This Week In Theater: Sketch, Tiger, Mating Adventures, Diversity and Women's 14/48

For this week's theatrical trip through the Seattle area, and simply for the sake of sanity, we are going North to South...

And so it is only logical to being our journey in Greenwood, where the talented group behind the Endangered Species Project will take over Taproot's theatrical home in order to bring you another staged reading of a long forgotten gem. This month, that gem comes in the form of Sydney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted, a melodrama from the 1920s about love across class lines, worker's rights and more, set among the immigrants found in the Napa Valley's wine country. As John Allis wrote in his review of ESP's reading of Chekhov last month, the group is pretty adept at bringing out a play's numerous layers in an pleasing manner; though Howard's work may not be well known in our modern age, you could trust that ESP will show us some, if not all, of the reasons why it once was celebrated.

Monday at 7:00p.m. // Taproot Theater, 204 North 85th Street // Free

Belltown is our next stop; specifically, the Rendesvouz' Jewelbox Theater, where Rachel Hynes brings us the Seattle premiere of her Tale of a Tiger, a solo performance piece about a girl who lives in a secluded spot in the woods with her father, and eventually, due to her circumstances, ends up turning into a tiger. Given that Hynes is one of the creators of behind The Helsinki Syndrome, Seattle's celebrated experimental theater duo; and that Tiger was developed by Hynes while she was attending The London International School of Performing Arts, it is highly unlikely that this will be a kid-friendly affair. In fact, is is billed as a "dark and spare fairy tale," so bring your minor at your own risk (assuming they could get into the 'Vouz).

Sunday and Tuesday (no show Monday) at 7:00p.m. // Rendezvouz, 2322 2nd Avenue // $10

We now veer up to Capitol Hill, specifically over to Theater Schmeater's former-parking-garage-turned-black-box-theater and their encore production of Joseph Scrimshaw's Adventures In Mating, a play the Schmee has had prior success with that's making a return with a slightly re-worked script. In essence, this is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure type of play; where the actors have rehearsed various versions of the proceedings and are able to present the audience with a number of opportunities to decide the outcome of the evening. Folks at the Schmee are saying that this iteration has been sharpened and streamlined since the last time it was produced here, and molded to cater to the strengths of an experienced pair of actors, which this production has in the form of Terri Lazzara and Alex Samuels. Fun, light, summer fare perfect for those looking for a carefree date night.

Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00p.m., through August 20 // Theater Schmeater, 1500 Summit Avene // $15 - $22

Back down the hill we go, with a stop at ACT's home within the Eagles Aerie #1, where they are presenting REPRESENT!, a week-long celebration of multi-cultural playwrights that will feature three play readings which will be produced by some of the area's leading ethnic theater companies: The Hansberry Project are presenting Keith Josef Adkins' The Final Days of NegroVille tonight at 7:30p.m.; tomorrow night, eSe Teatro will put on Joann Farias' The Land of Corn and Power; then SIS Productions teams up with Pratidhwani in order to produce Lauren Yee's Samsara on Friday. These three shows get another chance to be seen on Saturday in a marathon session of play readings. These are three new plays written by some of the nation's most promising new minority playwrights, and if we're lucky, we might be able to see full productions of these plays. Until that happens, however, this might be the one chance to see these plays right away, and performed by some of the region's talented ethnic actors.

Through Sunday, various times (see website for more detailed information)// ACT's Bullitt Cabaret, 700 Union Street // $5

Next we head to Pioneer Square, where the duo known as Charles, part of Seattle's Third Wave of Sketch, are putting on their latest creation, The Ace of Bass. Though they hail from Seattle, Charles' impact on the comedy scene could be seen on the national level (an honor they share with fellow Third Wavers, Bellingham's The Cody Rivers Show), having recently won the Best Comedy Solo or Duo at the Los Angeles Comedy Festival; while its two members have written for The Onion, and served as editor-in-chief for Stanford's humor magazine, The Chaparral. For each performance of this production, Charles will team up with a second Seattle sketch group; these include The Pork Filled Players, The Ubiquitous They and the DK and Morgan Show.

Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00p.m., through August 7 // The Satori Loft, 619 Western Ave, 4th Floor // $10

And thus we come to a rest inside the International District's Theater Off Jackson who are playing host to 14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival. Seattlest has written at length before about the festival's unique and lasting power for providing indelible theatrical magic, but to summarize quickly, during the next weekend, seven writers, seven directors and about 25 actors (along with band members, designers, volunteers and more talented people you could even imagine) sequester themselves in order to create 14 new ten-minute plays within 48 hours -- then the process begins anew next weekend with a whole new group of artists. For the institution's Summer 2011 edition, and for the first time in the festival's history, the production team has decided to split its participants into gender lines. The idea came from one of its veteran participants who noticed, while waiting to audition in a roomful of colleagues, that it wasn't often that such talent is given a chance to perform together, instead of competing for a small number of roles.

And so, we come to this weekend, where an improbable list of Seattle's most talented women writers, directors and actresses will get together in order to simply create for the sake of creation. Frankly, we can't wait to see the result. Break a leg, ladies!

(Next weekend, it'll be the men's turn, which will include Seattlest Theater Contributor John Allis on live-blogging duties.)

Friday and Saturday at 8:00p.m. and 10:30p.m. // Theater Off Jackson, 409 7th Avenue South // $20 in advance, $25 at the door