Does the madness ever end? Spring is a hot time for theater companies and there are several big openings every week this time of year, so many that theater writers tend to be perpetually exhausted. While I piss and moan about my busy theater watching schedule, let’s take a look at what’s in store for this weekend…
“Awesome” is a theater company/band/artist collective and yes, the quote marks around their name are intentional. The seven member group has been making music based theater pieces for several years now, and after a year of creation and collaboration with noted theater director Matthew Richter they are ready to debut their most challenging and complex piece yet. Inspired by the myths and stories of the American West, The West is an exploration of the land and the people challenged by its complex nature, using both electric and acoustic instruments and “Awesome’s” trademark “lush vocal harmonies” to weave a century spanning tale of epic American history. It opens tonight, Thursday April 22 for a four night run at On the Boards, 100 West Roy Street in the Lower Queen Anne/Uptown neighborhood, all shows at 8pm.
Open Circle is a respected small theater company in Belltown and they are reviving one of their biggest original productions, Jeff Goode’s adult-childrens’s classic, Poona the Fuckdog, the tale of a dog/girl and her encounters with “aliens, talking shrubs and mealy mouthed salesmen in her quest to find someone to play in her big pink box…” ahem…ok, then. Poona begins shows this Friday, April 23 and runs Thur-Sat at 7.30pm and Sundays at 4pm through May 22. And, for this weekend only, you can also check out Open Circle’s monthly tv parody night, in collaboration with Bad Actor Productions, OCTV and this month’s target, production of the beloved 90’s trash tv classic, XENA, Warrior Princess. The show runs Friday and Saturday night only, at 10pm at Open Circle and there is a cash bar and the admission is Pay-What-You-Will (but give them at least $10; don’t be a cheapass…)Both Poona and Xena are at the Open Circle theater, 2222 2nd Ave, upstairs from Buddha Bar in beautiful yuppied but still sort of scary Belltown, (frankly, the yuppies are scarier than most of the homeless people…) Check it out.
Apparently robots and future dystopic-tech are the hot new theater trend; we currently have the fabulous RoboPop! at WET and now The Annex Theatre is bringing us a brand new work by Scotto Moore, When I Come To My Senses, I’m Alive!, which they describe as:
a near-future sci-fi story about a technological provocateur who invents a method for capturing emotions as digital information, as part of a project to “chart the emotional genome.” She develops a cult following of fans who download her very addictive “emoticlips” – each delivered with cryptic, poetic file names like “the surprise of an unfamiliar memory” – and play them back in hobby-built receiver helmets. The experience is not full blown virtual reality; instead, emotional responses & sensations are triggered, and each fan experiences something unique. A seedy television executive tries to co opt her technology to syndicate the emotions of TV stars, hiring an elite P.I. to figure out what her weaknesses are when she refuses to sell out… but in the meantime, publishing digital versions of her emotions to the internet has unexpected consequences amongst the botnets of the world…
This sounds very intriguing…so much so, that I’ll quit whining about how busy I am and make plans to see this on Saturday night. When I Come… opens tomorrow, Friday, April 23rd and runs Fri-Sat nights at 8pm until May 22. Tickets are $15 for the general public and only $5 for students. AND, next week the Annex starts a new late night show, the return of beloved Seattle icon, Carlotta (aka Troy Mink) in a brand spanking new one woman show…I’ll talk more about Miss Carlotta in next week’s theater column. Check all these shows out.
-Michael Strangeways
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
