Launched in 1997, the 14/48 Festival is the brainchild of Michael Neff and Jodi-Paul Wooster. It invites talented theater folks to two weekends of high risk, intensely collaborative yet ephemeral theater-making. 14/48 participants mix, mingle, and network. And all of Seattle theater is the better for it.
14/48 plays with Chance, Choice, and Performance.
Is our public educational system grinding itself into the ground?
This is just one of the questions Joe Zarrow explores in his 2014 play, Principal Principle. Of course, there are many more, all clamoring, all representative of some point of view in our pluralistic culture.
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.
The world premiere of The Hours of Life, a musical about Edgar Allan Poe by Paul Lewis shines with loving attention. Directed by Corey McDaniel, this presentation by Theatre22 at the tiny Cornish Playhouse Studio at Seattle Center delivers the goods.
Whackjob by James Jordan as revised with Dan Gildark—both long-term members of the Boondogglers—sputters in many directions. Attending the final preview before its opening on Dec. 4, I found this production directed by Gildark, who also plays the lead, a mash-up of news, science, video projection, and theater.
What’s behind this?
The UMO Ensemble gave themselves the task of discovering the essence of Beckett by focusing on his prose. The results are up and running at the ACT Theatre downtown. Written by Maria Glanz and Lyam White and directed by Elizabeth Klob, UMO found the genius both in Beckett and themselves. The mash-up sparkles.
Endgame refers to that part of a chess game when most of the pieces have been captured. For Beckett, this play is set in the bleakest of futures when most of the Earth’s resources and human populations are depleted. Kasia Rozanska’s scenic design of gray walls with pealing paint and smudges gives us the impression of being inside the crumbling mansion of a wealthy survivalist.
In their season opener, UW’s Undergraduate Theater Society presents Jennifer Haley’s Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, or in the abbreviated world we inhabit—N3RD. Turn the 3 around and what do you get? The show is under the direction of Michael Joseph Hanley.
Haley’s themes focus on how technology affects our human interactions. She posed in the play a series of what-ifs:
Seattle is in the midst of a Samuel Beckett festival. On August 29, Sandbox Radio opened a weekend run of Words and Music paired with All that Fall at West of Lenin in Fremont. Leslie Law and Richard Ziman, who produce, direct, and act in this show have crafted a delightful evening of Beckett that will spur you to catch more of the offerings in the festival. Next Monday, Oct 13, for one night only, an encore performance will take place at ACT Theatre.
The Seattle Shakespeare Company has come indoors to the Falls Theatre at ACT and produced a very fine Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett as their part of the Seattle Beckett Festival. Director George Mount has struck the humor mother lode Beckett buried in the play. Had this production been the world premiere this play would never have received a reputation for being “tedious.” It helps that all of the actors know their lines well and have terrific comic timing.
Beckett doesn’t write according to the usual rules.
