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| From Crime + Punishment by Akropolish Performance Lab (Margaretta Campagna) |
We’re off to an eclectic start to 2018 with all kinds of
flavors of shows. We have musicals, and a new adaptation of Crime and
Punishment, Shakespeare with a woman at the helm, David Frost and Nixon played
by women, August Wilson and more!
Crime + Punishment,
Akropolis Performance Lab, 1/5-13/18
(at West of Lenin)
Raskolnikov, a debt-ridden and disillusioned university
drop-out, devises this theory … then acts upon it. After dehumanizing, robbing,
and murdering a pawnbroker, Raskolnikov descends into a guilt-ridden fever
dream where he is plagued by the ghosts of his crime and conscience. In this
original adaptation of Dostoevsky’s master work, APL ventures into the lower
depths of 19th-century St. Petersburg, where the mysteries of the Russian soul
and intellect, crime and love are deeply, irrevocably entwined as we reveal the
mind of a killer in his search for meaning and redemption.
How to Break, Village Theatre, 1/5-14/18 (Part of the
Beta Series – developmental musical)
Book and Lyrics by Aaron Jafferis, Songs and Lyrics by
Rebecca Hart, Beatbox Score by Yako 440
Ignited by an electric collision of theatre, breakdancing,
and lyrical flow, this new musical follows two teenage hip hop dancers as they
battle not only their disease, but also the hospital caregivers, for control
over their own bodies. With a score backed by a beatboxed soundscape of the
patients’ breaths and IV beeps, tensions rise as race, class, and language
create life-threatening rifts between the patients and their treatment team.
Timon of Athens, Seattle Shakespeare Company,
1/9/18-2/4/18
Mary Ewald plays popular and wealthy Timon, who has hordes
of friends, but only when the wine is flowing. When their money runs out, Timon
turns to their friends for help. One by one they refuse them, and the carefree
philanthropist turns to reclusive misanthrope. When fortune shines on them
again, will Timon find out who their true friends are?
Don't Split the Party,
Transparent Storytelling Theatre,
1/11-21/18 (world premiere at The Slate Theatre)
Don't Split the Party
introduces us to Rick and his college D&D buddies. They haven't spoken in
three months and Rick is determined to fix that by locking everyone in his
basement apartment and rekindling their broken relationships over a game of Dungeons
and Dragons.
Two Trains Running,
Seattle Repertory Theatre,
1/12/18-2/11/18 co-pro with Arena Stage
There's a new President in the White House, and racial
tensions are on the rise. No, it's not 2017 – it's 1969. At a critical moment
in the Civil Rights Movement, Memphis is forced to consider selling his
restaurant to the city of Pittsburgh as urban planning eats away at his beloved
neighborhood. Featuring a captivating slice-of-life cast of characters, Two Trains Running is celebrated playwright
August Wilson's portrait of a defining moment in American history.
Straight White Men,
Washington Ensemble Theatre, 1/12-29/18
Young Jean Lee’s family drama about the demographic you love
to hate. When three brothers gather at their father’s home for Christmas, it
becomes clear that they have more on their minds than the holidays. With
hypocrisy, humor, and enlightened progressivism, this story explores what to do
with privilege, and who is to blame for it.
Frost/Nixon, Strawberry Theatre Workshop,
1/18/18-2/17/18
Amy Thone and Alexandra Tavares will play the famous title
characters. Three years after the Watergate scandal ended his presidency,
Richard Nixon agreed to break his silence in a series of interviews with
up-and-coming British broadcaster David Frost. Behind-the-scenes it was a
battle of egos for the upper hand in controlling history, but as the cameras
rolled, the world was riveted by a remarkably honest exchange between one man
who has lost everything and another with everything to gain.
The Gin Game, Village Theatre, Issaquah:
1/18/18-2/25/18, Everett: 3/2-25/18
Snappy dialogue and quick wit crackle in this Pulitzer Prize-winning
play. On a lonely visitor's day at a home for the aged, Weller teaches Fonsia
to play Gin Rummy. But as the two get to know each other, and Fonsia goes on an
instant winning streak, the tension starts to build within their new
friendship. A collaboration between local Seattle legends Jeff Steitzer
(director), Kurt Beattie (Weller), and Marianne Owen (Fonsia), this
tragic-comedy is full of humor, spirit, and more than a touch of warfare.
The Little Prince,
Seattle Children’s Theatre,
1/18/18-3/4/18 (ages 6+)
In the middle of the Sahara Desert, a stranded aviator meets
the Little Prince, a young boy from a small, faraway asteroid, and a dreamlike
journey unfolds across a universe. A rose, a sheep, and an array of unusual
adults on their own small planets spark wonder in Artistic Director Courtney
Sale’s SCT directorial debut. Adapted from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry classic
novella, this treasured tale reminds us of the power of innocence and boundless
love.
Peerless, ArtsWest, 1/18/18-2/11/18
Asian-American twin sisters M and L will do whatever it
takes to win the one coveted affirmative action spot at "The
College." But when the thick acceptance envelope falls into the hands of
D, a white male colleague who is 1/16th Native American, the sisters will stop
at nothing to take back what is rightfully theirs - and eliminate anyone who
stands in their way. Jiehae Park's clever and incisive adaptation of Macbeth
explores how the drive to succeed can become an all-consuming - and deadly -
obsession.
Wit, SecondStory Repertory, 1/19/18-2/3/18
Eleanor Moseley stars in this Pulitzer
Prize winning drama. Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., a renowned professor of English, has
been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Her approach to teaching the poet
John Donne is aggressively probing and intensely rational. But during the
course of her illness in an experimental chemotherapy program, Vivian comes to
reassess her life and her work with a profundity and humor that are
transformative both for her and the audience.
Bohemia, Marxiano Productions, 1/19-27/18 (at
The Triple Door)
Bohemia is a musical
set in 1890s Prague that combines the music of Dvorák and Chopin, with art by
Alphonse Mucha. Famous Czech composer Antonin Dvorák 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 Dvorák is visited by
the ghost of late composer Frederick Chopin and many other famous Bohemians as
they search for the true source of inspiration and grasp at artistic immortality.
Camping with Henry and
Tom, Taproot Theatre,
1/24/18-2/24/18
Inspired by a real event – three titans of history find
themselves stranded in the woods while on a camping trip in Maryland. Fact and
fiction collide for Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and President Warren G. Harding
as they try to kill time without killing each other in this comedic and
dramatic clash of wits and wills.
Vanishing Point, Seattle Public Theater, 1/25/18-2/25/18
Aviatrix Amelia Earhart, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson
and author Agatha Christie each vanished mysteriously: Agatha disappeared for
eleven days; Aimee disappeared for three weeks; and of course Amelia vanished
completely. Vanishing Point, a
musical comedy-fantasy, brings these three women together as they solve the
mystery of their disappearances from their own lives.
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