Denver Fringe Festival flexes its growing muscles | Arts news

It took three years, but Denver finally has its own fully functioning fringe festival – the way founder Ann Carey Sabbah always envisioned it. That is, live and in-person.

After two hybrid pandemic years, the Denver Fringe Festival took place in all its intended glory over four days of magical chaos with 40 unjuried shows spread over 12 venues in Denver’s RiNo and Five Points neighborhoods. During one of the busiest weekends in downtown Denver history, about 3,000 took in Denver Fringe performances including aerial, immersive, comedy, dance, magic, street performances and even a few good old-fashioned theater plays. About 300 more attended family friendly "KidsFringe" events. Nothing cost more than $15.

Sabbah pulled all that off, along with 25 volunteers and 25 contracted staff, with a budget of just about $50,000 – and 70 percent of all revenue was paid back to the artists themselves. “We were extremely frugal, but I think that’s pretty amazing,” she said.  

The fest featured some freaky stuff, like an immersive show called “Salt Mother” that let only one audience member at a time into a room with 15 actors in 15-minute increments. Adams State University students developed their own Fringe offering called “(BLEEP) YEAH!” – and Assistant Professor of Theatre George McConnell is now considering making that creative experience part of the college's curriculum.

The bona fide breakout hit of the Fringe was “Josephine,” a one-woman “burlesque cabaret dream play” featuring Tymisha Harris as Josephine Baker at the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theatre. That show already has played off-Broadway, toured internationally and last month won the top prize at the Montreal Fringe Festival. “That was an incredibly impactful and beautifully performed show,” said Sabbah, whose baby fest survived all the usual unusual twists and turns of the fringe life, including last-minute canceled venues and the Colorado Avalanche’s quest for the NHL's Stanley Cup.

Next year’s fest will be moved to June 8-11 to avoid competition for crowds from Denver Pride and other big events. Moving forward, the Denver event should serve as a nice companion to the much larger, 18-year-old Boulder International Fringe Festival held each August.

“I would say we definitely exceeded expectations,” said Sabbah, whose measure of success comes down to one number: “The number of performers who expressed what a wonderful experience they had and said they want to come back in future years.”

Nickelson’s Vintage presence felt

It’s been 15 years since late Shadow Company Theatre founder Jeffrey Nickelson fulfilled his dream and opened what is now called the Vintage Theatre in Aurora, and 13 years since his sudden passing. Today, not only is his name on the largest of three performing spaces there, his spirit is all over the stage of the Jeffrey Nickelson Auditorium.

In January, Nickelson’s 18-year-old granddaughter, Shadiya Lyons, appeared in the ensemble of Vintage’s “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.” And now through July 30, his daughter ShaShauna Staton (also Shadiya’s mother) is playing Electra in Vintage’s production of the Broadway musical “Gypsy.” It’s the first time in seven years the mother of three has performed on the stage her father built. That three generations of Nickelsons have now performed on that stage, she said, would make her father very happy.

Staton joined Vintage's Board of Directors two years ago, she said, in part to ensure that her father’s legacy is never forgotten. “I love that Vintage is here for all of that,” she said. “It means Vintage hasn’t forgotten, and as long as they keep spreading the word, then that’s really awesome.”

A plaque now adorns the Vintage Theatre lobby wall telling part of Nickelson’s story. What Staton wants people to know about her father, who started Shadow Theatre Company in 1997, “is that he was the first successful Black theater owner in Colorado. There have been others,” she said, “but he was the first to make it a success.”

Staton is also working with officials from Denver’s IDEA Stages to ask Governor Jared Polis to designate Nov. 11 as Jeffrey Nickelson Day in Denver.

DCPA sees the future, and it is Miller

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts launched its Off-Center wing in 2010 mindful that the future of live theater storytelling is active, mobile, interactive and immersive. Charlie Miller, a graduate of Colorado Academy, was hired at the DCPA right out of Harvard in 2008 and two years later co-founded the company’s “adventurous” programming wing. In a major acknowledgement of the direction audience experiences are going, the DCPA this week promoted Miller to the title of Executive Director and Curator of Off-Center, and he will now join the DCPA “executive team” alongside Theatre Company Artistic Director Chris Coleman, Broadway Executive Director John Ekeberg and a lot of other big shots.

Off-Center has offered 52 productions and events totaling over 8,800 performances that have attracted more than 320,000 people. Next up: David Byrne’s “Theatre of the Mind,” opening Aug. 31 at the York Street Yards, which is expected to draw 30,000 by December.

Summer outdoor films

Not much beats watching an outdoor film on a Colorado summer evening. Here’s just a sample of what’s coming up Friday, July 8: “The Princess Bride” on the lawn at Regis University … “The Parent Trap” on the South Green in Central Park near Northfield … “Frozen 2” plays at the Town Center Park Auditorium near the Green Valley Ranch Recreation Center … Elitch Gardens screens “Sing 2” as a "dive-in" movie at its Island Kingdom Water Park (free with any park admission) … and “Cruella” screens at Infinity Park with a local band playing before … 

And, coming up: “Selena” will screen Tuesday (July 12) at the Denver Performing Arts Complex … “The Black Panther” plays July 14 at Avanti F and B, a restaurant at 3200 Pecos St. … “The Sandlot” is the Film on the Rocks headliner on July 18 at Red Rocks … “Napoleon Dynamite” plays July 20 in the backyard of the Ironton Distillery & Crafthouse. There are many more film offerings coming up in Golden, Northglenn, Littleton and elsewhere. Check out denver.org for the complete list.

Briefly …

The 46-year-old Breckenridge Backstage Theatre has named Jacqueline Stone its next Producing Artistic Director. Stone, who spent the past 10 years as the Artistic Director of The Utopian Theatre Asylum in Chicago, becomes the 18th woman to be appointed to an artistic-director position at a Colorado theater-presenting company since October 2017 (the fall of Harvey Weinstein) …

For 25 years, Ranger Miller has hosted the Blues & BBQ Festival for Better Housing, raising more than $400,000 for Habitat for Humanity Metro Denver and other programs that benefit affordable housing. Miller, frontman for Denver’s oldest garage band, the Duke Street Kings, headlines nine hours of local blues on July 16 at Citizens Park in Edgewater …

The 2021 Boulder Environmental/Nature/Outdoors Film Festival opens Thursday (July 14) and runs through July 17 at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder (and online) …

And finally: Kevin Smith will be in Denver for a public Q&A on Sept. 22 as part of “Clerks III: The Convenience Tour” at the Paramount Theatre. “Clerks III,” a sequel to the 1994 and 2006 films, will be the ninth movie set in the View Askewniverse.