Producing Artistic Director Emily K. Harrison responds to criticism of HOUSE OF GOLD /  by Emily Harrison

If you've read the reviews for our currently running Regional Premiere of Gregory S. Moss' House of Gold, you've probably noticed that they're...mixed. While Joanne Ostrow for The Denver Post hails the production as "a surreal ride that’s surprisingly effective and even profound at times," Juliet Wittman for Westword notes that "a play about JonBenét Ramsey seems like a violation." Likewise, while Sarah Haas for the Boulder Weekly says the production "is successful in creating a fictional world out of a very real story and does so with plenty of creative talents," Adam Goldstein for The Daily Camera notes that "It's impossible to forget that there's a real victim at the center of this story, a namesake that feels compromised and sullied for the sake of pointing out society's tendency to compromise and sully the young and innocent." 

square product theatre Producing Artistic Director Emily K. Harrison has written the following response:

"Some critics have had mixed feelings about House of Gold, noting that they believe the play borders at times on being disrespectful or exploitative. While they are entitled to their opinions, I believe they're missing the point. Our production of House of Gold, presented less than half a mile from the home where JonBenét Ramsey took her last breath, honors her memory, and the memory of so many girls and women trapped - even doomed - by the expectations of those around them, by the expectations of a culture that tolerates so much violence. We chose to produce this play knowing full well that it would make people uncomfortable, and that it would challenge an audience to sit with that discomfort, especially given the lack of resolution both in life and art. But ultimately, we don't believe it's our job or the job of any artist to make work that keeps us all comfortable. We understand that Boulder is a 'bubble,' but that construct isn't serving this community. It never has.

With this play we honor all the girls and women whose lives have been cut short. We honor all the girls and women who have been unable to live up to their potential because their worth is equated with 'beauty' in a culture that unrelentingly perpetuates and celebrates standards of beauty that are unrealistic, harmful, even dangerous - a culture that punishes both those it deems beautiful and those it does not. We honor all the girls and women who learned early to make themselves small in order to keep themselves safe. And we honor all the girls and women who have fought to survive and make things better for all of us.

We hope you'll take the risk and join us at a performance of House of Gold. While there are certainly moments that are difficult to watch, ultimately, we believe the production to be darkly funny at times, as well as beautiful, moving, and even profound. It has been a joy to work on this provocative and demanding play in a community that we believe is up for the challenge."

The War on Women: A Cross-Company Collaboration /  by Emily Harrison

Boulder-area theatre companies announce cross-company project addressing rape culture and sexual abuse against women

Theatres seek to bring 50 percent new audiences into the theatre by producing plays with difficult subject matter, and cultivating community conversations around them

Two Boulder-area professional theatre companies have received a $30,000 grant from the Boulder Arts Commission (BAC) to collaborate on an untested, never-before-tried audience engagement effort to bring new audiences to the theater.  

“The War on Women: A Cross-Company Exploration” is a partnership between square product theatre (Emily K. Harrison, producing artistic director) and Local Theater Company (Pesha Rudnick, artistic director). The Risk Capital Grant from BAC will support the first production of each company’s 2017/18 seasons—productions centered on an exploration of sexual violence against young women and girls, and a community’s responsibility around masculinity and the damaging and pervasive social constructs that oftentimes define the masculine gender as violent and sexually aggressive.

Gregory S. Moss’ House of Gold will be presented by square product theatre in the ATLAS Black Box Theater on the University of Colorado Boulder campus beginning July 27, 2017. Michael Yates Crowley’s The Rape of the Sabine Women, By Grace B. Matthias, first presented by Local Theater Company at their new play festival in 2016, will get a full production at Dairy Arts Center beginning October 27, 2017.

“This is a chance for both of our companies to engage the community in larger conversations around issues presented in both of our plays,” said Emily K. Harrison, producing artistic director of square product theatre. “We’ll also be exploring ways to provoke our audiences into action to make our community better, and to actively address rape culture in Boulder and beyond.”

“In presenting these shows in Boulder, we are asking the Boulder community to participate in critical conversations about sexual abuse and instances of trauma that directly tie to difficult things that happen right here in Boulder, and our surrounding region,” added Pesha Rudnick, artistic director of Local Theater Company. “These plays are hard to see, but the stories must be told. Theater can be a catalyst for action, and for change—to address of-the-moment issues of our day.”

Perhaps this is no better time to address these issues in Boulder, particularly with the just-released statement from University of Colorado Boulder regarding the university’s response to allegations that former assistant football coach Joe Tumpkin abused a woman with whom he was in a relationship. As the university takes action and seeks to become a national leader in their response to sexual misconduct, so too do square product theatre and Local Theater Company, who seek to offer a platform for difficult discussions—and healing—to occur.

Rudnick said that the collaboration between the two companies will not involve co-producing the plays themselves, but instead focus on shared strategies to cross-pollinate audiences for the two plays, plays that—given the subject matter—could potentially drive audiences away. The theaters have an ambitious goal of reaching 50 percent new to professional theatre audiences, with at least 25 percent of those audiences between the age of 15-40.

“We believe that by producing new, innovative, high risk theatre work and partnering with experienced organizations and individuals to facilitate difficult conversations and offer advocacy opportunities, we allow our audience to engage both their empathy and intellect, affording them the opportunity to gain further education and to enact their privilege for immediate action and advocacy,” Harrison added. “In this way, we have the potential to increase Boulder’s civic and political engagement.”