Jon Marcantoni, a local playwright and founder of the Denver theater company Flamboyán, was nearing the end of the run of “Puerto Rican Nocturne” — his drama about the killings of two young, pro-Independence activists at Cerro Maravilla, during a time of particularly heightened tensions between those fighting for the Caribbean island’s independence and those wanting statehood — when he began writing “Empire of Solitude.” “Empire of Solitude” podcasters, from left, Lauren Michelle Long, Gisselle Gonzalez, Laura Madrid, and director Narely Cortes.