Aid recipient: Denver actor Jeff Jesmer, who works at many Denver theatres as both an actor and scenic builder/designer, is currently appearing as David Cameron in Vintage Theatre’s “The Audience.” Other recent roles include John Proctor in “The Crucible,” Richard in “The Lion in Winter” and Paul in “The Champagne Charlie Stakes” (all for Firehouse… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Jeff Jesmer
Category: News
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Trenton J. Schindele
‘Because of this help, I am able to stay active and stay walking’ Aid recipient: Trenton J. Schindele of Northglenn is a longtime actor for the Phamaly Theatre Company, having appeared in many productions including “Evita,” “Fuddy Meers,” “Cabaret” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” (“As Motel, Trenton Schindele is authentic and down-to-earth,” wrote Juliet Wittman… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Trenton J. Schindele
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Jay Louden
Aid recipient: Jay Louden has been a longtime actor and director with the Evergreen Players, having most recently directed “The Dining Room” and performed in “The Explorer’s Club.” and “Enchanted April.” He has directed more than 30 productions, including “The 39 Steps” last month for StageDoor Theatre in Conifer. Last year, he appeared in… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Jay Louden
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Alli Caw
Aid recipient: Allison Caw is a Philadelphia native who earned her MFA in Theatre at Naropa University in Boulder and recently appeared in Off-Center’s “The Wild Party” for the Denver Center at the Stanley Marketplace. Other Colorado credits include “_______, An Opera,” and “Beowulf, A Thousand Years Of Baggage” for The Catamounts. She has been… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Alli Caw
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Don Gabenski
Financial-aid recipient: Don Gabenski has been performing for 15 years with Phamaly Theatre Company, which exists to provide performance opportunities to actors with disabilities, and more recently Spoke N Motion, Denver’s only fully integrated dance company. Phamaly highlights have included playing the patriarch Jacob in “Joseph and Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” The Wiz,” “Guys and Dolls,”… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Don Gabenski
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Nancy Warner
Financial-aid recipient: Nancy Warner has been a dresser, backstage crew member and faithful volunteer for Phamaly Theatre Company for many years, most recently as a show-runner for Phamaly’s “Vox Phamilia: Under Construction” at the Community College of Aurora. For nearly 30 years, Phamly has existed to provide performance and backstage opportunities for people with disabilities.… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Nancy Warner
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Archie Villeda
Financial-aid recipient: Actor Archie Villeda is a local actor who most recently appeared in Su Teatro’s Dona Rositas Jalapeno Kitchen in 2015. Other titles include Ludlow: El Grito de Las Minas in 20914 and the class comedy La Carpa Aztlan Presents: I Don’t Speak English Only in 2012 (pictured below with Manuel R. Roybal Sr.).… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Archie Villeda
Arvada Center actor: ‘George H.W. Bush groped me,’ too
Jordana Grolonick, second from left, made a benefit appearance for the Denver Actors Fund with her Arvada Center ‘A Chorus Line’ castmates at the Denver Alamo Drafthouse on Aug. 28. Photo by John Moore. The claim by Jordana Grolnick of Longmont has been confirmed by an official, and an apology has been issued Posted by… Continue reading Arvada Center actor: ‘George H.W. Bush groped me,’ too
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Paul Hartman
Financial-aid recipient: Paul Hartman and his wife, Amanda, are both longtime members of the local theatre community. Paul is a musician who has playing in pits from the Midtown Ats Center in Fort Collins to the Candelight Dinner Theater in Johnstown to Performance Now in Lakewood to more. Most recently, he played for DAF recipients… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Paul Hartman
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Greg Alan West
Financial-aid recipient: Greg Alan West is a longtime actor and costumer in the Colorado theatre community whose notable roles have included the one-man epic I Am My Own Wife and Lucien in The Boys Next Door for Firehouse Theatre Company; Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival; and Dogberry in Lost… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Greg Alan West
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Norrell Moore
Financial-aid recipient: Norrell Moore has been regularly performing in the local theatre community since 2012, when she played Vivienne Kensington and Rachel Jackson in high-profile, back-to-back productions of Legally Blonde The Musical at the Arvada Center and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Aurora Fox. Major roles that followed included playing the heart-wrenching hippie conformist Sheila… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Norrell Moore
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Emily K. Harrison
Financial aid recipient: Actor and producer Emily K. Harrison is the founder of the now 12-year old, intentionally lower-cased square product theatre. She just completed a controversial turn playing child beauty queen and murder victim JonBenét Ramsey in House of Gold, performed in Ramsey’s hometown of Boulder. Joanne Ostrow of The Denver Post called it… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Emily K. Harrison
Christopher Dyer joins Denver Actors Fund Board of Directors
Christopher Dyer, a longtime executive with the Denver-based premium cable TV network Starz/Lionsgate, has been unanimoulsy appointed to the Denver Actors Fund Board of Directors, President Will Barnette has announced. The 4-year-old Denver Actors Fund makes financial and practical assistance available to members of the Colorado theatre community facing situational medical need. Last week, The… Continue reading Christopher Dyer joins Denver Actors Fund Board of Directors
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Nick Thorne
About Nick Thorne: Actor, director and producer Nicholas Thorne died on Feb. 8, 2017, of complications from a severe asthma attack. He was 25, and a graduate of Denver School of the Arts and the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley. He was the Artistic Director and a co-founder of the Black Actors Guild, which… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Nick Thorne
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Faith Angelise Goins-Simmons
Financial-aid recipient: Aurora native Faith Angelise Goins-Simmons is playing Lily in the Aurora Fox’s Porgy and Bess. The daughter of Pastors Verdale and Jane Goins is a graduate of Aurora Central High School and the University of Denver, where she was the first person of color to graduate from the Lamont School of Music. She… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Faith Angelise Goins-Simmons
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Asad Clinton
Financial-aid recipient: Littleton actor, dancer and choreographer Asad Clinton was an ensemble member in Breckenridge Backstage Theatre‘s recent production of “Chicago.” He was called “commanding” by The Denver Post when he played a tagger named Graffiti Pete in Vintage Theatre Productions’ “In the Heights.” He appeared in both “Aida” and “The Wild Party” for Ignite Theatre… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Asad Clinton
Denver Actors Fund announces statewide expansion
In the video above, new parents Rebecca Joseph and Daniel Langhoff present Denver Actors Fund President Will Barnette with the Colorado Theatre Guild’s first Community Impact Award at the 2016 Henry Awards. The Denver Actors Fund, which in three years has directly distributed more than $55,000 to metro-area theatre artists in situational medical need,… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund announces statewide expansion
Introducing the cast of ‘Waiting for Obama’
Director Brian Freeland has announced the cast of Denver arts journalist John Moore’s new play ‘Waiting for Obama,’ an official selection into the 2016 New York Fringe Festival. The play will presented by the new Wild Blindness Productions, in partnership with the Bas Bleu Theatre Company. ‘Waiting for Obama’ is the story of one… Continue reading Introducing the cast of ‘Waiting for Obama’
DAF: Footloose, All About Eve and 1st Annual All-Colorado Theatre Picnic
The Denver Actors Fund has a variety of exciting, family-friendly events planned for this summer, and we hope you will join us as we continue our mission to build community while building funds for our nonprofit, which provides financial and practical relief for members of the local theatre community facing situational medical need. MORE INFO… Continue reading DAF: Footloose, All About Eve and 1st Annual All-Colorado Theatre Picnic
Denver Actors Fund names Will Barnette Interim President
In the video above, Will Barnette announces the $10,000 Brenda Billings Memorial Match. The Denver Actors Fund Board of Directors has voted unanimously to name Will Barnette Interim President through 2016, Executive Director John Moore announced today. Barnette, 30, succeeds his mother-in-law, Brenda Billings, who died of a brain aneurysm on April 13. Barnette,… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund names Will Barnette Interim President
Brenda Billings named Denver Actors Fund President
Brenda Billings, Artistic Director at Miners Alley Playhouse and a longtime contributor to Colorado’s non-profit community, has been named President of The Denver Actors Fund, Executive Director John Moore announced today. “I am honored and very enthused to join the Denver Actors Fund,” Billings said. “The founding of this unique and vital organization is making… Continue reading Brenda Billings named Denver Actors Fund President
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Joe Majestic
Note: At the Denver Actors Fund, anonymity of aid recipients is presumed and fully protected, unless and until the recipient chooses to have his or her story told. Financial-aid recipient: Littleton native Joe Majestic, a graduate of Arapahoe High School, appeared as Lewis in Ignite Theatre’s “Pippin,” and as Bobby in “Cabaret.” He also played a… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Joe Majestic
Video: DAF Night at ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ is coming Feb. 17
Wayne Kennedy, star of BDT Stage’s “Fiddler on the Roof,” introduces a special added performance of the hit musical on Tuesday, Feb. 17, to benefit the Denver Actors Fund. Kennedy talks about when his 1-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia and why “the introduction of the DAF is so important for people in my business.”… Continue reading Video: DAF Night at ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ is coming Feb. 17
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Laura Adducci
Laura and Lucien Adducci. Helping a sick mother to keep her son in school Note: At the Denver Actors Fund, anonymity of aid recipients is presumed and fully protected, unless and until the recipient chooses to have his or her story told. Financial-aid recipient: Laura Adducci is the Program Director at Mirror Image Arts, a… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Laura Adducci
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Shelly Bordas
Actor, teacher and mother’s long and defiant battle galvanized the Colorado theatre community Note: At the Denver Actors Fund, anonymity of aid recipients is presumed and fully protected, unless and until the recipient chooses to have his or her story told. Financial-aid recipient: Shelly Bordas was a Denver actor and teacher who appeared in dozens… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Shelly Bordas
DSA students make remarkable, record donation to Denver Actors Fund
From left: Amelia Corrada (Penny), Madison Kitchen (Tracy), Jeremy Willis (Seaweed), Claire Willcutt, John Moore and Jimmy Bruenger (Link Larkin). Twelve days before Denver School of the Arts was to open its fall all-school musical “Hairspray,” cast members Jimmy Bruenger and his little sister, Damiana, learned their father, James, had died of a sudden heart… Continue reading DSA students make remarkable, record donation to Denver Actors Fund
Photos: 2014 Underground Music Showcase
Photos from Day 2 of the 2014 Denver Post Underground Music Showcase, July 25, 2014. To see the full photo gallery, click here. Photos by UMS co-founder John Moore, now Senior Arts Journalist for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Find more of his work at MyDenverCenter.Org The UMS is Denver’s premier indie festival,… Continue reading Photos: 2014 Underground Music Showcase
A Message from Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield …
When movie stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were being hounded by paparazzi at lunch, they put their celeb status to clever and good-hearted use: By hiding their faces with note cards calling attention to worthy non-profit organizations. And, well … we took it from there. The Denver Actors Fund provides financial and support assistance… Continue reading A Message from Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield …
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Traci Kern
Note: At the Denver Actors Fund, anonymity of aid recipients is presumed and fully protected, unless and until the recipient chooses to have his or her story told. Financial aid recipient No. 7: Longtime actor and 17-year vocal coach Traci J. Kern has appeared in many productions for many local theatre companies, including recently in… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Traci Kern
Denver Actors Fund in Action: Meghan Ralph
Note: At the Denver Actors Fund, anonymity of aid recipients is presumed and fully protected, unless and until the recipient chooses to have his or her story told. Financial aid recipient No. 6: Meghan Ralph has been heavily involved in the Denver theatre community since 2004, working as actor, stage manager, assistant director, run crew,… Continue reading Denver Actors Fund in Action: Meghan Ralph