Power Plays: 2025 was a big year for meaningful storytelling

By John Moore December 22, 2025 | updated 3 months ago

2025 DENVER GAZETTE TRUE WEST AWARDS: DAY 23

Three companies in particular were knocking out one great show after the other: Curious, BETC and Firehouse

It was an extraordinary year for meaningful storytelling on Colorado theater stages.

Three times I walked out of the tiny John Hand Theatre on the Colorado Free University campus saying to myself, “Wow, Firehouse Theater Company is really taking things to the next level.”

Four times I walked out of the resilient Curious Theatre Company saying to myself, “Now, that’s the best play I’ve seen at Curious in a long time.”

And no less than six times, I walked out of various metro venues saying to myself, “Man, the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company (BETC) is firing on all cylinders right now.”

Clearly, I talk to myself a lot. And I have the Colorado theater community to thank for it.

There were plenty of solid plays staged by other Colorado theater companies this year – take, for example, Town Hall Arts Center’s mother-daughter suicide drama “‘Night, Mother” and the the best-titled work by far: Local Theater Company’s “A Case for Black Girls Setting Central Park on Fire.” But it was both notable and noted that everything Firehouse, Curious and BETC touched in 2025 was creatively satisfying. Their stories were compelling. Thought-provoking. Illuminating. Funny (when they wanted to be). And in some cases, discombobulating. You know, like plays are supposed to be. Especially at a time when processing all that is going on outside our theater doors right now is circuit-frying our brains, a night at the theater took on greater significance this year.

The play was not just the thing. It was the everything.

“Perhaps the chaos and the difficulty and the complexity of the world right now is fueling us to tell stories that will help us know how to navigate together,” said BETC Artistic Director Jessica Robblee. “We are feeling the weight of the high-stakes decisions that are happening around us all the time. But artists have a way of making you feel like you are not alone. I think that’s partly why these stories feel so vital right now.”

Here’s a quick look back:

From left, Karen Slack, GerRee Hinshaw, Sean Scrutchins, Jim Hunt, Cajardo Lindsey, Rakeem Lawrence, Sam Gilstrap and Julia McGowan in Curious Theatre's 'Downstate.' (John Moore, Denver Gazette) — From left, Karen Slack, GerRee Hinshaw, Sean Scrutchins, Jim Hunt, Cajardo Lindsey, Rakeem Lawrence, Sam Gilstrap and Julia McGowan in Curious Theatre’s ‘Downstate.’ (John Moore, Denver Gazette)

Curious Theatre Company

Sometimes it feels like Curious Theatre is leading a collective double life. It’s been almost two years since Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon went public with the difficult news that Curious, perhaps the most significant Denver theater company to emerge over the past 25 years, was facing an existential financial crisis that continues to this day.

“Honestly, nothing’s changed,” Dixon said Monday. Curious’ home building in the Golden Triangle is still listed for sale, “and we look forward to exploring how that might work and what that means for the future sustainability of this organization.”

But none of that uncertainty showed up in the work this year. Maybe it was stabilizing, because Curious is on fully focused fire right now. In 2025, it put on play after play that harken back to the good old Aughts, when Curious had serious creative swagger.

Samuel D. Hunter’s out-of-nowhere gem “A Case for the Existence of God” (directed by Warren Sherrill) showed how two disparate Idaho dads – one a White factory worker; the other Black and gay – stumble toward an unlikely friendship in a mortgage office. Then came perhaps the zeitgeist play of the year: “Downstate” (directed by Christy Montour-Larson) – provocateur playwright Bruce Norris’ snapshot of four men convicted of sex crimes against minors who are residing together in a transitional halfway house when a now grown-up victim comes to call. Whatever it is you might want from an uncomfortable story that explores child endangerment, punishment and forgiveness, Norris stubbornly refuses to give it to you. It’s a play that stays with you, and challenges your assumptions.

Those who claim there is no such thing as a conservative ideology in the American theater would be proven wrong by “Eureka Day” (directed by Montour-Larson) a savagely satirical takedown of political correctness and wokeness at a private Berkeley (of course!) boarding school where a mumps outbreak turns its liberal parents into feral beasts. The year ended with “Job” (directed by Josh Hartwell), an unnerving contemporary psychological thriller set in a therapist’s office where a young online content moderator has been mandated to receive therapy following a very public breakdown. (And she’s brought a gun.) What follows is a dark and deeply relatable dive down the rabbit hole of our shared digital anxieties – with a Hitchcockian twist.

Curious could have just named its 2025 slate: “Primal Fear.”

From left: Erik Sandvold, Josh Robinson, Kristina Fountaine, Karen Slack and Rhianna DeVries in 'Eureka Day' at Curious Theatre. (RDG Photography) — From left: Erik Sandvold, Josh Robinson, Kristina Fountaine, Karen Slack and Rhianna DeVries in ‘Eureka Day’ at Curious Theatre. (RDG Photography)

“I think those plays are all deeply Curious,” said Dixon – note the Capital C. “They are all really deeply part of our artistic DNA. I think they are all morally complicated in a beautiful way that we at Curious don’t mind amplifying or exploring.

“Those plays all look at complex questions that we as humans might think we know the answers to – when in reality, maybe we don’t. At the core, all four of those plays deeply interrogate human contradiction, complexity and nuance – and I think that’s exciting. I think that’s very Curious.”

Put another way: “It’s our hope always that the conversation always continues beyond the theater doors.” Mission accomplished.

From left: Amanda Byers, Kelly Uhlenhopp, Katie Medved, Matthew Combs and Andrew Uhlenhopp in Firehouse's 'Perfect Arrangement, 2025. (Soular Radiant Photography) — From left: Amanda Byers, Kelly Uhlenhopp, Katie Medved, Matthew Combs and Andrew Uhlenhopp in Firehouse’s ‘Perfect Arrangement, 2025. (Soular Radiant Photography)

Firehouse Theater Company

2025 was a turning point for the modest Firehouse Theatre Company in several quantifiable ways. One came in July, when the 23-year-old community theater that grew out of a spirit of opportunity and access for all not only earned its first Henry Award from the Colorado Theatre Guild – it earned its first three.

Two were in recognition of a rock-solid new play called “Perfect Arrangement,” written by Topher Payne, directed by Troy Lakey and performed by a cast that could hold its own on any stage in Denver or beyond.

It’s a play you’ve never heard of that sneaks up on you and leaves you unprepared for its final impact. The deceptively simple premise: Two young gay couples are posing as straight in the 1950s, and two U.S. State Department employees have been tasked with identifying sexual deviants within their ranks. Problem is: These officials are the ones posing as straight. What begins as an evening cloaked in the tonal safety of sit-com silliness fully arcs into something quite profound.

“Perfect Arrangement” raised the bar for what audiences can expect from Firehouse moving forward, and the company delivered consistent, high-impact performances throughout the year.

From left: Martha Harmon Pardee, Cal Meakins, Matt Hindmarch, Jeff Jesmer, Elicia Hesselgrave and Jysten Atom in Firehouse Theatre's 'Alabama Story.' (Solar Radiant Pho5ography) — From left: Martha Harmon Pardee, Cal Meakins, Matt Hindmarch, Jeff Jesmer, Elicia Hesselgrave and Jysten Atom in Firehouse Theatre’s ‘Alabama Story.’ (Solar Radiant Pho5ography)

In particular, there was an Alabama two-fer: Pearl Cleage’s “Blues for an Alabama Sky” (directed by Adrienne Martin-Fullwood), the story of a close-knit Black community navigating the racism and poverty of Depression-era Harlem.

Then, “Alabama Story,” the true tale of a librarian who risked everything by refusing to ban a children’s book about rabbits that was seen (by racists) to advocate for interracial marriage. For that, Firehouse producer Helen Hand lured top-notch director Melissa Lucero McCarl, who in turn lured powerhouse actor Martha Harmon Pardee to star. That casting was a game-changer for Firehouse.

The season slate also included two crowd-pleasing comedies called “Ripcord” (directed by Abby Apple-Boes) and “Let Nothing You Dismay” (also written by Payne; directed by Paul Jaquith).

“I feel incredibly proud and gratified,” said the remarkable orb of human goodness that is Hand, who has devoted her life to continuing the legacy of her brother, Colorado Free University and Firehouse Theater founder John Hand, since he was murdered while performing a Samaritan act in 2004. All these years later, 2025 changes everything.

“I think our development has been incremental but steady, but yes, I do feel we crossed a threshold this year,” she said. “We felt that we brought together some really great people, and that they had a good experience working with us.

“I think we are creating a culture where people feel respected and valued, and that has made it so that people want to work with us. And so, we’ve gotten incrementally more experienced and committed directors and actors as a result of it being a place that people enjoy working at.”

So, moving forward, what kind of play would you say is a Firehouse play?

“We’ve been explicit that we want to tell stories that can give people a chance to walk in the shoes of other people and cultivate empathy, but also inspire and encourage and remind people of the resilience of the human spirit,” said Hand.

(And I swear she said it off the top of her head. That’s just Helen.)

Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company

Robblee and BETC Managing Director Mark Ragan are the two halves of the Denver Gazette True West Awards’ 2024 Colorado Theatre Person of the Year, a title they necessarily must vacate on Dec. 31. But by every measure, this unlikely creative duo have made 2025 even better than the year before. A year in which most every BETC play was staged both in Denver and Boulder – and almost without exception to sold-out audiences.

The year started with Michael Hollinger’s whimsical “Hope & Gravity” (directed by Hartwell), a series of short sketches that reveal the random interconnectedness of several characters. Then came “The White Chip,” a surprisingly charming and disarming tour-de-force for actor Drew Horwitz as an affable man who recounts for us his story of addiction – and recovery – with a cheeky and high-energy sense of humor.

BETC then delivered a poignant and compassionate and cathartic rumination on new motherhood called “Cry It Out” (directed by Candace Orrino). Molly Smith Metzler’s story addresses issues like post-partum depression, inflexible work policies, class inequality and the intense isolation mothers face in an original and accessible way. In many years of theatergoing, I’ve never seen such a large and largely ignored demographic made to feel so completely seen.

Halloween brought a ghost story called “The Thin Place” with a twist audiences are still talking about – and a rare opportunity for us to savor the under-exercised talents of actor Tara Falk, who played a no-nonsense medium in a story that offered much to ponder about the nature of persuasion, belief and the power of theatrical illusion.

BETC’s busy year also made room to put a developing play called “Elizabeth I” (directed by Sabin Epstein) in front of an audience. Carole Levin’s monologue, co-written by actor Tamara Meneghini, offers a revelatory portrait of the shrewd, virginal monarch as she nears the end of her life.

Emma Messenger and Jason Maxwell in Boulder Ensemble Theatre Copmpany's 'Hope & Gravity,' January 2025. (Michael Ensminger) — Emma Messenger and Jason Maxwell in Boulder Ensemble Theatre Copmpany’s ‘Hope & Gravity,’ January 2025. (Michael Ensminger)

BETC is now closing the year with my favorite play of this century, “Every Brilliant Thing” (directed by Robblee), an audience-participation monologue that dares to explore the topic of suicide with an unsparingly open heart that presently beats within the warm and wonderful chest of 2025 True West Award winner Matt Zambrano.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: If you or someone you know has been touched by suicide, I urge you to see this play. (It runs through Dec. 28). It will help you. I saw it on Dec. 6, and I lost another loved one to suicide six days later. It helps. (Thank God for theater.)

That 2025 slate represents an enormous swath for BETC. I asked Robblee to define the secret sauce for a BETC play going into 2026:

“Our constant aspiration is: Salt, fat, acid, heat,” she said – and yes, I had to ask: Those are the four fundamental elements that determine how delicious food tastes.

“For us, it’s exploring what cocktail of shows delivers on all different kinds of levels and finding that combination is such a constant labor of love.”

Note: The Denver Gazette True West Awards, now in their 25th and final year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community throughout December by revisiting 30 good stories from the past year without categories or nominations.