DENVER: The Denver Center of the Performing Arts’s theatre company has announced its 2019-20 season.
“Throughout this season you’ll see Tony-winning and nominated plays, classics, Shakespeare, and incredible new plays from playwrights changing American theatre,” said artistic director Chris Coleman in a statement. “I look forward to the conversations each of these productions will open up with the Denver community.”
The season will open with Indecent by Paula Vogel (Aug. 30-Oct. 6). The play tells the story of the Yiddish play God of Vengeance and how it was controversial for featuring the first lesbian kiss on Broadway. Nancy Keystone will direct and Dominique Kelley will provide choreography.
Then DCPA Theatre Company will present Ibsen’s A Doll’s House in rep with Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Sept. 6-Nov. 24). Ibsen’s play is about a woman named Nora living in Norway in the 1870s who walks out on her marriage. Hnath’s play takes place 15 years after, when Nora unexpectedly returns to her family. Coleman will direct Ibsen’s play and Rose Riordan will direct Hnath’s play.
After that will be Shakespeare’s gender-bending Twelfth Night (Nov. 15-Dec. 22). Coleman will direct.
In the spring, DCPA theatre will present two world premieres as part of its 2020 Colorado New Play Summit. The first world premiere will be You Lost Me by Bonnie Metzgar (Jan. 17-Feb. 23, 2020), about a 17-year-old woman named Ann Harvey, who saves 160 people, becomes an instant hero, and her legacy 200 years later. Margot Bordelon will direct.
The second world premiere will be twenty50 by Tony Meneses (Jan. 31-March 1, 2020). The play is about a man running for president in the year 2050, who must decide whether identifying as a Mexican American will help or hinder him on Election Day. Henry Godinez will direct.
After that will be Until the Flood by Dael Orlandersmith (March 20-April 26, 2020). Orlandersmith will perform in this one-person show about the social unrest in Ferguson, Mo., after the death of Michael Brown. Neel Keller will direct the production, which has been touring the country.
The season will close with Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney (April 10-May 10, 2020). The play takes place in a Black all-boy’s prep school where the only openly gay student has to decide whether to stand up to bullying or keep his head down. The play will also feature live gospel music. Timothy Douglas will direct.
The Denver Center for the Performing Art is a performing arts center that presents Broadway tours and produces theatre, cabaret, musicals, and immersive plays. DCPA’s Theatre Company was created in 1979 and has produced more than 400 productions.
