“You can’t go around heartache,” says Rebecca Joseph. “You have to go through it.”

Joseph was widowed at age 34 when her husband, prominent local actor Daniel Langhoff, died of cancer in 2017, just 11 days after the birth of their second daughter. He was only 42.

Joseph steeled herself in November to attend the Platte Valley Players’ production of “Man of La Mancha,” which was dedicated to Langhoff’s memory. In 2017, Langhoff seized on an all-too-brief cease-fire with his disease to play his bucket-list role, Don Quixote, in “Man of La Mancha” for Performance Now in Lakewood.

It was a remarkable, award-winning performance in its own right. But within the additional context of Langhoff’s cancer journey, it was miraculous – and gut-wrenching.

After an initial surgery and six-month round of chemotherapy, Langhoff was declared cancer-free, so he jumped straight into the tilted windmill that life had set before him. First, he played Tateh in “Ragtime” followed by the delusionally chivalrous Quixote.

Langhoff picked the year he got his life back to have the year of his life as an actor.

But that would be his final stage appearance. Just as “Man of La Mancha” was to begin rehearsals, doctors discovered a new and more vicious strain of cancer in his abdominal walls. Langhoff again fought his uncouth enemy with the same earnest fortitude and blind optimism that his imprisoned stage character summoned to defend his lady and his life until his death on Nov. 12, 2017.

Six years later, Director Kelly Van Oosbree decided to take on “Man of La Mancha” again for the Platte Valley Players in Brighton. Again she turned to the astonishing Lindsey Falduto to play the besmirched lady Aldonza. And this time, she tasked Jeffrey Parker, himself an embodiment of the knight’s insistent optimism, with the nearly impossible task of playing Quixote in Langhoff’s memory.

In the spirit of “unwavering determination, boundless imagination and a heart fueled by an insatiable passion for the arts,” Van Oosbree dedicated the production to “the indomitable spirit of Daniel Langhoff – a true knight of Colorado theater and the eternal Man of La Mancha.”

This time, Van Oosbree reimagined the play to resonate with the realities of 2023 homelessness, setting the story in a Denver encampment. The production was a wonderful opportunity to communally seek out the good and innocent in a world filled with darkness and despair. But one can only imagine what it really must have been like for Joseph to sit in the audience taking it all in on the night of Nov. 4.

“After six years of mourning and healing, it was hard but good to see it,” Joseph said. “The cast was wonderful. I cried a lot, and poor Kelly Van Oosbree had to hold me for a bit afterward before I fled into the night. But there you have it.

“I don’t want to shut out the memories because they make me cry. Dan was spectacular in this show, and it was so timely as his last role. ‘Man of La Mancha’ will always be a special one – because of Daniel.”

And she made a point to single out the work of Van Oosbree’s actors.

“Jeff brought a lot of enthusiasm and commitment to the role,” Joseph said. “He clearly was giving it his all in a part that demands everything from the actor. And Lindsey is simply outstanding. She really rooted both productions in such a challenging role that demands a special vulnerability. Aldonza is so tough, but when Lindsey plays the role, she breaks your heart. She makes the whole thing work.”

For her part, said Falduto: “Dan was spectacular in this role, and being on stage with him was an honor I don’t take for granted. His spirit lives on in our community – and having Rebecca in the audience elevated his presence.”

Note: The True West Awards, now in their 23rd year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community by revisiting 30 good stories from the past year without categories or nominations.