AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 TOYS to Make World Premiere at Buntport Theater

‘ArounD the WorlD in 80 ToyS', created & performed by Thaddeus Phillips, with co-creation & direction by Tatiana Mallarino, will have its World Premiere at Buntport Theater in Denver before heading to the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. Performances will run July 16 to August 2, 2026.

Denver native, Thaddeus Phillips, will return Buntport in a new work that is a surprising hybrid of theatre and film that is at once highly theatrical and wonderfully cinematic. Paris, 1925. In a tiny toy shop inside the Montparnasse train station, film and special effects pioneer Georges Méliès, now forgotten, faces eviction. A toy comes to life. Using hidden cameras, a movie screen, miniatures and magic, Georges creates an epic cinematic universe & voyage that leads to his rediscovery. Phillips and 80 eclectic vintage toys star.

Phillips performed a limited run workshop of '80 Toys' last summer at Buntport. Since then, the show has been in development and will open at Buntport and then head to the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival at the prestigious Summerhall venue. Across Buntport's 25 years, Phillips has returned to present theater creations from ‘Shakespeare's Storms', ¡El Conquistador!, Capsule 33, '17 Border Crossings' & ‘Zoo Motel' online. Phillips works as a director and creator internationally and is fresh off the heels of devising, designing and directing Disney's new international musical, “Disney The Magic Box”.

‘ArounD the WorlD in 80 ToyS', is co-created and directed by Colombian director Tatiana Mallarino with magic and illusions by New York magician Steve Cuiffo. The New York Times said ‘Thaddeus Phillips could have been a great silent film comedian', and in this new work he plays Georges Méliès, in a entirely visual ode to cinema and pure theatricality. A wildly inventive use of micro-cinema and live action creates is a totally unique blend of theater and film and it a tribute to re-invention and the history of cinema.

Phillips states: “We wanted to make the World Premiere for ‘ArounD the WorlD in 80 ToyS” be at Buntport as Denver and Buntport audiences are the most receptive, unique and fun anywhere. It is also great that this premiere coincides with Buntport's 25th anniversary.”