Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen
Season 19
About the Play
A doctor discovers a health-care emergency and is vilified by politicians, libeled by a corrupt news media and shunned by a gullible citizenry.
Will he stand up for the truth and fight his neighbors and the leaders of his town? Or will he recant his scientific discovery to protect his family and his reputation?
Henrik Ibsen’s classic play may have been staged in 1882 but the story could have been ripped from last week’s headlines.
BETC opens the season with Ibsen’s searing take on human nature, majority rule and one man’s lonely war against a corrupted and hoodwinked society.
“An Enemy of the People is suddenly as timely as a tweet.” — The New York Times
“If you’ve never seen a play at the Denver Savoy, you need to get your tickets today. This is theater up close and personal!” —Mark Ragan, BETC Managing Director
Performance Details
Venues
The Savoy Denver
Carsen Theater, Dairy Arts Center, Boulder
Schedule
The Savoy Denver
Thursday, Sept. 26, 7:30 pm (Preview)
Friday, Sept. 27, 7:30 pm (Preview)
Saturday, Sept. 28, 7:30 pm (Opening)
Sunday, Sept. 29, 2:00 pm
Thursday, Oct. 3, 7:30 pm
Friday, Oct. 4, 7:30 pm
Saturday, Oct. 5, 7:30 pm
Sunday, Oct. 6, 2:00pm
Thursday, Oct. 10, 7:30 pm
Friday, Oct. 11, 7:30 pm
Saturday, Oct. 12, 7:30 pm
Sunday, Oct. 13, 2:00 pm
Dairy Arts Center, Boulder
Friday, Nov. 8, 7:30 pm (Preview)
Saturday, Nov. 9, 7:30 pm (Opening)
Sunday, Nov. 10, 2:00 pm
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2:00 pm
Wednesday, Nov. 13, 7:30 pm
Thursday, Nov. 14, 7:30 pm
Friday, Nov. 15, 7:30 pm
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2:00 pm
Saturday, Nov. 16, 7:30 pm
Sunday, Nov. 17, 2:00pm
CAST
Mark Collins (STOCKMANN) is happy to be back with the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company, where you may have seen him as Goose in Coal Country. Other recent credits include Father/Mr. Grimm in Impossible Things and Bob in Small Ball with The Catamounts; Buster in Miners Alley Playhouse’s Misery; Tim in A Great Wilderness and Neil in The Quality of Life with Benchmark Theatre. Mark holds an MFA in Acting from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
Anastasia Davidson (PETRA). Anastasia’s BETC credits include Coal Country, Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B, Fourteen Funerals, Curious Incident…, Pride & Prejudice, and Silent Sky. Along with BETC, Anastasia has had the pleasure of performing at many theatres across the Front Range including The Denver Center, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Curious Theatre Company, The Arvada Center, The Catamounts, and Miners Alley Playhouse.
Film: Hunters’ Moon (pre-prod), Publish or Perish. Video Games: Life is Strange Remaster, Before the Storm Remaster, Life is Strange: True Colors. Training: MFA, The Pennsylvania State University. Website: www.anastasiadavidson.com
Minh-Anh Day (HORSTER) is thrilled to be making his BETC debut! Previous acting credits include Macbeth, Merry Wives of Windsor (Colorado Shakespeare Festival), Wolf Play (Company One, Elliot Norton nominee for Outstanding Actor), We’re Still Here (Empathy Theater Project), The Great Divide (HowlRound NPRP), Equity (Isle of Shoals), Pericles, Macbeth, Twelfth Night (Stanford Shakespeare Company), and Life is a Dream (Stanford Theater Department). Film: Handsome, Simulacrum, Free Guy (starring Ryan Reynolds). His plays have been workshopped and/or produced by Leviathan Lab, Chicago Dramatists, New York Theater Festival, the Actors’ Shakespeare Project, and the Komm Collective. Education: NTI and Stanford University. minhanhday.com
Penina Eisenberg (RANDINE) is an actor/musician currently based in Colorado. This is her debut performance with BETC! Previous credits include: Natasha and Ensemble in Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Arvada Center); The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods (Ovation West Performing Arts); Ensemble in Rent (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center). She has a B. M. In Music Theatre from Oklahoma City University. Many thanks to her friends and family for all of their support! @penina.eisenberg
Ben Griffin He/Him (HOVSTAD) is glad to be back performing with BETC. His last appearance with BETC was Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley as Arthur de Bourgh. Other Colorado credits include: Moriarty (Actor 5) at Theatre Silco, Shakespeare in Love (Will Shakespeare) at Vintage Theatre, Seussical the Musical (Cat in the Hat) at the Arvada Center, and Lord of the Flies (Maurice) at the Denver Center Theatre Company.
Ben is represented by Radical Artists Agency. Follow him on IG at its.ben.griffin. Website: itsbengriffin.com BFA from Arkansas State University.
William Hahn (MAYOR) William’s most recent appearance was in The Minutes at Curious Theatre Company. Other recent stage appearances include Lifespan of a Fact, Zen and the Art Profit, Frankie and Johnnie in the Claire de Lune, Burn This, Queen of Conspiracy, among others over the past twenty years. This is his first appearance with BETC.
Josh Hartwell (BILLING) is an Artistic Company Member at Curious Theatre Company, and Ensemble Member at BETC where he has appeared in The Sunset Limited, Shipwrecked, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, The Other Place, Bach at Leipzig, This (Best of Westword), Ripcord, Tiny Beautiful Things, and What the Constitution Means to Me. Directing credits include HIR, Grounded, Ghost-Writer, and Casa Valentina. An award-winning and internationally produced playwright, Hartwell earned feature film and Off-Broadway contracts with Starry Night Entertainment. He was Colorado’s first Regional Representative for the Dramatists Guild, and a two-time finalist for The O’Neill Festival’s New Play Conference.
Jim Hunt (ASLAKSEN) received the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Theatre Guild’s Henry Awards. Previous BETC roles include Abraham Yahuda in Hysteria, Kaufmann in Bach at Leipzig, Woolsey in Ghost-Writer, Clark/Taylor/Ensemble in Gross Indecency, and Sterling in Mauritius. Other recent credits include Lewis opposite Bob Moore’s Clark in The Sunshine Boys at Lake Dillon Theatre Company; Scrooge in Josh Hartwell’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol at Backstage Theatre in Breckenridge; and Selsdon in Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s Noises Off. Jim is also a proud Curious Theatre company member.
Chris Kendall (KIIL) is delighted to be back on stage at BETC, last appearing in Coal Country. Also at BETC: Birds of North America, An Iliad (True West Award), Outside Mullingar and Annapurna. For Miners Alley Playhouse: A Jukebox for the Algonquin, District Merchants (Henry Award), “Art” and A Picasso (Henry Award). At Benchmark: A Great Wilderness, Our American Cousin, 1984 and Smokefall; for Cherry Creek Theatre, A Moon For The Misbegotten, and Tuesdays With Morrie (Henry Award); with The Catamounts: Impossible Things, Land of Milk and Honey and Moulin Scrooge; at Telluride Theater Company, The Tempest.
Tammy L Meneghini (KATHERINE) recently returned from the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, playing Elizabeth I in Elizabeth I: In Her Own Words, an original solo collaboration with Carole Levin and Penelope Cole. She is part of the original regional company of How to Remain a Humanist After a Massacre in 17 Steps by Maya Arad Yasur, with Ami Dayan. Recent favorites include Joanne in Steven Sondheim/George Furth musical, Company (CU) and in Chicago (playing Jenny) and Gina in Heroes of the Fourth Turning, by Will Arbery (Curious Theatre). Abundant gratitude to BETC for this opportunity!
James Giordano (ENSEMBLE & U/S BILLING/HOVSTAD) is thrilled to be returning to the BETC team. He made his professional acting debut two seasons ago in their production of Eden Prairie, 1971. Since then, he has starred in regional theater productions at Benchmark Theatre (Jeremiah, You Got Older) and Miners Alley Playhouse (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow). James graduated from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in 2022 with a degree in film and theater. He worked on various student short films, as well as theater productions with the UCCS Theater Company including A Flea in Her Ear, Everybody, As You Like It, and No Exit.
Dia Kline (ENSEMBLE & U/S KATHERINE) is an award-winning actor and public speaker, and global disability advocate for congenital anosmia. Born unable to smell, she has never and will never smell, but she tastes real good! 🙂 As a personality-driven actor, her diverse credits span film, TV, commercials, theatre, voiceover, and stand-up comedy. Credits include commercials for Colorado Lottery, PetArmor, and Shinesty Underwear and stage productions of The Vagina Monologues, Mad Forest, and Celebration, Florida. She has also appeared in over 10 Colorado-produced films. Upcoming in summer 2025, Dia will take the outdoor stage for OpenStage Theatre, portraying Mrs. Bennett in Pride and Prejudice.
Aaron Klass (ENSEMBLE & U/S HORSTER) is a playwright-actor-designer-director based out of Longmont. Notable acting credits include Rothko in Red (CU Sandbox), Mr. Zyclo in Anon(ymous) (CU Presents), Jerry in Betrayal (Blunt Force Drama). He is a founding member of Blunt Force Drama, an educational company based out of Boulder. Previously he participated in BETC’s 2023-24 Writer’s Group and developed his short play For the Sake of the Tale. He is so thrilled and grateful to be acting with BETC for the first time in this production of Enemy of the People, and grateful for all the support of his friends and loved ones.
Elise Brianne Todd (ENSEMBLE & U/S PETRA) is excited to be making her BETC debut with An Enemy of the People. NYC: Crazy for You, Parade (In Concert). Regional Theatre: Fun, Home, Cats, Brigadoon, High School Musical, Newsies, All Shook Up, Clue. University of Northern Colorado: Macbeth, Something Rotten, A Chorus Line, The Threepenny Opera, On The Town. Film: Elevation, Centerpiece, and Luna Lovegood and the Wand of Fire. You can catch more from Elise at @elisebriannetodd on all platforms. Luke 6:37
ARTISTIC TEAM
Matthew S Crane (SCENIC DESIGNER) is a Colorado based scenic designer. He designed Holly, Alaska! for BETC’s last season and is excited to return for An Enemy of the People. Locally, Matthew’s designs have been seen at Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The University of Denver Theater, Lamont Opera at DU, Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company, Parker Arts/Veritas Productions, and Vintage Theatre. In addition to theatrical design, Matthew is an associate designer with Lionfish Design, providing design and art direction for live events, broadcasts, and corporate clients. MFA Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Katie Hopwood (PROPS DESIGNER) is excited to be working with BETC again! Her prop work was most recently featured in BETC performances Holly, Alaska!, The Children, The Royale, Eden Prairie, 1971, and the touring truck shows- Amelia’s Big Idea and Dorothy’s Dictionary. She graduated from Salisbury University with a degree in Theatre Production. She looks forward to working on more productions in the community!
Rowan Livengood (SOUND DESIGNER) is a local sound technician, proud to be rejoining BETC, after ASMing for Coal Country, Eden Prairie, 1971, Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B, The Royale, and The Children and working as an audio engineer for King Penny Golden Radio Show. Rowan has just finished his second season at Colorado Shakespeare Festival as their sound engineer. A music lover and all around creative individual, Rowan is constantly raising the bar for himself and his craft.
Cal Meakins (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) is a theatremaker local to Colorado. He was an intern for the 2019 Diversity in the Arts program at the Arvada Center & has since worked around Denver as an actor, stage manager, house manager, and cellist. Previous acting credits: Batang Lalaki/Boy (Curious Theatre), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Vintage Theatre), Avenue Q (Miners Alley Playhouse), Into the Woods (Arvada Center), Late: A New Musical (CenterStage Theatre Company), Man Up (Empathy Theatre Project), The Fantasticks (Town Hall Arts Center). Stage Managing: Love, Loss, & What I Wore (Theatre Aspen), A Year With Frog & Toad (Arvada Center).
Mark Ragan (ADAPTER, BETC MANAGING DIRECTOR) is an actor, director and theater administrator in the Denver metro area. His adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People marks his first foray into playwriting. As an actor, Mark was last seen as the First Lord in Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Winter’s Tale, directed by Wendy Franz. He also performed four roles in the Festival’s staging of Mary Zimmerman’s masterpiece, The Odyssey, directed by Tim Orr. As a director, Mark’s production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play for the Breckenridge Backstage Theater was nominated for six Henry Awards and won four. His last directing foray came in 2023 with his Henry Award-winning production of The Belle of Amherst, starring BETC Producing Artistic Director Jessica Robblee, who won the Best Actress award for her portrayal of Emily Dickinson. Mark is a lifelong scholar of William Shakespeare and the former artistic director of Washington D.C.-based The Rude Mechanicals. He lives in Highlands Ranch with his wife Jamie, a concert pianist. He is the father of three daughters, all named after Shakespeare characters: Juliet, Kate and Olivia.
“O they do teach the torches to burn bright.”
Jessica Robblee (DIRECTOR) directed Coal Country for BETC in 2023 and is delighted to co-direct this production with her BETC “pardner” Mark. Other directing credits include: Animal Farm and Yesterado (Arvada Center), The Last Five Years and The Complete Works of Shakespeare Abridged (UpstART Theatre Company), Seasons 1 and 2 of Cult Following (DCPA Theatre Company), Art Emergency (Denver Art Museum). and Seasons 1-12 of Buntport Theater for All Ages, including the productions Trunks: A Live Comic Book, Duck Duck Dupe, Ode to an Ode, and Siren Song.
Sean Scrutchins (FIGHT DIRECTOR) is a teaching artist in Denver. He’s worked as a theatre instructor for The Colorado Shakespeare Festival: Education Program, and The Denver Center for the Performing Arts. He received his MFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Southern Mississippi. He is certified in Hand to Hand Combat, Broadsword with Dueling Arts International and Rapier/Dagger, Short Sword with The Society of American Fight Directors. Previous Fight Direction credits include; As You Like It, The Play That Goes Wrong, Let The Right One In (CU Boulder Theatre & Dance).
Wessie Simmons (STAGE MANAGER) is a Denver based Stage Manager. Her credits include: Special Projects Stage Manager (Aspen Summer Music Festival and School 2024), What the Constitution Means to Me, Love Letters, Holly Alaska World Premiere, Coal Country (Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company), FEED: Dry, Impossible Things (The Catamounts), Suessical (Performance Now), King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Book of Will, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Alchemist (Colorado Shakespeare Festival). Training: B.F.A in Stage Management from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Erin Thibodaux (LIGHTING DESIGNER) is a lighting designer, director, and writer whose work has been seen across the country. She recently joined BETC’s team as their Associate Producer. Recent lighting design credits include: Coal Country (BETC), Belle of Amherst (BETC, Boulder remount), Sweeney Todd (The Arts HUB), Shakespeare in Love, Matilda, Rent (Quincy Community Theatre), Alice by Heart, Annie, Little Women, and SPACE (Ghostlight Theater Camp). Erin is looking forward to continuing her work with BETC.
Sarah Zinn (COSTUME DESIGNER) is a costumer from Boulder, CO. She is the Costume Shop Supervisor at the University of Denver, a draper at Opera Colorado, and a freelance costume designer and technician. She received her MFA in Costume Design and Technology from Mason Gross School of the Arts. She built costumes for films including The Hunger Games: Mockingjay parts 1 & 2, and Broadway shows including Hamilton and The Lion King, and worked as a costume assistant on the Broadway and touring productions of Dear Evan Hansen and Jagged Little Pill. She was awarded the Henry for Outstanding Costume Design for BETC’s 2022 production of The Royale. This is her fifth show with BETC.
The University of Denver Theatre Technical Internship Program provides DU students with paid opportunities to work with professional companies and designers in a supportive setting that prepares them for work in the entertainment industry. During the build process, students are engaged in the construction shop with working professionals, and then experience the challenges of moving the show elements to a professional venue, working with the theatre company’s team to install and present the show.
Projects with BETC include Enemy of the People, Holly Alaska, Coal Country, The Children and two seasons of the Summer Theatre Truck. In the last twelve months, TTIP has built 22 shows, including 14 plays, two musicals, opera, and a comedy special with Paul Reiser. Companies include DU Theatre, Phamaly, Parker Arts, Curious Theatre Company, Local, and Lamont Opera Theatre.
Scenery Director: Steven McDonald
Shop Foreman: Trevor Marrs
Intern Carpenters: Cooper Atchison, Allie Gaty, Ruby Gregorson, Kate Hebert, Erin Kubat, Aspen McCart, Jack McDonald
Charge Painters: Haley Delich, Allie Gaty
