THE DUMB WAITER, CELEBRATION et al. Set for ACT's Pinter Festival, 7/20-8/26

ACT - A Contemporary Theatre announces a full-scale theatrical celebration of the works of modern master and Nobel Prize Laureate Harold Pinter. Famous for his biting humor and a favorite of professionals, scholars, and people who like their humor on the darker side, ACT looks to introduce the city of Seattle to many of Pinter's lesser known and rarely produced works in its Pinter Festival, running July 20 - August 26, 2012.

After cultivating a following for Pinter's works through the renowned Pinter Fortnightly series, The Pinter Festival will take over ACT for more than a month, with plays, master classes, readings, films, discussions, and other celebrations of the influential and outspoken British writer.

Performances begin in July when eleven actors perform a double-bill of The Dumb Waiter and Celebration, then add Old Times and No Man's Land to the schedule in August. John Langs, director of the award winning local productions of The Adding Machine and Hamlet (with Darragh Kennan), directs the Celebration and The Dumb Waiter double-bill. Distinguished British director Penny Cherns will direct No Man's Land and Victor Pappas directs Old Times. Nationally acclaimed actors Frank Corrado and Peter Crook appear in multiple productions alongside such Seattle favorites as Anne Allgood, Julie Briskman, Darragh Kennan, Charles Leggett, and more.

Additional programming includes a showcase of Harold Pinter's short and rarely performed sketches to be directed by Jane Kaplan, a series of free films focusing on Pinter, master classes taught by Henry Woolf, and a cabaret performance also featuring Henry Woolf to round out the festivities.

The Pinter Festival is the result of a multi-year series at ACT, curated and hosted by actor Frank Corrado, titled Pinter Fortnightly, which was presented through the Central Heating Lab. Originally conceived as an experiment to explore works of Harold Pinter with an intimate audience, the trial effort grew into a popular 26-event series over three years, with sold-out crowds, and a mass of official 'Pinterian' enthusiasts in Seattle.

Pinter's last play, from 2002, is a one-act that was "inspired" by an experience at the posh Ivy restaurant in London, in which the playwright and his wife Antonia Fraser found themselves distracted by a group of unusually boisterous diners at the next table. Celebration is Pinter's riotously funny and profane revenge. This raucous feast receives its Seattle premiere.

CAST AND CREATIVE:

Director: John Langs
Prue - Anne Allgood
Julie- Julie Briskman
Sonia - Cheyenne Casebier
Lambert - Frank Corrado
Richard - Peter Crook
Russell - Jeffrey Fracé
The Waiter - Darragh Kennan
Matt - RAndy Moore
Suki - Mariel Neto
Additional Waitstaff - Benjamin Harris and Charles Leggett

THE DUMB WAITER

An early one-act from the master of comic menace, The Dumb Waiter provides an hour's worth of tense banter, surprise intrusions by unseen forces, food orders that defy description, dark secrets, and hilarious exchanges that recall Abbott and Costello as prompted by Samuel Beckett.

CAST AND CREATIVE:

Director: John Langs
Gus - Darragh Kennan
Ben - Charles Leggett

OLD TIMES

Pinter's haunting play, first produced in 1971, delves deeply into the elusiveness and unreliability of memory and the illusions which allow us to get through the day but which haunt our nights. Old Times also explores the compelling need for psychological dominance and control and the compelling fear of losing it. ACT last produced Old Times some forty years ago.

CAST AND CREATIVE:

Director: Victor Pappas
Anna - Anne Allgood
Kate - Cheyenne Casebier
Deeley - Jeffrey Fracé

NO MAN'S LAND

No Man's Land is a profound (and boozy) meditation on life and death and what may or may not have taken place between the cradle and the grave. This will be its first professional production in Seattle.

CAST AND CREATIVE:

Director: Penny Cherns
Hirst - Frank Corrado
Briggs - Peter Crook
Foster - Benjamin Harris
Spooner - RAndy Moore
Set Design: Robert Dahlstrom
Sound Design: Brendan Patrick Hogan

TICKETS: From $5.00 to $55.00. All event included in the ACTPass, ACT's $25/month membership program (ACTPass holders can also get discounts on Henry Woolf's master class). Celebration and The Dumb Waiter are included as a double-bill in a subscription package. Visit www.acttheatre.org or call (206) 292-7676.

FULL DATES AND SCHEDULE:

Friday, July 20, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 8:00pm (previews begin)

Saturday, July 21, Pinter Film Screening 4:30pm - Working with Pinter
The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 8:00pm

Sunday, July 22, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm

Tuesday, July 24, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm

Wednesday, July 25, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm

Thursday, July 26, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm OPENING NIGHT

Friday, July 27, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 8:00pm

Saturday, July 28, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 2:00pm and 8:00pm
Pinter Film Screening 4:30 – The Birthday Party

Sunday, July 29, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 2:00pm and 7:00pm

Tuesday, July 31, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm

Wednesday, August 1, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm

Thursday, August 2, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm

Friday, August 3, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 8:00pm

Saturday, August 4, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 2:00pm and 8:00pm
Pinter Film Screening 4:30 – To Be Announced

Sunday, August 5, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 2:00pm

Tuesday, August 7, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm

Thursday, August 9, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm

Friday, August 10, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 8:00pm

Saturday, August 11, No Events

Sunday, August 12, Enjoying Playing Pinter – Master Class with Henry Woolf 12:00pm
The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 2:00pm and 7:00pm

Monday, August 13, Enjoying Playing Pinter – Master Class with Henry Woolf 6:30pm

Wednesday, August 15, Old Times 7:30pm (preview)
Pinter Party – Cabaret featuring Henry Woolf 8:00pm

Thursday, August 16, No Events

Friday, August 17, No Man's Land 8:00pm (preview)
Pinter Sketches – Sex, Trouble, and Taxi #274 8:30pm

Saturday, August 18, Old Times 2:00pm (OPENING)
No Man's Land 8:00pm (OPENING)

Sunday, August 19, No Man's Land 2:00pm
Old Times 7:30pm
Pinter Sketches: Sex, Trouble, and Taxi #274 8:30pm

Tuesday, August 21, Old Times 7:30pm
Pinter Sketches – Corner Conversations & Matters of State 8:30pm

Wednesday, August 22, The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:30pm

Thursday, August 23, Old Times 2:00pm
No Man's Land 7:30pm
Pinter Sketches: Sex, Trouble, and Taxi #274 8:30pm

Friday, August 24, Old Times 8:00pm
Pinter Sketches: Corner Conversations & Matters of State 8:30pm

Saturday, August 25, Old Times 12:00pm (Noon)
No Man's Land 4:00pm
The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 8:00pm

Sunday, August 26, No Man's Land 2:00pm
The Dumb Waiter and Celebration 7:00pm

SPECIAL EVENTS

Tech Talk – Wednesday, July 25, 6:00pm

Tastings – Friday,August 3, 6:30pm

Behind the Scenes – Tuesday July 24, 6:00pm

The Pinter Festival Post Play Discussions - July 31 and August 5

The Apple Series Educator Program – Wednesday July 25, 6:00pm

A Theatre of New Ideas - Raising Consciousness Through Theatre Located in the heart of downtown Seattle and serving a population of curious, open-minded, and brave audiences, ACT - A Contemporary Theatre is the only theatre in Seattle dedicated to producing contemporary work with promising playwrights and local performing artists since 1965. A theatre of new ideas, ACT serves as a cultural engine that makes plays, dance, music, and film that touch us through its annual Mainstage play series and new works generated from the Young Playwrights Program, The Hansberry Project, the Central Heating Lab, and New Works for the American Stage commissioning program. Because contemporary life demands examination, ACT is driven to inspire and strengthen our diverse community through works that advance our understanding of human life. With more than 120,000 people who attend shows annually, ACT is an interactive community where artists and the public witness, contemplate, and engage in dialogue on today's thought-provoking issues, ideas and art, presented with intelligence, insight, and humor.

ACT Theatre is located in the Falls Theatre and Bullitt Cabaret at 700 Union St Seattle, Wash. Ticket pricing varies according to the event.