A conversation with Seattle
Though there are more than 200 prints — photographs of more than 150 people from 20 Seattle theatres — the “Celebration” exhibit from studio Photo Sister is a view through a keyhole at the larger performing arts scene. Keep that in mind as you traverse the exhibit, spread out over three floors of the historic ACT Theatre building. Continue reading A Photography Show Tries to Fit Seattle’s Theatre Scene into the Frame
There’s a lot to laugh about in the comedy-musical The Wisemen (at ACT Theatre through December 22): the story of the Wisemen Law Firm (Goldberg, Frankenstein, and Murray) is an extended riff on “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” focusing in this instance on what you’ve been told about the Nativity. Continue reading Calling in “The Wisemen” on a Wayward Spirit of Christmas
The Pitmen Painters is less about the art than it is about society: specifically, the rise of socialist England. The play includes the major players of both the artistic and societal dynamics of the time. These include an artist, an artist/academic, a patron, and five eponymous artist-miners, known as The Ashington Group. Continue reading ACT’s The Pitmen Painters Joins Laughter with Meaty Intellectual Concerns
April looks like a good month for Free and Cheap theatre. There’s a mix of things–readings, dogs, Judas, superheroes, Chay Yew, and women. Lots of women. Here’s a culled list of Pay What You Can, $12 and under, or free performances and readings happening in April. Continue reading Free & Cheap this Month in Theatre
Jeremy Barker, our At-Large Arts contributor, forwarded me some “new thinking,” that reminded me of the kinds of solutions that conflict with institutional values. Joanna Harmon in Minneapolis asks:
“What if small companies and loose collectives of theatre artists were enabled by a single group of administrators, rather than each company reinventing its administrative wheel?”
This will sound more or less interesting to you–I’m willing to bet–depending upon your role in arts administration. Continue reading Arts Marketing for Dummies
When you go see Warner Shook’s take on The Prisoner of Second Avenue (at ACT through May 29), you hear people laughing almost constantly. You can amass a typology of laughter out of the evening: the amused snort at put-downs, chortle of schadenfreude, horse laugh of impropriety, belly laugh of communal satisfaction. Yet the plot synopsis would include sudden unemployment, deteriorating mental health, and televised intimations of the breakdown of civil society. What’s so damn funny? Continue reading ACT’s Prisoner of Second Avenue Worries at Your Funny Bone (Review)
Those pessimistic about the Intiman’s chances said, At least we’ve still got ACT, referring to A Contemporary Theatre’s revival from a near-death experience in 2003. But not so quick. “We’ve turned the boat around,” ACT’s executive director Gian-Carlo Scandiuzzi told me on the phone, “but we haven’t gotten it back to the dock yet.” ACT hopes to close this year with its second balanced budget in a row, but the theatre owes some $2.7 million in debt obligations. It’s in the third year of a five-year plan to repay part of that debt. Continue reading ACT’s Gian-Carlo Scandiuzzi on How to Reinvent Your Theatre