In Theater News: Theater Anonymous Plays With The Unknown

One has to assume that the folks at One World Theater and Three Card Monty like their productions to be a little dangerous. Their 14/48 is fraught with the stuff, and now that it's become something of a local institution, the two companies are bringing Theater Anonymous to Seattle.

The idea (which is being licensed from Portland's The Anonymous Theater Company) is pretty simple: Get a play and cast it, but then keep everyone in the dark -- only the director and a few members of the production staff will know exactly who is in the cast. The cast will find out who's playing what at the same time the audience does: Opening night. In fact, the cast members will walk into the theater as patrons themselves, in order to keep the secret intact.

The mind boggles at the logistics that this must incur; all of the individual rehearsals had, and trying as best as one could to keep all of the performances in the same world. And because all of the actors will not have worked with anybody else, there's going to be a huge element of surprise as the performers craft the world of the play on the spot. Already, the sense of possibility is becoming epic.

In order to pique your curiosity further, the first Anonymous project is the holiday-appropriate It's A Wonderful Life, which will take place at Capitol Hill's Erickson Theater on Monday, December 19th at 7:30p.m. I don't know about you, but this just sounds too good to pass up.