Therese Diekhans News

Yes, Dear Readers, it's "Uncle Vanya" … again. Now, don't get confused. I know I just reviewed this a few weeks ago but this is a different production. This is Theatre9/12, those plucky actors who pour over scene work week after week until they come up with a full play they'd like to present, this time it's Annie Baker's adaptation of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya". They're all about the performance and not so much on the frills since there's usually little in the way of sets or elaborate costumes and they perform at the Trinity Church Parish Hall. And while they usually bring in a fantastic piece, this time it felt they focused a bit too much on individual scene work and not so much on connecting with each other as the play felt like so many performances in a vacuum.

There's something to be said for a bunch of actors, putting in the work and leaving it all out on the stage unencumbered by elaborate sets. That's why I love Theater 9/12's shows as it's all about the performances. Plus the shows are always so intimate in their little parish hall space that you really feel part of the world they've created. This is why their current production of "Six Degrees of Separation" works so well especially with the narrative quality of much of the dialog. And while many of the performances were quite strong and noteworthy, the show as a whole tended to get a little static.

Island Stage Left's 'Romeo and Juliet' plays its Wold Road home through next weekend, August 19th through 21st, closing out a three-week run that follows a short tour. As Stage Left continues the professional quality for which it is known, it is celebrating its eighteenth birthday with some of Shakespeare's most breathtaking and unforgettable characters. Just three days left to see the magic of Shakespeare in this beautiful, timeless story of young love, hot blood and destiny - one of his best-known and most-loved masterpieces.

Clifford Odets built a career off of writing dramas that dealt with class inequality and social injustice in the depression era. His first ever produced play, "Waiting for Lefty", certainly falls into that category. And while the current production from Theatre9/12 does manage some stirring performances, they can't escape the bleak nature of the play itself as Odets drives home over and over the inescapable nature of the era.

The actors of Theatre9/12 present one of the most important plays of the 20th century: Clifford Odets' Waiting for Lefty first presented by the famous Group Theatre.  Set in the Great Depression and addressing the exploitation of the working classes, the play centers around the 1934 Taxi strike in New York City.

Here in Seattle we are blessed with a ton of theatrical choices. I mean of course there are the big boys, the Rep, ACT, 5th Ave, etc. But we also have those small companies that may not have the funds for a helicopter to land on stage but instead invest their time and tiny amounts of money into turning in some thoughtful and engaging performances. One such company is Theatre 9/12. They perform in a church and I'm sure most of the set is borrowed but their level of theatrical craftsmanship is right up there with the best as is evident in their current production of Edward Albee's "A Delicate Balance" with its solid performances that will stay with you all night long.

The Equity members of Theatre9/12 will present Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize winning drama A Delicate Balance, directed by Charles Waxberg and running tonight, January 23 - February 14, 2015.

The Equity members of Theatre9/12 will present Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize winning drama A Delicate Balance, directed by Charles Waxberg and running January 23 - February 14, 2015.

Seattle Shakespeare Company's free Wooden O productions of The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Julius Caesar start performances tonight, July 10.

Casting is announced for Seattle Shakespeare Company's free Wooden O productions of The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Julius Caesar which start performances on Thursday, July 10. Both productions will perform in park venues throughout King County (please see attached schedule) and then transfer to Walla Walla, WA as part of Shakespeare Walla Walla.

John Patrick Shanley's Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play "Doubt" is and intense and stunning piece of work to be sure but it's far from bullet proof. In order to fully realize the power of the play you need four amazing actors willing to dive into the conviction and vulnerabilities of the characters. And while I've seen better (how can you compete with Cherry Jones on Broadway?), Theatre 9/12's current production may start off to an uneven start but it ultimately amounts to a solid and engaging piece of theater and is completely worthy of the script.

Seattle Theater Writers, a critics' circle of local theater writers and reviewers, today announces the 2012 slate of nominees of the second annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, theater awards devoted to recognizing excellence across the economic spectrum of professional Seattle theaters.

upstart crow collective presents an all-female production of Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedy, Titus Andronicus tonight, September 6th to October 7th, 2012 at the Lee Center for the Arts on Capitol Hill. From the same team that brought you the popular and critically-acclaimed all-female King John in 2006, their newest production brings together some of Seattle's most respected female classical actors, who rarely get to meet each other onstage within Shakespeare's work.

upstart crow collective presents an all-female production of Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedy, Titus Andronicus, September 6th to October 7th, 2012 at the Lee Center for the Arts on Capitol Hill. From the same team that brought you the popular and critically-acclaimed all-female King John in 2006, their newest production brings together some of Seattle's most respected female classical actors, who rarely get to meet each other onstage within Shakespeare's work.

The citizenry are revolting and political power is concentrated in the hands of the rich and powerful. Shakespeare points up the parallels to current headlines and shows that politics are a nest of vipers more dangerous than an enemy's sword in Seattle Shakespeare Company's production of Coriolanus. Director David Quicksall stages a lean, action-packed adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy about a warrior without equal who discovers he is nothing without his sword.

Bred for the battlefield, the triumphant soldier Coriolanus discovers he is out of his depths when elected to the Roman Senate where the politics can be twice as treacherous as warfare.

The citizenry are revolting and political power is concentrated in the hands of the rich and powerful. Shakespeare points up the parallels to current headlines and shows that politics are a nest of vipers more dangerous than an enemy's sword in Seattle Shakespeare Company's production of Coriolanus. Director David Quicksall stages a lean, action-packed adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy about a warrior without equal who discovers he is nothing without his sword.

OUR AMERICAN THEATER CO. PRESENTS A STAGED READING OF ARTHUR MILLER'S POWERFUL AND TIMELY DRAMA, ALL MY SONS