Two new awards celebrate volunteers’ generosity of time and talent via namesakes Eli Testa and the late Daniel Langhoff
The Denver Actors Fund, which exists primarily because of ongoing support from members of the very same Colorado theater community it serves, is honoring Robert Michael Sanders and Kyra Archuleta for their ongoing service to the organization.
The DAF, which in 10 years has paid down local theater artists’ medical bills by $1.3 million, has two awards to acknowledge individuals who have gone out of their way to support the grassroots nonprofit – one specifically singling out a volunteer under 18 years old.
Archuleta, a senior at Mountain Vista High School, is the second recipient of the DAF’s Eli Testa Youth Service Award. Sanders, CEO of the Littleton Town Hall Arts Center, is the inaugural recipient of the new Daniel B. Langhoff Service Award.
“The DAF relies almost exclusively on individual members of our community stepping up and not only suggesting creative ways of raising revenue, but taking the initiative to turn those ideas into action,” said DAF co-founder John Moore. “Kyra and Robert have been generous with both their time and their talents for many years.”
Archuleta played a central role in the creation of a youth theater group called Future Is Bright that in two years already has raised more than $20,000 for the Denver Actors Fund.
Future is Bright was conceived by then 16-year-old Highlands Ranch High School sophomore Eli Testa during the pandemic shutdown as a way to create an annual performance opportunity for fellow high-school thespians from across the metro area – and to raise money for the Denver Actors Fund. The all-original cabaret, which returns for a third year Jan. 5-14 at the Parker Arts Schoolhouse Theatre, is entirely student-created – no adults allowed (except in the audience). FIB has cast more than 60 students from 21 Colorado high schools, many forging friendships that will last a lifetime. The company’s mission statement says: “We strive as youth performers to show that teenagers can make just as big of an impact as adults can.”
What they all create together over six months of every year becomes more than just a show. It is a monumental creative and philanthropic achievement that has profoundly and positively impacted the lives of Colorado theater artists at their most vulnerable.
VIDEO: WATCH KYRA ARCHULETA RECEIVE HER AWARD
Kyra Archuleta appearing in the 2022 Future is Bright cabaret. (Photo by John Moore.)
Archuleta has been integrally involved every step of the way, from initially performing and providing marketing support to taking on choreography to her current role as co-director. The DAF asked Testa to present the award to Archuleta on Sunday after the cast finished rehearsal for its upcoming show.
“It’s really cool all the work Kyra has done,” Testa said. “She has been a part of this for three years now, and she has always been a very key piece to this FIB puzzle. She’s done a ton of amazing work, and we couldn’t have raised all this money for the Denver Actors Fund without her.”
Sanders has been deeply involved with growing the Denver Actors Fund since its inception, and played a large part in inspiring its founding. In 2013, Sanders was partially paralyzed during what was supposed to be a routine rotator-cuff procedure that was badly botched. “He’s kind of the poster child for why we really needed the Denver Actors Fund,” said his wife, actor Megan Van De Hey.
Sanders endured years of grueling rehabilitation, and while his days as a guitarist are over, he has since worked as an actor or director at dozens of companies from Denver to Fort Collins, including the Aurora Fox, Arvada Center, Phamaly Theatre Company and Magic Moments.
During that same time, Sanders has had a direct hand in helping to raise more than $100,000 for the DAF. For five years, he produced and presented a fun annual event called “Miscast” that raised more than $30,000 as his personal, in-kind donation to the fund. Since being named CEO of the Town Hall Arts Center, Sanders has designated one performance of every production to fully benefit the Denver Actors Fund, including an upcoming Dec. 11 benefit performance of “Matilda the Musical.” Designated Town Hall nights have raised $35,000 for the Denver Actors Fund since the start of the 2021-22 season.
“Robert Michael is the best friend the DAF has ever had,” Moore said.
It was particularly meaningful for Sanders to be named the inaugural recipient of a new service award named after his friend, Daniel Langhoff. The award-winning Denver actor was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2015 and died two years later, just days after the birth of his second daughter. He was only 42. The DAF asked Langhoff’s widow, Rebecca Joseph, to surprise Sanders with the Langhoff Award just before a benefit performance of “All Shook Up” at Town Hall on Oct. 9. Sanders had officiated the couple’s wedding at the Town Hall Arts Center in 2015.
“Throughout our entire horrible ordeal, Robert Michael was by our side supporting us and helping us like the good friend and person he is,” said Joseph. “And also by our side was the Denver Actors Fund. They helped us with our medical bills. They contributed greatly, and they rallied the entire support of the theater community behind me and my family.
“In many ways, Robert Michael and the Denver Actors Fund are very similar. They’re humble and modest in appearance, but their generosity knows no bounds. Some people give to the Denver Actors Fund with their talent, and many thousands with their money. Some people give all three, and Robert Michael is the best example of that.”
WATCH ROBERT MICHAEL SANDERS RECEIVE HIS AWARD
“I feel bait-and-switched a little bit,” Sanders said with a laugh as he received his award. “This is extraordinarily unexpected. But really, it’s simple. It is not about me. It is about everybody who supports this fund and everybody like Dan and Rebecca. I share this with everybody who donates to this fund.”
Archuleta has been active in the larger Colorado theater community throughout her teen years. “I started performing because my mom’s friend from work noticed I was loud and suggested I try it out in fifth grade,” she said. “What inspires her most, she added, “is making people happy.”
She was cast as the Genie in Front Range Theatre’s 2019 production of “Aladdin.” Last year, she was in the ensemble of Vintage Theatre’s “Gypsy,” then joined Parker Arts and Sasquatch Productions’ “The Addams Family.” That same year, she starred as Roxie Hart in Mountain Vista High School’s production of “Chicago.” She was just in Performance Now’s “Seussical,” and will next appear in the Lone Tree Arts Center’s “Home for the Holidays” (Dec. 14-23).
Sanders and Archuleta have their own shared history as well. Archuleta has been a student leader in Town Hall’s youth education programs for four years. She both performed in youth shows there and worked with Sanders as a teacher’s assistant.
Sanders said he couldn’t be more proud to be honored for service to the DAF alongside Archuleta.
“In the time I have known Kyra, she has shone bright as one our student leaders here at the Town Hall Arts Center,” Sanders said. “Kyra is a talented, intelligent individual who has always been a great team player. She has the ability to lead by example and brings others up with her encouragement and support.”
