Arts & Venues announces 2017 Next Stage NOW summer DPAC events schedule

Denver Arts & Venues announced on Friday the 2017 summer schedule for The Next Stage NOW events taking place on the Denver Performing Arts Complex (DPAC) campus.

The Next Stage NOW is an initiative Arts & Venues utilizes to program DPAC in non-traditional ways. 2017 events begin Wednesday, July 5 with most events throughout the summer offered to patrons for free. 

Highlights this season include Garden Party, Sunset Cinema, Lawrence and Larimer (LAW + LAR) Fashion Show, and Supernova. For a full list of summer events, descriptions, times and locations, please visit ArtsandVenues.com/NextStageNOW

The 2017 Next Stage NOW schedule will also feature holiday programming that will be announced later in the year. A current list of events with descriptions:

Garden Party
Stimulate your senses at the Mixed Taste Garden Party, presented by The Next Stage NOW. Join us for elevated eats and libations while listening to the sweet sounds of local musicians before heading up to the Mixed Taste lectures. Gourmet food concepts and bar provided by Centerplate and local music by Swallow Hill Music.  Wednesdays, July 5 – Aug. 23, from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. in the Galleria at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.     

Sunset Cinema
Finish off your summer movie season with Sunset Cinema in the Galleria at Denver Performing Arts Complex. Every Tuesday, Aug. 1 – 22, we will be celebrating DANCE in film with dance lessons, performances, live local music and a screening of an iconic dance film.  The best part?  All of this is free!  Join us from 6 – 8 p.m. for themed craft cocktails, creative bites, live music and dancing.  After the sun sets, the cinema opens.  This year’s films are: “Saturday Night Fever,” “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “Moulin Rouge!” and “Step Up.” This is a Next Stage NOW program with themed craft cocktails and creative bites provided by Centerplate, local music provided by Swallow Hill Music and film screenings brought to you by Denver Film Society.

LAW + LAR Fashion Show
Lawrence and Larimer (LAW + LAR) and Next Stage NOW are proud to announce the 4th Annual Fashion Showcase. This free fashion event will feature the second #DenverStyleWars contest; where three of Denver’s most stylish will go against each other to win $200 plus a spot in the next LAW + LAR Them, They & US Style Series photoshoot. The showcase will include 30 summer looks from the Denver born boutique LAW + LAR, and feature exclusive looks from Levi's and other local designers.

Sonder
Sonder transports you into an ethereal labyrinth that welcomes you into the life of a young artist who is standing at the crossroads of her youth. Sonder, Denver's newest immersive dance theatre experience, invites you to engage with performers and witness captivating choreography -- all performed by professional artists under the age of eighteen. You, and forty-seven other audience members at each intimate performance are invited to break through boundaries and drive your own experience, as our story welcomes both youth who are moving through their own coming of age story, as well as more mature audience members who are revisiting the moment when they became who they are. 

Supernova
Supernova Outdoor Digital Animation Festival is the only major festival to focus solely on the latest advances in digital animation as art, presented free to the public on large-scale LED screens in the heart of downtown Denver. The festival returns to the Denver Theatre District and Galleria at the Denver Performing Arts Complex once again following the super successful launch of the program in 2016. The program promotes the dynamic, rapidly advancing impact technology is having in art throughout the world today in an exciting and radically innovative context. Supernova is the future of public art.

And Toto too
The award winning And Toto too Theatre Company returns to the Denver Performing Arts Complex in the 1245 Champa St., 3rd floor Studio.  For the past 12 years And Toto too has been bringing the voices of woman playwrights to Denver stages. Just as women’s lives are varied and intricate, so are the stories we tell. The title of this production will be announced on July 1, 2017.  Please visit their website for more information, andtototoo.org. 

Next Stage Collaborative
The Next Stage Collaborative was recently reimagined from a vacant storefront into a flexible modern gallery by the students and faculty of CU Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning’s ColoradoBuildingWorkshop presented by the University of Colorado Denver and Denver Arts & Venues.  The gallery highlights the work of students and faculty from CU Denver through rotating exhibits.

Brass Under Glass
Bring a lawn chair and experience fan-favorite brass tunes through the magical surround-sound of the glass atrium of the Denver Performing Arts Complex.

Glass Top Bar
Join us before the show for cocktails and live acoustic music at our pop-up bar under the iconic glass top of the Denver Performing Arts Complex.  The bar will be open select Thursdays, Fridays and Saturday nights from 5 – 7 p.m. at the corner of 14th and Curtis streets.