Dark Horse ready to take stage

There's a new theater company in the works, but it's not your parents' theater company.

At Dark Horse Company Theater, you won't see "Music Man," or anything by Rodgers and Hammerstein, or Lerner and Loewe.

Think more along the lines of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," "Reefer Madness" and the popular off-Broadway two-person musical, "The Last 5 Years."

"We wanted to start a professional theater company to give all the local professional actors another place to work," said Daniel Simons, one of the company's founders.

"Dark Horse Company Theater will focus on the smaller, off-Broadway musical niche and the stuff you don't see around this town very much," Simons said.

Founded by four local actors — Simons, Ali Bennett, Ginger Bess and Jon Copier — Dark Horse will hold auditions today for its first show, "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," running this July at Park City's Egyptian Theatre.

(Auditions will be held from 1-4 p.m. in Room 245 of Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 S. 1400 East. Call 801-359-8459 for more information.)

"We'll be renting the theater for two weeks," Simons said, "That will not be our regular theater, but they needed a summer play and we needed a venue," he said, noting that for the first year, the company will be more of a "touring company," renting different spaces in the valley and "eventually finding our own space."

The response in the theater community has been positive, Simons said.

"We've just had a huge response. Not just for auditions, but people have been crawling out of the woodwork to help us get started. There are four of us, but we have 30 people helping us and volunteering. They just really want to see this succeed."

The company is currently applying for rights to shore up its season, and it is planning on having "a Halloween-type show, Christmas show and shows for spring and summer."

"There are a lot of off-Broadway, smaller shows that people haven't even heard of that are fantastic," Simons said, "We're considering 'A New Brain,' 'Tick, Tick Boom,' 'Reefer Madness.' And we want to take on some new musicals like 'Spring Awakening.' " Though some shows, like "Spring Awakening" have not yet released rights, Simons notes, "we're an ambitious group — we're in it to win it."

The company's founders will also serve as part of the creative staff for the first show: Simons, director; Bess, music director; Copier, technical director; and Bennett, company manager.

"There's all sorts of talent in this town that is not being used. There is a really big theater scene here, and this type of entertainment needs to exist."

E-mail: ehansen@desnews.com