On a typical day, you would find Brandi Lyons inside Casa Bonita, where she roams the surreal faux-Mexican landscape wearing a gorilla costume.
But on Thursday afternoon, she and dozens of other performers were outside, picketing the restaurant as part of a labor strike to demand higher pay and better working conditions.
The restaurant remained open, but 57 of its divers, roaming characters, puppeteers and others are on strike for at least the next few days.
“For a lot of us, it's about the art — and we would like to get paid what we should for said art,” said Lyons, who was not wearing her work costume.
She has worked at the restaurant since 2016, with a multi-year break after Casa Bonita closed during the pandemic — giving her a view into how it was run both before and after its purchase and expensive renovation by Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
“It's not like it used to be back in the day, where it was a bunch of high schoolers running around,” she said. “Matt and Trey made it clear from the beginning that they want professionalism and they want professional actors.”
On paper, it’s a dream gig for any actor — “a never-ending job.” And the performers are dedicated; many of the gorilla performers are even learning American Sign Language to be more inclusive and communicative.
But the only reason she can pay her bills, she said, is because she lives with her parents. Lyons makes $23 an hour and isn’t eligible for tips, she said. Servers get $20 an hour plus tips, she said, while bartenders get a base of $30 an hour.
“Why don't I get a livable wage? Especially because we are a world-class entertainment venue, emphasis on entertainment,” she asked.
Lyons also wants management to take action to protect performers from being touched, groped and assaulted by patrons — she once had a woman throw a lime at her face, she said, and the restaurant did little to help her press charges.
“We were filling out incident reports for sexual assault almost daily,” she said. “It's really sad that the gorillas have a motto … ‘Once you get your butt grabbed, you're officially a gorilla,’ because it happens so often.”
Performers also were angered by "Casa BOOnita," a special event that was expected to dramatically cut hours for roaming performers this month, as performer Joshua Emerson explained in a City Cast Denver interview.
Casa Bonita has declined to comment in depth on the strike, saying only: "At Casa Bonita, we value all of our team members and their well-being. As a policy we do not comment on ongoing labor negotiations."
The restaurant remains open, and it offered free drink and arcade tickets to affected guests, The Denver Post reported.
The strike is set to continue through Saturday and could go longer, organizers said.
“We would love to resolve things as quickly as we can,” said Julian Modugno, an organizer with the Actors' Equity Association.
Modugno said their main ask is for a “comprehensive safety plan” and “pay parity” with other staff.
Casa Bonita is a well-known piece of Colorado kitsch and nostalgia, offering a funhouse dining experience in a theme park without rides.
It opened in Lakewood in 1974, part of a chain at the time. "South Park" creators Stone and Parker bought it in 2021 after it shut down during the pandemic. They spent tens of millions renovating and restoring it.
On Thursday, the protest attracted supporters like Matt McConnell, who was walking by and decided to join.
“My mom and my dad took me here as a kid, and it's really heartbreaking to see it go through so many changes, especially with their workers who perform so much and go through so much to give that magical experience to everyone else. And to see them be treated unfairly is just not right,” he said.
But many diners continued happily into the giant pink restaurant they had waited months for a chance to visit.
