Buntport Theater
Encyclopedia
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. Intent on creating innovative and affordable entertainment, the six members of the troupe write and produce all of their work. Each piece grows from a collaborative process, without specific directors or designers
The Company also hosts a variety of visual and performing artists, and has brought in talents from Philadelphia, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Seattle, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to perform to Denver audiences.
Ensemble
The six-person team consisting of Brian Colonna, Hannah Duggan, Erik Edborg, Erin Rollman, Samantha Schmitz, and Evan Weissman works in a non-hierarchical way in order to collaboratively create all productions. All six members collaborate as playwrights, actors, designers, directors, producers and technicians.History
Members of the company began collaborating while attending Colorado CollegeColorado College
The Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell...
in Colorado Springs, in the late 1990s.
The company moved into a cement warehouse, next to a Greek wholesale food distributor at 717 Lipan St. Denver, Colorado in 2000 and renovated it into a fully functioning black box theater
Black box theater
The black box theater is a relatively recent innovation, consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor.-History:...
with modular seating. Prior to that, they had created a few productions together, touring them to theaters, schools and fringe theatre
Fringe theatre
Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...
festivals. As of 2009, Buntport has created 24 main-stage productions and 100 episodes of two "live sit-coms" (Magnets on the Fridge and Starship Troy). Their all-ages live comic book, tRUNks, has produced over 40 installments.
Buntport has been able to create their own niche in the local and national theater scene, fostering many audience members who claim to “hate theater” and an abundance of the diverse and ever-elusive younger generation of theater-goers. Buntport has garnered more than 50 awards and many more nominations from newspapers, magazines, television stations and theater educators.
Process
Buntport Theater Company is well known for their working model as artists and as an organization. Working collaboratively and non-hierarchically forces ideas to be filtered through several minds, encouraging brainstorming and playful experimentation.Main Stage Productions
Buntport Theater Company creates at least three full-length productions each year and every show is a world premiere original.Past productions (chronological):
Quixote
“...and this is my significant bother.” (based on the work of James Thurber
James Thurber
James Grover Thurber was an American author, cartoonist and celebrated wit. Thurber was best known for his cartoons and short stories published in The New Yorker magazine.-Life:...
)
Word-Horde (an adaptation of sorts of Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
)
Fin
Ward #6 (Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
)
Donner: A Documentary
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...
! The Musical!
The Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
: A Walking Tour
The 30th of Baydak
Elevator
Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
Idiot Box
McGuinn & Murry
Kafka On Ice
MacBlank (adaptation of MacBeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
)
Horror: The Transformation
Realism: The Mythical Brontosaurus
A Synopsis of Butchery
Something is Rotten (adaptation of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
)
Winter in Graupel Bay
Moby Dick Unread
Vote For Uncle Marty
Musketeer
Musketeer
A musketeer was an early modern type of infantry soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern armies, particularly in Europe. They sometimes could fight on horseback, like a dragoon or a cavalryman...
Anywhere But Rome (based on Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
)
Seal. Stamp. Send. Bang. (Musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
)
Special Productions
Part of the mission at Buntport is to offer as much high quality programming as often as possible, keeping ticket prices low, in order to keep audience members engaged. To involve people on a regular basis, Buntport created the live sit-com format. During six months of the year, they debuted a new episode of a “sit-com” every other Tuesday and Wednesday night, complete with commercial breaks and summer re-runs. The writing of each episode was inspired by an audience suggestion from the previous episode and often featured guest stars from the Denver theater scene. The first adventure into this field (titled Magnets on the Fridge) became a cult hit, winning numerous awards from the media and critics, and attracting a loyal following. Magnets on the Fridge ran for 5 seasons before being replaced by Starship Troy, which was equally successful and ran for 3 seasons. Buntport finished their live sitcom careers on December 31st, 2008 with the 100th episode of their sitcoms.tRUNks
Using the format of their live sit-com, a team of the Buntport ensemble’s friends and peers creates and performs a family-friendly live comic book called tRUNks, every other Saturday. Produced by Buntport (and sometimes featuring the ensemble members as guest stars), tRUNks is written and performed by Jessica Robblee, Mitch Slevc and Matt Zambrano. They have won awards for great children’s theater from every major paper in Colorado as well as from the Colorado Theatre Guild.Ongoing Programs
Starting in 2009, Buntport is offering a rotation of three different events each month.Teacher’s Pet
This unique “show and tell” night is co-sponsored by Found Magazine
Found Magazine
Found Magazine, created by Davy Rothbart and Jason Bitner and based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and New York City, collects and catalogs found notes, photos, and other interesting items, publishing them in an irregularly-issued magazine, in books, and on its website...
, Teacher’s Pet gives audience members the opportunity to sign up for a performance slot. With five minutes per slot, performers share stories on the evening’s topic.
Pecha Kucha Night Denver
This presentation format was created in Japan as a way for designers to share their work without taking a painfully long time to do so. Presenters show 20 slides for 20 seconds at a time. After 6 minutes and 40 seconds, time is called. Now an international sensation, Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha is a presentation methodology in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each, usually seen in a multiple-speaker event called a Pecha Kucha Night ....
is a great way for the Arts community to share ideas, mingle and simply have a fun evening together. Winner of “Best PowerPoint Presentation for Hipsters” from Westword
Westword
Westword is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Denver, Colorado.Westword was established independently in 1977. In 1983 it was bought by New Times Media. In 2005, New Times acquired Village Voice Media, and changed its name to Village Voice Media...
newspaper.
Buntport Versus
This program has members of Buntport trying to beat other people at their own game. On any given evening, you may see Buntport try to out-dance a modern dance troupe, out-rap a hip-hop group, or even out-tease Burlesque performers. At Buntport Versus the audience watches a short movie documenting Buntport’s foray into the given field, then meets both teams and learns about the competition genre, watches the battle, and votes who wins: the expert in the field or Buntport.
These three programs play four times a year, alternating on the third Tuesday of each month.
"Buntport vs" Debut
On March 17, 2009, Alternative Hip HopAlternative hip hop
Alternative hip hop is a sub-genre of hip hop music. Allmusic defines it as follows: -Origin:...
band Flobots
Flobots
The Flobots are a political rock and hip hop musical group from Denver, Colorado, formed in 2000 by Jamie Laurie. Flobots found mainstream success with their major label debut Fight with Tools , featuring the single "Handlebars", which became a popular hit on Modern Rock radio in April 2008.-Early...
appeared with the Buntport Theater troupe for the first "Buntport vs" event. The Flobots played "Stand Up", "Rise
Rise (Flobots song)
"Rise" is the second single released by the alternative rap group Flobots from Denver, Colorado. It was released from Flobots' album Fight with Tools.-Track listing:CD# "Rise " - 3:20# "Rise " - 3:40Play.com...
" and covered "Happy Together
Happy Together (song)
"Happy Together" is a 1967 song from The Turtles' album of the same name. Released in February 1967, the song knocked The Beatles' "Penny Lane" out of the #1 slot for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the group's only chart-topper. "Happy Together" reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart in...
" by The Turtles
The Turtles
The Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper
John Hickenlooper
John Wright Hickenlooper is an American politician and current Governor of Colorado. A Democrat, he was previously the Mayor of Denver, Colorado from 2003 to 2011.-Early life, education and career:...
attended the performance.
Community
In addition to their artistic offerings, Buntport Theater Company works hard to develop positive relationships with the community. They donate 100% of a night’s ticket sales to a different local non-profit during the run of each main-stage production.Awards
Buntport has won over 50 awards from the media and critics. Here is a sampling:Westword
Westword
Westword is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Denver, Colorado.Westword was established independently in 1977. In 1983 it was bought by New Times Media. In 2005, New Times acquired Village Voice Media, and changed its name to Village Voice Media...
Reader's Choice 2008:
“Best Theater Season”
Moby Dick Unread “Best Theater Production”
Outfront Magazine Marlowe Awards 2007:
Moby Dick Unread “Best Production - Comedy”
KMGH-TV
KMGH-TV
KMGH-TV, channel 7, is the ABC-affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado. The station itself is usually branded as "Denver's 7", but its newscasts are branded as "7 News". It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter located in Golden, Colorado...
A*List 2007:
“Best Live Theater”
Alliance For Colorado Theatre:
“Theater Company of the Year”
Denver Post 2007 Ovation Awards:
tRUNks “Best Children's Show”
5280 Magazine Reader's Choice 2007:
“Top Dance/Arts/Theater Company”
Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Awards:
Something Is Rotten “Outstanding New Play”
Westword Best of Denver 2007:
“Best Theater Season”
A Synopsis of Butchery “Best Original Play”
A Synopsis of Butchery “Best Set - Small Theater”
Denver Post 2006 Ovation Awards:
“Best Year for a Company”
Something Is Rotten “Best Comedy”
Westword Mastermind Award 2005:
“Innovation in the Performing Arts”
Westword Best of Denver 2005:
Kafka On Ice “Best Experimental Play”
Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
Top Of The Rocky 2004:
“Top Playwright”
Denver Post 2003 Ovation Awards:
Misc. “Best New Work”
“Best Sound Design, The 30th of Baydak”
Westword Reader's Choice 2003:
“Best Season”
Titus Adronicus! The Musical “Best Production”
Rocky Mountain News Top Of The Rocky 2003:
“Top Theater Company”