Strawberry Jam: The Lobby & Drowning – Strawberry Theatre Workshop @ 12th Avenue Arts (Seattle – Capitol Hill)

Show info:

The Lobby (written and directed by Shanna Allman) is in direct conversation, both in terms of format, and in terms of content, with what we have all experienced over the past few years of this pandemic: isolation, the need for connection, frustration, ennui, existential crisis, gallows humor, quiet desperation, hopelessness, etc, etc. The play is, at its core an opportunity for art and audience to commiserate with one another. The Lobby is a world premiere play, featuring Angela DiMarco, Nikki Visel, and David S Hogan.

Drowning (written by María Irene Fornés, directed by Gavin Reub) tells its story swiftly, in a handful of pages, sketching a love affair from the first moment of desire to the bitter end. All the characters, including the jilted lover, are described in the script as potato-heads with bodies “like seals or sea lions” and shiny, oily flesh covered in warts. Their revolting exterior brands them as unlovable and oddly makes the story feel more universal.

Festival info:
Strawberry Jam is a Directors Festival of seven plays in fifteen days from playwrights ranging from Pulitzer Prize winners (Quiara Alegría Hudes, María Irene Fornés) to local novices (Alanah Pascual, Shanna Allman, Kaytlin McIntyre). Strawberry Theatre Workshop—which has been shuttered for two years—returns to 12th Ave Arts with its most ambitious program ever. Why produce one play, when you can amplify the artists in your community with seven? Add three Sundays of eclectic music concerts, featuring Strawshop favorites Felicia Loud, Jose Gonzales, and the musicians of BeatleConcert. That’s a Strawberry Jam.

Festival schedule and tickets ($13.50 per show, $39 full festival) here.

Music Series sold separately.