Buntport Theater, an enduring ensemble of five wildly creative storytellers from Colorado College, has produced more than 50 full-length, original plays from scratch over the past nearly 25 years.

Know that it is exceedingly rare for any theater company to survive long enough to produce 50 plays of any kind. The kind that most produce have been written by somebody else and ordered out of a catalog. These people do it all themselves.

A recent highlight was a lovably odd 2023 play called “The Death of Napoleon: A Play in Less Than Three Acts” – which imagined the tiny, contemplative French emperor spending his final years in exile playing solitaire, arguing with insects and refusing to get on his teeter-totter.

That is quintessential Buntport. (I want there to be a name for that. Perhaps “Kennebuntport.”)

Buntport never gets old largely because its often steps out of its nonexistent comfort zone by collaborating with other artists in the community. Tonight, they are opening “The Menagerist,” a new play they co-created with Regan Linton, former artistic director of Denver’s disability affirmative Phamaly Theatre Company. Linton, a graduate of Denver East High School, was paralyzed in a car collision while in college.

Buntport, Linton understates, “is one of the most unique theater companies in Denver.” Linton, in turn, “brings a level of professionalism to Buntport – finally,” ensemble member Brian Colonna joked.

In January, Warner Brothers Studios celebrated its 100th anniversary by commissioning six contemporary short film adaptations of its most iconic films. Linton was one of them, and she chose “Jack and the Beanstalk,” now streaming on Max (formerly HBO).

“The Menagerist” is a satirical take on Tennessee Williams’ classic play and, not for nothing, Linton herself starred as Laura Wingfield in a 2012 grad-school production of “The Glass Menagerie.” This, she says, is not that.

“‘The Menagerist’ is a comedy about being stuck in a tragedy with your annoying unicorn friend and a handful of imaginary spoons,” said Linton, who promises “an absurd, irreverent, delightful theatrical romp – with a smidge of sentimentality.”

But there is a point to all this stillness. “Our whole starting point was talking with Regan about being stuck playing Laura in plays like ‘The Glass Menagerie’ as an actor with a visible disability,” Colonna said.

“The Menagerist” runs through March 29 at 717 Lipan St. with ASL Interpretation performances on March 22-23 and Audio Description performances on March 23-24. Go to buntport.com.

‘Little Shop’ of famous celebs

Ben Fankhauser, who is a big deal in the national theater world, will star in the Denver Center Theatre Company’s upcoming homegrown staging of the popular Broadway musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” performing April 11 through May 25 in the Wolf Theatre.

He’s been seen by Denver audiences before in visiting productions of “Spring Awakening” (as the sensitive gay teen Ernst) and more recently “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” (as Barry Mann).

Playing Audrey will be Gizel Jimenez, who played Nessarose in Broadway’s “Wicked” but is known (to me, anyway) as “Hurricane Mel” (Rosa’s sister) on the Apple+ TV series “Bad Monkey.”

It can get a little confusing when it comes to all the musicals going on down at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, so here is a primer:

Most every musical you hear about at the ‘Plex is a touring iteration of a Broadway play – one that might stop here for anywhere between three days to three weeks (or more) before moving on to the next city. Upcoming examples: “The Wiz” visits the Buell Theatre from April 8-26. “The Addams Family” follows May 2-4. These sometimes union, sometimes not musicals are “presented” by the Denver Center’s muscular Broadway division. 

The separate, seasonal Denver Center Theatre Company builds its own shows from scratch – most often plays. But it has not been uncommon throughout the company’s 45-year history to mount occasional Broadway musicals like “Little Shop of Horrors.” Past examples include “South Pacific,” “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” “Oklahoma!” “A Little Night Music” and others. This can confuse potential audiences, though, because the actors who appear in these homegrown musicals are often imported Broadway stars just like those who appear on the national tours.

“Little Shop” will be crafted from the ground up, and for our eyes only in Denver, by a creative team that is both a hybrid of recruited national talent like costume designer Samantha C. Jones alongside Denver-anchored artisans like director Chris Coleman, Musical Director Angela Steiner and Lighting Designer Charles R. MacLeod.

If you are ever unsure which musical is which, just check the venue. If it’s happening at the Buell Theatre, you are seeing the same show they just saw last week in Salt Lake City. If it’s at the Wolf Theatre, it’s all ours.

But just when you think you might have that all straight, there’s also this: The Denver Center’s Broadway division also manages the tiny Galleria Theatre, situated just across from the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. The Galleria presents both plays and musicals; some touring, some homegrown. These are open-ended runs that (often) will stay open as long as there is ticket demand. And because a homegrown Galleria show is almost always included in the Denver Center’s Broadway subscription package, it can take many months of performances for all of those Denver Center subscribers to cycle through the 213-seat Galleria Theatre.

That’s why the current offering, a quirky little musical called “Gutenberg,” opened back in November and will run through May 4 (at least). That’s much longer than any touring Broadway musical or Theatre Company offering lasts.

“Gutenberg” is a fully homegrown, two-actor musical that rotates between four accomplished musical-theater performers plucked right from our own Denver acting community: Matthew Dailey, Scott Rathbun, Brett Amber and Ethan Lee Knowles. The Galleria is where the Broadway division takes its biggest creative risks. “Gutenberg,” for example, is an unusual story that introduces a pair of aspiring playwrights who are developing a big, splashy musical about printing-press inventor Johann Gutenberg.

One last right turn: Not all touring productions at the Buell are musicals. Case in point: “Life of Pi,” based on the best-selling novel that became a worldwide film phenomenon, performs March 18-30. It tells the story of the Indian boy who survives 227 days while stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger and an orangutan. The emphasis here is on use of visuals, puppetry and stagecraft.

Information on all these shows at 303-893-4100 or denvercenter.org

A Daft Punk sculpture for Fort Collins

This week, a 15-foot sculpture went up on the grounds outside the Lyric Theatre in Fort Collins that is titled “One More Time” in homage to the hit song by the French electronic music duo Daft Punk. Sculptor Trace O’Connor calls his work, two years in the making, “a love note to mankind.” The piece consists of two figures, one made of reflective mirror and the other of powder-coated gold, standing in an embrace, blending onto one another. It will be officially unveiled as part of tonight’s First Friday festivities at 1209 N. College Ave.

Calling all LEGO fans

LEGO enthusiasts, this is for you: The Center for the Arts Evergreen will display “Brick by Brick: A LEGO Brick Build Art Exhibition” from March 13-22. It’s being billed by curator Mason Martin as a first-of-its-kind pop-up exhibition celebrating LEGO as its own art form with 50 unique pieces each telling its own story. Info at evergreenarts.org

Free days for you

Today (March 7) is a free day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Others coming up: March 10 at the Denver Botanic Gardens and March 11 at the Denver Art Museum.

And finally …

In case you missed this in the sports pages, a TNT Sports series following Colorado Avalanche Gabriel Landeskog‘s injury recovery debuts at 10 a.m. Sunday. ”A Clean Sheet” will begin streaming on Max starting March 21.