A massive theater project that promotes a sense of community

Late month, the national staging of Suzan-Lori Parks' "365 Days/365 Plays" began. She wrote a play for every day of the year and in 15 different regions around the country 52 different theaters per region will each be staging a week's worth of plays, involving more than 725 groups.

What has developed is both a sense of diversity and community, with ample room for local creativity.

Whether something similar could be done with live music across the country and whether the positive vibes would be the same, I don't know. But it's a thought.

DenverPost.com - 365 Days ... 365 Plays: "The festival's scope is boggling. The array of participants spans New York's Public Theatre to the Denver Center Theatre Company to colleges in England and Australia to the tiny Steel City Theatre Company in Pueblo.

"'But we are trying to dispel the thought that the Public Theatre is somehow doing anything more important than anyone else,' [Bonnie Metzgar, associate artistic director at Denver's Curious Theatre and producer of the 365 Days/365 Plays National Festival] said. 'They are one of 52 theaters in New York, the same as there are 52 in Atlanta and 52 in Colorado.' ...

"'This project does not build community,' Metzgar said, 'it reveals community where it already exists.'

"The plays can be performed in any manner or location the performers see fit. Parks' only stipulations are that they be free and performed in the order written. Some will turn up on sidewalks, in art galleries or in parks for passersby, 'just like they did it in the Middle Ages,' Metzgar said.

"Boulder's Naropa Institute will perform its plays inside a thick square of red yarn placed on a stage; the director will invite audiences to participate in the performance.

"'I can't wait to see what Colorado is going to do,' Parks said. 'I feel like I'll be visiting a lot because you guys are like, 'Woo-hoo, let's get wacky and wild.' It's the Rocky Mountain High, I think.'"

Denver
creative class