Seattle Repertory Theatre News

This month, ArtsWest and Intiman join forces to stage Taylor Mac's HIR, a fearless comedy about a household in revolt, from February 28 to March 25, 2018, with Intiman Artistic Director Jennifer Zeyl directing.  

In response to popular demand, Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) extends the world premiere of Aleshea Harris's Relentless Award-winning Is God Is, directed by Taibi Magar by two weeks, through March 25. In this play, which dauntlessly cracks jokes as it eviscerates, twin sisters Anaia (Alfie Fuller) and Racine (Dame-Jasmine Hughes) undertake a murderous journey from the Dirty South to the California desert, seeking payback for a horrendous act. Is God Is treats both morality and genre as notions to be exploded, drawing on the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, hip-hop and Afropunk in its subversion of theatrical constructs.

Casting has been completed for Rasaka and Vitalist's remounting of MERCHANT ON VENICE, Shishir Kurup's raucous South Asian re-imagining of Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, to be directed by Liz Carlin Metz.

Earlier this month, Theatre Forward and UBS hosted the 15th Annual Broadway Roundtable, moderated by Theatre Forward Executive Director Bruce E. Whitacre. The exclusive luncheon explored the current Broadway landscape with some of Broadway's leading players and stars, with a panel that included Heather A. Hitchens, President and CEO of the American Theatre Wing; Keegan-Michael Key, Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer and producer (Meteor Shower, Hamlet, 'Key and Peele'); John Leguizamo, Emmy and Obie Award-winning actor and playwright (Latin History for Morons, Freak, Mambo Mouth); Daryl Roth, award-winning Broadway producer (Kinky Boots, Indecent); Lea Salonga, Tony Award-winning actor (Once On This Island, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables) and Irene Sankoff and David Hein, the Tony-nominated and Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Award-winning songwriting and book-writing team behind Come From Away.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Lisa Rothe, Co-Presidents) will present the 2018 Theatre Women Awards at The TimesCenter (242 West 41st Streetbetween 7th and 8th Avenues) on Friday, March 16 beginning at 6:30PM. Tickets ($65-$250) are available for advance purchase at www.theatrewomen.org.

New Heritage Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Wales will mark her official return to her alma mater with a season that celebrates American stories, delivers entertaining and engaging professional theatre, and reflects on our uniquely challenging times.

Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Artistic Director | Jim Bredeson, Managing Director) today announced the cast for their next REVELATION READING, Moliere's Don Juan, adapted & directed by Stephen Wadsworth: Mary Bacon, Gilbert Cruz, Francesca Faridany, Adam Green, Adam Greer, Allen Tedder, Adam Stein, Mary Testa, and Raphael Nash Thompson, on Monday February 12th at 7:30 PM at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, between Bleecker and Hudson Streets). Stephen Wadsworth's version of Don Juan was commissioned by the Seattle Repertory Theatre and the McCarter Theatre and has recently been published by Smith and Kraus.

The nonprofit AT&T Performing Arts Center and producers Scott Rudin and Barry Diller announce casting for The Humans. The first national tour will feature Richard Thomas as Erik, Pamela Reed as Deirdre, Daisy Eagan as Brigid, Lauren Klein as Momo, Therese Plaehn as Aimee, and Luis Vega as Richard.

The winners of the 2017 Gypsy Rose Lee Awards are announced by the Seattle critics circle, Seattle Theater Writers!

Afterwords, a contemporary musical currently in development, will begin its Beta Series production at Village Theatre's First Stage Theatre in Issaquah on February 16, 2018. While current Broadway productions cater to mostly male heteronormative story lines and production teams, Afterwords aims to change that by featuring a story focused on three strong and unique queer women, and led by a female creative team with a book by Emily Kaczmarek, music & lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, and direction by Adrienne Campbell-Holt.

A powerful story of a convict returning from a brief prison stay to resume his position as the neighborhood kingpin. Mike is at a crossroads in his life and when Jelly Belly returns, decisions need to be made that will effect these characters for a long time. The Chicago Defender wrote 'Employing gritty poetry of the streets, Smith introduces us to Jelly Belly, who attempts to regain the service of Kenny, a former drug runner who has gone straight. Kenny is torn between the hope of prosperity through hard work shared with his friend Mike, or the opportunistic life of a drug pusher Jelly Belly offers.' Jelly Belly don't mess with nobody. 

The "Bad Boys of Abridgment" are back! Uproarious and rapid-fire, the Reduced Shakespeare Company makes sharp, short comedy in their latest sendup, William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged). Discovered in a treasure-filled parking lot in Leicester, England (next to a pile of bones that didn't look that important), an ancient manuscript proves to be the literary holy grail-the long-lost first play written by none other than seventeen-year-old William Shakespeare! William Shakespeare's Long Lost First Play (abridged) makes its off-Broadway premiere at The New Victory Theater, opening on March 2 and playing through March 11, 2018, as part of a 20-city tour throughout the United States.

Theatre Philadelphia proudly announces the debut of Philly Theatre Week with 70 organizations, 80 events and 268 performances between February 8 to 18, 2018. This new 10-day celebration will showcase the vibrant and diverse theatre scene in the tri-state region, and help make theatre even more accessible to the community.

Moderated by Theatre Forward Executive Director Bruce E. Whitacre, the exclusive luncheon will explore the current Broadway landscape with some of Broadway's leading players and stars, with a panel that includes Heather A. Hitchens, President and CEO of the American Theatre Wing; Keegan-Michael Key, Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer and producer (Meteor Shower, Hamlet, "Key and Peele"); John Leguizamo, Emmy and Obie Award-winning actor and playwright (Latin History for Morons, Freak, Mambo Mouth); Daryl Roth, award-winning Broadway producer (Kinky Boots, Indecent); Lea Salonga, Tony Award-winning actor (Once On This Island, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables) and Irene Sankoff and David Hein, the Tony-nominated and Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Award-winning songwriting and book-writing team behind Come From Away.

With great excitement, Seattle Repertory Theatre presents its world premiere production of the new comedy, Ibsen in Chicago. The story from playwright David Grimm (Measure for Pleasure; The Miracle at Naples) follows a group of Scandinavian immigrants working to put on the world premiere of Ghosts, a new play by the revered and controversial Norwegian dramatist of the time, Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen in Chicago was commissioned and developed by Seattle Rep through the organization's 'The Other Season,' program, and will run February 2 - March 4, 2018 (opening night is Wednesday, February 7, 2018) in the Leo K. Theatre. Tickets are on sale now through the Seattle Rep Box Office at 206.443.2222 and online at seattlerep.org.  

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director, Todd Schmidt-Managing Director), recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, presents the East Coast premiere of the new play The Outsider by Paul Slade Smith, directed by David Esbjornson (Driving Miss Daisy). Performances begin TOMORROW, Wednesday, January 24, 2018, at 7:30 p.m., for a limited run through Sunday, February 18, 2018, at Paper Mill Playhouse (22 Brookside Drive) in Millburn, NJ. Opening Night is Sunday evening, January 28, 2018, at 7:00 p.m.

New Jersey Repertory Company, located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch is proud to present the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Allison Gregory's Wild Horses, February 22 March 25, 2018.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced the line-up today for the 2018 Free Shakespeare in the Park season, continuing a 56-year tradition of free theater in Central Park.

The Road Theatre Company and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, present the second show of its 2017-2018 season, the west coast premiere of A DELICATE SHIP, written by acclaimed playwright Anna Ziegler (Actually) and directed by Andre Barron (Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby). A DELICATE SHIP will begin previews on Saturday, January 13 at 8pm; will open on Friday, January 19 at 8pm and run through Sunday, March 11 at the Road Theatre on Magnolia, located in The NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood.

Soho Rep. (Sarah Benson, Artistic Director; Cynthia Flowers, Executive Director) today announces the complete cast and creative team for the world premiere of Aleshea Harris's Relentless Award-winning Is God Is, directed by Taibi Magar (Ars Nova's Underground Railroad Game), February 6 - March 11, 2018. The play, with which Soho Rep. reopens its longtime Tribeca theater, dauntlessly cracks jokes as it eviscerates. Alfie Fuller and Dame-Jasmine Hughes play Anaia and Racine, twin sisters who undertake a murderous journey from the Dirty South to the California desert, seeking payback for a horrendous act. Is God Is treats both morality and genre as notions to be exploded, drawing on the ancient, the modern, the tragic, the Spaghetti Western, hip-hop and Afropunk in its subversion of theatrical constructs.