DENVER: Randy Weeks, president of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) and executive director of its Broadway touring division, died today, Thursday, Oct. 9. He was 59.
Weeks was in London attending the Independent Presenter’s Network conference. Concern was raised when he missed a previously scheduled meeting. Colleagues requested that the hotel in which he was staying do a wellness check at which time he was discovered in his bed. Cause of death is currently unknown.
Weeks was a student at the University of Colorado when he started working at the DCPA box office in 1978. When he was theatre operations manager for the Kennedy Center, Broadway presenter Bob Garner lured him back to Denver by hiring him to lead Denver Center Attractions in 1989. He became DCPA president in 2005.
Weeks presented more than 400 shows in the Denver market, including 10 national touring premieres (The Book of Mormon, Pippin, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Lion King, Sunset Boulevard, and the revival of A Chorus Line, among others) and the pre-Broadway engagement of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. He also opened the Garner Galleria Theatre, a more intimate space within the Denver Center, in 1992.
In a letter, DCPA chairman & CEO Daniel L. Ritchie wrote that apart from “a foray into his parent’s restaurant business, Randy’s first love was the theatre…. Randy’s dedication to the DCPA came in many forms. He was one of the founding members of the Women’s Voices Fund, making gifts to honor his mother and aunt. He was a self-described ‘doer of things’ with an open-door policy, involving and mentoring staff throughout the organization….
“Most recently, Randy spearheaded the creation of the Bobby G Awards in 2013, the Colorado regional awards program for the National High School Musical Theater Awards, which recognizes and fosters the talent of aspiring youth in the local community…. He was an early adopter of new theatre, including the national tour of Traces, cementing Denver’s place as a launch pad of exciting works destined for national prominence.
“Randy has left an indelible mark on Denver, Colorado and the national theatre community. He will be greatly missed by all of us at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.”
UPDATE: A tribute video to Weeks from Friday, Oct. 10.
