This Week in Arts: Weekly Roundup (3/24)
It’d be hard to come up with a weekend of shows more fun and varied than this lineup. This week features ritual, a ton of dance, and an irreverent original opera’s premiere, plus a bunch of theatre openings.
Ticketing links for most shows can be found on the Performance Calendar page here.
Openings & Short Runs
Lowbrow Opera Collective: MARThA @ The Rendezvous
Classically trained opera with a Millennial twist
Runs 3/25-26. In Seattle (Belltown).
Call me lowbrow (it’s usually accurate), but the opera I’m sweetest on features a mysterious avocado spread dispensed from a spray can, a la Easy Cheese. So it’s with great zeal that I herald a new irreverent-sounding opera from the Lowbrow Opera Collective.
This one, called MARThA, features two long-time friends who turn to an app (called the Mediation and Resolution Therapy Application) to resolve their recent conflict. Not all quite lives up to the users’ expectations.
This show’s premiere is also a fundraiser evening, with entertainment from Let’s All Drink and Do Broadway and various auction items. Rumor has it that The Vous debuts its new menu this weekend, too.
Tickets are $25, here.
Timothy White Eagle & The Violet Triangle: Revival @ On the Boards
Hailing a hero’s return, in ritual theatre
Runs 3/24-28. In Seattle (Lower Queen Anne).
Revival explores one of the oldest and most universal myths — the story of a hero being swallowed alive and then returned — which has appeared around the world.
This work by Timothy White Eagle and collaborators The Violet Triangle (Paul Budraitis, HATLO, and John Kendall Wilson) is the third and final chapter of the Room Series, which explores alternative sacred spaces and communal ritual. Audiences will experience a visit to a carnival, where attendees play games in a loud, chaotic, and vibrant setting; be taken on a journey through space and time; and be swallowed in the belly of the whale, La Baleine.
Tickets are $32, here.
A Grand Weekend of Dance
This weekend features a packed dance floor, with tours by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Paramount Theatre (3/26-27) and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company at Meany Center (3/24-26); and a dance film premiere, EL SUEÑO, by choreographer Alicia Mullikin and filmmaker Devin Muñoz, presented with Velocity Dance Center at Northwest Film Forum and the NOD Theater.
See a special preview of this weekend in dance here.
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ACT Theatre: The Thin Place (opens tonight, closing 4/10). In Downtown Seattle.
Tacoma Arts Live: Anna in the Tropics @ Theater on the Square (opens tonight, closing 4/10). In Tacoma.
Taproot Theatre: The Spitfire Grill (in previews, opens 3/25, closing 4/30). In Seattle (Greenwood).
Book-It Repertory Theatre: Mrs. Caliban (in previews, opens 3/26, closing 4/17). At the Seattle Center.
Parley: Sharp Country (workshop reading, online only) (3/26 only).
Pork Filled Productions @ Cafe Nordo: Slow Cooker Unleashed (workshop reading) (3/28 only). In Seattle (Pioneer Square).
Closing Soon
The Changing Scene Theatre Company: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] @ Enoch City Arts Studio (closing 3/26). In Bremerton.
Radial Theatre Project: 1984 @ 18th & Union (closing 3/26). In Seattle (Central District).
Edmonds Driftwood Players: Holmes and Watson (closing 3/27). In Edmonds.
Lakewood Playhouse: Head Over Heels (closing 3/27). In Lakewood. See NWT’s Quick Takes review here.
Pacific Northwest Ballet: Plot Points (3/18-27). In Seattle (Seattle Center, Mercer St. side). See NWT’s review here.
Pacific Northwest Ballet: Beauty and the Beast (3/20-27). In Seattle (Seattle Center, Mercer St. side).
Thalia’s Umbrella: Europe @ 12th Avenue Arts (closing 3/27). In Seattle (Capitol Hill).
Continuing Runs
Harlequin Productions: Murder for Two (closing 4/2). In Olympia. See NWT’s Quick Takes review here.
Dukesbay Productions: God Said This (closing 4/3). In Tacoma.
Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts: As You Like It (closing 4/3). In Marysville.
Seattle Public Theater: Pipeline (closing 4/3). In Seattle (Green Lake). See NWT’s Quick Takes review here.
Seattle Rep: Teenage Dick (closing 4/3). At the Seattle Center (Mercer St. side). See NWT’s Quick Takes review here.
Tacoma Little Theatre: A Chorus Line (closing 4/3). In Tacoma.
ArtsWest: This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing (closing 4/10). In West Seattle.
Tacoma Musical Playhouse: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (closing 4/10). In Tacoma.
Seattle Children’s Theatre: The Best Summer Ever! (closing 4/17). At the Seattle Center.
Village Theatre: The Book Club Play (closing 4/3 in Issaquah; runs 4/8-5/1 in Everett). In Issaquah & Everett. See NWT’s review here.
Can Can Culinary Cabaret: Ooh La La (closing 5/1). In Seattle (Pike Place).
The Roundup is a weekly (ish) feature. Want to plan your show schedule further out? See NWT’s 2022 Shows list, which aims to list just about every theatre show in town. For shows by day and ticketing info, see the Performance Calendar.
Chase D. Anderson is Editor & Producer of NWTheatre.org.