Results tagged “intiman”

MONDAY WITH KID CHARLEMANE: Steely Dan tends to fall off the radar now and again. Their smooth, soft and hypnotic melodies can distract you from remembering how incredibly awesome they are. Technically you can miss them tonight, since they're playing again tomorrow, but why play with fire?

"Inadvertently topical" is perhaps the best way to describe The Year of Magical Thinking, at Intiman Theatre through Sept. 20 (tix $40-$55). Joan Didion's own adaptation of her award-winning 2005 memoir of the same title, the one-woman show follows Didion's struggles with grief following the death of her novelist husband John Gregory Dunne in 2003, which coincided with the beginning of the long, catastrophic series of illnesses that eventually claimed her daughter's life the next year. But playing against the backdrop of the ongoing national debate over health care reform, during the show we kept coming back to the--again no doubt inadvertent--lie that is the throughline of the play, and one of the first things Judith Roberts, the marvelous actress who plays Didion, says at the opening: "This will happen to you."

RECOMMENDED 14/48: The World's Quickest Theatre Festival @ On the Boards. 14/48 has become a twice-yearly staple of Seattle theatre: dozens of actors, directors, and writers get together to throw together the best 10-minute plays they can pull off in 24 hours. The first weekend opens tonight with two showings of the first seven plays, based on themes divvied out to playwrights last night; tomorrow, there's a whole new set of plays--in total, 14 original plays in 48 hours. The festival runs for two weekends at OtB, with a new set of directors, writers, actors, and musicians next weekend. (100 W. Roy St. Fri. & Sat., 8 & 10:30 p.m. Tix $18-$35.)

RECOMMENDED The Elephant Man @ Strawberry Theatre Workshop. "Not knowing much about the play, we went because we saw the cast included David Pichette, MJ Sieber, and Alexandra Tavares, who consistently bring a snap, crackle, and pop (respectively) to whatever they're in. The show is an hour and forty minutes with no intermission--the audience last night was glued to the stage the whole time." [Read our review.] (Fri. & Sat., 8:30 p.m. 1524 Harvard Ave. $10-$54.36.)

ONE WEEKEND ONLY ARC Dance: Summer Dance at the Center @ Seattle Rep. Stunning contemporary ballet by the best local dance company you've never heard of. (Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m. Leo K. Theatre @ Seattle Rep. Tix $15-$25.)

RECOMMENDED Pretty Girls @ Seattle Center House/TPS Theatre 4. Despite its low budget and all the attendant challenges faced by small fringe theatres, Marked Women Productions have pulled off a winning show with Pretty Girls. Inspired by the work of Naomi Wolf, the company has produced an ambitious and challenging original script that comes to life onstage on the strength of the company's innovating approach to staging. It features several strong performances, as well, particularly Opal Peachey and local teenage up-and-comer Megan Schutzer. (Fri., Sun. & Mon., 8 p.m. Seattle Center House, Fourth Floor; tix $8-$10.)

It hasn't even opened yet, but the Intiman has just announced the Arin Arbus production of Othello is getting eight extra performances, thanks to brisk ticket sales: "Tickets are on sale now for shows on Tuesday, August 4 at 7:30 pm; Wednesday, August 5 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm; Thursday, August 6 at 7:30 pm; Friday, August 7 at 8 pm; Saturday, August 8 at 2 pm and 8 pm; and Sunday, August 9 at 2 pm (closing)." Also, on Tuesdays, admission is $25 for adults (tickets are always $10 for the 25-and-under set). Directed by Arin Arbus, this "terrific" (NY Times) Othello was originally produced in New York and sold out its February run, then came back in April. This plus the $50K from the NEA should keep Intiman's lights on.

RECOMMENDED NW New Works Fest @ On the Boards. Week two of OtB's annual revue of the best experimental theatre, performance, and dance from around the Northwest. Last weekend was a blast, and this weekend there's eight completely different performers hitting two stages. The Studio Showcase plays tonight at 8 and Sat. and Sun. at 5, and the Mainstage performances are Sat. and Sun. at 8. (100 W. Roy St. Tix $14.)

RECOMMENDED Northwest New Works @ On the Boards. The NW New Works Fest returns in top form! The first weekend features a lineup of top Northwest dance groups on the mainstage, and a cast of brilliant experimental troupes down in the studio, our favorite part of the fest. The studio showcase plays Fri. 8, Sat. and Sun. at 5. The mainstage performances are Sat. and Sun. at 8. Next weekend, the lineup changes, so this is your only opportunity to see some of Seattle's best performers, including Helsinki Syndrome, featuring former Seattlester Rachel Hynes, live from London. (100 W. Roy St. Tix $14.)

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.)

Terrific. Goddamn terrific, that's what. Intiman's A Thousand Clowns (through June 17, tickets: $40-$55, $10 for 25-and-under) is like if Holden Caulfield grew up, got a job writing for a kids' TV show, and then suddenly quit, desperately angry about having become a "phony." On the one hand, it's as time- and place-stamped as can be--there's the hilarity of dialing the weather lady on the phone, and an impromptu "Guess that New York borough accent" contest--but on the other, these people are such characters, the play sucks you right in. We had no idea three hours had passed at its close.

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.)

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The theatre is considered so negligible in American culture (and in many ways : Bartlett Sher, the artistic director of the Intiman, is the first white director in decades to helm a major production of an August Wilson play, outraging some African-American theatre artists. Wilson, who spent the last 15 years of his life in Seattle, had limited productions of his work to companies that hired African-Americans as directors and designers; since his death in 2005, his widow has overturned that prohibition.

   

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ACT kicked off their annual production of playing up at Annex Theatre.

WANNA TALK POLITICS?: If too much politics is never enough, Town Hall has got you covered: James Traub will discuss America’s history of evangelizing for democracy, with particular emphasis on Bush's faith-based attempts to spread civic-mindedness. But before Traub kicks things off, Town Hall will have television monitors set up for viewing the Presidential Debate. Traub will even give an analysis of the debate and take a few questions.

Intiman's All the King’s Men (through November 8; tickets: $10 to $50) is one of those rare instances where everything that's needed comes together: cast, script, direction, intention. The close of Intiman's American Cycle, a celebration of great American plays, it's a grand Southern epic (18 actors play 50 parts) dotted with moments as personal as a phone call home.

COME ON AND SAFARI WITH ME: Seattlest's first concert of note was the Beach Boys at the Brevard County Fair in Central Florida. We walked into a trash can, and somehow that's the part of the night we most remember. John Stamos was there playing the bongos. Otherwise, we couldn't really tell you much about the show. That was 20 years ago. So, we have to kind of Salute the Boys (sans Brian Wilson) for still playing shows. Tonight's performance will benefit Children's Hospital. So you can get your "Kokomo" on and support a good cause at the same time.

Until this moment, Douglas Carter Beane's off-Broadway-then-on-Broadway, poison-pen skewering of the capacious Hollywood closet was more likely to play at ACT than the more classics-minded, genteel Intiman. (In fact, director Fracaswell Hyman's last Intiman outing was To Kill a Mockingbird.) It turns out last season's Prayer for My Enemy was not a one-off experiment with a play whose characters know what a cell phone is.

If this announcement had come on April Fool's Day, we'd have thought they went a little overboard with the prank. A Broadway musical about the life of Bruce Lee and his journey to martial arts and movie stardom? Apparently so. Today, Elephant Eye Theatrical announced their latest musical Bruce Lee: Journey to the West, which is scheduled to debut sometime during the 2010-11 season.

The Seattle Repertory Theatre has just announced its artistic director, David Esb...Esbjornson has decided not to renew his contract. When it expires on June 30, 2009, so will he. Esbjornson joined Seattle Rep in 2005, and we still have trouble with his name.

"Though we are genuinely disappointed with David's decision, we understand that a complex series of factors informed his thinking." said Marty Taucher, President of the Board of Trustees. "David is well into developing the 2008-2009 season and will continue working through to its successful completion.