Sara Porkalob News

Book-It Repertory Theatre is proud to announce its 2017-2018 season. Book-It has been adapting great literature into great theatre for 28 years and will produce five mainstage shows and three school-touring shows.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announces 16 awards granted from their National Fund for New Musicals, a major funding program to support NAMT member not-for-profit theatres in their collaborations with writers to create, develop and produce new musicals.

Centerstage Theatre proudly presents the world premiere of Squatch! The Musical by Katherine Jett.  When sightings of Sasquatch stir up a local town, a group of 8-11 year old aspiring crypto-zoologists, scientists, and cynics resolve to find the elusive creature. 

As Intiman Theatre grows its staff, the organization announces a new Executive Director position to work alongside other leadership, including the new Co-Curator position. Intiman is thrilled to announce that Phillip Chavira will be filling this new role.

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 easy to feel skeptical when young Sara Porkalob steps onto Cafe Nordo's stage and claims to be celebrating her sixtieth birthday. But with her effortless 'still-got-it' physicality and chutzpa, Porkalob became a believably spry sixty-years-young Madame Dragon. In her latest iteration of her one-woman show 'The Dragon Lady'--Porkalob's tribute to her gangster grandma--'Madame Dragon's 60th Birthday' is an expansive and immersive tribute that tells Maria Porkalob's (aka Madame Dragon) stories of sex, murder and motherhood through spoken word, music, and food. This is not just dinner theatre. This is a party.

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.

Village Theatre's Village Originals program, under the leadership of Associate Artistic Director Brandon Ivie, has announced the new Village Originals Writers Residency aimed at developing new musicals from their earliest stages. New York writing team Danny Larsen and Michelle Elliott, Seattle-based composer Orlando Morales, and local collaborators Kirsten deLohr Helland, Justin Huertas, and Sara Porkalob will make up the inaugural group of resident writers. 

Dear Readers, there's not much I can tell you about Nassim Soleimanpour's searing play, 'White Rabbit Red Rabbit' currently having it's Northwest Premiere at 18th and Union from Radial Theater Project. I'm unable to tell you about the play not because I don't remember but because you shouldn't know in advance. That's part of the show. I urge you not to Google any information about the show. But I also equally urge you to move hell or high water to catch this one, as it's a thrilling emotional journey unlike anything you're likely to have seen before.

Even if you are familiar with the seldom produced country musical "Pump Boys and Dinettes" you're reaction to it probably isn't a wild one. In fact when I heard it was opening Village Theatre's season I thought, "Well, this will be cute" but my excitement didn't go much further beyond "cute". I'd seen the show once years ago and have had the cast album forever but it's not what you might call one of my "go to" shows. But with this new production out at Village Theatre that may all change. This is not the production from the 80's or really any production you're likely to have seen. With this level of talent and new orchestrations this could revive this old chestnut. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Village Theatre kicks off its 2016-2017 Season with Pump Boys and Dinettes, a light-hearted concert-style musical celebration of life's simple pleasures, set on Highway 57 in North Carolina. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast in action below!

Village Theatre kicks off its 2016-2017 Season with Pump Boys and Dinettes, a light-hearted concert-style musical celebration of life's simple pleasures, set on Highway 57 in North Carolina.

Village Theatre kicks off its 2016-2017 Season with Pump Boys and Dinettes, a light-hearted concert-style musical celebration of life's simple pleasures, set on Highway 57 in North Carolina. Click below to go behind the scenes!

Theatre Puget Sound is proud to present the 8th Annual Gregory Awards at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall on Monday, October 24, 2016 at 7:30pm.

Theatre Puget Sound (TPS) is proud to present the 8th Annual Gregory Awards at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall on Monday, October 24, 2016 at 7:30pm. The Gregory Awards celebrate theatre arts in the region, honor the outstanding achievements of theatre practitioners, and raise the visibility of the local theatre scene as a whole.

Village Theatre kicks off its 2016-2017 Season with Pump Boys and Dinettes, a light-hearted concert-style musical celebration of life's simple pleasures, set on Highway 57 in North Carolina.

Well it may have been hotter than blazes this past weekend but I managed to spend the weekend inside at one of my favorite events of the year, The Village Theatre Village Originals Festival of New Musicals. They presented concert stagings of five musicals still in the works. It's a great opportunity for the authors to get to see their shows in front of an audience and for us to get a sneak peak at amazing musical theater to come. Now as they are still being workshopped I can't really review any of them but I can tell you what I saw.