Western Playwright Debuts ‘Singletrack, the Musical’ in Gunnison

After four years of writing in his spare time, Western Colorado University’s Director of Theater, Steven Cole Hughes, is ready to roll out his latest creation: Singletrack, The Musical. The full show will be performed for the first time on August 1 at 7:30 pm in the Taylor Hall Studio Theater.

Singletrack is the story of Mae, a high school senior who rides to the top of the local mountain bike scene after becoming the fastest woman to ever complete the Gunnison Growler. With an energy drink company offering a pro sponsorship and college looming on the horizon, Mae faces the classic 80s-style dilemma: sell out or stay true.

As a musical that descended directly from 1980s cult classics like Rad, Footloose, and The Karate Kid, the mix of music and drama is written to feel like a familiar trip into one of the many sports movies that helped shape a generation.

“Everything was hit hard during the pandemic and fewer things were hit, harder than live theater and live music,” Hughes said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God! We’ve got to do something that’s going to rebound this place and this art form and just live stuff, in this valley. And I love mountain biking, so I was like, I’m going to do this, I’m going to write a musical about mountain biking.”

Hughes pitched the idea to his longtime collaborator, Jessica Jackson, who has worked in the Colorado theater scene for years, including as former artistic director of the Creede Repertory Theater.

Working alongside Hughes, whose script spans two acts and roughly 90 minutes, Jackson wrote 8 original songs for Singletrack that capture the essence of the songs that came to define a bygone era’s sports dramas.

The show’s second pre-production showing is on August 1 and will feature a cast of professional actors and singers from Denver and Fort Collins, along with a couple of students from Western.

While Hughes is still looking for funding to support a full-scale production, this performance is an opportunity to see a first-class live performance in Gunnison, and maybe even sign on as a patron.

“I did this because I love theater and I love mountain biking,” Hughes said. “And because I want them to get along.”