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| The cast of American Hwangap (Alabastro Photography) |
February includes an unexpectedly large number of world
premieres! No one has ever seen them before and you can be their first
audiences! If you like adventure, then world premieres must be your bag. There
is music and politics and explorations of family and personal transition. This
fine eclectic mix is sure to give you subjects to think and talk about.
American Hwangap,
West of Lenin, 2/1-25/18 (ages 13+)
American Hwangap is a funny story about a weekend in the
lives of the whimsically dysfunctional Chuns, a Korean American family living
in West Texas in 2005. Min Suk wants to celebrate his hwangap - 60th birthday
celebration, even after he abandoned his family and returned to his native
South Korea. Lloyd Suh's deftly observant play drives at the heart of what it
means to be a family.
You Are Right, If You
Think, Theatre9/12, 2/2-25/18 (world premiere)
This adaptation of Pirandello’s 1917 Right You Are, If You Think You Are tells the story of a suspicious
family that moves into a city "some time ago, but not too long" and
excites the whole neighborhood to investigate their peculiar lives.
Swallow, Theater
Schmeater, 2/2-24/18
Three strangers are about to face their demons head on. There
is no more Samantha, just Sam as he tries to feel out the world in his new
skin. Rebecca reels from a divorce and the fallout as the facade of her life
has finally crumbled. Anna is a recluse that hasn't left her apartment in over
three years. She is turning her place into a living breathing art
exhibit...complete with a broken pelican. Questions of identity, heartbreak and
hope are explored.
Ibsen In Chicago, Seattle
Repertory Theatre, 2/2/18-3/4/18 (open 2/7) (world premiere)
David Grimm’s commissioned play for the Rep is set in 1882.
An unlikely ensemble of scrappy Scandinavian immigrants converge to put on a
play in Boomtown Chicago. As this ragtag group of new Americans rehearse a
controversial new play written by Henrik Ibsen, their various enmities and misunderstandings
take on vaudevillian proportions. Bricklayer turned impresario Henning Folden
has a chance to fulfill a dream, but first he has to keep the real world at bay
and get his cast to opening night,
Hamilton,
Paramount Theatre, 2/6/18-3/18/18
Alexander Hamilton gets his due in this deliberately
diversely cast Broadway mega-hit, gaining credit for establishing the
underpinnings of the U.S. financial system and being an all around smarty pants
before getting gunned down in a spat with Aaron Burr. Don't lose your personal
financial system trying to get tickets to this sold out show!
The
Journal of Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Seattle Children’s Theatre, 2/8/18-3/4/18 (ages 9+)
“I was born here. I’m from here. I’m American.” Witness the
story of 12-year-old Ben Uchida, a Japanese-American boy whose life is changed
forever following the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor. When the U.S.
government forces Japanese-American citizens into internment camps, Ben and his
family must face difficult truths about the idea of home. One young person’s struggle
to understand a society allowing mass discrimination against its citizens poses
questions as urgent today as they were in the past.
Mamma Mia, 5th Avenue
Theatre, 2/9/18-3/4/18
On the Greek island of Kalokairi, Sophie is preparing to
marry her fiancé, Sky. She wants her father to walk her down the aisle but
doesn't which of three men he is. So she invites them all to Greece. On the day
before Sophie's wedding, her mother begins receiving guests at her taverna, including
these unexpected blasts from her past. (You know this is all set to ABBA music,
right?)
Row Yr Boat (Achievement
Unlocked), Annex Theatre, 2/9/18-3/3/18 (world premiere)
Rose T. O'Brien, an eccentric late-20s gamer with massive
confidence issues and a deep competitive streak, goes looking for employment in
the virtual reality sector at a major industry conference in Vegas. Recruited
as a sensor for Row Yr Boat LLC, the company demands that Rose must be married
within the year or lose everything. The condition isn't unreasonable; it’s for
her mental health.
Ain’t Misbehavin’,
Seattle Musical Theatre, 2/9/18-3/4/18
The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's and 1930's comes to
life in Ain't Misbehavin', a musical revue. Join our performers on a journey
through the timeless music of Thomas "Fats" Waller and jump and jive to songs such as
"Honeysuckle Rose" and "This Joint is Jumpin'.” www.seattlemusicaltheatre.org
Safe Space, Annex
Theatre, 2/13-28/18 (Tu/W)
“Safe Space” starts with Medicaid budget cuts prematurely
ending group therapy sessions for a group of middle school girls. They celebrate
but it quickly becomes evident the therapy is ending at pivotal moments in each
of these girls’ lives. They cannot stop the outside forces that shape who they
are: opioids, eating disorders, slut shaming, and an inadequate foster system.
These girls try to work together to shoulder the burden of living in a world
where suddenly, there are no “safe spaces.”
Bury Me Under I-5,
Sgt Rigsby & His Amazing Silhouettes, 2/15/18-3/10/18 (at Theatre Off Jackson)
Sgt Rigsby & His Amazing Silhouettes presents a shadow
puppet show about hard living in today’s Seattle. Desperate times, hard
choices, talking animals. The show is follows the stories of Chicken Jenny and
Minky, two souls who have stumbled on life’s path and struggle to get up again.
Rapture, Blister, Burn,
Burien Actors’ Theatre, 2/16/18-3/11/18
Catherine wants what her friend Gwen has: a husband and
children. Gwen wants to be what Catherine is: a famous academic and cultural
pundit. Toss in Catherine’s feisty mother, a young former stripper, Gwen’s
flawed husband, feminist theory, Dr. Phil and lots of martinis for a bumpy and
hilarious ride.
Afterwords,
Village Theatre, 2/16-25/18 (beta series)
Next in Village’s “Beta Series” of developmental musicals, a
young war reporter’s mentor is killed on assignment and his diaries are left to
her care. She finds chronicles of a turbulent midlife love affair and determines
to find two sisters mourning the loss of their volatile mother, thinking to
give the diaries to them. As entanglements deepen and past collides with
present, these young women relay three sides of one story.
Hershey Felder As
Irving Berlin, Seattle Repertory Theatre, 2/23/18-3/18/18 (open 2/28)
Hershey Felder has crafted a night of celebrating the music
and lyrics by Irving Berlin and Berlin’s journey from Imperial Russia to the streets
of the Lower East Side of New York City. Including songs like “God Bless
America” and “White Christmas,” this musical portrait is an uplifting immigrant
tale that reminds us of the promise of the American Dream.
You Can’t Take It With
You, Sound Theatre Company, 2/24/18-3/11/18 (at The Armory)
This story reveals a New York family of individualists,
eccentrics and free-spirits coexisting together under one roof. Under the
gentle radicalism of Grandpa, all are encouraged to remember that, "Life
is kind of beautiful if you let it come to you…" Tee Dennard stars as
Grandpa, and Shermona Mitchell as his novelist daughter, Penny Sycamore. Appropriate for all audiences.
Imaginary Opus,
Sound Theatre Company and eSe Teatro, 2/25-28/18 (at The Armory)
A multimedia musical about a young boy who has hard time
expressing himself in words and fitting in with the other children. Prone to
sensory overload, he finds solace in his vivid imagination and drawing the
beautiful world as he sees it. https://www.artful.ly/store/events/14169
Hir, ArtsWest
& Intiman Theatre, 2/28/18-3/25/18
(open 3/2)
Somewhere in the suburbs, Isaac has returned from the wars
to help take care of his ailing father, only to enter a different warzone: a
household in revolt. His mother, liberated from an oppressive marriage - with
Isaac's newly out transgender sibling as her ally - is on a crusade to
dismantle the patriarchy. But in Taylor Mac's sly, subversive comedy Hir, annihilating the past doesn't
always free you from it.
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