It’s telling – in good ways and one bad – that a 4-year-old company that offers free professional outdoor Shakespeare in a suburban park is obliterating its attendance records this summer.

“Shakespeare in the Wild” is presenting an abridged, 90-minute “Romeo and Juliet” in DeKoevend Park in Centennial nightly through Sunday.

Leigh Miller, the company’s founder … and producing artistic director … and the actor who plays the boneheaded Friar who thinks it’s a good idea for Juliet to fake her own suicide … believes that, if the seasonal rain holds off for this upcoming third and final weekend of performances, “R&J” will have been seen by about 3,500 people since Aug. 15. That’s a 60% increase from the 2,200 who attended “Twelfth Night” in 2024.

Last Friday, the “Wild” ones set a single-night attendance record of just under 400. On Saturday, they smashed that new milestone by another hundred.   

“Yes, it has been a tremendously successful season so far, and the fact that we had seven bodies shy of 500 join us in a field last Saturday night is just crazy to me,” Miller said.

So what’s driving the surge in attendance this summer? Certainly word of mouth, for one. When you deliver four years of solid – and condensed! – Shakespeare in a spectacular outdoor setting, it’s amazing how quickly you can transition from novelty to annual family tradition. “When you do what you do at a high level long enough, people come to feel like they will be taken care of,” Miller said.

There’s also that title. After three years of intentional comedies, Miller thought it might be a risk to venture into the world of tragedy. But “R&J” is one of Shakespeare’s most popular and well-known stories, especially among teenagers. You don’t have to explain it to them like, say, “The Winter’s Tale.” It’s a fixture in American pop culture.

And while, sure, “R&J” has a high body count, people love it because people love love. “‘Romeo and Juliet’ is going to bring people out, even if everyone is lying in a pool of blood at the end,” Miller said.

(Oops .. spoilers!)

Still, one significant reason for the company’s particular success in 2025 is surely the present volatility of the American economy. Concert tickets now typically run three figures. A family of four can easily drop $200 at the Cheesecake Factory. Coors Field? Forget about it. 

This is free. And in 2025, if you have a family – free is better than ever.

“I had one guy tell me, ‘I can’t believe this is free, because you guys are really good.’” Miller said with a laugh.

This is all only possible because of a partnership Miller has forged with the city of Centennial, which kicks in $10,000. The rest of the $20,000 budget (which has doubled since 2022) comes from donations, gifts and sponsors. 

“Thanks to the city of Centennial, we don’t have to pay for a space,” Miller said. “We are scrappy and don’t have a lot of overhead. It works.”

The 15 actors, who include Brandon Billings and Charlotte Gray as the fated lovers, Denver Gazette 2014 Colorado Theatre Person of the Year Steve Wilson and even a wandering violinist, are paid just under $600 each. They also split audience donations like tips.  

The place to park is the Goodson Recreation Center at 6315 S. University Blvd., If it rains, the show will be moved indoors at nearby 6707 S. Vine St. No reservations are required, but you’ll want to RSVP online so you can be notified if the weather gets wonky. Info at shakesinthewild.com.’

‘Jaws’ at 50’ in the news

It was not a good day for me back in June when I innocuously posted an unpopular opinion on Facebook: “‘Jaws’ at 50: Didn’t scare me then. Doesn’t scare me now.”

Then again, I’ve always been a little dead inside.

Many responders made compelling cases for the film’s generally accepted greatness. One admitted: “I still can’t swim anywhere really because of that film.”

One simply said, “Not true,” as if to tell state empirically that I am lying about the state of my fear 50 years ago. (Prove it!).

Someone I don’t know contributed: “You have black, lifeless eyes. Like a doll’s eyes.” Even my own brother called me a cyborg.

This one summed up the reaction pretty good: “Booooooooooooooo.” …

So I shut up and let that wave die down. But this week, “Jaws” is back in the news. Cue the scary music.

Steven Spielberg’s restored classic is getting a full week on the big screen at the Sie FilmCenter. Every day is different, but you count on a 3 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. daily screening through Sept. 4. Info at denverfilm.eventive.org.

Up in Colorado Springs, the scrappy Springs Ensemble Theatre is putting all its creative might into “The Shark is Broken.” That’s a play written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon. Ian Shaw is, yep, actor Robert Shaw’s son – and he also played his dad in this very play both on the West End and on Broadway.

It sounds kind of fun. In real life, it was supposed to take 55 days to shoot the film, and it ended up taking 155 – more than 90 of them on the actual ocean. The play centers on the three lead actors — Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider — and how they passed their large swaths of time confined together on that tiny fishing boat (the infamous Orca) waiting for the film’s legendarily unreliable mechanical shark to get fixed. As you might imagine, monumental clashes of ego ensued in an atmosphere of alcoholism, boredom and personal anxieties. Sort of like a sequel to “No Exit.”

The play runs through Sept. 14 at the Fifty-Niner Speakeasy in Old Colorado City (2409 W. Colorado Ave.)

“Jaws isn’t just a movie, it’s a cultural touchstone,” said actor Steve Emily. “This play lets fans celebrate that legacy in a new way, through laughter and a truly human story behind the

Book it

Oresville, Colorado, is the setting of a cozy new mystery novel titled “The Last Hurrah: A Phoebe Korneal Mystery,” penned by Judilee Butler and GaGa Gabardi.

The book takes place at 10,000 feet in a town with a population of about 2,000 – which sounds a lot like Leadville. The plot revolves around a deputy sheriff solving a murder at a long-abandoned mine called Sunshine. “The Last Hurrah,” intended to be the first in a series, was a Colorado Authors League Finalist selection.

“This story is meant to entertain,” Gabardi said. “There’s a mystery here, of course — but also humor, history and the very real tension women face when their goals collide with their relationships.”

JAAMM Festival is here

The 18th Neustadt Jewish Arts, Authors, Movies and Music (JAAMM) Festival begins Tuesday (Sept. 2) at the Mizel Arts and Culture Center. Highlights will an a cappella group called The Maccabeats (Sept. 11); “The Spice Detective” (a night exploring Middle Eastern spices from Chef Yaniv Cohen, Sept. 18) and a celebration of the late Denver musician Jill Sobule (Sept. 21). The fest runs through Oct. 12 with live music, author talks, theater performances and more. Tickets on sale at jcc.denver.org.

And finally …

Central City Opera has announced its 2026 slate: It’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” “The Ballad of Baby Doe” and “Master Class.” Info at centralcityopera.org.