08/11/2026
🌳 Marty Durlin has spent decades creating theater that asks difficult questions with intelligence, humor, and enormous heart. We’re honored to help cultivate this first chapter and invite audiences into Marty’s creative process while the work is still taking shape. ⭕️
New musical play by Marty Durlin to preview at Blue Sage on September 4
(press release)
Titled “Outspoken,” Paonia playwright Marty Durlin’s latest musical theatre piece focuses on women activists over the past two centuries.
“Outspoken” presents key moments in the lives of women working for change in a variety of fields: environmental activist Judi Bari, anarchist Emma Goldman, suffragist Lucy Stone, socialist Kate Richards O’Hare and climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The idea grew out of Durlin’s 2012 play, Beautiful Radiant Things, the story of Emma Goldman’s 50th birthday in the Missouri State Penitentiary, where she was imprisoned for speaking against conscription during World War I.
“Progress for women, and for civil and equal rights for all people, has stalled,” said Durlin. “The Equal Rights Amendment has never been passed, and women still earn less than men. We are still fighting for many of the rights they were fighting for one hundred years ago. During the Trump era, particularly, women have had a setback.”
The preview will feature local performers who have worked with Durlin on other projects, including vocal arranger and pianist Pam Petersen, guitarist Eames Petersen and bassist Jeff Reynolds. Actor-singers include Ellen Hutto, Sally Kane, Marian Pierce, Christy Eller, Lenore Cambria and Violett Petersen.
“It’s really more of a musical experiment than a play,” says Durlin, who has authored some 20 musical plays, debuting many of them in Paonia.
“Outspoken” will be performed on Friday, September 4 from 5-7 pm and Sunday, September 6 at 2 pm. Both performances are at the Blue Sage Center for the Arts in Paonia, and both are free. The Friday night performance will be followed by a reception and the Sunday matinee by a talk-back session where audience members can give feedback to Durlin and the performers.
“Outspoken” is supported by the Blue Sage and Juniper Circle Productions.
“Marty has spent decades creating theater that asks difficult questions with intelligence, humor, and enormous heart,” said Michael Cooper, Executive Artistic Director of Juniper Circle Productions. “We’re honored to help cultivate this first chapter and invite audiences into Marty’s creative process while the work is still taking shape.”
