'Namaste Man' Directd by Sher Premiers in Seattle

Intiman Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Bartlett Sher and Interim Managing Director Kevin Maifeld, continues its 2008 season with the world premiere of NAMASTE MAN, an autobiographical play written and performed by actor Andrew Weems.

Performances will begin at the Intiman Playhouse, 201 Mercer Street at Seattle Center, on Friday, May 30 and continue through Sunday, June 22. The opening night performance is Wednesday, June 4 at 7:30 pm. Please see the Fact Sheet at the end of this release for the complete schedule.

 
The production is directed by Artistic Director Bartlett Sher, who received a 2008 Tony Award nomination (his third) for his direction of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.  The production garnered a total of 11 nominations and is now playing an acclaimed open-ended run at Lincoln Center Theater.

 
Tickets for NAMASTE MAN range in price from $10 to $48, with discounts available for students and groups. Patrons aged 25 and under can purchase tickets to any performance for $10, pending availability. A limited number of $20 rush tickets may be available for purchase 15 minutes before curtain time, pending availability. Tickets are available from www.intiman.org or 206.269.1900. This production is sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund, the Shubert Foundation and the William & Eva Fox Foundation administered by Theatre Communications Group. 

 
In India and Nepal, "Namaste" means both hello and goodbye. Andrew Weems, the son of a US State Department officer, was born in the U.S. Military Hospital in Seoul, Korea, and grew up in Zambia and Nepal, with brief detours to the suburbs of Virginia. In Namaste Man, he tells the story of his unconventional childhood—a life filled with constant hellos and goodbye, in a world redolent with adventures and outsized personalities. As Weems unravels the mysteries of his childhood, he also shares stories of his current-day life as an actor in New York, and his quest to understand what it means to go home. His traveling companions are all the characters he meets along the way, especially his mother—a mysterious, "undiscovered country" in her own right.

 
Andrew Weems has appeared on Broadway in the recent revival of Inherit the Wind and Julie Taymor's The Green Bird. Other credits include Bartlett Sher's productions of Pericles and Cymbeline and Sir Peter Hall's production of Troilus and Cressida (all Theater for a New Audience); Don Juan (directed by Stephen Wadsworth, Old Globe); a season at Trinity Rep under artistic director Anne Bogart; and Andrey in Three Sisters and Sergius in Arms and the Man at Intiman. He won the Actors' Equity Bayfield Award for Troilus and Cressida, a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Cymbeline and the San Diego Critics Award for Don Juan. He is the recipient of a Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship, funded by the William & Eva Fox Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group.

 
Bartlett Sher, Intiman's artistic director since 2000, received this year's Julia Hansen Award for Excellence in Directing by the Drama League of New York. In addition to South Pacific, for which he received the Outer Critics Circle Awards, his directing credits for Lincoln Center Theater include Awake and Sing! by Clifford Odets (Tony nomination) and The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel (Tony nomination). In 2006, he directed The Barber of Seville at the Metropolitan Opera. His Intiman credits include the world premieres of Prayer for My Enemy and Singing Forest by Craig Lucas (both also for Long Wharf Theatre) and Nickel and Dimed, Joan Holden's adaptation of the book by Barbara Ehrenreich, as well as plays by Chekhov, Wilder, Shakespeare, Goldoni and Tony Kushner.

 
The creative team includes scenic and costume designer Elizabeth Caitlin Ward, lighting designer Greg Sullivan and sound designer Peter John Still. The dramaturg is Mame Hunt and the stage manager is Lisa Ann Chernoff.

 
For biographies of the company and the creative team please visit www.intiman.org.

 
Free public events for NAMASTE MAN include the following:

 ·         Intiman Book Club, Monday, May 19 at 7 pm: free and open to all patrons, the Book Club will discuss The Wizard of Oz (BFI Film Classics) by Salman Rushdie.

 ·         Spotlight Supper, Wednesday, May 28 at 6 pm: patrons are invited behind the scenes to observe a technical rehearsal with director Bartlett Sher and actor/writer Andrew Weems.

 ·         Conversations with Bart, Friday, June 6: post-play conversation with director Bartlett Sher and actor/writer Andrew Weems.

 ·         Tuesday, June 10, Saturday, June 14 (matinee) and Thursday, June 19: post-play conversations with actor/writer Andrew Weems.

 ·         'Round Six Happy Hour, Friday, June 20 at 6 pm: complimentary pre-show snacks, drinks and live music.

 

Tickets for NAMASTE MAN range in price from $10 to $48, with discounts available for students and groups. Patrons aged 25 and under can purchase tickets to any performance for $10, pending availability. A limited number of $20 rush tickets may be available for purchase 15 minutes before curtain time, pending availability. Tickets are available from www.intiman.org or 206.269.1900. This production is sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund, the Shubert Foundation and the William & Eva Fox Foundation administered by Theatre Communications Group.