Aaron Blakely News

Get a first look at Denver Center's production of Rubicon. Starting in the years leading up to World War II, Rubicon follows real-life heroine Elizabeth “Betty” Pack as she transitions from society wife and mother to steely, seductive agent for British and American Intelligence. 

The Denver Center Theatre Company has revealed the full casting and creative teams for the world premiere productions of Cebollas by Leonard Madrid (Las Arañas, Berkeley Rep) and Rubicon by Kirsten Potter (Unraveling, ACT Seattle -workshop).

Dear Readers, just as theater professionals have unique ways of communicating a story, so too do children have their own ways of communicating their issues, especially when traumatized. Now take those two unique perspectives and combine them and you get the singular “Wolf Play” by Hansol Jung, currently playing at ACT. And it’s this unique perspective that explodes this already touching story into an experience not to be missed.

ACT Theatre has announced the cast and creative team of the upcoming Wolf Play, the newest play from acclaimed South Korean playwright Hansol Jung.

Seattle Rep has released a new trailer for its anticipated West Coast Premiere of the stage adaptation of Erika L. Sánchez's New York Times bestselling novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.

Seattle Rep has announced the complete cast and creative team for its anticipated West Coast Premiere of the stage adaptation of Erika L. Sánchez’s New York Times bestselling novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.

Classic characters from Homer's The Iliad a?" Hector, Ulysses, Achilles, Ajax, Helen a?" leap to life with the help of Shakespeare's imagination to reveal the follies of war in Troilus and Cressida at Seattle Shakespeare Company. David Quicksall directs the production which begins previews on March 17, opens March 20, and runs through April 12 in the Center Theatre at Seattle Center.

To close out its 55th season, Orange County's Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory is mounting David Henry Hwang's intriguing and mysterious play M. BUTTERFLY, using the playwright's much more layered and riveting 2017 Broadway revival as its source material. Marked assuredly by powerful, gripping performances, this admirable OC staging---directed with clarifying precision by Desdemona Chiang that continues through June 8 in Costa Mesa---keeps you at the edge of your seat, as it unpacks a story filled with wobbly uncertainties and vague declarations. A beautifully complex production that echoes sentiments of gender conformity/fluidity crossed with geopolitical issues that still resonate in today's ever-changing world, M. BUTTERFLY---particularly with this strong new update instituted by the original playwright himself---is definitely worth seeing.

David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, a tale of obsession, perception and the allure of fantasy, will conclude South Coast Repertory's 2018-19 season. Hwang's break-out hit-a Tony Award-winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist-is about more than steamy seduction and fantasy; inspired by a true account, it's a compelling story of espionage, East-West relations and betrayal. Desdemona Chiang, in her SCR debut, directs the show on the Segerstrom Stage, May 11-June 8. Tickets are available online at www.scr.org.

In 1993 a few Norwegian politicians managed the impossible, to get the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate a peace. What sounds even more impossible is that they all kept it secret. Now this may not sound like the riveting topic for a three-hour play but what J.T. Rogers' 'Oslo', currently playing at ACT, does it to go beyond the facts of the accords and examines the humanity that made the accords possible and that kind of conflict makes for a tense and often times funny piece presented with a stunning ensemble from ACT.

The University of Washington School of Drama, under the leadership of Executive Director Todd London, is announcing several new faculty appointments.

 A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, presents Arthur Miller's All My Sons, as part of the 2015-2016 BREAKING AND ENTERING season, directed by Geoff Elliott, now playing through November 21, 2015).   

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, presents Arthur Miller's classic ALL MY SONS, as part of the 2015-2016 BREAKING AND ENTERING season, directed by Geoff Elliott, beginning October 11 and playing through November 21, 2015 (opens on October 17). Miller was born on October 17, 1915 (this production opens on the actual day and date of the centennial of Miller's birth).

As Americans we tend to love to witness a good familial car wreck. That's why dysfunctional family dramas are so popular (not to mention the hoards of people behaving badly on reality TV). But long before the Weston's of Osage County hurled their first insult or popped their first pill, George and Martha of Edward Albee's classic dark comedy “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, currently playing at the Seattle Rep, were knocking back two or three or 15 stiff ones and letting the secrets and venom fly. And Albee's play feels just as fresh today as it ever has, due in no small part to this pitch perfect production. So I guess bad manners never go out of style.

We don't live in Grover's Corners anymore and a lot has changed in the century since that time. So it stands to reason that a slice of life play like 'Middletown', currently playing at ACT would be a darker and grittier ride than its 'Our Town' predecessor. And while at times it seems like just a series of platitudes on how to live your life, what makes this production what it is are the stirring and heartfelt performances from the ensemble cast.

ACT Theatre has announced the Seattle premiere of Will Eno's whimsical and poetic comedy drama, Middletown. In his contemporary take on Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town, Will Eno (2012 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award) digs acutely into American life, bringing the deeply human journeys of neighbor and stranger together in an 'Everytown USA.' Eno's critically acclaimed new play explores how the imponderable mysteries of the universe reveal themselves through the apparently everyday lives and relationships of ordinary people in an ordinary place.

ACT Theatre has announced the Seattle premiere of Will Eno's whimsical and poetic comedy drama, Middletown. In his contemporary take on Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town, Will Eno (2012 PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award) digs acutely into American life, bringing the deeply human journeys of neighbor and stranger together in an 'Everytown USA.' Eno's critically acclaimed new play explores how the imponderable mysteries of the universe reveal themselves through the apparently everyday lives and relationships of ordinary people in an ordinary place.

It's a fine line between a biting familial dramedy and diving head first into the realm of back biting reality TV. One lends itself to insightful views on the nature of parent/child dynamics and the other has an overweight little girl spewing forth "Oh no she di'in't" like a circus act to make the viewers feel better and superior about themselves. Luckily Jon Robin Baitz searing play "Other Desert Cities", currently playing at ACT, falls into the category of the former. Yes, the family can get pretty vicious at times but you can also see the heart and compassion through the barbs bringing out the power of the piece.

Conservative parents and their Liberal children square off in Jon Robin Baitz's thrilling drama, Other Desert Cities.