Compiled by Miryam Gordon from press releases.
May seems to have brought out the funny-bone in the Seattle area theater world. If you’re looking for something dark and moody, you probably have to wait a month! Here are world premieres and a bunch of laughs, so get out yer calendars and get some tickets!
The Lion Tells His Tale, Intiman Theatre, 5/1-5/24 (at Broadway Performance Hall) (world premiere)
Vida Oliphant Sneed introduces Delbert Richardson’s national award-winning museum, making it come to life on stage for a brand new theatrical experience. Audiences will be transported on a journey of awakening as the brilliance, resistance, and resilience of Black people from Africa to the Americas is brought to life. Music, dance, and spoken word carry our hero through time as we all gather to engage and learn. “Until the lion tells his tale, the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” – African proverb
The Savannah Sipping Society, Edmonds Driftwood Players, 5/3-19/24
Four unique Southern women, all needing to escape the sameness of their day-to-day routines, are drawn together by Fate—and an impromptu happy hour—and decide it’s high time to reclaim the enthusiasm for life they’ve lost through the years. Together, they discover lasting friendships and a renewed determination to live in the moment.
www.edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org
Bee Present, SecondStory Repertory, 5/4-19/24 (world premiere)
A new children’s musical with Book & Lyrics by Kate Swenson and Music by John Allman. Birdie the Bee is so busy micromanaging the hive that she forgot the queen’s birthday. Now she’s on an impossible quest to find a gift the queen has never received before. And if she fails to surprise and delight her monarch—Birdie is out of the hive forever. With the help of a distractible hummingbird, a merry meadow, some crafty crows, and the infamous Sloth Thought Collective, this overly busy bee might find more than the perfect gift, she just might learn to stop stressing and Bee Present. (Ages 4+, 55 minutes no intermission)
Broadway Spectacular, Seattle Women’s Chorus, 5/4/24 (1:00PM and 5:00PM at Cornish Playhouse)
Billie Wildrick guest stars with the Seattle Women’s Chorus as it celebrates all things Broadway! Billie is is one of Seattle’s best-known musical theater performers with a belt that can’t be beat. This is a concert that will keep your toes tapping and hands clapping.
Shattered Glass New Works Festival, Shattered Glass Project, 5/9-19/24 (at 18th and Union)
The Uterine Files: Episode One, Voices Spitting Out the Rainbow, written by Jourdan Imani Keith
Virginia Mary’s experiences echo through the lives of her descendants. Moving through time from 1863 to the present, this choreopoem’s stories of disruption demand an answer: what are they doing with our uteruses?
On the Train, written by Lisa A. Price
A timely indictment of medical racism as three women fight a hypocritical senator to secure the right for women to control and protect their own reproductive destinies.
Carmilla, by Mariah Lee Squires and S.W. Jones
A camp-horror play based on the queer, female-centered, pre-Dracula vampire novella of the same name, introducing the mother of the modern monster and shattering the mold of male protagonists in horror.
Out of Time, by Rachel Atkins
Three different pairs of women deal with disaster and its aftermath, from the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire to the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 and beyond.
Unrivaled, SIS Productions and Seattle Public Theater, 5/10/24-6/2/24
A hip, sexy, funny play about 11th century ladies-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon, two of Japan’s most beloved writers. Themes of friendship, heartbreak, what it means to be a female artist, show that no matter how things change, the more they stay the same… even after a thousand years.
Once On This Island, Village Theatre, Issaquah: 5/15/24-6/16/24, Everett: 6/22/24-7/14/24
Ti Moune, a fearless peasant girl, decided to risk it all for love. Guided by the mighty island gods, she sets out on a remarkable journey to reunite with the man who has captured her heart. Can she prove that love is more powerful than death? With a Calypso-flavored score from Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, this is a captivating adaptation of the beloved fairy tale The Little Mermaid.
Sherlock Holmes and the Precarious Position, Taproot Theatre, 5/15/24-6/15/24
Corsets, crowns, and a missing royal jewel set the stage for a battle of wits in this tale of deception, suspense, and deduction. When the bookish Perkins sisters approach Sherlock Holmes with a case, they unveil a theatrical scheme of encyclopedic proportions. Four comedic actors play multiple characters and the mystery turns deadly.
Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith, Centerstage Theatre, 5/24/24-6/16/24
Nationally recognized Seattle playwright Yussef El Guindi writes about the clash of East versus West in this Muslim-American family comedy evoking universal themes of faith, culture, belonging, and desire. It’s a show about a Pakistani-American Muslim who deals with racism, Islamophobia, all these big hot-button social issues and it’s a comedy!
Twelfth Night – A Musical, Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts, 5/24/24-6/9/24
A rousing contemporary musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy about mistaken identity and self-discovery. Viola, a young heroine who washes up on the shores of Illyria, disguises herself as a man, is sent to court as a countess, and falls hard for a duke.
GUNKED!, Annex Theatre, 5/30/24-6/8/24 (opens 5/31)
Written by local playwrights Marcus Gorman & Jo Jo Stiletto, it’s Double Dare meets Noises Off! Coming off a PR disaster, the creative team behind an early-1990s kids’ cable network is on the eve of launching a high-energy, neon-colored competition series. Will they succeed, or will it be a slime-a-riffic, televised, darkly comic disaster?
Venus and the Vixens: Games of Love: An Interactive Rock n’ Roll Love Story of Mythic Proportions, EnJoy Productions, 5/30/24-6/16/24 (at Emerald City Trapeze Arts, 2702 6th Ave S, Seattle) (world premiere)
This brand-new interactive rock musical is an immersive theatrical experience, and a joyous antidote to post-pandemic isolation and technology overload. Lose yourself in the electro pop sounds of a heart-pumping all-female disco-rock band. It’s a fresh take on the mythic tale of Cupid and Psyche’s epic love story, filled with games of chance, aerial flourishes, physical challenges, and playful surprises.
Jinkx Monsoon & Major Scales: Together Again, Again!, Seattle Rep, 5/31/24-6/23/24
(opens 5/31)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner (and ex-Seattlite) Jinkx Monsoon and musical prodigy Major Scales, reconnect in the year 2065. The sun has exploded, a dystopian nightmare has been realized, and the world has been taken over by authoritarian lizard people. They aren’t on the best of terms, but decide to put their falling-out behind them for a final reunion extravaganza. From the creators of 2014’s crowd favorite The Vaudevillians, experience the comedy, music, and saucy stylings of two of the Pacific Northwest’s standout entertainers.
Move Over Mrs. Markham, The Phoenix Theatre, 5/31/24-6/23/24
A very elegant top floor London flat, belonging to Philip and Joanna Markham has been under renovation, and largely empty. Philip is a publisher of children’s books, sharing an office with his partner, Henry Lodge, on the ground floor. Reluctantly, Philip agrees to let Henry borrow his apartment for the evening to “entertain” his latest girlfriend. At the same time, Joanna Markham is persuaded by Linda Lodge to let her borrow the apartment, so she can entertain her lover. What nobody knows is that the interior designer who had been decorating the apartment for the past three months has decided that this was the night he and the au pair girl would try out the new round bed! All three sets of people converge on the apartment expecting to find it empty…
Monty Python’s Spamalot, Olympic Theatre Arts Center, 5/31/24-6/16/24
Lovingly ripped off from the classic film comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, this musical retells the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and features a bevy of beautiful show girls, not to mention cows, killer rabbits, and French people. The outrageous, uproarious, and gloriously entertaining story of King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake will delight audiences as they search for the Holy Grail and “always look on the bright side of life.”
Sandbox Radio: REDUX, Sandbox Radio, 6/2/24 4:00PM (at Theatre Off Jackson)
This company returns with its unique presentational style of old-timey radio presentations. Multiple musical performers and guest artists.
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About the Author: Miryam Gordon
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