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| Pork Filled Productions presents The Brothers Paranormal (Alabastro Photography) |
A new musical, new plays, Seattle premieres, and some spooky
fall offerings are on tap this month. Get outcher calendars!
Violet’s Attic: A Grand Ball for Wicked Dolls, Café
Nordo, 10/1/19-11/24/19
This fall, you’re invited to Violet’s Attic, where
playtime lasts forever. She’ll feed you treats and play games, but don’t cross
her or it’s “IN THE BOX!” for you. The Nordo Culinarium will be transformed
into a world scaled to be seen from the button eyes of Violet’s favorite dolls
(you!) complete with a giant Jack in the Box and food fit for a doll party.
The Christians, Pony World Theatre, 10/3-26/19
(at Phinney Ridge Lutheran, Plymouth Congregational, St. Peter’s Episcopal
churches)
Here’s a story of a church that grew over twenty years from
a modest storefront to a congregation that numbers in the thousands. Led by
Pastor Paul and his wife Elizabeth, the church now has classrooms, a coffee
shop, escalators, and a baptismal font as big as a swimming pool. The church
looks to celebrate its growth and paying off all its debt, but Pastor Paul tells
his flock he now believes there is no such thing as Hell. His sermon ruptures
the once happy, unified congregation and also threatens his marriage with
Elizabeth. Can we still love each other if we hold different beliefs?
Jane Austen is writing her masterpiece, Pride and
Prejudice. As she shapes the course of her novel, its characters spring to
life around her. With a classical Broadway score and clever, contemporary
lyrics, this is a musical of beauty, wit, and wisdom, wrapped up in a journey
of self-discovery. Austen’s Pride is the 21st new musical to be produced
by The 5th Avenue.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, CenterStage,
10/4-27/19
Sherlock Holmes doesn’t believe in the supernatural. But
when a man comes to 221B Baker Street insisting that a ghostly hell hound is
killing off the cursed members of the Baskerville family, and that the new
young lord of the manor may be next, Holmes’ attention is captured and he
agrees to take on the case. With the faithful Dr. Watson at his side, Holmes
sets off into the misty moors to face one of his most thrilling cases.
The Pavilion, Strawberry Theatre Workshop,
10/10/19-11/9/19
Kari, a small-town woman who is building a life for herself
in the town she grew up in, sees Peter, who abandoned Kari and Pine City,
Minnesota, as a youth, at their 20-year high school reunion. Peter sees the
reunion as a chance to redeem himself. The story demonstrates Life as an
ongoing cycle of rebirth.
Overcoming – A Womxn Playwright Festival, 18th
and Union, 10/10-19/19
The powerhouse playwrights who created pieces for this
evening of short plays include Lenore Bensinger, Kelleen Conway Blanchard,
Robin Brooks, Anuhea Brown, Emily Conbere, Elizabeth Coplan, and Keiko Green. Stories
include: the artist who, despite racial discrimination, endeavors to make it
big in a mouse’s world, the mother who faces unthinkable grief and loss, strange
and compelling ways that people find to express their love for one another when
battling cancer, and how a non-mom and her non-kid create a bond that surpasses
their differing blood.
The Great Moment, Seattle Repertory Theatre,
10/11/19-11/17/19 (world premiere)
As Sarah's grandfather is nearing the end of his life, her
precocious young son Evan is at the beginning of his. This intensely personal,
relatable family story is about how, at different ages, we find - or lose
ourselves. Playwright Anna Ziegler (Photograph 51) writes a funny and
poetic meditation on beginnings and endings, birth and age, and the moments of
transition that mark our passage from life to death.
Sagittarius Ponderosa, Albatross Theatre Lab,
10/11-19/19 (at Theatre4 Armory)
Archer, a young trans man, finds himself home with his
family when his father falls seriously ill. Not yet out to his relatives,
Archer must grapple with grief and frustration, all while living with people
who don’t truly know who he is. But everything changes when he encounters a
local botany student and the old Ponderosa pine tree he’s studying deep in the
Oregon woods. Sagittarius Ponderosa is a story of the love we have, the love we
seek, and the relationships we build to navigate our lives.
Ghost Party, Dacha Theatre, 10/12-23/19 (at
Russian Community Center)
You live, you die, you move on – that's how it's supposed to
go. But when an unlucky subset of the dead have been reliving the same
ill-fated party over and over for decades, it's up to you to try find a way to
change their fates. You will interactively explore a mysterious gala of lost
souls and interact with its diverse inhabitants. You might dive deep into one
ghost's tragic past and find a way to set them free – or you might try and meet
as many spirits as you can.
It is, after all, a party!
Little Red Riding Hood, Thistle Theatre,
10/12-27/19 (various locations)
Little Red Riding Hood sets off to Grandmutter's house with
a basket full of goodies and stumbles into an armful of adventure. Rudy, an
impish squirrel, befriends Little Red Riding Hood and warns her of the
dangerous wolf. The arrogant wolf assumes a variety of disguises in his attempt
to gobble her up. Fritz, the telegram singing bird, and Greta, a rabbit with a
carriage full of baby bunnies, round out the zany cast of characters. This
action-filled show is set in Bavaria and includes an interactive song in which
the audience is invited to sing along.
The Tempest, Seattle Shakespeare Company,
10/15/19-11/10/19 (opens 10/18)
Prospero (played by Mari Nelson), stripped of power, position,
and wealth for twelve long years, has plotted in exile on an enchanted island.
When enemies sail too close, Prospero conjures a magical storm to shipwreck the
passengers. The mysterious island holds secrets, along with curious creatures
and fantastical spirits. While dispensing justice and watching over her
daughter’s emerging romance, Prospero’s old wounds begin to heal, and
reconciliation and forgiveness seem within reach for all. This production mixes
sexes to reveal different interpretations of this classic Shakespeare play.
Also, original music and choral performance is included.
The Thanksgiving Play, Seattle Public Theater,
10/17/19-11/16/19
Larissa Fasthorse writes about Thanksgiving, that most
American of holidays: when families gather to celebrate the warmth of home, the
bounty of the harvest — and a legacy of genocide and violent colonial
expansion. Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in this funny
satire, as a troupe of terminally “woke” teaching artists scrambles to create a
pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American
Heritage Month.
Dracula, ACT Theatre, 10/18/19-11/17/19
Steven Dietz has re-adapted his Dracula for ACT’s stage. Dietz’s
take on the beloved, bloodcurdling tale of good versus evil includes a
surprising twist: Mina, the object of Dracula’s desire, sets out to uncover the
mysterious haunting of her fiancé and the reason why her closest companion,
Lucy, feels her body summoned by howls and whispers in the dark. Mina knows she
must boldly challenge the ruler of the night before it’s too late.
The Revolutionists, Theatre22,
10/18/19-11/9/19 (at 12th Avenue Arts)
Lauren Gunderson’s play – one of the most performed plays
nationwide of 2019 - is a story about four badass women who lose their heads
(literally) in this irreverent comedy set during the French Revolution’s Reign
of Terror. Playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, deposed
queen Marie Antoinette, and Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle tell their stories
together and try to beat back the extremist insanity in 1793 Paris. This grand
and dream-tweaked comedy is about violence and legacy, art and activism,
feminism and terrorism, compatriots and chosen sisters, and how we actually go
about changing the world. (Artswest will perform this play in January, 2020)
White, Theatre22, 10/18/19-11/9/19 (at 12th
Avenue Arts)
(Performed in repertory [at the same time as] with The
Revolutionists)
James Ijames writes about Gus. an artist. A very good
artist. He’s just not a famous artist. So when a major art museum puts out a
call for “new perspectives,” Gus decides to seize his opportunity. He hires
Vanessa, an actress, to perform as Balkonaé Townsend, a brash and political
artist that will fit the museum’s desire for “new voices” to present his
work as her own. Everything is great until Balkonaé embraces her power and the
two become entwined in a knot of confusion. As Vanessa gets more deeply into
her role, the plan spins out of control, while the play explores
intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality, and art.
The Brothers Paranormal, Pork Filled Productions,
10/26/19-11/16/19 (at Theatre Off Jackson) (rolling world premiere)
The Brothers Paranormal by Prince Gomolvilas is about
two Thai-American brothers who launch a ghost-hunting business in order to
capitalize on the nationwide increase in sightings of Asian-looking ghosts.
When the siblings end up investigating the home of an African-American couple
that claims to be haunted by one very terrifying spirit, everyone’s notions of
reality, fantasy, and sanity clash against the shocking truth.
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