Red Willow
a ritual of preparation for resistance
Created by Control Group Productions
An expeditionary performance taking guests on a 2½ mile journey through South Platte Park starting from Carson Nature Center parking lot 3000 W Carson Dr, Littleton, CO 80120
Performance times calibrated to sunset and twilight
March 20 - April 4, 2026
What rites of spring can prepare us for the coming onslaught?
How do we prepare ourselves and our communities to stand and resist?
Red Willow is a ritual preparation for resistance, shared over a 2½ mile journey with audiences through the woods at dusk. Through live performance and participatory rituals, we work to galvanize ourselves into responsibility and action confronting surging fascism, climate catastrophe, and escalating brutality against people and land. Featuring an all-white male ensemble, Red Willow explores the role embodied masculinity and inherited power play within movements of resistance. Together we reckon with land, legacy, masculinity, and power, asking: How do we prepare for resistance from where we stand?
In dialogue with a wide-ranging collection of Resistance movements, mythologies, and the Land itself, Red Willow invites us to bring ourselves to the question of what world we believe in and how we engage in a fight for it without losing ourselves.
Red Willow continues Control Group’s exploration of Land and Seasons within our treeline works series, following After The Flood (June 2021); Canopy (October 2022); and Bitter Moon (December 2023). Red Willow meets the Land not as deified Nature but as a partner in the struggle, and a victim of violence. The work calls in the voices of Bruno LaTour, Martin Shaw, Nick Estes, and Timothy Snyder, the myth of Parzival and the Fisher King, and the infamous riot-inducing 1913 world premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps by the Ballet Russes, as we consider what it means and what it requires to stand up and confront evil without acquiescing to its tactics.
Creative Team
Concept & Direction: Patrick Mueller
Ensemble: Nicholas Caputo, Adam Gildar, Michael Gunst, David Ortolano
Visual Design: Irene Joyce
Sound Design: Nicholas Caputo
Red Willow Reading List
These voices and stories sit beneath the work, offering context, tension, and deeper echoes for those who wish to explore further:
Bruno LaTour, Facing Gaia – a call for a New Climate Movement in recognition that war is being waged on Nature.
Martin Shaw, Snowy Tower – a discussion of Parzival, the Fisher King, and the quest for the Grail.
Nick Estes, Our History is the Future – a reflection on Indigenous resistance movements.
Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny – lessons on tyranny and resistance, drawn from the 20th century to share in the 21st century.
Ballet Russes, The Rite of Spring, premiere May 1913, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Sergei Diaghilev, impresario; Igor Stravinsky, composer; Vaslav Nijinsky, choreographer.
Production Notes
Weather & Environment
This is an all-weather event in a city-maintained open space. Please check the weather forecast and plan accordingly, including sturdy footwear and clothing that will keep you warm outdoors for 90 minutes. We particularly recommend thick warm socks, or plastic bags over your socks and inside your shoes. We will have layers (jackets, blankets, hats) and plastic bags on-hand at the start location for guests to use.
We will cancel performances for weather conditions that prevent safe driving to the site, or that endanger performer and audience safety. This includes temperatures forecast to be less than 20°F at any time during the event.
Accessibility
We will release a full accessibility guide for the production by March 2. Please contact us at shannon@controlgroupproductions.org with any questions.
Mobility general: This event involves a 2.5 mile journey through a city-maintained open space, on pavement and gravel trails with minimal grade. The journey lasts 80 minutes, and does not provide designated seating for audiences.
Wheelchairs: Please contact us if you would like to attend in a wheelchair. All routes are designed for accessibility for manual chairs; however, during this season weather and trail conditions vary considerably, and some routes may be difficult or impossible to roll through. We warmly welcome intrepid wheelchair riders on this journey, attending with a mobility assistant (no 2nd ticket needed) and manual chair. With advance notice we may be able to provide these to guests in need.
Sensory general: At this event audiences have broad discretion around where they stand and walk, allowing them to manage their proximity to performers, sound system, and other sensory elements.
Visibility and Photosensitivity: This event occurs at dusk, with limited visibility. Audience members have flashlights for trail visibility, and event personnel use moving flashlights and worklights to support visibility. There are no strobe effects, but the movement of the lights may create similar effects.
Physical Contact: This event includes elective moments of minor physical contact between performers and guests. This is limited to hands, arms, and shoulders, and guests may step away from performers at any time to indicate that performers should not initiate contact.
Subject matter: This event includes depictions and discussion of violence and intimacy.
Restrooms: There are public restrooms available near the start location at Carson Nature Center and the 7Eleven (purchase may be required). There are no facilities along the rest of the route.
PARKING: Guests should park here in the RTD parking lot, cross the street, and meet us in front of the 7Eleven here. Folks who are running late can try walking down the sidewalk into the park and taking this trail to find us.
CANCELLATION POLICY: Due to the limited tickets available for each show, and the limited staffing of our small non-profit organization, all sales are considered final. As possible, we will consider ticket cancellation or change requests made at least 5 days in advance. We will prioritize requests linked to financial hardship.
