Toni Tresca at a reading for Diego Florez's play 'Cuauhtémoczin' on April 22, 2023.

About Me

Editor of Bucket List, freelance journalist and co-host of the OnStage Colorado Podcast. He is an award-winning radio show host, member of the American Theatre Critics Association and named one of "Tomorrow's News Trailblazers" in 2026 by Editor & Publisher Magazine.

My Latest Work

Full schedule for the free Go West Film Festival 2026 - onscreencolorado.com

Greeley’s annual love letter to the cinema of the American West is back, and everyone’s invited.The Go West Film Festival returns Nov. 9-14 with 12 free programs spread across two venues along Eighth Avenue. Now in its 12th year, the completely free festival pairs familiar Hollywood westerns with independent films that expand the genre beyond its traditional cowboys-and-outlaws mythology.The schedule follows a straightforward rhythm: a High Noon screening at noon and an evening program at 6 p.m....

A&E: This Weekend, October 16-18

Estes Park is welcoming ghost hunters, skateboarders, and bargain hunters this weekend. Just don’t expect them all to show up at the same place. Paranormal investigator Amy Bruni brings ghost stories to The Stanley Hotel, while the Historic Park Theatre offers late-night ghost hunts. Meanwhile, the third annual Fall Skate Fest brings competitions and live music to Lawson Skatepark, two days of artisan markets fill the Estes Park Events Center, and local musicians keep the town’s patios, pubs, an...

Estes Park Film Festival to return in 2028 after 16-year hiatus

Estes Park is preparing for a major cinematic comeback. The Rocky Mountain Channel has announced the creation of the Estes Park Film Society, a new nonprofit organization that plans to revive the Estes Park Film Festival in November 2028, 16 years after the original event ended its run.

The announcement comes as Colorado prepares to welcome the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder in January 2027. By the time Estes Park’s festival returns, Sundance will have held its first two Colorado editions, p...

Sundance 2027 tickets go on sale today. What to know - onscreencolorado.com

The first Sundance Film Festival in Boulder is still three months away, but movie fans can begin securing their seats today.Passes and ticket packages for the 2027 Sundance Film Festival go on sale today, Thursday, Oct. 15, at 10 a.m. Mountain Time, offering audiences their first opportunity to purchase access to the festival’s historic Colorado debut, running Jan. 21-31.Prices start at $45 for an online short films pass, with in-person ticket packages ranging from $275 for eligible students and...

Denver Film Festival 2026 adds more honorees - onscreencolorado.com

The 49th Denver Film Festival is adding three familiar faces to its growing guest list.John Leguizamo, Indya Moore and D’Arcy Carden will receive special honors during the Oct. 22-Nov. 1 festival, Denver Film announced Tuesday, Oct. 13. The additions come alongside a newly scheduled screening of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” six Creative Conversations and the announcement of this year’s competition juries.Leguizamo will receive the festival’s John Cassavetes Award on Friday, Oct. 30, recogn...

'Morwood Manor' brings immersive gothic horror to Denver

The Morwood family has invited you over for tea. They promise everyone will behave. And don’t worry — the unpleasant incident from years ago is behind them. However, the doors will be locked “for your safety.”
What could possibly go wrong?
That’s the unsettling premise of “Morwood Manor,” an original immersive gothic thriller running Oct. 15-18 inside a converted church in northwest Denver. Co-directed by experimental performance artists Soleil Kohl and Hang Nguyen, the production invites audien...

Boulder Jewish Film Festival 2026: Films, dates and tickets - onscreencolorado.com

From the Catskills comedy scene that helped shape American entertainment to the resilience of women resisting political oppression in Iran, the Boulder Jewish Film Festival is casting a wide net for its 14th annual edition.Running Oct. 25-Nov. 1 at the Dairy Arts Center, the eight-day festival features 21 scheduled screenings. This year’s programming explores the influence of Jewish artists on popular culture, the strength of parental devotion, moral courage and female empowerment.Several films...

'FDR’s Very Happy Hour' brings immersive history to Denver

More than a decade after Regan Linton and M. Graham Smith first started talking about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president is finally ready for happy hour in Denver.
“We’re finally getting it here,” Linton says.
High Hard Heat presents the Denver premiere of “FDR’s Very Happy Hour” Oct. 14 through Nov. 1 at the Studio Loft at Ellie Caulkins Opera House. The immersive production brings Roosevelt back from the great beyond for an evening of cocktails, trivia, history and conversation with a co...

13th Pumpkins & Pilsners closes out fall festival season in Bond Park

A few years ago, Colleen Sovey attended Pumpkins & Pilsners for the first time and discovered an organization she knew little about: the Estes Park Education Foundation. Now, she’s helping run the festival.

“I think 2022 was my first year,” Sovey said. “The event is just a really cool event. It brings the whole community together.”
The 13th annual Pumpkins & Pilsners festival returns to Bond Park in downtown Estes Park from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, bringing craft beer, live music, f...

As Camp Christmas retires, what's next for immersive art?

Is immersive art dying in Denver?
A recent feature by Westword arts and culture editor Kristen Fiore examined how Denver’s creative landscape has evolved over the past half-century, including the rapid rise and recent setbacks of its immersive entertainment scene.
“It had an ‘immersive is dead; long live immersive’ feel to it,” artist Lonnie Hanzon says during a visit to his Lakewood studio, where he’s currently dismantling one of Colorado’s most recognizable immersive holiday attractions, Camp...

A&E: This Weekend, October 9-11

This weekend in Estes Park, you can run until your legs give out or kick back with a pumpkin and a pilsner. 

Rocky’s Backyard Ultra challenges runners to complete a grueling mountain loop every hour until only one competitor remains, while Pumpkins & Pilsners brings family fun to Bond Park. Elsewhere, the Historic Park Theatre is embracing spooky season with haunted tours and a mystery movie, The Blue Fiddles bring their one-man band to the American Legion, and live music fills the town’s patio...

Rocky’s Backyard Ultra asks runners: How long can you go?

There is no finish line at Rocky’s Backyard Ultra. Instead, runners will gather at the YMCA of the Rockies at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, and run a 4.167-mile loop.

Then they will do it again.
And again.

Every hour, on the hour, the remaining runners will line up for another trip around the course until only one person can complete another loop. There is no predetermined distance and no time limit.

“A Backyard Ultra race essentially is a last man standing, or last person standing race,” said A...

Telluride Horror Show 2026: Full schedule and guide - onscreencolorado.com

Horror fans planning to spend Halloween season in Telluride finally know what nightmares await them.The Telluride Horror Show 2026 announced its lineup Tuesday, Oct. 6, just 10 days before the festival returns to the mountain town Oct. 16-18. The 17th annual edition brings a weekend of independent horror, supernatural thrillers, creature features, documentaries and short films to several venues around Telluride.This year’s schedule includes “Victorian Psycho,” a gothic thriller starring Maika Mo...

Can 'SIP' help reinvent immersive theatre in Colorado? | OnStage Colorado

At most theatre productions, opening night means the rehearsals are finished. At SIP, opening night means it’s time to get back to work.The new immersive drink-tasting experience from Culture House Immersive, produced by Boulder-based The Catamounts, is running Oct. 2-25 at Westminster’s Orchard Town Center. Throughout the developmental run, rehearsals continue, scenes change and performers rotate through roles as the creative team tests what works.“We’ve built some great immersive pieces, but q...

Local Theater experiments with world premiere of ‘Drag Queen Magic’ | OnStage Colorado

What do you get when you throw the plot of Groundhog Day, two drag performances and a woman named Nancy into a blender?Drag Queen Magic, apparently.Ian August’s new comedy, produced by Local Theater Company at the Dairy Arts Center as part of the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere, is packed with jokes out the wazoo. Many are clever rather than laugh-out-loud funny, but director M. Graham Smith keeps the evening moving with enough madcap energy to make its roughly 105 minutes an en...

Denver Film looks toward its 50th year as Colorado’s festival landscape grows - onscreencolorado.com

25 people gathered at Writer Square at 10 a.m. on Saturday to talk about the future of film in Colorado at the exact moment Denver Film unveiled the schedule for its 49th festival.While audiences elsewhere were scrolling through the newly announced lineup, Denver Film CEO Kevin Smith and Festival Producer Alaina Campbell were looking beyond this year’s films to a bigger question: What role should a nearly 50-year-old regional film organization play as Colorado becomes an increasingly prominent d...

‘The Pumpkin Kid’ glows at the Historic Elitch Theatre | OnStage Colorado

During Saturday afternoon’s performance of The Pumpkin Kid at the Historic Elitch Theatre, as the Candle Lady and Candle Man reminisced about their wedding during the lilting “Wedding Day Song,” a little girl in the audience wearing a pumpkin dress stood up and began dancing along.That moment felt like a natural extension of the way the 38-minute musical draws young audiences into its world. From the moment families enter through the stage door into a makeshift pumpkin patch, The Pumpkin Kid mak...

Denver Film Festival 2026 schedule: Every movie, date and time - onscreencolorado.com

Trying to navigate 11 days of movies at the Denver Film Festival is no easy feat.The 49th annual Denver Film Festival runs Oct. 22-Nov. 1 with 129 feature films, documentaries and shorts from around the world. Screenings are spread across venues including the Sie FilmCenter, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater and Denver Museum of Nature & Science.Opening Night brings Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky” to the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on Oct. 22, while the Pedro Pascal ac...

Phamaly reimagines 'Tiny Beautiful Things' with over 120 disabled actors | OnStage Colorado

Colorado audiences have probably encountered Tiny Beautiful Things before.Maybe you’ve read Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling collection of advice columns. Perhaps you’ve caught one of the many local stage productions of Nia Vardalos’ adaptation at BETC, Theatre SilCo, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Openstage Theatre & Company or Firehouse Theater. Or potentially you watched the 2023 Hulu series starring Kathryn Hahn.Regardless, you have almost certainly never seen the story told like this.Phamal...

Denver Film Festival 2026 announces 129-film lineup packed with awards hopefuls - onscreencolorado.com

The treats came early this Halloween season, and Denver Film Festival 2026 is skipping the tricks.On Oct. 3, Denver Film unveiled the full lineup for its 49th annual festival, an 11-day celebration running Oct. 22-Nov. 1 with 129 feature-length films, documentaries and shorts screening across the city. The program brings together awards-season contenders, major Hollywood names, international discoveries and Colorado-made films at the Sie FilmCenter, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, MCA Denver at the...

‘The Turn of the Screw’ knows how to make you jump | OnStage Colorado

When I interviewed 13th Floor Haunted House area manager Bryan Koop recently, I asked him whether there was a type of scare or technique that almost always gets people.“People are scared of so many different things,” Koop said. “But there are certain things that are almost always successful, like a loud noise and some bright flashing lights is almost always going to startle someone. If we can craft that into something more theatrical, then it elevates that simple, subtle scare.”Elemental Theatre...

A&E: This Weekend, October 2-4

The elk are bugling, the ghosts are stirring, and Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” is getting married on the big screen. You know what that means — it’s officially October in Estes Park.

This weekend, Elk Fest returns to Bond Park, while the Historic Park Theatre embraces spooky season with haunted tours, ghost stories, and a free Saturday morning movie. Elsewhere, Adam Carolla brings stand-up comedy to The Stanley Hotel, First Friday fills local galleries with art and jazz, and live music keeps the...

Elk Fest celebrates Estes Park’s wild side Oct. 3-4

On the morning Elk Fest begins, organizer Kayleigh Schissel has learned to expect an early arrival.

“The morning it starts, there is always an elk there in the middle of Bond Park,” said Schissel, special events coordinator for the Estes Park Events Complex. “It’s almost like they know the festival is for them, and so my favorite part is seeing them there.”
It’s an appropriate opening act for a festival built around Estes Park’s most conspicuous wild residents. Elk Fest returns Oct. 3-4 for a f...

More than 20 spooky shows to see around Colorado this Halloween

Halloween entertainment doesn’t have to mean wandering through a haunted house while someone with a chainsaw jumps out from behind a wall.
Colorado theaters are leaning hard into spooky season in 2026, with ghosts, vampires, serial killers, carnivorous plants and an almost alarming number of productions of “Sweeney Todd.” There are also campy musical parodies, immersive experiences, aerial performances and family-friendly options for theatergoers who would rather laugh than scream.
Some spooky p...
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