University of Washington School of Drama Announces Fall Productions

This fall, the University of Washington School of Drama will present two plays that shifted the American theatre, Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy, and María Irene Fornés' Fefu and Her Friends. The plays kick off a season dedicated to exploring how gender shapes our world.

Incident at Vichy
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Kelly Kitchens

In a makeshift police station in 1942 France, a group of men plucked off the street try to figure out why they are there and what fate awaits them behind the interrogation room door, as ominous reports of far-off camps and prisoner-packed cattle cars begin to circulate. By the end of this taut, gut-punch of a play, Miller's ethical barb has pierced us all, compelling us to look inward and ask what we will do when the most depraved human impulses become commonplace, how we will respond in the face of "an ocean of vulgarity."

Guest Director Kelly Kitchens, who is well-known to local audiences for her work at Seattle Shakespeare Company and Seattle Public Theater, among others, directs an all-male cast in our season opener. When it premiered in New York in 1964, The New York Times called Incident at Vichy "one of the most important plays of our time." The questions at the heart of this story-about evil, complicity, self-preservation, and the death of human decency-are perhaps more resonant now than at any time since that first production.


Previews October 20 & 23 at 7:30 PM
Opening night: Wednesday, October 24th at 7:30 PM
Pre-Show Lobby Talk-That Agony We Cannot Feel: The Enduring Importance of Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy with UW History professor Dr. Susan Glenn, Sunday, October 28th at 1:00 PM. More info here.
Pay-What-You-Can Wednesday October 31st (day-of-show only, $1 minimum)
Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse
4045 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105

ARTISTS

Director: Kelly Kitchens
Guest Director Kelly Kitchens (pictured, left) is well-known to local audiences for her work at Seattle Shakespeare Company and Seattle Public Theater, where she is co-Artistic Director. Kitchens will join UW Drama's faculty this year as a guest instructor, teaching directing to undergraduate and graduate students. Kitchens is currently nominated for a 2018 Theatre Puget Sound Gregory Award for Outstanding Director for Seattle Public Theater's production of Hand to God. Hand to God and Ironbound, which Kitchens also directed, are also both nominated for Outstanding Production. This is Kitchens' first show at UW Drama.

CREATIVE TEAM:

Costume Designer: Chanté Hamann (2nd year MFA designer)
Lighting Designer: Trevor Cushman (2nd year MFA designer)
Set Designer: Emily Allen (2nd year MFA designer)
Assistant Director: Andrew Coopman (1st year MFA director)
Dramaturg: Sara Keats

CAST (PATP = Professional Actor Training Program-MFA, Acting):

Bayard: Adrian Tafesh (3rd year PATP)
Boy: Elliott Chinn (Undergraduate Drama major)
Ferrand: Wyatt Hazel (Undergraduate Drama major)
First Detective: Llywelyn Picton (Undergraduate Drama major)
Gypsy: Dane Castleton (Undergraduate Drama major)
Lebeau: AJ Friday (3rd year PATP)
Leduc: Phillip Ray Guevara (3rd year PATP)
Major: Dylan Smith
Marchand: Xavier Bleuel (2nd year PATP)
Monceau: Semaj Miller (2nd year PATP)
Old Jew: Robert Monsen
Police Captain: Eric McIntosh (Undergraduate Drama major)
Police Guard: Josh Quiring
Professor Hoffman: Taylor Jones (3rd year PATP)
Prisoner: Elijah Pasco
Second Detective: Cameron Dohrman (Undergraduate Drama major)
Von Berg: Brandon Pascal (2nd year PATP)
Waiter: Ricky Spaulding (Undergraduate Drama major)

Fefu and Her Friends
By María Irene Fornés
Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton (UW Drama faculty, Head of Professional Director Training Program)

Professor Valerie Curtis-Newton directs an all-female cast in María Irene Fornés' Fefu and Her Friends. Fornés, the winner of nine Obie Awards, including the award for sustained achievement, has been called "the most important American playwright you've never heard of," and "influential beyond measure." The 87-year-old iconoclast, beloved teacher and mentor to some of contemporary theatre's most exciting writers, is the subject of the new documentary The Rest I Make Up, and 2018 marks a national celebration of her work. Fefu and Her Friends, Fornés' most celebrated work, turns the "ladies who lunch" trope on its head, bringing together an extraordinary-and regular-group of women who, over the course of a weekend in the country, peel away at each other's layers, uncovering both the horrors and felicities of contemporary womanhood.

DATES & LOCATION
November 28 - December 9, 2018
Wednesday - Saturday at 7:30
Sunday at 2:00
Previews November 25 & 27 at 7:30
Post-Show Panel Discussion Sunday, December 2nd
Pay-What-You-Can Wednesday December 5th
Meany Studio Theatre
Red Square, UW Seattle campus

ARTISTS

Director: Valerie Curtis-Newton (UW Drama faculty, Head of Professional Director Training Program)
UW Drama alum (MFA, Directing) and longtime faculty member Valerie Curtis-Newton (pictured, left), heads UW Drama's Professional Director Training Program. Professor Curtis-Newton's production of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill at ArtsWest is currently nominated for a 2018 Theatre Puget Sound Gregory Award for Outstanding Musical. Professor Curtis-Newton is the recipient of a prestigious 2017 Artist Trust Innovator Award. Previous UW Drama shows include The Cradle Will Rock (2015), Boys' Life (2015), Fifth of July (2013), and numerous others.

CREATIVE TEAM:

Costume Designer: Luna McMeen (Undergraduate Drama major)
Lighting Designer: Chun Yen Huang (2nd year MFA designer)
Set Designer: Wenzheng Zhang (3rd year MFA designer)

CAST (PATP = Professional Actor Training Program-MFA, Acting):

Cecilia: Annie Willis (Undergraduate Drama major)
Christine: Tricia Castañeda-Gonzales (3rd year PATP)
Cindy: Jessica Thorne (2nd year PATP)
Emma: Alana Cheshire (3rd year PATP)
Fefu: Alyssa Franks (2nd year PATP)
Julia: Allyson Brown (3rd year PATP)
Paula: Hailey Henderson (2nd year PATP)
Sue: Anaïs Gralpois (Undergraduate Drama major)

SCHEDULE CHANGES & SPECIAL PROGRAMMING

For the 2018 - 2019 season, opening nights will happen on Wednesdays, lengthening the run of each show from eight to ten performances, plus two previews. Previews will take place on the Saturday and Tuesday prior to opening (the first preview for Fefu and Her Friends will happen the Sunday prior to opening, due to the Thanksgiving holiday).

Our popular Lobby Talks series will continue next season, with scholars from the UW community discussing topics related to work on our stages. These talks will take place before the first Sunday matinee of each run for Incident at Vichy, Rutherford and Son, In the Heart of America, and Romeo and Juliet. We will host post-play conversations following the first Sunday matinee for Fefu and Her Friends and The Learned Ladies.

Access for students continues to be a top priority. Student ticket prices, which were lowered last year, will remain $10 for regular performances and $8 for previews. We will host a community Pay-What-You-Can the second Wednesday of each run.

Ticket prices for all UW Drama mainstage shows:

$20 - Regular
$14 - UWAA, UW Employee or Retiree, Senior
$10 - Student
$5 - TeenTix
Previews: $10 - Regular / $8 - Student

Tickets can be purchased starting September 10, 2018 at drama.uw.edu or through the ArtsUW Ticket Office: 206-543-4880, ticket@uw.edu.