Intiman Theatre To Present THE NICETIES, April 18-29, 2023

This spring, Intiman Theatre will produce the Seattle premiere of The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess. Frequent Intiman collaborator and former Associate Director Sheila Daniels will direct and Seattle favorite Amy Thone will co-star. Additional casting information will be released this winter.

A pair of progressive women - a white baby boomer and a Black millennial - are pitted against each other at an elite university as a tenured history professor argues with her student about the effects of slavery on the American Revolution. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives explodes into a dramatic fight that will alter both their lives forever. The play forces us to choose a side as it asks: how much are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of progress?

It will show April 18-29, 2023 at the Erickson Theatre (1524 Harvard Ave. Seattle 98122) as part of Intiman's residency at Seattle Central College.

Variety says the play "takes a crowbar to the jagged generation gap between those in power and the disruptive new thinkers radical enough to expose the way their elders - including many who identify as progressives - so often pull the ladder up after themselves." The New York Times said it is "a bristling, provocative debate play about race and privilege in the United States, and it begs to be argued with."

Intiman's 2022-23 mainstage productions of The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (co-produced with The Williams Project) and The Niceties explore themes of revolution, protest, US history, and the journey from ally to activist. One play was written in the 1960s and one was written in 2018, and both show the struggle within progressives between moderation and hard-line activism. As always, both productions will feature an entirely union cast and stage crew.

"Beyond the polemical, The Niceties brings together two characters who desperately want to be seen and heard," says director Sheila Daniels. "In this very personal way it gets to the fears and hopes all of us have that drive us at times to actions that are damaging to ourselves and others. As Eleanor Burgess says in the pre-play notes: 'Let them both be people. And resist the temptation to think of only one of them as a mouthpiece for the truth.'"