Let's do the Time Warp... one last time
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DENVER — In less than a month, the credits will roll, the lights will brighten and moviegoers will shuffle out of the Esquire Theater for the last time.
The 97-year-old movie theater is closing to the public July 17. The Denver Landmark Preservation Commission approved the owners’ plan to redevelop the building, located at the corner of 6th Avenue and Downing Street, into an office, restaurant and retail space.
The Esquire has long been a gathering place for marginalized groups, said Bella White, who works on the theater’s floor staff. White described the theater as “a place where people can express themselves, especially if they might not be able to in other parts of their life.”
In the 1930s, Denver’s Jewish community used the theater — then called the Hiawatha Theater — as a meeting space in the years before World War II. In 1942, the theater reopened as the Esquire Theater and employed an all-female staff, as well as Denver’s first female theater manager.
“Anyone who felt like there was nowhere else they could go, we wanted to welcome them with open arms,” White said.
Today, the Esquire is the home theater for Colorado's Elusive Ingredient, a shadowcast for the cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” A shadowcast is a group of performers that act along with the film from the stage, bringing costumes and props of their own. Audience participation by way of shout-outs are also key to the “Rocky Horror” experience.
“Rocky Horror'' came out in 1975, and flopped. But the film, a campy musical starring Tim Curry and Susan Surandon, attracted a cult following across the country, beginning at the Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village, thanks to midnight showings and shadowcasts.
“My mom went, like, every single Saturday night when she was in high school. That's my favorite part about this, is how intergenerational it is,” said Casper Smith, a member of Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient. “So it was my 13th birthday present — I was allowed to watch it for the first time, and then the moment I got my driver's license, it was the first thing I drove to.”
Members of Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient, which formed in April of 2000, said the Esquire is one of the few theaters in the country that has held consistent midnight showings of “Rocky Horror” since its initial release. Colorado's Elusive Ingredient will perform its last show at the Esquire Saturday, June 29.
Casper Smith (first photo) has participated in close to 100 shows as part of Colorado's Elusive Ingredient.
Photo: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
Photo: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
“Rocky Horror’s” longevity is due, in large part, to support from the LGBTQ+ community. The film’s portrayal of queerness and gender fluidity, plus its unapologetic depiction of sexuality and overall celebration of outcasts, has made it a “queer classic.”
With nearly 50 years of midnight “Rocky Horror” showings, the Esquire provided a safe space for Denver’s queer community, Smith said — a community is now mourning the closure of the theater.
With nearly 50 years of midnight “Rocky Horror” showings, the Esquire provided a safe space for Denver’s queer community, Smith said — a community is now mourning the closure of the theater.
“‘Rocky’ exists as something that is separate from the space. Like, we perform at theaters all over Denver, but the Esquire is always our home theater,” Smith said. “We're there every single month, and so many of us have these memories of that space. We're trying to focus on that: the ‘thing’ being the community and the thing being the people. But losing that space is really gut-wrenching.”
Delaney Trail, one of Smith’s cast mates, first saw “Rocky Horror” when she was 17 years old. Eventually, after going to several midnight showings at the Esquire, she was noticed for “being a little louder, a little more obnoxious than our other audience member.” Trail applied to join Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient and has been performing for a year. She has logged more than 30 shows.
“When I tell people that I'm in the cast or that I do this, they’re like, ‘Yeah, at the Esquire down on Grant.’ People associate us with that space and we've always had that space there for as long as I've been here,” she said. “So many memories are attached to it.”
The Esquire's ownrship group plans to redevelop the building into an office, retail and restaurant space.
Photo: Peter Vo, Rocky Mountain PBS
The Esquire didn’t close without a fight from the community. A “Save the Esquire” petition online garnered more than 5,000 signatures. Jolee Harston, whose grandmother went to the theater in the 50s and 60s, was the petition’s organizer.
“My goal with all of this was to keep it a movie theater,” she said. “That's why this place is important to me. It's been a movie theater since the 20s. It's been a meeting place for artists, for a lot of marginalized groups, especially with the monthly ‘Rocky Horror’ screenings.”
The first time Harston went to the theater was to catch a midnight showing of “Rocky Horror.”
“I had never been around so many artistic, free people in my life,” she said. “And that was very pivotal for where I was in my life at that time. And the Esquire, for me personally, has been a place where I have been able to find my own queer identity.”
The effort to keep the Esquire as a movie theater was not successful, but Harston and others are in talks with the building’s ownership group, Franklin 10 LLC, about installing a permanent fixture that details the building’s history. Harston is also taking some consolation in the fact that the building’s exterior and its iconic sign will only change so much.
“It's really showing me how important it is to be involved in your neighborhood associations, to not forget about the places you love and to be involved,” Harston said of her involvement with the petition. “Make your voice heard.”
