CactusMan

About this event

Sean Michael Cummings and Denver Comedy Underground are proud to announce the one-night-only workshop premiere of CactusMan, a full-length dark comedy for a single performer, on Sunday, November 15, 2026.

Equal parts dark comedy, reality show confessional, and old-school thriller, CactusMan features Greeley man Frank Ashman – a local celebrity and father of two.

Frank is reality TV royalty: a two-time semifinalist on House of Theseus, the competition show that asks who would you vote out of your own family?

After twenty years off air, Frank sets up his camera to tape a new audition. But some mistakes are too big to leave on the cutting room floor…

The evening marks the fully staged workshop premiere of a new play by Denver writer Sean Michael Cummings. Cummings is the author of “Toxoplasmosis (or) High Strangeness” (DCPA Off-Center), “Bazaruto” (Phamaly Theatre Company) “Snipes” (Semifinalist, John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play), and doghead (Semifinalist, Bay Area Playwrights Festival). He is a recipient of the Orchard Project Fellowship and did stand up comedy in another life.

CactusMan also marks a new chapter for Denver Comedy Underground. Nationally recognized for its superior comedy programming and unparalleled intimacy, Denver Comedy Underground will open its stage for the first time to a full-length new play by a Denver playwright.

“CactusMan is really funny, but it’s also a well conceived night of theater,” said Ben Bryant, owner of Denver Comedy Underground. “I think Sean is writing some of the best new theatre in America, and this is a piece I really believe in.”

“My little joke,” Sean remarked about CactusMan, “is that every reality show is just a true crime show in slow motion…”

Often, the people I start out rooting for on reality TV wind up being absolute heels. So am I guilty by association, for cheering them on? With CactusMan, I wanted to get into the head of a longtime reality TV star and see what makes them tick. This show is equally the product of the Russian masters and about 1,000 hours of Real HouseWives.

Early word on Cummings’ writing:

“Sean’s writing is like disturbingly wonderful.”

– Annie Baker, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of The Flick

“Represents all that’s good in new, emerging writers.”

– Gary Garrison, Co-Founder of the Playwrights’ Workshop at NYU; Dramatists Guild

“Electric! Can’t wait to see this in full production.”

– Rough Draught Playwrights Denver

From Denver Comedy Underground