Week of January 19, 2023
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
ParkerChronicle.net
INSIDE: CALENDAR: PAGE 11 | VOICES: PAGE 12 | SPORTS: PAGE 22
Our in-depth look at the housing crisis
VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 8
PACE Center presents ‘The Sound of Music’ Cast reflects on production BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Trickling up: How housing is becoming less affordable for more Coloradans BY TAYLER SHAW AND LUKE ZARZECKI COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
A home means everything to Shelley Gilson, a 50-year-old single mother of three girls who works as a guest service agent at an airline. “It’s one word: priceless,” she
said. The rising cost of housing in the Denver area has made it difficult for her to afford a home. She spent years bounding around working for low pay, including to several affordable housing communities across the state.
Eventually, more than a decade ago, she found a home at Orchard Crossing Apartments in Westminster. It is an affordable housing community that includes Section 8 housing, the federal government program that provides vouchers to low-income families, the disabled and elderly. SEE TRICKLING UP, P14
CATCH UP ON THE LATEST IN LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL P22
For many, “The Sound of Music” may seem like an old-fashioned story about a singing family, but for the actors and crew, it means much more as they take on the 1965 classic in Parker. Jenna Pearce will be playing the main character, Maria Rainer. Portraying this role is meaningful to Pearce as her first professional show was “The Sound of Music” when she played Marta Von Trapp at eight years old. “Some roles feel like soul matches,” said Pearce. “It felt so natural to say her words and sing her songs.” As many storylines and characters are fictional in musicals, Pearce’s favorite part about being in “The Sound of Music ‘’ is being able to tell a nostalgic story and pay respect to the people’s lives the cast are telling as well as having a connection to humanity. The line, “That you have to look for your life,” means the most to Pearce. “Regardless of age, regardless of life circumstances, you just have to look for it, it’s not just going to happen and I think that’s something, especially in our current climate that you never know what’s going to happen,” said Pearce. “We are starting to see history repeat itself and I think it’s a really important story to tell that a lot of people think it’s a cute story about a signing family and not realizing the high stakes this is for this family and what they leave behind and the friends who sacrifice themselves for this family to be able to live on.” There are those who do not know about this part of history and having the opportunity to tell this educational story is also important to August Stoten. Stoten is revisiting his role as Captain Georg Von Trapp after six years. “I kind of like just having that whole transformation where in the beginning, he’s this bitter guy who lost his wife, there is no more fun in the house and she (Maria) comes around and brings that back out of him,” said Stoten. SEE MUSIC, P7