Provided by DCPA

Chris Coleman has planned a balanced diet of drama for his second year as artistic director of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ Theatre Company, encouraged by robust ticket sales that indicate metro-area theatergoers are willing to devour most anything he serves up.

“I loved Portland, but Portland (audiences) definitely hang back and wait with arms crossed to see if you’re going to meet their satisfaction,” Coleman told The Denver Post, referring to his previous job as artistic director of Center Stage theater company in Portland, Ore. “Denver does not do that. Denver just seems to show up ready to go, and I appreciate that.”

So do his bosses at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

The nonprofit theater organization, which bills itself as the country’s largest, presents touring Broadway shows such as “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” but also repertory work and dramatic premieres. After a year-long search to replace former DCPA artistic director Kent Thompson, who resigned suddenly at the start of 2017, Coleman was selected to lead the DCPA as it produced 8 to 10 classic, contemporary and new works each season; host the annual Colorado New Play Summit; and engage new audiences through its Off-Center division.

“Things have gone really well in terms of audience response, so one thing I haven’t learned is, ‘Oh, don’t do that again,’ ” Coleman said.

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The 2018-19 DCPA Theatre Company season, Coleman’s first, included both expected crowd-pleasers such as the annual “A Christmas Carol” — a “Nutrcracker”-like mainstay where the Theatre Company makes most of its money — and newer works like “Last Night and the Night Before,” which was workshopped at the DCPA’s New Play Summit.

After opening with Qui Nguyen’s unapologetic “Vietgone” (for which the DCPA received a smattering of profanity-related complaints, Coleman said), he moved on to the masterful, all-black “Oklahoma!” The mix of old and new in that production alone brought in $1.1 million in ticket revenue for the DCPA, while last month’s “Anna Karenina” — which our theater reviewer Lisa Kennedy thought was just so-so — sold $180,000 more in tickets than the DCPA and Coleman had expected.

“We had budgeted to sell $250,000 in single tickets to that, which is a decent goal for a straight play, and what we would have done with ‘As You Like It’ or another good Shakespeare comedy,” Coleman said. “But (‘Anna Karenina’) did so well that it gave us this really interesting information about our audience’s interest in literary titles and big, sweeping, classic stories.”

So what does the 2019-20 season look like? One of the biggest things Coleman has to consider is that he won’t be able to use the Stage Theatre as it undergoes a long-needed renovation. That means the DCPA will skip “A Christmas Carol” this year instead of cramming into a smaller space.

It also forces Coleman to focus on the smaller Space Theatre — a 380-seat venue in which he has no experience — and Ricketson and Jones theaters.

“That’s a huge difference,” he said. “In some ways, it’s a challenge, but it’s also kind of interesting because you’ve got to figure out how to make big, imaginative events happen in the other rooms that we have.”

Here’s a quick look at the lineup, with sprinkled context from Coleman.

“Indecent,” by Paula Vogel

Aug. 30-Oct. 6, Space Theatre

“I suspect the average theatergoer will have heard of ‘Indecent,’ ” Coleman said of Pulitzer Prize-winning Vogel’s 3-year-old work of meta-drama, which explores artistic censorship in 1920s New York, and which won a pair of Tony Awards. Subjects ranging from anti-Semitism to homophobia also feel very topical, he said.

“A Doll’s House,” by Henrik Ibsen and “A Doll’s House Part 2” by Lucas Hnath

Sept. 6-Nov. 24, Ricketson Theatre

The Ibsen classic and its contemporary sequel will be paired “for the first time ever performed in repertory,” according to a DCPA press statement. “I think people are going to be really curious about this, whether they’ve heard about ‘Part 2’ or not,” Coleman said. “They’re both wrestling with similar ideas, one more overtly than the other.”

“Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare

Nov. 15-Dec. 22, Space Theatre

The Bard’s gender-bending comedy offers DCPA fans their first chance to learn what Coleman (directing here) can do with Shakespeare. “For the diehards, I suspect they’re curious to see what I bring out of it,” he said. “Is he crazy? Is he super-traditional? What’s his approach given this company’s history with Shakespeare?” We’ll find out in November.

“You Lost Me” by Bonnie Metzgar

Jan. 17-Feb. 23, 2020, Ricketson Theatre

Set in present-day Newfoundland, this world premiere follows the Harvey family and their Shipwreck Inn as proprietress Ann Harvey tries to drum up business while dealing with (and understanding) her family’s past.

“twenty50” by Tony Meneses

Jan. 31-March 1, 2020, Space Theatre

“I knew we’d do at least two shows out of the (New Play) Summit, and ‘twenty50’ was an early decision for me,” Coleman said of this futuristic tale dealing with race and identity. “It’s so speaking to the moment we’re living in, and also it’s very down to earth in the way the story unfolds. A lot of new plays feel very complex in how they’re playing with form, but this is straightforward yet very human and suspenseful.”

“Until the Flood” by Dael Orlandersmith

March 20-May 3, 2020, Jones Theatre

Pulitzer finalist and Obie Award winner Orlandersmith digs into social unrest with characters sourced from hundreds of interviews. “Dael is an artist I’ve worked with for a long time, so I’m very excited to be including something so topical and important,” Coleman said of the solo show, one of only about a half-dozen ever performed during a Theatre Company season.

“Choir Boy” by Tarell Alvin McCraney

April 10-May 10, 2020, Space Theatre

A coming-of-age gospel musical set in a boy’s prep school, “Choir Boy” has a strong selling point for general audiences. “The fact that Tarell McCraney won the Academy Award (for co-writing last year’s Best Picture winner ‘Moonlight’) and that this was just on Broadway is going to intrigue people, even if they don’t know the premise.”