Funny family themes feel “Familiar” at Seattle Rep

A moment from Familiar (Navid Baraty)

Familiar

Seattle Repertory Theatre (with the Guthrie Theater)

Through May 27, 2018

There is something very familiar about the brand new (2015), incisively-written, Zimbabwean family wedding play, Familiar, now at the Seattle Rep. Clearly, it’s not the Zimbabwean portion, since that is not a culture we’ve seen on stage here in Seattle. That is a refreshing aspect, even as the accents present a challenge for audience members not so used to the musical cadence of “Zim”-inflected English.

What is familiar about the story are the many ways families fight, disagree, have secrets, and display their love and affection for one another when all is said and done. If you have heard that this story is about a Zimbabwe-American woman (Shá Cage) marrying a “white” American man, you might think you’re about to see strain about race. However, the Chinyaramwira family of Minnesota does not, apparently, have any qualms about Chris (Quinn Franzen) joining their family. 

It’s May, It’s May Theater Openings!

Broken Bone Bathtub (Zack DeZon)

So eclectic a month of offerings that there can’t be a single person who wouldn’t love some production on this list! On your mark, get set, go get tickets!

Pilgrims, Forward Flux Prods., 5/1-19/18 (at West of Lenin)

On a ship to colonize a newly discovered planet, a soldier and a teenage girl find themselves quarantined together in a cabin and are forced to explore their own traumatic pasts and roles in a dying society.

www.forwardflux.com

Crewmates, Annex Theatre, 5/1-16/18 (Tue/Wed nights) (world premiere)

A sensitive American-Muslim man from a conservative family starts a romance with an inspiring atheist Asian-American woman who was adopted by liberal white parents. Their relationship grows lovingly, but the invasive supernatural world just cannot handle all this fluffy saccharine goodness. Agendas play out against each other as djinn and angel alike struggle to accept the ever-changing narrative of human sexuality and morality. Even the Heavens are not immune to the power of the human condition.

www.annextheatre.org

Shakespeare in Love, Seattle Shakespeare Co., 5/2/18-6/3/18 (at Cornish Playhouse)

(Based on the movie.) Young Will Shakespeare is in dire need of inspiration. His next play is on deadline and the only thing he’s come up with is the title: Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter. Then he meets Viola, a smart and beautiful woman who desperately wants to perform on the stage, even though it’s forbidden. Will is smitten and gets inspired to write the greatest love story the world has known.

www.seattleshakespeare.org

Magical "ASL Midsummer Night’s Dream" is a Massive and Beautiful Effort

ASL Midsummer Night's Dream (Ken Holmes)

ASL Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sound Theatre Company

(at 12th Avenue Arts)

Through May 12, 2018

Our city owes Sound Theatre Company a huge THANK YOU for taking on and mastering this special effort to translate Shakespeare into ASL and make an inclusive ASL+spoken event! If you know anyone from 6 to 96 who is hearing impaired or deaf and has had a hard time seeing only-spoken theatrical events, you MUST tell them to come to this show! It is completely magical in every sense.

Co-directed by theatrical master Howie Seago, who worked through the translation of ancient English poetry to ASL with co-director Teresa Thuman, the production has equal numbers of hearing and deaf actors and every word is both signed and spoken. Deaf audience members are prioritized for the best-sighted seats and the sound design (by Michael Owcharuk) deliberately uses very loud bass hum to allow deaf audience members to feel it, as well.

What is clear from the ASL beginning, not every moment of the play is for you, majority hearing audience member. Aspects of the play are meant for those who sign, especially the beginning, which is a sort of choreo/ASL moment of story-telling. It sets the tone and the stage for what is to come.

Star-kissed “Kate” at The 5th Avenue

Scene-stealer Robin Hurder in Kiss Me Kate (Tracy Martin)

Kiss Me Kate

5th Avenue Theatre

Through April 29, 2018

The story goes that a Broadway producer, thinking back on his memories of the great acting couple of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne and their feuding ways while performing Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, decided that the headstrong couple mimicked the headstrong couple in Shakespeare’s famous play. Couldn’t that make a fun and funny musical? He asked writing couple Bella and Samuel Spewack to come up with a script (the “book”) and they asked Cole Porter to compose and Kiss Me Kate was born.

If you look too closely at that script, there are moments that really don’t work, but the songs are glorious and the aspects of slap-stick farce are numerous and funny. So, just don’t look too hard! It’s more fun that way.

The current production at The 5th Avenue Theatre is a joyous and raucous affair, gleefully helmed by Alan Paul, who ekes out every funny moment he can, both from the book and the score, and the dazzling choreography of Michele Lynch and a nimble cast. Paul, working with music director Joel Fram, puts new spins on classic songs like I Hate Men (with saucy Cayman Ilika wielding a wicked banana!), clearly meaning to slow songs down for emphasis, mostly on the jokes.

MAP’s “Year of the Rooster” – strong production, very different subject

Shane Regan in a cock fight in Year of the Rooster (Dave Hastings)

Year of the Rooster

MAP Theatre

(at 18th & Union)

Through May 5, 2018

The thought of cock-fighting or dog fighting turns my stomach. Those activities are emblematic to me of how low human activities can get. I’ll admit, however, that I have zero knowledge about the people who might be involved in such “sports” and why they might get involved in them. So, it was with a bit of trepidation that I sat down to experience MAP Theatre’s current show, Year of the Rooster.

It’s said to be a “dark comedy” and some moments might be said to be funny… The cast list was certainly solid and the crew included the talented set designer Suzy Tucker, deftly rendering three very different locations in the very tiny room at 18th & Union to become a tarpaper house, a McDonald’s counter and a circle on the floor where said cock-fighting takes place.

The play is about a small town loser named Gil (Brandon Ryan). We don’t know how far he got in school, but we first see him doing a clearly customary job taking a drive-up order at McDonald’s and we learn he’s been there five years. We also find out he lives with his disabled mother (Mia Morris) and has been raising a young chicken with steroids and Chicken McNuggets so it will be fierce and angry.

April Showers Bring Lots of Theater

Cayman Ilika and Ben Davis in Kiss Me Kate at the 5th Avenue Theatre (Mark Kitaoka)

April in Seattle is blooming with Shakespearean iterations of musical and non-musical sorts and if you like science-fiction or fantasy, this seems to be your month of theater. World premieres continue to spring up in what is apparently very fertile ground around here!

Kiss Me, Kate, 5th Avenue Theatre, 4/6-29/18 (opens 4/13)

As generators of the city-wide Seattle Celebrates Shakespeare festival, the 5th Avenue is presenting this multi-Tony Award®-winning Cole Porter musical. A play-within-a-play inspired by William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, this is a battle of the sexes. A charming leading man and his superstar ex-wife are starring in a production of the Bard’s famous play. Both on stage and off, they revel in combat and romance. Who comes out on top? Perhaps it’s time to “brush up your Shakespeare…”

www.5thavenue.org

The Producers, Seattle Musical Theatre, 4/6-29/18

Mel Brooks' classic cult comedy film became a musical. The plot is simple: a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered accountant come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in history, thereby bilking their backers (all "little old ladies") out of millions of dollars. Only one thing goes awry: the show is a smash hit!

www.seattlemusicaltheatre.org