ArtsWest Announces 2017-18 Season: I AM

By: May. 26, 2017
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ArtsWest Artistic Director Mathew Wright has announced his third season, running September 2017 through July 2018. Opening with Pulitzer Prize-winner Ayad Akhtar's THE WHO AND THE WHAT, the six-production season will feature five Seattle premieres and a Tony-award winning musical. Following THE WHO AND THE WHAT will be Douglas Carter Beane's campy, heartfelt and tragic ode to burlesque, THE NANCE; a reimagining of "the Scottish play" set in the cutthroat world of college admissions in Jihae Park's PEERLESS; the riotous tale of a family in revolt in HIR by Taylor Mac; AN OCTOROON by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, a genre-defying 2014 Obie Award-winner with an urgent message for today; and a harrowing tale of persecution transformed into a dazzling spectacle, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, the Tony Award-winning musical by John Kander, Frank Ebb and Terrence McNally.

"The trouble we seem to be having lately - always? - is that identity is not in the eye of the beholder." Artistic Director Mathew Wright explains. "Our six plays this season are full of characters and playwrights who are unafraid to say 'I AM' - and who refuse to allow their identity to be defined by others."

In addition to this exciting season, ArtsWest is pleased to announce the launch of a new cabaret-style series, the ARTSWEST HOLIDAY CAST PARTY - featuring drinks, revelry, and renowned Seattle performers giving unscripted performances of any work or music they choose - running December 1-23 2017.


THE WHO AND THE WHAT
By Ayad Akhtar
September 7 - October 1, 2017

Brilliant Pakistani-American writer Zarina is focused on finishing her novel about women and Islam when she meets Eli, a young convert who bridges the gulf between her modern life and her traditional heritage. But when her conservative father and sister discover her controversial manuscript, they are all forced to confront the beliefs that define them. From Ayad Akhtar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Disgraced, THE WHO & THE WHAT is a thrillingly fierce and funny new play about identity, religion and the contradictions that make us who we are.

THE NANCE
By Douglas Carter Beane
October 26 - November 19, 2017

Set in the beating heart of the naughty, raucous world of 1930s burlesque, THE NANCE brings to life an American era when it was easy to play gay and dangerous to be gay. Chauncey Miles performs as a "nance", a popular comedy act packed with double entendre and camp parodies of gay men. While most "nance" actors are straight, Chauncey is not, and - at a time when gay communities were subject to police raids and moral outrage - Chauncey is left with no choice but to hide his identity while he mocks it onstage.

ARTSWEST HOLIDAY CAST PARTY
December 1 - December 23, 2017

Ring in the holidays with a dazzling night of merriment, song, and a heaping dash of the unexpected. At the Holiday Cast Party, celebrated Seattle performers take the stage one by one to wow the crowd, each with their unique brand of unplanned, unscripted and wildly talented merriment. With each night brimming with a wealth of surprises, you might just want to come back for a second helping.

PEERLESS
By Jihae Park
January 18 - February 11, 2018

Asian-American twin sisters M and L will do whatever it takes to win the one coveted affirmative action spot at "The College." But when the thick acceptance envelope falls into the hands of D, a white male colleague who is 1/16th Native American, the sisters will stop at nothing to take back what is rightfully theirs - and eliminate anyone who stands in their way. Jiehae Park's clever and incisive adaptation of Macbeth explores how the drive to succeed can become an all-consuming - and deadly - obsession.

HIR
By Taylor Mac
March 1 - March 25, 2018

Somewhere in the suburbs, Isaac has returned from the wars to help take care of his ailing father, only to enter a different warzone: a household in revolt. His mother, liberated from an oppressive marriage - with Isaac's newly out transgender sibling as her ally - is on a crusade to dismantle the patriarchy. But in Taylor Mac's sly, subversive comedy HIR, annihilating the past doesn't always free you from it.

AN OCTOROON
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
April 19 - May 13, 2018

Winner - 2014 OBIE Award for Best New American Play

In 1859, the handsome George arrives as heir apparent to Terrabonne, his late uncle's slave plantation. There he quickly falls in love with Zoe, a beautiful "octoroon" - someone who is one-eighth Black - but the evil overseer M'Closky has other plans for both Terrebonne and Zoe. Nothing is sacred in this genre-bending work: race, identity and time are bent by the whims of AN OCTOROON's audacious storytelling. Racial stereotypes both past and present are shattered in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' bold, imaginative re-envisioning of a 19th century antebellum drama as an urgent message for today.

KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Book by Terrence McNally
Based on the novel by Manuel Puig

Winner - 1993 Tony® Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score
Winner - 1993 Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Music

The Tony-award winning musical KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN tells the tale of two cell mates in a Latin American prison - one a Marxist revolutionary, the other a gay window dresser - who form a bond in captivity. As their friendship deepens, the window dresser escapes into a fantasy world of the movies he loved most as a child, conjuring a beautiful enchantress to pass the time and ease the pain - a spider woman, who kills with her kiss. Juxtaposing gritty realities with liberating fantasies, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN revamps a harrowing tale of persecution into a dazzling spectacle.

Tickets
A variety of subscription options, including ArtsWest's Marquee Club and Marquee Club Gold, are found online at www.artswest.org. Season subscriptions are available now with single tickets being offered by August 1.

About ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery
ArtsWest is a vibrant center for both performing and visual arts located in the West Seattle Junction. This 149-seat theatre provides a unique setting for audiences and artists as stories of human emotion unfold in an intimate space. Winner of the American Theatre Wing's 2012 National Theatre Company Award, ArtsWest has produced such diverse work as Evil Dead: The Musical, Little Women, last fall's critically acclaimed production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and the smash hit Peter and the Starcatcher. ArtsWest produces artistic events that provoke conversation, incite the imagination and use live theater as a powerful agent of change. www.artswest.org



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