Seattle Repertory Theatre Announces 2018/19 Season
By: A.A. Cristi Mar. 22, 2018
Artistic Director Braden Abraham today announced Seattle Repertory Theatre's new eight-play 2018/2019 season, which features a sweeping theatrical adaptation of a best-selling novel, a world premiere from a local playwright, a Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical, a thriller direct from London's West End, and more.
"Theatre makers all traverse the crossroads of myth and history. Drawing from unexpected sources of inspiration, the singular artists in next season are creating stories that often become microcosms of our larger world-stories brought to life in an exchange between people that can only happen in a theatre," Braden Abraham, Seattle Rep Artistic Director comments. "We will journey from the mountains of Afghanistan to the bodegas of Washington Heights; from a ghostly village in the U.K. to the familiar streets of Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. Along the way, we will experience lightness and shadow, lush landscapes and scorched terrain, devastating moments and flashes of exultation. These plays and the artists that create them hold the possibility to fill our lives with a new sense of wonder about the multitudes contained within us all. I'm delighted to share these eight marvelous works with you, and I welcome you on this journey."
Seattle Rep kicks off its 56th season with a deeply moving and critically acclaimed theatrical adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, adapted by Ursula Rani Sarma, and directed by Carey Perloff. This play tells the sweeping story of three generations of Afghan women and their remarkable resilience, with a beautiful score from David Coulter. Produced in association with American Conservatory Theater, the Seattle Rep production will feature live music onstage throughout the performance.
Next, master storyteller, author, actor, and monologist Mike Daisey returns to the Rep to present his latest work, A People's History, a series of 18 stand-alone monologues. In this west coast premiere, Daisey compares what he learned in his high school U.S. history textbook with Howard Zinn's electrifying A People's History of the United States - uncovering the past and stirring new insights with his quintessential provocative humor.
The season takes a musical turn for the holidays with a vibrant new production of Lin-Manuel Miranda's breakout hit, the Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical In the Heights. This lively musical will fill the theatre with salsa, hip-hop, and R&B music as it weaves stories about chasing your dreams and the desire to belong. Conceived of by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), who also wrote the music and lyrics, with book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, and directed by May Adrales (Vietgone), this production is in association with Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, presented through special arrangement with R&H Theatricals.
Seattle Rep Artistic Director Braden Abraham is set to direct the first play of 2019, Last of the Boysby renowned Seattle playwright Stephen Dietz (Lonely Planet; Becky's New Car). Intimate, funny, and fierce, this drama about two friends just before the turn of the millennium delves into a veteran's struggle to understand his troubled past, which is threatening to swallow him whole.
Next up in the Bagley Wright Theatre is a truly haunting ghost story, the lauded West End production of The Woman in Black, a play based on the 1983 horror novella by Susan Hill. Adapted by English playwright and television screenwriter Stephen Mallatratt and directed by tenured director Robin Herford, this spine-tingling production has enthralled London's West End since 1989.
In spring 2019, Braden Abraham directs A Doll's House, Part 2, a continuation of famed playwright Henrik Ibsen's acclaimed A Doll's House. Written by Tony Award nominee Lucas Hnath, A Doll's House, Part 2 explores gender roles and societal expectations through the eyes of a woman mired in an era for which she is simply too exceptional.
"The High Priestess of Soul" commands the stage next in this season with Nina Simone: Four Women, a play with music that immerses audiences in the complex harmony of protest. Written by Christina Ham (Scapegoat) and directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton (Wedding Band, Father Comes Home From the Wars), this play includes some of Nina Simone's most popular Civil Rights anthems such as "Mississippi Goddam," "Sinnerman," and "To Be Young, Gifted and Black."
The season comes to a close with the world premiere of Lydia and the Troll, a new contemporary musical from Seattle playwright Justin Huertas (Lizard Boy). Inspired by fantasy and folklore, yet grounded in Seattle's noted landscape and landmarks, Lydia and the Troll was commissioned by Seattle Rep and developed through The Other Season.
About the 2018/2019 Season:
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Produced in association with American Conservatory Theater
By Ursula Rani Sarma
Based on the book by Khaled Hosseini
Directed by Carey Perloff
October 5 - November 10, 2018
Bagley Wright Theatre
Based on the sweeping, internationally best-selling novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns is the tale of the unlikely connection that blossoms between two Afghan women in war-torn Kabul. As rockets shriek down from the heavens, the friendship of Laila and Mariam develops into an iron-bound rapport, forged by their defiance of a life of senseless tyranny. Secrets, lies, and pacts are made in this harrowing yet ultimately beautiful piece about the true cost of sacrifice.
A People's History
Created and Performed by Mike Daisey
October 17 - November 25, 2018
Leo K. Theatre
Master storyteller, author, and actor Mike Daisey returns to the Rep with A People's History, the autobiographical story of when Daisey comes across a battered copy of his high school U.S. history textbook and decides, in true Daisey fashion, to contrast it with something wildly different: Howard Zinn's electrifying A People's History of the United States. In this series of 18 stand-alone monologues, Daisey explores a history of the U.S. not typically taught in schools. From Columbus' landing to today's political landscape, Daisey confronts our history of exploitation and characterizes the stirring struggle of those who have fought against it to make our American ideals a reality.
In the Heights
Produced in association with Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
Presented through special arrangement with R&H Theatricals
Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Book by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Directed by May Adrales
November 23 - December 30, 2018
Bagley Wright Theatre
In the Heights tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood-a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It's a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams, and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind.
Last of the Boys
By Steven Dietz
Directed by Braden Abraham
January 18 - February 10, 2019
Bagley Wright Theatre
Ben lives off-the-grid in his trailer in the California Central Valley, haunted by the memories of his service during the Vietnam War. His self-imposed exile is disrupted by the arrival of Ben's old war buddy, Jeeter, with his girlfriend and her violatile mother in tow. Intimate, funny, and fierce, Last of the Boys by renowned Seattle playwright Steven Dietz delves into a veteran's struggle to understand his troubled past, which threatens to swallow him whole.
The Woman in Black
Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt
Directed by Robin Herford
February 22 - March 24, 2019
Bagley Wright Theatre
In the village of Crythin Gifford, the wind howls across the moors and fog creeps mysteriously around the town spires. At the edge of the village's cemetery, young lawyer Arthur Kipps glimpses the figure of a woman, garbed all in black, and is drawn into Crythin's cursed and haunted history. Susan Hill's gothic ghost story, The Woman in Black, comes to spine-tingling life in this cunning stage adaptation that left London's West End theatregoers enthralled.
A Doll's House, Part 2
By Lucas Hnath
Directed by Braden Abraham
March 15 - April 28, 2019
Leo K. Theatre
Nora Helmer is returning home after closing the door on her life with her husband Torvald and their three children 15 years prior. Her unexpected homecoming is met with recriminations and the family drama unfolds in this explosively entertaining continuation of Henrik Ibsen's acclaimed A Doll's House. Written by Tony Award nominee Lucas Hnath, A Doll's House, Part 2 explores gender roles and societal expectations through the eyes of a woman mired in an era for which she is simply too exceptional.
Nina Simone: Four Women
Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton
April 26 - June 2, 2019
Bagley Wright Theatre
When "The High Priestess of Soul" Nina Simone heard about the tragic bombing deaths of four young girls in an Alabama church in 1963, the songstress turned to her music as a means of expressing the country's agony. "Four Women" and Simone's other evocative activist anthems sang a truth that the world needed to hear. And it is a truth that remains sung to this day. Through storytelling, debate, and music, Nina Simone: Four Women immerses us in the complex harmony of protest.
Lydia and the Troll
World Premiere
May 17 - June 23, 2019
Leo K. Theatre
Lydia has just moved to trendy Fremont when her life is transformed by a chance encounter under the Aurora Bridge. Do otherworldly trolls assume human disguise and live among us? Inspired by fantasy and folklore yet grounded in Seattle's noted landscape and landmarks, revered actor and playwright Justin Huertas (Lizard Boy) conjures up Pacific Northwest magic in this intimate new world premiere musical, Lydia and the Troll.
About Seattle Repertory Theatre
Seattle Rep was founded in 1963 and is currently led by Artistic Director Braden Abraham and Managing Director Jeffrey Herrmann. One of America's premier not-for-profit resident theatres, Seattle Repertory Theatre has achieved international renown for its consistently high production and artistic standards, and was awarded the 1990 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. With an emphasis on entertaining plays of true dramatic and literary worth, Seattle Rep produces a season of plays along with educational programs, new play workshops, and special presentations.
Seattle Repertory Theatre's 2018/2019 Season is sponsored in part by ArtsFund.
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