Colorado's oldest black theater group, the Shadow Theatre Company, has been asked to vacate the building it has inhabited in Aurora since 2008, news that's left board members Peter Cukale and Michael Hancock surprised. The company, which is currently presenting Inhumane, a chronicle of the lives of five slaves on a Virginia plantation, just learned of the eviction by Cornerstone Equity, which owns the building on 1468 Dayton St., on Monday morning. Shadow creative director Hugo Jon Sayles tells The Aurora Sentinel, "Right now, I really don't have a comment. I don't know the ins and outs of everything."

Shadow had moved from Emerson Center in Denver to Aurora in a transition that required a large loan from Aurora and commitments from Cornerstone Equity. However, Shadow has failed to attract large enough audiences and has fallen behind in rent. Doug Adams of Cornerstone Equity says his company has heavily subsidized Shadow since mid-2009, "and we simply cannot continue to do so" (via The Denver Post). He adds: "It is our hope that Shadow will find a way to carry on the dreams of their founder [Jeffrey Nickelson, who died of a heart attack in 2009], and in doing so, allow all of us to continue to honor his memory."