The week's theatrical news was dominated by two companies who've been out of commission (though not out of the count) for the majority of the year: Intiman Theater's return with an intended 2012 season and Balagan Theater's finding a new home.
In Theater News: The Return & The Step Up
Schmee's Dinosaur and Balagan's King Arthur: You Know, For Kids
Along with park shows, cabarets and a general experimental bent, the Summer months are also one of the few times out of the year where theater companies happily embrace programming for the younger set. Two local fringe companies are currently offering outdoor productions specifically aimed at children; Theater Schmeater's Arrh! A Dinosaur Ate My Space Ship and Balagan Theater's King Arthur and the Knights of the Playground.
One More Night for Laughter Against the Machine
Seattle comedy fans, the Balagan is hosting two more showing of Laughter Against the Machine tonight. That's two more heavily opinionated and highly informed hours of bracing political comedy. Is there anything better to do on a Saturday night? Yeah, we thought not. Pick up your tickets now.
8:00 & 10:00 p.m. // Balagan Theare, 1117 East Pike Street // Tickets: $12 - $15
Laughter Against the Machine at the Balagan
Tomorrow, Hari Kondabolu, one of the funniest people to call Seattle home, joins fellow comedians W. Kamau Bell and Nato Green at the Balagan Theatre for Laughter Against the Machine. We expect biting social commentary, observational comedy that makes us a bit uncomfortable being Caucasian, and a general sense of flinging lies back into the face of power.
Weekend Theatre: Aug. 14-16
RECOMMENDED For these Unclosings @ New City Theatre. Local visual artist phenom Susie J. Lee has taken her studious exploration of the transience of memory out of the art gallery in this collaboration with dancer/choreographer Ying Zhou. Utilizing some impressive technology, Lee has put together a dramatic live performance/art installation/dance piece that builds on her already impressive catalog of achievements. (1404 18th Ave. Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m. Tix $15.)
Weekend Theatre: June 26-28
OPENING Orange Flower Water @ ACT. Last December, New Century Theatre launched with a bang, with a lauded, controversial production of The Adding Machine. Their second show, opening this weekend, promises to go in radical new directions. A four-person bedroom drama, Orange Flower Water is every bit as intimate as The Adding Machine was epic. It's also dirty--18 and over, please. (700 Union St. Fri. & Sat. 8, Sun. 7. Tix $25.)
Weekend Theatre: June 19-21
OPENING the break/s @ ACT. Marc Bamuthi Joseph is a poet, theatre artist, and educator who's produced a hip hop influenced solo performance piece that's generating buzz all over town. (700 Union St. Fri. & Sat. 8 p.m., matinees Sat. & Sun. 2 p.m. Tix $40-$55.)
Weekend Theatre: May 29-31
ONE WEEKEND ONLY biome @ Seattle Rep. Capacitor, a San Francisco-based performance group that mixes dance, multimedia, and science, is finally back in town with biome. Originally scheduled for January, the performance was canceled when flooding closed I-5. Now, Capacitor is finally back for two nights with a stunning visual exploration of the micro-habitat of the rain-forest canopy, based on a close collaboration with scientists in the International Canopy Network, including Evergreen College professor Dr. Nalini Nadkarni. (Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m. 155 Mercer St. Tix $15-$25.)
Weekend Theatre: May 22-25
RECOMMENDED - Final weekend! - The Last Letter @ New City Theatre. "What are you supposed to say about a Holocaust play? The Last Letter is good, it's worth seeing, but in a strange way that's not saying much, because you're talking about the story itself, not the performance. But then again, that may say as much about New City's artistic choices as anything: sometimes, less is more, and revealing the story is mostly a matter of getting out of the way." (1404 18th Ave. Fri. & Sat. 8 p.m. Tix $15.)
Stalk Of The Town
Kim is shooting from the hip this weekend (papow!). The only solid plan is her friend's weekly L Word watching party on Sunday. Between now and then, she'll probably go see Shenandoah Davis at 2020 Cycle with Your Heart Breaks and KHV. Maybe there'll be a delicious meal culled from our local farmers markets. Maybe she'll hop on a train and go to Portland. Anything could happen, people. Anything.
Marat/Sade Plays Like a Crazy '60s Flashback
First, a word of warning. Last night we went to see Marat/Sade and this morning cut ourselves so deeply shaving that that darker red blood poured out--not the usual pink nick. And we blame that--with subcutaneous justice--on watching a play where you spend 90-plus minutes waiting for someone to get stabbed. Clearly some sort of blood lust was excited. So if you go to Balagan Theatre's production (running through January 31, tickets $15), and out of sheer perversity you might well want to, watch it around sharp objects afterwards.
Weekend Theatre: Jan. 22-25
OPENINGS: Athol Fugard's at Stone Soup (Fri. & Sat. 7:30 p.m., tix $15/$10) is a rock n' roll adaptation of a classic.
Search and Destroy @ Balagan Theatre: the '80s are STILL a Bitch
Fuck the '80s. Seriously, one more Mo Rocca VH1 show, one more special dance night, one more themed party, one more fashion comeback from anything hailing from the years between 1980 and 1989, and we're going to lose it. We were there; it sucked. That said, if you're going to throw a play in the basement of La Spiga/Boom Noodle that has an affiliation to the 1980s, you can do worse than to bookend it with the hair metal that was so justly put to the sword in the early Nineties, but at the time rocked. Balagan Theatre's current production of Search and Destroy takes every opportunity--before, after, during set changes, complete with high-kicking silouettes--to slip you some Whitesnake, GnR, Bon Jovi. The soundtrack is worth the price of admission alone.

