The Denver Center Theatre Company will offer three distinct slices of American life this fall with the classic courtroom tale “To Kill a Mockingbird” (opening Oct. 6), the naturalization comedy “American Night” (Oct. 13) and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (Nov. 17), adapted by Denver native Laura Eason. And there’s a French comedy, for good measure — “The Liar” (Sept. 27). 303-893-4100
The touring division will welcome iconic musicals “Hair” (Oct. 4), “The Lion King” (Nov. 2) and “West Side Story” (Dec. 13).
Once again, we’ve chosen our 10 most intriguing titles to watch this fall from more than 125 upcoming statewide offerings. But that list doesn’t even scratch a surface that includes OpenStage’s “33 Variations” in Fort Collins (Sept. 9), Miners Alley Playhouse’s “The Night of the Iguana” in Golden (Sept. 9), or Boulder Ensemble’s “Mauritius” (Oct. 14).
Paragon Theatre again spotlights favored gritty British scribe Jez Butterworth with “Parlour Song,” and Buntport Theater’s next original offering is called “My Hideous Progeny,” a meditation on the life of Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein” (Sept. 23).
As always, look to denver post.com/theater for your complete statewide theater listings, broken down by current productions, by company and by opening date.
Here are our choices for the 10 most intriguing titles of the fall season, listed by opening date. Photographs by Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post:
Curious Theatre’s “Clybourne Park”
 |
The story: Bruce Norris’ sharp new Pulitzer-winning comedy is first set just before Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” begins. It’s September 1959, and a white couple moving to the suburbs doesn’t realize they have sold their house to Clybourne Park’s first black family — the Youngers of Hansberry’s classic. The second act fast-forwards 50 years, only now it is an all-black neighborhood — and a white couple wants to move into the same house.
Featured actor ZZ Moor (Francine/Lena): “It’s definitely going to question our prejudices and keep the conversation going. How far have we come? Maybe not that far.”
Now through Oct. 15 at 1080 Acoma St., 303-623-0524 or curioustheatre.org
To read more on “Clybourne Park,” and how the gentrification story in Chicago does and does not mirror Denver, click here .
Theatre Or’s “Apples from the Desert”
The story: The American premiere of Savyon Liebrecht’s romantic comedy, winner of Israel’s best play for 2006, is about a young religious Israeli who flees her strict family to find freedom and love on a desert kibbutz. Theatre Or is a new local company that recently relocated from Durham, N.C.
Sept. 8 through Nov. 6 at the Mizel Center’s Pluss Theatre, 350 S. Dahlia St., 303-316-6360 or maccjcc.org
Midtown Arts Center’s “Next to Normal”
 |
The story: The former Carousel Dinner Theatre in Fort Collins becomes the first Colorado company to stage this Pulitzer-winning musical that traces the disintegration of one suburban family that has battled the aftereffects of the mother’s bipolar disorder for two decades.
Featured actor Margie Lamb (Diana): “This is a story about the price that you pay to love, and the price that you pay to feel. I think every single person in the audience can relate to one or more of these characters.”
Sept. 8-Nov. 12 at 3750 S. Mason St., Fort Collins, 970-225-2555 or adinnertheatre.com
LIDA Project’s “Justin Bieber Meets Al Qaeda”
The story:This irreverent and controversial “theatrical editorial” focuses on our pop culture-priorities in the decade after the al-Qaeda attacks, during which the United States has waged two wars and seen its financial system collapse – while still churning out billion-dollar pop stars. This original collaborative work, inspired by Max Fritch’s “The Firebugs” and “Albert Camus’ “The Just,” marks the 17-year-old experimental company’s move from a warehouse into a swank new theater.
Featured actor Dan O’Neill (Osama bin Laden): “Either we want comfort food or we want the horror of real life slammed in our face. TV gives us plenty of both.”
Sept. 9-Oct. 8 at the Laundry on Lawrence, 2701 Lawrence St., 720-221-3821 or lida.org
Aurora Fox’s “Rashomon”
 |
The story: In this 12th-century Japanese mystery, the audience is challenged to solve the crime after a man is murdered and his wife is assaulted by a roving bandit. Four people give different accounts of the incident. Based on stories by Ryunokuke Akutagawa that were made into the film that in 1950 introduced director Akira Kurosawa to Western audiences. This production is written by Fay and Michael Kanin, based on the stories of Ryunokuke Akutagawa, and directed by El Armstrong.
Featured actor Hugo Jon Sayles (Medium/Deputy): “It’s a human play. You will recognize these characters, even through the lens of another culture.”
Sept. 9-Oct. 9 at 9900 E. Colfax Ave., 303-739-1970 or aurorafox.org
(Note: Sayles is also the artistic director of Shadow Theatre Company, which presents “The Sisters, Sweetwater” at Su Teatro’s Denver Civic Theatre from Sept. 22-Oct. 15. Call 720-857-8000.)
Arvada Center’s “Ragtime”
 |
The story: One of the greatest American musicals follows a Harlem musician, a WASP matriarch and a Jewish immigrant father in 1904 New York, while weaving in historic figures such as Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington and Henry Ford. Based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel, “Ragtime” is a sweeping and volatile tale of love in an intolerant time.
Featured actor Megan Van De Hey (Mother): “What all three families have in common is hope for a better day; hope that their children will grow up knowing a different America. It’s an unfortunately timeless story.”
Sept. 13-Oct. 2 at 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada, 720-898-7200 or arvadacenter.org
National touring production of “Hair”
The story: When this iconic hippie musical first went on tour in 1971, local cops wouldn’t let it stop in Denver because of its nude scene. The so-called “American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,” with a score including “Let the Sun Shine In” and “Aquarius,” follows a group of hopeful, free-spirited young bohemians who explore sexual identity, challenge racism, experiment with drugs and burn their Vietnam draft cards.
Oct. 4-16 at the Buell Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893- 4100 or denvercenter.org
Boulder’s Dinner Theatre’s “Slow Dance with a Hot Pickup”
 |
The story: It’s almost unheard of for a local dinner theater to premiere a brand-new musical. John Pielmeier (“Agnes of God”) has penned a fun little Midwestern nugget that centers on a simple contest — whoever can keep their hand on a pickup truck the longest, wins it. How that translates into a big, dancing musical will be half the fun.
Featured actor Dwayne Carrington (Ralph): “The writers’ aspirations are for this to go to Broadway, so for us to be a test market to see whether it will fly is very exciting.”
Sept. 30-Nov. 5 at 5501 Arapahoe Ave., 303-449-6000 or theatreinboulder.com
Denver Center Theatre Company’s “American Night”
The story: This social comedy created by Los Angeles’ Culture Clash is about a Latino man studying for his naturalization exam, only to be visited by famous historical figures such as Sacagawea, who offer alternative takes on the past that you never read in your American history books.
Oct. 13-Nov. 20 at the Ricketson Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets, 303-893-4100, denvercenter.org
Longmont Theatre Company’s “Frost/Nixon”
The story: Peter Morgan dramatizes then-laughingstock British talk-show host David Frost’s famous 1977 TV interviews with Richard Nixon after the disgraced president resigned over Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. The result is a gripping study of politics, the media and the checkered Nixon legacy.
Nov. 4-19 at 513 Main St., 303-772-5200, longmonttheatre.org
