Fine Arts Center

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
2022-02-24 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-02-27 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Denver) | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
A new comedy from Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage (Intimate Apparel) draws on the screwball films of the 1930s to take a funny and irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a seventy-year journey through the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong Black maid and budding actress, and her tangled relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately trying to hold on to her career. When circumstances collide and both women land roles in the same Southern epic, the story behind the cameras leaves Vera with a surprising and controversial legacy scholars will debate for years to come.
Wed at 7 p.m., Thurs & Fri at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 5 or 7:30 p.m., Sun Matinées at 2 p.m.
“The first act, in which Vera angles for a role, is in the style of a screwball comedy…. The second act, which shifts between a 2003 symposium, steeped in academese, and a 1973 talk show, steeped in gin, is more like a screwball tragedy” —The New York Times
“A satisfying screwball comedy in which Nottage uses stereotypes to expose them, tapping into a current of rueful emotion beneath the surface.” —Vogue

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark: Talkback
2022-03-20 16:45 - 17:45 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
Join us for a FREE talkback session following the final Sunday performance of By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.

April FAC Member Tour
2022-04-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
FAC Members are invited to join curatorial paraprofessional, Savanah Pennell, for a tour of Diago: The Pasts of this Afro-Cuban Present, the first retrospective exhibition of prominent Cuban artist Juan Roberto Diago (b. 1971). This tour will explore Diago’s experience with race and identity across his career, and dive into how this can be seen though his choices in medium and subject matter.
No RSVP needed, check in at the front desk.
NOT A MEMBER? JOIN TODAY!

“Reframing Birds of America:” Conversations on Audubon
2022-04-08 - 2022-07-30 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
From 1827-1838 John James Audubon published Birds of America, which is generally considered to be among the finest examples of prints illustrating avian life in America. This exhibition Reframing Birds of America: Conversations on Audubon explores these historic prints with a contemporary lens. The FAC show, curated by Colorado College students, fosters appreciation of the prints while highlighting other voices in conversation with Audubon’s work. Reframing Birds of America: Conversations on Audubon comes from the Fine Arts Center’s collection of several hundred Audubon prints and includes rarely seen examples.

Talking about Audubon
2022-04-09 14:00 - 15:00 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
Drawing from the FAC’s collection, a class of 9 CC students has organized an exhibition of the renowned Birds of America prints by John James Audubon. Join the student curators of the exhibition Rethinking Birds of America: Conversations on Audubon for an in-gallery discussion of the prints, the birds, the artist, and the show.
Free and open to the public, space is limited.
Image: John James Audubon, Phoenicopterus Ruber, Linn. Old Male (Greater Flamingo) (detail), 1838
Collection of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, FA 1958.6.173, Gift of the Estate of Phillip B. Stewart

Roundtable conversation with Juan Roberto Diago
2022-04-15 18:00 - 19:00 | Cornerstone Arts Center, 825 N. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
Please join us for a roundtable conversation with Juan Roberto Diago (joining remotely), Alejandro de la Fuente, Director of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at Harvard University, and Andrea Herrera, Professor of Literature and Women’s and Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.
Free and open to the public. Please RSVP
Cornerstone Arts Center – Room 131 Screening Room

The Legend of Georgia McBride
2022-04-21 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-04-24 14:00 - 15:00, 2022-04-27 19:00 - 20:00 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
He’s young, he’s late with the rent, and he just found out that he’s going to be a dad. And when his boss at a small-town Florida dive bar axes his Elvis act, replacing it with a flashy drag show, Casey decides to step out of the blue suede shoes of his comfort zone and into a pair of size 11 heels. From creating his persona to embracing his femininity, Casey has a lot to learn. But most of all, this sequin-filled story is a celebration of individuality and a reminder to all of us to live in our truths.

Floyd D. Tunson: Hearts and Minds
2022-05-06 - 2022-07-09 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
Completed in 1995 and acquired by the Fine Arts Center in 2020, Tunson’s “Hearts and Minds” addresses the ongoing impact of gun violence on youth of color. In Colorado, Black men ages 18–24 are more than 12 times more likely than white men the same age to be killed in a gun homicide (“The State of Gun Violence”). The work asks us to consider the systems and structures that perpetuate these cycles of violence and the tragic loss that results.

Dragstravaganza at the FAC
2022-05-06 22:00 - 23:00 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Friday, May 6 following that evening’s theatre performance
Drag show starts 10 p.m.
House opens 9:45 p.m.
Grab a drink before the show in Deco Lounge (opens 9 p.m.)
The show goes on! The drag show that is. Following the May 6 performance of The Legend of Georgia McBride, join us for an hour long drag show hosted by Belzin Whistlez (local favorite Sammy Gleason), with performances from FIVE local Colorado drag artists – Gila Moonstar, Porsha DeMarco Douglas, Mario Wanna, Venus Victrola, and Saint Valentease.
Whether you’ve been to a drag show before or this is a first, it’s an experience you’re not going to want to miss!
Dragstravaganza is brought to you in partnership with Inside Out Youth Services, working to build access, equity, and power with LGBTQIA2+ youth, ages 13-24.
Min. $10 suggested cover
A few things you should know if this is your first drag show experience –

You don’t have to attend the May 6 performance of The Legend of Georgia McBride to join us for Dragstravaganza. (Although we hope you will!)
All are welcome! Open minds, open hearts, and an appreciation for the performing arts are what it’s all about.
Drag shows feed off the energy of the crowd. In other words, have FUN! Cheer, clap, show the artists your support.
Speaking of support, tipping is customary at drag shows. These artists work hard on their acts. If you’re enjoying the show, let the drag artists know with a much-appreciated tip. (NOTE: All tips go directly to the artist you give them to and are separate from the suggested cover charge.)

Mark your calendars for May 6 and join us for The Legend of Georgia McBride, Dragstravaganza or BOTH!

About Inside Out Youth Services
The mission of Inside Out (est. 1990) is to build access, equity, and power with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit (LGBTQIA2+) youth from Southern Colorado. Inside Out does this by creating brave spaces for young adults ages 13-24 and offering evidence-based programming completely free of charge. By providing support systems and teaching life skills to all youth in our community we work to make our community safer, more accepting of gender and sexual orientation diversity, and further the happiness and health of LGBTQIA2+ youth in the Colorado Springs vicinity. For more information about Inside Out and our services, events, and staff, please visit: insideoutys.org

Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking
2022-05-14 - 2022-08-07 | Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, United States
Robert Blackburn (1920-2003) was a key artist in the development of printmaking in the twentieth century. His innovative, masterful expertise with the medium helped define the overall aesthetic of the American “graphics boom.” This new exhibition examines Blackburn’s life and work, which touched the Harlem Renaissance and the WPA; the Art Students League and the New York School; Paris in the 1950s; the venerable print workshop Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE) and the graphic explosion of the 1960s. Blackburn forecasted and participated in the proliferation of collaborative, non-profit workspaces in the early 1970s, the rise of multiculturalism, and, ultimately, globalism.
Image: Robert Blackburn, Red Inside, 1972–late 1980s, Woodcut, 12 x 111/2, Nelson/Dunks Collection, Photograph by Greg Staley
