4000 Miles
4000 Miles is an award-winning play set in a New York City apartment, about the relationship that develops between a […]
January 2015
Seattle Rep’s The Piano Lesson Hits All the Right Notes
August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning The Piano Lesson features the playwright working at full throttle; it is a self-assured work filled with a banquet of theatrical treats. The play is part of Wilson’s ten-piece Century Cycle that explores the lives of African Americans living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here we meet the Charles family struggling to establish a toehold in the harsh climate of a post Depression America. A top-notch cast and the Seattle Rep’s outstanding production values help make this a rewarding night of theater.
A Delicate Balance
Trinity Parish Church, a picturesque stone edifice with an antique-looking spire and European aspect, seems an unlikely venue for
The Three Sisters
The Seagull Project opened its latest production, Anton Chekhov’s “The Three Sisters,” Thursday night, January 22, to loud acclaim from
Lower Depths
Down and Out in Nizhny Novgorod
The most famous play by Maxim Gorky, The Lower Depths, was produced by Theatre Machine, in the most appropriate theatre space in Seattle-the old immigration jail, now called theLab@INScape. Used for Kafka’s The Trial, it has a sordid, sinister creepiness about it making it highly suitable for a play about the lumpen-proletariat of pre-Revolutionary Russia.
The Secretaries
The “Girls” at Work are Not What You Expect.
As a compliment, Oscar Wilde would not call The Secretaries, which opened at Theater Schmeater, “a well-made play”. Although sometimes referred to as Surrealist, I would call it Expressionist. That is to say, it does not rely on realism, nor a structured plot, but rather creates a lot of extremely emotionally-charged images, as it ambles through the “initiation” period of a new secretary, in the all-female office of a lumbering company in rural Oregon.
Sprawl—A World Premiere True to Its Name
The Washington Ensemble Theatre (WET) initiated its 11th Season with a world premiere of Josh Conkel’s Sprawl directed by Ali el-Gasseir. The company is quite excited to be giving the first performances on the Studio Stage at the 12th Avenue Arts building. In 90 uninterrupted minutes, this script manages to sample just about every horror AND campy movie cliche.
Measure for Measure
Jane Austen meets Shakespeare: Morality Tale told through comedy .
Desdemona Chiang, has directed perhaps the best show Seattle Shakespeare Company has ever produced: Measure for Measure, which opened on Friday January 10th at the Center Theater at Seattle Center. Defined as a comedy because it has an almost fairy tale-like happy ending, it is also a serious morality tale, dealing with many Christian and universal themes such as mercy, atonement, chastity, the consequences of lust or what in previous generations was called “sin”, the irony of hypocrisy and the perniciousness of rigidly enforced justice.
4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide
Not Quite Convincing Play about School-bullying
Ghost Light Theatricals presented a Seattle premier by Sean Graney, about a very topical subject, school bullying in 4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love-Suicide at the Ballard Underground on Friday night. Although the play within a play had a moral message, as well as a solid production, unfortunately the lack of authenticity in the plot, language, setting and characters was too jarring to make much of an impact.