Read All About It!
A selection of writing about The MAT and its various shows! Articles, stories, reviews and more!
Patron Praise
“This theater makes you feel that they are there to simply make sure you have a wonderful experience.” Millibo’s value Bravo Indy (and Alissa Smith) for broadcasting kudos to our local Millibo Art Theatre (“Setting the stage,” cover story, Sept. 7)! Many years ago I met Birgitta DePree at a festival. She did a fabulous job of convincing me that I needed to bring my very young children (both barely walking at the time) to their theater. We have become some of their most loyal groupies. This theater and its...
read moreTheatre Review: Robert Dubac’s “The Book of Moron”
“MAT is one local theater that has no fear of taking chances on new work and edgy theater. ” – Bill Wheeler Find this review here. The Book of Moron Playwright: Robert Dubac Company: Millibo Art Theatre Venue: Millibo Theater, 1626 S. Tejon Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (no intermission). Date of Performance: Saturday, September 10, 2016. Mr. Dubac’s show is called The Book of Moron, and that’s also the first joke you will hear. It’s actually in the prerecorded...
read moreTheater review: Comedic character overload in ‘A Tuna Christmas’ at Millabo Art Theatre
By Tracy Mobley-Martinez Published in The Gazette: Dec. 18, 2015 See it online by clicking here In Tuna, the third smallest city in Texas, living is far from easy – even in the 24 hours before Christmas. Bertha Bumiller decorates the tree by herself, again – her kids and philandering husband who knows where. Director Joe Bob Lipsey’s “A Christmas Carol” may never see opening night if Tuna Electricity turns off their lights for missed payments. R.R. Snavely sees aliens. The Smut Snatchers of the New Order are...
read moreTheater Colorado Review- A Tuna Christmas
By Bill Wheeler, published on Theater Colorado Blog Dec. 16, 2015 READ IT HERE Playwrights: Jason Williams, Joe Sears, Ed Howard Company: Millibo Art Theatre (MAT) Venue: Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon St. Colorado Springs, CO 80905 Date of Performance: Sunday, December 13, 2015 If you’re looking for a hilarious, non-stop, high energy Christmas comedy, look no further. A Tuna Christmas at the Millibo Art Theatre (MAT) is exactly what you’re looking for. Tuna Texas is the setting; it’s small town rural red neck Texas at it’s...
read moreNot kidding: Millibo aims to please theater-goers of all ages
By Vanessa Martinez Published in the Colorado Springs Independent, Dec. 9, 2015 Read it HERE Whatever comes to mind with the words “children’s theatre,” it’s likely something Jim Jackson would like an opportunity to defy. Unless, perhaps, your performance is informed by time spent onstage in Canadian children’s theatres, as Jackson has. Maybe Europe’s, or Australia’s? Yeah, he did that, too. “Children’s theatre often has a bad reputation in the States,” says Jackson, one of Millibo...
read moreNo heartwarming holiday cheer in “A Tuna Christmas” at the Millibo Art Theatre
By Jen Mulson Published in The Gazette, Dec. 4, 2015 Read it HERE By Millibo Art Theatre, opens Thursday, runs 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays through Dec. 27, Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon St., $16-$18 Thursdays, $22-$25 Fridays-Sundays; 465-6321, themat.org. Once you’ve had your fill of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” please direct your attention to the folks in “A Tuna Christmas.” The antics of these 22 not so politically correct citizens could fill a year of episodes for “The Jerry Springer Show.”...
read moreTheater review: “Gary Busey’s One-Man ‘Hamlet'” in Colorado Springs is laugh-out-loud funny
by T.D. Mobley-Martinez Published in the Colorado Springs Gazette, Friday Nov. 20, 2015 Read it here It’s not hard to imagine what you’re going to get with a play called “Gary Busey’s One-Man ‘Hamlet'”: a wacked-out collision between the Bard and an over-the-top actor now virtually satirizing himself on Amazon.com commercials and reality TV shows. And that’s pretty much what writer and actor David Carl delivers in his manic multi- media show, a breakout hit of the 2014 New York International Fringe...
read moreTheater Colorado Review: STICK GUNS
Written by Bill Wheeler Playwright: Jim Jackson Venue: Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S. Tejon Street, Colorado Springs CO. Running Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes (no intermission) Date of Performance: Friday, October 23, 2015. Heads up. This post will include very little detail about the arc of the story. Details would ruin the experience, and I could not handle that level of guilt. Any theater piece with a one person cast is risky. Jim Jackson wrote Stick Guns, and he is the only actor on the stage for the entire performance. The script is...
read moreMillibo Art Theatre aims to reinvent performing arts
by Jeanne Davant Published in Life After 50 (October, 2015) Millibo Art Theatre founders Birgitta De Pree and Jim Jackson assume their alter egos of Babette Matdiva and Mr. Art Guffaw. It’s not often that you meet someone whose business card says, “Executive Director and Clown,” or someone whose job involves donning a curly red wig and transforming into a wacky alter ego called Babette Matdiva. Those job descriptions apply to Jim Jackson and Birgitta De Pree, the talented cofounders of the Millibo Art Theatre (MAT). The...
read moreMillibo Art Theatre keeps people smiling
ByMarija Vader Published in the Colorado Springs Business Journal, (June 8, 2015) It is the first day of the summer camps for children at the Millibo Art Theatre, and Executive Clown and Director Jim Jackson asks the instructor, “How’s it going?” “Really messy!” “Great!” said Jackson with his ever-present smile. In their course titled Messy Fun Camp, children aged 7 to 9 file outside behind the instructor, with their own smiles to match Jackson’s, because they’re on a mission: To make a mess. For Jackson, 59, and his wife, Artistic Director...
read more