In 1983, with a loan from Aspen Community Theatre, a dream to produce the highest-quality staged plays for Aspen audiences, and an 80-seat performance space in the basement of the Hotel Jerome, actor Kent Reed founded what would become Theatre Aspen.

As part of commemorating its 40th anniversary this summer, the company is mounting its first three-show main stage season in its Rio Grande Park tent theater since the pre-pandemic summer of 2019. It is also bringing back its Solo Flights new works festival (a creative incubator for emerging talent and the one-person form), launching a series of  anniversary events, and planning a permanent performance venue that could be its home for decades to come.

“It’s the most ambitious year of programming that Theatre Aspen has ever undertaken,” says Producing Director Jed Bernstein.

The summer season opens with Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, the Broadway hit backed by iconic songs like “You’ve Got a Friend.” But, like last year’s crowd-pleasing production of Jersey Boys, Bernstein notes, King’s life story from Brooklyn to the top of the Billboard charts transcends the bubblegum “jukebox musical” form and vividly tells the story of an artist.

They’re also staging RENT, the 1990s phenomenon that brought a new generation of young people to musical theater through timeless songs and spotlighting the dawn of the AIDS crisis, as well as John Patrick Shanley’s provocative, Pulitzer-winning Doubt, about a priest under suspicion. 

Anniversary Celebrations Off Stage and On

The company is also producing a video series—to be released online this summer. It will honor the creators and community members who have made Theatre Aspen what it is today, from Aspen icon Reed, who came from Kansas City 40 years ago to found what was then known as Theatre Under the Jerome, through the leadership of board chair Soledad Hurst during the pandemic.
As Bernstein put it: “This 40th anniversary is not a self-reflective celebration of ‘Oh, look at all the great things we’ve done.’ It’s more a celebration of the community that has supported us.”

In that spirit, in addition to its 40th Anniversary Gala on July 30, the company’s September 6 Community Cabaret will invite Aspenites to reprise their roles and vocal performances from four decades on the Theatre Aspen stage.  

The lobby of the Hurst Theatre will also include a display throughout the season with memorabilia (comprised of news articles, programs, photos, and posters) documenting the company’s history. The people who carried the theater from the Jerome to its first leaky tent in the city-run “Art Park” to its current vaunted status will be the stars.

Local Spotlight

While the theater draws Broadway talent and stars to its stages for buzzy and high-caliber shows—most recently Oscar nominee Judd Hirsch starred in a one-night winter benefit production of Love Letters—Bernstein notes that community-focused programs and educational offerings are among its most important. Last year, Theatre Aspen partnered with the Aspen School District to launch a performing arts curriculum and theater classes for students from fifth grade through high school.

This year’s expansion to Parachute will make it among the broadest regional-reaching Aspen-based arts offerings for kids.
“We’ve been privileged to have so much community support,” Bernstein says. “With that comes a big responsibility not only to deliver quality but to make sure that we are serving all the audiences in the valley that we possibly can.”

Looking Ahead

With the next 40 years in mind, the organization is proposing to build a permanent year-round theater on the idyllic riverside site where its tent is currently housed. Along with a larger venue—increasing capacity from the current 199 seats to 276—the new space would add amenities such as dressing and green rooms to replace the trailers and gravel lot that cast and crew currently use beyond the tent flaps. Renderings by architect Charles Cunniffe include an auditorium that would be built partially below-grade beneath an expanded grass plaza, retaining the alpine aesthetic of the postcard-worthy site bordering Rio Grande Park and the John Denver Sanctuary. Still early in the process, the plan received a positive response in its first public airing before the Aspen City Council in August 2022.

“We want Theatre Aspen to be an important part of the national theater ecosystem."

– Jed Bernstein

“Adding a traditional theatrical venue to Aspen’s already formidable list of venues would be a real advantage to the community,” Bernstein adds.
“We want Theatre Aspen to be an important part of the national theater ecosystem. We’re making great strides, and I promise it’s not going to take another 40 years to get there.” 

Ruby Anniversary Highlights

For its milestone 2023 summer season, Theatre Aspen is hosting two main-stage musicals in the Hurst Theatre in Rio Grande Park, its first main-stage play in several years, and special anniversary events:

June 22–July 8
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical 
Hurst Theatre

July 2, August 6 & 13
Summer Cabaret Series
Hotel Jerome

July 14–29
Doubt: A Parable
Hurst Theatre

July 30 
40th Anniversary Gala

August 4–26
RENT
Hurst Theatre

September 6
Community Cabaret
Hurst Theatre

September 7–14 
Solo Flights 
Hurst Theatre

September 10 & 11 
The Guys (Aspen Fire Department  Day of Remembrance benefit)
Hurst Theatre

Tickets at theatreaspen.org, 970-300-4474