Pikes Peak Center bounces local play

An original, locally produced play with a mostly black cast was bumped Wednesday from the Pikes Peak Center 10 days before opening night.

The cancellation of “WomenShoptalk While Real Men Wait,” a semi-autobiographical play about four sisters coping with domestic violence, came amid contractual disputes and conflicting accusations.

“It’s a disappointment,” said playwright Carolyn Moore, 44, a part-time student at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, who produced the play as an independent study. “It’s also a confirmation that there’s a conflict with minorities being able to use the Pikes Peak Center.”

Pikes Peak Center general manager Dorothea Lischick said the cancellation was “a business decision,” refusing to elaborate on the theater’s reasoning.

The production, which integrates gospel music and dance, boasts two notable headliners: Anthony Price of the Broadway production of “Dreamgirls,” and Crissy Collins, who recently toured with Beyoncé.

Moore secured an alternate venue Thursday — Colorado College’s 730-seat Armstrong Hall — where the play is scheduled to be performed at 8 p.m. June 15. Armstrong Hall is less than half the size of the Pikes Peak Center’s main theater.

In an e-mail to Moore on Wednesday notifying her of the cancellation, Lischick referred to the play as “a tentatively scheduled event” and wrote that ticket refunds would be available at the box office.

Although the theater only sold 42 tickets, Moore said she has sold some 300 additional tickets through volunteers.

Volunteer Bonita Spears, a survivor of domestic violence, said she sold 37 tickets at $20 apiece.

“This is bad,” said Spears, upon learning of the move to a smaller venue. “We don’t have a lot of ethnic events here, by which I mean, events that draw people of color out. You have to go to Denver for that kind of thing.”

“I think it’s unfair at the last minute,” said another volunteer, Vera Scott, 58, who reported selling nearly $700 worth of tickets.

Moore signed a contract with the Pikes Peak Center in early April and paid a $1,000 deposit.

In June, she was asked to sign a different contract, which included, among other changes, a cancellation clause.

Moore didn’t sign, arguing that the original contract, which hadn’t been signed by Pikes Peak Center management, remained valid.

During a meeting Tuesday, Moore said, Lischick asked her for an additional $8,000 to cover expenses, such as stagehand fees. But Moore said she had been told she could rely on volunteers for those services.

Moore intends to donate a portion of the show’s proceeds to TESSA, a nonprofit organization that helps victims of domestic violence and adult sexual abuse in El Paso County.