Performing Arts https://www.durangoherald.com/feeds/performing-arts/ 2026-05-25 05:47:21 -0700 en-us https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/durango-high-school-troupe-1096-continues-bold-tradition/ Durango High School Troupe 1096 shakes us up again. “Ride the Cyclone” opened last weekend and runs through Saturday. The dark musical comedy has a cult following. It may not be as broad or bawdy as “... 2026-05-07 09:22:08 -0700 3ddfac37-d759-4b58-9a25-48cc9d08f17a https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/the-sondheim-challenge-merely-players-mounts-into-the-woods/ Once upon a time in Durango, a small theater company mounted a complex and daunting American musical. “Into the Woods,” presented by Merely Players and directed by Mona Wood-Patterson, opened last wee... 2026-04-29 05:24:42 -0700 0cdf16a2-afcc-4782-8a13-10a68987dfaf https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/durango-high-school-troupe-1096-gets-ready-to-ride-the-cyclone/ If you had to, could you make a case for your life? That’s what six high school students stuck in limbo after dying in a roller coaster accident are faced with in “Ride the Cyclone: Teen Edition.” The... 2026-04-23 04:07:38 -0700 e42ce64e-9ac0-4f1d-8ab4-91fa462f38b6 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/bayfield-high-school-thespian-troupe-5509-plays-with-time-and-words/ The 17 student actors and crew members of Bayfield High School will wrap up their production of “The Phantom Tollbooth” tonight and Friday night and they do so as Thespian Troupe 5509. WHAT: Bayfi... 2026-04-09 01:18:32 -0700 13f058df-e69c-4a07-b151-7e28c1bfb840 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/review-flc-sets-sail-to-the-moon-in-new-production/ Sweet serendipity. NASA has scheduled an early April launch for its newest space venture. The Artemis II mission will catapult four astronauts around the moon in the spaceship Orion. Real-world scienc... 2026-04-02 09:00:00 -0700 b04712ee-bb5c-45ab-8641-72394858258c https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/review-dart-updates-the-american-musical-with-cannibal/ Satire is hard to define, but you know it when you see it. “Trey Parker’s Cannibal!” is just that – satire. What could be labeled a double spoof opened last weekend at the Durango Arts Center and runs... 2026-03-26 09:00:00 -0700 8e3a2c2d-bbcf-471f-957a-408dcda6336e https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/dac-to-serve-up-a-little-colorado-history/ Colorado is known for a lot of things: Majestic mountains, Coors beer, the Broncos ... And Alferd Packer, “The Colorado Cannibal,” who was charged with the murder of his companions after the group got... 2026-03-18 05:00:00 -0700 12fa9916-cd38-46a5-83f2-304deba44809 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/dhs-troupe-1096-to-stage-the-laramie-project-ten-years-later/ When the student actors of Durango High School Troupe 1096 take the stage next week to perform “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later,” they’ll not only be performing their roles, they’ll be portraying... 2026-02-19 04:47:42 -0700 64fc4fb4-8279-4459-be02-ba82c6c5ebdd https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/merely-players-illuminates-silent-sky/ “Silent Sky,” Lauren Gunderson’s remarkably human play about the hard science of astronomy, brims with emotion. Currently staged all over the country and now by Merely Players through Sunday, the loca... 2026-02-19 12:00:14 -0700 70f612b4-1841-4a8d-9982-1cf4f0eaf138 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/bayfield-middle-school-teacher-wins-vail-film-festival-award/ For those who think history is old news, try telling that to Peter Bloomquist. Bloomquist, a sixth grade teacher at Bayfield Middle School, took home first place for his screenplay, “Age of War” at la... 2026-01-15 02:20:34 -0700 7ea7fb2e-ce11-4318-9ca9-aae1e1ce685e https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/arts-entertainment-looks-back-at-2025/ As we wind down another trip around the sun, dear readers, let’s take a look back at what the world of local Arts & Entertainment gave us in 2025. From cool art exhibits to a resident appearing in a N... 2025-12-25 05:00:00 -0700 647b3caf-fca1-4a08-878f-fcb59c987578 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/filling-seats-local-and-regional-theaters-balance-plays-in-each-season/ A recent article in The New York Times noted that local and regional American theaters, even after recovering somewhat after the epidemic, are struggling to fill seats. The focus of the article, thoug... 2025-12-24 10:54:10 -0700 92103ecc-f6fa-4040-8885-7ec6ecd700a9 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/an-american-parable-merely-players-revisits-its-a-wonderful-life/ Durango is lucky to have an abundance of character actors. Just witness the stellar production of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The cast of the current offering by Merely Players proves it – from the engag... 2025-12-11 05:00:00 -0700 96b08031-0e8f-4a7f-bfd0-cdc01cdfbc8c https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/tom-stoppard-playwright-who-won-an-oscar-for-shakespeare-in-love-dies-at-88/ LONDON – British playwright Tom Stoppard, a playful, probing dramatist who won an Academy Award for the screenplay for 1998’s “Shakespeare In Love,” has died. He was 88. In a statement Saturday, Unite... 2025-11-29 05:21:28 -0700 dd7e75dd-becf-421d-8f92-6317b24494e0 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/durango-high-school-troupe-1096-opens-season-with-once-upon-a-mattress/ When the student actors and crew of Durango High School Troupe 1096 take the stage next week for their season-opener, “Once Upon a Mattress,” they’ll also be kicking off their chosen yearlong theme of... 2025-10-30 02:21:19 -0700 a732e726-cde3-4c31-ba32-5f0a0f6e24f2 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/san-juan-circus-going-to-great-heights/ If we’ve learned anything from movies and other forms of pop culture, it’s generally not a good idea when one finds a book of spells to read the contents aloud. WHAT: San Juan Circus presents “A B... 2025-10-23 03:15:43 -0700 ef744eb5-4cb9-411f-9c15-bce00c8637f9 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/review-merely-players-mounts-a-hamlet-for-our-time/ In Merely Players’ current production of “Hamlet,” directed by Mona Wood-Patterson, tragedy and comedy travel together. Shakespeare reminds us that life is complex. To resonate with a modern audience,... 2025-10-10 05:00:00 -0700 9cc669a2-b73a-4528-b78d-2461dc778643 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/pagosas-thingamajig-theatre-company-hosts-master-class/ If you have never attended a master class, see the play “Master Class” at the Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts now. It opened Sept. 26 and runs weekends through Nov. 16. If you have attended a maste... 2025-10-03 05:00:00 -0700 731999c3-6558-47a1-be89-7ea7b247e364 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/paula-poundstone-hopefully-my-show-is-an-animated-spaceship/ The last time comedian Paula Poundstone performed in Durango, the world was still coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and all that it had wrought. We were all still trying to figure out what the world... 2025-09-25 05:44:56 -0700 49fceab9-38f8-478c-ae26-6ace13c10622 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/a-fable-for-our-time-dart-mounts-spitfire-grill/ Last weekend, Durango Arts Repertory Theatre opened a polished production of “The Spitfire Grill, A Musical.” It’s an emotionally powerful American story about second chances and should not be missed.... 2025-08-20 03:42:46 -0700 df10b352-fae9-4892-a1e4-8e66423210f8 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/ryan-speedo-green-triumphs-in-first-outing-as-wagners-god-in-die-walkure/ SANTA FE – The Jemez and Sangre de Cristo mountains had vanished into the night sky by the time Ryan Speedo Green sang his first words as Wotan in Wagner’s “Die Walküre.” Still, their invisible presen... 2025-08-06 03:37:14 -0700 5f16ea2b-174f-43e8-bdbf-b0660f2d2ac4 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/immerse-yourself-with-secret-circus-society/ Starting Tuesday and running monthly through the end of September, the stage at Animas City Theatre will be transformed into a space filled with circus acts intended to take audiences on a journey to ... 2025-07-17 04:00:00 -0700 9e475b9d-0ecb-4156-af88-ac0ef5f48afe https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/looking-for-hilarity-dac-serves-up-comedy/ If there’s one thing we can all use right now it’s a little comedy. And Durango Arts Center delivers with its upcoming production of “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche,” which will open Friday and run throug... 2025-07-17 02:21:10 -0700 7d6d7297-6d58-4811-9c16-604f384dc43c https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/something-hilarious-staged-in-pagosa-springs/ Brush up your Shakespeare in Pagosa this summer. You will not regret it. A one-hour drive from Durango, the Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts has launched its repertory season. With “Something Rotten... 2025-07-10 09:00:00 -0700 1b632085-460a-482e-9fcc-7308adf48c4f https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/theater-out-of-chaos-comedy/ “Embrace the absurd, revel in nostalgia and ... believe in the power of art.” Emily Van Fleet, the new artistic director of Creede Repertory Theatre, invites playgoers to the company’s 60th anniversar... 2025-07-09 04:03:53 -0700 5061c4d7-8ae6-4f75-afce-a509af9358a5 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/playfest-launches-2025-season/ Ask Felicia Lansbury Meyer or Mandy Mikulencak what PlayFest is all about, and one word continuously pops up: process. The essence of Durango’s unusual workshop-to-public performance is the creative p... 2025-06-18 04:05:48 -0700 a085f84b-3e86-4f48-8ef0-ff316108e1a2 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/storytelling-in-pagosa/ “After a few wonderful years of jukebox musicals like ‘Jersey Boys’ and ‘Beautiful,’ we are ready to get back to story-first theater,” said Tim Moore. Moore is producing artistic director for the Pago... 2025-06-14 03:36:18 -0700 8ade6750-f9f7-4340-bda3-14444461c7e8 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/loretta-swit-emmy-winner-who-played-margaret-houlihan-on-pioneering-tv-series-m-a-s-h-has-died/ NEW YORK – Loretta Swit, who won two Emmy Awards playing Major Margaret Houlihan, the demanding head nurse of a behind-the-lines surgical unit during the Korean War on the pioneering hit TV series “M.... 2025-05-30 03:05:56 -0700 e67d3005-82d4-4338-b19f-bdf74ffe9739 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/dream-with-us-creede-rep-opens-59th-season-with-classics-and-comedies/ Creede Repertory Theatre opens its 59th season Saturday with the musical “Xanadu.” It’s a lighthearted sendup of a 1980 film starring Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly that has acquired a cult followi... 2025-05-22 09:00:00 -0700 19768b2c-f49b-4548-816a-2aac3cbd19a5 https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/merely-marvelous-players-romp-through-broadway-fable/ Last weekend, Merely Players opened a beguiling production of “Guys & Dolls.” From the opening illusion of a bustling Times Square to the rousing finale, the company has done it again, continuing its ... 2025-05-02 09:00:00 -0700 9a8eda44-4501-4add-afc6-466bf2edaa7a