So much new theater to talk about and so little time…let’s get started with the oddest/most unusual show this week, the Seattle debut of a new work by acclaimed Berlin theater company, Rimini Protokoll entitled Best Before. I’ve read the synopsis of the show and I guess the best way to describe this piece of experimental theater is to nutshell it as a combination of Sim City, Tron and Second Life but LIVE and in living color…Here’s the PR on the show, so you be the judge:
Each spectator in Best Before is a single pixel or anonymous avatar in the creation of virtual city. Over the course of the performance, a simulated city begins to emerge as the audience controls the fate of the 200 people gathered in the theater. The game is introduced, framed and commented on by “experts from daily life” who make their living as renegade game developers and city workers who present danger signs in urban traffic. Those who play decide the outcome of this community and whether it will survive or collapse. Founded in 2000, Rimini Protokoll has created over 20 new works of theater, often using non-actors and non-theatrical spaces and is recognized as being among the leaders and creators of the theatre movement known as “Reality Trend” (Theater der Zeit).
Wow…I don’t really know what this all means, but I’m excited as hell to find out. I’m going to this show tonight (I’ll let you know) and Best Before plays tonight through Sunday at 8pm with a matinee on Saturday at 2pm at On The Boards…get your tickets here.
The insanely talented people at the New Century Theatre Company debuted a couple of years ago with a powerhouse production of Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine and they are back this month with a new production of a new play by New Century company member Stephanie Timm entitled, On the Nature of Dust. A self-described “quirky and poignant new play about the complexities of mother/daughter relationships, the mysteries of faith, the intricacies of nature and the healing benefits of fudge ripple ice cream”, Dust stars Michael Patten, Brenda Joyner and Stranger Theater Genius and beloved Seattle stage actress Amy Thone as the mother (which I find ridiculous because Ms Thone is the same age I am, and there is NO possible way she could be the mother of a grown daughter…but I digress). Directed by Kathleen Collins, Dust is being staged at ACT Theatre’s Falls Theatre Wednesday thru Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm through May 30. I’ve got my ticket for this Friday, but you can get yours, HERE. Check it out.
Speaking of ACT Theatre, their theater season kicks off this weekend with Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful, the beloved classic probably best known for its film adaptation which won the Oscar for Geraldine Page. The story of an elderly woman forced to live in Houston who embarks on one last journey to visit her old hometown, this “heartbreaking and uplifting…American classic is an unforgettable meditation on the idea of home and its power to sustain us”. The Trip to Bountiful opens Friday, May 7 and runs Tuesday-Sundays (show times vary; check their calendar) through June 5 in the Allen Theatre.
Opera fans have reason to cheer because Seattle Opera has a big, fat, juicy WORLD premiere this weekend of a new work by composer Daron Aric Hagen, librettist Gardner McFall and story author and director Stephen Wadsworth titled Amelia. To be honest, when I first heard about a new musical with that name, I thought it must be about famed aviatrix, Amelia Earhart…instead, we get a very contemporary story about the life of an American woman that spans a 30 year period from the mid 1960’s:
A first time mother-to-be, whose psyche has been scarred by the loss of her pilot-father in Vietnam, must break free from anxiety to embrace healing and renewal for the sake of her husband and child in this original story unfolding over a 30-year period beginning in 1966. Amelia interweaves one woman’s emotional journey, the American experience in Vietnam, and elements of the Daedalus and Icarus myth to explore man’s fascination with flight and the dilemmas that arise when vehicles of flight are used for exploration, adventure, and war. With an intensely personal libretto by American poet Gardner McFall (The Pilot’s Daughter), whose father was a Navy pilot lost during Vietnam, this new American opera moves from loss to recuperation, paralysis to flight, as the protagonist, Amelia, ultimately embraces her life and the creative force of love and family.
The opera opens this Saturday, May 8 at 7:30pm and there are 7 more performances with the piece closing on May 22. AND, the Seattle Opera is offering a special LGBT Night with this production. The May 21st performance is the designated LGBT night which includes admission to a pre-performance lecture, a pre show reception in the Norcliffe room and a special package rate. For tickets and more info on LGBT night go here. I’m checking this production out (but not on LGBT night) and I’m already worrying about what the hell I’m going to wear…isn’t this kind of dressy? Mr Strangeways hasn’t been very dressy for a very long time…I may need a make-over.
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
