Scott Rathbun also joins team as new treasurer
The Denver Actors Fund (DAF) is entering a new era with the adoption of a co-leadership model, co-founder and Executive Director John Moore announced today. Moving forward, prominent Colorado theater artists Kenny Moten and Ronni Stark will serve as Co-Presidents of the Board of Directors, marking a significant milestone in the non-profit’s mission to support Colorado theater artists.
The all-volunteer DAF has helped nearly 600 Colorado theater artists on stage and off to pay down their medical bills by more than $1.3 million since 2013. It also provides affordable mental-health care, emergency dental care and neighborly assistance to qualified applicants through an army of about 60 volunteers. The newly created PAWS Fund separately helps artists pay down pet medical expenses.
“Kenny and Ronni are not only two of the most accomplished and respected people in our Colorado theater community right now, they both have deep histories with the Denver Actors Fund, and they enjoy a healthy personal and professional camaraderie that goes back more than 20 years,” Moore said. “More important, these are two wildly successful artists who also know how to run successful businesses – and that’s incredibly rare. They get things done.”
Moten is the creator and owner of Narrative Creative Consulting, which presents entertainment events and helps clients ranging from National Jewish Hospital to Snooze Eatery shape their narratives, customer service, employee training and brand strategies. Stark is the owner of a Denver event, entertainment and production company called Dance Trax. The two also have shared experience from working together on theatrical productions and corporate events for the former Starkey Theatrix.
‘I’M OF THE OPINION THAT TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE.’ – KENNY MOTEN
They also have decades-long histories as performers, choreographers, directors and producers. Stark has been performing since she was a child, starring in the title role of “Gypsy” at both the Arvada Center and Boulder’s BDT Stage, among many others. This winter, she will be choreographing “Urinetown” at the Town Hall Arts Center.
Moten, who began performing in Denver more than 20 years ago as a Barnstormer at the lamented Country Dinner Playhouse, has been on the roll of a lifetime in 2023. Earlier this month, Moten directed three productions that were playing simultaneously: “Ms. Rhythm: The Legend of Ruth Brown” at the Denver Center’s Galleria Theatre, “Dreamgirls” at the Lone Tree Arts Center and “Fiddler on the Roof,” which will close the venerable dinner theater’s 45-year run in January. He’s just begun rehearsals for “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” opening Nov. 24 at the Arvada Center.
“The fact that they’ve known each other for all these years, and they have a shared work history together and a common affection for the Denver Actors Fund and for each other makes what they might get accomplished as DAF co-presidents incredibly exciting to think about,” Moore said. “By sheer virtue of their experience and track records, they command respect and attention wherever they go. They give us added heft.”
Moten has been an at-large board member since 2018. Among his many contributions, he supervised a collection effort at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Johnstown that resulted in the largest donation to the DAF in its history to that point – $17,000.
“I love collaborating with Ronni,” Moten said, “I think the organization is at the point where we have to figure out what our growth is going to look like, and also really get down to the mission that started it all – and to think about how we can help the community more. And I’m of the opinion that two heads are better than one.”
Stark, who served the DAF as the nonprofit’s event liaison in the early days, is a new DAF Board member. When the DAF programmed a monthly film festival with the Alamo Drafthouse that paired the screening of a classic movie with live entertainment from a local theater company staging that same title at the same time, Stark handled all the logistics.
‘WE HAVE SOME IMPORTANT WORK TO DO, AND SOME EXCITING WORK TO DO’ – RONNI STARK
“There’s nothing I would not do for The Denver Actors Fund, and to be in the same conversation alongside Kenny Moten is very exciting for me,” Stark said. “I think that the Denver Actors Fund is in a very exciting place where we can continue to support that grassroots effort that John has worked so hard on for so many years – but I think there’s enormous potential as well.”
“This shift toward a co-leadership model was both inspired by and will be uniquely tailored to Moten and Stark’s individual strengths,” Moore said. “These two do everything with integrity. They are in it for the right reasons. They are positive and encouraging. They trust and respect one another and others. They have a vision for our future – and a plan to take us there. They are just solid human beings.”
Moten and Stark succeed Chris Gibley, the longest-serving Board President in Denver Actors Fund history. When Gibley assumed the board presidency in October 2019, The Denver Actors Fund had distributed about $400,000 in aid. The organization has sent out nearly $900,000 in the four years since. Gibley resigned last month to spend more time focusing on urgent family business.
Moten lives in Fort Collins with his husband, Whit Refvem. Stark, who lives in Centennial, graduated from Littleton High School and went to the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the mother of sons Kale and Cole.
The Denver Actors Fund is also announcing today the appointment of Scott Rathbun as Board Treasurer. Rathbun, a graduate of Columbine High School with an MBA from the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, is a longtime local actor and President of Apartment Appraisers & Consultants Inc., a niche commercial real-estate appraisal and consulting firm. He recently starred in the True West Award-winning “In the Trenches” at the Town Hall Arts Center. He and wife Angela are the parents of two sons.
Rathbun replaces Elizabeth Scott-McKean, Miners Alley Playhouse’s former Associate Managing Director. Scott-McKean was the longest-serving board member in DAF history at six years. She resigned in January, like Gibley, to help support family members in urgent need.
The DAF was formed in June 2013 by Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore and local attorney and frequent stage performer Christopher Boeckx, who was the organization’s first president and longtime legal counsel. Later that year, he was succeeded as Board President by Miners Alley Playhouse Artistic Director Brenda Billings, who died in April 2016 from a catastrophic brain hemorrhage. Her son-in-law, Will Barnette, stepped into that role until Gibley’s appointment in 2019.
Continuing board members include:
- Gail Bransteitter, Director of Public Relations at Barefoot PR;
- Dr. Brian Kelly, who has provided the community with nearly $140,000 in emergency dental care;
- Dr. Kelli Lewis, a longtime area emergency-room physician; and
- Fletcher L. Woolsey, social-studies teacher at Cherry Creek High School.
The DAF’s current volunteer legal counsel is Graham Fuller (a non-board position). Moore will continue in his position as Executive Director, focused on the everyday administration of the fund.
“We have some important work to do and some exciting work to do,” Stark said. “And I think Kenny and I will work very well together in moving this organization in an exciting new direction.”
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Video above: The Denver Actors Fund presents the memorial video at the Colorado Theatre Guild’s 2023 Henry Awards.
The Denver Actors Fund is a source of immediate, situational relief when members of the local theater community find themselves in medical need. To date, the Fund has allocated more than $1,300,000 to more than 560 artists facing medical need. In addition to financial relief, a team of more than 100 Denver Actors Fund volunteers offers good neighborly assistance including meal prep and delivery, child care, transportation, errands, construction, pet-sitting and more. For more information, visit our web site at DenverActorsFund.Org.
