Animal Saints & Animal Sinners 2
The ancient oral tradition of storytelling, despite the invention of the printing-press, film, TV and social media, is still a vibrant relevant art form as practiced by three Seattle storytellers, Scot Auguston, Kelleen Conway Blanchard and Bret Fetzer, currently performing at 18th and Union.
A Casualty
Until the Flood, a series of monologues, by observers of the Michael Brown protest in Ferguson Missouri, opened this week at Harlequin productions in Olympia. Written by Dael Orlandersmith, it was a collage of insightful, eloquent uniformly well-delivered monologues from a diverse group of residents of the Ferguson area, each giving their heart-wrenching reactions and perspectives. They were not always pretty, but they were always informative.[caption id="attachment_12559" align="aligncenter" width="279"]
Michael Brown poses for a photo in his cap and gown taken in March 2014. Brown was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Mo.[/caption]
Moments both Tender and Not So.
Tenderly,by Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman, is not only the name of one of Rosemary Clooney’s hit song,s but of a musical, in which she recounts her life from her psychiatrist’s office, after suffering an onstage nervous breakdown in 1968. It chronicles her abandonment by her mother and then her alcoholic father in suburban Cincinnati, her highs and lows as a big star in Hollywood to her resurgence as a performer and recovered addict.
A Tango of Connecting and Repelling.
A brilliant production of The Woolgatherers, by William Mastrosimone, opened this weekend at 18th and Union. This two person play, taking place in a one room apartment in South Philly, a mostly Italian working class, 19th century, row house dismal neighborhood, demonstrates that two lonely depressed people can manifest their external symptoms in diametrically opposite ways, yet ultimately connect.
Lady Day not only Sings the Blues but Makes us Laugh…and Cry.
A fabulous show, Lady Day at the Emerson’s Bar and Grill, depicting one of the last “performances” of Billie Holiday, the great Jazz singer, opened this past week, at Harlequin Productions in Olympia. Interspersed with some of her greatest hits, such as “Somebody’s on my Mind,” “What a Little Moonlight can do,” “When a Woman Loves a Man,” “Ain’t nobody’s Business” etc, were monologues about her childhood, her musical influences: Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, touring the South with Artie Shaw (a white band leader) her unfulfilling love life, and skirmishes with the law.
The World is a Stage and the Play is Badly Cast.-Oscar Wilde
What shapes your identity? How do you express who you are in public versus private spheres? What if who you are doesn’t align with society’s expectations? These are some of the ideas that Kelly Kitchens, stage director for The Importance of Being Earnest at the UW School of Drama, is exploring with glee. Kitchens and her team of student artists and designers present this cheeky Oscar Wilde comedy.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, UW School of Drama, The Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse Theatre 4045 University Way NE, Seattle Nov. 12 – 21, 2021 Tickets and info: https://drama.washington.edu/events
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt
Blake Hackler’s play What We Were, seems to refute Tolstoy’s famous quote “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” in that the play exposes, in almost textbook fashion, the standard pattern of family system dynamics in dysfunctional abusive families. Undoubtedly, the play is not for the faint-hearted, as it is a very clear coherent statement about the different reactions towards incest and how it both divides and unites siblings.
Aposiopesis: An abrupt halt in the middle of …as if one is unable or hesitant to… One of the most
Trauma in Crazy Woke Asian is Real They say that comedy is trauma plus time. The comedy show, Crazy Woke
A flexible path back to live theater The ghost light is dimming: Sound Theatre is returning to the stage after
