Around the World in 80 Days’ Leading Lady Aneesh Sheth’s Incredible Journey

Aneesh Sheth in Village Theatre's Around the World in 80 Days (Mark Kitaoka)

As posted in STACKEDD Magazine

When I received an email pitch from Aneesh Sheth, she said to me, “I am currently making my debut at Village Theatre in their production Around the World in 80 Days.” Having seen the production, I was aware of her work. The email continued, “Playing the Indian princess has always been a dream of mine, and for a very long time only a pipe dream. What makes my story of being cast as Aouda different from many other actors is that I am an out transgender actress making my way in the industry.” That sentence caught me by surprise. I had no idea that I was seeing a transgendered actress when I saw the show.

She continued, “Getting to play a non-transgender character, not to mention the leading lady as well, is not only a personal success but an important step for transgender individuals who may share the same dream and a huge step in the types of roles we are offered. There has been much controversy over the ‘appropriateness’ of whether transgender actors should play only transgender roles.”

Solo Performance Festival flies again in March

Sara Porkalob with duck heads (Truman Buffett)

The folks at Theatre Off Jackson and Keira McDonald have partnered for years, now, to present solo shows in a festival style presentation. It's feels a bit like a fringe festival offering and indeed, some of the performances have gone on to tour in fringe festivals around the country and even around the world.

McDonald has been offering workshops to perfect solo technique and many of her students have performed in the festival. The same can be said of the festival coming up in the next couple of weeks.

March 20-21, SPF starts out with a shorts night and continues into the evening with a late nite presentation by Sylvia O'Stayformore, a veteran of solo performance.

L. Nicol Cabe presents Infinite Expectation of the Dawn, March 24-April 1 (four performances) which is described: "Human rights are inalienable, unassailable, unquestionable. But sometimes, we sacrifice our rights for a greater good. Set in the dystopian world after the United States suffers Civil War II, (IED) weaves the stories of Joan and Alicia, two perspectives from a country burdened with fear, who both made personal sacrifices to create their ideal reality."

March 26-29 (three performances), Sara Porkalob presents the true story of her mother's birth and her grandmother's dangerous past. I recently reviewed it here. It's a fascinating story.

Comedian Dana Goldberg returns to Seattle for one night, March 28.

Jim Loucks comes to town with The Biscuiteater, April 2-4 (three performances). His is a southern charm.

Visit TOJ for more information.

English/Chinese combo in "Chinglish" a great evening in translation

Evan Whitfield and Kathy Hsieh (Michael Brunk)

Chinglish
ArtsWest (co-production with SiS Productions)
through March 29, 2015

The absorbing new work, Chinglish, by David Henry Hwang, at ArtsWest is a tightly written play with a top-notch cast, directed with panache by Annie Lareau. It's also challenging for the audience, because more than half of it is in Mandarin Chinese!

Daniel (Evan Whitfield) begins the play by showing us signage where Chinese translators have badly translated signs from Chinese into English. (see below) He warns us that if we learn nothing else from his "how to do business in China" talk, we should know this: Bring your own translator!

A screen then tells us that the time is three years earlier. We'll need that screen as almost another character, since we will need the translations that follow hot and heavy as rapid fire Chinese and halting bad translations fill the rest of the evening. 

Only 2 more weeks to see inventive SteamPunk Cirque

The musicians of Kurios (Martin Girard shootstudio.ca)

Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities

Cirque du Soleil

Marymoor Park

Through March 22, 2015

The gorgeous acrobatic, high flying antics of top-flight, international talent combines with a steampunk aesthetic and even some invisible acts in Cirque du Soleil’s Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities at Marymoor Park.

Kurios is the 35th production in the line of inventions known as Cirque du Soleil. Similar to other shows, there is a very loose story here that ties the evening together. But you don’t really go to Cirque shows for story, you go for atmosphere, beautiful, intricate costuming, easy to assimilate international music without real words, and death-defying acrobatic and fly work.

Coming up: Theater in March 2015

Ryan Higgins in the 2011 production of Live! From the Last Night of My Life (Dave Hastings)

(as published in Seattle Gay News)

March theater is bringing some plays very very new (The Flick, New Century Theatre Company – 2014 Pulitzer Prize, and Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Lizard Boy – a world premiere musical) and some plays very very old (Tartuffe, Seattle Shakespeare Company). A 2011 play improbably comes back to life with almost the same cast and crew (Live! From the Last Year of My Life, Theatre22). And a lot in-between, as usual. Here is the list by date order.

NCTC opens its season at 12th Avenue Arts with The Flick by Annie Baker, 3/5/15-4/4/15. Avery, Rose, and Sam work at a rundown movie theater that still shows films reel to reel. They discuss life and movies in a journey of self-exploration through issues of race, sexual identity, and family.

http://www.wearenctc.org/#!the-flick/coqb

ArtsWest and SiS Productions co-produce Chinglish, 3/5/15-3/29/15. This comedy by David Henry Hwang (his Yellowface was presented by ReAct in 2011), explores the challenges of doing business in a culture whose language—and ways of communicating—are worlds apart from our own. A naïve American business man goes to China to score a lucrative contract for his family's firm, only to encounter miscomprehensions and malapropisms galore. But business miscommunications with dignitaries are easy compared to sexual misunderstandings.

https://artswest.secure.force.com/ticket

Locally Grown solo performances well worth the gamble

Sara Porkalob and duck heads (Truman Buffett)

Jose Amador (Truman Buffett)

Solo pieces are often stories that you've never heard before. They don't have to be "true" or autobiographical, but as with many types of writing, solo pieces are written by people who write "what they know." 

Sometimes, a one-person show will be performed only as one person, and sometimes the performer becomes multiple people in the story. In the recent "festival," Locally Grown, Jose Amador performs as himself throughout his piece and only becomes his father for a moment. In contrast, Sara Porkalob becomes many characters in a flurry of quick changes that sometimes are accomplished by slight movements from one side to another.

Both of these plays are autobiographical and both deal with cultures and families and traditions far from the white-bread American norm (she says tongue just a bit in cheek). Jose tells about returning for a visit to family in Puerto Rico and shares his growing emotional connection with a land he left. Sara recreates a bit of family history as she becomes her grandmother and tells a rather amazing tale of Filipino gangsters and single motherhood and hints at even more.