July Starts Theater In the Park Time

Titanish picture (Truman Buffett)

 
As most summer-theater-park-goers know, a whole weekend is devoted to “park shows” all in one lovely location to fit them all: Volunteer Park. Known as Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival, a combination of all the Shakespeare shows and some kid-specific entertainments are spread throughout the park and throughout both weekend days. Organized mostly by the folks at Greenstage, you can find the schedule here: https://greenstage.org/sotf/ Yes, they are all free. But yes, you could consider donating to all the hardworking companies getting out in the (hopefully) hot sun to entertain you with merriments!
 
Drum and Colors: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Cymbeline, Seattle Shakespeare Company and Wooden O Productions, 7/7/22-8/7/22 (at various parks in the area)
Midsummer Night’s Dream
When two pairs of mixed-up lovers, along with a troupe of amateur players, stumble into the forest of two feuding fairies, it results in an enchanting mix of merriment. After a love potion plan goes awry, the fairy queen’s heart is captured by an unlikely community actor transformed into a donkey. Mischief maker Puck not only creates romantic chaos, but also has to fix things right, again. (Includes puppets.)
Cymbeline
Follow Imogen on a magical journey. With their lover banished and family torn apart, Imogen sets out on an adventure to reclaim their love and reconcile the family. Forbidden love, mistaken identities, banishment, and a magic potion— Shakespeare combines multiple styles in this endlessly inventive fairy tale.
www.seattleshakespeare.org

Mega Hero Rangers Go Go Go Supreme!!!, The 14/48 Projects, 7/9-30/22 (at various parks in the area) We meet the Mega Hero Rangers, a group of friends and superheroes who meet their ultimate adversary and have their powers taken away! Deep-rooted tensions come to a head, splitting up the super friends... Will the Rangers discover how to navigate the world on their own, without their powers?
https://www.the1448projects.org/parks-show
 
Black Coffee, Taproot Theatre Company, 7/13/22-8/13/22
The formula for a secret weapon has been stolen, and that isn’t the only mystery in the Amory house! When Sir Claude discovers the theft, he locks his family in the library. Moments later, there’s a dead body, a room full of suspects, and a Belgian sleuth at the door. Witness Agatha Christie’'s famous Hercule Poirot untangle a jumble of deceptions to discover whodunit.
www.taproottheatre.org

"The Bonesetter’s Daughter" – Beautiful and Moving at Book-It Repertory Theatre

Mara Palma and Desiree Mee Jung in The Bonesetter's Daughter (Anthony Floyd)

The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Book-It Repertory Theatre
Through July 3, 2022
 
If you are a “reader,” and you love how novelists artfully draw you into the world of the book, you might already revere Amy Tan. Tan’s writing is compelling, descriptive, and sketches the personalities she writes about in vivid terms. She is not likely everyone “cup of tea” in terms of being an “easy” read. While her first book became a blockbuster and a movie (The Joy Luck Club), a later book, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, is a more patient read, one that takes time to allow to unfold.
 
The Bonesetter’s Daughter has at least one story-within-a-story. It’s a fairly long book, and Desdemona Chiang and Book-It Repertory Theatre have decided to adapt it into a play using about a third of the entire book. Chiang’s choices, as adapter, seem well-decided and the experience of seeing this book come to life is delightful and intense. The production, at over two and a half hours, immerses you into China a century ago.
 
Ruth (Sunam Ellis) is a modern Chinese-American woman who has a busy life and a mother who is descending into Alzheimer’s. Ruth and her mother, like many relationships in Tan books, have a difficult relationship. Part of that is because the mother, Lu Ling (Desiree Mee Jung) was quite harsh with Ruth, strict and even abusive, as she demanded that Ruth “channel” the spirit of her mother’s “nursemaid” Precious Auntie (Khanh Doan). Precious Auntie was so maimed and disfigured around her mouth that she cannot speak, but Lu Ling understood her.
 
Ruth tries to support her mother, but there are emotional barriers. Then she finds a manuscript that her mother had offered her many times, but she never got around to translating it or reading it. Now, as her mother forgets, Ruth realizes that she must find out what the book says.

“Bruce” – A Musical About Tension With Absolutely No Tension

Jarrod Spector and E. Faye Butler in Bruce (Lindsay Thomas)

Bruce
Seattle Rep
Through June 26, 2022
 
My question before I saw the world premiere musical, Bruce, at Seattle Rep was: What is it? And my question after I saw it was: Why?
 
So, quick rundown: “Bruce” equals JAWS the movie, the shark named by director Steven Spielberg when he was just 26 years old as he began planning it from the script, and The JAWS Log by last-script-doctor Carl Gottlieb as he worked on the film and subsequently published a book.
 
The musical is not a “bad” one… and in fact there are some very, very good parts. So, it’s not that it’s boring, exactly. But the entire musical is about the “making” of the movie we all know was a major blockbuster, the first summer blockbuster ever, and a world-wide phenomenon. But does that mean it should then get turned into a musical? Be worked on by people for several years? Have tens of thousands of dollars spent on it?

June Is Flowering in Seattle Theater

The cast of LIZZIE (courtesy Just Us Girls & Co.)

Check out this list of productions opening this month and see if something meets your fancy. Get outcher calendars!

 
Air Play, Seattle Children’s Theatre, 6/1-12/22
Wmbrellas fly, fabrics soar over the audience, balloons swallow people, and snow swirls, filling the stage. Part comedy, part sculpture, part circus, part theater, this play has it all.  No translation necessary in this circus-style adventure of two siblings journeying through a surreal land of air, transforming ordinary objects into uncommon beauty.  Great for all ages (5 and up).
https://www.sct.org/onstage/productions/air-play/

 
Skin Flick, The Phoenix Theatre, 6/4-27/22
Norm Foster is Canada’s version of Neil Simon – a prolific comedy playwright. The Phoenix Theatre loves performing Foster’s work! Here, Rollie finds himself in a financial bind. He’s always provided for his wife Daphne, but now he’s lost his job at the costume shop, and he’s going to have to come up with something fast! What he finds leads Rollie and Daphne to learn what’s at the heart of their marriage.
www.tptedmonds.org/season-13--20202021.html
 
The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Book-It Repertory Theatre, 6/8/22-7/3/22 (world premiere)
Ruth wants to be a better daughter to a mother whose mind is quickly sliding into the haze of dementia. If only her mother—who spent Ruth’s childhood talking to ghosts, lamenting a family curse, and refusing to acclimate to life in America—was just a little easier to love. When Ruth rediscovers a stack of papers in the bottom of a drawer, carefully penned in calligraphy, she realizes that it may not be too late to meet a woman she thought had been lost to her long ago. The Bonesetter’s Daughter is a deeply moving chronicle of war and revenge, joy and connection, and the profound love that can exist between mothers and daughters. Adapted by Desdemona Chiang from award-winning Amy Tan’s intimate novel.
www.book-it.org

Sephardic Jewish Community in Seattle Gets a Theatrical Treatment

 

The Seattle case of Arrivals - Art Feinglass standing center (Brendan O'Connor)

It’s likely that most non-Jews don’t know a thing about the difference between “Ashkenazi” and “Sephardic” or even what they label. But those labels enfold vast differences. The Ashkenazi Jews are what the world mostly knows about Judaism. The majority of those Jews came from countries around Russia and inside the U.S.S.R. and Europe. These are the people who brought Yiddish (a blend of Hebrew and German) and cooking with chicken fat (schmaltz) and the thick, funny, New York-Yiddish accents that people associate with Jews in movies.
 
The Sepharadim (a plural of Sepharad) came from Spain and Portugal and after the “diaspora” (you know, the Inquisition that no one expected – sorry, Monty Python), Morocco, and Northern Africa, and Mediterranean countries like Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Syria and Iran/Iraq (Persia). They spoke Ladino (a blend of Hebrew and Old Spanish).
 
The diet differences of the two sets of Jews are also very different. Ashkenazis eat a lot of wheat, for instance, and the holiday of Passover focuses on matzah, an unleavened (wheat) bread. Sepharadim eat a lot of rice dishes and have a very “Mediterranean” diet – lots of olive oil. While the Jewish religion stayed relatively intact in either group, the us/them growth of prejudice between them made “community” non-existent even in the face of the same racism that all Jews faced.

No Sweat for ACT Theatre - Best Show in Town

 

A moment from Sweat (Truman Buffett)

Sweat
ACT Theatre
Through May 22, 2022
 
It contains the sweat of people’s brows and their efforts standing for a dozen hours a day or more on a factory line. And the sweat of the swelter of the factory workers in warehouse-level heat without air conditioning. Also the sweat of walking a union strike line and the sweat about paying bills on low salaries or on walk-out stipends.
 
It includes the sweat of a worker being promoted to management and what they fear about giving orders to previously same-level friends and workers. There is the sweat, as well, of a drug-addicted soul shaking for the next fix, or their sweat as they beg friends and family for another drink or smoke. There’s also the sweat of rage that can cause blind reactions that change lives in seconds, with tragic results.
 
All of this sweat is in Lynn Nottage’s excellent script, Sweat, now on stage at ACT Theatre. It also has the worthy sweat of the excellent ensemble of actors ready breathe life into the words on a page, transforming into the way it’s meant to be absorbed – on stage.

May Flowers Are Blooming on Seattle Stages

 

Rehearsal for The Watsons at Seattle Children's Theatre (Eliane Rodriguez)

World premiere musicals (we all love those don’t we?), important stories from diverse writers and populations, several world premiere stage plays, and more, are what May Days are bringing to Seattle. Our stages are brimming with gotta-see works that should entice you to grab your mask and sit next to strangers! Get outcher calenders and get to work! Here’s what’s opening this month:
 
The Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963, Seattle Children’s Theatre, 5/3-22/22
This powerful play, adapted for stage by local and nationally-acclaimed playwright Cheryl L. West, follows 10-year-old Kenny Watson and his family on a road trip from Flint, Michigan to Birmingham, Alabama. As the family travels though unfamiliar territory in the Deep South during the Jim Crow era, they encounter racism unlike anything they have experienced before. After a local church is attacked, an event that marks Civil Rights history, the Watson family comes together and proves that perseverance and resiliency can be found in the most unimaginable places. Recommended for ages 8 and over.  
https://www.sct.org/onstage/productions/watsons-go-to-birmingham-1963-2/
 
Alma, ArtsWest, 5/5-22/22
Playwright Benjamin Benne honed some of his early writing talent right here in the PNW. Having gone on to amazing adventures, ArtsWest is providing an opportunity to experience his most sophisticated work yet. We meet working mom, Alma. She singlehandedly raised her daughter, Angel, on tough love, home-cooked comida and lots of prayers. Just before the all-important SAT test, Alma discovers her daughter isn’t at home studying. La chancla (an ass-whooping) awaits Angel at home—but so does a creeping realization that more’s at stake than just a test score. A sacrifice from Alma’s past weighs heavy; now, Alma fears that her worst nightmare may soon be their reality.
www.artswest.org

Benjamin Benne’s Journey to Become a Major American Playwright

 

Playwright Benjamin Benne (Chris Larson)

Alma
ArtsWest
May 5 – 22, 2022
 
Benjamin Benne’s play, Alma, opens May 5^th at ArtsWest. It’s the third play Seattle audiences have been able to see, with his early work performed at Annex Theatre, Terra Incognita, and a one-act done by Forward Flux, las mariposas y los muertos.
 
Since leaving Seattle, he’s had some amazing opportunities and experiences, but it was clear back in 2016/17 that he had the talent and the drive necessary to propel himself into success and the writing chops that would open those doors to him. I had the lovely opportunity to chat with him this week just before Opening Night at ArtsWest. My most intense interest was to catch up on his most recent exploits and also to understand his journey.
 
Much of his early playwriting has centered on strong women, influenced by his mother, a previously undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. His themes are often an intersection of domestic relationships and poetic reveries.
 
His journey into playwriting started as an undergrad at California State University, Fullerton. “I was a theater major starting in acting as many do, and then went to theater education and then faculty members told me I was excelling in directing, so I changed my major to directing.

Super Tech Support Enhances Sound Theatre's "Gaslight"

Gaslight
Sound Theatre Company
Through May 14, 2022 (at 12^th Avenue Arts)
 

Inspector Rough (Hisam Goueli, standing) and Bella (Kathy Hsieh, seated) observe an offstage moment. Rough has a mustache and wears a grey-green tweed suit with black bowtie. Behind him are a mix of picture frames, some without an image - and two brightly gas-lit sconces. Bella, clutching a handkerchief, has long black hair in an elegant bun, and wears a shiny turquoise Victorian grown. (photo by Nikeesha Gooding)

From the Victorian thriller novel to a play to a movie, Gaslight (originally titled Angel Street) is now on stage by Sound Theatre Company. If you didn’t know where the slang term for lying-and-making-you-think-you’re-crazy comes from, it stems from this classic tale.
 
Kathy Hsieh carries the main role of Mrs. Bella Manningham, who is treated as a child-woman by her husband (Johnny Patchamatla) as he causes her to believe that she is going mad like her mother did at an early age before dying young. In fact, the audience isn’t quite sure (unless you’ve seen the film) that she’s not mentally ill.