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The Otero Players, a consortium of faculty members, students, college staff, and community volunteers have produced live theatrical events, stage plays, and mediated performances for many years. Learn about some of our more recent productions by scrolling this page or using the quick links above. All information about these past performances were taken from the press releases at the time of the production.
The Lords of Swing
Performed February 22, 23, 2008
Two evenings of Murder, Mystery and Mayhem performed by the Otero Players
The Otero Players and the Otero Junior College Department of Arts presented a double bill of noir style murder mysteries for an “Evening of Murder Mystery Mayhem” on February 22 and again on February 23. Both plays were performed in the 1940s’ radio drama format, complete with sound effects, commercials, and cued applause.
The Otero Players began the double bill with a one act play, The Lords of Swing, based on a radio detective series featuring Pat Novak, a man for hire, who finds himself in the middle of an espionage ring operating on the Santa Fe Railway in La Junta, Colorado in 1949.
Act two of the double bill featured former OJC student, Cory Moosman, who is now the Artistic Director of The Southern Colorado Theatre Company. Moosman and his company of players presented Death Wore Elevator Shoes, a radio detective genre full of rough guys and dangerous gals, falling bodies, and the kind of deceit and intrigue that makes life worth living. Death Wore Elevator Shoes, which was written by Moosman, was most recently performed to sold-out audiences at Pueblo’s La Renaissance Restaurant in January of this year. Moosman has worked as a producer and marketing director for the Steel City Theatre Company. He is a member of the Damon Runyon Repertory and a faculty member at the Colorado Springs Conservatory for young performing artists.
The Lords of Swing featured OJC students Taylor Ballard as Pat Novak, and John Eubank as his sidekick Jocko Madigan. Douglas Golding appeared as Max Hunter, a no-good drifter who sets Novak on his misadventure, and Terilynn Russ as Hunter’s girl, Francine, a gal who paid the cost for her devotion. Maria Armijo played the femme fatale who lured Novak into her web of deception.
Eubank also played a migrant Jamaican laborer and acted as the program’s announcer. Golding was doublecast as a small town cop, and Russ performed as a lounge singer as well as Novak’s co-worker Bess. Armijo also appears as a phone operator who provides a crucial link to solving the mystery.
Otero Players Managing Director RuAnn Keith directed the players. Director of Theatre Steve Simpson and OJC student Daniel Tilton designed the set, and OJC student Nancy Pearson designed the costumes. Stage management was provided by OJC student Britany Keen, who also provided sound effects, and Michael Garcia, who made a cameo appearance as a technical assistant.
Students from OJC’s Cosmetology Career Academy designed hair and make-up for the production, and were the make-up artists and hair dressers for the performances. Academy Director Tammy Dorenkamp and Instructor Lynette Reeves coordinated the joint venture with the Arts Department. It is the first of many such collaborations the Otero Players plan to have with the cosmetology students.
[Click Here] to Listen to an excerpt from The Lords of Swing (373 Kb)
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Hearts that Weep, Bones that Laugh
Performed November 2, 3 2007
A Carpa about Days of the Dead
Hispanidad, a celebration of Hispanic culture sponsored by the Otero Junior College Department of Arts, presented the Otero Players’ production of Hearts That Weep, Bones That Laugh: Reunion in the Koshare Kiva.
The production opened on the evening of the traditional celebration of the “Day of the Dead” (Dia de Los Muertos) when deceased family members are honored and invited to rejoin the family for one night. Directed by Steve Simpson, OJC’s Director of Theatre, the program features a one-act play about a soul who cannot cross over to visit his family until they build him an altar, and a vaudeville-like afterpiece called a carpa.
“The carpa was a Southwestern tradition from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century,” according to Simpson. “The comedy was created by the cast, and it will feature dancing and acrobatics.
Simpson described carpas as traveling shows that moved from town to town across northern Mexico and the American Southwest. “They were performed in a tent much like a traveling circus or religious revival meeting. They were irreverent, funny, politically astute, and satirical, using music, dance, storytelling, improvisation, and short skits,” he said. He added that Cantinflas, the Mexican actor best remembered by American audiences for his role in the 1956 film Around the World in Eighty Days, cut his acting teeth in the carpa tradition.
“The cast has created their own carpa based on their experiences and sensibilities surrounding contemporary issues of interest to the Latino/Latina community here such as immigration, bilingualism, hard work for low pay, and border issues,” he explained.
The Carpa Otero skits include comedic turns entitled “Dos Pelados,” “Lousy Lover,” “Look, She’s Moving,” and “That’s Good, That’s Bad.” Also featured are Dance Folklorico from Rocky Ford, a lively dance troupe specializing in Mexican folk dances, and Cassidy Kahler, a local actress, dancer, juggler and gymnast, who appeared previously as an olio act in the Otero Players spring 2007 production of 45 Minutes From Broadway.
The inspiration for the performance is the Colorado premier of Reunion, an unpublished play by Olga Sanchez, Artistic Director of The Miracle Theatre Group in Portland, Oregon. In the play, Ernesto, played by Michael Anthony Garcia de Leon, wants to return to visit his family for Los Dias de las Muertos, but is intercepted by Tezcatlipoca, the Aztec god of the underworld, played by Melecio Baca. Tezcatlipoca is skeptical of the ritual, and forces Ernesto to undergo physical trials that test his determination to cross over into the land of the living. Encouraging Ernesto, and helping him confront the formidable Tezcatlipoca, are the ghosts of his relatives, including Eugenia, played by Eunice Petramala, Eusebia, played by Maria de Arcos, and Eduardo, played by Joe Frausto. Ernesto’s family who are waiting for him to return, and who wonder if the myth of the Day of the Dead will come true, are Estela, played by Mary Jo Jaramillo, and Elena, played by Kandi Ruiz.
Sanchez observed that her play “needs attention to the movements of the ensemble. There was always a lot of movement around the ‘trials’ that Cabeza de Papa Ciega [Ernesto] undergoes to reach his final resting place of reunion [with his family].”
Reunion was originally produced by Seattle Teatro Latino in 1997, and Sanchez, who is also affiliated with Miracle MainStage and Bellas Artes in Portland, is “honored and delighted’ that the work is being resurrected to recognize the holiday it commemorates. “I’m glad to hear [the Otero Players] ensemble enjoys the play,” she said. “It means a great deal to me and I’ve always been surprised that it ‘works’.”
Sanchez will be unable to attend the performances because she is performing with Teatro Milagro through October 14, and directing her theatre company’s own show about Dia de Muertos, which is has also co-written.
Reunion features a cast of seven actors, all of whom are of Hispanic ancestry. Even so, some of the cast had to learn the Spanish dialogue written by Sanchez. “The play is written using both English and Spanish dialogue,” said Simpson, “and we all learned the poetic meaning of the language together.” He added that one of the cast members, Kandi Ruiz, is fluent in Spanish and yet her character in the play does not use any Spanish. “She coached the rest of us, and was a tremendous asset to us. She worked to ‘Anglicize” her speaking since her role is that of the younger generation who has moved away from using Spanish regularly.”
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45 Minutes from Broadway
Performed March 2, 3, & 4, 2007
A Musical Play with Vaudeville and Olio By George M. Cohan
The Otero Players’ production of George M. Cohan’s musical play 45 Minutes From Broadway was presented as vaudeville, a style of multi-act theatre that featured an olio consisting of specialty acts that was performed downstage while the upstage set was being changed between scenes. At its height of popularity when Cohan’s play was written 100 years ago, vaudeville was celebrated as a commitment to entertainment that could be enjoyed by women and children and not offend anyone.
According to Otero Players’ Managing Director RuAnn Keith, “When we started planning for the show last summer we couldn’t locate a copy of the original script anywhere. Thanks to an extensive search by our Director of Library Services, Kendra Swope, and our [Wheeler] library technician Lisa Fritch we finally found a copy of the play on microfiche at the University of Iowa.”
Keith explained that Fritch had to generate oversized copies from the microfiche, and then cut and paste the script onto a standard, letter-sized template. Fritch spent over two months piecing the pages together to produce a workable copy of the play, which was typewritten in 1903.
“As far as I know, the library at Otero Junior College now has the only bound copies of the play in the entire country,” Keith said.
“The script is full of typing errors and misspellings,” she added. “These were the days before ‘Spell Check’ and even before ‘Liquid Paper,’ so it was probably common for typists to just let the errors go since there was no easy way to correct them.”
“Also, the action in the script includes notes such as ‘Do the hat bit here,’ and ‘He picks up a tauberrette,’ that called for a bit of research. We were able to figure out what a tauberrette was [an antique clock that was a replica of the town clock in Tauber, Germany] but we’ll probably never know what ‘the hat bit’ was.”
The original script contains none of the music or lyrics for the five songs that are part of the story, so Keith and director Steve Simpson used Internet searches to locate the original sheet music in the Lester S. Levy Collection at Johns Hopkins, and the Digital Sheet Music Collection of Popular American Music at the University of Southern California.
However, there was one song that was impossible to locate. “The opening number, called ‘We’re The Gentlemen of the Press,’ has apparently never been published anywhere by anyone,” said Simpson. “We searched for months. The only version of the song that we could find was on a recording of 45 Minutes From Broadway made in 1959 for the Omnibus television program. That was a shortened version of the play starring Larry Blyden and Tammy Grimes.”
“Our music director, Clara Lee Stafford, eventually asked a local musician and teacher, John Brindle, to transcribe the song by listening to the recording,” said Simpson. “He very generously did that for us and, as a result, The Otero Players are now in possession of the only copy of any sheet music for this song in existence.”
He added that this rare version of the song will be bound with the scripts and added to the Wheeler Library collection.
“The cast is working very hard,” said Simpson, “to make this an evening of pure entertainment for the audience. It is being performed in the spirit of energetic fun that is the hallmark of George M. Cohan’s work.”
Randy Daniher will play Kid Burns, the role played by Cohan in the 1912 revival of the play. Burns is secretary to Tom Bennett, played by Mark Randall, whose millionaire uncle, Mr. Castleton, has died without a will. A Public Administrator named James Blake, played by Norm Milks, notifies young Tom of the death, presuming he is heir to his uncle’s fortune. When Bennett and Burns arrive at his uncle’s estate in New Rochelle, they are met by Mary Jane Jenkins, played by Elizabeth Montejano, a house maid who was the favorite servant of the deceased millionaire, the old man’s butler Andy Gray, played by Artyom Chelbayev, and the neighborhood gossip Mrs. Purdy, played by Rachel Stroh.
New Rochelle is also invaded by Bennett’s fiancé, the lovely chorus girl Flora Dora Dean, played by Melissa Root, her overbearing mother, Mrs. David Dean, played by Cari-lyn Langston, and Daniel Cronin, played by Glenn Parker, a con man who swindled Bennett’s uncle using phony mine stock. These shady out-of-towners are closely observed by the Gentlemen of the Press, played by Dan Haddan, Trent Nelson, and Akeem Ray.
Other residents of New Rochelle who must cope with this assortment of characters include the captain of police, played by Melecio Baca, and the station master, played by Jesse Bradford. The women of New Rochelle are played by Jessica Brown, Judy Hensley, Dawn Pollmiller, Alice Rizzi, and Jessica Tilton.
Olio performers include Cassidy Kahler, Lucy Montejano, Janae Phillips, Akeem Ray, and Bart, the Wonder Dog. The olio will feature magic, juggling, music, comedy, acrobatics, gymnastics, and recitations.
Scenes from 45 Minutes from Broadway:
(These are extremly large files not recomended for dial-up users)
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Voices Under the Wind
Performed October 27, 28, & 29, 2006
Voices Under The Wind is an original radio drama adapted from the play of the same title written by Timothy F. Walsh and Ed Stafford in 1983. A variety of local talent appeared in the historical drama that depicts historical events at Bent’s Fort. Voices Under The Wind was first performed at Bent’s Fort on May 26, 1983. The fort was also the site of the play’s sold-out revival in May 1987 and again in 1993 (see cast at right).
Compressing a dozen years into two hours, the play highlights major historical events at the fort. The action, comedy, drama and tragedy of the fort’s history are all captured in multiple scenes combining poetry, dialogue and music of the 1830s and the 1840s as the fort’s residents mingle with historical figures such as John Charles Fremont, Charles Preuss, Lewis Garrard, Kit Carson, and Bill Williams.
According to producer Stephen Simpson, and director RuAnn Keith, the radio drama offers a unique learning experience for actors and technicians alike. “The actors are being challenged to expand the range of their vocal talent. The techniques they will be using are similar to what film actors use when they need to portray an emotion without building up to the moment of the performance through a sequence of scenes,” observed Keith. “Because the physical performance is limited, the interaction with other players is dependent upon the imagination of the actor, what the actor can visualize about the other characters.”
Simpson noted that lighting will play an important part in setting the emotional tone of the scenes, and will be used to indicate the season of the year and suggest whether a scene takes place during early morning, late afternoon, or evening, as well as mark the passage of time. “The technical design, lighting, and sound all work to create an imaginary world in the minds of the listening audience,” he said, “an imaginary world built from the memory of real events.”
The Otero Players’ technical crew has spent the past few months cataloging sound effects and recording live at Bent’s Fort. The theatre department began assembling a sound library of bird calls, animal sounds, and daily activities such as blacksmithing, outdoor cooking, and adobe building in June. Over the summer, sound crews have recorded a variety of events at the fort, including living history demonstrations, lectures and encampments.
“Everyone at the fort has been extremely helpful and very supportive,” said Keith. “On one occasion, [living history interpreter] Greg Holt yoked up the oxen and ran them through their paces for us so we could record his commands and the sounds of the ox cart and wagon wheels crossing the prairie.”
[Click Here] to Listen to an excerpt from Voices Under the Wind (458 Kb)
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Otero Players Past Performances
