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Tuesday, September 02, 2025

September Theater Openings – Off to the races!

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 1st 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.

Sunday, August 10, 2025

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

 

Cast of After Midnight (Michael B. Maine)

After Midnight
5th 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 5th 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.

Friday, August 08, 2025

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, 5th 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

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

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

Sunday, June 15, 2025

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 9th-13th 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, 5th 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