NCTC's First Annual Love Fest To Feature Tiny Hat Orchestra

Following up on its critically acclaimed inaugural production of The Adding Machine, Seattle's newest professional theatre company will present something completely different for Valentine's Day. NCTC's first annual Love Fest is a concert featuring one of Seattle's most popular, long-lost bands of the early ‘90s, the ska and big band tinged Tiny Hat Orchestra.

During the height of the grunge era, Tiny Hat, with its five-piece horn section and infectious and sophisticated original dance music, was an iconoclastic mainstay of the Seattle scene, playing venues like the original grand openings of both the Crocodile Café and Moe's (now Neumos), as well as opening nights for SIFF and SAM.

"It's been over a decade since our last show," said Tiny Hat founder and sax player Andy Sodt, who now leads exotica band Lushy. "Most of us have been playing a lot in the meantime, but I guess we never forgot Tiny Hat. We decided it was time to fire it up again and see what happened. We were all a little shocked at how good everything sounded. Better than ever, actually." The show will be held at the Seattle Repertory Theatre on Mercer Street.
Doors will open at 9:45, and there will be a full no-host bar. Admittance is by advance ticket only at www.brownpapertickets.com.

NCTC is devoted to producing timely, vital theatre that will reconnect Seattle audiences to the transcendent power of live performance. NCTC members are committed to theatre that is fearless, heightened, sincere, dangerous, crass, erotic, ugly, and full of hope. NCTC shows are produced with a visceral simplicity that will stir your imagination to new heights and will not do your thinking for you. Their focus is on timely works of the 20th Century; provocative "second looks" of under-produced contemporary masterpieces; and annual world premieres from some of our country's most talented up-and-coming writers.
New Century Theatre Company is comprised of eleven local theatre artists whose work is regularly featured on Seattle's professional stages, as well as numerous regional theatres throughout the country. NCTC is comprised of: Hans Altwies, Paul Morgan Stetler, Ray Gonzalas, Michael Patten, MJ Sieber, Jen Tayor, Amy Thone, Stephanie Timm, Darragh Kennan, Peter Dylan O'Connor, and Betsy Schwartz

From Empty Records website, Nurnberg, Germany:

When one thinks of Seattle, what musical cliché comes to mind? Well, forget about grunge and flannel, because here is the Tiny Hat Orchestra, Seattle's most innovative ten member band (most of which are horn players!). Tiny Hat plays everything from big band, to rock to everything in between. It is all here, brought together into a Tiny Hat stew that one could loosely describe as "Experimental Ska."