Denver’s arts community is mourning the loss of playwright, director and actor Ken Grimes.
A fixture in Denver’s arts scene, Grimes had written, directed, and acted in dozens of plays since he was a teenager. He died of ALS last week at the age of 74.
“Ken was one of the greatest and he was around for such a long time — it’s still hard for me to put it in past tense,” said longtime friend and collaborator Khadija Haynes, co-founder of the Colorado Black Arts Movement, during an interview on Colorado Matters. “For decades, committed and always, always advocating for the arts. And even in the face of so many times, people saying, ‘no,’ it was Ken with his exceptional sense of humor and one of the most beautiful smiles ever gifted to a human being. He would just smile and nod his head and keep on going and do it and do it beautifully.”
Haynes described Grimes as “a consummate artist” who was deeply committed to his craft.
“In the time of production, he was most focused on the quality of the production, whatever it was: whether he was doing a historical presentation at the Denver Black Arts Festival, whether he was performing on stage, whether he was writing a play, whether he was directing, that was the single most focus that he had was in the artistic quality,” she said.
Grimes would work hard equally at ensuring that the audience experience at his productions was top-notch, she said.
Some of his career highlights include facilitating the Humboldt Writers’ Group and writing a production that was performed in Denver and also workshopped off-Broadway in New York City. The musical, “Uncle Jed’s Barbershop,” Haynes said, was a dream come true for Grimes.
“He put a lot of his own money behind this production,” she said. “He had a philosophy that if it was worth doing, it was worth him not only spending his time, but his resources and his talent in getting something done.”
Haynes says she hopes as Denver’s Black arts movement gains traction, the musical could be revived and return to the stage in Denver, in tribute to Grimes.
An article in the Denver Urban Spectrum newspaper noted that in high school, Grimes had received a $500 grant to produce a play he had written called “Ride the Rugged Seas” that ultimately played at the Lincoln Park Housing Projects. He enlisted his friends as actors and used the grant to buy items for the audience, including popcorn.
Haynes said she was not familiar with the story, but she described it as, “so Ken,” with a chuckle, adding that he’d dedicated countless hours to helping support so many in Colorado’s extended arts community.
“He worked with so many young artists and older artists and just helped to mentor them, to bring them along and gave them a sense of confidence and calmness that really allowed artists to be all that they could possibly be in an interaction with him.”
Memorial plans for Grimes have not yet been announced.
