Curious, Continued - Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon Gets Curious - PART 3

Read Part 1 of "Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon Gets Curious" HERE.

Read Part 2 of "Artistic Director Jada Suzanne Dixon Gets Curious" HERE.

Dixon hadn’t planned to stay when she returned to Denver with her infant daughter in 1998. She was considering moving to L.A. “My roots were here,” she says of her return to the town that introduced her to theater. “My family was here. I wanted my kid to have a relationship with my parents. I have amazing memories of my summers with my grandparents. I didn't want to be sending them pictures of her, like, ‘Here's your grandkid.’” says Dixon. “Best decision I made because she, my daughter and my dad were best friends till he passed away. She needed that. And my parents helped me out a lot as a single mom. I couldn't have done what I did without them.”

Then she found her way back into the theater scene. “And it started at Curious.” 

So, Dixon gets the significance of home. But she’s also being pragmatic as Curious faces the ongoing challenges endemic to theater and the arts at this moment. “Thanks to the essential support of foundations and so many supporters who showed up for us during our Fund the Future campaign, we continue to navigate the challenges of the post-pandemic world,” she wrote in a recent email.

Even so, she added, “the broader theater landscape still faces significant difficulties, and we are not in a place where we can sit back.”

“Jada is really good at using the resources we have and coming up with really creative ideas,”  Curious board president Sheri Raders said. “She's very talented as an actor and director, but I think she really wants to take us to a solid place of presenting crisp, challenging work.” More recently Raders said “The artistic part: She's great. The business part: She cares.”

So, to aid Dixon, “the board pulled together to provide some extra resources to help her develop,” Raders shared. It’s a sign that the board has stepped up and into its role as steward after working with the same leadership for years. Dixon said of the board, it’s “ filled with dynamic individuals who care about Curious, are focused on its sustainability, and believe wholeheartedly in our mission. They’re an engaged board who truly see CTC as the cultural asset it is.”  

For her part, Dixon has also invested in her growth. She recently graduated from a two-year leadership program called Executive Directors of Color Institute for BIPOC nonprofit leaders. “I had quite a few ah-has and quite a few actionable insights,” she said. “And, as I strive to be the best version of myself as the leader at Curious, the opportunity for individual leadership coaching emerged.”

Knowing when to reach out to allies in the theater community, both local and national, has been among the lessons and a boon. “Early on, I had conversations with directors Nataki Garrett and Jamil Jude who both imparted great wisdom based on their experiences and learnings both positive and less than positive,” Dixon said. “Janice Sinden [CEO] at the DCPA has been invaluable in sharing her learnings — what she is doing or asking of herself — and she has a great knack for asking the tough questions that get me thinking.” Her list of who she can call on any given day for advice, for understanding and empathy, includes a collection of gifted theater artists: Miners Alley’s Len Matheo, Jessica Robblee at Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company, Stephen Weitz co-founder of BETC and its former artistic director, as well as arts patron Tina Walls and Louise Martorano of RedLine Contemporary Arts Center. And, as Dixon said, “so many others in this beautiful supportive artistic community.”

Artistically, Dixon is among a small but mighty Denver-Boulder cohort of artistic directors doing crucial work: Pesha Rudnick, Betty Hart, Nick Chase at Boulder’s Local Theater Company; Amanda Berg Wilson at the Catamounts; Meghan Frank and Buba Basishvili who, in addition to opening the Savoy Ballroom in the Curtis Park neighborhood to other artists, make up the physical theater company Theatre Artibus. These leaders and their companies are rising to the challenges of theater-making, while doggedly nurturing new and lauded work or imagining ways to bring new audiences into the fold. 

Some of those new theatergoers will become subscribers. Some will get the bug and sign on as board members and/or write checks as funders. All of them should be aware of the ways in which theater has lead — sometimes haltingly but still more than many of the other art forms — the charge toward more inclusion and diversity in the stories shared. (Yes, this commitment puts them in the crosshairs of the new D.C. administration.) Last season, Dixon reached out to and partnered with Phamaly, Denver’s nationally recognized company for actors with disabilities, for a co-production of the Pulitzer-winning, disability-forward drama “Cost of Living.” 

“One of the smartest business decisions Chip ever made was to hire Jada. Because [he] hired somebody within an artistic template,” says Montour-Larson. “Jada is changing things in all the good ways but keeping the culture. I don't know how she's doing it, but she's amazing.” Montour-Larson then added. “How can you change the culture but keep the culture?” 

It takes talent, to be sure, but also hard work. “The first five years following a founding artistic director’s departure are notoriously difficult. Add a new president, a wave of anti-DEI and education policies, and an emotionally (and financially) fatigued audience and our jobs feel Sisyphean at times,” Local Theater Company’s Rudnick wrote in a recent email. 

“It’s inspiring to watch Jada steadily build back Curious in an extraordinary fashion,” she continued. “Not only has she delivered on her promise to make Curious a professional company for artists and staff to work, she’s tapped into what audiences need most: consistent, entertaining, pithy and high quality live entertainment. I doubt she’d like me to say this but we’re all benefiting from her very special style of human and heart-centered leadership. Jada is the real deal.”  

Dixon says she intends to keep embracing the ongoing challenges, while staying true to the unmistakable vibe and vision of the Curious Theatre Company. “It’s exhilarating,” she said, then pointed to her chest. “I feel it here.”