A Balm Comes to Gilead, in Wisconsin.
In these times of despair on so many fronts, Taproot Theatre opened The Spitfire Grill, this weekend, with a theme of hope for a small town, a failing business and the “sin-sick souls” who lived in the town and frequented the local diner, which resembled a darker version of The Chatterbox Café from Prairie Home Companion fame. 
ng>Annual Black Film Festival “We See You” now in person.
The 19th annual Seattle Black Film Festival will once again animate the halls of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute in Seattle’s historically Black Central District, April 29-May 1. The three-day weekend of in-person and video on demand screenings, panels and events will host an international selection of over forty feature films, music videos, documentaries and short films; showcasing the range and depth of the Black experience on the big screen.
Seattle Black Film Festival, Fri Apr 29th 7 pm (Happy Hour at 6pm) to Sun. May 1. 104 -17th Ave S. Seattle, 98144 (Central District, corner of Yesler and 17th Ave S) Parking Lot and plenty of off street parking. Buses 14, 27, 60.
Festival trailer: https://vimeo.com/686488853
Festival passes on sale now: https://www.goelevent.com/LANGSTON/Pass/Sale
There are only two emotions
Love & Fear
Equally there are only two reactions to refugees: welcoming or unwelcoming, along with two reactions to living in a dying small town: staying or leaving. The 1995 play, EUOPE by Scottish playwright, David Grieg, at 12th Ave Arts, structured its themes and subplots around the above mentioned dichotomies. Also it demonstrated the results of approaching a hostile word with either love or hostility. EUROPE depicts the tragic circumstances of refugees, as well as the equally tragic circumstances of those who resent refugees: de-industrialization, the psychological consequences of unemployment and de-ruralification. Thalia’s Umbrella’s production, directed by Terry Edward Moore could not be more topical, or more enlightening.
A Two Person Whodunit? Huh?
Imagine a classic Agatha Christie Style whodunit, taking place in an isolated country house, (actually in NEW England, rather than its namesake) with the dead body of a famous writer of detective fiction, 13 suspects among them a resentful wife, a bespectacled niece, a ballerina mistress, a psychiatrist, who keeps or doesn’t keep everybody’s secrets and some poison tea. However, it is performed cabaret style with only two characters. One plays the investigating policeman, and the other plays all 13 suspects. Both play numerous songs on the piano without so much as one piece of sheet music. Well, folks this unique musical comedy, Murder for Two, by Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, opened at Harlequin Productions in Olympia, this past weekend.
Public TV’s WORLD Channel spotlights Seattle.
Stories from the Stage, the acclaimed storytelling series from public television’s WORLD Channel, spotlights Seattle this March with two all-new episodes with Seattle-area storytellers presented in collaboration with KCTS Seattle PBS. Three out of the six performers are connected with Unexpected Productions. Kent Whipple, Storyteller teacher; Melissa Reaves; UP ensemble member; and Jen Bijanki, UP storytelling student.
It was almost as frightening as the book
Said my companion after watching Radial Theater Project’s production of the adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, adapted by Michael Gene Sullivan. Indeed, it was frightening in the traditional sense of a conspiracy driven thriller-there was a lot of tension about whether their illicit external behavior would get them caught, but the really frightening aspect was how totalitarianism can totally control people’s thoughts, emotions and behavior, thereby creating perpetual war, poverty as well as destroying the most intimate relationships. Thrown in there was one of Orwell’s favorite topics; how the debasement of language is used to distort and deny the truth. 
An Homage to Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott Heron was a highly influential poet, novelist and musician who influenced hip-hop, rap and neo soul. His self-definition was that of a “blusologist” or a “scientist who is concerned with the original of the blues.”
Intensely Annoying is a Pre-requisite for a Book Club
I would also add that intensely hilarious and intense astute insight is the essence of this exquisite production of Karen Zacarìas’s play The Book Club Play, which just opened in Issaquah at the Village Theatre. The author invented a group of characters whose defects and strengths created hilarious conflicts and equally hilarious jokes, especially about literature, literary types, while generating a few not quite PC jokes.
Psychic Comedian, is it real?
A would-be psychic once advertised herself as an “intuitive artist,” I would tweak that description for Peter Antoniou and call him an intuitive genius. His intriguing act opened this past week at Theatre off Jackson in the International District, beguiling even the most cynical of observers (like ME!)
U.S. Premiere of Hit British Play
Thalia’s Umbrella was two days away from opening EUROPE in March of 2020 when, like so many other theaters, Thalia canceled all performances of the US premiere of Europe, by Scottish playwright David Greig. Two refugees arrive at a train station in a small border town, where the trains no longer stop. They are not looking for love; they are not looking for trouble. They find both. Worlds collide in romance and fear in a play that Arts Desk called “Timely, tender, brutal, and brilliant.”
