What The Denver Center for Performing Arts Means to Me
We all can agree the pandemic has been an equal opportunity destroyer, wreaking havoc in every corner of society. A year of COVID has been especially devastating for cultural and artistic venues, most prominently the Denver Center for Performing Arts, the heartbeat and soul of the city.
Throughout a normal year, festive crowds would gather beneath the DCPA’s sprawling pavilion, sipping cocktails and peppermint mochas, clutching tickets, and rushing through the beckoning doors of the Buell, Elle Caulkins, Boetcher, and Bonfils theatres. For every major holiday, birthday, anniversary, milestone celebration, or that first or special date, if you planned an epic night on the town, all roads led to the DCPA.
Like many Coloradans, I miss the theatre, I miss the pomp and pizzazz, the thrill of being wowed and enthralled. There’s another reason why I miss the DCPA: for thirteen years I operated Hot Ticket Cafe, a pre-theatre restaurant tucked inside the Bonfils Theatre lobby (home of the Denver Center Theatre Company.) Night after night patrons lined up at my counter before performances for a quick bite to eat, fresh-baked cookie, or last-minute jolt of espresso to jumpstart their frontal lobes. (It’s an open secret that dramatic productions featured in the Bonfils were more cerebral and thought-provoking than the Buell’s Broadway musicals known more for producing feelings of euphoria, glee, and gut laughter.)
Thirteen years feels like a lifetime, and I spent a lot of Christmas Eves’, my children's birthdays, Valentine's Days’, and countless weekends behind the counter serving theatre patrons. When my father passed away, I learned the news while working a shift at the theatre. On the flip side, our four children grew up with a profound appreciation for the performing arts having attended countless productions (and also working the cash register throughout high school), and for over ten years my wife and I had a ‘go-to’ date night: tickets to a play.
However, what I miss most about the DCPA is what occurred before the curtains went up and the lights dimmed, out of range of the spotlight and stage…
