Acts and Answered; Bryan Bell

August 12, 10:14 AMDenver Theater ExaminerDeb Flomberg

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Acts and Answered with Bryan Bell 

Acts and Answered with Bryan Bell; Actor/Director/Chroeographer

This week for Acts and Answered I spoke with Bryan Bell. He is currently in the Augstana Arts' production of Titanic and was the choreographer and director for Performance Now's Beauty and the Beast (a show that totally blew me away!) I've seen a lot of his work and I've always enjoyed it. If you don't recognize his name or his face, you will soon. This is a director and actor to watch!

Q. What is your favorite theatre to visit as a patron and why?
A. I love seeing shows at the Lakewood Cultural Center.  Not a bad seat in the house.  I also enjoy the Buell and theEllie Caulkins because it feels like a bit of Broadway in Denver.

Q. What type of shows do you enjoy watching?
A. Musicals are my favorite.  I love shows with lots of dancing and tons of energy.

Q. What makes a “good” show?
A. A "good" show is clear in artistic vision and has the ability to move audiences, whether that be to take them away for a couple of hours or to give them something new and different to think about.  It should create a "dialogue" between the actors and the audience.

Q. What makes a “bad” show?
A. A "bad" show excludes the audience from being part of the experience onstage.  If there is not a connection between the production and the audience, the collaborative nature of live theatre is lost.  The exchange of energy not only fails to motivate the audience, it effects the production itself.

Q. How can we get more people excited about live, local theatre?
A. Well that is the million dollar question.  I would say that as a theatre community, we try to reach out more to the community at large and get them involved in the process.  We need to create productions that local audiences can embrace and feel proud of having in their own community.  Denver is a city filled with talent.  We need to use local talent in local production and cultivate a sense of pride in what we have right here in Colorado.  We need to show our city that the talent is there and that by their support locally, the talent can flourish and thrive.
 

Bryan Bell with Jessica Hindsley in Kiss Me Kate presented by the Boulder Broadway Company

Q. What is your favorite play or musical?
A. Oh boy, I have several.  Beauty and the Beast, A Chorus Line, Joseph...Dreamcoat, Into the Woods, West Side Story, Big River, Angels in America and Aida just to name a few.

 Q. What does the average theatre patron not know about live theatre?
A. I think the amount of blood, sweat and tears that goes in to a production.  How hard everyone involved in a production works to present the final product that the audience enjoys.  The amount of rehearsals and preparation that go in to a show.

Q. What have been your favorite roles?
A. Billy Lawlor in 42nd Street, Huck Finn in Big River, LeFou in Beauty and the Beast, Chino in West Side Story, Pedro in Man of La Mancha and Edgar Beane in TITANIC (my current project).

Q. Where can we see you next?
A. I will next be choreographing Nunsense and directing/choreographing Grease at the Union Colony Dinner Theatre in Greeley.  I am the playing Hysterium in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at UCDT as well.  I am also working to launch a new theatre company, Evolution Theatre Company, with several local theatre folks.  I am the Artistic Director and we are currently trying to secure funding and donation and planning a 2009 season.

Q. What’s one movie can you recite line for line?
A. Steel Magnolias!