Some of Tinseltown’s most popular young stars will trade the Hollywood hills for the hills of Boulder this August, and it could be just the start of an unlikely new annual infusion of celebrities there.
Jamie Wollrab is coming home from Los Angeles to direct a play in Boulder, and he’s bringing along pals Chris Klein, Justin Chatwin and Chris Marquette to star in it.
Haven’t heard of them? Ask your kids. After they stop squealing.
Klein is best known for the monster “American Pie” franchise (and for dating Katie Holmes), but he also won raves for a 2003 London staging of “This is Our Youth.” Marquette and Chatwin, who played Tom Cruise’s son in “War of the Worlds,” will be seen by, oh, about a million people this weekend with today’s opening of “The Invisible.”
August staging in Boulder
The trio – along with a yet-to- be-named female star of even greater recognition, will perform “The Mistakes Madeline Made” Aug. 3-11 at Boulder’s Dairy Center for the Arts. (All they are saying about the girl for now is that she’s not Paris Hilton.)
Now, actors blow through town all the time – but this is no typical tour stop. It’s a group of top-ticket young Hollywood heartthrobs deciding to put on their own play – of all places, here. Why Boulder?
“Because Jamie said, ‘I’ve got this theater in the mountains, and we’ll go hike during the day, and we’ll come down and act on stage at night,”‘ Chatwin said from Los Angeles. “All of us were like, ‘Well, yeah … in a minute!’ ”
Klein said he’s excited “because I haven’t had a chance to do a play since ‘This is Our Youth.’ ” He’s in production on a fall pilot called “The Captain” with Raquel Welch, but if it gets picked up, he’s already secured time off for Boulder.
A celeb pipeline?
Wollrab and his backers are in the process of raising $50,000 to bring a creative team of about 10 to Boulder. And he’ll meet with a local foundation about creating an annual pipeline of celebrities who would perform something new and fresh in Boulder each summer.
“I love where I’m from, and I just want to share it with everybody I meet,” said Wollrab, 30, who attended Boulder High and is now an accomplished actor in his own right. “It’s a place to be proud of.”
The New York Times described “Madeline,” by Elizabeth Meriwether, as “a frenetic play about the horrors of low-level bureaucracy, pretentious writers and, more seriously, the death of a family member.” The newspaper touted the play for its compelling theatrical moments “and an irresistibly shameless comic performance” by its leading lady.
One of Wollrab’s backers is Cally Morton, an assistant to the producer on Jackie Chan’s “Rush Hour 3.” “What we are really talking about is a workshop for these actors, and putting on an artistic, grassroots production in an inspiring place,” she said. “We couldn’t think of anywhere more inspiring to us than Boulder.”
The greater goal is to one day mirror the Tony-winning Williamstown (Mass.) Theatre Festival, Wollrab said. Chatwin said Wollrab won’t have any problems getting young celebrities to follow him home.
“Jamie is like a positive force,” Chatwin said. “It’s rare to have someone who is that enthused to work with you. There’s no judgment. He gives you a free, fun space to act in, and that’s how it should be, because acting is supposed to be fun.
“So for actors to have an experience like we are going to have in Boulder is pretty awesome.”
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
