Popination Fermentation

a series of unhinged personal essays disguised as pub reviews. Today: Milieu Fermentation.

Also Vintage Theatre, yet again.

I almost called this essay Popination Validation, because that was the vibe of the day when I went to meet a fellow theatre professional at Milieu Fermentation before going to rehearsal to see my fights and my yoga sequences and my kisses enacted by excellent actors. But that would have been a serious missed opportunity. Right? I mean, come on. It’s in the name.

Achingly hip.

Breweries are my Milieu

Milieu Fermentation is a sparkly new brewery that has been built from an older brewery but that’s still new, almost right on the Anschutz Medical Campus, which is one of the biggest institutes for med students in the state. Actually it might very well be *the* biggest, but as you’ll remember, I make it a point to not do research for these Popination pieces. So there. It’s big, and it’s a big deal. Leave it at that.

The area is a very office-park-y, contemporary/urban sort of place, with the vast hospital and urban classroom campus sprawling along a vast expanse of suburban Aurora, with this slightly smaller complex connected to it so closely it’s almost a part of the campus itself. As such, there are deals on Milieu’s menu designed for hardworking students and staff of the school, because what better thing to do after a long day studying and/or practicing medicine than to go have a relaxing pint? On a discount, no less.

This used to be a different brewery (I can’t recall the old name), but now that older place moved across the street and is a full blown bar & grill type thing, and the brewery has been rebranded into this rather achingly urbane and hip little corner, full of white contemporary decor and many many houseplants. And now the old brewery that’s a new restaurant offers takeout to the new brewery that it used to be: you can order food from them and when it’s ready you walk across the walkway and grab it and take it back and enjoy it with your beer. It’s a good symbiotic relationship, a nice refreshing alternative to the food truck sitch most breweries do for food. 

Milieu is a real brewery that makes beer on site, and it’s got something for everyone, it seems. Like most breweries I’ve visited for recent Popinations, it’s got a couple flagship pours, a couple more adventurous seasonal offerings like sours, and some other flexibilities depending on the brewing artists’ whims. I don’t remember what the IPA was called that I had that afternoon but it was tasty—right up my alley in its pleasant bitterness and rich aftertaste.

Many many indoor plants in this place, which is actually quite cool. Nice contrast with the clean white, too. Must be a pain in the butt to maintain, though but I appreciate them.

The Hombres

My purpose for being, yet again, way out in Aurora, was that I was presiding over (or, at least, merely observing) a runthrough of the play The Hombres, for which I had choreographed the yoga sequences, fight scene, and intimacy moments. It’s the customary 3rd stage of my work on such things: first is meeting with the director and cast, and often sharing some basics on what techniques will be used so everyone’s more on the same page going forth; then I come in and teach the actors the choreography I’ve developed specifically for this play, this situation (which often changes organically during this rehearsal); and then, after writing up the revised choreo, I come in and watch an early runthrough, to see how that choreography has been integrated within the play’s story arc, dramatic build, and acting of the rest.

This play’s themes treat on masculinity and vulnerability, machismo, self-expression, violence as pent up hurt, etc. which means it’s that much more up my alley when it comes to themes I care about (just see my Problematic Tropes series for more), and it was fantastic to see these very good actors making my work look very good too. The fight scene did need fixing again (and would need to be fixed one more time after that), but I mended it well, and was thrilled to see how high quality the piece was as a whole, even in this early stage of runthroughs, before the set was even fully finished or the costumes and props fully furnished. The fact that it was a compelling piece of art even so, spoke to the talents and hard work of all involved.

This is a Very Good Pub Dog. Name of Indie. She greeted everyone who came up to pay for their pints.

It’s validating, to see things I have expertise in, working well on others’ bodies, with the collusion and contribution of others’ arts, and even experiencing solving problems as validation is a big step for me. I’ve been taken down more than once in this field from insecure men dead set on their monopoly: if I’m not doing it like them I’m not doing it right. Which is, at this point in my career especially, not always the case. Not even usually the case. In the wake of all the other gaslighters from my past, that feeling still sticks–that impostor syndrome that tells me I don’t know what I’m doing, when it’s abundantly obvious that I do, and do quite well, thank you very much. So. 

It’s nice to be (yet again) proven wrong on that. It might seem silly, that I’d ever doubt my longtime experience and the good art my work always becomes. But gaslighting and bullying is real, yo. I’m still having to prove myself after abuse, if only to myself. The professionals who’ve hired me and are working with me know this all too well; they don’t need convincing. I’ll continue to learn from them, too, as I teach them. 

The fight had to change a little bit since this setup, but I like the dynamic of this shot nonetheless. Photog: Rachael Graham for Vintage Theatre.