Despite growing pressures, Theatreworks celebrates 50 seasons in Colorado Springs
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Nothing says “life is a cabaret, old chum” like celebrating 50 years as a theater company in the heart of Colorado Springs. For its golden anniversary this year, Theatreworks will stage John Kander's 'Cabaret’.
Stage crews scurried around hanging lights. Custom made bulb lights spotted the fascia of the balcony seating in the Ent Center theater. The designer ran across the building with a handful of lingerie making sure it was tailored to perfection. Audio crews covered microphones with condoms so they didn’t slip off the actors and actresses backs while they danced around onstage. Actors and actresses painted colorful makeup on their faces and adorned themselves with lacey clothing, pearls, and top hats.
“It is the one art form where we are asking you to come and sit in a dark room with a bunch of strangers and witness something that will never happen that way again,” said Marisa Hebert, a director, actor and board member who has been affiliated with Theatreworks since 1999.
Its survival is due to the combination of prioritizing the art and being able to showcase stories that the community is interested in, as well as the theater company's unique relationship with UCCS, said David Siegel, the executive director of the Ent Center for the Arts.
Theatreworks staging of “Cabaret” is a reflection of the regional theater company's responsibility to shine a light on the way things are and the way things should be, said Max Shulman, the artistic director of Theatreworks who started his role three months ago.
“Cabaret” is a musical that is set in 1920s Weimar Germany as Nazi Germany takes over the city. It was selected by the former artistic director, Caitlin Lowans, though Schulman said he wishes he could take credit for the decision. Theatreworks ran a production of the show in 1987 at the Fine Arts Center. Students at UCCS also put on an amateur production of “Cabaret” back in 2016, but it was not a part of Theatreworks main offerings.
What’s different about this year's production of ‘Cabaret’ is that instead of the audience being transported to the past in Weimar, Germany, it is an immersive experience where the audience is a part of the Kit Kat club, Siegel said. Also, this production imagines the return of the ghosts from the Kit Kat club who are coming back to tell their story, he said.
“The choice of ‘Cabaret' in some ways is unfortunately obvious. It's a story about how complacency can lead us down a road towards autocracy, towards tyranny,” said Shulman.
“So the play works in so many ways to both draw us in and create that sense of safety and joy. But then to show how that sense of complacency is one of the more dangerous elements in our society today,” he said.
Theatreworks’ five-decade span is marked by the successful production of 50 consecutive seasons of theater, even in the midst of Covid. But, like many small and large theaters across the country, it has faced financial obstacles to bring theater to new and wider audiences and reckoned with a national outcry for greater diversity in theater casting.
A report published in 2025 from the Theatre Communication Group, a non-profit that produces data on attendance, performance, and overall fiscal state of U.S. professional non-profit theatre, showed that expenses rose substantially and continued to increase in 2023 and earned income is recovering but is still lower than in 2019.
“A lot of theaters are struggling after Covid,” said Lynne Hastings, an actor, director, and advisory board chair for Theatrework.
The theater company’s subscriptions are almost at pre-Covid levels, she said, but it will take more time and a concerted effort to grow their audience by telling diverse stories. For the 2018-19 and 2019-2020 seasons, their subscriptions were at 1,211 and 1,057 respectively. Then they dropped to 688 and 819 for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. Since 2022, their subscriptions, on average, have risen and are at 1,172 for the 2025-26 season.
“The obstacles to creating theater are endless. Theater is hard. I am shocked that anything gets done ever. I am shocked that any show opens. It's sort of a miracle each time,” said Shulman.
Actors quitting on the first day of rehearsal, designers dropping out right before tech, and musician’s not showing up the day before a play opens are all obstacles Shulman said he’s dealt with.
“So what keeps me going and what excites me… is this amazing dedication for people … that become part of this work, that they will persevere through all of the hardships that come with making theater because the benefit, the joy, of those moments outweigh them,” he said.
In addition to this, actors and actresses of color said that this 50 year anniversary is marked by efforts to increase their representation in theater. While Theatreworks does not track metrics in diversity in hiring, the company said it makes conscious efforts to have a diverse cast, stagecrew, directors, and members of their board.
They also have transformed over the years from focusing solely on Euro-centric plays to ones that encompass a variety of perspectives reflective of the Colorado Springs community. Examples include their 2023 production of a Korean-American experience in “Aubergene” and their production of “Flyin’ West” this past summer about an all-Black pioneer town in Nicodemus, Kansas.
“Almost 25 years ago, after I left college and started doing theater in the Springs, it was a very non-inclusive space,” said Hebert.
Hastings, who acted in her first Theatreworks production of “A Raisin in the Sun” in 1999, said that in 2015, she was asked to perform the role of Winnie in “Happy Days,” a character that traditionally was not performed by an actress of color. Hastings said that she is grateful to work with Theatreworks and tell stories in a different way.
“It's probably not anything what Samuel Beckett would have thought of this Winnie, but I think that has shaped me and allowed me to make an impact as a leader, because I can talk about taking a risk, do things a little bit out of the ordinary,” Hastings said.
“It's given me an opportunity to be a voice. And it's also given me the opportunity to talk to [other] theater companies about the talent that's out there. Take a chance. Cast this person,” she said about advocating to cast actors of color in roles traditionally held by white actors and actresses.
Hebert hopes to diversify Theatreworks’ audiences in the future and is working to promote its programming by bringing theater performances outside of the Ent Center and into the community.
The 50th anniversary will also be celebrated with productions of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” “Where We Stand,” “Romeo and Juliet,” and “The Garbologist.”
“Cabaret’s” opening night was September 18 and will run through October 12th. Tickets and dates for this season's productions can be found here.
Type of story: News
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Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.