A theater stage in Aurora is hosting one of the largest reunions in Phamaly Theatre Company's history this month, with 115 actors — some filmed as far away as Mexico, Ireland, England and Japan — woven into a single production of Tiny Beautiful Things. The show runs through October 18 at The People's Building, 9995 E. Colfax Ave., with tickets ranging from $20 to $50, according to Phamaly Theatre Company.
The production, reported by the Denver Gazette, blends live performance with filmed video segments featuring 113 past and present Phamaly company members, including three founding members of the organization. Artistic Director Ben Raanan spent the past year recording those segments, according to the same report. Every actor cast in a Phamaly production is a member of the disability community, and the filmed ensemble includes married actors Jeremy Palmer and Lyndsay Palmer among the far-flung contributors.
Nia Vardalos adapted the stage version from Cheryl Strayed's bestselling book in 2016, starring as the advice columnist “Sugar” in its Off-Broadway premiere at The Public Theater under director Thomas Kail, according to TheaterMania. The role of the advice columnist in Phamaly's run alternates between Jessica Swanson and Adrienne Asterita, per the Denver Gazette's reporting.
A Column Born From Anonymity
The play traces back to Dear Sugar, the online advice column whose author's identity remained unknown for two years before Strayed revealed herself on Valentine's Day in 2012, the Gazette reported. Strayed has said the work is about “reaching when stuck, healing when broken and finding courage to face unanswered questions,” a framing that director Stacey D'Angelo has leaned into for this staging.
D'Angelo, who also serves as dean of creative enterprises at the Community College of Aurora, told the Gazette that the production is a celebration of Phamaly's history and legacy, and that the filmed-video approach connects the company and builds togetherness. Tiny Beautiful Things has no conventional plot, central conflict, traditional climax or neat resolution, instead exploring grief, love, forgiveness and human revelations through addiction, infidelity, loneliness and bereavement, according to the same account. The Gazette notes the show is not overtly a play about disability, offering instead an opportunity to explore universal human questions through disabled artists' experiences.
Phamaly's Three-Decade Run in Denver
Phamaly Theatre Company was founded in 1989 as the Physically Handicapped Amateur Musical Actors League by five Denver students — Kevin Ahl, Richard Britton, Kathleen Traylor, Gregg Vigil and Teri Westerman Wagner — who set out to address the lack of theatrical opportunities for performers with disabilities, according to Phamaly Theatre Company. The organization remains the longest-running theater company in the United States that exclusively casts actors with physical, cognitive, intellectual, emotional and trauma-related disabilities, per the company's own account. Raanan, who joined Phamaly in 2021 after completing degrees at Drake University and DePaul University, now leads an organization with a 37-year history behind it.
Tiny Beautiful Things arrives immediately after Phamaly closed the world premiere of 504: The Musical, by Abbie Goldberg and Mason McDowell, at Denver's Kilstrom Theatre in August — a production Hoodline previously covered that told the story of the 1977 San Francisco disability rights sit-in, as reported by American Theatre Magazine.
The People's Building's Civic Backstory
The Aurora venue hosting the show has its own transformation story. Before becoming a flexible arts center, the building at 9995 E. Colfax Ave. was a ski shop and later a rent-to-own store, until the City of Aurora purchased it in 2014 and invested $2.5 million in the conversion, according to Denver Westword. The venue received the 2025 Arts & Business Partnership Award from the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts after hosting more than 300 events and welcoming over 13,000 visitors in 2024, per the City of Aurora. It sits within the Aurora Cultural Arts District along East Colfax Avenue, in a neighborhood where public school students speak more than 160 different languages, the city notes.
Phamaly's reach is also extending beyond its own stage this fall. Former Phamaly Artistic Director Regan Linton co-created and stars in FDR's Very Happy Hour, an interactive play launching its national tour at the Studio Loft above Denver's Ellie Caulkins Opera House from October 14 through November 1, as detailed by BroadwayWorld. The production was named a Producing Partner grant recipient for the inaugural Arts Complex Creates initiative by Denver Arts & Venues, which aims to expand accessible programming at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
Tiny Beautiful Things continues through October 18 at The People's Building. Ticket information is available by calling 303-365-0005.
