Seattle Blog Theater

Last week, we were lucky enough to go see American Hwangap by Lloyd Suh at West of Lenin. The play explores the relationships of an American-Korean family, the Chuns, particularly that of the family’s estranged father, Min Suk Chun, who returns home after fifteen years to celebrate his “Hwangap” (a commemoration of his 60th birthday). Before the show, we were also able to sit down with the play’s director, AJ Epstein, to ask a few questions.

With an artist for a mother, Epstein grew up surrounded by theatre. He went to shows regularly, and his parents were very supportive of him going into an arts-related field: “I was really lucky, that… I was able to have agency over [my decision to pursue an arts-related career]”, he stated. That wasn’t the only unique aspect of his arts-related journey, we found out, as Epstein had come up through lights and sound, and got into directing only later, in college. After purchasing West of Lenin, a tiny, eighty-eight seat, black box theater, in 2009, he started producing and directing shows there. Part of the theater’s charm is its small space, which provides the audience with a much more intimate experience.

Going to see Here Lies Love is an experience. It is immersive and provocative and at times incredibly overwhelming. This rock musical was written by Fatboy Slim and David Byrne about Imelda Marcos, the wife of a Filipino Dictator in the years leading up to the People’s Power Revolution.

While the Rep’s 2016/17 season revolves around power dynamics, HLL would perhaps have been more fitting in the next season, titled “We are real, messy, human.” The entire duration of the play one both sympathizes and is disappointed with Imelda as she embarks on a life that seems to continually draw her further and further away from reality. HLL gives voice and accessibility to Filipino history while at the same time telling the story of a complex and struggling woman in power.

Do you want to laugh and make people laugh? Unexpected Productions has the goods! Take a look at their class offerings this summer:

Intro To Hip Hop Improv with North Coast | more info June 13, 2016 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM, w/ a show at 9:00 PM New York City’s premier hip-hop improv comedy team, North Coast, is a unique collaboration of improvisational comedy, hip hop, beatboxing, and music. This musical improv workshop will get even the most beginner performers comfortable and confident with freestyle rapping and will teach you how to really drill into the deal of your scene and its’ characters. Learn how to set yourself up, find your flow, and weave your rapped verses in and out of your improv scene-work.

The Things Are Against Us is a trip on the dark side of the alley when the shadows seem to move behind you. Equal parts hilarious and terrifying, this play is a story of sisterly love that leaves viewers on an emotional roller coaster, and ultimately, not sure how they’re feeling. The play blends old descriptive language with modern verbiage seamlessly in the world playwright Susan Soon He Stanton creates. Having written the play while living next to the Edward Gorey Estate, the play delves into a sense of horrifying normality where things that would normally require hours of background are addressed in a staccato fashion establishing them as ordinary and acceptable.

Though at times hard to follow, the play never loses interest. Seemingly “un-producible,” Washington Ensemble Theater brings to life the story of Solange and her sister Tessa with a beautifully and wondrously constructed set and intense and compelling on-stage relationships.

All we see on stage when we go to see a play are the actors and the set pieces. We notice the lights and sound, and maybe the tech crew, but there are so many parts to running a fully-functioning theater that people may not realize. I considered myself pretty knowledgeable about all things theater, but I still had a lot to learn on my mini-mentorship with Robert Hankin, the Associate Director of Development at ACT Theatre. He was a great person to have as a guide and mentor for the day because he said he has had nine different positions in his nine years at ACT!

I was surprised by the dozens and dozens of people who work behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly. A few departments I can rattle off: Development (a.k.a. fundraising), Sales, Marketing, Graphic Design, Casting, Costuming, Set Design, Tech Design, Outreach, Front-of-House, Executive Team, Artistic Team, and more! I remember meeting one person in the elevator who's only job was to paint things. In a large-scale theater like ACT, so many different moving pieces have to work together cohesively. What mattered was that everyone cared about what they were doing and enjoyed putting in the effort to create amazing theater.

Wanna get acquainted with the TeenTix community? There's no better way than to attend one of our ~special events~ produced in cooperation with our partner organizations. The best part about seeing one of these shows? Proceeds from the tickets you purchase always support TeenTix and our mission to ensure equitable access to the arts for all young people. Ready, set, GO get some art!

What if we told you that answering a single question could win you 1 teen ticket + 1 adult ticket for our upcoming special event, LOLZapaOOPSa? WHAT IF!? BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT WE'RE TELLING YOU.

A special donor has donated two tickets (1 for a member, and 1 for a companion adult) for this Thursday's event to give away to one lucky winner who can answer this question correctly:

Imagine your dear, sweet mother. She’s living a very plain life, making sure the laundry is done before starting dinner, making ends meet, and generally keeping everyone alive and happy. Now imagine that mother, who couldn’t hurt a fly, is now in a punk rock band. Hard to not laugh at, right? ArtsWest is bringing that image to life. Directed by Shawn Belyea, Angry Housewives is a delightful musical about four wives and girlfriends who are sick of living in the shadows of their husbands, sons, and exes. They decide to drop their responsibilities for one week to make some money in a no-holds-barred, punk rock battle of the bands. For Carol (Ann Cornelius), the extra cash means she can keep her car after her spouse’s death. For Jetta (Chelsea LeValley), it means not having to rely on her man-child husband. And for Bev (Heather Hawkins) and Wendi (Janet McWilliams), hey, who couldn't use a little extra cash in tough economic times?

Steeped in the culture of Seattle in the ’80s, Angry Housewives is thoroughly fun. While it's fairly obviously targeted to the real-life housewives in the audience, the characters are endearing and lovable. The music is consistently funny, and all of the songs are even catchier than you could imagine. Whether you relate to Bev’s “Generic Woman” or Tim’s (Trent Moury) “Hell School,” there will be a song in this musical to sum up your life. The book, written by A.M. Collins in Seattle in 1983, really sums up the way family dynamics work when families aren’t as perfectly nuclear as they seem. None of the characters are without flaws, but none of the characters lack redeeming qualities. This balance is what makes Angry Housewives really unique; while many performances love to rely on the infallible hero defeating the sinister villain trope, the normal struggles of these four women are compelling and funny without feeling forced. Angry Housewives runs through May 24, but when you show up, make sure you do so early—the opening shows sold out fast, and so will the rest of them!

Before Lizard Boy even begins the actors are milling around on stage, tuning their instruments, one of them half-dancing to the ambient acoustic indie rock playing over the speakers. Admittedly, it’s confusing at first, but after realizing this is an artistic choice by the director, it sets the tone as quite intimate for the rest production.

This hilarious comic book musical—written, composed, and starring Justin Huertas as Trevor—tells the story of a boy who hasn't left his apartment in a year in the wake of a bad breakup. But in the process of looking for his ex-boyfriend on Grindr (an app like Tinder for gay male hookups), he has an adorably awkward encounter with Cary, played by William A. Williams.

In my last review of UW’s Undergraduate Theater Society, I covered The Picture of Dorian Gray, stating that this is a wonderful group, on par with the Paramount and many Broadway-level companies. Cabaret doesn’t fail to live up to the standard they set in my last review; it shimmied and shook its way above it. Cabaret is delightfully sexy, adult, playful, dramatic, and sobering. The music is delivered gorgeously; Taige Kussman’s sultry, rich mezzo/alto was the perfect fit for main character Sally Bowle’s English accent and the setting of the Kit Kat Club. This show takes you on a journey far from where you sat down, leaving all your troubles behind you. The acting is simply delightful. From the accents to the sultry movements of the actors, I was entranced. Be warned, however, this show gets mature, covering domestic abuse, the realm of Nazis, and sex workers. Other than that, this show is yet another great production from a fantastic company. Bravo, and well done.

Cabaret UW Undergraduate Theater Society February 26 - March 8

Keeping up with our friends and family members nowadays tends to happen via social media. It is likely you have seen others with their phone devices glued to their hands, staring and swiping endlessly on a screen as they “connect” with others and show sympathy as they “like” pictures, life events, and the statuses of their loved ones. Even if social media is the innovative tool society uses to bond and connect, the play 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog shares with audiences a more effective way to connect with each other.

4000 Miles, directed by Mathew Wright, introduces Leo Joseph-Connel, a 21-year-old without a cellphone, a job, or a place to stay. Leo (Adam Standley) has just finished a cross-country bicycle trip. His deep love for the outdoors inspired him to begin the journey with his best friend Micah, departing from Seattle and heading east, where he ends up by himself in New York City at the door of his grandmother, Vera (Susan Corzatte).

Mwindo, written by Cheryl L. West, is a modern adaptation of an ancient tale spun by the elusive Nyanga tribe who reside in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Set Designer Carey Wong transports the audience to Africa with twisting liana vines, rocky mountains, and intricate patterns that cover the floor. Each portion of the set directly relates to the plot.

If you need a break from sine, cosine, and tangent, or if your eyes are crossing from reading too many textbooks, Seattle Repertory Theatre offers a differnt kind of lesson: The Piano Lesson by August Wilson. It’s a fun play dealing with family and friends, tiffs and fights, legacy and stories, and spirits and ghosts.

The story, written by August Wilson, is about an African American family trying to hold on to their stories and history. The basic plot: a dispute between siblings. Berniece wants to save an heirloom upright piano for sentimental value, but her brother, Boy Willie, who is more concerned with practicality, is determined to sell the piano and buy a piece of land where their father worked as a slave.

Watching The Great Society is like watching a current newscast. Protests swell, Republicans sweep elections, racism rises, and then the audience remembers this was “back then”— the 1960s. But it’s also now.

The play follows Lyndon B. Johnson’s full term in office and the idea he held for a “Great Society” with civil rights, health care, less poverty, and more. With a whirling group of advisors and adversaries coming and going, though, and the tumultuous world outside, we see the inner workings of why things did not go entirely as planned — notably, with the war in Vietnam and the response to civil rights marchers and activists.

Are you staying inside this year to watch Christmas movie reruns and harvest your inner couch potato? You should move your potato buns to the 5th Avenue Theatre instead, where A Christmas Story: The Musical will warm your heart with bizarre leg lamp musical numbers, meta jokes, and all the ups and downs of being a kid again.

Not a single thing about this performance is normal. Sure, the storyline makes it seem so — a slightly geeky American boy named Ralphie tries to convince his family to get him a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas — but this musical is sprinkled with tons of quirky humor and bizarre holiday charm that will keep you at the edge of your seat. You can’t help but laugh at the overly exaggerated stereotypes hilariously portrayed by the talented singer/actor powerhouses at the 5th Avenue Theatre — or the dad’s strange obsession with his female anatomy-inspired lamp. All the funny quirks of this outrageous musical will have you entertained the entire night.

The cast of A(n Improvised) Christmas Carol surely knows their improv. With jokes so witty you would assume they had been crafted over the course of days spouting out of actor’s mouths before they even have a chance to censor themselves, this production was unlike any other.

And truly, it is, for every night that Unexpected Productions puts on another show, the outcome is vastly different. Each night the audience gets a “choose your own adventure.” The audience is asked to call out answers to random questions such as “name a type of profession” or “something you would hide in your house.” Some answers are obvious as to how they will be incorporated into the show, but others are more subtle and unexpected.

The infamous LBJ, Lyndon Baines Johnson, is most renowned for his civil rights activism. But did you know that he used the word “bunghole” in a sentence to a tailor and asked that there be some extra room left in the lower front part of his trousers for his “nutsack” to have some breathing space? Such hilarious moments are now immortalized on stage, and in the brilliant script written by Robert Schenkkan, with All the Way at Seattle Repertory Theatre.

The play All the Way (with the title based on the slogan used in Johnson’s reelection campaign: “All the Way with LBJ”) is a testament to the civil rights movement, politics, the accidental administration of Johnson, the activism of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the sketchy underground dealings of the government. Put on by Seattle Repertory Theatre in partnership with the world-renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the production had a good head start on securing great actors to fill big britches. It’s a difficult job to do justice to great American leaders like LBJ and Martin Luther King, Jr., as Jack Willis and Kenajuan Bentley, respectively, are on task to do.

Dogfight is the quintessential story of lovers versus fighters.

Set in San Francisco in 1963, a group of macho marines decide to celebrate their last evening by holding a dogfight — a long-standing tradition in which men compete for money to recruit the ugliest date for a party. The plan is set off course, however, when one of the girls, an awkward waitress named Rose Fenny (Devon Busswood), discovers she’s been tricked into being part of the cruel tradition and gets revenge by teaching her date, Eddie Birdlace (Kody Bringman), a lesson in compassion. The intimate setting of the theater truly transports the audience seamlessly from scene to scene — from the 1960s dinner to the San Francisco Bay, down to the lush jungles of Vietnam. I’ll admit I jumped when the bombs began going off, and I caught myself tearing up when Rose did.

For many people, the biggest hurdle faced when reading Shakespeare is the language. It can be impenetrable on the page, and consequently very boring. Many of the words he uses are unfamiliar, and so much of the humor, meaning, and plot gets lost behind that. If that is your biggest problem with Shakespeare, though, this production of Twelfth Night will be a huge relief. The acting is near-impeccable, making it easy to discern the plot (though if you need a little more context, the synopsis in the program helps). Even better than simply knowing what is going on, you will actually understand some of that archaic humor. Turns out people were making jokes back then about the same things we do now: love, drunkenness, and fools.

Twelfth Night tells the story of Viola and Sebastian, twins who have been shipwrecked in an unfamiliar kingdom. Most of the play focuses on Viola (Allie Pratt), who disguises herself as a boy, and immediately everything gets turned around, with various people falling in love, not realizing who the object of their affections really is.

According to Kinky Boots’ tagline, sometimes the best way to fit in is to stand out. In the case of the production at 5th Avenue Theatre, the musical just stands out — no fitting in required.

If you’re into the musical theater scene, you’ve probably already heard of Kinky Boots. The musical first came onto the scene in a big way in 2012, winning six Tonys — including Best Musical and Best Original Score — and nominated for seven more after that. It even won a Grammy for Cyndi Lauper’s incredible score.