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| Hannah Mootz and Tiffany Yvonne Cox star in Intiman Theatre's production of The Children's Hour (Photo by Hayley Young) |
The theater community often goes a bit crazy in September,
with a “new season” mentality, but this year it’s almost too much to bear! In
fact, after a lazy Labor Day weekend, 13 (13?) productions open the next
weekend!! The biggest companies and small ones and everything in between. Also,
there may never have been as many world premieres in one month as September
2015. It’s a bounty of riches, folks!
The Children's Hour,
Intiman (at Cornish), 9/9-27/15
This production, helmed by Sheila Daniels, will relocate this classic script about the
ruination of gossip and crowd-fearmongering from the 1930s to the 1980s. This
is the second production in Seattle this year. If you saw the other, this
spring, it might be doubly interesting to compare.
Everybody Here Says
Hello and Crime and Rockets (in
repertory), Pacific Play Company (at Ballard Underground), 9/10-26/15
Everybody Here Says
Hello! is a bittersweet exploration of the ups and downs inherent to modern
relationships and sexuality. It’s a comedy about a man, his boyfriend, and his
boyfriend's girlfriend.
Crime and Rockets,
created by Scotto Moore with
contributions from Keiko Green, Morgan Ludlow, Juliet Waller Pruzan, includes short pieces based in a future where
human nature itself is evolving as rapidly as the technology that catapulted us
into deep space. Also, wherever there’re humans, there’re bad humans, and
somebody’s gotta crack the cases when they try to get away with murder.
Brechtfest, The Horse in Motion (at the Can Can),
9/12/15-10/4/15
Selections from Bertolt Brecht’s writings, Baal, The Good Person of Szechwan and The
Threepenny Opera in a morning presentation, with 16 actors and covering
political issues such as income inequality, gender, and surviving our rigged
economy. You’ll eat breakfast and listen to music as this company-created
staging unfolds. Sat and Sun morns at 11:00a.m. (and two Monday nights). Veggie
and gluten-free breakfast available!
Suddenly Last Summer, Theater Schmeater, 9/11/15-10/10/15
Suddenly last summer, Mrs. Venable's son Sebastian died, and
his poor cousin Catherine is the only person who knows the details of
Sebastian's death. Mrs. Venable doesn’t want Catherine to remember those
details, nor tell them to anyone else!
Green Day’s American
Idiot, Artswest,
9/10/15-10/11/15
The Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album created by
Green Day was transformed into an electric-rock-opera of youthful disillusion. Johnny,
Tunny, and Will flee the constraints of their hometown for the thrills of city
life. But their paths are quickly estranged in a post-9/11 world none of them
could have imagined.
Bloomsday, ACT Theatre, 9/11/15-10/11/15 (World Premiere)
Steven Dietz’s newest play, presented for the first time at
ACT Theatre. Set in Dublin, an American man searches for the Irish woman who
captured his heart 30 years earlier. Weaving in and out of time, we witness the
very separate paths their lives have taken.
Jesus Christ Superstar,
Seattle Musical Theatre,
9/11/15-10/4/15
This new production of the musical classic jumps forward in
time and explores the gospels from a bleak world where much has been forgotten
and lost. In a time when children are no longer born and the last of the
written word is literally crumbling away, carefully collected and preserved pieces
of text pertain to one they called “Jesus.”
Knocking Bird, Umbrella Project (at West of Lenin),
9/11/15-10/13/15 (World Premiere)
A psychological thriller about a husband and wife who
retreat to the woods after a car accident leaves her body and his mind wrecked.
Between long walks to the 7-11 and a mounting, lingering obsession with birds,
the couple grapples with a visit from the man who shaped their past and
threatens their future. Emily Conbere
is the local playwright gaining the support of this new company.
Snapshots, Village Theatre, Issaquah:
9/10/15-10/18/15, Everett: 10/23/15-11/15/15
A new musical collage of Stephen Schwartz, composer of such
musicals as Wicked and Godspell, Snapshots is a romantic comedy that tells the story of one couple’s
changing relationship through the years. The show features a score comprised of
the work of Schwartz, with 26 songs from 12 shows throughout his career. Schwartz
even got personally involved by retuning and adjusting his own songs to better
fit the story.
Sound, Azeotrope (at ACTLab), 9/11/15-10/4/15
(World Premiere)
Sound, a sign
language play by Don Nguyen, is co-directed by Desdemona Chiang and Howie
Seago. A bilingual play (in American Sign Language and spoken English, with
supertitles) the play strives to be equally accessible to both hearing and Deaf
audiences simultaneously. An impassioned dispute between a fiercely protective
deaf father and his hearing ex-wife is over the use of cochlear implants to
restore their daughter's hearing. In a parallel story, 130 years earlier,
Alexander Graham Bell is on a quest to invent the first hearing aid and cure
deafness..
The Memorandum, Strawberry Theatre Workshop,
9/10/15-10/10/15
Josef Gross, in Vaclav Havel’s play, gets a memo in an
artificial language Ptydepe. He needs it to be translated and this starts a
chain of office politics imploding into satire. Havel also targets spying on
the populace, among other governmental bureaucratic bungling.
Bohemia, Marxiano Prods. (at Café Nordo), 9/10-27/15 (World Premiere)
Famous Czech composer Antonin Dvořák has hit a wall and
prior to composing his magnum opus, he looks to the bottom of a bottle of
absinthe for inspiration. In this macabre and mystical dream cabaret Dvořák is
seduced by "The Green Fairy" and is visited by the ghost of late
composer Frédéric Chopin. http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1869945
Bootycandy, Intiman (at Cornish Blackbox), 9/16/15-10/3/15
Playwright Robert O’Hara’s satire about growing up gay and
black. Sutter is on an outrageous odyssey through his childhood home, his
church, dive bars, motel rooms and even nursing homes.
Green Whales and Still Life (in repertory), Forward Flux (at Gay City),
9/16/15-10/3/15 (one World Premiere)
Still Life: This
world premiere offers a touching and humorous look at life and loss in the
terrorist age. A series of subway bombings have shut down the city, and Lydia
is stuck with her annoying son-in-law awaiting news from her daughter who was
last seen getting on the train. To make matters worse, a celebrated
photographer won't leave Lydia alone. Honorary mention on the Kilroy List 2015.
Green Whale, by
Lia Romeo, is a dark comedy. Karen is a middle-aged woman with a chromosomal
disorder that makes her appear to be in her early teens. As a result, she has
trouble meeting men - until her alcoholic sister sets her up with a suspected
pedophile.
The Comedy of Errors,
Seattle Shakespeare Company (at
Seattle Rep), 9/16/15-10/11/15
Antipholus and his servant, Dromio, find themselves in a
peculiar city where strangers seem to recognize them. This comic knot of
jealous wives, quack doctors, mysterious nuns, and double trouble untangles
just in time with the nuttiest family reunion ever.
What We Talk About
When We Talk About Love, Book-It
Repertory Theatre, 9/22/15-10/18/15
This Raymond Carver 1981 short-story collection was first
adapted and toured by Book-It in the early 1990s. Carver’s portrait of romance can
be tough and bittersweet. Selections include the title story, Cathedral, and others.
Dracula, Taproot Theatre, 9/23/15-10/24/15 (World Premiere)
The battle between light and dark erupts in a brand new
adaptation of this classic thriller. Far from the romanticized vampires of
recent years, Dracula lurks in the shadows, plotting to prey on the people of
England. As night falls over London, intrepid heroes join forces to defeat the
monster with the only weapon he fears — a heart willing to sacrifice
everything.
99 Ways to Fuck a Swan,
Washington Ensemble Theatre,
9/25/15-10/17/15
A long, long time ago, Leda made love to a swan. 3,000 years
later, Michelangelo painted a picture. 350 years later, Rudolph bought it. 130
years later, Dave and Fiona stand in a museum, gazing at what remains. Explore
the dark corners of desire and the eternal mysteries of love.
A View from the Bridge,
Seattle Repertory Theatre,
9/25/15-10/18/15
An American Classic. A longshoreman by trade, Eddie Carbone
is confident of his place in the working-class neighborhood he calls home. That
life changes when he agrees to harbor his immigrant cousins. A love affair
exposes a dark family secret, and suspicion, jealousy and betrayal soon follow
in this passionate drama by one of America’s greatest playwrights. This
American tragedy remains topical and thought-provoking 60 years after its 1955
Broadway premiere.
The Art of Bad Men,
MAP Theatre (at INScape),
9/25/15-10/17/15 (World Premiere)
Playwright Vincent
Delany interviewed former German prisoners of war, held in the States at
POW camps which dotted the US during WWII. Some are ardent Nazis, some are
barely old enough to hold a shovel.
Every one of them is scared. But for a few, a drag production of Moliere’s
The Miser may give them a
chance—either to escape or to transcend. (MAP shares the world premiere with
Theater B in Fargo, ND, also in September)
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