Ha Ha Ha Ha-liday Shows (and a bunch of Scrooges)

Scott Shoemaker's War on Christmas (Bronwen Houck)

You know what’s in store on Seattle stages, this month! Go for the classics or go for the laughs. Plenty of shows to choose from! Get out yer calendars!

The Past, A Present Yet to Come (Michael Brunk)

The Past, a Present Yet to Come
Through 12/21/25 (at Kennedy Catholic High, 140 S. 140th St., Burien)
Burien Actors Theatre, www.battheatre.org
In this irreverent imagining of how Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol came to be written, a young entrepreneur in Victorian London sets out to produce a play that will soften his Uncle Ebenezer Scrooge’s hard heart. He turns to no-nonsense theatre producer J.B. Roth, who engages a broke, philandering Dickens. Are there ulterior motives for this unlikely mission to save Scrooge?
 
The Sound of Music
Through 12/21/25 (at 9315 State Ave, Suite J, Marysville)
Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts, www.redcurtainfoundation.org
Let the melodies of the Alps welcome you as we bring this beloved musical to life for the holiday season. Filled with iconic songs, heartfelt storytelling, and the inspiring story of the Von Trapp family, The Sound of Music continues to captivate audiences of all ages.
 
A Charlie Brown Christmas
12/4-27/25
Taproot Theatre, www.taproottheatre.org
Charlie Brown is depressed by the never-ending commercialism surrounding the holidays. Thankfully, Linus is there to help him find the true meaning of Christmas in this musical adaptation of the cartoon classic. 7^th year in a row, almost a holiday tradition! (40 minutes)

Fellow Passengers
12/4-22/25
Strawberry Theatre Workshop, www.strawshop.org

Greg Carter has adapted Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the actual narrative into a three-person presentation. The play engages found objects, clothes, and furniture to restore vitality to the most important story ever written. Imogen Love, Kiki Abba, and Heather Persinger share the role of literature's most famous haunted man and his joyful discovery that the people around him are "fellow passengers to the grave; not another race of creatures bound on other journeys." 

A Klingon Christmas Carol (courtesy Latitude Theatre)

A Klingon Christmas Carol
12/4-28/25 (at Seattle Center, Armory)
Latitude Theatre, www.latitudetheatre.org
With dialogue scripted completely in the Klingon language, and narrated in English by a Vulcan narrator (and translated with supertitles), Klingon themes of courage and honor propel Dickens’ traditional story of the cowardly SQuja’ (Scrooge) as he is challenged to revisit his choices and change his fate with the help of three Klingon warrior spirits.
 
The Dina Martina Christmas Show
12/5-24/25
Union Arts Center, www.unionartscenter.org
A beloved tradition for over 25 years, Dina’s cabaret performance offers a hilarious take on traditional and contemporary holiday tunes, accompanied by award-winning composer/musician/adult prodigy Chris Jeffries. Experience this hysterically funny and joyous production with your friends and family!

Seattle November Theater Provides a Warm Embrace

Acrobatic  Conundrum Threads (Josh Lieberman)

Lot of holiday oriented theatrical productions, of course, starting now. Some of our favorite laugh-factories are back for another go. There are world premieres and off-beat musicals and updates to classic musicals, too. Check it out and get out yer calendars, now!
 
Threads
Through 11/8/25
Acrobatic Conundrum, www.acrobaticconundrum.com
A tangled world, by turns emotive and exhilarating. Rope papers the walls, rope becomes an animate object in the hands of a clown, rope elevates dance-storytelling into the air. Acrobats revel in the messy knot of being connected to each other, pulling their weight, trusting, and putting their lives on the line for each other. Threads is a circus opus featuring seven performers and a musician, an exploration of connection, love, and endings — a story strung with grace and daring that will leave you inspired and curiously alive.
 
OMNIA Break Room (world premiere)
11/6-16/25 (at Meany Studio Theatre)
UW School of Drama, www.drama.uw.edu
In a world of streamlined efficiency, the employees of OMNIA (Latin for “everything”) convene in the breakroom during their shifts. Employees feel isolated and disconnected in an environment constantly extracting the most of people, until the inhumane system creates a schism, revealing a different life on the other side.
 
Anything Goes
11/7-22/25 (at Theatre Off Jackson)
Reboot Theatre Company, www.reboottheatre.org
When the S.S. Reboot heads out to sea, etiquette and convention head out the portholes as two unlikely pairs set off on the course to true love... proving that sometimes destiny needs a little help from a crew of singing sailors, a comical disguise, and some good old-fashioned blackmail.  Songs you may know, of pop and jazz standards, but might not know were from this musical, include "Anything Goes," "You're the Top," "All Through the Night," and "I Get a Kick Out of You."

New “Shrew” Lacks Love

Shrew - Jocelyn Maher and Rachel Guyer-Mafune (photo Giao Nguyen)

Shrew
Union Arts Center
Through 11/2/25
 
The blurb for this production, Shrew, said, “Girl meets boy. Girl hates boy. Girl agrees to marry boy against her will so her sister can get married too. Got it? Shrew uses the classic Shakespearian (Taming of the Shew) text — but inverted, upended, and overturned — to offer a modern-day perspective on how far we’ve come when it comes to love — and how far we still have to go.”
 
It is a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. But the promise was perhaps oversold on the “modern-day perspective.” Many playwrights have been updating Shakespeare’s plays these days because we all know the 1500s were not shining examples of egalitarian attitudes towards women. Sometimes, people will argue that Shakespeare himself took great pains in some of his plays to empower his women characters, so there’s that.
 
The Taming focuses on Kate, an independent-minded woman who doesn’t suffer fools lightly, and as Shakespeare’s language portrays her, is rude and indifferent. She’s “untamable.” Because of her dowery – and maybe because she’s pretty, Petruchio decides to marry her and sets out to prove that he can tame her. Essentially, he starves her, isolates her, and demands that she learn to accept his word as the law.
 
And it’s a comedy. All this does not mean I dislike the play. It really does need to be contextualized for its time. And this is one of his more egalitarian storylines, in spite of the barbaric plot line.

October Theater Offers Mystery, Monsters, and World Premieres

Outside Mullingar (courtesy As If Theatre)

October looks like fun on our stages with quite a number of world premieres and a few shows with murder and mystery. Get out yer calendars!

The Coast Starlight (Michael Brunk)

The Coast Starlight
Now open through 10/19/25 (at Kennedy Catholic High School, 140 S. 140th St., Burien)
Burien Actors Theatre, https://battheatre.org/the-coast-starlight-2025
A young man with a life-changing secret boards a long-distance train, the Coast Starlight. With the help of his fellow travelers, who are reckoning with their own choices, he has roughly a thousand miles to find a way forward. This story of “what ifs” looks at what happens when we step beyond being strangers to connect, and how our interactions can change ourselves and others. A story about our capacity for invention and re-invention when life goes off the rails.
 
Outside Mullingar
10/2-10/25
As If Theatre, www.asiftheatre.com
Anthony and Rosemary are two introverted misfits who live on adjoining farms in the Irish countryside. Neighbors for generations, things come to a head when Tony Reilly, Anthony’s father, reveals his plan to disinherit him and sell the farm to another relative. As a feud simmers between the two families, old secrets, surprising truths, and long-hidden feelings threaten to emerge. In this quintessentially Irish story, the heartbreaking and the hilarious are woven together to create a deeply moving story of yearning, loss, family, romance, and the vulnerability of taking a chance on love.

Ms. Frankenstein's Monster (courtesy The Phoenix Theatre)

Ms. Frankenstein’s Monster
10/2-29/25
The Phoenix Theatre, https://www.tptedmonds.org/season18shows.html
You've never seen Frankenstein like this! Baron Frankenstein is down on his luck. The sparsity of viewers staying up to see his old monster on late, late TV shows depresses his ego and his credit at the bank. Can he renew his fame and fortune as a monster maker? Yes! He’ll create a football superstar cheered by millions. But his sister, Baroness Frankenstein, has her own ideas. She furtively creates a female monster attractive enough to become a Hollywood star. The town’s husbands are on one side, and their wives are on the other. The Baron commands his monster to destroy his sister’s. The reaction of the monsters at their first meeting is a tour de force of comic action.
 
Stage of Fools (world premiere)
10/3/25-11/2/25
Seattle Public Theater, www.seattlepublictheater.org
A scrappy feminist theater company is about to go under when it receives an offer it can't refuse: has-been ’80s action movie star Jake Stone will give it more money than ever dreamed of, if it will produce King Lear, with him in the titular role. Never mind that he's an entitled, egotistical blowhard. These women can survive anything for the sake of the theater they love...right? A world premiere written by local playwright Joy McCullough.

September Theater Openings – Off to the races!

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle from Book-It (Michelle Bates)

We have a Keiko Green mini-festival with two of her newest plays (Hells Canyon, Exotic Deadly) opening at once! A few events are one-day or one-weekend short, so attention is needed. World premieres and wildly different subject matter give us so much to see and do this month. Book-It pops in again! (Check out the new formatting... do you like it?)
 
The Laramie Project

9/4-28/25 (at ReAct Studios, 562 1st Ave S - 4th Floor)

ReAct Theatre www.reacttheatre.org

The critically acclaimed documentary-style play explores the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, a young gay man in a non-accepting community. Based on real interviews with residents of Laramie, news reports, and journal entries, it captures the community’s reactions to the hate crime and its impact.

Hells Canyon
9/5-21/26 (at 12th Avenue Arts)
Washington Ensemble Theatre, www.washingtonensemble.org
Seven-months pregnant Ariel arrives at a remote cabin with some old friends. Resentments surface and buried histories claw their way into the light when the group hears something outside, trying to get in… or out? In this horror-thriller, there are some decisions you cannot outrun.
 
For Colored Boyz (on the verge of a nervous breakdown / when freedom ain’t enuff)
9/5-21/25 (at Base Camp Studios, 2407 1^st Ave)
The Underground Theater, www.underground.theater
Written by Bryan-Keyth Wilson, this choreopoem brings to life the voices of queer Black and brown men through poetry, movement, and music. Raw, vulnerable, and transformative, it is a call to reflect, to listen, and to see one another more fully.
 
Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play
9/6–20/25 (at Theatre Off Jackson)
Porkfilled Productions and SiS Productions, www.porkfilled.com
Ami, an awkward Japanese American high school girl in 1999, wants to be invisible. But her world comes crashing down with a terrible discovery: her family is responsible for manufacturing MSG, the poison spice getting all the kids hooked. A mysterious new girl arrives from Japan, named Exotic Deadly. and she’s not playing by the rules. This whimsical, time-traveling adventure is a riotous romp through teenage crushes, family secrets, and female power.
 
Yaga
9/11-27/25 (at 12th Avenue Arts)
Dacha Theatre, www.dachatheatre.com
A genre-bending, darkly comedic fairy tale meets thrilling whodunit, giving voice to an antihero of epic proportions whose story has historically been told by men. An in-over-his-head detective finds himself in an isolated college town asking what the disappearance of a young heir to a yogurt empire has to do with a random folktale about an old witch. Involving an apprehensive local sheriff, a university professor with a taste for younger men, and a whole cast of curious characters, the Slavic myth of Baba Yaga twists into a new labyrinth of secret lives, ancient magic, and multiple suspects.

“After Midnight” – Cool, Hot Revue at the 5th

 

Cast of After Midnight (Michael B. Maine)

After Midnight
5^th Avenue Theatre
Through August 24, 2025
 
It don’t mean a thing if you don’t get yourself to this show…
 
After Midnight at the 5^th is everything you want in a revue of jazz standards of the Harlem Renaissance. The entire construction of the production is flawless – from the ten onstage members of the swinging band (Conductor William Knowles, Rebecca Smith, Chris Patin, Lamar Lofton, Brian Burmudez, Jovon Miller, Alex Dugdale, Owour Arunga, Nathan Breedlove, Reserat Tafesse) to the ten swinger/dancers (Iris Beaumier, Nicholas Japaul, Bernard, Brian Davis, Nalica Hennings, Jason Holley, Nehemiah Hooks, Trina Mills, Yuseg Seevers, Porscha Shaw, Madison Willis) to the gorgeous set (Carey Wong), costumes (Ricky German) and lighting (Xavier Pierce), it’s all beautifully pulled together by director Jay Santos.

August has some Hot, Cool Theater

Jettison to Europa at Annex Theatre (courtesy Annex Theatre)

Hey, folks! August has some great theater for you. And a couple of July productions have been so successful that they extended! Including Taproot's Murder on the Links which extended to August 30! Get out your calendars!

Shadows Under the Market, Seattle Public Theater, 8/1-9/25 (world premiere)

Written by five local playwrights, Kelleen Conway Blanchard, Maggie Lee, Darian Lindle, Matt Smith and M. Yichao, local teens perform a teen horror comedy!
www.seattlepublictheater.org
 
After Midnight, 5^th Avenue Theatre, 8/5-24/25
An all-star cast of local talents lead you to the sultry, swingin’ Jazz Age of the Harlem Renaissance, where the Cotton Club is the place to be! Infused with the iconic tunes of Duke Ellington, Dorothy Fields, Harold Arlen, and more, After Midnight weaves ground-breaking jazz standards with rapturous dance and the rhythmic poetry of Langston Hughes in a jubilant production fit to blow the roof off the theater. Timeless songs like “Stormy Weather,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing” will have you singing along to join the fun.
www.5thavenue.org
 
Jettison to Europa, Annex Theatre, 8/7-30/25
Astronaut Carey pioneers the inaugural expedition to Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons. Confined to her shuttle’s cockpit during this years-long mission, she is drawn in by the small satellite’s allure as it pulls her away from home. The journey puts both Carey and her relationships back on Earth on an arduous trajectory. Will Carey’s obsession with reaching Europa cost her everything?
www.annextheatre.org

Review: The Color Purple at Village Theatre – Magnificent Cast

 

Mariah Lyttle (Celie) and Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako (Shug Avery) (photo Auston James)

The Color Purple – The Musical
Village Theatre
Through July 27, 2025 (in Everett)
 
A beautifully cast and directed and designed production of A Color Purple has another two weekends of performances in Everett. If you have any interest in the story, from the book or the movie, you are well advised to get tickets and see this show!

July 2025 Theater Openings Update

Birds of Play by Tanya Gagné, Elena Brocade & Laura Lippert (photo Angie Ortaliza)

More shows to tell you about this month! Get out yer calendars!
 
Murder on the Links, Taproot Theatre, 7/9/25-8/16/25 (extended)
After receiving an urgent plea from a stranger, Hercule Poirot whisks himself to the French seaside only to arrive a day too late. Paul Renauld has been found dead, and the scene of the crime is a golf course. Poirot sets out to solve the murder, uncovering a web of deception, hidden identities, and old grudges. Adapted by Stephen Dietz from an Agatha Christie novel classic mystery.
www.taproot.org
 
Birds of Play, a Cheeky Circus Caberet, Seattle Public Theater, 7/10-19/25
Joy Rides (Tanya Gagné) and her pet chicken Goldie (hot off their smashing debut on America’s Got Talent!) take you on a wild and whimsical adventure. Exploring and challenging forms of flight, fantasy, fashion, alchemy, mayhem, mastery and mystery delivers a joyful celebration of freedom and fearlessness. Get ready to shake a tail feather! 65 minutes. This show is performed with two variations: matinees for all ages with added magic and circus fun, and 7:30pm for 18 and over with adult language and burlesque.
www.seattlepublictheater.org

June and July 2025 Theater Openings – Free Park Shows soon!

12th Night at ACT Theatre - Pilar O'Connell, Cassie Q. Kohl, Malex Reed (Rosemary Dai Ross)

It’s parks season in the PNW! Free park shows officially have their kick-off at the July 9^th-13^th Seattle Outdoor Theatre Festival at Volunteer Park (Greenstage.org for more details). Lots of comedy this month on our stages. Get out yer calendars!

 
Bye Bye Birdie, 5^th Avenue Theatre, 6/6-29/25
Set in the wholesome town of Sweet Apple, Ohio, songwriter Albert Peterson and his savvy secretary - and sweetheart - Rosie Alvarez, hatch a publicity stunt to send rock ‘n’ roll sensation Conrad Birdie off to the Army with a televised farewell kiss for one lucky fan. But when Conrad arrives, the quiet town erupts into chaos, teenage hysteria, and unexpected romance. Featuring iconic songs like “Put on a Happy Face,” and “A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” this fresh staging brings bold new energy to a beloved classic, celebrating the humor, heat, and hysteria of American pop culture.
www.5thavenue.org
 
Gods of Comedy, Phoenix Theatre, 6/6-29/25
Daphne and Ralph are young classics professors who have just made a discovery that's sure to turn them into academic superstars. But something goes disastrously wrong, and Daphne cries out in a panic, "Save me, gods of ancient Greece!"…and the gods actually appear! The Ivy League will never be the same as a pair of screwball deities encounters the carnal complexity of college coeds, campus capers, and conspicuous consumption.
www.tptedmonds.org
 
Twelfth Night, ACT Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company, 6/7-22/25 (at ACT Theatre)
Viola is in love with Duke Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, who is in love with Cesario, who is actually...Viola. Seattle Shakespeare Company makes its debut at ACT Contemporary Theatre with a new joint production of this gender-fluid romp and treasured comedy. Setting the play in a hopeful post-WWII Italy, this gender-fluid romp and treasured comedy explores the diversity of love, reminding us how relevant Shakespeare remains today.
www.acttheatre.org

May Grows Musicals and More

Honolulu Theatre for Youth come to SCT (courtesy HTY)

Musicals and more, this month, as Spring greenery grows entertainment in our fair city. Get out yer calendars!

The Sandwich Ministry, BAT Theatre, through 5/11/25 (at Kennedy High, 140 S 140^th St. Burien)
Following a once-in-a-century storm, three women come back together to make sandwiches for neighbors who have been displaced. Together, despite their differences, they look for purpose in a time of uncertainty and try to support each other and those around them.
www.battheatre.org
 
The SpongeBob Musical, Bainbridge Performing Arts, 5/2-18/25
When Bikini Bottom is threatened by the impending eruption of Mount Humongous, it’s up to SpongeBob and his friends to save the day. What follows is an explosion of color, music, and community as the citizens of the sea learn what really matters when everything's at stake.
https://bainbridgeperformingarts.org

Jam-Packed April Theater in Seattle

Athena at ArtsWest (John McLellan)

April brings an unusually large amount and range of productions to experience. Check the dates – some of them are only a few days long! Get out yer calendar, it’s Spring!
 
Emma, Dacha Theatre, 4/3-19/25 (at 12^th Avenue Arts)
Dacha’s production invites you to indulge in the numerous balls and parties of Austen’s landscape with an onstage seating option that plunges the audience into the heart of the action. Guests in immersive seats might act as a character’s confidante, help choose a character’s accessory, or even enjoy a punch toast with the leading lady. Riser seating is also available for more traditional theatre goers who prefer to watch the chaos unfold from the comfort of their seats.
www.dachatheatre.com/emma
 
The Mammy Project, Intiman Cabaret, 4/3-6/25 (at Erickson Theatre)
Artist Michelle Matlock takes a journey through the icon, stereotype, and myth of the “Mammy” caricature, and its impact on contemporary American culture. This one-person play and conversation weaves the untold history of Nancy Green, the first woman to play “Aunt Jemima” at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, with the documented struggle that African American activists like Ida B. Wells fought to receive representation at that very same World’s Fair. www.intiman.org
 
BITFEST, Theatre33 and other multilingual companies, 4/4-6/25 (Meydenbauer Center)
Many small cultural and bilingual theater companies exist in our community. They join together for the first time for the inaugural Bellevue International Theatre Festival (BITFest) April 4-6, 2025. Gathered from Theatre33’s network of community theaters, companies from OR, CA, and British Columbia will offer curated one-act plays in various languages. Tickets will be sold per block in 2-play blocks on the stage of the Meydenbauer Center. Also available is a BITFest pass. The last block of shows will be scheduled for Sunday, 4/6/25 and the BITFest will culminate with an awards ceremony and a closing reception.
www.theatre33wa.org
 
Squeeze, Seattle Public Theater and UMO Ensemble, 4/4-13/25 (world premiere)
Inspired by the clowning of Buster Keaton and the existential absurdism of Samuel Beckett, the ensemble and acclaimed playwright Trista Baldwin explore five clowns being shut out, in need, desperate to connect and vying for control of territory. Three simple platforms and a series of ladders connect or obstruct them all. Two stunning acrobats magically weave between personal vignettes that explore the issues of today's world.
www.seattlepublictheater.org

Pie Month! “Waitress” at 5th Ave - the Perfect Sweetness!

Tori Gresham, Kerstin Anderson, and Porscha Shaw in Waitress (Tracy Martin)

Waitress
5^th Avenue Theatre
Through March 30, 2025
 
On Pie Day, 3/14/25, a strong and sweet LOCAL production of Waitress opened at the 5^th Avenue. I joke - Pi Day (based on pi = 3.14) was the perfect day to open. The 5^th Avenue was able to snag one of the first regional rights to perform this charming musical and they’ve turned out a hit!
 
Director Lisa Shriver is back again after her triumphant direction, last season, of Beautiful at Village Theatre. Here, her pacing, smart collaboration with adroit set designer Julia Hayes Welch (a complicated set design moved swiftly and efficiently from scene to scene), and her work with the top-notch local cast combined to a light-as-whipped-cream flair.
 
We meet Jenna, a local waitress in a small town, and her waitstaff cohorts Becky and Dawn, the diner cook, Cal, and assorted townsfolk. She’s unhappily married to abusive Earl, feels trapped and scared, but makes amazing pies every morning. Can a pie contest help her win enough money to get out?
 
Kerstin Anderson fully immerses herself in Jenna. Her voice is sublime and sure. Her quirky character comes out and when she meets gynecologist Dr. Pomatter (wonderfully sweet and funny Adam Standley) and finds out she’s pregnant, and accidentally starts an affair with him, she shows a spunk that allows us to like this woman more than feel sorry for her.

Guest Review: "Clue The Musical" at Driftwood

Nicole Roundy, Doug Harkness, Royce Napolitino in "Clue, The Musical" 
at Driftwood Theatre (photo Dale Sutton)

CLUE, THE MUSICAL

Driftwood Theatre

Through April 6, 2025

Guest Reviewer Kelly Rogers Flynt

As the characters from the classic board game come to life and break out of the box and onto the stage with Edmonds Driftwood Players, they invite the audience to play detective and unravel the mystery of who, how, and where Mr. Boddy is murdered. Through music, dance, and witty dialogue, clues and hints are revealed and bring you closer to the answer. Entertaining, engaging, and marvelously fun, the musical delivers immersive theater to the whole audience.

The show proceeds as if the game were being played by the audience, including the sound effect of rolling dice between each move. The killer, the weapon, and the room are selected by random audience members and placed in a giant "confidentail" envelope on the side of the stage. The cast then adjusts the show to fit those results. Mr. Boddy, acting as narrator, gives you hints of motives and opportunities of the characters. Some are clear, some with a caveat, but all bring you closer to solving the mystery.

Lion or Lamb? Lots to See Onstage in March

Cast of A Raisin in the Sun at Taproot Theatre (Robert Wade)

Classic plays, many musicals, world premiere! So many great choices. Get out yer calendars!
 
Mother Russia (or Periods of Collapse), Seattle Rep, 3/6/25-4/13/25 (world premiere)
Playwright Lauren Yee brings us a comic view of the fall of the Soviet Union! Evgeny and Dmitri are just two average guys who dream of joining the KGB—but when the fall of the Soviet Union puts hiring on hold, they find jobs surveilling a former pop star instead. As they bumble their way through the assignment, both spy work and life under capitalism prove harder than they thought. When old systems and strongmen fall away, and we let the free market decide—freedom might not taste as good as we thought it would.
www.seattlerep.org
 
Is This a Room, Harlequin Productions, 3/7-23/25
A true story, still unfolding. June 3, 2017. A 25-year-old former Air Force linguist named Reality Winner is surprised at her home by the FBI, interrogated, and then charged with leaking evidence of Russian interference in U.S. elections. Reality subsequently received a record-breaking sentence. The verbatim FBI transcript of her interrogation is the heart of Is This a Room, conceived as a play by Obie Award-winner Tina Satter, in which an extraordinary human drama unfolds between the complex and witty Reality, and the agents who question her. As Reality’s autonomy shrinks before her eyes, a simmering real-life thriller emerges, asking what it is to have honor in this American moment, and how the personal can reverberate globally.
www.harlequinproductions.org

What does "Mother Russia" tell us about ourselves?: An interview with Lauren Yee

(photo Beowulf Sheehan)

Mother Russia (or Periods of Collapse)

By Lauren Yee

Seattle Rep

March 6 to April 6, 2025

World Premiere

Nationally known playwright Lauren Yee has a tight connection with Seattle, as she and the Seattle Rep get ready for the March world premiere of her latest play, Mother Russia (or Periods of Collapse). Not only have two of her  works premiered here first, but also years back, she would periodically visit Seattle to hang out with acclaimed director Desdemona Chiang, using her house as a kind of developmental Hedgebrook.

Prior to Mother Russia, our city has been privileged to have major productions of Yee's Cambodian Rock Band, The Great Leap, King of the Yees, and Ching Chong Chinaman. She has won some amazing playwrighting awards and now also contributes writing for shows on Apple+ and Netflix.

Before her burgeoning success, a 22-year-old Yee mused about what her future looked like. "[I imagined that] by day I'd work at an arts nonprofit, probably a theater, in development or marketing," she said. "In the evenings, I'd write and maybe I'd have a show at a small theater... I think about what I have achieved, and what I've been lucky enough to enjoy has far outpaced what I imagined when I was coming into this world professionally."

As for Mother Russia's plot: Two men find jobs surveilling a former pop star in 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union. As they bumble their way through the assignment, spy work and life under capitalism prove harder than they thought. It sounds like it will have a great deal of humor in it.

Feb Seattle Area Theater - Lots of Feels

 

Cast of Crave at Intiman (Joe Moore)

You have some very cool options this month to choose from. WET’s founding company members reprise one of their first productions, Crave, 20 years later. Several productions might help soothe your anxieties about the political crisis. Learn to hula hoop at SCT…and more! Get out yer calendars!
 
Covenant, ArtsWest, 2/6/25-3/2/25
When a struggling guitarist returns to his small Georgia town a blues star, rumors begin swirling that he may have made a deal with the devil to attain his musical genius. Before long, however, it becomes clear he's not the only one with a secret. A mythic and suspenseful new play that delivers one devilish twist after another, York Walker's Covenant explores the power of belief and the thin line between rumor and truth.
www.artswest.org
 
The Last Five Years, ACT Theatre and 5^th Avenue Theatre, 2/8/25-3/16/25 (at ACT)
This modern musical takes a devastatingly honest look at one couple’s journey falling in and out of love. Through clever storytelling and sharp lyrics, writer Jason Robert Brown’s cult favorite gives us a raw and intimate window into two souls and two perspectives of one relationship. Jamie’s songs start at the beginning of the relationship and Cathy’s songs start from the end moving back to the beginning with only one song in the middle overlapping.
www.acttheatre.org
 
Crave, Intiman Theatre, 2/11/25-3/2/25 (at Erickson Theatre)
Love, loss, sex and desire play across the stage in this poetic and deeply personal play from legendary playwright Sarah Kane. Two decades ago, Washington Ensemble Theatre (WET) chose to perform this play as one of their early productions. It was said to be a notable play. Intiman is bringing together many of the original WET artists for a career retrospective and celebration, including Roger Bennington, Marc Kennison (Waxie Moon), and Marya Sea Kaminski. Intiman Artistic Director Jennifer Zeyl, will once again design the set. Four fragmented and fractured characters strive to find peace and connection in a lonely world. This is a unique opportunity to see a production with this unique local history.
www.intiman.org
 
The Hula Hoopin’ Queen, Seattle Children’s Theatre, 2/12/25-3/23/25
Three Harlem girls vie for the crown of The Hula Hoopin’ Queen, encouraged and mentored by the community elders in playwright Gloria Bond Cunie’s spirited adaptation of Thelma Lynn Godin’s book. A sweet, funny, and energetic slice-of-life reminder of the essential loops that bind our communities. (Ages 5+, 60 minutes no intermission)
www.sct.org

A New Year, Many New Theater Options in January!

Danila Bim hanging around Teatro Zinzanni (FillingTheFramePhotography)

From comedies. circe options, and quite a number of world premieres, January is looking exciting for theater-land! Pick your favorite(s) and get out yer calendars!

Sizzle, Teatro Zinzanni, Now-March 2025 (at Emerald City Trapeze Arts)
Teatro ZinZanni invites you to its new Center Ring at Emerald City Trapeze Arts for SIZZLE! Starring belter, provocateur, consummate chanteuse, and Cornish College of the Arts alum Rizo returns as Teatro ZinZanni’s Madame, the owner of the circus. The cast of performers is new for Seattle. They include: physical comedian Joel Baker, trapeze artists Oliver Parkinson and Cassie Cutler of Duo 19, hair hang artist Danila Bim, rope artist and Seattle native Ezra Weill, champion juggler Spencer Androli, and award-winning aerial pole artist Charlee Shae.
www.zinzanni.com/seattle
 
The Girl Who Swallowed A Cactus, Seattle Children’s Theatre, 1/9-26/25
School is out for the summer; the weather is hot and the boredom is heavy. 8-year-old Sheila and her pack of pals aren’t going to let the summer heat wear them down. When their fantastical junkyard fort draws the attention of a walking, talking, surprisingly well-dressed coyote, the adventurers suddenly find themselves deep in the desert, facing The Council of Howls, The Sting Brigade, The Death Cactus and much more. (This is a live, digital production (with some interaction) on Zoom! Ages 7+, 55 minutes no intermission)
www.sct.org
 
Rip! A Winkle In Time, Global Works, 1/10/25-2/8/25 (at 12^th Avenue Arts) (world premiere)
Local playwright Claire Zaslove introduces Randall Irving Parson, or Rip for short, who, in 1897, pursues his gold rush dream only to have a ghostly encounter that leaves him asleep in a snowbank. With global warming afoot, Rip finally thaws out and finds himself in a world that staggers the imagination. Puppets, bad guys, environmental concern - perfect for all ages.
www.globalworksproductions.com