Gavin Hoffman News

What did our critic think of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at DCPA?

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) Theatre Company and Education departments have announced the full casting and creative teams for the 2022/23 fall productions of The Chinese Lady, Much Ado About Nothing, LITTLE RED, and A Christmas Carol. 

APPROPRIATE is Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ genre-upending take on the great American family drama.

Mary Kathryn Nagle's world premiere play Crossing Mnisose weaves together Sacajawea's story with that of the contemporary fight to protect the Mnisose (what Europeans named the Missouri River) from the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Mary Kathryn Nagle's world premiere play Crossing Mnisose weaves together Sacajawea's story with that of the contemporary fight to protect the Mnisose (what Europeans named the Missouri River) from the Dakota Access Pipeline. As in her celebrated playsManahatta and Sovereignty, Nagle draws a clear, urgent line between the past and the present. Nagle's frequent collaborator Molly Smith (Sovereignty at Arena Stage) will direct.

The clash between a daughter's philanthropic idealism and her father's hard-headed capitalism is at the heart of George Bernard Shaw's witty and timely classic Major Barbara, which begins preview performances at The Armory on April 14, opens on April 20, and runs through May 13 on the U.S. Bank Main Stage.

The world premiere of Astoria: Part Two the conclusion of a two-part stage adaptation of Peter Stark's best-selling bookASTORIA: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire; A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival adapted and directed by Chris Coleman begins preview performances at The Armory on January 20, opens January 26 and closes February 18.

The world premiere of Astoria: Part Two the conclusion of a two-part stage adaptation of Peter Stark's best-selling book ASTORIA: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire; A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival adapted and directed by Chris Coleman begins preview performances at The Armory on January 20, opens January 26 and closes February 18.

Madeleine George's Pulitzer Prize-nominated THE (CURIOUS CASE OF THE) WATSON INTELLIGENCE takes the audience on a journey through time (and several Watsons, from Alexander Graham Bell's assistant to Sherlock Holmes's sidekick to IBM's Jeopardy!-winning supercomputer) that explores the nature of our relationship with technology and, fundamentally, with other people.

From the Victorian age to the 21st century, 'Watson' is the perfect partner. Mr. Watson was on the other end of the wire when Alexander Graham Bell sent the first communication by telephone. Dr. Watson accompanied each step and anticipated every need of fiction's greatest detective. Watson's the name of IBM's natural language-processing supercomputer, winner of the famous Jeopardy! match in 2011. And Josh Watson is the IT guy with a friendly fix for crashed technology and broken hearts, uncommonly trustworthy and aiming to please. All the Watsons want to give you what you need, but do you want what you need in a partner? The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence is an emotionally-intelligent drama that follows a time-travelling love triangle between the head, the heart and the machine.

BUILDING THE WALL features Gavin Hoffman (member of AEA) as a prison warden who has been "left out to dry" by the Trump administration and Andrea (Whittle) Vernae as the historian who is "trying to figure out why he did what he did."

I read Peter Stark's Astoria last year on the suggestion of Portland Center Stage Artistic Director Chris Coleman. It's the history of the John Jacob Astor-funded expedition to establish a fur trading post on the Pacific. He sent one party by land and another by sea to Astoria, Oregon, which became the first American settlement in the Pacific Northwest. The whole time I was reading, all I could think was, 'How did they make it?'

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.

It's been a crazy year, Dear Readers. Lots of ups, lots of downs, and LOTS of emotions. And I'm not just talking about on stage. But let's not dwell on the bad things that may have happened in the world and focus on some of the amazing things Seattle theater companies gave us this past year, and let me tell you there were quite a few. So many in fact that in some categories I simply had to call out more than the usual Honorable Mentions as some performances just needed to be noted. You'll see what I mean especially when you get to the female categories as the ladies were certainly bringing it this year. But let's get started shall we? Out of the myriad shows I saw this year in Seattle, here are the shows and performances that truly stood out to me.

Peter Stark's best-selling bookASTORIA: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire; A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival comes to life on stage at The Armory in a world premiere production directed and adapted by Chris Coleman. Astoria: Part One is the first world premiere to debut as part of the company's new Northwest Stories series. This monumental piece of American history will be told in two parts over the course of two seasons. Astoria: Part One opens on the U.S. Bank Main Stage on January 20, with preview performances beginning January 14, and regular performances running through February 12. Select dates will be presented as part of Fertile Ground, a city-wide festival of new works held every January in Portland. Astoria: Part Two will be presented during the 2017-2018 season. 

What do you do if you work at a fast-food franchise that's been abandoned by the manager, but instructed by corporate to stay open, even without supplies?

Artists Repertory Theatre presents the Northwest Premiere of Drama Desk award-winner Bess Wohl's AMERICAN HERO to Portland audiences starting October 4, 2016. Directed by Shawn Lee, this comedy takes a look at the struggles and perseverance of the American working class through the lens of a franchise-owned sandwich shop. AMERICAN HERO runs through October 30 on the Alder Stage.

Offering different plays every night from five outstanding playwrights, Portland Shakespeare Project and Proscenium Journal will host the second annual Proscenium Live Festival of New Work, from August 18 to 21 on Artists Repertory Theatre's Alder Stage.