April 2016

Past

Sherlock Holmes and The American Problem—The Game’s Afoot at the Seattle Rep

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The Seattle Rep’s closing piece for this season was actually born from the overwhelming success of its 2013 production of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Apparently the cast, crew and audiences had such a great time with that show it was a no-brainer to bring back the famous British sleuth for another go. Rather than returning to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s canon, the Rep has turned to local actor and playwright R. Hamilton Wright to create an original Holmes story that has the detective immersed in a wild tale featuring some of his most famous antagonists as well as matching wits and skills with America’s very own Annie Oakley. The imaginative blend makes for a fun spring evening at the theater.

Past

Love, Loss, and What I Wore

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Seattle Premiere

Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron is based on the surprise hit book by Ilene Beckerman. The play begins as Gingy (representing Beckerman) describes herself as an ordinary person who was bored one day and began to sketch dresses she had owned. She discovered that during many important events in her life she vividly recalled what she’d worn. She worked up this idea and sent copies to her family and a couple of best friends. One of those friends sent it to a publisher where the largely female staff circulated it among themselves and added post-it notes of their own recollections. In 1995 the publisher gave the book a chance

Past

Words and Bees-Live Radio Performance

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Radio Theatre Live coming to Seattle’s Town Hall, Monday April 25th.

Sandbox Radio newest live radio show, the Words and the Bees will be performed at Town Hall on First Hill in Seattle, on Monday, April 25th at 8 pm.

Past

Fatal Footlights

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Historical Fiction about Great Theatrical Figures

Billed as a “new Steampunk mystery/comedy/thriller, an original script, by Louis Broome and John Longenbaugh, Fatal Footlights opened at Theater Schmeater on Friday. Steampunk, the internet told me, has to do with 19th century historical fiction and technology. Fatal Footlights concerns murder and intrigue in an 1885’s theatre in London. Apparently, two of the characters are members of the Brass family and the play was part of a series about them, so the Artistic Director communicated to me the next day.

Past

The Tempest

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O Brave New City that has such talent in’t

One of the occupational hazards of a theatre critic is seeing the same plays over and over again. This is especially true of Shakespeare’s more popular plays, particularly the romances, whose setting are the outdoors and are regularly staged at summer Shakespeare Festivals. Usually, the productions are draped in concepts and gimmicks but rarely do I go to a production, where the language occupies center stage and successfully carries the play. This weekend, New City Theatre, opened The Tempest, which should be the standard by which all other Shakespeare plays should be measured. All the actors were of the highest vocal caliber, and used the text expertly to communicate to the audience.

Past

The Hat

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The Hat (directed by Roy Antonio Arauz) is an original play by Greg Brisendine about a young gay man named

Past

‘brownsville song’ shows the ripple effect of tragedy

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Grief and Trauma are Anything but Tedious

Kimber Lee set for herself in brownsville song: b-side for tray the task of rounding out for the public the “other story” of someone like Tray Franklin. In the play Tray is 18 and working on his scholarship essay. In real life, Franklin was a black college student and winning amateur boxer who was one of three youth shot by gang members in Brownsville, Brooklyn in 2012. His friends survived, he did not.

Listen carefully to the opening soliloquy by Lena, Tray’s grandmother (Denise Burse) as she speaks apparently to the “press” or non-Brownsville society in general—”Tray was not …” she insists and repeats. Burse cries by the end of her long speech.

What is the b-side?

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