Seattle's STARBALL A Musical Astronomy Spectacle Returns Next Month

After more than 20 years performing at planetariums around the world, John Kaufmann and Dan Dennis are once again bringing, “Starball: A Dreamy Musical Astronomy Show” home to Seattle! 

Kaufmann and Dennis developed “Starball” while working together at Seattle’s Pacific Science Center. Beloved by audiences of all ages, this will be the 5th revival of the show in Seattle. While Seattle is Starball’s home base, world events have precluded bringing the show back until now. We’re delighted to offer a week of hometown performances prior to bringing the show to planetariums in Hamburg and Berlin.

The show, which truly brings audiences’ dreams to life, will have an exclusive run July 10-14, 2024, at West of Lenin's pop-up planetarium, specially built for this production.

Directed by Rachel Katz Carey, “Starball” combines live theater, improvisation, original music, and cosmological inquiry into an entertaining, engaging performance. Taking inspiration from audience members’ actual dreams, the performers facilitate the creation of new constellations and mythologies in the night sky.

“We are so excited to return to Seattle with ‘Starball,’” says Dennis. “The things about ‘Starball’ that were new and radical when we started it at Pacific Science Center in 2002 have become even more necessary for us to explore in 2024.”

In “Starball,” audience members assume the role of villagers living in a dystopian future in which the global government has severed the relationship between humanity and the stars. But, two “Astronomasons,” the Conductor (Kaufmann) and the Proxy (Dennis), have rebelled, calling the villagers to a secret clearing for a creative ritual.

“The world has changed since we last performed this show. Strangely, it has changed to become more like the dystopian comedy we invoke in the show,” says Kaufmann. “Starball is now less of a warning about what could be, and more of a survival guide for current times.”