ACT Celebrates Neil Simon, Pinter, Secret Crimes, Grindhouse Films & More

A Contemporary Theatre brings to stage a host of performances for the month of May! Vanities: A New Musical concludes it successful run, as ACT's next Mainstage production starts, Neil Simon's comic portrait of urban angst, The Prisoner of Second Avenue. Staged readings continue throughout month with the return of the popular Pinter Fortnightly series and with eSe Teatro's Electricidad, a Chicano take on the Greek tragedy, Electra. Short Stories Live at Town Hall examines young women surviving in a male world. Ian Bell's Seattle Confidential returns to spill Seattle's deepest darkest secrets, with this month's theme focused on the perfect crime. RAWSTOCK Short Film Festival is back with more entertainment per minute than previously thought possible, and Hedgebrook's Women Playwrights Festival comes to ACT with five new works-in-progress. ACT will also be hosting fundraiser concert for earthquake relief in Japan, with proceeds going directly to Japanese Red Cross Society.

Vanities: A New Musical
A Mainstage Play
Book by Jack Heifner; Music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum
Directed by David Armstrong
Produced by ACT and The 5th Avenue Theatre
Through May 1 | NORTHWEST PREMIERE!
Tickets: Tickets start at $65, $20 for 25 and younger, $15 for students w/ ID, or included with the ACTPass
Set off on a life-affirming journey through the turbulent '60s to the late '80s and discover how three friends face life's defining moments: growing up, getting older and getting over it. Vanities is a funny and poignant look at three women who discover that, even in 30 years of rapidly changing times, the one thing they can rely on is each other.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue by Neil Simon
Directed by Warner Shook
A Mainstage Play
April 29 - May 29
Tickets: start at $37.50, $20 for 25 and younger, $15 for students w/ ID, or included with the ACTPass
Heat waves. Garbage strikes. Noisy neighbors. Burglars. No place dishes it out quite like New York City, and with his job hanging by a thread, Mel Edison is in no mood to grin and bear it. Sparkling with Simon's usual wit and fueled by a still-resonant anger at the dehumanizing effects of modern city life, this comedy classic pits Mel and his steadfast wife Edna against an assault by 1970s Manhattan-and it's anybody's guess who'll win. Cast includes: R. Hamilton Wright, Anne Allgood, John Aylward, Julie Briskman, Kimberly King, and Cynthia Lauren Tewes.

Pinter Fortnightly
A Central Heating Lab Event
May 2
Tickets: $10 for adults, $8 for students, people age 25 and under, and seniors (65 and older), or included with the ACTPass
Curator Frank Corrado continues the popular Pinter Fortnightly series - Monday evening readings of works by the late Nobel laureate playwright Harold Pinter, performed by some of Seattle's favorite local actors. May 2 readings feature three short plays: Party Time, Press Conference, and New World Order. Additional works to be presented on June 27, July 11, July 25, October 10, and October 24.

Short Stories Live at Town Hall: The Voices of Young Women
May 8
Tickets: Advance tickets, $13/$10 Town Hall Members, seniors & students; $15/$13 at the door or included with the ACTPass; online at brownpapertickets.com.
Think of it as NPR's Selected Shorts, Seattle style: ACT Artistic Director Kurt Beattie selects compelling short stories based on a common theme; then local actors bring the stories to life during readings at Town Hall. May 8 focuses on young women surviving in a male world, in The Voices of Young Women. Works to be read include Joyce Carol Oates' "Upholstery," about a teenager who finds herself helplessly attracted to a dangerous older man; Mary McCarthy's autobiographical "Cye," about her Catholic upbringing; and Sarah Orne Jewett's "A White Heron," about a young city girl who discovers her passion for country life and her love for the animals that inhabit it. Series supported by the Thurston Charitable Foundation. Cast includes: Marianne Owen, Stevie Kallos, and more to be announced.

Ian Bell's Seattle Confidential: The Perfect Crime
A Central Heating Lab Event
May 9
Tickets: Adults $15, $10 students w/ ID, seniors 65+, or included with the ACTPass
Everyone has a few stories that they would never tell their family, should never tell their friends...but perhaps they could tell a room full of strangers. Seattle Confidential makes this a reality - with the help of Seattle's finest actors and a cloak of anonymity. A new quarterly series curated and hosted by Ian Bell, Seattle Confidential will present a different provocative topic on which Seattleites are invited to anonymously share their most personal stories. Drop-boxes are placed throughout the city, and a secure website is set up to accept anonymous submissions. Host Ian Bell and his intrepid team bring the most intriguing stories to life, on the stage. On May 9, Seattle actors will give voice to anonymous stories about the perfect crime, where mischievous plans to buck the system, to break the rules... or even the law are shared on stage. Seattle Confidential will return to ACT with two new themes on August 8 and November 14.

Hedgebrook's Women Playwrights Festival
A Central Heating Lab Event
May 16
Tickets: FREE!
Now in its 14th year, Hedgebrook's Women Playwrights Festival has helped develop the work of some of the most compelling voices writing for the American stage, including 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, as well as Pulitzer finalists Theresa Rebeck and Sarah Ruhl. On May 16, the festival returns to ACT. Audiences will hear scenes with local actors from all five of this year's plays-in-process and then join them for a lively conversation with the playwrights: Radha Blank, Lisa Loomer, Molly Smith Metzler, Alva Rogers and Susan Soon He Stanton, along with dramaturgs Chris Sumption and Liz Engelman.

eSe Teatro: Electricidad by Luis Alfaro
A Central Heating Lab Event
May 20-21
Tickets: $10, or included with the ACTPass
Latino Theater company eSe Teatro presents a staged reading of Electricidad by Luis Alfaro, a renowned Chicano performance artist, writer, theater director, and social activist. A MacArthur Genius Award-winner in 1997, Alfaro creatively weaves Spanish into his Chicano take on the Greek tragedy, Electra. This devastating story set in the heart of LA gang culture, leaps forward into today's violent street life with terrifying vengeance.

The Sun Always Rises: A Benefit Concert for Japan
May 21
Tickets: $25
Seattle theatre artists Naho Shioya (performer and teaching artist) and Mimi Katano (Artistic Director of Youth Theatre Northwest) have joined forces to organize The Sun Always Rises, an evening of music to benefit their native country of Japan as it rebuilds from the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Artists include Sarah Rudinoff, Miss Mamie Lavona the Exotic Mullatta and Her White Boy Band, The Live Girls! Ladies Choir, Jacqueline Tabor, the Total Experience Gospel Choir, as well as three taiko drumming groups - One World Taiko, Kaze Daiko, and Seattle Kokon Taiko. Local favorite actress and performer Kate Jaeger (Teatro Zinzanni's Zirkus Fantasmo) will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies. The evening's proceeds will go to Japanese Red Cross Society for their ongoing recovery efforts.

Launched in 2008, The Central Heating Lab at ACT serves as an incubator and catalyst for new works. ACT cultivates, produces, and presents artists working in all performance genres and provides an artistic home for a variety of local performance groups and artists. Relationships develop daily with individual actors, performers and playwrights while established partnerships with groups such as the Contemporary Classics, 14/48, RAWSTOCK, Seattle Dance Project, and Icicle Creek Theatre Festival deepen. New programs are added throughout the year.
With year-round programming produced by The Central Heating Lab at ACT alongside ACT's Mainstage plays, ACT offers its patrons a unique opportunity to maximize their theatre experience - the ACTPass: all you can see for only $25 per month ($20 for age 30 and under)! ACTPass Members can attend any ACT produced performance throughout any given month, provided tickets are available. It is the new, more flexible, more affordable way to see more performances for one low price, and is the first of its kind in the region. ACTPass members may cancel at any time, and there is no limit to the number of times a card holder can attend. For the month of May, that means an ACTPass member can see all our shows, if they so choose, for only $25 vs. paying the single ticket price of at least $150.50 (if buyer would choose to see all offerings).

May 2011 Summary

Vanities: A New Musical
Produced by ACT & The 5th Avenue Theatre
February 4 - May 1
Tickets: start at $65, $20 for 25 and younger, $15 for students w/ ID, or included with the ACTPass

The Prisoner of Second Avenue
April 29 - May 29
Tickets: start at $37.50, $20 for 25 and younger, $15 for students w/ ID, or included with the ACTPass

Pinter Fortnightly
May 2
Tickets: $10 for adults, $8 for students, people age 25 and under, and seniors (65 and older), or included with the ACTPass

Short Stories Live at Town Hall: The Voices of Young Women
May 8
Tickets: Advance tickets, $13/$10 Town Hall Members, seniors & students; $15/$13 at the door, or included with the ACTPass; online at brownpapertickets.com.

Ian Bell's Seattle Confidential: The Perfect Crime
May 9
Tickets: Adults $15, $10 students w/ ID, seniors 65+, or included with the ACTPass

Hedgebrook's Women Playwrights Festival
May 16
Tickets: FREE!

The Sun Always Rises: A Benefit Concert for Japan
May 21
Tickets: $25

eSe Teatro: Electricidad by Luis Alfaro
May 20 - 21
Tickets: $10, or included with the ACTPass

ACT Theatre
Ticket Office: (206) 292-7676
700 Union Street, Seattle WA 98101
www.acttheatre.org

About ACT: A Theatre of New Ideas - Raising Consciousness Through Theatre
Located in the heart of downtown Seattle and serving a population of curious, open-minded, and brave audiences, ACT - A Contemporary Theatre is the only theatre in Seattle dedicated to producing contemporary work with promising playwrights and local performing artists since 1965. A theatre of new ideas, ACT serves as a cultural engine that makes plays, dance, music, and film that touch us. Because contemporary life demands examination, ACT is driven to inspire and strengthen our diverse community through works that advance our understanding of human life. With more than 100,000 people who attend shows annually, ACT is an interactive community where artists and the public witness, contemplate, and engage in dialogue on today's thought-provoking issues, ideas and art, presented with intelligence, insight, and humor.

ACT gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our 2011 Season Sponsors: ACT Foundation, The Andrew Mellon Foundation ArtsFund, The Eulalie Bloedel Schneider Artists Fund, The John Graham Foundation, The Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and The Shubert Foundation.

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