FoCo Variety Show follows a packed, donation-based June debut with a new circus-tinged production featuring musicians, dancers, clowns and actors from across Northern Colorado
FoCo Variety Show, a grassroots community theater project, will present its newest production, “Hey, Rube!” on Sept. 27 at Avogadro’s Number in Fort Collins. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased through Avogadro’s website.
Drawing on classic circus tradition and sideshow spirit, the show blends live music, comedy, dance, clowning and variety acts into a night built for adult audiences. The show follows the group’s first performance at the end of June, a donation-based event that drew a full house and strong local support.
The production’s title borrows a phrase from old circus and carnival slang, traditionally used as a call for performers and roustabouts to rally together when trouble broke out with outsiders. For FoCo Variety Show, it doubles as a fitting name for a troupe built on solidarity among performers who might otherwise never have shared a stage.
“Hey, Rube!” is intended for mature audiences due to language and partial nudity.
FoCo Variety Show was founded by local artist Tyler Anne Hollandsworth with a simple goal: to give working adults in Northern Colorado a place to make art together, regardless of experience or background. The cast and crew is made of people you pass by every day, including college students, bakers, baristas, factory workers and childcare professionals, some of whom drive up to an hour and a half round-trip to attend weekly rehearsals, held outdoors in a local park.
Many cast members work full-time jobs unrelated to the arts and join rehearsals after long workdays. The group spans a wide range of ages, backgrounds and life circumstances. Putting on the show has become as much about community as the performance.
A central part of FoCo Variety Show’s mission is paying its cast and crew for their work, many of whom have practiced their craft for years without ever being compensated for it, or without believing it was something anyone would pay for. For the director, watching performers see their art treated as valuable—some for the first time—has been one of the most meaningful parts of bringing the show to life.
“We didn’t start a theater company,” Hollandsworth says. “We started a place where grown-ups get to play again—and get paid for it.”
Tickets are available for purchase through avogadros.com, with proceeds going toward paying the cast and crew.
