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Sunday, June 02, 2019

June Flowers with Choices

Cast of The Agitators at West of Lenin (Josiah Epstein)
June is frontloaded with 9 shows opening in the same weekend! There is a ton of variety in choices from old-made-new to world premiere. Time to get your tickets!

Blackbird, White Rabbits Inc and Libby Barnard, 5/30/19-6/15/19 (at 18th & Union)
Ray, 56, has a new identity and has made a new life for himself, thinking that he cannot be found. Una, 27, upon seeing a photo of Ray in a magazine, arrives unannounced at his office. Guilt, rage, and raw emotions run high as they recollect the illicit relationship they had 15 years ago, when she was 12 and he was 40. Blackbird is a story about living with the consequences of abuse and trauma, and demanding a new future.

Don’t Call it a Riot, Ten Auras Productions and Trial and Error Productions, 5/31/19-6/23/19 (at 12th Avenue Arts)
Amontaine Aurore writes about the history of Seattle activism from the height of the city’s 1960s Black Panther Party to the 1999 WTO protests, uncovering the toll that a commitment to social justice can take on the day-to-day lives of activists. Reed, a 20-year-old college student who is expecting her first baby is also an active member of Black Panther Party. The effect that fighting for liberation has on the foundations of her home life flows through her 31-year journey. Turmoil challenged the Black Panther party and caused a dream deferred.

They/Them The Festival, Annex Theatre, 5/31/19-6/29/19
An exciting roster of burlesque performers, drag artists, musicians and more, They/Them The Festival showcases trans and nonbinary performers. They/Them The Musical, written and performed by solo artist Sam I'Am, with original music composed by Emma Staake, is part of the festival.

Mae West’s The Drag – A Homosexual Comedy in Three Acts, Play Your Part Seattle, 6/5-29/19 (at Gay City)
BRUTAL! VULGAR! DIRTY! The Gay comedy that shocked 1920's America comes to Seattle.
This play, about overcoming the historical stigma associated with homosexuality and drag culture, was written by the lightheartedly bawdy actress and sex symbol, Mae West.

Behold the Dreamers, Book-It Repertory Theatre, 6/6-30/19 (world premiere) (opens 6/8)
Jende Jonga and his wife Neni have recently emigrated from Cameroon to America to try to make a new life for themselves and their young son. Jende gets a job as a chauffeur for an investor at Lehman Brothers and Neni studies to be a pharmacist. When the Great Recession starts to upend the economy, both of them realize that America may not be the place full of hope and promise as they had once thought. Novelist Imbolo Mbue masterfully weaves a story of class divide, immigration, and marriage in her remarkable debut.

The Agitators, AJ Epstein Presents, 6/6-29/19 (at West of Lenin)
Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass were friends, adversaries and allies who shaped the 15th Amendment to our Constitution. They agitated the nation. As Anthony continues her advocacy and campaigning for women’s right to vote through the suffragette movement, Douglass is intent upon ending slavery and securing the rights for Black men to vote. Over the course of time, they each question the validity of their independent struggles and often spar over the conflicts of race and gender rights inherent in their complementary quests.

Boy, Fantastic.Z Productions, 6/7-22/19 (at Theatre Off Jackson)
Inspired by a true story, Anna Ziegler’s play explores the tricky terrain of finding love amidst the confusion of sexual identity, and the inextricable bond between a doctor and patient. In the 1960s, a well-intentioned doctor convinces the parents of a male infant to raise their son as a girl after a terrible genital accident. Two decades later, the repercussions of that choice continue to unfold.

Hart Island, Village Theatre Beta Series, 6/7-16/19
Just off the shore of New York City lies a sorrowful island that serves as a public burial ground for the lonely, forgotten, or impoverished of the city. Hart Island is an inspiring and emotional tale of an immigrant woman fighting for her child, and the unexpected compassion of a disillusioned inmate who is the only person who can help her. This haunting new musical observes two people on the fringe of society as they change each other’s lives forever. (This is a “developmental production” which will continue to be worked on for future productions.)

The War in Heaven and The Waste Land, New City Theatre, 6/7-30/19 (at ACT Theatre)
            Both of these plays are done in the same evening… Sam Shepard’s The War in Heaven asks a large question: What is the future of our humanity? Originally written as a radio play, the story follows an angel who dies the day she is born and crashes to earth. What do her poetic voice and innocent eyes observe of our world? The play asks us to reexamine our past and its effect on our increasingly uncertain future.
T.S. Eliot’s classic epic, The Waste Land, stretches across multiple characters, continents, and cultures, slipping and sliding through our collective humanity. Performed as a solo piece featuring Mary Ewald’s deft transformation from the king of the wood to famous clairvoyant Madam Sosostris to blind Tiresias to Hamlet to Dante, and more.

Reefer Madness, SecondStory Repertory, 6/7-30/19
Inspired by the original 1936 film of the same name, this raucous musical comedy takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the hysteria caused when clean-cut kids fall prey to marijuana, leading them on a hysterical downward spiral filled with evil jazz music, sex and violence. The addictive and clever musical numbers range from big Broadway-style showstoppers to swing tunes featuring Jesus Christ Himself leading a chorus of showgirl angels.

The Champagne Widow, Cafe Nordo, 6/7-30/19
The stories of the widows (or Veuves in French) who made Champagne into the luxury brand it is today are disappearing in the sands of the hour glass,” says playwright and lead performer Opal Peachey. These are the unsung stories of businesswomen Barbe Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, Louise Pommery, Mathilde Laurent-Perrier and Lily Bollinger.

The Last World Octopus Wrestling Champion, ArtsWest, 6/20/19-7/28/19 (world premiere)
Wunderkind Justin Huertas has written a new musical. Senior year (and falling in love) is hard enough, but when the discovery of her mother's old trophy throws open the past, a young girl must reckon with a world turned upside down - with strange new abilities that seem to hint at a destiny beyond her wildest imagination. The rich threads of Puget Sound history and folklore weave a thrilling modern myth of love, family, and transformation.

Pieces of Her, 6/20-22/19 (at 18th & Union)
This is a solo performance about Sara Carbone’s life as a child actress and adult artist. The 70-minute play includes Sara singing and dancing her way through over a dozen characters and multiple musical styles, almost entirely without instruments.

Man of La Mancha, Harlequin Productions, 6/20/19-7/27/19
A classic of American musical theatre, this new telling of is re-imagined for the contemporary stage and will star veteran Seattle talent, Allen Fitzpatrick. With an ensemble cast of musician-actors, director Aaron Lamb entwines the classic score with the silence of Artistic Sign Language to tell a four-hundred-year-old story as it has never been heard before.

A Tale of Two Cities, Mamches Presents, 6/23/19-7/2/19 (at Rendezvous’ Jewelbox)
Based on the novel by Charles Dickens and adapted by Everett Quinton of the infamous Ridiculous Theatrical Company, we present an irreverent comedy about an aspiring drag queen who finds an inconsolable baby on his door step. To calm the child down, he reenacts the entirety of A Tale of Two Cities! Mamches Productions is excited to present Michael Oaks on stage, directed by Susan Finque.  This is a 21+ event.

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