Culture Fiend

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

Rothko Play Red Coming to Seattle Rep

Theater’s 2011–12 season also includes a new Bill Cain play and Glass Menagerie.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Apr 11, 2011 at 01:30PM 1 Comments

Lorenzo Pisoni spent part of his childhood inside a trunk. Seriously.

Last year’s big draw on Broadway (that didn’t involve Jerry Lee Lewis or Scarlett Johansson) was Tony-winning bio-drama Red, about abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko (Alfred Molina) and his protege, Ken (Eddie Redmayne). You’ll never call Rothko’s paintings “blocks of red” again after you hear Molina scream: "You mean scarlet? You mean crimson? You mean plum-mulberry-magenta-burgundy-salmon-carmine-carnelian-coral? Anything but ‘red’! What is ‘red’?!”

Seattle Repertory Theatre takes a stab at defining Red in its 2011–2012 season, with a local production of the Broadway hit. Here’s the full lineup for the upcoming season, which starts in September with…

Humor Abuse
Sept 30–Oct 23
By Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt
A warmhearted solo show about the less-than-average childhood of Lorenzo Pisoni: son of a professional clown who went on to join Cirque du Soleil and play the horse in Broadway’s Equus.

The Glass Menagerie
Oct 21–Nov 20
By Tennessee Williams
A “daring and innovative take” on the classic American drama. No word yet on what that means, but I’m hoping it’s along the lines of Chris Durang’s parody For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, with a young Lawrence fawning over his collection of glass cocktail stirrers.

Sylvia
Nov 11–Dec 11
By A.R. Gurney
A Seattle Rep subscriber favorite about empty nesters Greg and Kate and a “street-smart” labradoodle who noses his way into their life. The play’s been called critic-proof since it’s so excruciatingly lovable.

How to Write a New Book for the Bible
Jan 13–Feb 5, 2012
By Bill Cain
Bill Cain, the man behind last year’s Shakespeare hit Equivocation, crafts a new play about coming home to care for his dying mother.

Circle Mirror Transformation
Feb 3–Mar 4, 2012
By Annie Baker
In this comedy by rising playwright Annie Baker, a motley crew—a divorced carpenter, a former actress, a hippie husband and a high school junior—joins a small-town “Adult Creative Drama” class, and learns plenty about life and being a tree.

Red
Feb 24–Mar 18, 2012
By John Logan
A local production of the 2010 Tony winner for best play (see above).

Or
Mar 23–Apr 22, 2012
By Liz Duffy Adams
Jerry Manning directs this Restoration-era farce about England’s first female professional playwright…who’s also a spy. Expect plenty of cross-dressing.

Clybourne Park
Apr 20–May 13, 2011
By Bruce Norris
Norris borrows from Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun for this un-p.c. satire on the gentrification of a Chicago neighborhood. It’s this season’s buzz-worthy comedy.

Seattle Rep season tickets ($78–$437) are now on sale at seattlerep.org.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theater, Season Announcement

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

March Issue of ‘Wired’ Boldly Goes Where Mike Daisey Has Already Gone

Seventeen suicides at an iPhone plant in China? “‘Wired’ finally wakes up,” Daisey says.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Feb 18, 2011 at 02:00PM 0 Comments

March 2011 issue of Wired: guaranteed to make you feel guilty.

See the new Wired cover story for March 2011? About workers literally killing themselves to make iPhones in China? This is what monologist Mike Daisey will talk about in his one-man show at Seattle Rep Theatre in April, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. He just got to the story first.

“Fifteen years late, and missing the point that it’s about work conditions not suicides, but WIRED finally wakes up. It’s beginning,” Daisey wrote on his blog yesterday. After spending three weeks in and out of an iPhone manufacturing plant in Shenzhen, China (he posed as a prospective client to gain access), the former Seattleite turned the life-changing experience into activist theater. He workshopped the monologue at Seattle Rep last summer, in addition to trial runs in Boston, DC, and India, and it got great early buzz. You’ll never look at that tiny glowing screen the same way again. The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs opens on April 22; more on the play later this spring.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theater, Wired Magazine, Seattle Writer

Sizing Up The Brothers Size

Family matters in Seattle Rep’s soulful character drama.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Feb 11, 2011 at 07:00AM 1 Comments

Brotherhood of men Warner Miller (left) and Yaegel T. Welch star in The Brothers Size. Photo: courtesy Seattle Rep.

Like The K of D, in which local Renata Friedman plays 16 characters, Seattle Rep’s concurrent run of The Brothers Size is driven by a strong, compact cast.

In Brothers, a Seattle premiere from director Juliette Carrillo, we get to know three characters: Oshoosi Size (Warner Miller), returning home from a stint in prison; his brother Ogun Size (Yaegel T. Welch), a hard-laboring auto mechanic; and Elegba (Eddie R. Brown III), Oshoosi’s pal from the pen who moves with a feline slink and has an unnerving personality to match.

What ensues seems simple enough: In the bayous of Louisiana, Ogun lays into his younger brother _hard_—to help in the repair shop, to clean up his act. When Elegba shows up with a car—a veritable chariot of freedom for his floundering prison buddy—we wonder whether Oshoosi will flee for far-off lands or fall back into his old ways.

And through it all, we’re wondering what it means to be a brother, as a rich backstory is revealed that adds color to an already fraught relationship. Ogun’s staunch exterior is exposed and we see the wearied sibling he’s become, forced to parent Oshoosi after their mother passes at a too-young age. We hear of Ogun’s sleepless nights, how he slowly unravels under the pressure of fending for the feckless sibling. But even the chain-gang boys are sympathetic: Elegba, with his forlorn sense of need and attachment to Oshoosi, and the younger brother Size, haunted by his past, with the pain conveyed in soulful, song-driven monologues.

Young playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, a student of August Wilson, works in some familiar themes—racial and social disadvantage, redemption, African lore—punctuated by comedy. The gags come mostly in the form of spoken stage directions, and judging by the hearty laughter coming from the audience, they worked. But it’s the complex characters—and the actors playing them—that make The Brothers Size a family drama worth writing home about.

The Brothers Size is at Seattle Rep through Feb 27.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Review

Solo Star Shines in Seattle Rep’s The K of D

Who needs a cast when you have Renata Friedman?

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 24, 2011 at 03:30PM 0 Comments

Renata Friedman stars in Seattle Rep’s The K of D. Photo courtesy Chris Bennion

The K of D: an urban legend is a ghost story writ large: a spotlight replaces a flashlight, and a lone actress embodies 16 different characters as she unravels a tall tale about a girl with “the kiss of death.” Though the story by Laura Schellhardt is exactly the kind of tense, small-town mystery that keeps listeners enrapt around a campfire, it requires a deft storyteller to translate whispered fear to a bigger stage. Thankfully, Seattle Rep Theatre has 30-year-old chameleon Renata Friedman to call on.

As thin and wispy as the reeds lining Leo K’s stage, Friedman shows great dexterity playing an entire town’s worth of characters: mothers, fathers, bombastic teenage boys, shrill teenage girls, even a randy, villainous neighborhood brute named Johnny. She transitions quickly, neatly, among the friends of “skinny Charlotte McGraw,” who linger on a crumbling lakeside dock debating Charlotte’s lethal smooch and the circumstances surrounding the “The Summer of Death” in St Marys, Ohio.

For a brief moment early on, you wonder if the Rep’s just trying to save money with another solo show, but as Friedman develops mannerisms for each role—slumping shoulders and pulling out imaginary notebooks—the cynicism falls away. Who needs a cast when you have a Friedman? As she skitters back and forth across the dock, her shadow looms like a giantess above the eerie rural setting (co-crafted by director Braden Abraham and designer L.B. Morse). Her presence truly is larger than life—much larger, in fact, than the skinny, long-limbed girl on stage.

The K of D: an urban legend runs through Feb 20 at Seattle Rep Theatre.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Review

Revival of August Wilson’s Fences Nominated for 10 Tonys

Seattle’s Constanza Romero gets a nod for costume design.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on May 04, 2010 at 12:30PM 0 Comments

Constanza Romero and her daughter, Azula Carmen Wilson, attend the opening of August Wilson’s Radio Golf on Broadway in 2007.

Just heard that the Broadway revival of Fences, August Wilson’s Pulitzer-winning drama running through July 11 in NYC, received 10 Tony nominations, including best revival of a play and best costume design by Wilson’s widow, Seattle’s Constanza Romero.

When I talked to Romero back in February, she was in the middle of designing costumes for both the Broadway show (starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis) and the Seattle Rep’s staging—a riveting, high-energy production that just closed on April 18. (Read the full review here.)

“I designed this show a long, long, long time ago when I was just getting out of grad school,” she said over coffee. "It just seems like nothing I did then is helping me now!” Doesn’t seem like she needed any help. Congratulations to Romero, and to her fellow nominees…

Best Original Score—Music Branford Marsalis
Leading Actor in a Play Denzel Washington
Leading Actress in a Play Viola Davis
Featured Actor in a Play Stephen McKinley Henderson
Best Direction of a Play Kenny Leon
Best Scenic Design of a Play Santo Loquasto
Best Lighting Design of a Play Brian MacDevitt
Best Sound Design of a Play Acme Sound Partners
Best Revival of a Play

UPDATED: Other locals getting a nod:
West Seattle native Chad Kimball for best leading actor in a musical, Memphis.
Levi Kreis for best featured actor in a musical, Million Dollar Quartet (which got its start at Village Theatre, and is also nominated for best musical).

For the complete list of Tony nominees, go to tonyawards.com. The ceremony, celebrating the best on Broadway, airs on Sunday, June 13, at 5pmPT.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theater, Awards and Accolades, Fences, Constanza Romero, August Wilson

Don’t Miss: An Iliad

Local actor Hans Altwies stars in his first solo show—an adaptation of Homer’s epic.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Apr 15, 2010 at 11:15AM 0 Comments

The many faces of Homer Altwies as Achilles (far left), the Poet (center), Paris (far right), and nameless warriors.

An Iliad was written for Denis O’Hare, by Denis O’Hare. But then the stage-and-screen veteran got a job playing the Vampire King on HBO’s True Blood. That, they say, is show biz.

In steps local Shakespeare actor Hans Altwies to take his place as a “wise, old, crusty, down-on-his-luck storyteller” reliving the tales of Achilles and Hector, Paris and Helen. It’s a whole new take on Homer’s epic…and the show opens Friday at Seattle Repertory Theatre.

For the whole story on this world premiere, click here.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theater, Met Picks, Weekend

Review: Fences

Twenty-five years after its debut, August Wilson’s drama is as powerful as ever.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Apr 02, 2010 at 01:00PM 0 Comments

Troy (James A. Williams) relives the glory days in Fences. Courtesy Chris Bennion.

Troy Maxon can’t catch a break. Born a little too early, and with a bit too much pride, the former Negro League ballplayer-turned-garbage collector carries a chip on his shoulder that weighs down his entire family. And in the latest production of Fences, now playing at Seattle Repertory Theatre, you can feel that pain palpably. Thanks to a high-energy cast—with powerful performances by Broadway’s James A. Williams and Kim Staunton as Troy and wife Rose— August Wilson’s Pulitzer-winning drama pulsates with raw emotion. You cringe as Troy comes to blows with teenage son Cory (Stephen Tyrone Williams in his West Coast debut) over Cory’s own American dream: to go to college and play football. And a pivotal second-act argument between Williams and Staunton is so passionate, you want to jump on stage and take sides. There’s screaming, fighting, betrayal—it’s riveting. Give director Tim Bond credit where it’s due. The Wilson aficionado has made it his goal to direct all 10 shows in the playwright’s 20th century cycle. He’s halfway there, and Fences is clearly in capable hands.

Fences runs through April 18 at Seattle Repertory Theatre.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Review, Theater, Fences

A Family Affair

Constanza Romero, August Wilson’s widow, lends a hand for SRT’s Fences.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Mar 31, 2010 at 10:30AM 2 Comments

Constanza Romero and her daughter, Azula Carmen Wilson, attend the opening of August Wilson’s Radio Golf on Broadway in 2007.

Things are getting personal over at Seattle Repertory Theatre—in a good way. August Wilson’s play Fences, opening tonight, will feature costumes by his widow, Constanza Romero, a talented designer who’s also created the outfits for the cast of Broadway’s Fences, starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis (and, coincidentally, opening in two weeks). Suddenly, Romero’s a jet-setter, crossing the country to bring a special, familial touch to one of Wilson’s greatest dramas: the story of a Negro League ballplayer-turned-garbage collector who watches Jackie Robinson rise to fame as his own American Dream turns to dust.

Romero says she’s happy to be working again—she took a break after Wilson’s passing in 2005 to manage his estate—but she admits that the dual production schedule is daunting. “I designed this show a long, long, long time ago when I was just getting out of grad school,” she said over coffee back in February. "It just seems like nothing I did then is helping me now!” Romero weighs in…

…On her costumes…
My approach is kind of like a portrait. I can think of the face and the inner workings of the character, and clothes come last.

…On working with Wilson…
He had an amazing amount of respect for visual artists. He kind of always wanted to be like Picasso or Matisse. We’d be working on a play and I’d be sketching in my studio, and I’d draw a character. He’d go up and look at it really closely, and sometimes he’d say, let me go downstairs and write the character so it fit more with the sketch. It was really cool.

…On why Fences matters now…
Fences is about a lot of deferred dreams. In 1957, there was a man who could have been anything, done anything, and yet the limitations of his time, his race and economic state limited him to being a garbage collector. But that did not lessen the greatness of his spirit. There should be a reason for everybody to hope for the better. That is as true now as it was then.

Fences, celebrating its 25th anniversary, runs at Seattle Repertory Theatre through April 18. For tickets, go to SeattleRep.org.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theater, Interview, Fences, Constanza Romero, August Wilson

Billy Connolly, Master of Profanity

After 40 years of doing stand-up, some things come naturally for the actor-comedian.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Mar 10, 2010 at 09:00AM 1 Comments

When you’ve been doing stand-up for 40 years, certain things come naturally. Like swearing. “I’ve sworn all my life. I relax into the profane,” comedian Billy Connolly once said during a routine. “People say a limited vocabulary makes you swear. I don’t think so. I know at least 127 words.”

And shows like the ones scheduled for Seattle Repertory Theatre (March 12 and 13) don’t come scripted—they just happen. To craft his gregarious, bawdy sets, Connolly pulls from a lifetime of material: his childhood in Scotland; working in Glasgow’s shipyards; playing an “ultra-violent guy” in The Boondock Saints and a loveable teacher in Head of the Class; even the many manifestations of his beard.

So when he comes to Seattle, don’t ask him what he has planned. I already did. Let him wing it instead—with a wink, smile, and a curse.

It’s your first time here. What have you heard about Seattle?

When I lived in LA, lots of people were moving to Seattle because it was less insane and just as beautiful. They always talk about the rain—but then again, they always talk about the rain in Vancouver as well, and I’ve never actually noticed. I mean, I’ve been there in the rain but…I’m Scottish! Rain schmain. Give me a break. I’ve been on a campaign for years to stop weathermen from calling rain bad weather.

[But] I can’t wait to see the place. I want to see Frank Gehry. I think these are the designs of a drunk man. And [Seattle’s] the home of the coffee revolution. And you invented grunge. And Kenny G lives there! Or maybe he was just performing there.

What kind of show are you doing at Seattle Rep? What can we expect?

I don’t know. I’ll see when I get there. I have lots of stuff—old stuff and new stuff—and I like to make stuff up. I’ll try and get my instant feelings of Seattle, and … well, I don’t know! I haven’t a clue. That’s what I’ve done all my life.

Is there anything that’s been bothering you lately that you might vent about onstage?

Ermm, the smoking ban. Yeah. I smoke cigars and I would like a place to do it. I’m doing something completely legal and people are stopping me from doing it and I’m pissed off with the politically correct. I’m tired of people who have my best interests at heart. I could kick their bony asses. You know, leave me the fuck alone and stop trying to make me eat brown bread. … And cigar smokers are lovely people; they should be welcome in places! Unlike those awful cigarette smokers who poison the air.

Ha, how are cigar smokers different?

I don’t know what it is but I feel very at home with them. I’ve met very few cigar smokers I didn’t like, but I’ve met plenty of cigarette smokers I didn’t like. [Laughs.] Cigarette smokers differ from cigar smokers in as much as you’ll never see a circle of guys in a room talking about great cigarettes they’ve smoked. Nobody’ll be telling you about a 1956 Lucky Strike: It was amazing! I have it saved in a box.

What’s your best cigar story?

I’ve had a few great cigars. You know what I’ve got? I have a box of cigars called Cohiba Lancero signed by Fidel Castro. My friend’s a politician in Britain and he was meeting Fidel Castro, and I asked him to do it.

You’re coming to town right before St Patrick’s Day. Any plans for the holiday?

I’ve never done anything for St Patrick’s Day in my life. That’s when amateur drinkers go out. Real drinkers stay home. It’s like New Year’s—real drinkers stay home on New Year’s because the amateurs are out making an ass of it [laughs]. People going “woooo!” when they’re drinking.

Go “woooo” when Billy Connolly does stand-up at Seattle Repertory Theatre on March 12 & 13. Tickets are $45, available here.

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Tags: Seattle Repertory Theatre, Theater, Comedy, Billy Connolly

Review: Speech and Debate

If you like ‘Glee’, you’ll like this.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 26, 2010 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

(L-r) Erin Stewart as Diwata and Justin Huertas as Solomon in Seattle Rep’s Speech and Debate. Photo courtesy Chris Bennion.

REVIEW: If you’re going to see anything this week, make it Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Speech and Debate, a comedy about three high schoolers who find unlikely friendship as they work together to expose a sex scandal in their hometown of Salem, Ore. On the surface, the play seems targeted at teens—lots of scenes about sexually charged IMing and blogging. But at its core, it deals with very real topics—loneliness, small-town prejudice, high school insecurities—and appeals to all ages, thanks to a disarmingly honest, irreverent script by Stephen Karam. It takes skill to create a character like drama geek Diwata (Erin Stewart), who has a penchant for scat singing and wearing nude body stockings. And Stewart plays the part convincingly—with a hint of Molly Shannon’s awkward Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher. Doesn’t matter if high school was a few years or a few decades ago for you—nude body stockings are always funny. (Through February 21)

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Tags: SRT, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Speech and Debate, Review