Theater in Boulder County continues to navigate a shifting landscape as we head into 2025. After nearly five decades, BDT Stage closed early last year, leaving the local arts scene without its iconic dinner theater. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival spent its entire season indoors at Roe Green Theatre, while the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre underwent extensive renovations.
Meanwhile, the fallout from Boulder’s handling of the 2A arts funding initiative remains a contentious issue, as much-anticipated funding for the arts was redirected to city expenses, sparking outrage in the creative community. Amid these challenges, the ever-crowded Dairy Arts Center has launched a new co-production program to increase access for emerging artists.
2024 also saw standout achievements: Local Theater Company celebrated the successful world premieres of 237 Virginia Avenue and Stockade last year, the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company (BETC) sold out multiple productions and immersive theater troupe The Catamounts dazzled audiences with four world premieres. As Boulder County’s theater community looks ahead, the 2025 season promises compelling productions and bold experimentation.
Here’s a quick rundown on what’s coming to a stage near you in the new year.
Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company (BETC)
The Time is Always Right, Jan. 19 (Dairy); Hope and Gravity, Jan. 23 through Feb. 16 (Denver) and Feb. 21-23 (Nomad); Maytag Virgin (staged reading), Feb. 12 (Dairy); The White Chip, April 10 through May 4 (Dairy)
The Savoy, 2700 Arapahoe St., Denver | Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder | Nomad Playhouse, 1410 Quince Ave., Boulder
BETC kicks off 2025 with The Time is Always Right, a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy through spoken word, music and dance. This one-night joint production with the Boulder Philharmonic and Boulder Ballet connects history to the present through art.
“Collaboration is a matter of survival,” says BETC Managing Director Mark Ragan. “It’s not optional today; arts organizations have to really stand up for one another.”
The season’s first play is Michael Hollinger’s Hope and Gravity. This nonlinear comedy explores the precarious connections between nine characters whose lives are disrupted when an elevator crashes.
“It delights in our foibles and reminds us how interconnected we are,” says artistic director Jessica Robblee. “It has real love for its characters, but there is infidelity and all the problems that come with a long-term relationship. Because Michael Hollinger is a talented playwright, he tells these stories in a loving way that makes you care about those people rather than distance yourself and judge them, which I believe is important right now.”
BETC’s commitment to community engagement is evident in its staged reading of Audrey Cefaly’s Maytag Virgin, a heartwarming story about two neighbors navigating love and loss. The season wraps up with The White Chip, an autobiographical dramedy by Sean Daniels about addiction and recovery.
“White Chip is also very much BETC’s brand — it is hot from off-Broadway, and we will be the regional premiere, as we were with Coal Country,” Ragan says. “It’s the real story of how an artistic director of a theater company recovered after hitting rock bottom as an alcoholic. The elevator pitch sounds heavy, but Sean weaves in comic elements.”
CU Presents: Department of Theatre and Colorado Shakespeare Festival
John Proctor is the Villain, Feb. 21 through March 2; Something Rotten!, April 11-20; The Tempest, June 7 through Aug. 10; Richard II, July 5 through Aug. 10; Doctor Faustus, July 27
University Theatre Building, 261 CU Boulder
CU Presents launches its season with two productions from the Department of Theatre, showcasing the talent of CU Boulder students. Kimberly Bellflower’s John Proctor is the Villain reimagines The Crucible with a sharp, contemporary perspective, examining issues of truth through the lens of a high school English class.
Later in the semester, John O’Farrell’s and Karey Kirkpatrick’s Something Rotten! serves up a hilarious look at two Renaissance-era playwrights attempting to create the first musical while duking it out with Willie Shakes.
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival returns for its 68th season, embracing the newly renovated Roe Green Theatre while the Mary Rippon Outdoor Theatre undergoes additional construction, with a reopening planned for 2026. This year’s lineup includes The Tempest and Richard II, two Shakespearean classics exploring themes of power, betrayal and forgiveness.
Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe concludes the season in an original practice format, providing audiences with a rare glimpse into historical performance techniques from Shakespeare’s era, led by actor-manager Shunté Lofton.
Local Theater Company
Chasing Breadcrumbs, Feb. 20 through March 9 (Dairy); Local Lab 14, April 25-27 (Nomad)
Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder | Nomad Playhouse, 1410 Quince Ave., Boulder
Local Theater Company will continue its tradition of presenting new work to Boulder audiences. Its season opens with Chasing Breadcrumbs, a world premiere by Michelle Tyrene Johnson the company presented at its new play festival in 2024.
Johnson’s latest is a comedic but incisive look at race in the arts. She describes her protagonist as “a young Black female playwright navigating a group of rich white women who want to commission a play to make themselves look better.”
Local Lab 14, the company’s annual presentation of new work, offers theater enthusiasts an inside look at how productions are developed. As always, the event features staged readings, audience feedback and conversations with playwrights. However, this year’s festival will be held at Nomad Playhouse in North Boulder rather than the Dairy, a change co-artistic director Nick Chase described to Boulder Weekly last July as “new for us and our audiences.”
As for the long-running festival’s value, Chase puts it simply: “It’s lovely to be with a play from its early stages and see it grow.”
The Arts HUB
Anastasia, Jan. 17-26; School of Rock, March 7-16
The Arts HUB, 420 Courtney Way, Lafayette
Under the leadership of new executive director Andrew Krimm, Lafayette’s The Arts HUB is embracing a renewed focus on financial sustainability. With a facility that now serves more than 11,000 attendees each year and an operating budget of approximately $800,000, the organization aims to capitalize on its strengths.
The season begins with the regional premiere of Terrence McNally’s Anastasia, a musical about a young woman’s search for her past. March brings the rocking energy of Julian Fellowes’ School of Rock, a celebration of music’s transformative power based on Richard Linklater’s hit film starring Jack Black. Together, these productions showcase the HUB’s emphasis on impactful, crowd-pleasing theater while laying the foundation for an ambitious future that includes outdoor stages and expanded classes.
The Catamounts
Ghost Quartet, Jan. 18 through Feb. 8 (Boulder); FEED: Wood, June 13-15 (Longmont)
Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder | Lone Hawk Farm, 10790 N 49th St., Longmont
The Catamounts, Boulder County’s champion of immersive and site-specific theater, is back with another season of boundary-pushing productions. The year begins with Ghost Quartet, a genre-defying musical written and composed by Dave Malloy that weaves across multiple timelines. Known for inventive staging, The Catamounts will transform The Dairy into an intimate, otherworldly setting for this haunting production.
In June, the company brings its signature avant-garde, multi-sensory theatrical dining experience series to Longmont’s Lone Hawk Farm with FEED: Wood. The event pairs live performance with a locally sourced, multi-course meal inspired by the themes of the show. As artistic director Amanda Berg Wilson has emphasized in the past, these plate-to-stage happenings are designed to blend storytelling with culinary artistry.
Theater Company of Lafayette
Martine Out of Time, April TBD (Lafayette); Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, June TBD (Boulder and Lafayette); The Money at Any Price (staged reading), June TBD (Lafayette); Mr. Toad & Shakespeare, July TBD (Lafayette); Sherlock Holmes and the Greek Chorus, fall TBD (Lafayette); Holidazed & Confused, Dec. TBD (Lafayette)
Arapaho Center, 300 E. Simpson St., Lafayette | Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder
The Theater Company of Lafayette (TCL) enters 2025 with unexpected stability, staying at the Arapaho Center despite plans to host productions at various theaters throughout the season. Renovations originally scheduled for this year were postponed due to funding issues, allowing TCL to remain in its
current home.
“We thought we were going to be nomadic this year,” says artistic director Madge Montgomery. “So we planned for minimal tech, but since we get to stay put, we’re making the most of it.”
TCL’s season begins in April with Martine Out of Time, a world premiere by Nora Douglass about the trials and triumphs of adolescence in a small town. June brings Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, a witty, contemporary comedy inspired by Chekhov’s works. That same month, The Money at Any Price, a staged reading of a comedic caper about greed by Katherine Dubois Reed, brings a new local flavor to the season.
The summer features the family-friendly double bill Mr. Toad & Shakespeare, combining a whimsical adaptation of The Wind in the Willows with an introduction to Shakespeare designed for young audiences. In the fall, Sherlock Holmes and The Greek Chorus puts a theatrical twist on the famous detective’s crime-solving adventures. TCL wraps up the year with Holidazed & Confused, its sixth annual holiday festival of short plays that range from heartfelt to humorous.