For the first time in 33 years, live plays will return to Elitch Theatre’s stage

For the first time since before Elitch Gardens moved to its current downtown home, the Historic Elitch Theatre on the original park grounds will host live theater performances on its stage later this year.

Two live productions are on the docket at the theatre, which at 133 years old claims to be Denver’s oldest cultural venue.

On Saturday, Aug. 17, it will host a one-woman show on the life of Helen Bonfils, a Denver icon for her time not only as a Denver Post newspaper executive but also for her quarter-century as an actor and producer at the Elitch Theatre in its heyday. On Friday, Oct. 4, the Highlands Ranch-based Wesley Players will perform the musical Secret Garden at Elitch’s.

Both live shows are scheduled for 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15, with the proceeds – after paying the actors – going to the theater and the preservation effort. Go here for ticket information for The Bonfils Girl, and here for ticket information for Secret Garden.

‘Second act’: For the first time in 33 years, live plays will return to Denver’s Elitch Theatre stage

It’s the latest step in a more than 20-year revival effort by the Historic Elitch Theatre Foundation. The group of volunteers formed in 2002, after the then-abandoned theatre sat abandoned for years.

“We’re kind of calling this the second act,” said Greg Rowley, the president of the Historic Elitch Theatre Foundation board. “It’s time for Elitch’s to have its second act and for Elitch Theatre to get back to its legacy [and] history as a theatre venue.”

Turning back the clock

The Elitch Theatre was built in 1891 on the original grounds of the Elitch Zoological Gardens near what is now 38th and Tennyson in northwest Denver.

John and Mary Elitch moved to Denver to open the zoo and botanic gardens, deciding to add a theatre to the park shortly thereafter. John Elitch, though, died after the theatre was built, by all accounts leaving Mary Elitch as the only woman to operate a resort of its kind in the world.

“In the earliest days, the theatre at Elitch Gardens was it! Mary Elitch provided a place where people could appreciate good, clean fun and excellent acting,” Roberta Griggs-Hamilton, a member of the Historic Elitch Theatre Foundation board and a formal actor herself, wrote to Denver7. “Without cars to get up to the mountains […] those who wanted to go to the theatre and actors who wanted to perform with big names, were at Elitch’s.”

The theatre hosted summer stock theater for nearly 90 years, boasting alumni like Douglas Fairbanks, Grace Kelly and William Shatner, before stopping its regular summer schedule in 1987.

The last live performance there was in 1991, when it reopened for two weeks in celebration of its 100th birthday to perform the musical “Robber Bridegroom,” which featured Patrick Cassidy and other Broadway stars.

Historic Elitch Theatre Foundation

Griggs-Hamilton was in the cast for that show.

“To me, as a young-ish actor, in 1991, it meant the world to me to carry on that tradition,” she wrote. “I had seen Chloris Leachmna there a few years ago and I wanted to perform where she and so many others had performed! And, to be in the company of Patrick Cassidy and Leo Burmester was pretty amazing as well!”

The revival effort

Denver7 shared the theatre’s rich, 130-year history – and the push to restore it – in this story back in the spring of 2023.

Live production is made possible by improvements in the year since, including new lighting and a functioning soundboard. They’ve also made adjustments backstage to better accommodate performers during a show.

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The production equipment is comprised mostly of used equipment and hand-me-downs from other theatres. Rowley says a full setup of rigging, lighting and other equipment could cost as much as $250,000, and the foundation is always looking for donors.

In the meantime, two live productions in 2024 is a start.

“We’re still kind of tiptoeing into it this year, we’re kind of just edging in because we’re not fully up and running. We’re still an all volunteer organization,” Rowley said. “And so we’re not ready to program a whole summer of theater. But we’re ready to get something started.”

The future of the theatre

Many who have followed the theatre’s restoration journey have asked: Will we see a return of the famed Elitch Theare Company that operated for most of the 20th century?

“That’s really not our goal right now,” Rowley said “Right now we’re just looking to be a venue and partner with there’s so many great theatres in Denver and so many great theatre companies.”

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He said he hopes a successful reboot later this summer will lead to a more robust summer schedule in 2025.

“Here we have 650 seats,” Rowley said. “There’s people doing theater in basements and you know, in one tiny one room – and here we have this beautiful, amazing historic space.”