Caitlin Lowans, one of only two artistic leaders the venerable Colorado Springs Theatreworks has ever known, has resigned to become producing artistic director for the Ten Thousand Things Theatre Company in Minneapolis, starting in February.
Theatreworks is a professional regional theater company that operates in partnership with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and next year will mark its 50th year.
Ross started the company from nothing on the UCCS campus in 1975 and built it not only into a fertile theater incubator for students but a preferred employment opportunity for actors and creatives from Denver and around the state.
Caitlin Lowans has been the Artistic Director at Theatreworks, which operates out of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, since 2018.
Lowans, a child of New England with 60 directing credits from Boston to Chicago, took over after Ross’ death in January 2017 and continued the company’s reputation for producing a healthy variety of award-winning work. But Lowans’ legacy begins with their work weaving the company more indelibly into the Pikes Peak regional community.
That started with a communal examination of the company’s mission, which during the pandemic produced a commitment to five core values: joy, imagination, justice, community and transparency.
“And it feels to me like that has radiated out from us since,” said Lowans, whose greatest point of pride is an outreach program called “Act Out,” premised on the idea that “theater happens anywhere intrepid audiences and actors meet.”
That’s all about “bringing storytelling into the community in spaces that are already important to the audience,” said Lowans. “So it’s not like you’re inviting everyone into your home. You’re getting invited into their home. It’s the idea that this play is a gift that we give each other without recompense, and we’re all genuinely, truly equal to each other.”
Lowans cited a moment from “Comedy of Errors,” performed in the community room of a local library, where a kid in the audience shared his bag of Cheetos with the actor playing Dromio of Ephesus. And a production of “Pericles” that was performed at Springs Rescue Mission, a shelter for the unhoused.
“Watching these folks in the audience who had experienced loss watch Pericles be reunited with his daughter Marina, and tears were just pouring down their faces,” Lowans said. “Of all the moments that are going to stay with me, and there are many, those kinds have been the most resonant. And the idea that I now get to move even closer toward that kind of community work is really exciting.”
H. Adam Harris, board chair for Ten Thousand Things, said Lowans’ artistic work “demonstrates a consistent commitment to innovation and inspiring audiences. (They have) proven to be deeply invested in the community, a coalition builder and a collaborative leader.”
‘The Rocky Horror Show’ Director Caitlin Lowans guides blind Phamily Theatre Company actor Don Mauck during a rehearsal at Su Teatro in 2022.
Lowans’ directing credits include a gender-swapped “Taming of the Shrew” in 2023. Next month, they will direct a production of Branden Jacob-Jenkins’s “Everybody” at Colorado College. Lowans also was deeply involved in coalition building throughout the Denver metro area, which included directing “The Rocky Horror Show” for the disability-affirmative Phamaly Theatre Company. They were also one of the founders of a metro-wide equity coalition called IDEA Stages.
Lowans is sad to leave both the Colorado Springs – and Colorado – theater communities. “And at the same time, the last 6½ years have prepared me for this next step in a way that I can’t imagine I would have been ready for without them. So I’m so grateful to the artists and all the coalition building and the community work I have been able to be part of. It set me up to work to be equal to this next thing.”
Angela Seals, executive director of the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, called Lowans “a treasure of our arts community and a profound thinker about theater, audiences, and community.”
Lowans will direct Theatreworks’ upcoming production of “Sense & Sensibility,” opening Nov. 29. They already have hired cast and creatives for the four remaining shows on the 2024-25 season.
“All Theatreworks performances will continue as planned,” the company said in a statement.
