Vanguard Charitable; Julia Wiegand Burger & Mr. Robert
Wiegand II
The Harold & Mimi Steinberg
Charitable Trust
Bold Benefactor
Dr. Jan Kennaugh & Chip Horne
Diana & Mike Kinsey
Audacious Patron
Sheri Raders
world premiere
May 10-25, 2025
Show Sponsors
Lead
Lynne & Jon Montague-Clouse
John & Stephanie Flanigan
Events to be Curious About
LIVE ZOOM TALKBACK
WITHREGINA ANDJADA
Tue. May 13 @ 6pm
DIRECTOR’SCUT:REGINA TAYLOR
WITHBLAXPLANATION
Sun. May 18 @ 2pm after the show
A TOASTTOTALENT: ANINTIMATEEVENINGWITH REGINA TAYLOR
Mon. May 20 @ 6pm private fundraising event
Curious is generously sponsored by
Golden Hands Fund at Rose Community Foundation
Murphy Mueller Family Fund
Bowen Family Performing Arts Field of Interest Fund
The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust
Eulipions Fund
A
Notes from The Director
Jada Suzanne Dixon - Director
t the heart of this piece is a woman standing at a crossroads. Iris an artist, a seeker has packed her bags, ready to go, but where? Which direction? To move forward, she must remember. She must recall.
This play lives in that space between shadow and light, between memory and motion. Like an eclipse, it holds a strange and powerful tension, where brightness is momentarily obscured, but not extinguished. In that temporary darkness, something is revealed. A clarity. A reckoning. A recalibration. A choice.
Iris’s journey is driven by an urgent need: to be seen. To be heard. Fully. Not in fragments, not distorted, not forgotten, not erased but wholly, in all her complexity She demands to be heard, not just in this moment, but across time
As we dove into this new work, I kept returning to the question: What do we carry forward from those who came before us? What parts of their stories shape the way we walk through the world even when we don’t realize it? Iris reaches back to claim her story in full color, in full force. Her mission is not only personal; it’s ancestral. It’s a calling to name what’s been fragmented, to recall what was lost, and to reimagine what’s possible.
The space around her is textured with the unseen layers of history etched into the floor, hidden in the walls, suspended in the air. It asks us to look closely, to lean in. Within that rawness, there is beauty. There is resilience. There is an unbroken line of memory and resistance pulsing beneath every word, every gesture.
Iris is not alone in this journey. She is held sometimes challenged, sometimes carried by the voices of those who surround her. They are echoes. Reflections of lineage. Guardians of what was and what might still be.
Our approach was like composing a ritual A calling forth A way to make space for what’s been buried to let it breathe, speak, move To remember To recall To bring forward what has been obscured, to pull the past forward and through as a way to understand how it shapes the present As the audience, you are not merely observing you are invited to feel, to remember, and to engage To be an active witness to Iris’ journey. The invitation:
o remember.
To recall.
To listen.
To feel what lives in the silence. To honor the act of being fully seen. To find the light, even as the shadow moves across the sun.
Jada Suzanne Dixon
ARTIST Biographies
Regina Taylor, she/her (Iris, Playwright) TV credits include : Taylor in her TV role as Lily Harper in I’LL FLY AWAY received a Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actress, 3 NAACP Image Awards (THE UNIT) and 2 Emmy Award nominations the first African American lead in Masterpiece Theatre’s CORA UNASHAMED, starred as Anita Hill in HBO’’s STRANGE JUSTICE (Gracie Award), A GOOD DAY TO DIE (Sidney Poitier) THE UNIT, CSIVEGAS (Hollywood Critics Award), JUSTIFIED, FIRST LADY, LOVECRAFT COUNTRY and THE WONDER YEARS. Film credits include: THE NEGOTIATOR (Samuel Jackson), COURAGE UNDER FIRE (Denzel Washington), CLOCKERS (Spike Lee), LOSING ISAIAH (Halle Berry) LEAN ON ME, (Morgan Freeman). Taylor was the first Black woman to play Juliet in ROMEO & JULIET on Broadway. Playwright credits include: CROWNS (Helen Hayes award Best Director), OO-BLA-DEE (Jeff Award, Steinberg-ATCA award) and DROWNING CROW (Broadway, MTC), THE TRINITY RIVER PLAYS (Edgerton Award) and STOP RESET (Signature Theater Residency Five) and BREAD (Edgerton Award)
Jada Suzanne Dixon, she/her (Director) is an actress, director, and playwright, a member of the Curious Artistic company, and serves as Curious’s Producing Artistic Director She began her directing career with the development of new plays with Athena Arts Project’s Plays in Progress (PIP) series She served as assistant/associate director for APPROPRIATE, SKELETON CREW, and GLORIA at Curious Theatre Company. Directing credits include POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE, cullud wattah, AMERICAN SON and AMERIKIN, Curious Theatre Company; FAIRFIELD, Miners Alley Playhouse; BLOOMSDAY and THE ROYALE, BETC; STICKFLY, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities; THE REVOLUTIONISTS, Little Theatre of the Rockies. Jada is a four-time recipient of the True West Award (including 2022 Colorado Theatre Person of the Year), a 2022/23 Colorado Theatre Guild Henry award winner (ROYALE; Outstanding Play, Ensemble, and Best Director) Jada is a member of AEA, an SDC associate member, and is an Associate Artist with Local Lab Theater, and was a 2021 commissioned playwright for StageOne Family Theatre’s program, Theatre for Everywhere
Tina Anderson, she/her (Scenic Consultant) is a scenic designer Her most recent designs for Curious are POTUS and cullud wattah. Other designs include for BETC, THE
WHITE CHIP, HOPE AND GRAVITY, LITTLE WOMEN, WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME, COAL COUNTRY (True West Award), EDEN PRAIRIE,1971, (nominated for a Henry Award) & THE ROYALE Off Square Theatre, SWEENEY TODD Arvada Center, DRACULAR A FEMINIST REVENGE FANTASY, REALLY & THE LARAMIE PROJECT Cherry Creek Theatre HEARTBEAT OF THE SUN, HEADLINDERS, MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN Thunder River Theatre Company POTUS & HURRICANE DIANE
Janice Benning Lacek, she/her (Costume Designer)
EXHIBIT marks Janice’s 23nd Curious production as costume designer since 1999 – most recently last year’s TRUTH BE TOLD, and THE LIFE SPAN OF A FACT and THE SOUNDS INSIDE in 2021 National credits: the west coast premiere of MARISOL, THE SWAN, WHAT THE BUTLER SAW (La Jolla Playhouse); SCAPIN (ACT); Goodnight, Desdemona… (San Diego Rep); Revenger’s Tragedy (Sledgehammer Theatre); Pair of Threes (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Cymbeline (Utah Shakespearean Festival); All’s WELL (Great River Shakespeare Festival); TWELFTH NIGHT, TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, HENRY V, TEMPEST, MIDSUMMER, (Tennessee Shakespeare Company) among others. Colorado audiences have seen her work in BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, PLAZA SUITE (Arvada Center), CORIOLANUS, RICHARD II, 12th NIGHT, AS YOU LIKE IT (CSF); FENCES (Lone Tree Arts Ctr). Janice has taught costume and theatre design at the University of Memphis (TN), University of Colorado at Boulder, and Kenyon College, and joined the DU faculty in 2016 where she is professor of costume design and technology She holds an MFA from UC-San Diego and is a proud member of USITT and United Scenic Artists
Jon Olson, he/him (Lighting Designer) Exhibit marks Jon’s first collaboration with The Curious Theatre Company as lighting designer Jon has been working with the Arvada Center since 2003, and has been serving as the Lighting Director since 2012 His most recent lighting design credits are HOPE AND GRAVITY (Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company), DRACULA A FEMINIST REVENGE FANTASY, REALLY (Arvada Center). Jon has received Henry Award Nominations for THE DROWNING GIRLS and EDUCATING RITA (Arvada Center). Other Arvada Center design credits include THE LARAMIE PROJECT, ANIMAL FARM, SYLVIA, PLAZA SUITE, BLITHE SPIRIT, THE MOUSETRAP, THE ARCHBISHOP’S CEILING, ALL MY SONS, THE MOORS, the world premiere of I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, and the regional premiere of TRAV’LIN THE 1930’S HARLEM MUSICAL.
COMMUNITY VOICES:
Local Stories Inspired by Exhibit
As part of Exhibit, Regina Taylor in collaboration with Curious Theatre invited members of the Denver community to share personal reflections on memory, race, resistance, and survival. These short video interviews feature educators, artists, activists, and elders responding to the themes of the play: integration, erasure, generational wisdom, and the objects that hold our stories.
We invite you to witness these testimonies and consider your own.
Featuring
Leslie Herod, Nicholle Harris, Carlotta Walls Lanier, Dianne Briscoe-McKenzie, Dzirae Gold, Wilma J. Webb, Cleo Parker Robinson, and Vanessa Blacknall-Jamison
REGINA TAYLOR:
Artist, Playwright, Performer
Explore the life, artistry, and vision of the creator and performer behind Exhibit.
Regina Taylor’s Official Website
Discover her body of work, including plays, performances, and multimedia projects.
Not a Time to Stay Silent – South Side Drive Magazine
An in-depth conversation with Taylor about Exhibit, resistance, and reclaiming history through art.
WVON Interview: Regina Taylor Talks Exhibit
(Audio)
A radio interview about the personal inspirations behind the piece and Taylor’s creative process.
The Black Album. Mixtape – Project Overview
(SMU Meadows School of the Arts)
A collaborative multimedia project led by Taylor exploring Black identity and social justice.
BWW Interview: Regina Taylor on Inspiring
Conversation Through The Black Album –
BroadwayWorld
Taylor shares the inspiration and community engagement behind The Black Album.
Empowering Voices Through The Black Album –
amNewYork
A look at how Taylor’s work uplifted artists during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Exploring Identity and Theater-Making – Harlem
World Magazine
A feature on how The Black Album connects Black identity, performance, and social change.
Go Deeper
curated by Christy Montour-Larson
BELOW IS A LIST OF PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THAT THEATRE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, & WHO GAVE BOLDY, FIERCELY, & GENEROUSLY TO SUPPORT FEARLESS ART. THEY MAKE IT ALL POSSIBLE FROM JANUARY 1, 2024 TO DECEMBER 31,, 2024.
$10,000+
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Eureka Day By Jonathan Spector
Regional Premiere
“Just because one family wants something, doesn’t make it right for the whole community.”
A progressive California private school prides itself on inclusion until a mumps outbreak challenges its liberal vaccine policy As cases rise, the Board of Directors faces an impossible dilemma: make a decision that won ’t please everyone
Regional Premiere
“The Internet isn’t some fringe ‘ young people’ thing anymore it’ s where we live.” Jane went viral Her breakdown at her Big Tech job has left her to seek a therapist's authorization to return from her mandatory leave In this provocative thriller, Loyd holds the keys to Jane’ s return Is her job doing more harm than good?
Bad Books by Sharyn Rothstein
a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere
“That’ s a pretty strong word for a book you haven’t read. But then, even a vile book can change you. ”
A concerned mother A dedicated librarian The quietest place in America turns into the battleground for a fiery debate about parenting and censorship that starts a chain of events no one saw coming
Another Kind of Silence by L. M. Feldman
World Premiere
“The silence of not knowing what to latch on to and what to let go of… ”
A fully bilingual play (English & American Sign Language) that tells the story of Evan, a writer who after a decade of marriage to her composer husband finds herself falling in love with an artist named Chap, who is also in a committed relationship
"I think you are escaping something for a second I think we both are escaping something for a second" Cousins Sade and Mina, were raised like sisters; now on divergent paths They reunite for the funeral of their mother/aunt Sade on a furlough from prison, and Mina taking a break from her life in California They navigate grief, trauma, and memory through poetic storytelling
Job by Max Wolf Friedlich
Board, Company & Staff
Board of Directors
Sheri Raders, President
Michael Potts ,Vice President
John Flanigan, Treasurer
Marike Fitzgerald, Secretary
Chip Horne
Greg Laugero
Alyssa Williams
*Roscoe Hill, Board Member Emeritus
*Cajardo Lindsey, Artistic Company
Member
*Erik Sandvold, Artistic Company
Member
*Jada Suzanne Dixon, Producing Artistic
Director
* Non-Voting Member
Staff
Jada Suzanne Dixon, Producing Artistic
Director
Wayne Breyer, Production Manager &
Resident Stage Manager
Christy Montour-Larson, Education &
Literary Manager
Michael Morgan, Technical Coordinator
Emily Whalen, Marketing Manager
Katelyn Sauer, Development & Patron
Services Manager
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Curious Bridge Apprentices
Amie Benjamin, Stage Management
Cambria Bartlett, Stage Management
Samantha Heppenstall, Directing
Evy DiPasquantonio, House Manager
Evette Srouji, House Manager
Katelyn “Katie” Flynn, Front of House
Lead
Cambria Bartlet, Front of House
Representative
Christiana Martinez, Front of House
Representative
Kara White, Front of House
Representative
24 Hours. 6 new plays. 1 Powerful fundraiser.
-Daveed Diggs (actor, hamilton) Get tickets now or donate
