The enduring show-biz mantra “The show must go on” has undergone some overdue reconsideration in recent years. “The show,” of course, does not have to go on – and really should not when the health and safety of audiences or artists are at stake. We’re just starting to get that.
But for some actors who’ve been beaten up by life, sometimes the show is the only way for them to go on.
Annie Dwyer and Traci Kern Piper, local actors with legions of fans and more than 55 years of combined time on Colorado stages, shared a cruel commonality in 2024. Their husbands died, and the supportive local theater community sprang into action in support. But really, when you have been kicked straight in the teeth like that, sometimes the stage isn’t just a place to be – it is the only place you can be.
For their example and resilience, they are the latest among the Denver Gazette’s 2024 True West Awards class, intended to be representative of all those ho are facing hardships and endure.
Annie and Jerry
Denver-born Annie Dwyer has more battle scars than some combat veterans. She built a massive following while entertaining audiences at Golden’s Heritage Square Music Hall over 23 years, wise-cracking and high-stepping her way through more than 6,700 performances until the venerable venue closed for good on Dec. 31, 2013.
Since then, she’s taken her signature comedy stylings and dancing feet to stages from Littleton to Johnstown, winning two Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Awards along the way. This year, she starred as wizened old show-biz vet Jeanette, a woman who mysteriously shows up to play the piano for the factory workers-turned-desperate-strippers in Miners Alley Playhouse’s “The Full Monty.” She is also a regular children’s theater performer and director.
To see her on stage you’d never know Dwyer was diagnosed decades ago with rheumatoid arthritis, a progressive autoimmune disease that has slowly contorted her feet and required her to undergo a nearly annual bone-shaving foot surgery. But she just keeps on hoofin’.
Annie Dwyer in full Heritage Square regalia for “One Enchanted Evening,” staged during the beloved venue’s last year open, in 2013.
Dwyer’s feet were once in so much pain, she had to crawl off the Heritage Square stage. The unsuspecting audience laughed – and why not? That’s the kind of physical comedy one of Denver’s funniest funny ladies is known for. In March, the day before “The Full Monty” was to begin rehearsals, she took a fall. She called her stage manager and said: “I just have to tell you I am in a back brace, I have oxygen and my knee is swollen – but I will be at rehearsal.”
Three decades before, Annie met and married her total opposite (or perhaps missing half) – a stoic electrician also named Jerry Dwyer (not related!). But the hits kept coming, including a double mastectomy. On May 1, Jerry died at 63 from a combination of health factors. That was three weeks after Annie’s sister-in-law died and 10 days before Jerry’s sister died as well, both from breast cancer. It’s enough to bring anyone to their knees.
Annie didn’t miss a single performance of “The Full Monty.”
Annie Dwyer and her castmates from Miners Alley Playhouse’s “The Full Monty.”
“Annie was, and is amazing – the consummate professional,” said her director and former Loretto Heights College pal, Nick Sugar. “On our opening weekend, Jerry had a seven-hour surgery, and she still went on that night.” The next Wednesday, an off-night for “The Full Monty,” Jerry died. “I am convinced he went out on a Wednesday because he knew I had a show on Thursday,” she told me. “This is just the way I’ve lived my entire life.”
Annie and Jerry Dwyer in 2017.
Dwyer was raised (as an actor) by Fr. Dennis Dwyer (no relation!), a demanding Catholic priest who operated a youth theater company called the Original Scene where Dwyer, Sugar and hundreds more (including me) were instilled with the “show must go on” mantra.
“That’s how we were trained,” Sugar said. “Our generation was brought up to believe that a lot of work by a lot of people has gone into making this show happen. So, for the audience who showed up for us, we wanted to make sure we were able to perform for them.
“Throughout Annie’s career, she has shown up for every single audience member who has ever come to see her, and that’s why she has such an amazing following of people who go wherever she goes. They know that when she’s on stage, she’s going to give you all that she can to make you feel special, knowing that you are seeing her full performance.
“I just think she is amazing, and she’s an incredible role model for younger performers.”
Annie Dwyer (and her dog) hosted a celebration of Jerry Dwyer’s life at the new Miners Alley Performing Arts Center on June 16, 2024, in Golden.
Traci and Billy
Traci Kern Piper, who has a voice built for 20, is an accomplished Denver stage performer and vocal instructor. But back in 2001, she was employed at New York’s One Liberty Plaza – a building so close to the World Trade Center, its facade crumbled in the 9/11 explosion. In the years that followed, Traci couldn’t bring herself to leave the house on any Sept. 11. She just couldn’t.
But by September 2019, she was a few months into a promising relationship with local firefighter and a decorated Navy veteran Billy Piper, who told Kern he would be joining dozens of other firefighters in running up 110 flights of stairs while wearing full tactical gear. And then, the couple were going out to celebrate.
Celebrate?
Billy Piper at work as a firefighter at the Suncor refinery.
“He told me, ‘Yes, we’re going to celebrate the lives that those people lived, and we’re going to celebrate that you lived through it,’” she said. Afterward, Billy gave her the challenge coin he earned by completing the grueling exercise. “He told me, ‘This is for you. Now … let’s go celebrate.’”
Was there any doubt she was going to marry him? Two years and two weeks later, she did – she at 46, he at 53. This past September, he completed the Denver 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb for the fourth time.
But on Jan. 11, Billy wasn’t feeling great. His right leg was swelling up a bit, so Traci took him to the E.R. In the nightmarish hours that followed, he went into full cardiac arrest. The next morning, an obliterated Traci let him go. He was 57, with no prior history of heart disease.
Traci Kern Piper appears at a March 2024 benefit for the Denver Actors Fund held by Ebner-Page Productions at the Aurora Fox.
Traci licked her wounds, received love and went back to work teaching voice to her many clients at her Denver studio. Two months later, she made an eviscerating appearance singing at a cabaret performance benefitting the Denver Actors Fund at the Aurora Fox.
And in October, she took on the sexy, raunchy and outrageously fun role of Magenta (and Band Director) in the brand-new Beehive Productions’ company-launching performance of “The Rocky Horror Show” at the Denver Comedy Improv.
“Traci is the very definition of resilient,” said “Rocky” producer Jalyn Webb, who also manages the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Johnstown. “She is not afraid to face the hard truths of grief, and she bares her soul for all of us to see – and learn from. Whenever I think of Traci, I think of the word grace. She personifies it and also extends it to all of us.
“I’m so proud of her commitment to reclaiming her place on the stage.”
Traci Kern Piper appears as Magenta i Beehive Productions’ “The Rocky Horror Show” at the Denver Improv in Northfield.
“Rocky” director Bryan Bell said Kern Piper’s professionalism and passion for the project “was incredible.”
“Traci wears her heart on her sleeve, and if she had days where she was struggling with her loss, she shared that with us, and we got through it with her as a team,” he said. “She was always honest about her feelings and where she was in her healing process – and we all shared in that with her. That made this experience special for all of us – and I hope that it also made it a positive one for her as well.”
Traci spent her first wedding anniversary without Billy at a rehearsal for “Rocky” – which was probably the best place for her to be that night.
“She was not sure how that was going to hit her,” Bell said, “but she rallied and was the professional we all know her to be. My respect for her, especially coming off of such a tragedy, is endless.”
Note: The True West Awards, now in their 24th year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community by revisiting 30 good stories from the past year without categories or nominations.
