As I looked about the 'theater in a circle' seating, noting the souls who had braved Denver's weather Tuesday night I wondered, 'What joins us, as different as we all are, in this place, to do this thing?'. Two hours later I knew the answer: Great Art. We are all separate universes really, each of us; but Great Art can, by the conceived and intentional effort of great writing, great staging and especially great acting, wrest us from our separateness and join us in a single vast mind, in a single moment in time, to share an understanding, a laugh, a guffaw, a puzzlement and most especially 'awe'. From Viola's (Mehry Eslaminia) opening soliloquy, robust in its authenticity, through the shared metanoia of Olivia's (Krystel Lucas) awakening from her sadness all of us in the audience became part of the troupe, part of the story, part of the grand understanding. The performances by the legendary cast were rowdy, irascible, impertinent, and, at the same time, through the perfection of their personal transformation of themselves into living canvas, trans-formative. A 500 year old story, shared anew, every bit as amusing, informing, entertaining and elevating now as it has been. If you are in Denver between now and Dec 22nd, and you wish to see real theater the way it is performed in NYC and at the Globe - then you must try to see 12th Night at the Stage (Denver Center Theatre Company). You will cry from laughing, you be shocked at the context of famous lines you have heard all your life, and you will be more, when you leave, than when you arrived; this I guarantee!