If we ever needed a blithe fairy tale about gnomes and knaves and wolves and witches, this is the time. I can’t tell you how many months we’ve all been sealed off into our little isolation chambers because time has become meaningless. Performing artists have struggled to find new formats to connect just as audiences have struggled to find connections on new platforms. Or rather, we’ve struggled to stay safely apart while feeling like we’re still in this together. Rainbow Militia, a Denver-based immersive-theater/circus troupe, has taken the occasion to create something that feels specific... Read More

I’ve read that it takes four to six weeks to develop a new habit, which is to say, it takes four to six weeks to normalize a new behavior. We’ve all been under stay-at-home lockdown orders for…a solid five weeks and counting. Our personal interactions have been shrunk down to pixelated screens and a desperate faith in the power and consistency of our Wi-Fi. I even went on a first date, that ultimate personal trial, via Zoom. (Pro tip: please, don’t eat a plate of raw cauliflower during the date. Please.) I’ve also been reviewing live theater as it’s now performed: over video. This... Read More

Sometimes, writing about art and theater feels a lot like falling down the proverbial rabbit hole as I try to find the angle to write about wandering through a haunted-theater immersive experience, getting splashed in a Halloween horror show in the basement of a spaghetti emporium, sweating through a DIY D&D in a comic shop, savoring (har har!) Sweeney Todd’s enraged high notes, and trying to quiet my howling dog in a public house. I’ve found myself in some odd and awkward scenarios. To update the metaphor, writing this column is a lot like drunk-clicking through an endless algorithm of... Read More

Immersive theater is having a moment. I attended a “summit” on immersives just last week. I actually had no idea what “immersives” were and just went because I was invited by someone who thought I should be there. The MC of the event informed the audience that the genre is defined by the audience being an active and interactive part of the theater experience. It’s a broad genre that includes everything from dinner detective shows to escape rooms to live action role-playing games (LARPing). Turns out I’ve been writing about immersives for months and didn’t even know it.  I intend... Read More

“Sonder, noun: (1) the sudden and profound realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own (2) a new production by the Circus Foundry” Sigmund Freud diagnosed all women as having penis envy. I would disagree with this, but I do confess to having a serious case of circus envy. I wish I were super good at the circus arts. I wish I could toss my body around on every aerial apparatus like a ragdoll. I wish I could juggle dozens of oddly-shaped objects with grace and alacrity. I’d love to bend myself like Gumby into pretzel formations. But I don’t. I just... Read More

You can glean a lot of information off the walls of a dive bar toilet. I read these with some interest because they often imply curious information about women, of which I am one. For instance, you can read the walls at 3 Kings and learn that Johanna is F–ing Hot. You can take a peek into the potties at Bar Bar and learn that their bartender s–ks d–k. At the Star Bar, by contrast, it’s beneficial to keep one’s nether regions well-aired, which is not information about women specifically, but may be helpful nonetheless. I have no way to verify these statements. But I did get... Read More

I sometimes feel like the universe wants me to be a lesbian, despite (as far as I can tell, after a great deal of introspection) my straight orientation. Many people, including multiple men I’m actually out on dates with–even literally in bed with! make of that what you will– have asked me if I’m really gay or bi. I have owned big, shaggy dogs. I wear corduroy pants and drive a Subaru Outback. I do not, however, have a side-shave haircut. I recently had a friendly chat with a woman at a networking group who suggested we get a drink at a later date. She was a fun conversant and I... Read More

There’s a part of every wandering heart that wants to join the circus. A few of us actually do it; the rest of us write about it and while vainly wishing that we had better abs. Such wishing sucked up most of my Friday evening this week, what little was left after red wine with a girlfriend. The wish session happened after the bitch session and both were flights into escapism and delights of pondering fantasies. In particular, we pondered the abs we’d like to see and the abs we’d like to have. Circus performers tend to have terrific abs. Denver is getting to be a great town for circus, with... Read More

Reaching for new heights is something that Ariana Gradow has been doing all of her life. The circus and yoga specialist is the co-founder of the Denver Circus Collective and teaches a variety of classes there each week. Originally from Aspen, Gradow grew up as an athlete and competed in skiing at a semi-pro level. One day on the mountain she had an accident which left her with a broken neck. After she recovered, she found a deeper appreciation for her yoga practice, which led her to learning aerial acrobatics. For Gradow, both disciplines allow people to overcome their fears while developing more... Read More

I think some small part of me has always wanted to run away and join the circus. It’s my great sorrow that I found out just recently that such a thing is not only still possible, but a helluva lot of fun. I know because I started a circus adventure a couple years ago, which was too late for me to be the next star of Cirque du Soleil, but still plenty of time to get a ripped upper body and rip the skin off numerous contact points. The chain reaction that ended with me dangling from the ceiling of a renovated warehouse began, as did most good things in my life, with improv. I was playing on an... Read More