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| Eric Ankrim and Allison Standley in She Loves Me at Village Theatre (Danielle Barnum) |
January theater openings ramp back up in the usual robust
way with significant world premiere productions, classics in both plays and
musicals, and lots of politics! If you can’t find something that appeals to
you, you just aren’t looking! Make your New Year resolution to go to a production
from a company you’ve never tried before, or never heard of before! Get your
adventuresome calendars out!
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| The Rivals at Seattle Shakespeare Company (HMMM Productions) |
The Rivals, Seattle Shakespeare Company, 1/7/20-2/2/20
Not by Shakespeare, but by Richard Sheridan, an 18th Century
reverie on the elusive magic of true love filled with extravagant characters
and hilarious circumstances. Young and wealthy Lydia Languish insists on finding
and marrying a poor man for the sake of true love. Captain Jack Absolute
pretends to be a poor army officer. Aiding and thwarting Jack’s pursuit are a
collection of comic characters including his cranky father, Sir Anthony,
Lydia’s meddling and misspoken aunt, Mrs. Malaprop, and a pair of adversaries:
the jovial Bob Acres and the salty Sir Lucius O’Trigger. Director George Mount
and his design team create a twist to the story that involves both the original
setting in the 1780s and the 1980s.
Reparations, Sound Theatre Company,
1/8/20-2/2/20 (world premiere) (at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute)
The idea of reparations (making some repayment to progeny of
those brought as slaves to our country) resonates now more than ever as we
navigate questions of ownership and accountability within ourselves, society
and the American government at large. By examining the secrets and traumas we
carry in our bloodlines, playwright Darren Canady urges us to inch closer and
closer to decolonizing and deconstructing the dominant narrative.
14/48: The World’s Quickest Theater Festival, ACTLab,
1/10-18/20
Part theater magic, part sporting event, 14/48: The World’s
Quickest Theater Festival (14/48: TWQTF) brings its unique brand of
theatre-making to ACT Theatre. In an epic challenge of creativity and endurance,
14 world-premiere plays will be written, cast, designed, directed, scored,
rehearsed, and performed in 48 hours. That same process is repeated for a
second weekend. It’s never ever a repeat, so it’s never ever the same.
True West, Seattle Repertory Theatre,
1/17/20-2/15/20 (opens 1/22)
Sam Shepherd’s now classic play about two brothers from
different walks of life – one a successful screenwriter, the other a restless
drifter – who clash while housesitting for their mother in a sweltering Los
Angeles suburb. This outlandishly funny and unsettling Pulitzer Prize-nominated
comedy gleefully detonates our misguided myths of family, identity, and the
American Dream.
She Loves Me, Village Theatre, Issaquah:
1/16/20-2/23/20, Everett: 2/28/20-3/22/20
From the combined talents of the creators of Fiddler on
the Roof and Cabaret (book writer Joe Masteroff, composer Jerry Bock,
and lyricist Sheldon Harnick) comes the musical romance that inspired the hit
film You’ve Got Mail. Considered by many to be “the perfect musical!” Shop
clerks Amalia and Georg have never quite seen eye to eye, but what they don’t
know is that they have already fallen in love – through a “lonely hearts
advertisement.” A warm romantic comedy with an endearing innocence and a touch
of old-world elegance.
The Revolutionists, ArtsWest, 1/16/20-2/9/20
Four beautiful, badass women: Playwright Olympe de Gouges,
assassin Charlotte Corday, former queen Marie Antoinette, and Haitian rebel
Marianne Angelle (three of them real historical figures) lose their heads in
this irreverent, girl-powered comedy set during the French Revolution's Reign
of Terror. As this fearless comedy about a motley female foursome unfolds, playwright
Lauren Gunderson rewrites the book on violence and legacy, art and activism,
feminism and terrorism, compatriots and chosen sisters, and how we actually go
about changing the world.
[MISS], Edmonds Driftwood Players, 1/16-19/20
Based on true events, this play tells the story of Dr.
Frances Kelsey’s battle with a powerful drug company to prevent thalidomide
from being approved for release in the United States. Concerned about the
drug’s potential effect on pregnant women, she resists the drug company’s
attacks to force her to back down. The play focuses on the challenges women
face in science and the ability of one uncompromising woman to change history
and save lives.
Dance Nation, Washington Ensemble Theatre,
1/17/20-2/3/20
Clare Barron’s Pulitzer-nominated play explores the
cutthroat world of a preteen competitive dance team on the brink of having it
all. Dance Teacher Pat will bring his army of ferocious youth performers all
the way to nationals but only if they can harness their immense potential
first. This razor-sharp story is a celebration of the unsettling and at times
terrifying power of young women as they navigate their own monumental ambition.
Sparkles, fangs, and intense feminine energy: what more could you want?
Noises Off, Harlequin Productions,
1/17/20-2/8/20
Noises Off presents a hilarious behind-the-scenes
peek at an acting troupe rehearsing and performing the comedy “Nothing’s On.”
After barely making it from final dress rehearsal to opening night, things
quickly deteriorate during the run, culminating in a closing night disaster
that threatens to jinx the old saying, “The show must go on.” In three acts:
Act One, Act One, and Act One.
Steel Magnolias, Taproot Theatre, 1/22/20-2/29/20
M'Lynn is the mother of bride-to-be Shelby, and as friend
Truvy Jones fixes the women's hair for the ceremony, they welcome a helping
hand from aspiring beautician Annelle Dupuy Desoto. Shelby has a diabetic health
scare, which is averted but doesn't bode well for her hopes of having children.
Time passes, and the women and their friends encounter tragedy and good
fortune, growing stronger and closer in the process. Moving from screen to
stage, this is a heartwarming American classic.
Our Country’s Good, Strawberry Theatre Workshop,
1/23/20-2/22/20
The United States incarcerates more people than any country
in the world, keeping 22% of the world's prisoners behind bars. Many are jailed
awaiting trial or a hearing on their immigration status. This play invites
audiences to a place where the population is 100% jailed and jailers. The year is 1787, and the place is the
British colony of Sydney, Australia. In
one of the cruelest episodes of criminal justice in history, the governing
class has ruled that criminals—even petty thieves and non-violent
offenders—must be killed or exiled from England. There is no rehabilitation for a class of
humans genetically defective. Playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker re-imagined
this historical scene as 11 actors play dual roles—each as one soldier and one
convict—in her retelling of a British officer's experiment with art among the
prisoners.
Liquid Hot, Woody Shticks, 1/23-26/20 (at 18th
& Union)
Slip into something a little uncomfortable as comic stripper
Woody Shticks gets trapped on a porno set with little more than his spicy
signature blend of stand-up, strip, and story. In a night thick with slick
satire and compromising positions, Woody reveals more than secrets as he gets
down and dirty with power and privilege. Come for the snickers but stay for the
kickers in this scalding sex comedy
You’d Better Sit Down for This, Annex Theatre,
1/30/20-2/29/20 (world premiere)
A kooky new sci-fi comedy by local writers Eric Navarrette and
Jasmine Joshua focuses on Margaret Lovelace who has always considered herself a
normal citizen. But when a mysterious summons to the DMV turns her whole life
upside down, she’s left with more questions than answers. How can she be a
robot? Did she really contract Robotitis in the Bahamas all those many years
ago? Why didn’t the DMV agent ask her to sit down for this before dropping this
bombshell? How come the DMV handles these sort of cases? Because this is really
the Department of Monster Verification (you see, their logo is different)!
Robots, werewolves, lost loves, super powers, and more!
Admissions, Seattle Public Theater,
1/30/20-2/23/20
Sherri Rosen-Mason is head of the admissions department at a
New England prep school, fighting to diversify the student body. Alongside her husband, the school's
Headmaster, they've largely succeeded in bringing a stodgy institution into the
twenty-first century. But when their only son sets his sights on an Ivy League
university, personal ambition collides with progressive values, with convulsive
results.
Bliss, 5th Avenue Theatre, 1/31/20-2/23/20 (world
premiere)
Comedian Mario Cantone invades Seattle to star in this
brand-new musical! The Deep Dark Forest is a mysterious place where fairy
godfathers await to grant your every wish for your “happily ever after”
guaranteed. Or is it? Bliss tears up the rules on happy endings. In this
fractured fairytale with an addictive pop rock score, four wildly distinctive
royal sisters sneak out of their castle and discover an intoxicating world of
fancy balls and dreamy princes—and a burning desire to be at the center of it
all. In a world that demands they fit in, it will take a sister’s love to
remind them to stand out. Together they discover that chasing their bliss means
leaving expectations behind. Chock-a-block with Broadway directing and technical
talent, this musical has clear aspirations!
Saint Joan, SecondStory Repertory,
1/31/20-2/16/20
Joan of Arc of France fought and defeated the besieging
English at Orleans, was captured and taken prisoner in Burgundy, and put on
trial and burned at the stake - all by the age of 19. Depicted as neither
witch, saint nor madwoman in George Bernard Shaw's compelling story, Joan is
but a farm girl whose focus on the individual rocks the church and state.
Let There Be Love, Centerstage, 1/31/20-2/23/20
(world premiere)
Playwright Mrinalini Kamath’s romantic comedy with a lot of
depth – and a few twists. Elite matchmaker Deedee and her son Eric run an
agency, and as Deedee's star begins to rise and Eric takes his love life into
his own hands, secrets and challenges begin to emerge from all directions. An
absorbing look at love, technology, and whether truth can be subjective. Ages
16 up. http://centerstagetheatre.com
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