ArtsWest Shakes Up Shakespeare with PEERLESS

To kick off the new year, ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery will stage Jiehae Park's PEERLESS, a brash new vision of Shakespeare's MACBETH, from January 18 to February 11, 2018, with local rising star Sara Porkalob directing.

Reimagining MACBETH as an ink-black high school comedy, PEERLESS turns everything we knew about Shakespeare's classic tragedy on its head - for laughs, and for chills. As the story begins, Asian-American twin sisters M and L will do whatever it takes to win the one coveted affirmative action spot at "The College." But when the thick acceptance envelope falls into the hands of D, a white male colleague who is 1/16th Native American, the sisters will stop at nothing to take back what is rightfully theirs - and eliminate anyone who stands in their way. Jiehae Park's clever and incisive adaptation of MACBETH explores how the drive to succeed can become an all-consuming - and deadly - obsession.

In the director's chair for PEERLESS is Sara Porkalob, a featured artist on CityArts' 2017 Future List who recently wrote and starred in the acclaimed one-woman show DRAGON LADY with INTIMAN.

"If you're looking for a piece of social commentary that is incredibly smart, sharp, and hilarious - and is also a playwright's way of reclaiming this 'classical idea' of how drama should be done - you should see PEERLESS," said Porkalob. "Besides being a riff on Shakespeare's MACBETH," she added, "I think also that the playwright Jiehae Park - a Korean-American playwright - has found a really smart, intelligent and hilarious way to use a play as social commentary."

ArtsWest is excited to welcome a team of talented artists making their debut appearances at our theatre. Twin sisters M and L will be played by Maile Wong (playing L; NADESHIKO, PERICLES) and Corinne Magin (playing M; DO IT FOR UMMA, SQUATCH! THE MUSICAL). Completing the cast are Christopher Quilici (HAVOC!), Jonathan Keyes (WELCOME TO ARROYO'S), and Erin Bednarz. Rounding out the Creative Team are Assistant Director Karina Garcia, Stage Manger Madison Silva, Set Designer Reiko Huffman, Costume Designer Isabella L. Price, Lighting Designer Emily Leong, and two Creative Team members returning to ArtsWest - Properties Master Andrea Spraycar (THE WHO & THE WHAT, THE NANCE), and Sound Designer Stephon Jamaa'l Dorsey (MILK LIKE SUGAR).

Cast

• Maile Wong - L
• Corinne Magin - M
• Erin Bednarz - Dirty Girl
• Christopher Quilici - D
• Jonathan Keyes - BF

Creative Team

• Directed by Sara Porkalob
• Assistant Director - Karina Garcia
• Stage Manager - Madison Silva
• Lighting Designer - Emily Leong
• Costume Designer - Isabella L. Price
• Scenic Designer - Reiko Huffman
• Properties Master - Andrea Spraycar
• Sound Designer - Stephon Jamaa'l Dorsey

About the Production

PEERLESS plays January 18 through February 11, 2018 at ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery (4711 California Ave SW, Seattle WA 98116). Tickets (ranging from $17 - $38) may be purchased online at www.artswest.org, by phone at 206.938.0339, or at the Box Office Thurs. - Sat. 2 -7:30pm.

About ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery

ArtsWest is a vibrant center for both performing and visual arts located in the West Seattle Junction. This 149-seat theatre provides a unique setting for audiences and artists as stories of human emotion unfold in an intimate space. Winner of the American Theatre Wing's 2012 National Theatre Company Award, ArtsWest has produced such diverse work as Green Day's American Idiot, Chinglish, last fall's critically acclaimed production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and the smash hit Peter and the Starcatcher. ArtsWest produces artistic events that provoke conversation, incite the imagination and use live theater as a powerful agent of change. www.artswest.org

Photo: Left to right: Corinne Magin (M) and Maile Wong (L) / Photo by ArtsWest.

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