Tim Gouran News

Seattle Shakespeare Company closes its 2017-2018 season with Shakespeare in Love, the delightful new stage adaptation of Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard's Academy Award-winning film. This warm and witty romantic comedy will be helmed by Seattle Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director George Mount. Originally produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions and adapted for the stage by Lee Hall with music by Paddy Cuneen, Shakespeare in Love previews May 2 and 3, opens May 4 and runs through June 3 at the Cornish Playhouse at the Seattle Center.

Seattle Shakespeare Company closes its 2017-2018 season with Shakespeare in Love, the delightful new stage adaptation of Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard's Academy Award-winning film. This warm and witty romantic comedy will be helmed by Seattle Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director George Mount. Originally produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions and adapted for the stage by Lee Hall with music by Paddy Cuneen, Shakespeare in Love previews May 2 and 3, opens May 4 and runs through June 3 at the Cornish Playhouse at the Seattle Center.

Seattle Shakespeare Company has never been one to shy away from a challenge and with their current production of "The Merchant of Venice" they certainly seem to have a challenge on their hands. As I see it they have one challenge they can, and hopefully will overcome as the production continues, the pace of the show, and one challenge inherit to the piece that they can never defeat but only embrace, the overt antisemitism.

The winners of the 2017 Gypsy Rose Lee Awards are announced by the Seattle critics circle, Seattle Theater Writers!

Seattle's critics announce the Nominees of Excellence in Seattle theatrical productions. Spanning dozens of theater companies and productions, from large and prominent to small and humble, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor the excellence found in as much professional theater as we reviewers can attend in a year. Named in honor of the famed theater entrepreneur and Seattle native, Gypsy Rose Lee, and in a nod to the vast numbers or theater practitioners forced to travel the country to earn their living, the Gypsys seek to acknowledge the excellence of the Seattle theater community.

Dear Readers, it's been quite a year and, hopefully, we've come through it unscathed. God knows we've needed some shows to help us escape and others to make us think. But through it all we've had several shows that have proven to shine as some of the best of the year. Out of all the shows I was fortunate enough to see this year, I've selected a few that stood out. Here are those stand outs, a few honorable mentions and a few special mentions about which I just couldn't help myself but to mention in their own special way.

Lately friends have been asking me what shows I'm most looking forward to this holiday season. And while it's not a happy Christmas show I keep answering Building the Wall currently being offered from Azeotrope at 12th Avenue Arts. Then those friends look as me quizzically, I assume expecting some frothy musical or holiday classic at which point I say, the new play from Robert Schenkkan, who wrote All the Way and The Great Society about LBJ at which point those quizzical looks, rightfully, turn to ones of excitement and intrigue over another dose from a genius playwright. And now, Dear Readers, that I've virtually had the same conversation with you, you can understand why I tell you this is a play NOT TO MISS and how you MUST go get your tickets now. I'll wait. Did you do it yet? OK. Now on with the review.

Whether it be platonic or romantic, everyone has been in a relationship with someone who makes no sense for them, or is unhealthy for them, or both. But at the time, it satisfied a need. It's a very specific kind of relationship that, if handled poorly by the director or the actors, will be glaringly unconvincing, given how wrong the two people are for each other. However, through Corey McDaniel's pristine direction and such a talented cast, Theatre22's Burn This is an example of high-caliber theatre. There are no gimmicks, there's no fuss, even the music is stripped down to a single saxophone played between scenes. If you're looking for quality, Burn This will provide (now at 12th Ave Arts).

Seattle theatre company Azeotrope is pleased to announce the Seattle premiere of Building the Wall, by Tony Award winning playwright Robert Schenkkan (All The Way, The Great Society, The Kentucky Cycle), directed by Desdemona Chiang. Building the Wall begins opens Friday, December 1, 2017 and plays through December 23, 2017 at 12th Ave Arts Studio Theatre in Capitol Hill, Seattle.

You know that nightmare you have where nothing makes sense as the plot keeps switching from one horrible situation to the next? You try and try but you just can't make anything good last for more than five minutes. Now try living that and you'll have what the character Mo (Tim Gouran) feels like all the time in Linda McLean's disturbing play "Every Five Minutes" currently from Washington Ensemble Theatre. With some amazing performances especially from Gouran, you may leave a bit broken but you'll leave thinking.

I remember my first exposure to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, "Treasure Island". It wasn't the book but rather an animated version they showed occasionally during Saturday morning cartoons and although I haven't seen that one in years I remember loving it for its thrilling swashbuckling adventure and rich characters including a bad guy who wasn't all that bad even though he was a bloodthirsty pirate. Well I'm happy to say all those feelings from childhood came rushing back the other night as I watched Book-It Repertory Theatre's current adaptation. I mean, swarthy pirates, sword fights, and buried treasure. How can you go wrong?

Book-It Repertory Theatre continues its 27th season with the gripping classic Treasure Island. Full of enthralling characters and one of literature's most beloved villains, Treasure Island explores the complex relationship between the morally ambiguous Long John Silver and the young Jim Hawkins. Throughout this thrilling tale, Hawkins learns hard lessons of balancing the lure of adventure with the desire for stability and confronting the dilemma of liking a person, but not their behavior. The most popular pirate story ever written in English, Treasure Island is sure to delight audiences this holiday season!

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.

Peter Shaffer's stirring play "Amadeus" can move you to the point of tears, but only when it's done well. It is by no means a bulletproof play. Unfortunately the current production at Seattle Public Theater, while managing a few interesting performances, really just stands out as having an unfocused concept and is about as engaging as a history lecture.

Seattle Public Theater (SPT) is proud to present Amadeus, Peter Shaffer's magnificent story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, directed by Shana Bestock at the historic Green Lake Bathhouse Theater from January 29 through February 21, 2016. Tickets are $34 for adults, $32 for seniors, $17 for youth under 25, and $5 for youth under 12. Tickets are available by calling the SPT Box Office at 206-524-1300 or visiting www.seattlepublictheater.org.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I typically have two main sticking points when it comes to Shakespeare productions. First that if you must transplant the time or locale of the piece, make it meaningful and second don't just say the pretty words but convey the intent behind them. And while Seattle Shakespeare Company's current production of "Measure for Measure" succeeds in the first regard, the latter only partially so, making some elements of the show feel stiff and forced.

This winter, Mirror Stage continues exploring one of our country's most inflammatory questions: what does it mean to be black (or white) in America? From the early days of the civil rights movement to the racial profiling of today, the question of color remains ablaze in controversy and contentiousness. The popular Feed Your Mind staged reading series presents the West Coast premiere of Honky by Greg Kalleres this weekend, February 8 and 9, 2014.

This winter, Mirror Stage continues exploring one of our country's most inflammatory questions: what does it mean to be black (or white) in America? From the early days of the civil rights movement to the racial profiling of today, the question of color remains ablaze in controversy and contentiousness. The popular Feed Your Mind staged reading series presents the West Coast premiere of Honky by Greg Kalleres on February 8 and 9, 2014. Directed by Suzanne M. Cohen, Feed Your Mind: Honky features Elena Flory-Barnes, Sara Coates, Tim Gouran, Carl Kennedy, James Lapan, Andrew Litzky, Corey Spruill and Tyler Trerise. All performances will be presented at the Ethnic Cultural Theatre in Seattle's University District.

Seattle Theater Writers critics' circle presents the winners' slate of the 2013 Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, theater awards devoted to recognizing excellence across the economic spectrum of professional Seattle theaters.

Seattle Theater Writers, a critics' circle of local theater writers and reviewers, today announces the 2013 slate of nominees of the third annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, theater awards devoted to recognizing excellence across the economic spectrum of professional Seattle theaters.