Breakouts: Ten Colorado actors who arrived in 2022 | John Moore

Every year, promising young actors and area newcomers burst onto the local theater scene with breakout performances that signal great things to come. Here are 10 from 2022:

• Noelia Antweiler, Curious Theatre’s “Heroes of the Fourth Turning”: The Arvada native seemingly dropped from the sky (actually New York) into three different Arvada Center plays that were being performed at the same time: “Stick Fly,” “The Liar” and “Animal Farm.” She finished the year in a comic romp at the Aurora Fox called “The Jedi Handbook.” But in between, it was her astonishing turn as a conservative flamethrower in Curious Theatre’s “Heroes of the Fourth Turning” that really announced her spectacular arrival on her hometown theater scene. “Antweiler lit up the three shows at the Arvada Center last spring and returns here as a fire-breathing proto-Laura Ingraham who’s chugged the whole vat of conservative Kool-Aid and is ready to tell the world about it,” wrote OnStage Colorado editor Alex Miller.

• Brian Bohlender, Miners Alley Playhouse’s “Hair”: Bohlender, another magnetic newcomer who came out of nowhere to just about everywhere, prowled the stage as the uninhibited leader of the iconic drop-out tribe.

“Bohlender is a real find,” Miller wrote. “He’s a (gutsy) actor who perfectly inhabits the wild-eyed, hedonistic character of Berger. We can’t take our eyes off him as he weaves and bobs and spills into the audience, shaking his thick mane wherever he goes.” Bohlender, originally from Turlock, Calif., is ending the year making his Denver Center debut in “A Christmas Carol.”

• Mykail Cooley, Aurora Fox’s “The Jedi Handbook”: The alum of both Denver School of the Arts and the late, lamented Black Actors Guild played the younger version of a man looking back at his first time seeing “Star Wars” in 1977.

“Cooley really sells the dorky kid who can’t shut up about his favorite thing,” wrote Miller. “He also does a great Yoda.”

• Mykai Eastman, Benchmark Theatre’s “An Octoroon”: Eastman has made an immediate impact as a director, playwright and actor since his arrival from Tampa, Fla. “An Octoroon” is a play that explores enduring issues of identity and colorism by revisiting a stereotype-riddled 1859 plantation melodrama through the singular lens of playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Eastman “was very dedicated to getting it right,” said his director, the intentionally lower-cased donnie l. betts.“He brought an intensity and a real commitment to breathing incredibly new life into the role.”

Eastman’s own play, “Miss Education,” was staged at the 2022 Obsidian Theatre Festival in Detroit, and he made his Colorado directing debut with “Dot” at Vintage Theatre. He also was the assistant director for Town Hall’s “Once on This Island.” In 2023, he will be co-directing and choreographing Town Hall’s “Memphis” and will be the assistant director for the DCPA Theatre Company’s “The Color Purple.”

• Kristina Fountaine, Arvada Center’s “Stick Fly”: It’s hard to call Fountaine a “breakout” considering I first interviewed her 20 years ago when she was a kid in the Denver Center’s “A Christmas Carol” and in 2018 was nominated for a Henry Award for Miners Alley Playhouse’s “District Merchants.” But 2022 has been an arrival of sorts. Fountaine excelled in three Arvada Center plays in rotation (“Stick Fly,” “The Liar” and “Animal Farm”) and is one of the 14 actors performing David Byrne’s solo play “Theater of the Mind” for the Denver Center through Jan. 22.

“While it would be hard to top her impressive twins act in ‘The Liar,’ she fully inhabits her simmering, then exploding character in ‘Stick Fly,’” Miller wrote.

• Camryn Nailah, Town Hall Arts Center’s “Once on this Island”: The Manual High School grad starred as Ti Moune, the peasant girl who falls in love with a member of the ruling class in this heartbreaking and yet heartwarming tale of racism and classism. OnStage Colorado’s Blythe Smythe singled out Nailah’s powerhouse voice. Nailah was denied her glory when she was cast as Sarah in BDT Stage’s “Ragtime” — the pandemic shutdown closed the show one day after it opened in 2020.

But this year has been huge for Nailah, who also played Ella in “Cinderella” and Louise in “Gypsy” for Vintage Theatre, and is currently playing Alberta in Town Hall’s “Newsies.” Nailah also performed in Denver Center Education’s “Shakespeare in the Parking Lot” touring program and just booked a job performing for Disney Cruise Lines.

• Stephanie Saltis, Arvada Center’s “The River Bride”: After chilling Vintage Theatre audiences in a surreal drama called “Blackademics,” the CU Boulder grad let her full heart show in the Arvada Center’s “The River Bride,” a magical fable based on the myth that every June in a small Brazilian fishing town, dolphins are given three days to venture on land as humans to find their true love. In 90 minutes, we saw Saltis grow up before our eyes. "Stephanie is a generous, brave and captivating actor, and it was thrilling to watch her work," said her director, Jamie Ann Romero.

• Nik Vlachos, Aurora Fox’s “Futurity”: The charming son of legendary Fairview High School Choir Director Janice Vlachos acted, sang, co-narrated and even played accordion in the Aurora Fox’s Civil War musical. Of the two leading actors, Denver Post reviewer Lisa Kennedy wrote: “Adriane Leigh Robinson and Vlachos’ voices create approachable magic.”

• Elton J. Tanega, Town Hall Arts Center’s “Newsies”: The surging Horizon High School grad is seizing the day as newspaper strike-leader Jack Kelly. Tanega never misses a beat and “provides an unstoppable force as the story’s protagonist,” wrote OnStage Colorado’s Eric Fitzgerald, citing Tanega’s strong voice and athleticism. It shows at the box office: “Newsies'' is fully sold out through its Dec. 30 closing date. Tanega is also known as the rare “nice guy” influencer on TikTok — he’s approaching 70,000 followers.

• Ethan Walker, OpenStage’s “Cabaret”: The recent University of Northern Colorado grad, who already has starred in big productions of “Newsies” and “Footloose,” had a key role in The Candlelight’s “The Scarlet Pimpernel” before being tabbed to seduce Fort Collins audiences as an uncharacteristically young “Cabaret” Emcee — which only served to heighten the story’s tragic ending. That Nazi cautionary tale, Walker said, “continues to illustrate the dangers of being asleep to radical doctrine and agendas that are forever present, right in our backyard.“ Kenny Moten, his OpenStage director, said Walker “brought wholly everything he had to the role.” Except fear. “Ethan has no fear,” Moten said.

Note: The True West Awards, now in their 22nd year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community by revisiting 30 of the best stories from the past year without categories or nominations.