This Week In Theater: Connected Yellow Vibrating Nuns and Priests

All of our play openings this week take place inside a tiny stretch of land, most of it on Capitol Hill...We'd wager you could walk the route described in less than an hour; so it's only fitting that the metaphorical journey attached would be as diverse as it is...

We begin our journey at WET's Little Theater on 19th Avenue, where a production of a 1957 Jack Gelber play, The Connection, is being mounted. The play was written at the height of the beatnik movement; a fact that is reflected by its having been produced by The Living Theater in 1960, and is further corroborated when it's described as "combining live jazz music and dialogue with popular and alternative culture in the search for a new theatrical experience." The time frame coincides with one of the few times American theater makers actively embraced experimentation on its stages (as opposed to having it be a boutique endeavor, as it is considered these days), and it's remarkable how that movement still manages to surprise modern audiences (not going to dwell on what that means).

Friday through Sunday at 7:30p.m.; August 5 through August 14 // WET's Little Theater, 608 19th Avenue East // $10 - $15

The last installment of the Penguins series, Scot Auguston's extremely silly assault on the Catholic church, received a split decision from the Seattlest theater team. On the one hand the material does not offend, really, and isn't all that shocking. On the other it is extremely silly, fun, perverse and harmless. So, unless talk of nuns giving handjobs to underage Mormons sends you into paroxysms of rage, or if you want your satire to have sharper teeth than what's on offer here, then Penguins 5: The Final Episode is a safe bet. (Show opens on Saturday night, as Friday's late night production is this month's edition of Spin The Bottle, Annex's monthly cabaret.)

Fridays through Saturday at 11:00p.m.; August 6 through August 27 // Annex Theatre, 1100 East Pike Street // $5 - $10

And so, we arrive at the Northwest Premiere of David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face, a co-production between ReAct and Asian-American Sketch Comedy stalwarts, The Pork Filled Players. Billed as a mockumentary, Yellow Face is Hwang's comic attack on ethnic stereotyping in the majority of American entertainments, best exemplified by the original casting of Miss Saigon on Broadway. Brutally frank and hilarious because of it, the play gets turned on its head when the lead character ends up doing exactly what he's protesting about, and then hilarity proceeds to ensue...

Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00p.m. (Saturday Matinees at 2:00p.m.), August 5 - September 3 // Hugo House, 1634 11th Avenue // $9 - $15

The big ticket item of the week would be ACT's production of Sarah Ruhl's In The Next Room, or the vibrator play; as most of the buzz it's been receiving around town centers of the ridiculous prudishness a number of local publications displayed when it came time to promote the event, the fact that the play received a number of Tony nominations and won the Pulitzer in 2010 tends to get lost in the shuffle. The play takes place at the turn of the 20th century, as a woman wonders why all of her husband's dreary patients come out of their appointments feeling and looking exuberant, and what is that infernal noise? By all accounts, the play is nowhere near as bawdy as all that, though still a lot of fun. Finally, we have a chance to see what all the buzz is about.

Tuesday through Sunday (various times); August 4 through August 28 // ACT's Falls Theater, 700 Union Street // $15 - $37.50 in advance -- PWYC after 1:00p.m., in person, on the day of show -- no guarantee of seating