Frozen Sea Theatre Collective's ROYALS Begins at The Ballard Underground Today

Frozen Sea Theatre Collective presents its inaugural production, Royals by William Zimmerman, running beginning today, June 16th, 17th, and 18th at The Ballard Underground.

Set in the classist government of a fictional country, Royals follows the story of four people vying for power when the Head of State, Royal Buchannan, suddenly dies leaving his daughter, Rachel, in charge of the country. Charles, Buchannan's aid, siezes the opportunity to influence Rachel with his ideals while his wife, Elizabeth, deals with sexisit legislation that has kicked women out of the military. James, Elizabeth's brother, begins a relationship with Rachel, to enforce his own ideals about the intersection of love and power. Royals asks the question of how far people are willing to go to remain in control and shows the brutality of class struggles when people are left with no choices.

"I was really invested in writing about the different ways in which women can deal with the way that society attacks them," says playwright and Co-Artistic Director William Zimmerman, "They can give in to society's pressures or they can fight against them and try to redefine themselves."

Frozen Sea Theatre Collective takes its name from Franz Kafka's quote "books should be the axe for the frozen sea within us". They are primarily focused on new works, and female driven work. "We wanted to make theatre that exposed something deep within, something that breaks you into pieces you didn't know existed," says Co-Artistic Director Claire Koleske, "Art should challenge us to be better, wiser, more aware. Royals was an obvious first choice for us to set the tone of what we wanted to express, especially with everything going on in our community in Seattle, and our country as a whole."

The cast includes Josh Padilla, Cameron Hodges, Claire Koleske, and Tasha Newell. Tickets on sale now through Brown Paper Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2555860. To learn more about Frozen Sea Theatre Collective, visit www.frozen-sea-theatre-collective.org/.

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Revival of a Play - Top 3

1. Every Brilliant Thing

28.6% of votes

2. Death of a Salesman

27.3% of votes

3. Oedipus

9.6% of votes

Vote Now! View Live Stats