The Critical Conversations Project (CCP) employs well-developed, empirically tested Playback Theatre to facilitate conversations in areas of rural Colorado that are experiencing rapid and destabilizing social, economic, or environmental change.

Playback is an improvisational form of applied theatre in which audience members share true experiences from their lives and see them “played back” by an ensemble of trained actors in ways that encourage insight across difference. Practiced in more than 70 countries, Playback is used in projects from facilitating transitional justice in Afghanistan to repairing trust between community and police in Memphis. Empirical evidence has demonstrated its ability to improve relationships and facilitate reconciliation.

Piloted in January 2020, the CCP has supported members of CU Boulder’s Impact Playback Theatre Ensemble to conduct annual, multi-day residencies in Paonia, Colorado (and surrounding communities), each offering a combination of public listening sessions, performances, and open, inclusive workshops for community members. 

May 2023’s residency included full- and part-day workshop with teens (at Paonia Experiential Leadership Academy, or PELA, and Teen Arts Studio, an after school arts program); a free public workshop at the Creamery Arts Center in Hotchkiss; a dedicated performance in honor of North Fork Valley Rotary’s Centennial Celebration; and free public performances at the Grand Mesa Arts Center in Cedaredge and at the third-annual Story Share held at the Blue Sage Center for the Arts. Story Share is a unique multimedia arts event which brings residents’ family histories to life as a way of showcasing local history and shared community values.

A follow-up residency in March 2024 built further on these connections, through public performances and workshops in both Paonia and Cedaredge and a return visit to PELA. It also cemented new collaborations with students at Cedaredge High School and the Surface Creek Valley Historical Society. Plans are underway to extend programming for/with both new partners during a return visit in May 2024.

2023-24 also saw the troupe expand its reach to bring Story Share events and public workshops to the communities of Walsenburg and Trinidad, Colorado, in support of these communities’ selection by the Smithsonian Institute to host the traveling exhibit, Crossroads: Change in Rural America.

• Critical Conversations Project: Playback Theatre in Rural Colorado

  Additional Info

  CU's Impact Playback Theatre Ensemble provided public workshops and performances in support of story sharing and strengthening community bonds. Supported by a CU Outreach and Engagement Award.

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  Location

  in colorado

  Paonia

  Dates

  3/23/2024 - 3/26/2024

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Critical Conversations Project: Playback Theatre in Rural Colorado

  Additional Info

  CU's Impact Playback Theatre Ensemble provided public workshops and performances in support of story sharing and strengthening community bonds. Supported by a CU Outreach and Engagement Award.

  ---

  Location

  in colorado

  Cedaredge

  Dates

  3/25/2024 - 3/25/2024

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Arts in Society / Smithsonian - Playback Theatre in Walsenburg, Colorado

  Additional Info

  CU's Impact Playback Theatre Ensemble provided a free public workshop followed by an evening "Story Share" performance in support of celebrating local history, empowering dialogue, and strengthening community bonds.
  Supported by an Arts in Society Grant from CCI and in support of the traveling Smithsonian exhibit, "Crossroads: Change in Rural America".

  ---

  Location

  in colorado

  Walsenburg

  Dates

  9/23/2023 - 9/23/2023

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program

• Arts in Society / Smithsonian - Playback Theatre in Trinidad, Colorado

  Additional Info

  CU's Impact Playback Theatre Ensemble provided a free public workshop followed by an evening "Story Share" performance in support of celebrating local history, empowering dialogue, and strengthening community bonds.
  Supported by an Arts in Society Grant from CCI and in support of the traveling Smithsonian exhibit, "Crossroads: Change in Rural America".

  ---

  Location

  in colorado

  Trinidad

  Dates

  12/9/2023 - 12/9/2023

  Public or Private

  Public Program (open to the public)

  Program Fee

  No charge to attend/participate in activity or program