This Week in Arts: Weekly Roundup (12/14)
New works add to the mix this weekend. And whether you’re looking to entertain friends and family or warm up your own spirits, there’s plenty out there for you (Christmas-y or otherwise). Here’s what’s on this week.
Read previews of most shows in NWT’s 5 Guides of Christmas, here.
Ticketing links for most shows can be found on the Performance Calendar page.
Looking for a calendar of all the Christmas shows? (There are a ton of them!) Click here. 🎅🏽🎄
Looking for a calendar of all the Not-Christmas shows? (There are a lot still!) Click here.
Prefer to filter by location or show type? You can do that! Use filters on the Calendar page here.
News & New Works
Sound Theatre Company: Building & Bridging
Meet the Playwrights @ El Centro de la Raza
12/18 only (at 5pm). In Seattle (Beacon Hill).
Plus: New Artistic Leadership Announced Today
This Sunday, Sound Theatre previews its 2023 season loaded with new works by going in-depth with the playwrights, in a discussion hosted by renowned director Valerie Curtis-Newton.
Discussing their work in the upcoming season are Nikki Yeboah (whose play, tentatively titled 11th & Pine, will have its world premiere); Aimee Chou (whose play, Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead, will have its world premiere); and Zharia O’Neal, Sound’s inaugural William S. Yellow Robe Jr. Playwright Resident (whose work in progress is ROOST, which Sound describes as “a dark comedy about Black women’s complex relationships with reality television, media representation, respectability politics, and hotepery“).
The company invites audiences to enjoy refreshments while hearing from the writers about their world premieres and works in development, their artistic processes, and how these four artists create meaningful and engaging work for these extraordinary times. The new season, titled Building Bridges and Bridging Worlds, also features the Seattle premiere of Cost of Living by Martyna Majok (not in attendance).
Also in Sound news this week: today the company announced as its new Co-Artistic Director Shermona Mitchell, well known to Seattle audiences both as an award-winning actor on the stage and a prolific theatre-maker behind the scenes. (Says Mitchell of her many roles in the Seattle arts scene: “‘Booked, busy, and blessed!’ are words I often used when asked over the last year about my artistic career.”) Mitchell steps down as Sound’s board chair (with vice-president Andrea Kovich moving into the role) to join company founder Teresa Thuman at the artistic helm. Sound had previously operated under a co-artistic director model, with Jay Woods serving in the role alongside Thuman; Woods transitioned to a leadership role at The 5th Avenue Theatre last season.
Season info and tickets (sliding scale available to all) here. Event will be ASL interpreted.
More in New Works
Yun Theatre: Two Goldfish (Who Become Heroes) @ Base
Performs 12/16-18. In Seattle (Georgetown).
This weekend, Yun Theatre presents a one-act allegorical play exploring “memory, freedom, and the heroic transformation of ordinary humans,” crafted in response to anti-dictatorship protests in China and around the world.
“In an ordinary fish tank, live two ordinary goldfish, Apollo and Bubbles. Thanks to their short memory, their life has been simple and suspiciously happy – until Apollo catches a glimpse of ‘the sea’ on the ‘glowing box’ across the living room.”
Show info and tickets ($18) here. Presented in Mandarin, with English subtitles.
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Copious Love Productions: When We Rise @ 18th & Union
12/18 only (at noon). In Seattle (Central District).
Copious Love Productions, a longtime producer of new works by local playwrights, announces its return with the New Playwriting Residency and a new play by Andrew Lee Creech.
Centered on patrons and employees of The Golden Coin Wash’n’Dry laundromat, When We Rise finds people considering their present and future against the backdrop of The Great Recession and the wake of a natural disaster. How do we recover? How do we maintain hope? And how can we connect with others to make it that much more manageable?
The laid-back reading, with an estimated 90-minute runtime, follows a weekend workshop of the play.
No tickets required. Show info here.
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And for new works in dance, look to Velocity Dance Center for Next Fest NW (on now through 12/18 at 12th Avenue Arts; see NWT’s preview here) and the monthly Firelight: Dance + Music + Storytelling (on 12/21 at Cafe Racer) with this installment featuring Saira Barbaric (see NWT’s review of a prior work here).
Openings & Short Runs
Broadway at The Paramount – Seattle Theatre Group: Moulin Rouge! (touring) @ The Paramount Theatre (opens tonight, closing 1/1/2023). In Downtown Seattle.
Emmett Montgomery: Sugar Plum Gary @ 18th & Union (opens 12/16, closing 12/24). In Seattle (Central District).
Showtunes Theatre Company: Rich Gray’s Forbidden Xmas @ Cornish Playhouse (performs 12/17-18 only). At the Seattle Center (Mercer side).
Tacoma Arts Live: God Is a Scottish Drag Queen: Christmas Special (touring) @ Theater on the Square (performs 12/17-18 only). In Tacoma.
Closing Soon
ARC Dance: Nutcracker Sweets @ Shorewood Performing Arts Center (closing 12/17). In Shoreline.
Renton Civic Theatre: Humbug (closing 12/17). In Renton.
Unexpected Productions: Fa la la la la, ha ha ha ha: A Holiday Musical Extravaganza (closing 12/17). In Seattle (Pike Place Market).
Velocity Dance Center: Next Fest NW – Revolve/Revolution @ 12th Avenue Arts (closing 12/17). In Seattle (Capitol Hill).
Book-It Repertory Theatre: Austen Unbound: An Improvised Play (closing 12/18). At the Seattle Center.
Centerstage Theatre: Cinderella – Holiday Panto (closing 12/18). In Federal Way (Dash Point).
Edmonds Driftwood Players: Elf – The Musical (closing 12/18). In Edmonds.
Evergreen City Ballet: The Nutcracker @ Renton Ikea Performing Arts Center (closing 12/18). In Renton.
inD Theatre: There Is a Happiness That Morning Is (closing 12/18). On Bainbridge Island.
Kitten N’ Lou: Jingle All the Gay @ Oddfellows Hall (closing 12/18). In Seattle (Capitol Hill). Final year! (of this version)
Lakewood Playhouse: Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol (closing 12/18). In Lakewood.
MainStage Theatre: Elf – The Musical (closing 12/18). In Puyallup.
Olympia Little Theatre: One Christmas Eve at Evergreen Mall (closing 12/18). In Olympia.
The Phoenix Theatre: Dashing Through the Snow (closing 12/18). In Edmonds.
Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts: Miracle on 34th Street (closing 12/18). In Marysville.
Seattle Opera: A Very Drunken Christmas Carol (closing 12/18). At the Seattle Center (Mercer side).
Spectrum Dance Theater: The Harlem Nutcracker (Teaser) @ On the Boards (closing 12/18). In Seattle (Lower Queen Anne).
Tacoma Musical Playhouse: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (closing 12/18). In Tacoma.
Twelfth Night Productions: Miracle on 34th Street – A Live Radio Play @ Kenyon Hall (closing 12/18). In West Seattle.
Valley Center Stage: A Christmas Carol (closing 12/18). In North Bend.
Western Washington Center for the Arts: Holiday Special (closing 12/18). In Port Orchard.
The Habit: A Very Die Hard Christmas @ Seattle Public Theater (closing 12/20). In Seattle (Green Lake).
Olympic Ballet Theatre: The Nutcracker @ Edmonds Center for the Arts (closing 12/20). In Edmonds.
Continuing Runs
The 5th Avenue Theatre: The Wiz (closing 12/23). In Downtown Seattle.
ArtsWest: Q Brothers Christmas Carol (closing 12/23). In West Seattle.
International Ballet Theatre: The Nutcracker @ Meydenbauer Center Theatre (closing 12/23). In Bellevue.
Macha Theatre Works: The Flight Before Xmas (closing 12/23). In Seattle (Fremont).
Seattle Rep: Mr. Dickens and His Carol (closing 12/23). At the Seattle Center (Mercer side).
SecondStory Repertory: A Christmas Carol (closing 12/23). In Redmond. Longtime Scrooge’s final year!
Unexpected Productions: A(n Improvised) Christmas Carol (closing 12/23). In Seattle (Pike Place Market).
ACT Theatre: A Christmas Carol (closing 12/24). In Downtown Seattle. Seattle’s annual tradition!
ACT Theatre: The Dina Martina Christmas Show (closing 12/24). In Downtown Seattle.
Cafe Nordo: Homicide for the Holidays (closing 12/24). In Seattle (International District). Final show in Nordo’s Culinarium!
Harlequin Productions: A Christmas Carol (closing 12/24). In Olympia. Olympia’s new tradition!
Olympia Family Theater with String & Shadow Puppet Theater: Nyx and the Long Night (closing 12/24). In Olympia.
Seattle Public Theater: Christmastown (closing 12/24). In Seattle (Green Lake). Final year!
Shoes and Pants Productions: Scott Shoemaker’s War on Christmas @ Theatre Off Jackson (closing 12/24). In Seattle (International District).
Tacoma Little Theatre: A Christmas Story (closing 12/24). In Tacoma.
Pacific Northwest Ballet: The Nutcracker (closing 12/27). At the Seattle Center (Mercer side). Seattle’s Christmas feast!
Taproot Theatre: The Wickhams – Christmas at Pemberley (closing 12/30). In Seattle (Greenwood).
Verlaine & McCann: Land of the Sweets – The Burlesque Nutcracker @ The Triple Door (closing 12/30). In Downtown Seattle.
Seattle Children’s Theatre: Paddington Saves Christmas (closing 12/31). At the Seattle Center.
Can Can Culinary Cabaret: Wonderland (closing 1/8/2023). In Seattle (Pike Place Market).
Teatro ZinZanni: Coming Home @ Herban Feast (closing 2/19/2023). In Seattle (SoDo).
The Roundup is a weekly (ish) feature. For this month’s shows by day, with ticketing info and links, see the Performance Calendar.
Want to plan your show schedule further out? See NWT’s seasonal show lists — Holiday Season (November & December) and an early look at 2023 — which aim to list just about every theatre show in town.
Chase D. Anderson is Editor & Producer of NWTheatre.org.