Sometimes a fun night is just a dead lock. Such is the case when you take three of Seattle's most gifted and seasoned actors and put them in the off kilter world of a Christopher Durang play as has happed over at ACT with their current production of "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike". I have to admit going in I had very little doubt that I would have a good time with all those elements combined and I was not disappointed. But beyond the sure thing of comedy that resulted what also emerged was a truly thoughtful and resonant look at some ways society has been brought down as it's built up.
ACT Theatre closes out its 2014 Mainstage season with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play. The hilarious Broadway blockbuster from three-time Obie Award-winner Christopher Durang begins previews tonight, October 17 and is directed by ACT Theatre artistic director Kurt Beattie.
Theatre Puget Sound (TPS) has announced Joyce Degenfelder as the 2013 recipient of the Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award. The committee of prior recipients has made this selection to honor her dedication to the Seattle theatre community. This award, along with 19 others, will be presented at the 6th Annual Gregory Awards held at The Moore Theatre on Monday, October 20, 2014 at 7:30pm.
ACT Theatre closes out its 2014 Mainstage season with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play. The hilarious Broadway blockbuster from three-time Obie Award-winner Christopher Durang begins previews October 17 and is directed by ACT Theatre artistic director Kurt Beattie. An all-star cast of Seattle favorites including Pamela Reed (ACT's Other Desert Cities; Seattle Rep's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; TV & Film Parks and Recreation, Kindergarten Cop), R. Hamilton Wright (ACT's Middletown, The Pillowman, One Slight Hitch) and Marianne Owen (ACT's Assisted Living, Middletown, Seattle Rep's Hound of the Baskervilles) take on Durang's hilarious Chekhov inspired siblings.
A full plate of theatre portioned out in three short plays, ACT - A Contemporary Theatre presents An Evening of One Acts. The line-up begins with a curtain raiser by Steve Martin, Patter for the Floating Lady, followed by Woody Allen's Riverside Drive, and the evening culminates with Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand. All three plays deliver an experience that will stretch the imagination with magic, surprise, wonder, and a dose of science fiction fantasy.
A full plate of theatre portioned out in three short plays, ACT - A Contemporary Theatre presents An Evening of One Acts. The line-up begins with a curtain raiser by Steve Martin, Patter for the Floating Lady, followed by Woody Allen's Riverside Drive, and the evening culminates with Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand. All three plays deliver an experience that will stretch the imagination with magic, surprise, wonder, and a dose of science fiction fantasy.
L.A. Theatre Works will record the California premiere of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Hound of the Baskervilles,' adapted by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright, and starring Seamus Dever, Sarah Drew, James Marsters, and Geoffrey Arend, along with Wilson Bethel, Christopher Neame, Darren Richardson, Moira Quirk and Henri Lubatti, this weekend, June 12-15.
L.A. Theatre Works will record the California premiere of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Hound of the Baskervilles,' adapted by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright, and starring Seamus Dever, Sarah Drew, James Marsters, and Geoffrey Arend, along with Wilson Bethel, Christopher Neame, Darren Richardson, Moira Quirk and Henri Lubatti, on June 12-15.
L.A. Theatre Works will record the California premiere of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles,' adapted by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright, and starring Seamus Dever, Sarah Drew, James Marsters, and Geoffrey Arend on June 12-15.
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.
Seattle Repertory Theatre's full 2014-2015 season was announced today by Artistic Director Jerry Manning. The season is headlined by the first-ever presentation of Seattle writer Robert Schenkkan's striking meditation on power and morality in his two-part Lyndon B. Johnson plays, All the Way and The Great Society, in repertory format.
Seattle Repertory Theatre announced today six commissions that are in development as part of the New Play Program, including an adaptation of Kirsten Grind's bestseller The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual - The Biggest Bank Failure in American History.
A Contemporary Theatre single tickets go on sale to the public for all 2014 Mainstage shows February 12, 2014. ACT is offering 50% off of adult price tickets for previews of Bethany one-week only February 12-18.
The absolutely stirring performances would have been enough. Even if the script for Seattle Rep's world premiere of "A Great Wilderness" were just so-so the ensemble cast knocking ball after ball out of the park would have been enough to make for an amazing evening. But when you add in the fact that this new script from one of the theater world's up and comers, Samuel D. Hunter, amounts to a subtle and gripping thing of beauty, you have an experience at the theater that you won't soon forget.
Seattle Theater Writers, a critics' circle of local theater writers and reviewers, today announces the 2013 slate of nominees of the third annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, theater awards devoted to recognizing excellence across the economic spectrum of professional Seattle theaters.
Holy Crap! That's really the most emphatic sentiment I can use to describe the internal battles I had when trying to pick my top picks for this past year. There were so many amazing performances and achievements that to pick just one was almost an impossibility (and as you'll see, WAS an impossibility for one category). But the battle is over and it's my distinct pleasure to announce my picks for the 2013 Broadway World Seattle Critic's Choice Awards (or Jay's Picks, if you prefer).
I love it when a production manages to actually make me giddy with its technical aspects whether that be the gorgeous set, the intricate staging or the storytelling lights and sound. It appeals to the theater geek in me. So, Dear Readers, you can imagine how much I was in geek heaven at the Seattle Rep's current production of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" which managed all four of those elements. And when coupled with a fresh fun new script and equally fun cast, this new production makes for a chilling romp through the world of Sherlock Holmes.
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.
