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| Cayman Ilika and Ben Davis in Kiss Me Kate at the 5th Avenue Theatre (Mark Kitaoka) |
April in Seattle is blooming with Shakespearean iterations
of musical and non-musical sorts and if you like science-fiction or fantasy,
this seems to be your month of theater. World premieres continue to spring up
in what is apparently very fertile ground around here!
Kiss Me, Kate, 5th Avenue Theatre, 4/6-29/18 (opens
4/13)
As generators of the city-wide Seattle Celebrates
Shakespeare festival, the 5th Avenue is presenting this multi-Tony
Award®-winning Cole Porter musical. A play-within-a-play inspired by William
Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew,
this is a battle of the sexes. A charming leading man and his superstar ex-wife
are starring in a production of the Bard’s famous play. Both on stage and off,
they revel in combat and romance. Who comes out on top? Perhaps it’s time to
“brush up your Shakespeare…”
The Producers, Seattle Musical Theatre, 4/6-29/18
Mel Brooks' classic cult comedy film became a musical. The
plot is simple: a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered
accountant come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in history,
thereby bilking their backers (all "little old ladies") out of
millions of dollars. Only one thing goes awry: the show is a smash hit!
I Can Get It For You
Wholesale, Seattle Jewish Theater,
4/8/18-5/6/18 (at six Greater-Seattle locations)
Set in the New York City Garment District in 1937, during
the Great Depression, this musical tells the story of an ambitious young
businessman artfully clawing his way to the top of the garment industry.
Written by Jerome Weidman, based on his 1937 novel of the same title, and with
music and lyrics by Harold Rome, it was produced on Broadway in 1962 by David
Merrick. The show marked the Broadway debut of 19-year-old Barbra Streisand.
http://www.seattlejewishtheater.com/
http://www.seattlejewishtheater.com/
The Last Class: A
Jazzercize Play, ACTLab at ACT
Theatre, 4/12-29/18
Jazzercize is out. Zumba is in. But instructor Kelsea Wiggan
is not going down without a fight. Kelsea is determined to keep Jazzercize
alive and well at the Chikatawnee Valley Community Center. The Last Class is a real aerobics class happening in real time.
Along with standard audience seating, two tickets will be made available each
performance for audience members wanting to take the class.
Hamlet, The Horse in Motion, 4/12-29/18 (at
Stimson Green Mansion)
Kevin Lin and Jocelyn Maher both play Hamlet in The Horse in
Motion’s immersive multi-room staging using the environs of historic
Stimson-Green Mansion. Stories diverge and intersect, and the consequences of
our actions are laid terrifyingly bare. The audience will be split into two
groups, each following a separate performance of the play, which intersect with
each other in pivotal scenes, offering audiences an innovative and fresh take.
The Lamp is the Moon,
Seattle Children’s Theatre,
4/20/18-5/20/18 (world premiere)
Meet Shawn, a bright 5-year-old girl with a head so brimming
with science and imagination that she has no patience for naptime, much to the
exasperation of her parents. The world, and the cosmos in particular, is simply
far too interesting to stop and rest. On this day, her friend Lamp, despite
having no cord and no bulb, triggers a wide awake adventure when it reveals its
greatest dream is to learn to fly and become the moon. (For ages 3 and up)
Taming of the Shrew,
SecondStory Repertory, 4/13-29/18
Shakespeare's rowdy, screwball comedy follows the
treacherous road to romance for a strong-willed pair of lovers who've met their
ultimate match in one another. Until Kate has a husband, her sweet younger
sister, Bianca, cannot marry. But feisty, fiery-tongued Kate rejects every
suitor who tries to woo her. Along comes Petruchio, willing to take a
chance...and her sizable dowry. His efforts to "tame" her remain a
controversial aspect of this tale, reminding us of the expected gender roles of
400 years past, and how far we have and haven't come since.
Year of the Rooster,
MAP Theatre, 4/13-5/5/18 (at 18th
& Union)
Olivia Dufault writes a dark and funny play about the
underground culture of cock-fighting. Gil is a loser. He works at McDonald's,
lives with his ailing mother, and hasn't had a girlfriend since...ever. But
that's all about to change. He's been secretly training (and drugging) a
rooster to fight. And Odysseus Rex aka "Odie" is the baddest barnyard
bird there is. A play about cockfighting, connections, and clawing your way to
the top.
The Grey Golem, Ghost Light Theatricals, 4/13/18-5/5/18
(world premiere)
Years ago, the world’s greatest comic book superhero, the
Grey Golem, went into retirement believing he had finally rid his city of
crime, once and for all. But when his butler is mysteriously murdered, the
Golem once again dons the cape and cowl only to discover that the job of a
superhero is much more complicated than he remembers. From the mind of Asa
Fager.
An Octoroon, ArtsWest, 4/19/18-5/13/18
In 1859, the handsome George arrives as heir apparent to
Terrabonne, his late uncle's slave plantation. There he quickly falls in love
with Zoe, a beautiful "octoroon" (someone who is one-eighth black),
but the evil overseer M'Closky has other plans for both Terrebonne and Zoe. Racial
stereotypes, both past and present, are shattered in Branden Jacob-Jenkins'
bold, imaginative re-envisioning of a 19th century antebellum drama as an
urgent message for today.
The Brief Wondrous
Life of Oscar Wao, Book-It Repertory
Theatre w/Literature to Life, 4/19/18-5/6/18 (opens 4/21)
Oscar de Leon, an overweight Dominican boy growing up in
Paterson, New Jersey, is obsessed with
science fiction and fantasy novels, falling in love, and the curse that has
plagued his family for generations. Elvis Nolasco of “American Crime” fame
plays Oscar and 30 other characters in this adaptation of Junot Díaz’ Pulitzer
Prize-winning novel.
The Wolves, ACT Theatre, 4/20/18-5/13/18 (opens
4/26)
Sarah DeLappe’s Pulitzer-nominated play tells the story of a
high school women’s indoor soccer team that navigates big questions and wages
tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors.
Judgment at Nuremberg,
Hit and Run Theatre, 4/20-21/18 (at
Lake City Presbyterian)
Well known from Stanley Kramer's film and a Playhouse 90
version, the play explores the choices that confront those charged with
responsibility for law and justice, when a country seized by fear turns for
salvation to a "leader" who cares nothing for human dignity, human
rights, democracy or the rule of law.
ASL Midsummer Night's
Dream, Sound Theatre Company and
Deaf Spotlight, 4/21/18-5/12/18 (at
12th Avenue Arts)
Howie Seago, well known ASL performer, brings his vision and
expertise in Deaf Theatre to this version of Shakespeare’s classic comedy. The
Bard’s poetic text will be both spoken and signed in ASL for Deaf and hearing
audiences. Young lovers criss-cross in love while fairies and sprites laugh at
their plight. A band of simple tradesfolk try hard to put on a play for the
nobility, and everything turns out fine in the end. Recommended for all
audiences.
Silhouette, Annex Theatre, 4/27/18-5/19/18 (world premiere)
Silhouette is a
science-fiction musical sung (acapella) by ten voices, exploring the collision
of magic and technology on a faraway world. An astronaut crash-lands on a
seemingly backwards planet where the natives practice strange forms of magic. As
the astronaut is nursed back to health by the natives, rescuers from her star
fleet arrive and threaten to decimate society on this world. Can the astronaut
bridge the gap between the hard science & technology of her own people, and
the inexplicable magic wielded on the planet? When the astronaut is forcibly
taken back, the magic follows her and brings chaos and havoc to her tightly
controlled home.
The Nether, Washington Ensemble Theatre, 4/27/18-5/14/18
Detective Morris must investigate and expose an interactive
playground world where unforgivable sexual fantasies are enjoyed by men who
feel they can’t live without them. Jennifer Haley’s unsettling play tackles
both the seductive pull of the morally ambiguous virtual world and the science
fiction future of intimacy!
Familiar, Seattle Repertory Theatre in co-production with The Guthrie,
4/27/18-5/27/18 (opens 5/2)
In wintry Minnesota, the Chinyaramwira family is getting
ready for the marriage of their eldest daughter, but when the bride and groom
want to observe a traditional Zimbabwean custom for their wedding, deep-seated
tensions arise. Adding fuel to the flames, unexpected family guests turn up
revealing uninvited secrets. Playwright Danai Gurira focuses a lens on the
messy, hilarious, spirited dynamic of a modern first-generation Zimbabwean
American family and the search for a sense of belonging.
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