Central District

Past

Raisins in a Glass of Milk or Raisins in a Rainbow

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What it is like to be perceived as the “Other” and still try to get the part.

“I want to be a raisin in a rainbow” exclaimed one of the actors in Raisins in a Glass of Milk, a scripted performance by six Cornish students and alumi, currently playing Sunday nights at 18th and Union Theatre. The subject was the casting difficulties one’s appearance causes if one’s appearance deviates from the perceived ideal of “normal” in our society, which is still the Northern European blue-eyed blonde.

Past

OROBORO -A Comedy with Loops

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Have you ever been just on the edge of sleep, only to be jerked into consciousness by the gut-sinking sensation of free fall? That’s precisely how it feels watching K. Brian Neel’s original play Oroboro, whipping in and out of thought and time. If you’re searching for something more abstract than linear plots, Oroboro is the show for you. Oroboro

Past

Happy Hour-Delivers Laughter and Tears at 18th & Union

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The Stars are no longer Spangled

It is often said that a good actor can take the telephone book and make it seem dramatic. Well, right here in Seattle at 18th & Union Theatre, two comediennes Keira McDonald and Erin Stewart, dared each other to write a sketch comedy to open on Inauguration Day 2017…a day which was decidedly unfunny, yet they kept us falling in the aisles with laughter. This is no mean feat, given the terror/disgust/boredom which people have felt after this long presidential campaign. Since the script did not depend on sophisticated language, the comedy was all in the delivery-sometimes very subtle, by these two comic geniuses, who could make the simplest sentence, seem unbelievably funny.

Past

“Sugar Plum Gary”

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Santa sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. How, exactly? Sugar Plum Gary takes the stage at 18th and Union to answer all your questions about Christmas in this interactive comedy show.

Past

Peter Antoniou: Happy Medium

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In his first-ever U.S. tour comedian Peter Antoniou shows off the skills that have made him an underground hit in the U.K. He’s charming, witty, can work an audience, and just might be able to read your mind.

Past

“White Rabbit Red Rabbit” Questions Obedience to Authority

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What can a censored artist do?

I watched the Seattle premiere of a play in search of a genre: White Rabbit Red Rabbit By Iranian Nassim Soleimanpour at 18th and Union. Billed as a one-act play for an actor that has never read the script, the show also draws into the performance lots of people in the audience.

In the role of “the actor” this evening was Kate Jaeger. Most recently she served as the co-host of this year’s Gregory Awards.

Past

“The Fever” by Wallace Shawn

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In theater and movies fevers, like dreams, play a special role. In North American culture, they cue us to thinking what is expressed is coming from the deepest and unfiltered parts of our unconscious minds. So from the title alone we are to understand this is a stream-of-(un)consciousness work, and Wallace (Wally) Shawn holds tight to this trope to present his audience with the uncomfortable realities of being white and of the privilege classes in America.

Shawn wrote this in 1990. He could have written this for 1940 or 2040. It’s the nature of the luck of being born privileged

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

Weighed Down by Mud: A Plea for a Decent Life

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New City Theater has put Mud back into Seattle’s theater mix. Under John Kazanjian’s the play has a continual feeling of roughness, and lack of completeness, which is congruent with the themes of the play. The company did a terrific job using Fornes signature pause at the end of each of the 17 scenes. This stop-motion tableau slows down time and allows the audience a break to absorb and feel the impact of such bereft lives. Seventeen is a prime number, and variations of the root concept of prime, such as primal, primacy, and primate, can be found in every scene.

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