The frights and fun of the Halloween season are over and holiday happenings still lie ahead. This week finds a wide variety of arts and culture offerings opening around the state, from a hands-on art exhibit to theater that spans the centuries and the globe. There are also many happenings planned to commemorate Veterans Day. Here’s what’s in the Colorado Arts Spotlight this week.
Thursday, Nov. 9
The Colorado Freedom Memorial continues its tradition of marking Veteran’s Day with a display of glass luminaria. Light Their Way Home fills the grass around the memorial with 6,218 glowing lanterns, one for each Coloradans killed in action since the beginning of statehood. This weekend also marks the debut of a relic from the USS Arizona, one of the ships that sank at Pearl Harbor, which the Freedom Memorial recently added to its permanent collection.
Light Their Way Home runs through November 11, from 5 – 8 p.m at the Freedom Memorial, 756 Telluride St. Aurora, CO 80011.
Friday, Nov. 10
On Friday, several art galleries and businesses invite visitors to check them out an evening stroll for Night on the Town in Downtown Loveland. The Loveland Museum will offer free special events, lectures, and activities and free entry to the main gallery exhibits. Night on the Town also includes opportunities for fine and casual dining and craft beer tastings. Shops will be open late and greeting visitors with snacks, live music, and sales.
Night on the Town runs from 5 to 9 p.m. every second Friday on 4th Street between Jefferson Avenue and Garfield Avenue in Loveland.
Opening on Friday in Ouray, UpstART Theater That Moves presents Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins at the town’s historic Wright Opera House. It’s a comedic riff on the fifteenth-century morality play Everyman … with an unpredictable twist — the lead actor for each performance is chosen from the cast by random chance at the start of the show.
Everybody by UpstART Theater That Moves runs through Nov. 13, with shows at 7:30 on Friday, Saturday and Monday and 4 p.m. on Sunday at the historic Wright Opera House, 472 Main St., Ouray CO 81427
The Colorado Symphony’s Veterans Day Celebration honors the military’s enduring spirit with patriotic songs like “Armed Forces Salute,” “Stars and Stripes Forever,” “God Bless America” and more to honor veterans, with Wilbur Lin conducting.
Concert is Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 1000 14th St., Denver, CO 80202
Saturday, Nov. 11
In Denver, Curious Theatre’s latest production, Letters of Suresh, By Rajiv Joseph opens on Saturday Nov. 11. The story, with its themes of distance, connection, loss and communication, is told entirely through letters between strangers, friends, daughters, and lovers.
Letters of Suresh runs through December 9 at Curious Theatre’s playhouse, 1080 Acoma St., Denver CO, 80204.
Denver celebrates Veterans Day with a festival in City Park. The activities start early, with 5k and 10k fun runs, followed at 9 a.m. by a parade through the park. The parade will be broken up into segments remembering different conflicts the United States has fought in, from the Revolutionary War onward, with period uniforms, vehicles and other memorabilia.
The Denver Veterans Day Parade and Festival runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in City Park.
Other Veterans Day events around the state include Loveland’s Veterans Day Parade, a performance by the Golden Eagle Concert Band and the Ave Maria Choir in Parker, and an event for veterans their supporters put on by the the local VA office and First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs.
Sunday, Nov. 12
Boulder’s Motus Theater produces innovative plays aimed at sparking discussion about pressing social concerns. This Sunday, Nov. 12th, is the world premiere of Motus’s TRANSformative Stories — a collection of autobiographical monologues by transgender and non-binary leaders, accompanied by internationally acclaimed violinist and mezzo-soprano Tona Brown.
TRANSformative Stories is on stage Sunday only, with two performances, at 2:00 pm and 5:00 p.m., each featuring a different line-up of four monologists, at eTown Hall 1535 Spruce St., Boulder, CO, 80302.
All Weekend
Explore art in new ways at “Shared Visions, Tactile Exhibition,” a new multi-sensory exhibition of collaborative works by the Colorado Center for the Blind and ACC Art Students. Artworks include installations, ceramics and mixed media, and invite attendees to experience them with their ears and hands, as well as their eyes.
Shared Visions opened this week and runs through Nov. 17 at the Colorado Gallery of the Arts in Littleton, with a closing reception from 5 – 7 p.m. on the 18th.
How we pick our events: CO Arts Spotlight highlights events around the state to give readers a sense of the breadth of Colorado’s arts and cultural happenings, it is not — and can not possibly be — a comprehensive list of all weekly events. Entries are not endorsements or reviews. Each week’s list is published on Thursday and is not updated. Some groups that appear on the list may also be financial sponsors of CPR, but have no input into our editorial choices.