SPT Announces THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE, Opening 5/17

SPT will present the Seattle Premiere of 2009 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Winner Julia Cho's The Language Archive running May 17-June 9, 2013 at the historic Bathhouse Theater on Green Lake.

George is a linguist devoted to saving dying languages yet he can't find the words to keep his own marriage from falling apart. His lonely assistant, Emma, is so desperately in love with George that she tries to learn Esperanto to tell him so. Meanwhile, the last two speakers of an indigenous tongue refuse to speak to each other. Will their language perish forever out of spite? Language and love are the twin themes of this poetically inventive excursion into the difficulty of finding words for what lies in our hearts.

"When I first read the description of The Language Archive, I fell in love with the idea of a linguist who has all the languages in the world, but can't communicate with the one who matters most," says director Shana Bestock. "Julia Cho's writing is lyrical, poetic and punchy. It's the perfect blend of grief and joy, despair and passion. It's the kind of love story I live for--a story about idiosyncratic and quirky people trying unsentimentally to express deep, confusing, fluctuating emotions, and the ways in which words--for all their marvelous mellifluous possibilities--can fail us in our moments of deepest need for connection."

The Language Archive features the acting talents of Candace Vance, Heather Persinger, John Murray, Julie Jamieson, and Mike Dooly.

The Language Archive is directed by Shana Bestock, stage managed by Blair Feehan and features the design talents of Craig Wollam (Scenic Design), Tim Wratten (Lighting Design), Evan Mosher (Sound Design), Pete Rush (Costume Design), and Cole Hornaday (Props).

Your Turn to Speak! Is love a language? Can there be language without love or love without language? Come explore these notions and more during our special post-show discussion on Saturday, June 1st following our 7:30pm evening performance. The Language Archive cast and crew will be joined by guest panelists including Leland Ross, Delegate of the World Esperanto Association for Seattle, Zaki Abdelhamid, Program Director of Humanities Washington and producer of Speakers Bureau and Think and Drink conversation programs, and dialect and vocal coach Gin Hammond.

The Language Archive previews Thursday, May 16th, performances run May 17-June 9, 2013. Tickets may be purchased by phone at (206) 524-1300 or online at www.seattlepublictheater.org.