Bas Bleu Presents RED-HANDED OTTER

Bas Bleu Theatre Company of Fort Collins is delighted to announce its next mainstage production, RED HANDED OTTER, a darkly diverting shaggy-dog comedy about people, pets, and passion.

Obie-award-winning playwright and lyricist Ethan Lipton, seen on THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL and a frequent presence on stage with his Orchestra at Joe’s Pub in downtown Manhattan has crafted OTTER as a jazz-inflected vaudeville that the Chicago Tribune called “blissfully silly”, the Sun Times found “wonderfully quirky and surprisingly profound” and “has wit, style, and flashes of brilliant humanity” from New York Magazine.

True to Bas Bleu’s reputation for new works by acclaimed contemporary playwrights, RED HANDED OTTER explores a ragtag community of security guards who comically work through how we do or don’t get on with our lives and the comforts we choose.

Heading up the cast is Fort Collins favorite Jeffrey Bigger, as Paul, a hilariously simmering cauldron of emotion ready to boil over as he butts heads with Brett Schreibers’ Donald, an otter loving disco dance machine, seen in December as a Kennedy scion in Bas Bleu’s acclaimed holiday comedy HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR FAMILY AT CHRISTMAS. Added to the mix is recent CSU grad and genderbending CABARET Emcee Kaitlin Kennedy, as Angela, volatile keeper of multiple bunnies, and Nick Boeder of HARVEY and Bas Bleu newcomer Ambre Nowel Gejer as Randy and Estelle, two sweet souls caught in a vortex of pet tales, cheap liquor, and cheaper donuts, slow traveling hermit crabs and madly beeping smoke detectors.

The production is directed by Steve Keim, who last helmed the romantic and moving LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC in 2019, working again with NIBROC costume designer Terri Gerrard. Rounding out the design team are long-time Fort Collins designers Grant Putney and Jimmie Robinson, working their magic in light and sound, and the ever-inventive Scenic Artist Sarah LePiere.

RED HANDED OTTER will be presented April 15 – May 1 at Bas Bleu Theatre, 401 Pine Street in Fort Collins. Performances begin at 7:30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 2:30 pm for our Sunday matinees. Friday, April 15 is a “Pay what you will” preview night. Tickets are $26 for general admission, $20 for seniors, and $8 for students, and can be purchased at basbleu.org or by calling the box office at 970-498-8949.

RED HANDED OTTER contains adult content, strong language, and dancing rabbits.