Culture Fiend

Intiman Theatre Names New Managing Director

UW World Series’ Keri Kellerman starts March 12.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Feb 29, 2012 at 11:45AM 0 Comments

Keri Kellerman

Beleaguered regional theater Intiman is looking for a fresh start. The overhaul started with the appointment of 28-year-old artistic director Andrew Russell last August, and progressed with a $1 million fundraising blitz to support an abbreviated 2012 season—a four-play summer festival that nods at the theater’s classical roots, but also includes new work by Dan Savage.

Now the board has announced its latest big change: Keri Kellerman will step in as managing director. She’s no stranger to the Seattle arts community; after graduating from Pacific Lutheran University with an art/art history degree (followed by a law degree from Temple), she’s gone on to work for Seattle Repertory Theatre and Pacific Northwest Ballet, and served as development director for On the Boards. As of late, she’s been director of advancement for UW World Series (which has also undergone some major changes lately, notably the appointment of new executive director Michelle Witt), and serves on the board of local dance company zoe | juniper.

Kellerman faces the daunting task of getting Intiman’s books in order. After former managing director Brian Colburn left abruptly in November 2010, reports of long-term mismanagement arose: inaccurate accounting; months of bookkeeping backlog; unauthorized transfers of endowment funds to the operating budget by the managing director; lapsed payments to unions. But when Kellerman shows up for her first day of work on March 12, the new leadership team—with all its fresh faces—will officially be in place.

“Intiman has always had a special place in my heart and I’m blown away by all the love and support that the community has shown for it,” Kellerman said in a statement. “I can’t wait to be a part of it all and help make Intiman a brilliant, fearless and riotous home for Seattle artists and the people who love them.”

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Tags: Intiman Theatre

Intiman Raises $1 Million—The Show Will Go On

The regional theater will reopen this summer with a four-play festival.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Feb 07, 2012 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Photo courtesy Ali Mohamed el-Gasseir.

Back in business (From left) Directors Allison Narver, Andrew Russell, and Valerie Curtis-Newton take the reins of Intiman’s 2012 summer festival.

With the help of 1,000 investors, Tony-winning regional theater Intiman met its $1 million goal —enough to go forward with a 2012 summer festival. Intiman’s board of trustees voted unanimously last night to reopen the theater after a budget crisis crippled its 2011 season nine months ago.

“We’ve taken the last nine months to regroup, reorganize and strategize on how best to seize this opportunity, and we’re so thrilled this community has rallied to help us blaze towards the finish line,” artistic director Andrew Russell said in a statement. “We’re here because of them, no question."

With the funds in place, Intiman will relaunch under Russell with a four-play summer festival slated for July and August. The 2012 season is the group effort of the company’s new multidisciplinary collective and 12-actor repertory, featuring an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, staged within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, starring Marya Sea Kaminski with choreography by former PNB principal Olivier Wevers; a contemporary two-act play by director Valerie Curtis-Newton set inside the theater and in the courtyard; and an original show by Dan Savage.

The theater still has sizable debt, which it will pay off over time, but the $1 million pledges will go toward the festival. Subscription tickets from 2011 will be honored this year.

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Tags: Intiman Theatre, Seattle Center

Intiman’s Final Countdown

Will the theater raise the $1 million it needs to stay open?

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 31, 2012 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

The many faces of Intiman Theatre.

Is today truly the day? A recent KUOW broadcast noted that Tony-winning Intiman Theatre needed to raise $1 million by the end of January in order to stay open. But arts consultant Susan Trapnell, who’s been hired to help Intiman get out of the budget crisis that crippled its 2011 season, just told me that the theater’s board members won’t vote on the future of Intiman until next Monday—so there are a few more days to show support for the regional theater.

“Everything is a pledge”—not a donation—"until we know we have enough," Trapnell said. They’ve secured commitments for $823,000 to date. The clock’s ticking, and every gift makes a difference. (Pledges can be made at intiman.org.)

With the funds in place, Intiman will relaunch under new artistic director Andrew Russell with a four-play summer festival slated for July and August. It’s a 2012 season that’s both risky and inviting—the collaborative effort of the company’s new multidisciplinary repertory—featuring an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, staged within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, starring Marya Sea Kaminski with choreography by former PNB principal Olivier Wevers; a contemporary two-act play by director Valerie Curtis-Newton set inside the theater and in the courtyard; and an original show by Dan Savage.

The repertory will honor Intiman’s classical roots, but this lineup foretells an exciting future of cross-pollination, bringing in top local choreographers, musicians, directors, playwrights, and artists—even Seattle Symphony conductor Ludovic Morlot is on board. Now they just need to get the theater up and running…and restore institutional credibility.

“Forty years of live theater is worth fighting for,” Russell says in the video below. Meet a few of Intiman’s new artists in the clip.

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Tags: Intiman Theatre, Seattle Center

Win Two Tickets to Whim W’Him This Weekend

Seattle’s hottest new dance company debuts three original works by Olivier Wevers.

Posted by: Seattle Met staff on Jan 19, 2012 at 11:30AM 0 Comments

Photo courtesy Bamberg Fine Art / Whim W’Him.

Lucien Postlewaite and Chalnessa Eames rehearse thrown before its January 20 debut.

Enter to win two tickets to see Seattle modern dance troupe Whim W’Him in its season opener, Cast the First Rock in Twenty Twelve, on Saturday, January 21, at 8pm.

Since leaving PNB stardom last year, former principal dancer Olivier Wevers has been winning awards nationally for his playful, provocative choreography. With his new dance company Whim W’Him, which made its debut in January 2010, he’s placed familiar Seattle dancers in new contexts— swapping gender roles, breaking classical ballet lines, and donning neo–tutus. “It would be great if there is someone who discovers a new path to ballet [with these shows],” Wevers told Seattle Met in 2010. His latest work is equally evocative. Cast the First Rock in Twenty Twelve features two new comedies— La langue de l’amour and Flower Festival with an all-male pas de deux—and and the premiere of tragic thrown, invoking a stoning with sets by local sculptor Steve Jensen.

To enter to win tickets, email SeattleMetTix@gmail.com with “Whim W’Him” as the subject, and a reason why you want to see the show, by Friday, January 20, at noon. The winner will be notified by email shortly after the deadline.

Whim W’Him: Cast the First Rock in Twenty Twelve
Jan 20–22, Intiman Playhouse, $25

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Tags: Dance, Intiman Theatre, Whim W'Him

Seattle Son Nick Thune Returns for a Night of Comedy at Intiman

He grew out his facial hair for the occasion.

Posted by: Matthew Halverson on Nov 29, 2011 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

Nick Thune with his “mockumentary beard”

Seattle native Nick Thune has performed his brand of guitar-aided standup on everything from Conan to Letterman, opened for Mike Birbiglia, and dropped his first comedy album, Thick Noon, in 2010. But just because he’s doing the LA thing now, we won’t let him forget he got his start covering Enrique Iglesias songs with Seattle band No Hablos. On December 1, he’s coming home for a one-night reunion tour at Intiman Playhouse. (He says he’s "reuniting with himself.”) But first, he talked to Seattle Met about the time he worked in casting for the short-lived reality show Nanny 911.

You must have some crazy stories from Nanny 911.
There was one kid who I definitely thought was Satan. He definitely had some kind of demon in him, and it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen. His parents tied him to the bed—which the doctor suggested, by the way—when he went into these rages. We sent the tape to CPS and said, “This is a situation that might be out of hand.”

You say you’re reuniting with yourself on this tour. Where were you before?
Let’s see. The last time that I played with myself in Seattle must have been, I don’t know, two years ago.

What was that like for you?
It was a good time. The thing is that I have such a huge heart, so sometimes it’s kind of nice to take time away because I know that when I come back it’s going to be that much better.

You’re married, but you refuse to tell Who left the toilet seat up jokes. That’s a pretty rich vein of humor you could be mining.
I know. But my style of humor is, I think, more directed at people who don’t find love.

By the way, in almost every picture of you I see, you’ve got some form of a beard. Today, on a scale of Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line to Joaquin Phoenix in his mockumentary, what’s the status of your facial hair?
I’m going to have to go mockumentary.

That bad, huh?
Yeah, it’s pretty bad right now. But I think you either have a fake drug problem or a real drug problem. And I think the mockumentary drug problem is more enticing to me. I don’t even know what that means.

I don’t either.

Nick Thune is at Intiman Playhouse on Dec 1 at 8pm.

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Tags: Comedy, Intiman Theatre, Nick Thune

Intiman Plans to Reopen in 2012 with a Summer Festival

But the beleaguered theater still needs to raise $1 million.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Nov 14, 2011 at 03:30PM 1 Comments

Indiana native Andrew Russell is the new artistic director of Intiman Theatre.

Things are going to be different at Intiman Theatre from now on—emphasis on “different,” a word that came up a half-dozen times at today’s press conference as the debt-ridden regional theater tried to distance itself from the 2011 Season That Shall Not Be Named. With new artistic director Andrew Russell, a 28-year-old protégé of former AD Kate Whoriskey, officially in place, Intiman announced a four-play summer festival that’s both risky and inviting; over two months, theatergoers can see works by Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Dan Savage (yes, this Dan Savage) on the same stage.

Though Russell set the lineup, he says it’s the inspiration of the company’s new multidisciplinary repertory—a collector’s set of all-local actors, writers, directors, playwrights, choreographers, and musicians (see the full list below). “I won’t walk in and say, These are the six shows I’d like to do this season,” Russell said. “I will curate from the ideas the artists bring to the table.” Intiman will also rely on a new 12-actor ensemble for each production.

Slated for the summer is an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, staged within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to be directed by Allison Narver; Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, starring Marya Sea Kaminski with choreography by former PNB principal Olivier Wevers; a contemporary two-act play by director Valerie Curtis-Newton set inside the theater and in the courtyard; and whatever Dan Savage concocts. Four “very different” shows, hoping to draw “a lot of different people,” with a “new, different, fresh, exciting, young” artistic director at the helm (quote Intiman board president Terry Jones).

But Intiman still faces a crisis of confidence after canceling the 2011 season amid increasing debt and gross mismanagement: months of bookkeeping backlog, a dwindling endowment, and lapsed rent payments to Seattle Center, to name a few. Intiman cleaned house and hired arts consultant Susan Trapnell (who helped save ACT back in 2003) to take a look at the books. The recommendation: Stop spending money you don’t have.

“We needed to dial it back, do it smarter,” board president Jones said. “We heard be local… Be responsible. Be honest and transparent.” Hence the shortened summer season (a model for the foreseeable future), and a new fundraising goal of $1 million to cover 2012’s operational costs. If they don’t receive pledges for the entire sum by the end of January, no summer festival. As for the half-million raised during a fast and furious fundraising session last winter, that helped cover taxes and obligations to employees, but lingering debt will take anywhere from three to four years to pay off, Trapnell says.

For now, they need to focus on getting the theater up and running and restore institutional credibility. To start, they plan to offer subscribers free tickets to the 2012 season. But if they build it, will the audience come back?

Intiman’s artists
Donald Byrd (choreographer, director)
Valerie Curtis-Newton (director, educator)
Sheila Daniels (director)
Nick Garrison (actor)
Jose Gonzales (actor, musician)
Yussef el Guindi (playwright)
Marya Sea Kaminski (actor, writer, educator)
Etta Lillienthal and Ben Zamora (visual and performance design team)
Ludovic Morlot (music director of Seattle Symphony)
Allison Narver (director)
Michael Place (actor, director, producer)
Queer Teen Ensemble Theatre (local theatre program for LGBTQ youth)
Dan Savage (director, writer, activist)
Tommy Smith (playwright)
Olivier Wevers (choreographer)
Richard E.T. White (director, educator)
Robertson Witmer and the band “Awesome” (sound designer, band)
Jen Zeyl (designer)

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Tags: Theater, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Center

A&E News Briefs: New Hire at Intiman, Chief Curator at the Henry Is Out

And more on that Chihuly guy.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Aug 24, 2011 at 12:00PM 0 Comments

In his two years with Intiman, Andrew Russell has served as associate producer and directed last season’s The Thin Place.

THEATER The much-beleaguered Intiman Theatre, which shut in April due to severe budget problems, showed signs of hope today when the company hired former associate producer Andrew Russell to serve as consulting artistic director through October 1. Intiman has yet to throw in the towel. (Seattle Times)

VISUAL ART Henry Art Gallery announced today that chief curator Dr. Elizabeth Brown will leave in mid-October after 10 years with the Henry. No reason was given for her departure, though director Sylvia Wolf did note “a new strategic plan” to reshape the Henry, including a nationwide search for a deputy director of art and education. Brown most notably curated last year’s I Myself Have Seen It: Photography and Kiki Smith exhibit. (Slog)

VISUAL ART Seattle Center broke ground on the new 1.5 acre Dale Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit yesterday, which is slated to open in time for the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair in April 2012. It will be the largest collection of Chihuly glasswork in the world. (Seattle P-I)

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Tags: Henry Art Gallery, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Center, Chihuly

This Week: A Benefit Performance of Mike Daisey’s ‘How Theater Failed America’

Proceeds go to artists hurt by Intiman’s cancelled season.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on May 17, 2011 at 10:50AM 0 Comments

Mike Daisey, man on a mission.

If you’ve already seen raconteur Mike Daisey in The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs at Seattle Rep Theatre, you know what he’s capable of: impassioned, unscripted monologues delivered with the fervor of an evangelical priest—one with a wicked sense of humor and an affinity for the F-bomb. He’s taking a break from taking on Apple this week with a Wednesday night benefit performance of his monologue How Theater Failed America, also at Seattle Rep. Tickets are $25 and proceeds go to artists who were expecting work at Intiman this year, but “were not yet contracted and received no severance” when the theater cancelled the remainder of its season. Following the performance, Daisey will moderate a roundtable discussion on the state of modern theater, with Seattle Rep’s artistic director Jerry Manning, actor Hans Altwies, director Allison Narver, and 4Culture’s Charlie Rathbun participating.

How Theater Failed America is as timely as when it ran Off-Broadway in 2008; as far as I know, actors are still paid in “cheese—platters of cheese” at cast parties. Enjoy a preview of Daisey’s theater monologue in the YouTube clip below.

Mike Daisey’s How Theater Failed America (A Benefit for Intiman Theatre Artists) is one-night only: Wednesday, May 18, at 7pm at Seattle Rep’s Bagley Wright Theatre. Tickets are $25 at seattlerep.org. The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs runs through May 22.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theater, Intiman Theatre, Benefit

A&E News Briefs: Kate Whoriskey Says Goodbye to Intiman

And we say goodbye to Kim Ricketts.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Apr 26, 2011 at 11:00AM 0 Comments

Photo: courtesy Chad Batka.

Kate Whoriskey heads back to NYC.

THEATER After a little over a season with Intiman, artistic director Kate Whoriskey parts ways with the struggling theater and returns to New York as a freelance director. (NYTimes Arts Beat )

FILM Seattle International Film Festival will open this year (May 19) with heartwarmer The First Grader, about an 84-year-old man who takes advantage of a new education initiative in Kenya to go back to school. Director Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl) will be in house on opening night. (SIFF )

VISUAL ART Canadian painter Andrew Dadson wins the Henry’s second Brink Award: $12,500 and an exhibit at the gallery. That’s two for two for Canada. (Slog )

BOOKS & TALKS Richard Hugo House is looking for a few new writers-in-residence; authors and teachers have until June 6 to apply. (Hugo House )

RIP, Kim Ricketts.

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Tags: Hugo House, SIFF, Intiman Theatre, Kim Ricketts

Intiman Theatre Cancels Rest of 2011 Season

Citing ongoing money trouble, board votes Saturday to end season with hopes of reopening in 2012.

Posted by: Annie Rose Favreau and Laura Dannen on Apr 18, 2011 at 02:00PM 0 Comments

Intiman’s 2010 production of Ruined was one of the year’s top cultural events in Seattle.

Tony-winning regional theater Intiman succumbed to money troubles this weekend when its board of trustees voted to cancel the remaining four shows of the 2011 season. “With our current income limitations there’s no alternative,” reads the statement on Intiman’s website.

The public learned of Intiman’s financial struggles in early February, when the theater issued an open letter to the arts community detailing the troubled story of the theater’s mismanagement: months of bookkeeping backlog; a dwindling endowment; lapsed rent payments to Seattle Center. Managing director Brian Colburn resigned in November after 18 months on the job—citing personal reasons—but a recent article in the Seattle Times suggests that the problems go beyond Colburn’s time, with multiple seasons in the red.

Intiman was in the middle of a vigorous fundraising campaign—to raise $1 million by September—and had banked a little more than $450,000 by late March. Theater greats from around the country, including Tony Kushner, had pledged their support, and peers from Seattle’s professional regional theaters donated generously. But longtime arts consultant Susan Trapnell (who helped save ACT back in 2003) took a look at the books and recommended cutting this season and shoring up funds so Intiman could attempt a comeback in 2012.

Our primary intent has and continues to be to preserve the future of Intiman – and our hope was to save the season, too, the statement reads. Simultaneous efforts to accomplish both are simply unattainable. While we are driven by that “show must go on” kind of determination, we must ensure that shows go on the Intiman stage for years and that can only happen if we pause, plan, and prepare for strong seasons in 2012 and beyond.

Intiman ended its season with the April 17 performance of All My Sons, forgoing productions of The Call, The Playboy from the Western World, The Piano Teacher, and A Boy and His Soul. Employees were given two weeks’ notice and the board is currently negotiating options for Intiman’s 5,000 subscribers—which could include a deal that honors Intiman tickets at ACT, according to The Stranger.

We’ll update as soon as we learn more.

UPDATED 5:30pm. ArtsWest in West Seattle will honor Intiman tickets for its upcoming production of Shipwrecked! An Entertainment,which runs April 27–May 21. Call the box office at 206-938-0339 and reference the 2010–2011 Intiman tickets to exchange.
UPDATED 4/21/11. The following arts organizations will now honor Intiman tickets: 5th Avenue Theatre, Annex Theatre, ACT Theatre, ArtsWest, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, New Century Theatre Company, On the Boards, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Seattle Public Theater, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle Theatre Group (for select shows), Strawberry Theatre Workshop, Taproot Theatre, UW School of Drama, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Open Circle Theatre. Contact the organization’s ticket office on the day of to swap a ticket.

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Tags: Theater, Intiman Theatre

Under Pressure, Intiman Puts on a Bold New All My Sons

Powerful performances lift the Arthur Miller classic.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Apr 02, 2011 at 02:00PM 0 Comments

Photo courtesy Chris Bennion.

From left: Joe (Chuck Cooper) and Chris Keller (Reggie Jackson) have a father-son moment in Intiman’s All My Sons.

Arthur Miller’s 1947 drama All My Sons is “the tragedy of a family uncovering the truths of those they love,” said Intiman Theatre’s artistic director Kate Whoriskey. It’s the timeless story of Joe Keller: a husband, father, and self-made man in pursuit of the American Dream—a manufacturing plant as big as General Motors’—but haunted by a past that’s not entirely buried. The neighbors still whisper behind closed doors, even though they play cards at the Kellers’ on the weekends.

Set this family saga in Seattle’s Central District just after World War II—as director Valerie Curtis-Newton has done for Intiman’s production—and it takes on a whole new meaning. It’s a simple tweak with big impact. “For our Joe Keller, the decision between self-interest and self-sacrifice, between family and country, isn’t just about a legacy, money or security,” said Curtis-Newton. “It is about a shot at equality in a time when real equality was a rare thing. I loved that the stakes could be that high.”

The stakes are high onstage and off, as Intiman starts its 2011 season in the middle of an emergency fundraising campaign: raise $1 million by September or face the possibility of shutting down. They’re almost halfway to their goal, but nerves were certainly high on opening night—so much so that new managing director Melaine Bennett got Curtis-Newton’s name wrong during her introduction of the play. But when the lights dimmed and a tree, “planted” center stage, snapped and fell to the floor, the tension broke with it. Joe’s wife Kate (Margo Moorer) stumbled onto the front porch in her nightgown, eyes wild, as a storm whipped through her yard. The lights went out entirely, and the audience was hooked. I was hooked.

Tony winner Chuck Cooper struts around as Joe Keller, all smiles and hearty pats on the back—the unofficial mayor of the CD—until son Chris (Reggie Jackson) arrives with news that prompts the slow unraveling of the family. By the second act, a woman near me was leaning so far forward in her seat, she could have smelled the next lady’s shampoo. It’s a powerful production, the kind that deserves a full house each night. The play may be a tragedy, but Intiman’s story doesn’t have to be.

All My Sons is at Intiman Theatre through Apr 17.

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Tags: Review, Theater, Intiman Theatre

Spreading the Wealth: ACT Gives Big Money to Intiman, Seattle Rep

It was a fundraising gala to remember.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Mar 08, 2011 at 04:00PM 2 Comments

ACT’s executive director gave big to Seattle Rep and struggling Intiman Theatre on March 4.

File this under Reasons To Love Seattle: In a classy move on Friday, the executive director of A Contemporary Theatre (ACT) donated big money to both Seattle Repertory Theatre and Intiman Theatre at the Rep’s annual gala fundraiser—a boon for Intiman, which needs to raise $1 million by September to stay in business. The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that during a Raise the Paddle live auction, ACT’s Carlo Scandiuzzi “leapt to his feet to say he [and wife Laile] would not only match every $100 donation, turning it into $200 for the Rep, but he would also give another $100 per raised paddle to Intiman…. At that point, almost every paddle at the gala shot up in the air.”

The Scandiuzzis ultimately donated $42,000—$22,000 split between Seattle Rep and Intiman—and prompted 5th Avenue Theatre board member Kenny Alhadeff and his wife Maureen to give money to ACT. I mean, where else does this happen?! When do competitors give so readily to each other? Would Starbucks bail out Dunkin’ Donuts? It gives me the chills, the good kind.

According to its website today, Intiman has raised $146,471.51 with a goal of $500,000 by the end of March. To find out more or to donate, go to intiman.org.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theater, ACT , Intiman Theatre, Fundraiser