Darragh Kennan News

New Century Theatre Company (NCTC) will close its 2016 season at 12th Avenue Arts with award-winning playwright Dan LeFranc's The Big Meal. The Big Meal will run October 20-November 19, 2016 (opening night is October 28, 2016). Tickets are available for purchase online now at www.wearenctc.org.

There are some productions of Shakespeare which need all the flashy costumes and sets and transplanting to non-traditional times and places in order to make the show shine. And then there are productions like the outstanding production of "The Winter's Tale" currently being offered from Seattle Shakespeare Company where they've assembled such a talented cast and crew, innately fluent with the meaning of the show, who only require a few chairs and platforms and where the flash would just get in the way. It's those shows that remind us why we love theater when a group of actors can mesmerize us with their words.

Two generations overcome past wrongs and misjudgments in this exotic and magical saga. Obsessive King Leontes accuses his queen, Hermione, of having an affair and sentences her to a trial. Meanwhile their infant daughter gets spirited away to a distant shore. Sixteen years later, through fate and love, the young woman discovers her true heritage and reunites her family.

 It's a fantastical, fairytale-like story with lost princesses, sea journeys, rascally tricksters, and a magical moment that reconciles a family. Seattle Shakespeare Company will present The Winter's Tale at the Leo K. Theatre. Sheila Daniels directs Shakespeare's enchanting intergenerational saga September 7 through October 2.  

Back in 2013 the Seattle Rep gave us a lovely Christmas Present with R. Hamilton Wright and David Pichette's wonderful adaptation of "The Hound of the Baskervilles". So when they announced that they would be ending this season with more Holmes from Wright with "Sherlock Holmes and the American Problem", naturally there was a lot of excitement and anticipation for more from this team. And while the team is still on point and while it's still more Sherlock goodness, this original Holmes mystery from Wright doesn't quite have the elegance and grace of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle piece.

New Century Theatre Company (NCTC) opens its 2016 season at 12th Avenue Arts with NY NAME IS ASHER LEV today, April 20. The production runs through May 21, Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays-Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 4pm.

New Century Theatre Company (NCTC) will open its 2016 season at 12th Avenue Arts with NY NAME IS ASHER LEV, running April 20-May 21.

Dear Readers, I hope you've all fared well over the holidays and had a good time with your families. It's been a tumultuous year with lots of great theater for us to take in. And so I'm pleased to share with you some of the best things I saw this past year and the ones that I felt worthy of getting my Critic's Choice Awards for 2015. So settle in and allow me to expound on all the amazing I saw over the year. The envelope please.

Happy Holidays! It's the last week to vote for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Seattle Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 18. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31!

Time is running out to vote for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Seattle Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 18. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31!

Voting is fully underway for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Seattle Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 11. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'The Sound of Music' is one of those mainstays of the American Musical Theater canon that has endured over the years. Pretty much anyone with a passing interest in musical theater has seen it in some form whether the Julie Andrews film, countless stage productions or even the recent live broadcast on TV (which I like to pretend never happened). And why has the show endured for over 55 years? Because it's simply a well written show. But the problem I find with most productions (especially that one that didn't exist) is the performers sing the well-written songs well but the character and thus the story is lost. Well that is not the case with the current production at the 5th Avenue Theatre which had so much character and story in addition to the beautiful voices that I almost felt like I was seeing the show for the first time.

Voting has opened for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Seattle Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of November 27th. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31.

Voting has opened for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Seattle Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of November 27th. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31.

Rehearsals started this week at The 5th Avenue Theatre for the exultant classic musical, Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music, the iconic show sweeping Seattle for the holidays. Boasting such beloved songs as 'Do Re Mi,' 'My Favorite Things,' 'Sixteen Going on Seventeen,' and 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain,' this production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music will be presented as only The 5th can do, complete with a sensational live orchestra, stunning costumes, and incredible sets. Under the direction of David Bennett and with choreography by Trina Mills and music direction by Kat Sherrell, this musical will feature an exuberant all-local cast of fresh faces and favorite performers that includes Anne Allgood as the Mother Abbess, joining the previously announced David Pichette as Max Detweiler and Jessica Skerritt as the Baroness Elsa Schraeder, with Hans Altwies as Captain Georg von Trapp and Kirsten deLohr Helland as Maria.

New Century Theatre Company (NCTC) closes out its first season at 12th Avenue Arts with a powerhouse family drama adapted by David Eldridge from the Danish film The Celebration. The Company has wanted to produce Festen for many years and it will be NCTC's biggest production yet. Festen will be directed by Tony Award nominee Wilson Milam and the cast will feature the work of ten Company Members.

Seattle Repertory Theatre's 2015-2016 season was announced today by Acting Artistic Director Braden Abraham. The season is headlined by the new musical Come from Away, Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Disgraced and the world premiere of R. Hamilton Wright's Sherlock Holmes and the American Problem.

Post5 Theatre presents the third and final Shakespearean comedy of its 2015 season: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Directed by Darragh Kennan, the show runs today,, July 17th through August 16th, 2015.

Post5 Theatre presents the third and final Shakespearean comedy of its 2015 season: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Directed by Darragh Kennan, the show runs Friday - Sunday, July 17th - August 16th, 2015.

When going to see a show you hope for at least one aspect of the show be something good that you can hold onto. The acting, directing, sets, lights, something to make the night worthwhile. Lucky for all of us the current production of Shakespeare's tragic tale of betrayal and lies "Othello", currently playing from Seattle Shakespeare Company, is firing on so many levels that you're just not sure where to focus your attentions. But then, this should be no big surprise as it's from director John Langs whose name attached to a piece is usually the harbinger of "this one's gonna be good!"