Fuel RAW's Mission to Empower Playwrights

The People

Rogue Attitude Writers (RAW) is a diverse group of local playwrights working in a variety of styles and genres. The group was founded to cultivate community among Denver playwrights of all experience levels and stages in their careers. Our focus is creating a supportive space for writers to explore, develop and discuss their work for production and beyond.

The Project

Denver’s theater scene is vibrant, but lacks many opportunities for early career playwrights to have their work read by actors in front of an audience. We hope to help create those opportunities by scheduling regular readings, featuring actors who get paid for their creative work. We’re seeking funds to cover venue rental fees, payment for actors, printing costs, advertising, and other unanticipated costs that will inevitably arise when producing our first event.

The Observer & Other Developing Works is a two night event of theater focused on providing early career writers the chance to hear an audience react to their work. July 21 and 22 at The People’s Building in Aurora, beginning at 6:30. Night One will feature a reading of The Observer, a new play by Graham Ray. Night Two will feature short selections from Rogue Attitude Writers (RAW), with a focus on the opening scenes from their developing plays.

The Costs

These are the estimated costs for our event. Additional funds raised will go towards future readings.

Actors: $100-$150/actor X 8-10 actors = $800-$1000?

Venue: $50/hour X 3 hours X 2 nights = $300

Printing: $.20/page X 80-100 pages X 10 scripts X 2 nights = $200-$300

Advertising: Social Media Campaign and Ads = $150-$300

The Work

Night One - July 21, 2024

The Observer, by Graham Ray, is a dystopian drama set in an alternative timeline where a disastrous dinner party is overseen by a menacing and maniacal government observer. The play explores the ways in which institutions can warp and demean the human spirit.

Graham is a playwright whose work explores what happens to people caught up in failing systems. He is a career civil servant who works in health care information systems – which is definitely just an unrelated fact. He is a poet, a shaman, a sinner, a saint, the Fifth Beatle and an overall nice guy. (Some of those things are true.) He and his husband James Bloom live in Denver with their dog Walt.

Night Two - July 22, 2024

Hattie’s Patties by Kait Berreckman-Corrado

Kait Berreckman-Corrado (she/her) is a Colorado-based songwriter and aspiring theater kid. “Hattie’s Patties” is her first musical. Works include Conservation (2011), Battle Scenes (2016), Magpie (2019); Kait holds a Bachelor of Music in Songwriting from Berklee College of Music.

Send in the Dragons by Laura Cline

Laura Cline, a Colorado native, spent a career as a writer and storyteller, often for the purpose of rousing and thrilling donors to support mission-driven programs. Transitioning to new adventures, Laura jumped into playwriting with a passion. She is currently studying at the DCPA, with several scripts in the works. Her current play is a one-act thriller, SEND IN THE DRAGONS. What happens when a group of strangers are trapped together in a coffee shop under a police lockdown while the world outside becomes more and more insane? To survive with no phones and no power, they have to trust each other, but can they? What is the truth they don’t know?

A Winter Snowstorm by Rachael Johnson

Rachael Johnson is a former journalist, turned theater critic and current aspiring playwright. She has presented short plays of her work at theaters in Washington, D.C., including the FRESHH Inc Theater Company (now defunct), Theater Alliance’s Hot House and the Page-to-Stage Festival at the Kennedy Center. Her work was also featured with And Too too Theater Company in Denver.

Rachael is a lawyer for a media law non-profit and is based in Denver where she was born and raised and currently lives with her husband Joe, daughter Isadora, and dog Philly.

The Eye by Babs Karney

Babs Karney is just a clown in a human body trying to make sense of the world through her imagination. She studied film and screenwriting at School of Visual Arts in NYC, has participated in the DCPA’s adult education classes since 2017, and is an active council member for the New American Arts Festival. She occasionally writes bad poetry which you can find on her substack or instagram: @babskarney.

The Moose by Bella O’Brien

Bella O'Brien is a theatre artist from Denver, CO who is dedicated to telling haunting stories, exploring decoloniality, and using poetry where English has failed her. Her play, water from the river is also in the sea, was a Semi-Finalist for the 2019 National Playwriting Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and her play, LITTLELAMB, was a Semi-Finalist for the 2023 NAPSeries at Normal Ave and was featured in Teatro Dallas' 2023 Nuevo Mundo Festival. She earned a BFA in Theatre from Southern Methodist University and is a proud alumna of Curious Theatre's Curious New Voices program.