Performing Arts

Chris Fairbanks is a standup comedian, illustrator, and skateboarder who has appeared on Conan, Comedy Central’s Premium Blend,
and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Fairbanks is making the most out of his trip to Denver, with performances scheduled every night. On thursday the 20th, Fairbanks will be at the Deer Pile at 8:00pm, sharing a story for the Narrators podcast. On Friday at 8:00pm at the Oriental Theater, he’s co-headlining Sexpot Comedy’s Vernal Equinox showcase with Rory Scovel and a bevy of local chucklers. Fans can also catch Fairbanks with the Fine Gentleman’s Club at 10:00pm Saturday at the Meadowlark and performing with Andrew Ovredahl, 7:00pm on Sunday at Comedy Works South. Westword caught up with Fairbanks before his busy visit ta talk about Sexpot comedy, Texan highway system and the Tosh rape joke controversy.

David Lindsay Abaire, who first achieved fame with such surreal and fantastical comedies as Kimberly Akimbo, about a young girl with a disease that causes rapid and premature aging, and Fuddy Meers, in which a woman wakes up day after day remembering neither who she is nor what recently happened,…

The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a brilliant work, its flaws so intertwined with its crazed strengths that you can hardly separate one from the other. McDonagh grew up in London, the son of Irish parents, and invented an Ireland — and an…

DeVoktchKa’s Shawn King may not think too highly of didactic protest songs, but he has devoted himself to Dreaming Sin Fronteras: Stories of Immigration and American Identity, a massive theatrical collaboration about “dreamers”: undocumented students who have been in the United States since they were children and are seeking a…

The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a brilliant work, its flaws so intertwined with its crazed strengths that you can hardly separate one from the other. McDonagh grew up in London, the son of Irish parents, and invented an Ireland — and an…

As you walk into the theater for There Is a Happiness That Morning Is, you are handed what looks like a school notebook, the kind with a stiff black-and-white-speckled cover. You take your seat before a long blackboard. A bearded fellow watches as you settle in, chiding the latecomers. He…

Amongst the striking coal miners and their family members murdered by the Colorado National Guard during the Ludlow Massacre were five Mexican-American children. To commemorate this almost-forgotten chapter of history, Su Teatro’s Anthony J. Garcia wrote Ludlow: El Grito de Las Minas (The Cry of the Mines); he’s directing a…

As American National Poetry Slam Champion and executive director of the award-winning Minor Disturbance Youth Slam Team, Ken Arkind gets to share his words with the world. A lot of those words are about his native turf of Denver, Aurora and the Colfax Avenue connection, and his second book, Coyotes,…

Martin McDonagh’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a brilliant work, its flaws so intertwined with its crazed strengths that you can hardly separate one from the other. McDonagh grew up in London, the son of Irish parents, and shot to fame in the 1990s. He invented an Ireland —…

Ed Baierlein founded Germinal Stage in 1973 in a Market Street space, and later moved to a tiny theater on West 44th Avenue, just off Federal Boulevard. Here, for 26 years, he staged an eclectic mix of American and European plays: some experimental, others realistic, some profound and others just…

It’s March, the month of college basketball brackets and St. Patrick’s Day. But don’t worry: While the rest of your office is busy throwing money away pretending to care about college hoops and drinking shitty green beer, there’s plenty of great geek fun to be had. March’s ten best geek…

Nikki Glaser is a New-York based comedian with a formidable list of credits and an immediately engaging performance style. Despite their raunchy subject matter, Glaser’s jokes are wryly observant and leavened by her considerable charm. Glaser has appeared on @Midnight and Last Comic Standing, as well as the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno until recently, Glaser could be seen co-hosting The Nikki and Sarah Show on MTV. Glaser has a soft spot in her heart for Colorado; she performed her first set at CU Boulder and appeared the pilot episode of the Grawlix’s Those Who Can’t.This friday, Glaser returns to our beloved city to headline Sexpot Comedy’s Weirdo Olympics.
The Weirdo Olympics will also feature sets from David Gborie, who’s one of San Francisco’s funniest dudes, as well local favorites Kevin O’Brien, Sam Tallent and Sexpot’s go-to emcee, Jordan Doll. The show starts at 8 p.m. Friday, February 28, at the Oriental Theater. Tickets are $15.

In advance of the Weirdo Olympics, Westword caught up with Glaser to discuss the end of her show, having a bit stolen, and why she’d move to Denver if she could.

Last produced four years ago, Jugged Rabbit Stew is one of Buntport’s best shows, a startling and peculiar mix of comedy, sadness, magic, craziness and erudition that only this troupe could produce. And this revival brings back Evan Weissman, a longtime member who left — sort of — a while…

The Lyons begins with a fairly familiar premise: a deathbed vigil featuring the protracted dying of a Jewish patriarch, Ben, and the shallow chatter of Rita, his wife. This cancer-ridden father isn’t wise or long-suffering, however. He’s a mean-spirited monster of blind ego with perhaps one single redeeming feature: He…

Comedian TJ Miller has a commitment to comedic absurdity that has served him well throughout his career. From his roots in the Chicago improv scene, Miller emerged as one of the city’s most unique standups, remarkable for his madman charisma. In short order, Miller stole scenes and joined impressive ensemble casts in movies like Our Idiot Brother and Yogi Bear 3D. All the while, Miller’s hometown of Denver has remained close to his heart and channeled into song on Miller’s Extended Play E.P.from Comedy Central Records. It’s an exciting time for Miller, with Silicon Valley a new HBO series set to premiere on April 6th and a movie, Search Party, due this summer.
This week, Denver’s prodigal comic returns to his hometown for two nights of shows as a part of his No Cancellations tour. He’ll performing wednesday night at Boulder’s Fox Theatre. Doors open at 8:30pm for the 9:00pm show. General admission tickets are $20. On thursday, he’ll be at the Gothic Theatre. Doors open at 7:00pm for the 8:00pm show. Tickets are $20.50 in advance and $23 on the day of show.
Westword caught up with Miller for phone interview to discuss his tour, bringing absurdity to morning news shows, and why he always brings his best to Denver.

The tech crew at the Denver Center Theatre Company includes some of the best people in the country, and their budget is clearly generous, but their work can only carry a production so far. The set for Hamlet is a subtle wonder of stone and steel, offering frequent glimpses of…

Black Odyssey. Based on Homer’s epic, Black Odyssey tells the story of a soldier, Ulysses Lincoln, coming back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Like his namesake, he is forced to wander for many years before he can return home, encountering supernatural beings and many strange adventures along the…

Ulysses is dying alone in a decrepit trailer in Paonia. When we first see him, there’s an oxygen tube taped to his chest and he’s frying sausages, naked except for an apron — which he’s put on not out of modesty, but to protect his private parts from splattering grease…

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap opened at London’s New Ambassadors Theatre in 1952, moved to the St. Martin’s Theatre in 1974 and has continued its majestic trundle through theater history to become the longest-running show in the entire world. It’s like a lot of other English institutions — tea cozies, the…

Black Odyssey. Based on Homer’s epic, Black Odyssey tells the story of a soldier, Ulysses Lincoln, coming back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Like his namesake, he is forced to wander for many years before he can return home, encountering supernatural beings and many strange adventures along the…

February is winter’s death rattle. The roads are sludgy, the calendar is wonky, and there’s nothing to look forward to except Valentine’s Day –which can often seem more of a solemn obligation than a holiday anyway. Fortunately, there’s a diverse range of comedy events available to light up the otherwise bleak February entertainment landscape. Whether taking in comedian-produced shows with gross names like Tongue Stuff and Tits & Giggles, checking out veteran acts like Paul Mooney, Norm MacDonald, and Jeff Ross, or being a spectator at an Olympics for Weirdos, Denver comedy has a myriad of ways to keep you laughing until the sun comes back.

Playwright Marcus Gardley has won prestigious awards and been compared with such giants as August Wilson and Tennessee Williams for the poeticism of his language. But he’s also been criticized for writing plays that lack structure and for creating characters more symbolic than real. The Denver Center Theatre Company commissioned…