A theater in downtown Denver has defaulted on its $400,000 taxpayer-backed loan without opening for a single show. The loan included $52,000 earmarked for rent, yet the theater was evicted because it paid only one month of rent, according to records obtained by 9NEWS.
Key facts: Playwrights Blair Russell and Steve Wargo received the 3% interest, 13-year loan to open the Denver Immersive Repertory Theater. The city described it as the “world’s first resident immersive, theatrical production studio and venue,” in which audience members would be part of the plays.
The money was part of $100 million in loans announced in July 2025 by the Denver Downtown Development Authority, funded by sales and property taxes generated from other downtown businesses.
The playwrights received the entire $400,000 this February and pledged to use it for rent in March, April and May. But landlord Fred Glick evicted them in June, telling 9NEWS he only received rent for one month.
The playwrights also hired Beaver Construction Consulting to renovate a former Patagonia store into a 200-seat venue at a cost of $2 million. Construction stopped midway through. Beaver Construction sued in June, alleging they were not paid for $269,000 of work, the Denver Post reported. The construction company dropped the lawsuit in July.
The City of Denver demanded the playwrights produce documentation by Aug. 7 showing how they spent their loan, but the deadline passed without any response. It’s unclear how the city will proceed.
Doug Tisdale, chair of the Denver Downtown Development Authority, told 9NEWS the agency had never experienced such a mysterious default. The agency had previously disbursed $250 million in loans. He said going forward, the agency will reimburse loan recipients for business expenses instead of issuing loans as a lump sum in advance.
Summary: While not all taxpayer-backed loans default, the process still forces the public to assume risks that no privately-owned bank ordinarily would.
