PopUp Theatre Disbanded Following Artistic Director's Failure to Pay Artists

On March 31, PopUp Theatre premiered its production of Terrence McNally's Corpus Christi. The road to the production's opening had been difficult, with disputes behind the scenes, accidents on the set, claims of an abusive rehearsal room, and threats of protests over the play's portrayal of Jesus as a gay teenager. Still, the creative team was proud of the result.

However, when Corpus Christi closed its run at the People's Building on April 15, the cast and crew experienced another surprise: They were not paid in full. Instead, on the final day, each cast member received a $200 advance (of the $675 originally promised in the audition notice) and was told the rest of their payment would be made within the next month. This was the first time the cast had heard about a change in the timeline, but it would not be the last.

Four months later, the cast and stage manager still have not been paid in full. The dispute was made public on June 7, when the entire Corpus Christi team signed an open letter to Christopher Huelshorst, the artistic director, accusing him of withholding $8,525 in wages for their work on the play. Their letter requested payment of $475 per actor (totaling $6,175), $675 for music direction, $675 for fight/intimacy coordination and $1,000 for stage management by June 13. With that deadline passed and no contracts to back up their demands, the team has decided to take matters into their own hands.

"In response to this, we are producing an event called Into the Fire on August 14 in collaboration with the Bug Theatre," says actor Emma Maxfield, who played Judas in Corpus Christi and is assisting her fellow cast and crew members in the organization of the independently produced event. "Into the Fire is a pay-what-you-can night of solidarity, storytelling and art. We hope to raise funds to replace our stolen wages while also drawing attention to systemic problems in the Colorado theater community."

The allegations made against PopUp Theatre, which recently moved to Aurora after opening in Fort Collins in 2015, incensed and baffled Colorado's theater scene. As Huelshorst shuts down the organization he founded to produce unconventional theater, he has kept communication with the cast to a minimum and avoided participating in online discussions about the situation.

"I've not said anything online, but they are clearly comfortable doing cancel culture," Huelshorst says. "I feel like their letter sets me up as some kind of 'Music Man' figure. ... It was described as if I tricked them into doing this play and then vanished with all the money, as if not paying them was my plan all along. I think if you really look at our history, PopUp was created to make art that challenged people and because we wanted to pay artists more. We thought we could do even better in Denver. It was set up in these postings that I had walked away from the debt. My email distinctly said payment was delayed, that we're trying to pay it quickly and that we would pay it."

When asked about his timeline for paying back the company's debt, Huelshorst does not provide any specific details. "I can’t speak to this," he says. "In October, I left my full-time job to do PopUp. I have now started a new job. I promise the debt will be paid."

He says the final payment will include the tips collected, which he confirms were roughly $840. "But how soon? I don't know," Huelshorst admits.

In addition to the artists' delayed payment, PopUp Theatre did not pay the People's Building its contracted 80/20 box office split, which Aaron Vega, the venue's curator and facilities coordinator, estimates at $1,437.40.

"We are not working with PopUp in the future," Vega says. "We can’t. Our bill was unpaid. There are core tenets of city government that we have to uphold, and it is hard to make the case that the Corpus Christi process upheld those tenets. The production was beautiful, but it suffered from poor communication and a producer who bit off more than he could chew. I sympathize with the cast; they deserved to be compensated for their efforts, but there were no contracts. They were operating under a handshake agreement, which I am sure they will never do again. [The People's Building] has contracts, so we know exactly what the city of Aurora is owed. ... I hope that Christopher keeps his word to pay the actors soon."


"Cock had great actors, a minimalist set and a script no one had done in a while," Vega says. "Christopher was very professional and has a knack for selecting fantastic plays that other companies were unwilling to do. I was delighted to see PopUp marketed as theater for everyone with a queer focus. I thought PopUp would make an interesting resident theater company for the People's Building, but I think it was just too much too soon, and promises were made that could not be kept.

"When Christopher approached me about Corpus Christi, I was very nervous about the idea because of its size," he continues. "Terrence McNally is an incredible playwright, and [Christopher's] vision for the play was cool, but with over a dozen actors in a show and no board in place, that was a big ask. Christopher is not a trained theater professional; he is a graphic designer who views theater as an art form, and without a team around him, things get missed and dropped."


Maxfield and Tripp both say that Huelshorst's charisma and ambitions for Denver theater initially piqued their interest. "Christopher and I really hit it off," recalls Maxfield. "I was stoked by his idea of what he wanted PopUp to be, and felt like he was offering me the opportunity to get in on the ground floor on something that was going to change the Denver theater community forever."

But as Corpus Christi progressed, the cast and creative team began to see Huelshorst in a different light. The artists claim Huelshorst lost the cast's respect because of repeated "belittlement, bullying and blaming," which Maxfield claims occurred throughout the process.  

"He lost the cast’s trust because he didn’t manage time well and came in without a plan," says Maxfield. "Everyone was frustrated with how he ran rehearsals, but no one knew how to communicate that to him, so they told me. ... Our big disagreements were about intimacy and violence in the show. Christopher felt like the best theater happened in the moment and couldn't be planned. During rehearsals, he encouraged those who might be more resistant to the way things are now, aka more respect and boundaries, to vocally dissent."
Huelshorst disagrees with this characterization of the rehearsal space and blames the conflicts on generational differences. "I think that with the violence and intimacy stuff, you have two schools: You have Maya [Ferrario], Emma, Hannah and some of the other cast members who are of a certain generation, and then you have [veteran actors] on the other side of the cast frustrated by their process," he says.

But every cast member signed the open letter regarding Huelshort.

The actors say that their disagreements reached a boiling point during tech week, when the cast and crew rehearsed Corpus Christi with all of its technical elements for the first time. "On Monday [March 27], we were kept an hour late, which was blamed on Maya’s fight call, which was, at most, twenty minutes," Maxfield says. "Christopher belittled her, questioned her judgment, ability to lead and understanding of how theater works in front of the cast. Then he walked away — like that was the right thing to do — so I stepped in and said no one on the executive team was leaving until we addressed the bullying, blaming and finger-pointing that occurred. But there was not an apology given to anyone."

Johnathan Underwood, who played Jesus, spent that Monday evening after rehearsal at Boulder Medical Center having a wood splinter removed following an injury on the set; this was the first of two injuries he sustained during the production. His second injury occurred during a performance on April 2, when a nail impaled his foot.

“Both of these incidents were shared with Christopher immediately due to safety issues," says Underwood, who says he attempted to bring his concerns to Corpus Christi's leadership. At first, "Christopher never once saw my wounds nor even asked to see the wounds, which is why the comment regarding the splinter in John Moore’s article [in the Denver Gazette] was really insulting," Underwood continues. "The following week, after opening weekend, Christopher did come to me before that Thursday performance to offer his apologies about my foot, but stated he had no idea about it happening until days later. The performance that same evening was the first time we were 'suggested' to wear footwear by Christopher."

"The way [the play] had been blocked depended on us balancing on these rickety wooden platforms, which we didn’t have until tech," Maxfield adds. "This was troubling, because we were directed to do the show barefoot. When we discussed safety issues with him, he would complain about his vision being compromised; that’s when the injuries started happening." 

In response to whether he knew about Underwood's wounds, Huelshorst says, "During tech week, Johnathan pulled Hannah aside wearing a Band-Aid, saying he got a splinter and had gone to urgent care. I said, 'Let me know if this gets worse.' On April 2, I believe they are saying it was, Johnathan cut his foot on the platform. To this day, we don’t know where it was. He bled on the floor. I knew nothing about it until the following day, when Hannah texted me, ‘What are going to do about the blood on the stage?’ I responded that we needed to get that mopped up. Later, I approached Johnathan and said, 'I didn’t know anything about this; I'm just finding out.' And I saw it, and it looked vicious."

Huelshorst acknowledges seeing the wound, but says he didn't offer to cover the medical expenses "because I did not know [about the injury]. I didn't offer to pay for it in the moment, and I've also never been approached with what it cost."

Following the disastrous tech rehearsal on March 27, the next evening saw things go from bad to worse.
"The final straw was the night Hannah was sick" on Tuesday, March 28, Maxfield says. "Hannah was gone, so no one is watching the clock. I set a timer to go off at 10:25 p.m. to give him a five-minute heads-up to finish up and prevent a repeat of the previous night. The timer goes off in the middle of [him giving] notes. I ask him if he could wrap it up in five minutes or if he would be willing to send the rest of the notes via email. Christopher looks at me and says, ‘It doesn’t sound like I have a choice,’ and then walks out of rehearsal. We all then got an unhinged text message in the morning that threatened consequences if we threatened his process."

On March 29, at 2:19 a.m., Huelshorst sent the following text message to the cast group chat: "It is clear there are frustrations, tensions, and conflicts. It is also been brought to my attention that some cast members have suggested that there is some type of representative that can speak and advocate for the cast. This will stop now! If anyone has complaints they should be brought to me or your stage manager, no one else. ... If anyone attempts to undermine my direction, set timers on me, or interferes with the rest of the cast’s process, there will be consciences [sic]."

Maxfield and Tripp say Huelshorst's actions were an apparent effort to splinter the cast, but their belief in the show's message helped them endure it, even when the production process became challenging. As Maxfield told Westword earlier this year, she was "so excited to be participating in a show that is wildly different than anything I have seen on a Denver stage in a long time."

But as soon as the show debuted, it encountered a new issue: poor ticket sales. "I think there was an over-reliance on ticket sales," Vega says. "At the end of the day, ticket sales were not good; they were abysmal. If your entire business model is based on ticket sales and you don't sell, you are sunk."

"Before the second weekend of shows, from a business point of view, I became very concerned about ticket sales," Huelshorst recalls. "Throughout the run, on average, we didn't even hit 10 percent capacity. When we closed the show, we paid them an advance. ... Everyone asked when the final check would arrive, and I said it would be by the end of next month, which would have been the end of May. I communicated with them on May 31, and it was not an easy email to write; I informed them that the final payment would be delayed."

But Tripp began contacting Huelshorst around May 25, after the cast had not heard from him since closing night. "At this point, I was willing to give him another chance," Tripp says. "I messaged him about my new mailing address and asked about any updates on the check. No response. I sent another email 24 hours later. When I did not hear back, I sent another email. He responded to me on Saturday night [May 27], saying, 'I will have an update tomorrow.' We did not hear from him again until May 31."

Huelshorst wrote to the cast: "This is not an easy email to write, nor easy to own the challenges PopUp has taken on with this important legacy project. Due to low ticket sales, final payment plus tips with be delayed. Please understand PopUp is committed to making good on this debt and getting you paid as quickly as possibly. ... The board is meeting on Thursday and will discuss a plan. ... Please know we value your work. Making art is important, and expensive, and just hard. Thank you for your understanding."
While the cast members began to consider their options, they decided to wait until the PopUp Theatre board meeting on June 1 to see what would happen. However, that deadline passed without Huelshorst providing an update.

Finally, on June 3, they received a brief message from Huelshorst via email, apologizing for the delayed response and stating that the board meeting had been postponed "due to the Board President being unable to meet due to a personal conflict. However, the meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m."

But there was no meeting, or even a board to hold one. Although Huelshorst had been in the process of putting together a board, he admits, "There isn't a board president. No one [was on the board], and there haven't been any board meetings. I was still working on drafting a charter in order to bring on a board." Nonetheless, Huelshorst attempted to reassure the cast and stage manager via email that he was working with an operational board and would contact them the following Wednesday.

"Before we received Christopher's email on June 3, roughly half of the cast was on board with the letter and taking public action," Tripp explains. "Once we received his email about this board not being able to meet, the rest of the cast agreed to move forward. That was the last time we, as a team, heard from him."

On June 7, all fourteen members of the cast and crew of Corpus Christi, including Ferrario, Maxfield, Tripp, Underwood, Cole Henson, Jesse Pacheco, Bryan Anderson, Mallory Kassoy, Clint Heyn, Liam Broadhurst, Samantha Worth, Fabian Vazquez, Joaquin Aviña and Eddie Schumacher, signed and released a public letter to Huelshorst.

"We were promised payment for our work, and while ticket sales are vital to sustaining a theatre company, this is irrelevant to our agreements," the letter reads. "The aforementioned email stated we would receive an update on June 2nd, but we heard from you on June 3rd, announcing yet another delay in information and payment. … We are still owed [$8,525]. We are also owed an unknown amount of tips. ... As you know, we have no contracts to back up these amounts, despite us asking for, and being promised contracts multiple times. However, we hold you to the many verbal agreements you made to us. Therefore, we are asking to receive our full payments to each cast and crew member no later than June 13th 2023." 

By going public and putting pressure on him, the hope was that it would force Huelshorst to act. "We recognize the power a group of us have in being able to say, 'Hey, this is not okay,' because it is causing serious problems in some of our lives," Tripp says. "I am a full-time contract theater worker, so not receiving payment that was promised screws up my entire fiscal year at this point."

As for why there has been no further communication with the cast, Huelshorst says it's "because of the delay and this group. I've just decided to stay neutral. My Facebook page and PopUp Theatre's page came down because there was a dogpile."

He adds, "And this Into the Fire event — how am I supposed to interpret that? Are they expecting me to be there on a stake? ... When I do start to write checks, I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll communicate with them about it or if I’ll just send them off and wait for the checks to clear. It worries me to send out another message because I have been butchered and cornered. ... I have one final message: 'To the people who want to destroy me, you win. PopUp Theatre is closed; I’m done.'"

But Corpus Christi cast and crew see Into the Fire as a way to move on, to raise funds and awareness of structural issues in the larger Colorado theater community.

"We are not organizing a witch hunt," Maxfield says. "The goal with all of this — our letter, talking to [media outlets] and this event — is so that we can finally stop having these types of conversations. Even if it's just because every producer will be terrified of another cast doing what we have done. ... Even if it is just because people see that this man's theater company is over [because] people are talking about things that we thought we could just bury. I never want to have to send another open letter; that's my goal."


Of Huelshorst, Maxfield adds, "He wants goodwill to be the law of the land and would prefer we work this out privately. How are we supposed to believe you when we have so many reasons not to trust that you are going to do what you say? You can still prove us wrong, Christopher, but up to this moment, this hour of this day, tips and wages have been stolen."

Into the Fire, 7 p.m. Monday, August 14, Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo Street; doors open at 6:30. Tickets are pay-what-you-can; get more information here.