The price of new
Producing new work presents significant financial challenges, including direct production expenses and marketing previously unheard-of plays to audiences. Costs have skyrocketed, and keeping up with these expenses while maintaining donor support is no small feat for a nonprofit theater company operating on a roughly $400,000 annual budget.
“The truth is, it costs us four times more to produce a show in 2024 than a show we produced in 2019, and we have not caught our donors up with that level of giving,” Rudnick says. “We are attempting to navigate both the audience’s appetite for seeing theater and the donors’ appetite for giving to the theater. But necessity is the mother of invention, and we are in a period of expansion and reinvention — these things take time to develop.”
Development and reinvention is central to LTC’s Season 14. Its programming begins July 27 with The Democracy Cycle, a series of staged readings based on concerns in a trio of Colorado communities that will be performed in three cities across the state.
This project was inspired by Rudnick’s time as education coordinator at Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles, where they created original works based on conversations with local community groups. To do something similar, LTC collaborated with Curious Theatre Company and the Gunnison Valley Theatre Festival in early 2024 to host three story circles with a diverse group of residents in Boulder, Denver and Gunnison.
“The Democracy Cycle is the culmination of a season-long project,” says co-artistic director Nick Chase. “The questions we asked each community were the controlled variables, and their responses were the uncontrolled variables. We did not focus on the binary distinctions that usually divide us in these story circles, which we felt was important, especially given the upcoming federal election. The project’s goal is to promote civil discourse, and we believe this is the best way to do that.”
Looking ahead
LTC’s upcoming season will feature two world premieres: Stockade by Andrew Rosendorf, with dramaturgy by Carlyn Aquiline, and Chasing Breadcrumbs by Michelle Tyrene Johnson. Both plays were developed through LTC’s Local Lab, an incubator for new plays.
“It’s a great pleasure to say that the two world premiere productions were born at Local Lab 13,” Chase says. “It’s lovely to be with a play from its early stages and see it grow. We are also thrilled that both productions will be exclusively at the Dairy. As a Boulder-based company, that feels very important. Then, in April, we will be at the Nomad in North Boulder for Local Lab 14, which will be new for us and our audiences.”
Season 14 starts locally at the Boulder Public Library’s main branch with the first of three performances of The Democracy Cycle. These free staged readings center on concerns related to housing accessibility, an issue discussed by community members in all three LTC-hosted story circles. Plays include Steven Cole Hughes’ The Heavy Work that Will Make Everything Lighter, Kenya Mahogany Fashaw’s Intersectionality and Nick Malakhow’s Parallel Lives.
Each play is about 30 minutes long, and the performances will conclude with a post-show conversation. Staged readings will take place in Boulder on July 27, Gunnison on Aug. 1 and Denver on Aug. 3. The Boulder event will feature Mayor Aaron Brockett performing in The Heavy Work That Will Make Everything Lighter, serving as LTC’s season kickoff party with free food, mocktails and conversation.
“Our event on the 27th is for people who care about Boulder’s future as a place to raise families and run a business, because housing affects all of us,” Rudnick says. “But we are doing it in a really fun way, because that’s the Local way.”
ON STAGE: We the People: The Democracy Cycle. 6 p.m. Saturday, July 27, Boulder Public Library – Canyon Theater, 1001 Arapahoe Ave. Free