What We Do

The Wit began in Denver in 2012 with 8 original founding members. We started by producing plays and musicals, including The Pillowman, Arcadia, The Aliens, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Edges, Macbeth, The Last Five Years, and The Rocky Horror Show in a more traditional theatre space. In 2015, with rising production costs and without a home base venue, we pivoted to create Shakesbeer—abridged, cup-in-hand productions of Shakespeare’s plays presented in bars and breweries. Using works in the public domain, rehearsing in Cheesman Park, and performing in non-traditional theatre spaces helped us grow our impact, with Shakesbeer reaching ~11,000 audience members in 40+ breweries over 10 years.

Now, as a member-driven collective of 17, The Wit is expanding outside of Shakesbeer to explore the development of original and immersive works, creating and cultivating art designed to bring people together. We center connection, collaboration, and community as we make theatre in everyday spaces to spark shared experiences that are accessible to all. In a time when connection feels increasingly fragmented, we hope to be artistic leaders in imagining and creating our collective future.

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Why We Do It

We believe in the power of community, and our productions aim to bring people together. We’ve spent the last 14 years cultivating a space for people to come and play and experience the joys of performing and creating, regardless of their professional backgrounds. We want our productions—the making and the watching—to be accessible to all. We make theatre because it brings people together in real time and space and offers us a moment to just be where we are. We believe that theatre is an exercise in imagining, not only what is, but what could be. That’s why we are interested in pushing boundaries, looking past what’s there to see what could be, and making sure the vision we hold has a place for everyone.

Community is our central value. That’s why we’ve created an artist/member-led company where we strive for consensus in decision-making. Each of our members brings their unique passion, brilliance, and spark to our company, making us stronger than the sum of our parts.

Who We Are

Adeline Mann @adeline.m.m

Addie joined The Wit in 2015 after performing in Eurydice on The Wit Mainstage and the first-ever Shakesbeer production, Much Ado About Nothing. Since then, she’s cut most of our scripts, acted in a bunch of them, and directed a handful (including 2025’s Midsummer). She’s stuck around because The Wit is her first and best artistic home and because she loves making stuff with her favorite people in the world. Addie currently serves on the Executive Board and as the chair of the Marketing Committee.

Kristen Honiotes @khoni214

Kristin is a founding member of The Wit, which she started with 7 other people back in 2012, and serves as the Executive Director of the company. She's been involved in every project in some capacity, director, actor, producer, stage manager, costumer, musical director, fight choreographer—if there's a job to be done in a show, she’s probably done it. Kristin's favorite part of this whole thing is the company that's been built along the way. Creating, building and supporting friends and artists alike is her life's work and she couldn't be more proud. In the immortal words of Malvolio, "Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them."

Josh Mckee @mckeezymacncheesy

Josh joined the Wit in 2015, playing Borachio in Shakesbeer's first production of Much Ado About Nothing. Josh has been in many Shakesbeer productions since then, including Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2017, Prince Hal in Henry 4 pt.1 in 2019, and Gremio in 2025's production of Taming of the Shrew. He loves this community for the creativity it cultivates and the radical theater it produces. Josh currently serves on the Membership Community.

Dylan Nevergall @bonafidedylan

Dylan joined The Wit in 2016 when he was 20 as a director’s assistant for Romeo and Juliet, but did not see the warm light of the stage until he’d aged appropriately. For his first show, he played the part of Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing. Since then he’s done a little bit of everything. He’s happy to still be here. Dylan is currently developing an original show (Timberfiend) for The Wit, and serves on the Marketing Committee.

Amanda Carlson @mandasaurusrex8820

Amanda joined The Wit in 2018 as a swing performer in Arden of Faversham, before going on to build her fan base (her cat, Hank) by playing mostly old men and the occasional floosie in shows such as Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Henry IV pt I, Taming of the Shrew, and Midsummer Night’s Dream. She loves being silly and making art with the funnest bunch of weirdos. In 2026 she co-produced a collaborative burlesque rendition of Titus Andronicus and currently serves on the Venues committee.

Nick Kemner

Nick is a founding member, director, actor, writer, dramaturg, and Executive Board Member with The Wit, starting in 2012. His first project with the commitment was directing Annie Baker's The Aliens, as well as Shakesbeer's premier production, Much Abrew About Nothing in 2015, and subsequently has developed many more of Shakesbeer's premier productions. In recent years, Nick has brought Shakesbeer to NYC where he lives with his partner and two cats. He finds the most joy in collaboratively exploring and crafting new worlds reinterpreted from Shakespeare's canon. Community and accessibility are indispensable pillars of his work and The Wit, and it’s the people around him that keep him creating, year after year.

Austin Terrell @the_bald_bard

Austin is an actor, aspiring producer, and man-about-town who joined The Wit officially in 2026 after playing Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew. After playing Prospero in The Tempest back in 2024, he realized he's found a truly special group with which to crush a cup over the summers.
Austin has worked on stages across Colorado, including Colorado Shakespeare Festival, The Catamounts, and most recently the Vintage Theater. He is overjoyed and humbled to be a part of The Wit.

Macbeth Richardson @gorgusflan

Macbeth Richardson joined The Wit in 2015 and has appeared in almost all the classics, including Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and Julius Caesar, as well as lesser-known works like Cymbeline and Arden of Faversham. Usually cast as the ingénue or the fool, they’ve recently enjoyed stepping into more villainous roles. They are currently baring it all in The Wit’s burlesque collaboration of Titus Andronicus. The Wit has long been an artistic home for Macbeth—a safe place to grow out of the wretchedness of their twenties—and the practice and performance of Shakespeare continue to fill something deep in their heart.

Charles Ewing

Charles finds themself as the President of The Wit after the strangest and best nine years of their life. First cast as the long-winded Gonzalo in 2017’s The Tempest, Charles has helped their community grow, adapt, endure a pandemic, and flourish as a member-driven collective. Charles cannot express the magnitude of gratitude for the trust placed in them, the ownership and access to creativity, and the connection to a kind, caring and meaningfully engaged community. The people here have helped Charles become a person they are proud to be every day.

Elizabel Riggs

Elizabel has thoroughly enjoyed being a part of The Wit as an actor and director. After throwing subtlety to the wind and begging Nick Kemner to invite her to a reading throughout the pandemic, Elizabel was overjoyed to join the casts of Cymbeline, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, and Love’s Labours Lost in quick succession. She recently made her regional directing debut with The Taming of the Shrew, and is so grateful to The Wit for allowing her to play and experiment with a prickly story. Elizabel enjoys working with other theater companies around Colorado, and is deeply grateful to have found friends for life at The Wit. Mwah!

Aaron Dupuis @stank_ranger

Aaron Dupuis joined The Wit in 2018, when he first starred in Arden of Faversham as the titular absentee husband/lord/frat boy. Since then he has continued to participate in Shakesbeer and other productions as an actor, a producer, and musician. Above all, he values the freedom that Shakesbeer offers actors (creatively) and the audience (financially), and the opportunity to create original works with an eclectic group of artists.

Lydia Thompson

Lydia joined The Wit back in 2024 after being successfully marketed to via Instagram ad. They performed as Sebastian in The Tempest and were a swing for a production of Twelfth Night that same summer. Since then they’ve taken more of a behind the scenes role, focusing more on the growth of the company rather than performing (for now ). The Wit has been a theatrical space where Lydia has felt able to truly show up as themselves and for that they will always be grateful. They are currently helping to grow the community of The Wit by serving on the Membership Committee.

Jason Laub

Jason joined The Wit for the 2017 production of Romeo and Brewliet as County Paris, a performance that critics would later hail as "unpalatable". He has since participated in about a baker's dozen Wit productions, and has become rather addicted to the medium. He has immense gratitude for a community of artists and friends coming together to create as equals. Cheers to a baker's dozen more!

“Denver’s The Wit Theatre Company is paying tribute to the buzzed bard with ShakesBeer, a collection of free alcohol-infused performances wherein the actors imbibe before and during—and probably after—the show. It results in more than a few mishaps, a lot of laughter, and quite a bit of spilled beer.”

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"Whether you arrive as a devoted Shakespeare scholar, a craft-beer connoisseur or someone simply seeking a Sunday night adventure, Shakesbeer promises uproarious performances, unexpected improvisation and an invitation to lift your mug to the next decade of Bard and brew."

-Rooster Magazine

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What We Do

Why We Do It

Who We Are

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