Jan Giese, an accomplished piano player and a prolific actor known for her 100-watt smile, died May 8 from kidney disease. She was 82.

Giese hailed from New Orleans, but she spent nearly 40 years on Denver stages, primarily at the now-closed Country Dinner Playhouse, where the mother of four appeared in dozens of family-friendly musicals. She also performed at the Ascot Dinner Theatre, Aurora Fox and Littleton Town Hall Arts Center, where her signature role was as Aunt Eller in a 2009 staging of “Oklahoma!” In 2006, Giese played the scheming mama who wants to keep her adult son all to herself in Town Hall’s “Bye Bye Birdie,” with future TV and movie star Melissa Benoist (“The Girls on the Bus”) playing 15-year-old Kim.

As a theater critic in those days, I complimented Giese’s great vocal mannerisms and observed of her performance: “In this role, the meaner you are, the more hilarious you are.”

When Bjorn Thorstad, a professional actor from Aurora, returned to Denver in 2003 to star as Shaggy in a live adaptation of the “Scooby Doo” animated series at the Auditorium Theatre (where the Ellie Caulkins Opera House is now), I asked him who he remembered most fondly from his days as a child actor in the Colorado theater community. He named Giese.

“I always admired and enjoyed Jan, who was our Mamma Rose in ‘Gypsy’ at the Town Hall Arts Center back in 1990,” Thorstad told me. “She gave what I consider to be the definitive performance. I’ve not seen anyone whose Mamma was more endearing, sexy, charismatic and tragic. Jan was perfect.”

Giese was particularly fond of the nostalgic musical comedy “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” which she appeared in at both the Aurora Fox and Town Hall. But she was perhaps best known for an enduring TV commercial – as the lunchroom lady in a Bubblicious chewing gum spot.

Still, she was probably most proud of being crowned Ms. Senior Colorado in 2002, and she could often be seen around town sporting her spectacular sash.

After her reign, she made her intentional return to the stage as a ringer in the 2003 edition of Magic Moments. That’s an annual pop-music revue that at the time raised money for organizations that provide services for those with special needs. Among her numbers were a comic “The Lady is a Tramp” and “My Funny Valentine.”

Giese, who was preceded in death by a son, Eugene, and three husbands, became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at age 18 and, after serving two missions, served as a church choir director for much of her adult life.

Giese is survived by sons Darryl and Stephen, as well as daughter Janene Goubert, who suggests donations in Jan Giese’s name be made to the Denver Actors Fund at P.O. Box 11182, Denver, 80211. A service was held on May 16.

Mourning Patrick Balai

The theater community is also mourning actor and director Patrick Balai, co-founder of a former Denver Irish theater company called Tir Na nOg. Balai died on Monday of kidney disease at his home in South Lyon, Mich. He was 53.

Tir Na nOg was known for staging contemporary and classic Irish tales. Balai’s seminal role in Denver was as Damien in “Paddywack,” an intense IRA thriller that was nominated for multiple awards (including best actor for Balai) at the 2002 Acting Irish International Theatre Festival in Ottawa.

Balai was known to many for his signature beard and endearing nickname (“Patty B”).

“He was a lovable Irish teddy bear,” said independent film producer Britta Erickson, who ran the Acoma Center in the days when Tir Na nOg performed there.

Denver friends will gather at 5 p.m. Sunday at Nawlins Irish Pub, 1429 Market St.