New Works Northwest @ ACT Contemporary Theatre (Downtown Seattle)
(Different performance each day. See schedule below.)
20 new works. 5 days. 20 Seattle playwrights. New Works Northwest features readings of groundbreaking new works in an intimate setting, where audiences can engage in the process of bringing stories from script to stage.
General admission. All tickets are pay-what-you-choose ($5-$50). Select desired rate during checkout.
*****
Run dates: opens 10/30, closing 11/3 (see schedule below)
Accessible show dates: Pay-what-you-choose tickets available for all show dates
Venue accessibility info: Theatre & most common areas are wheelchair accessible. Restrooms are multi-stall and gender-neutral.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Solo Act: Monologues
10/30 @ 7
An electric evening of hot-off-the-presses monologues from 15 local playwrights on the theme “The Choice.” From poignant to punchy, complex to cathartic, these pieces explode with energy, emotion, and enthusiasm. Curated in partnership with SCRiBLAB and Rain City Projects.
Featuring monologues by Tommer Peterson, Shanna Allman, Rebecca Tourino Collinsworth, Monique Hebert, Marcus Gorman & Kiki Penoyer, Anamaria Guerzon, Rachel Chin, Pamela Hobart Carter, Stacy D. Flood, Vanessa Miller, JW Marshall, Tess Berger, Aleks Merilo, Kate Danley, and M Yichao
Refugee Rhapsody
11/1 @ 7
By Yussef El Guindi
Directed by Anita Montgomery
Sakinah, a Middle Eastern American woman, is being evaluated by a mental health professional to determine her responsibility for a violent crime. What did she do to Emily, the rich heiress who tried to help Sakinah and her boyfriend? And more importantly — why did she do it? Featuring witty comedy and biting drama, this play explores how complex layers of race, class, and privilege collide in today’s culture.
Run Time: Approximately 90-100 minutes
Uhuru
11/2 @ 4
By Gloria Majule
Directed by Faith Bennett Russell
Mshale, a Mount Kilimanjaro tour guide, dreams of marrying a white woman and moving to the West. Sprite doesn’t like white people and sets out to decolonize what he deems “his mountain.” Henry and Frannie are white missionaries who claim to be Tanzanian. Uhuru is a dramedy that follows this unlikely foursome as they journey together to the roof of Africa.
Run Time: Approximately 90-100 minutes
Legacies: A Ghost Story
11/2 @ 7
By Amontaine Aurore
Directed by Bretteney Beverly
The roof is caving in, the floorboards are shifting beneath her feet, and the walls crumble at the slightest touch. Cashew’s house is falling down around her, and she must get out before it collapses. As she packs to leave, she encounters buried memories: documents, memorabilia, and long-forgotten residents. A poetic and psychologically rich story of redemption.
Run Time: Approximately 90-100 minutes
Underwater Weather
11/3 @ 4
By Holly Arsenault
in collaboration with the Young Core Company
Directed by Sunam Ellis
How do you save the world when the seas are rising, the forests are burning, and your roommate keeps eating your yogurt? Gregory Award-winning playwright Holly Arsenault (Undo, The Great Inconvenience), in collaboration with ACT’s Young Core Company, creates a world premiere play about activism and apathy, rage and hope, and the joy and agony of having to actually deal with the ones you’re trying to save.
Run Time: Approximately 80-90 minutes
Home
11/3 @ 7
By Naghmeh Samini
Directed by Parmida Ziaei
Translated by Hossein Nazari & Ghazal Ghaziani
Co-presented with Seda Iranian Theatre Ensemble
Trapped in a shrinking house, an Iranian family of five lives in isolation, locked in separate rooms, revealing their loneliness, regrets, and their lack of communication only to the audience. Home offers a glimpse of what goes on inside an Iranian household, telling familiar stories of the fragility of the human psyche and the vulnerability of a family in a world that is breaking down.
Run Time: Approximately 90-100 minutes