim JonBenét Ramsey in House of Gold, performed in Ramsey’s hometown of Boulder. Joanne Ostrow of The Denver Post called it […]
Financial aid recipient: Adrianna Tye is the mother of actor Christopher Tye, who appeared as Curtis Taylor Jr. in Ignite Theatre’s production of “Dreamgirls” in 2014-15 at the Aurora Fox. Christopher died without warning on July 20, his birthday. He was 36. “He died too young and without warning or signs,” said his wife, Tahesha […]
Financial aid recipient: Actor Abner Genece performed last season in Curious Theatre’s Water by the Spoonful and has been cast as a full member of the Arvada Center’s Black Box Theatre Company for its upcoming second season. Artistic Director Lynne Collins has cast Genece to play Sir John in Sense & Sensibility, Ambimbola in […]
Financial aid recipient: Katherine Paynter is an actor who just performed in Performance Now Theatre Company’s “The Wedding Singer,” which closed Sunday. Paynter, who hails from Minnesota, studied theatre arts through a dual-college program within both Minnesota State and North Dakota State universities. She is now a Denver-based flight attendant with United Airlines and made […]
Christopher Dyer, a longtime executive with the Denver-based premium cable TV network Starz/Lionsgate, has been unanimoulsy appointed to the Denver Actors Fund Board of Directors, President Will Barnette has announced. The 4-year-old Denver Actors Fund makes financial and practical assistance available to members of the Colorado theatre community facing situational medical need. Last week, The […]
Financial aid recipient: Meghan Ralph has been heavily involved in the Denver theatre community since 2004, working as actor, stage manager, assistant director, run crew, box office, photographer and anything in-between. She is one of the founders of Equinox Theatre Company and has worked with Spotlight, Firehouse, Vintage and many others. Most recently, she […]
Financial aid recipient: Longtime actor and 20-year vocal coach Traci J. Kern has appeared in productions for many local theatre companies, including as the Narrator in both “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” for Cabrini Productions and “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” for Ben Dicke Productions at the Aurora Fox. Recent productions as Music Director have […]
About Nick Thorne: Actor, director and producer Nicholas Thorne died on Feb. 8, 2017, of complications from a severe asthma attack. He was 25, and a graduate of Denver School of the Arts and the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley. He was the Artistic Director and a co-founder of the Black Actors Guild, which […]
About Daniel Langhoff: Popular actor Daniel Langhoff most recently appeared as Cervantes, the playwright who defends his life through storytelling, in Performance Now’s production of “The Man of La Mancha.” Other recent roles include Tateh, the immigrant single father in the Performance Now’s epic musical “Ragtime,” for which he won a 2016 True West Award. […]