Northglenn Arts Announces 2023-24 Season

Northglenn Arts, working to provide affordable access to the arts in the north metro region, announces its exciting and ambitious first full season of theatre, dance, concerts, and films in the NEW Parsons theatre for 2023-24.

"When designing the new state-of-the-art Parsons Theatre, Northglenn Art's vision was to capitalize on 45 years of arts programming and increase Northglenn's profile as an arts destination. We knew the way to achieve this was through expanding dynamic programming, inclusive storytelling, engaging our diverse community, providing excellent patron and participant experiences, and safeguarding access to the arts for all. With this first full season, I am thrilled to say that we have realized that vision. Within the Northglenn Arts Presents series you will find an impressive variety of high-quality music, dance, and storytelling that represent cultures and artistry from around the world. There are local favorites like Phamaly Theatre Company and the Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra, as well as national and international tours representing stories from Afghanistan to Ireland. Our youth-focused programs have also expanded to include an array of opportunities for families and their little ones to access exciting live art experiences from both home-grown productions as well as national tours. On behalf of the entire Northglenn Arts team, we would like to extend you an invitation to join us in the Parsons Theatre for our first full season!" -- Michael Stricker, Director of the Northglenn Arts and Humanities Foundation and Arts and Culture and Community Manager for the city of Northglenn.

Northglenn Arts Presents, North Metro's premier professional performance series, will kick off the season on September 8 with the return of Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra's Latin Jazz Ensemble with Songs of Brazil and the Music of the Bronx Horns presenting an evening of music from Brazil, Cuba and more. Boulder-based local favorite FACE Vocal Band will bring their infectious energy and love for all-vocal performing to the Parsons Theatre September 13 & 14, shows at 7:30pm.

NAVA Dance's Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies will take to the Parsons Theatre stage on October 7 for two performances of bharatanatyam dance, produced in collaboration with Colorado Fine Arts Association. Inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who immigrated to the US due to labor shortages, choreographer Nadhi Thekkek and her collaborators explore the heavy and enduring work of brown women and the worlds they traverse between. They ask: Who puts a price on this labor? What is the cost of opportunity? Who gets to decide how foreign we are? Through community interviews, historical texts, and poetry, Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies negotiates these questions and examines what it means to belong in America.

In December, a four-show holiday line up will be sure to fill the Parsons Theatre with family holiday memories! On December 8 at 7:30pm, SLAY a brand-new show from Starkey Productions (Motones and Jersey) celebrates your favorite holiday pop tunes with music, dance and more! Kantorei returns with another celebration of holiday chorale music from around the world on December 10 at 2pm. Jarabe Mexicano invites audiences on a holiday joyride - performing on stringed folk instruments, accompanied by lively percussion and harmonized vocals in Spanish and English - through a versatile songbook of Mexican Folk, Rock & Roll, Tex-Mex, Latin Rock, and Reggae-Cumbia on December 15 at 7:30pm. And rounding off the holiday shows on December 17 at 2pm is the tour of Irish Christmas in America, which will feature lively instrumental tunes on fiddle, flute, uilleann pipes and harp, along with thrilling Irish dancing.

To start 2024 off right, Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra is back with the music of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Jazz Music's Perfect Partnership in an evening of classic songs written by composers including Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, and more on February 9 at 7:30pm. "Beatles" music with a Bluegrass beat comes to the Parsons Theatre on February 15 at 7:30pm with Sgt. Peppers Lonely Bluegrass Band.

In Celebration of Black History Month, Northglenn Arts will host the national tour of Makin' Cake, where Kelly-Hamilton cuts into a cake and reveals how its history and ingredients relate to race, class and equity in America in a refreshing and fun way. Experience the live performance by Dasha and her baker, plus a delicious conversation and cake on February 24, with two shows at 2pm and 7:30pm. Then on February 29 & March 1 (both shows at 7:30pm) Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble returns to the Parsons Theatre to celebrate the complexity of life through movement, to dance in honor of the African Diaspora, the human condition, and the unity of ages and races.

Phamaly Theatre Company returns with another inspiring theatrical performance March 23 through April 8! Phamaly Theatre Company strives to create a world in which disability and the differences within the human condition are celebrated; to provide a creative home for theatre artists with disabilities; to model a disability-affirmative theatrical process; and to upend conventional narratives by transforming individuals, audiences, and the world.

The Presents season ends on May 11 with the performance Heart of Afghanistan, which gives a 360-degree view of Afghan culture through music, poetry, art and cultural heritage. The show tells the story of Afghanistan from its pre-islamic Buddhist heritage through traditional Ghazals based on the Sufi inspired poetry of Rumi and the 'Afghan Elvis' - pop icon Ahmad Zahir, who in the 1960's and 1970's took the music of Elvis Presley and translated it into Dari and performed it with a traditional instrument ensemble.

The Northglenn Arts Presents: Family series focuses on the youngest members of a family (ages 4-10) to give the whole family an amazing experience at the theatre.

The Latin Grammy-winning music duo 123 Andrés takes the Parsons Theatre stage on October 28 at 10am and 1pm. Their catchy songs in Spanish and English will get the whole family dancing and learning. These high-energy, joyful concerts for all ages celebrate the Latinx experience and incorporate Spanish, English, and ASL languages.

Mexico Beyond Mariachi is back at the Parsons Theatre with their touring production of Trekking Mexico on March 9 at 1pm and 4pm. Take a deep dive into Mexican folk traditions, both ancient and contemporary, through this folkloric music and dance expedition of historic and geographic regions of Mexico. From feeling the rumbling drums of Tenochtitlan to the sweet sounds of the stringed Jaranas of Veracruz, this multimedia show will whisk you to the jungles of Tabasco and trek the mountains of Guerrero on a joyful ride through this culturally rich republic.

The award-winning Northglenn Youth Theatre produces professional quality production with local young performers. NYT shows includes performers ages 12-18 and NYT JR. shows include performers ages 8-12.

Join Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe, Gloria the hip hip Hippo and, of course, those hilarious, plotting penguins as they bound onto the Parsons Theatre stage in the musical adventure of a lifetime September 29 to October 1. Based on the smash DreamWorks animated motion picture, Madagascar - A Musical Adventure JR. follows all of your favorite crack-a-lackin' friends as they escape from their home in New York's Central Park Zoo and find themselves on an unexpected journey to the madcap world of King Julien's Madagascar.

Set in turn-of-the century New York City and playing the Parsons Theatre from November 10-19, Disney's Newsies the Musical is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a band of teenaged "newsies." When titans of publishing raise distribution prices at the newsboys' expense, Jack rallies newsies from across the city to strike against the unfair conditions and fight for what's right!

Honk JR., playing February 2-4, 2024, follows Ugly - who looks quite a bit different from his darling duckling brothers and sisters. The other animals on the farm are quick to notice and point this out, despite his mother's protective flapping. Feeling rather foul about himself, the little fowl finds himself on an adventure of self-discovery, all the while unknowingly outwitting a very hungry Cat. Along the way, Ugly meets a whole flock of unique characters and finds out being different is not a bad thing to be.

Adapted from the best-selling book The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and featuring a thrilling original rock score, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical will play the Parsons Theatre April 26-May 5 and take audiences on an action-packed mythical adventure "worthy of the gods" (Time Out New York). As the half-blood son of a Greek god, Percy Jackson has newly-discovered powers he can't control, a destiny he doesn't want, and a mythology textbook's worth of monsters on his trail. When Zeus's master lightning bolt is stolen and Percy becomes the prime suspect, he has to find and return the bolt to prove his innocence and prevent a war between the gods. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the thief. He must travel to the Underworld and back; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and come to terms with the father who abandoned him.

Join us the 36th season of our Travel and Adventure Films. Hosted by the professional filmmaker with time for Q&A these events are meant to celebrate and showcase the beauty of our world, plus you have the option to stay for a meal after the film and talk about the film with fellow patrons (for an additional cost).

September 12 - Dale Johnson with the film "Lure of Alaska"

October 10 - Marlin Darrah with the film " Egypt - A Cruise Down the Nile: Cairo, Luxor, Valley of the Kings & Other Ancient Temples"

November 21 - Ricky Ray with the film "The Promised Land"

Dates and times for Spring 2024 available at a later date.

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