The Fall Performing Arts Season Kicks Off with an Overloaded Weekend

Steven Epp, Don Darryl Rivera, Allen Gilmore and Daniel Breaker in A Doctor in Spite of Himself at Intiman Theatre. Photo by Chris Bennion.

Well. If this weekend isn’t the weekend that the fall performing arts season kicks off! Your options are so rich and varied that On the List really just doesn’t do it justice, so here’s your one-stop shopping center of performance openings.

LATE EDITIONS: John Longenbaugh’s new play Arcana is opening at Open Circle Theatre, ArtsWest presents Neil LaBute’s savage comedy Reasons to Be Pretty, and Saturday, Sept. 11, you can stay up all night at the Hedreen Gallery‘s Face Time with Anne Mathern and the inimitable Mike Pham.

Stokeley Towles, Trash Talk: The Social Life of Garbage (opening Sept. 9; tickets $5-$12) I caught Towles’ last show Waterlines, in part just because it seemed like such an odd concept: a one-man show about the municipal water system. And yet it blew me away. Towles is a brilliantly subtle performer and engaging thinker who sucks his audiences into the fascinating world of the otherwise banal social services we take for granted; he manages to make really excited about it without falling back on Bill Nye-style fake exuberance. In Trash Talk, Towles moves on from water to garbage, crafting a fascinating portrait of how we related to what we throw away. Definitely not to be missed.

Strawberry Theatre Workshop, Breaking the Code (opening Sept. 10; tickets $15-$30). Mathematician Alan Turing earned his page in the history books for playing a role in breaking Germany’s infamous “Enigma” code during the Second World War. Perhaps he was so good at solving riddles meant to hide the truth because in essence, he was one himself, a closeted homosexual trying to hide his true self from the world. Emotional drama will ensue. I wouldn’t normally be all that interested in a show like this (they’re a dime a dozen, frankly), but it’s hard not to get behind Strawshop, consistently one of Seattle’s finest theatres and a company that’s developed something of a rep for doing engaging bio-plays.

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The Balagan Theatre/Eric Lane Barnes, Rapture of the Deep (opening Sept. 10; tickets $15-$18). A semi-autobiographical play by Barnes, Rapture of the Deep tells the story of a kid who grows up in the larger-than-life shadow cast by his dead uncle. This also happens to be the last production to go up in the Balagan’s current Capitol Hill space, so if you have fond memories, be sure not to miss your last chance.

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Velocity Dance Center‘s Fall Kick-Off Extravaganza (Sept. 10-12; tickets $16-$35). Didn’t I just say this weekend is when the season starts? Velocity Dance Center is even having a fall kick-off party, celebrating the season to come (their first full season in their lovely new home on 12th) with a three-day performance event, featuring line-ups of Seattle’s danciest talent each night.

Project: Space Available, Tableau Vivant (Sept. 10-11; free). Choreographer Monica Mata Gilliam and performance artist (I make up a different moniker every time) Vanessa DeWolf are well into their fascinating, year-long program. P:SA is pretty simple–they just give a space to an artist for some period of time to work in/out of, with some sort of public presentation included. Kind of like a residency. Up next is choreographer Marissa Rae Niederhauser, presenting a series of living tableaux gallery style for the next two months. The first installation is available for viewing free this Friday and Saturday from 7 to 7:30 at 1417 10th Ave #D on Capitol Hill. (Enter through the door by Sweatbox Yoga and go all the way to the back; studio D shares a back wall with Neumos next door.)

Open Flight Studio, Here/Now: Installment 6 (Sept. 11; tickets $8 suggest donation). Choreographer Paige Barnes’ quarterly evening of curated improv dance and music returns for its sixth edition. Bleh! My tongue got twisted just writing that! Okay, so here’s the deal: Barnes invites in some talented local dancers and pairs them with some local musicians, for them to improv a short original work together. Does it always turn out to be brilliant? No. But the heightened potential for failure is what makes it so interesting.

The Intiman, A Doctor in Spite of Himself (tickets $25-$65). And finally, the big boys! The Intiman’s newest production is up and running this week–Christopen Epp and Stephen Bayers’ adaptation of Moliere’s classic. Press materials politely describe it as “ribald.” It involves a man of questionable virtues and a whipsmart wife who deceives a town into believing he’s the best doctor around. Come on–it’ll be awesome!