No other Colorado organization works to assist theatre companies, small and large, in cultivating and sustaining audience membership and promoting new and emerging artists.
Mission
The Colorado Theatre Guild (CTG) serves the theatre industry in Colorado through connection, celebration, advocacy, and education.
Vision
We envision an equitable, just, accessible, diverse, and inclusive Colorado theatre community that leads the nation through advocacy, collaboration, innovation, and celebrating the power of authentic experiences through the theatre arts.
Inclusiveness – where the full range of theatres, artists and patrons have a place at the table.
Diversity – where everyone is welcome and belongs in the Colorado theatre community.
Community – where the bond between patrons, producers and artists is viewed as being interdependent, generative and supportive.
Collaboration – where a vibrant community is maintained through continual partnership, interaction, flow of ideas and resources, and work together.
Celebration – where the achievements, contributions, and friendships of members of the community are highlighted and appreciated.
Excellence – where quality theatre is aspired to, empowered and recognized.
Artistry – where unique expression, imagination and ability are supported and promoted.
Progressiveness – where an eye is kept on the future of live theatre.
Professionalism – where we operate as an organization with integrity and accountability.
Click here to access the most recent Colorado Standards for Theatre
Today, the CTG continues to support members of the theatre community and provides the public with access to information and opportunities relating to live theatre statewide. CTG membership includes individuals and theatre organizational members. Member organizations range from theatre companies with extensive programming offerings, such as the Denver Center, to smaller community theatre groups all across the state. In addition to managing and producing the Henry Awards, CTG offers a monthly e-newsletter, shares theatre events through the website, offers virtual and in-person workshops/panel discussions on topics of concern to the Colorado theatre community, and working on creating more collaborative opportunities for Colorado theatre makers of all ages.
Click here for most recent CTG News
CTG Board supports Americans for the arts
As leading advocates for theatre arts in Colorado, the Board of Directors of the Colorado Theatre Guild wants its members to support initiatives that they believe will strengthen their collective ability to leverage change in the field. In an effort to galvanize these efforts at this pivotal time, they offer the first of many “call to action” requests.
CTG is urging all CTG members and all members of the Colorado Theatre Community to support the CTG Board in its endorsement of the latest comprehensive effort by Americans for the Arts for significant government assistance for arts and artists affected by COVID-19. If that is all you need to know – CLICK HERE, to read and support the proposal.
The proposal was created and compiled by the leading arts advocacy organization in the U.S., Americans for the Arts. It offers a comprehensive statement of support for the devastated arts sector, along with 15 specific actions for the next Administration to both assist creatives as well as harness their unique skill set. Over 725 organizations and individuals have endorsed the proposal.
CTG supports these efforts to strengthen, relieve and empower the creative sector.
CTG Announces New President of the Board – Betty Hart
DENVER, September 14, 2020 – At the monthly board meeting on Saturday, September 12, 2020, the Colorado Theatre Guild (CTG) Board of Directors unanimously elected Betty Hart to serve as the new CTG Board President. Ms. Hart has served on the CTG Board since 2017 and has co-directed (along with Robert Michael Sanders) and produced the Henry Awards (the annual awards ceremony celebrating Colorado theatre excellence) for the past three years – including co-directing the recent virtual awards that took place in July.
Upon her election, Ms. Hart stated, “I am thrilled to become the next Board President of the Colorado Theatre Guild. These are difficult times for our theatre community, and we plan to increase our imprint on the Colorado theatre scene by providing more services to all Colorado theatres ( promoting the Colorado Theatre Standards, helping to save our historic stages, and more offerings for our community). We are here to actively help support the theatre community, and I look forward to hearing ideas about how best to do that from the otherBoard members and the Colorado theatre community at large.”
Ms. Hart moved to Denver in 2013 from Atlanta. She has worked with a wide array of theatre organizations and has a unique viewpoint regarding the value of the entire theatre community across our state. Her mission and goal is to help create more opportunities for necessary conversations. These dialogues can center around who we are as individuals, who we desire to be as a theatre community, or how we can change long standing behaviors to become more than we ever imagined. Through acting, directing and facilitating, Ms. Hart strives to be a change agent and a force for positivity, creativity, and collaboration.
Ms. Hart’s extensive theatre credits include directing, acting, and producing. Recent directing credits include The Scottsboro Boys for Vintage Theatre , Hooded: or being black for dummies at the Aurora Fox Arts Center, and Crowns at Vintage Theatre. A member of Actor’s Equity Association, her recent acting credits include Caroline, or Change at the Aurora Fox Arts Center, Barnum at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, The Last Apple Tree for The Catamounts and Richard III and You Can’t Take It With You at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Ms. Hart was nominated for outstanding lead actress in a play for Camae in The Mountaintop at the Arvada Center and she won a True West Award in December of 2018.
Her most recent producing efforts were for the “Amplify” series for the Arvada Center. This series provides Black artists a platform to share their art forms and speak their minds about what’s happening in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and countless other Black people in the United States.
Ms. Hart is also a full-time facilitator for Kaiser Permanente’s Arts Integrated Resources (AIR) team as a creator and provider of workshops on such varied topics as laughter as wellness (Laughaceuticals), care equity, bias and hospitality (The Care Equity Project), culture (Culture Matters), and more.
Ms. Hart succeeds Reece Livingstone, noted director of both theatre and film, producer, writer and educator. Mr. Livingstone served as CTG Board President for two years from 2018 – 2020 after having joined the Board of Directors in 2014. Among his accomplishments, he presided over comprehensive change in the Henry Awards judging system and a significant upgrade in the CTG website. Mr. Livingstone will continue to serve on the CTG Board. The CTG offered gratitude to Mr. Livingstone for his extraordinary service.
Other CTG Board Officers include T. David Rutherford as Vice President, Lia Kozatch as Treasurer and Iliana Lucero Barron as Secretary.
Former President and longtime Board Member Steve Wilson commented, “Our theatre community here and across the globe has been deeply affected by COVID-19. CTG has been working hard to adapt and change to an extraordinary set of new realities. In these times of great uncertainty and upheaval in our field, extraordinary leaders come forward. Betty Hart is such a leader – dynamic, innovative and charismatic. We are beyond delighted that she will lead the Board of Directors through this next phase. Anyone who has ever met Betty knows that she is a force of nature, and we are poised for a new era of growth, change and expansion. We could not be more excited.”
The Colorado Theatre Guild (CTG) is the primary organization in Colorado serving live theatre makers. The CTG encourages growth and excellence in live theatre in Colorado by creating connections within the theatre community and providing supporting programs and services in education, advocacy and promotion to patrons, producers and artists. Our vision projects a thriving live theatre community in Colorado, where artists, theatres and patrons are empowered to connect with one another, share resources, create and benefit from increased opportunity, and support each other’s successes and endeavors.
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CTG PR – Betty Hart New Board President
CTG Board – Black Lives Matter – Statement
The Colorado Theatre Guild is unequivocally outraged that state-sanctioned violence, oppression, and trauma against Black people is ongoing and has not stopped. This cannot continue. The murders of De’Von Bailey, Elijah McClain, Sandra Bland, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, David McAtee, and countless others are the result of deeply systemic racist beliefs and actions in this country.
CTG Board Members Read the Statement
State-sanctioned and targeted violent acts against BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) LGBTQIA+, and other actively oppressed members of our community here in Colorado and everywhere in the United States, must stop. We at the Colorado Theatre Guild will do our part to dismantle systemic racism and oppression that has happened, and continues to happen, in the theatre industry through our work as an arts service organization.
We believe exceptional theatre fosters a message of inclusion. Now during this time of remarkable trauma, we must hold a mirror up to our audiences, as well as ourselves, in hopes that we might better understand each other and empathize with our common humanity. Human life is at stake, and we can no longer sit idly by and ignore the suffering of our fellow people.
As board members of the Colorado Theatre Guild, we will hold ourselves and each other accountable. Clearly the CTG has work to do in realizing our own biases and eliminating any type of privilege, racist trauma or inequities. Our work can start with revising our mission statement, making changes to all of our programming (including the Henry judging process), and changing how we conduct outreach to our membership. We will work on community accountability by sharing anti-racist practices with Colorado theatre communities and to help those silenced in our community. We know of your suffering, we stand with you, and we will no longer be complacent.
Black Lives Matter
Black Artisans Matter
Black Art Matters
#saytheirnames
Officers:
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Betty Hart President betty@ballballu.com |
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Lia Kozatch (Lia, they, she) Vice President lia@ballballu.com |
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Caden Pazo Secretary caden@ballballu.com |
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Brian Miller Treasurer brian@ballballu.com |
Members at large:
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Steve Wilson steve@ballballu.com |
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T. David Rutherford t_david@ballballu.com |
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Abner Genece abner@ballballu.com |
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Scott RC Levy scott@ballballu.com |
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Danielle Johnson danielle@ballballu.com |
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Jalyn Webb Jalyn@ballballu.com |
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Lee Ann Scherlong LeeAnn@ballballu.com |
 Barbara Thomas – Henry Awards Coordinator |
Shannon Gross – Webmaster |
Aurora Sentinel – Quincy Snowdon (Reporter)
Colorado Community Media – Sonya Ellingboe (Theatre Critic)
Colorado Drama – Bob Bows (Theatre Critic)
Colorado Springs Gazette – Jennifer Mulson (Arts and Entertainment Reporter)
The Denver Post – Lisa Kennedy (Theatre/Film Critic) and John Wenzel (Critic-at-Large)
Patrick Dorn Reviews – Patrick Dorn (Theatre Critic)
Get Boulder – Beki Pineda (Theatre Critic)
Marlowe’s Musings – David Marlowe (Theatre Critic)
John Moore Theatre Coverage – John Moore (Theatre Journalist)
Individual Members:
- Knowledge that you are supporting the only organization dedicated to the theatre community in Colorado.
- Helping contribute to arts advocacy for the State of Colorado
- Free or discounted admission to CTG Events such as classes, workshops and the Henry Awards
- Your theatre’s show posted on our Events Calendar at no cost
- Admission to classes and workshops (recent topics include “Self-Care During Turbulent Times”, “Puppetry Onstage”, “Auditioning” and more)
- Apply for an audition spot for the Unified auditions
- Consideration for the Henry Awards
- Access to the Talent Directory
- Help to keep the website updated with auditions and info on shows around the state
- Receive monthly newsletters
- Community with others who love theatre
- A Membership Vote and Voice–Members have a voice and vote in CTG governance including electing board members and updating organizational Bylaws.
Organizational Members:
- Your theatre’s show posted on our Events Calendar at no cost
- Consideration for the Henry Awards–Only CTG Member theatre companies are eligible for participation in the Henry Awards process which celebrates theatre across Colorado
- A Network of Companies–Connection to the network of theatre organizations in Colorado. Professional development opportunities for staff through information, advocacy, CTG workshops and other opportunities promoted by CTG. Providing greater access to the people and companies that are making theatre in Colorado.
- Unified Auditions–A combined audition that expands your casting pool by bringing actors and other theatre artists together who are seeking to expand their acting opportunities throughout the state.