Cornish College Theater Department Presents Three Seattle Premieres for Fall Season

Cornish College of the Arts' fall theater season features works by local playwrights, literary adaptations, and three Seattle premieres. "This fall we explore the theme of adaptation," said Cornish Theater Chair Richard E.T. White. "These are works adapted from some of the greatest works of literature and some of the cheesiest B-movies about 'women behind bars.' Moreover, each of these plays, in its own way, raises the question of how we (and whether we should) adapt to extreme circumstances. It's particularly exciting that a number of the writers are local to Seattle and one is a Cornish alumna."

Between Oct. 22 and Dec. 18, Cornish students will perform in Kelleen Conway Blanchard's Kittens In A Cage, Edward Mast's Jungalbook, Octavio Solis's Quixote: Book One, Dipika Guha's Blown Youth, Naomi Iizuka's Anon(ymous), Karen Hartman's Wild Kate: A Tale of Revenge at Sea, and a cabaret revue, Golden. For many of these works, the students have been able to meet with the playwrights during rehearsal and learn more about the process of taking a piece from page to stage.

Cornish offers a full fall season ticket this year, making it possible to see all seven works produced between October and December for $35 for students, $47 for seniors, and $84 for general admission. Individual show tickets range from $5 for students to $17 for general admission. All pass and ticket sales help support scholarships for theater students at Cornish.

The season opens Oct. 22 with local playwright and Cornish Theater alumna Kelleen Conway Blanchard's black comedy Kittens In A Cage. The play about "tough broads who can't get no breaks" inspired the award-winning web series of the same name. Kittens In A Cage will be performed at the Skinner Theatre in the 100-year-old Raisbeck Performance Hall on Cornish's South Lake Union campus.

Local playwright Edward Mast's adaptation of Kipling's Mowgli stories resets the action of Jungalbook on a jungle gym. This fresh look at the stories will take place in the Alhadeff Studio at Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center on Oct. 28 to 31 and Nov. 1.

Opening on the Cornish Playhouse mainstage on Nov. 6 is Quixote: Book One by Latino playwright Octavio Solis (El Paseo Blues). Previously staged at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, this new adaptation of Don Quixote makes its Seattle premiere with these performances. Solis uses uses poetic language, song, dance, sword-fighting, and dynamic transformation to bring the denizens of Quixote's Spain, both human and animal, to vivid life. The playwright worked with the students earlier this fall and the production is co-directed by White and local director Sheila Daniels. The production runs Nov. 6 through 8, and Nov. 12 through 13.

Dipika Guha's Blown Youth, inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet, was originally commissioned by Barnard College at Columbia University and the New Georges theater company also make its Seattle premiere this season. This original, feminist work on gender inequality in theater dares to ask what would happen if the center of the play was a woman. Blown Youth runs Nov. 12 to 14 and Nov. 19 to 21 at the Alhadeff Studio at Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center.

Homer's Odyssey is reimagined by Naomi Iizuka in Anon(ymous). Separated from his mother, a young refugee called Anon journeys through the United States, encountering a wide variety of people - some kind, some dangerous and cruel - as he searches for his family. Anon(ymous) plays Nov. 18 to 22 at the Skinner Theatre in Raisbeck Performance Hall.

Cornish Theater moves to Capitol Hill in December for the Seattle premiere of Wild Kate: A Tale of Revenge at Sea at 12th Avenue Arts Black Box. Local playwright Karen Hartman has crafted a seagoing adventure inspired by Melville's Moby Dick and the Deepwater Oil Rig disaster. Wild Kate plays Dec. 9 through 13.

The fall theater season at Cornish closes with a cabaret revue. Conceived and directed by Frances King and recently honored faculty member Timothy McCuen Piggee, with music direction by Katherine Strohmaier, Golden, A Cabaret, explores themes of thankfulness and gratitude.

Further information about Cornish College of the Arts and all events can be found at www.cornish.edu/events. The fall season ticket and tickets for individual shows are sold through Brown Paper Tickets.

About Cornish College of the Arts

A pioneer in arts education, Cornish College of the Arts sprang from the remarkable vision of Nellie Cornish, a woman determined to cultivate the arts in Seattle when it was scarcely more than a frontier town. Her philosophy of educating the artist through exposure to all the arts was progressive in 1914, and continues to be innovative today. The College offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Art, Dance, Design, Performance Production and Theater, a Bachelor of Music degree and an Artist Diploma in Early Music. The College is accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. For more information, please visit www.cornish.edu.

Cornish theater and performance production faculty and alumni work throughout the Puget Sound area. Faculty member Timony McCuen Piggee will receive the Sustained Achievement Award from Theatre Puget Sound (TPS) in October as part of the 7th Annual Gregory Awards. Other members of the Cornish community nominated for the Gregories can be found here.