Marianna de Fazio

ReAct Theatre and Pratidhwani have announced the Seattle premiere of Letters of Suresh, performing April 24 – May 12th at 12th Ave Arts. 

How do you know when a show is really, really good? Often it is something beyond the story, the performance, and the staging that takes you to a place that can only be described as magic. Less than twenty minutes into the show, I leaned over to my theater companion and quietly whispered, “I’m already planning when I can come back.” THE HELLO GIRLS at Taproot Theatre brings the magic in so many ways that you are left breathless with goosebumps on your skin, a tear in your eye, and a song in your heart.What did our critic think of THE HELLO GIRLS at Taproot Theatre?

As If Theatre Company has announced its third annual short-play festival, The Kenmore Quickies - A Play on Art, running August 11-13, 2023, at the Kenmore Community Club.

Radial Theater Project's production of George Orwell's 1984, adapted for the stage by Michael Gene Sullivan, reopens on March 10 2022 at 18th & Union in Seattle, WA. The production is directed by Radial Theater Project producing director and 18th & Union co-founder David Gassner, and will be performed to both in-person and live streaming audiences. 

In February and March 2022, Radial Theater Project will present back-to-back theater productions at 18th & Union in Seattle, WA.

Written by one of Tibet's most prolific activists and authors, Jamyang Norbu (he/him), this Holmesian pastiche marks artistic director Gus Menary's (he/him) Audio Book-It directorial debut.

Radial Theater Project is currently presenting an adaptation of George Orwell's classic dystopian nightmare a?oe1984a??, and don't even THINK about saying anything good about it. Big Brother has sent down orders from the Ministry of Truth that there is nothing good about this production and it has no good performances or redeeming qualities, and everything is un-good. But if you know anything about the Ministry of Truth, you know everything is the exact opposite there and that holds true here as this production is a spectacular, riveting telling of this horrifying story and you need to see it. Just don't tell The Thought Police I said that.

Radial Theater Project and 18th & Union will present a live stage production of George Orwell's 1984, opening February 21, 2020 at 18th & Union in Seattle's Central District.

Book-It Repertory Theatre's landmark 30th season continues with The Turn of the Screw, adapted from the 1898 horror novella by Henry James. Adapted by Rachel Atkins and directed by Carol Roscoe, this production will dive into the darkest corners of James's most famous and haunting story, asking audiences to question who they trust and whose version of events they believe. This will be Book-It's first production under the leadership team of current Artistic Director Jane Jones and Incoming Artistic Director Gus Menary. The Turn of the Screw plays February 12 a?" March 8, 2020 (Opening/Press Night on Saturday, February 15) at The Center Theatre. 

In David Henry Hwang's play "M Butterfly" there's a few things you can take away. First there's the actual historical comparison to the real relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a Peking opera singer. Second there's the cultural lesson of Westerners predilection to view Easterners in a certain, subservient light. And finally, there's the love story between a man trapped in a world and profession that used him and another man who claimed he didn't know his lover was also male. All those things should add up to a fascinating evening, unfortunately the current production at ArtsWest is told to us in such a bland and static way that the evening is just plain boring.

In a revival version never before staged on the West Coast, David Henry Hwang's audacious, Tony Award-winning M. BUTTERFLY - inspired by a bizarre true story of illusion, obsession and betrayal - will open at ArtsWest on January 24. Performances will run Today through Sunday until February 17.

In a revival version never before staged on the West Coast, David Henry Hwang's audacious, Tony Award-winning M. BUTTERFLY - inspired by a bizarre true story of illusion, obsession and betrayal - will open at ArtsWest on January 24. Performances will run Thursday through Sunday until February 17.

Any theater company has that fear of, after weeks of rehearsing one play, having to switch it out for another with little rehearsal time left before opening. Maybe the rights to the play get pulled or some other act of the theater Gods which is out of their control forces their hand. But what if a theater were to decide to do it to themselves? Such is the case with Strawberry Theatre Workshop and their current production of Craig Lucas' "Prelude to a Kiss" which took over for what was to be their production of Lucas' "Reckless". After already diving headlong into the show they discovered that one character in particular felt so dated and out of touch as to be offensive without any kind of touchstone in the show to point out the offense. But this is not a review of their decision, so we won't go into all that, this is a review of what they put up … with the same cast … and the same scheduled opening night … after only 12 days of rehearsal.

 Casting is announced for Seattle Shakespeare Company's free Wooden O productions of King Lear and The Merry Wives of Windsor which start performances on Thursday, July 12. Both productions will perform in park venues throughout King and Pierce Counties (please see attached schedule). This summer marks the 25th Anniversary for Wooden O productions in the parks.

A Civil War Christmas is a nice escape for folks that are getting a bit of a toothache from the glittery, schmaltzy, and sentimental Christmas plays foisted upon us this time of year. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Paula Vogel (for How I Learned to Drive ), A Civil War Christmas is historical fiction circa 1864, a birds-eye view of Civil War-torn America. Infused with hymnals, Union and Confederate songs, and Christmas carols, this musical time capsule bursts at the seams with a myriad of storylines. From slave to president, from Confederate to Union, for better or for worse, Vogel made sure to not miss anybody in this theatric nativity.

I always hated mowing the lawn as a kid but it was one of the chores with which I was saddled. So, if someone told me they invented a grass that only needed mowing once a year I'd be all over that. But some might not appreciate this new revelation and do anything to stop it. This utterly absurd premise is the crux of new play written by Seattle favorite R. Hamilton Wright and being offered by MAP Theatre. And while the premise may be absurd what's not absurd is the clever writing and fantastic performances in a show that'll have you reeling with laughter.

Shows, Shows, Shows! By the end of March, 18th & Union will have presented 20 different productions in its opening season and hosted dozens of performers. Here's what's opening in the next few weeks.

Spanning 28 theater companies and 59 productions, from the largest and most prominent to small, humble and innovative, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor as much professional theater as we reviewers can cram into our year.

The 'large theater' productions of ACT Theatre's The Royale and The 5th Avenue Theatre's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying take top honors and the 'small theater' productions of ArtsWest's Death of a Salesman and Washington Ensemble Theatre's The Things Are Against Us take top honors - for most category wins!?

Spanning 28 theater companies and 59 productions, from the largest and most prominent to small, humble and innovative, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor as much professional theater as we reviewers can cram into our year.