It was “A Chair Affair” at Shadow Theatre on the evening of Saturday, July 18, and all attendees were invited to “Take A Seat.” It was an evening of remembrance and of anticipation.  Remembrance of the past 12 wonderful seasons of outstanding community theatre under the brilliant artistic direction of Jeffrey Nickelson and Hugo Jon Sayles, during which the people became accustomed to drama that presented our history and culture “as expressed from the heart of the human condition.” And anticipation, in the subdued yet hopeful expectancy of the untold years of upcoming dramatic presentations of no less quality and substance.

The evening was filled with fine acting on many levels. The first was Rhythm and Muse, performed by the Shadow Theatre Youth Ensemble, a group of teenagers who constructed the piece that was an amalgam of music, rhythm produced by simple objects such as a trash can lid and their hands and feet, and felt and expressed feelings among the group. The audience was told that the youths composed the piece in nine days, but in conversing with some of them, Kytee, Kiani, Lisa, Maya, and Saniya, I was informed in their expressive honesty, that it was really only six days “because we spent the first three days doing nothing but arguing.” Out of that contention came a wonderfully artful expression by the Ensemble. The second piece, The Voice of the Spirit is Clear; a one-woman presentation by Janice Guy Sayles that was written by Hugo, quite literally took the audience’s breath away. It was the tale (in her own words and actions) of a developmentally disabled young woman who fought through poverty, pain, sexual and other assault, and love and assistance, to become a highly prized embalmer of the dead, and, ultimately, a school teacher – the pinnacle of her desire because all her life she desired little else than for someone to teach her. Sayles demonstrated why she is one of the most effective, successful, and valuable of Denver’s acting talents, displaying voice ranges from tortured to articulate, dancing and movement, raw emotions from hate to love, and highly convincing acting generally.

Act III introduced someone who needed little introduction, Keith Hatten, the new Artistic Director, who played the role of the Emperor, in an excerpt from Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones. Although understanding the context may have been difficult for someone who does not know the play, the acting was strong, dynamic, and believable. It was easy to remember Hatten as the ubiquitous Hambone in Two Trains Running, and his exquisite work in Sherry Shepard Massat’s Waiting to be Invited, several years ago at the DCPA. In the Finale, a quartet made up of Ed Battle, Darla and Dalon Herndon, and Lonnie McCabe presented dramatic renditions of Fats Waller’s Black and Blue and Ain’t Misbehavin’.

As the new Artistic Director of Shadow, Hatten promised to give and to produce the same quality for which Shadow has become known. He praised Nickelson and Sayles for their work at Shadow and in the community. The audience and the public were exhorted to support Shadow with their dollars and their presence in the theater. The audience was reminded that the theme of the evening spoke to the desire of the theater for people to purchase seats at $1,000 per seat – to take a seat.

Hatten and Board Trustees Ken Johnson and Ron Phillips introduced the 13th season lineup of plays, and the season’s theme: Celebrating Women, Mothers, and Daughters. It begins Sept. 3 through Oct. 17, with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson, the first of his Decalogue, representing the 1920’s, and the only one of the 10 plays not set in Pittsburgh. It will be directed by Sayles. Shadow’s entire season of six dramas is ambitious and certain to please an audience pleading for Shadow to come out swinging to overcome its financial and administrative difficulties. The Chair Affair gave evidence that Shadow, even absent its community icon, will do just that.