Denver, CO
“Where Did We Sit on the Bus?” puts the audience in the Loop at the Denver Center | Theater review
The Denver Center is a-humming.
In the theater company’s largest house, Emma Woodhouse — to her own gentle comeuppance — is winking her way through Kate Hamill’s delightful adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma.” (See if before it closes Sunday.) Downstairs in the Singleton Theatre, things are positively loopy. Or rather brilliantly looping, as a young, Latina music-maker sets about crafting a mixed tape of her life in the hip-hop-influenced “Where Did We Sit on the Bus?,” directed by Matt Dickson. It runs through June 2.
So convincing is Satya Chávez (who uses the pronoun “they”) in the role of “Bee” Quijada that the audience is likely to assume it’s their life as the fourth child of Salvadoran immigrants that will be recounted for the next fleet, entertaining 80 minutes. It’s not; it’s writer-performer Brian Quijada’s.
Chávez’s intimacy with Quijada’s story might have been earned during the time they spent working (along with Nygel D. Robinson) on the concert series “Songs from the Border” at Colorado Spring’s Fine Arts Center during its 2021-22 season. But the vibrant poignancy and tangible intimacy that Chávez created with the opening-night audience feels very much their own.
Chávez skillfully utilizes the tools of hip-hop and spoken word for the show’s layering of sounds and, more vitally, personal and cultural history: rap’s diving and arcing rhymes, an iPad with a Bluetooth connection, four loopers, and her voice. But Chavez, a talented musician, also plays a keyboard, guitar, ukulele, guitarron, bass, caña, a harmonica and more. And they sing.
Oh, how they sing, warmly, wittily, sometimes plaintively. Chavez punctuates parts of the storytelling with a wordless refrain that soars and wails — just a little — during its exploration of belonging.
“Where Did We Sit on the Bus?” takes its title from the question a 9-year-old Bee asks her elementary school teacher during lessons on Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement. Defying the reigning black-white dialectic of the nation, little Bee wonders about her place as a brown kid, the child of immigrants, in this American life. Bee and her next oldest brother, Marvin, were born in the U.S. Older brothers Fernando and Roberto were born in El Salvador.
The show is disarmingly personable and cleverly participatory as it goes from Bee’s conception and birth (their time in mom’s womb is bathed in red light) to her childhood living first in a trailer park outside of Chicago and then in a suburban neighborhood adjacent to Highland Park, with its large Jewish community.
They share their love of Michael Jackson, an early role model — until he started to tarnish his reputation by what seemed to be a drastic repudiation of his skin color. But they find their emotional place when they become involved in theater.
Chavez wears a monochrome outfit, a richer shade of army fatigues. They begin at a breakneck pace, then find a lively cadence of trust and familiarity, at times teasing the audience with the sly rapport of a lounge singer.
The production design of the show feels like a departure for the theater company, not in quality but in tone. The set by Tanya Orellana (who also created the costumes) and Pablo Santiago’s playful and geometric lighting design recreate the spare intimacy of a black box theater that can also offer a neon-lit portal into Bee’s past. How far back it goes speaks to (and reverberates, thanks to Alex Billman’s sound design) the show’s joys and imagination.
There’s ample sweetness to this journey and little argumentativeness in Quijada’s script — until there needs to be, when nagging quandaries about belonging boil over. Because “Where Did We Sit on the Bus?” is a theater geek’s coming-of-age saga, Bee had described theater as their church. Late in the show, they take us there, to an ongoing, rancorous national conversation about immigration in which immigrants bear the brunt of ire.
And so, Bee takes an extended moment to preach a gospel of inclusion, one inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, but also confesses the kind of hurt and disappointment that comes from witnessing a nation fail its ideals. The nation may falter in moving toward a better and welcoming future, but Bee doesn’t.
“Where Did We Sit on the Bus?” began with Bee telling us that she popped the question to her beloved, who is Austrian and Swiss, in Mexico. It ends with an expansive answer to the question of the title.
Lisa Kennedy is a Denver-based freelance writer who specializes in theater and film.
IF YOU GO
“Where Did We Sit on the Bus?” Written by Brian Quijada. Additional compositions by Satya Chávez. Directed by Matt Dickson. Featuring Satya Chávez. At the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. Through June 1. For tickets and info: 303-893-4100 or denvercenter.org.
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A Denver hairstylist who disappeared after leaving her University Hills apartment on April 15 has been found dead, her mother announced Saturday.
“There are no words strong enough for the grief we are feeling,” Jax Gratton’s mother, Cherilynne Gratton-Camis, wrote in a Facebook group dedicated to finding her daughter. “The light she carried, the love she gave so freely and the joy she brought into our lives have been taken from this world far too soon.”
In the nearly two months that Gratton was missing, more than 5,100 people joined the group to share information and try to find the missing 34-year-old hairstylist.
Gratton was last seen at about 10 p.m. April 15 in the 4200 block of East Iliff Avenue, according to the Denver Police Department.
Her body was found a week short of two months later, Gratton-Camis said.
Gratton-Camis started worrying when her daughter didn’t call on Easter, and the hairstylist’s friends realized something was wrong when she missed multiple appointments with her clients. Gratton rented a studio at the Solera Salon Suites’ North Broadway location.
Gratton’s body was found in a Lakewood alley in the 9600 block of West Colfax Avenue at about 5 p.m. Friday, Gratton-Camis told Denver7 on Saturday.
She said a Lakewood detective visually identified the hairstylist by her tattoos and that her daughter was found wearing the same clothes she left in.
“The body was in advanced stages of decomposition and could not be positively identified,” Lakewood Police Department spokesperson John Romero said in an email to The Denver Post. He said a suspicious death investigation was ongoing.
Jefferson County coroner officials said Sunday afternoon that no forensic identification had been made and the cause of death was “pending until further notice.”
No updates in the Lakewood investigation were available Sunday, Romero said.
“This has opened my eyes in ways I can’t ignore. It’s not just about Jax — it’s about all of you in the LGBTQIA+ community who face the world every day with courage, just wanting to live, love and exist safely and equally,” Gratton-Camis wrote on Facebook. “That should never be a fight. And yet it is.”
Gratton’s friends and family plan to gather in front of Denver’s City and County Building at 1437 Bannock St. at 11 a.m. Monday to talk about her death and remember her with the community.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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Originally Published:
The family of a Denver hairstylist missing since April said that her body has been found.
Jax Gratton was last seen leaving her University Hills apartment on April 15. She rented a suite at Solera Salon Suites in Denver, but because each stylist works for themselves, it took days for anyone to realize she was missing. Family and friends canvassed social media and put up flyers around the city, hoping to find her.
On Saturday, Cherilynne Gratton-Camis confirmed with CBS Colorado that her daughter, Jax, was found deceased. A friend and coworker said Jax’s body was found outside in Lakewood.
Brandy Carey, the salon manager and a friend of Gratton’s, said that they plan to hold a vigil for her, but for now, they’re taking time off to process what’s happened.
Gratton’s mother posted a tribute to her daughter on Facebook, stating, “Jax Gratton was a light — I know that. She lit up so many lives just by being herself. Unapologetically. Fiercely. Fully. I see her in every act of love and strength you’ve shown, and I wish peace, love, and protection for all of you.”
She thanked those who tried to help find her daughter and said Jax’s death made her more aware of the dangers those in the LGBTQIA+ community face.
DENVER — Denver’s Pride Parade may be taking a new route this year, but at Champagne Tiger, the celebration of queer joy remains right at home on Colfax.
Construction for the city’s Bus Rapid Transit project has pushed the 2025 Pride Parade off its traditional route on Colfax. Instead, the parade will march down 17th Avenue, meaning queer-owned businesses along Colfax that typically benefit from the parade’s foot traffic will notice a difference.
Richard Butler
For Champagne Tiger, a queer-owned drag brunch and dining spot just shy of its first anniversary, community support remains as vibrant as ever.
“Drag brunch here at Champagne Tiger is really probably one of the funnest things that you can do in Denver,” customer Brian Corrigan said. “Not only do they have amazing food, but the talent is ridiculously good.”
Co-owners Chris Donato and Jeff Yeatman told Denver7 they wanted to create more than just another brunch spot. From house-made quiche that takes two days to prepare, to oysters flown in from Massachusetts, to French omelets and tater tot waffles topped with smoked lox, Champagne Tiger offers a menu that surprises guests as much as the performances do.
Richard Butler
“We really put a focus on the food so that hopefully it matches the show in a really great way,” Donato said. “So, it’s not only a great show, but it’s also really, really delicious, well-made food.”
The Sunday drag brunches have become a sold-out staple. Local queens Pony and Anita Goodman co-host the shows on the first Sunday of each month. They say the safe space has created opportunities for new performers, including up-and-coming “baby queens” getting their first chance on stage.
Richard Butler
“They let us show up and just goof off,” Pony said. “Drag is joy. Hate is poison. Love is medicine. Drag is medicine.”
Despite 2025 Pride festivities shifting elsewhere, loyal customers say places like Champagne Tiger remain vital year-round.
“Finding a place like this, it’s kind of ‘Cheersian,’ where everyone knows your name and you feel safe and included and you have so much fun,” said customer Jenny Seemayer. “That’s so important for a city like Denver.”
Every Wednesday night, Champagne Tiger hosts Pasta & Piano night. Their kitchen team makes fresh pasta from scratch. There is always someone playing the piano, and sometimes you may catch a drag queen singing live.
Chris Donato
“It’s a way to have fun on a Wednesday that’s not you going out and doing a whole thing. You can go out and have some pasta, listen to some music, and be in bed by 10 p.m.,” said Donato.
The owners admit construction along Colfax has posed challenges for small businesses, but they remain optimistic.
“People have been coming out just to support because they know it’s a tough time, and that’s been beautiful to see,” Donato said.
Even without the parade passing by this year, the spirit of Pride is alive inside Champagne Tiger, where food, drag and community come together every week.
Check out more Pride stories here
- Denver7 is a proud sponsor of the Denver Pride Parade. We partnered with the Center on Colfax to celebrate 50 years of Denver’s PrideFest. In the video below, we look back on the progress made in Colorado’s LGBTQ+ community over the last five decades and the work that still needs to be done.
50 years of Denver Pride: Full special presentation
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Richard Butler
Richard Butler is a multimedia journalist who covers stories that have impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but he specializes in reporting on small businesses and community heroes. If you’d like to get in touch with Richard, fill out the form below to send him an email.
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