Recent Stories with tag amy thone

Hans Altwies, Amy Thone, Bhama Roget, and Denis Arndt in God of Carnage at the Rep (Photo: Keri Kellerman)

"What you have to understand," my friend told me over drinks after the show, "is that this is a very French play."

I spent much of the next day pondering exactly what that means. Without setting out to, over the course of a month I've now witnessed four performances that could be described as very French in one way or another. First there was the brilliantly entertaining French Project, live at Northwest Film Forum. Next, there was Intiman's new adaptation of Molière's A Doctor in Spite of Himself. Last weekend brought the (debatably) amazing Christian Rizzo to On the Boards, and the opening of Seattle Repertory Theatre's 10/11 season with Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage (through October 24; tickets $15-$59).

If any of these performances were going to storm some metaphorical theatrical Bastille and kickstart a Seattle-French revolution of its own, the one least likely to do it is Carnage, which is also probably the one that most erroneously fancies itself capable.... (more)

Brenda Joyner and Amy Thone in NCTC's "On the Nature of Dust." Photo: Chris Bennion

Though it's a comedy about the mother-daughter bond--albeit one that also provokes audible sniffling--On the Nature of Dust (through May 30 at ACT's Falls Theatre, tickets $10-$25) will never be confused with the chick-lit fare that features earnest joy luck clubs or no-shit-taking ya-ya sisterhoods. It's most hilarious moments have the feel of hidden family-photo-album candids. Still, it celebrates a central mystery (acknowledging, then breaking that bond) in a way that many--if not most--men may only guess at the depth of.

From the moment that the lights come up on Amy Thone, sprawled out at the breakfast table in a too-short denim skirt, the play is owned by her character, Shirley Bliss, a hard-living, man-chasing, unfit excuse for a mom. Sure, we can laugh about it in retrospect, but she's the kind of woman you give a wide berth to in the supermarket. She is the challenge playwright Stephanie Timm has set herself. You've heard of an antihero. Meet the anti-mom.

If Shirley gets a hard-won education in motherhood, just as her baby Clara (Brenda Joyner) is about to leave the nest, Thone, Timm, and director Kathleen Collins are careful not to sand her rough edges smooth. Her language and parenting advice--while uproarious--are recommended for those 16 and above. (Her explanation for why she smells the way she does exiting the bedroom may not have an upper or lower bound.) 

Etta Lilienthal's scenic design for Shirley's apartment smacks you upside the head with the social stratum suggested by a plush burgundy couch, a plastic wood-grain breakfast table, and floral-patterned vinyl chairs (the ones with the metal frame and trapezoidal backs), all on a carpet of AstroTurf. (The impossible-but-true AstroTurf really sends me.)

Brenda Joyner and Benjamin Harris in NCTC's "On the Nature of Dust." Photo: Chris Bennion

Borrowing from what is now absurdist tradition (and a penchant of her own), Timm has over-achieving, compulsively organized Clara turn into a chimpanzee following a church-utility-closet groping spree with Bernie Wells (Benjamin Harris).

Oddly, the chimpanzee scenes are not all that funny--at least in comparison to the rest of the show.

Once Clara starts devolving, the play is all Thone's--and Harris's. Harris is that lanky, gawky, blurting and grunting ur-teenager that typifies the actual variety (or used to, prior to Michael Cera). Harris is never smarter than his character, never peeks out behind Bernie's goofball incomprehension. Shirley, adrift without her daughter's mothering, at first tries to find a way to restore Clara, and gradually settles on trying to create the environment she needs.... (more)

Amy Thone and Brenda Joyner from "On the Nature of Dust". Photo by MJ Sieber

Tonight is the official opening night of New Century Theatre Co.'s third staged production, On the Nature of Dust (at ACT Theatre; tickets $25), and for the last week they've been receiving heaps of praise in previews from Seattle Met, Seattle Magazine, the Weekly, and the Times, to name just four, on the strength of their first two shows. It's the sort of praise that just plain raises the stakes; Seattle Magazine even dares to ask, "Can NCTC’s third production, On the Nature of Dust, hold up under all the hype?"

Sadly, that's the wrong question. On the face of it, NCTC is, of course, going to deliver. On the Nature of Dust features a who's-who cast of people like Amy Thone and Betsy Schwartz; these are the sort of people who are a pleasure to watch perform, regardless of what they're doing. No, the real question—and it's one that has consequences for the theatre in Seattle overall—is whether NCTC is going to establish themselves as a company willing to take risks by producing work that challenges audiences, or whether they're going to settle into a comfortable, independent version of the relatively risk-averse regional theatres where these actors established themselves.

NCTC burst onto the scene in late 2008 with their stunning production of Elmer Rice's 1923 play The Adding Machine. Not only were the performances incredible—led by founding members Paul Morgan Stetler and Amy Thone—but the scenic design by Jennifer Zeyl, which found inspiration in Rice's Expressionist contemporary Fritz Lang's films, achieved a rare sort of synthesis. Whereas most big productions feature sets that are essentially visually engaging backdrops, Zeyl's design was a fully integrated component, the play's themes and aesthetic working seamlessly together to deliver a wallop of a play.... (more)

Tuesday night just past seven, I wandered into Ballard's Copper Gate, a 64-year-old Scandinavian bar on 24th Avenue NW. I'm no doubt late to this, but the Copper Gate's an odd but incredibly charming place: immaculate and well-lit, with a copper-topped bar built into a replica of a Viking boat, the relaxed, mostly middle-aged crowd of diners sat sipping wine and eating Scandinavian classics, surrounded by classy erotica. The walls are covered in places with vintage nudes and tame fetish shots that are somehow sexy but not dirty. It turns out that when new owners took over several years ago, they found the former owner's wife's stash of pictures, and took that as inspiration. A painting of a pretty young lass on the main wall, I was told by a helpful bar manager, has been there since the bar opened, and is supposedly the erotica-collecting woman herself back in the day.

The point is, as pretty much everyone who's written about it has noted, the Copper Gate, for all the naked ladies, is still the sort of place you could take your grandma (and I'm pretty sure there was one there). And much like the main bar, "the Pussy Room" in back is not nearly so dirty as it sounds. That said, you get to it by walking through a narrow, rounded passage painted deep red that leads to a room blocked off by red velvet curtains. Ahem. Pussy Room, indeed!... (more)

M.J. Sieber and Paul Morgan Stetler in NCTC's "The Adding Machine." Photo by Chris Bennion.

The first annual Theatre Puget Sound "Gregory" Awards were handed out last night at a black tie gala at the Intiman, with New Century Theatre Company predictably cleaning up. They took best company, best production (for The Adding Machine), best director (John Langs, for The Adding Machine), and best actress (Amy Thone, for The Adding Machine). That's damn near a sweep--the only awards they didn't take were best actor (which went to the well-loved Charles Leggett, for his performance as Shylock in Seattle Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice) and the "person to watch" award, which went to Don Daryl Rivera, for a variety of shows this last year, including The Wizard of Oz at Seattle Children's Theatre. Finally, the Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement Award (which has been around for 12 years) was awarded to Chris Bennion, whose production photos of most of the big shows in town are constantly seen in newspapers and on the... (more)