Libby Barnard News

Best friends, betrayals, love, and lust - Keiko Green’s new work, The Bed Trick, has it all. Seattle Shakespeare's first new commissioned work is set to be a complete hit. Skillfully directed by Makaela Milburn, the dorm window blinds have opened at the Center Theatre at Seattle Center.

Seattle Shakespeare Company will present an all new play written by Seattle favorite, Keiko Green and directed by Interim Artistic Director Makaela Milburn. Running March 20 – April 7, 2024 at the Center Theater.

It is, of course, mere coincidence that former South African State President F.W. de Clerk died only three days before Athol Fugard’s My Children! My Africa! opened at Washington Stage Guild, but it sets a mood. de Clerk was the last President of apartheid-afflicted South Africa; he led the government’s sometimes acrimonious negotiations with Nelson Mandela to bring democracy to that benighted country, for which they shared a Nobel Prize.

The Washington Stage Guild will return to the stage with a masterwork by one of the modern theatre’s most important figures: My Children! My Africa!, the great South African playwright Athol Fugard’s meditation on education and its role in the struggle for justice, along with its sad limits in a culture of oppression and bigotry.

Seattle Theater Writers Seattle's theater reviewers circle announces the Winners of Excellence in Seattle theatrical productions. Spanning dozens of theater companies and productions, from large and prominent to small and humble, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor the excellence found across the area.

Seattle's critics' circle announces nominees for the 2020 Gypsy Rose Lee awards celebrating excellence in Seattle theatrical productions.

Oh my! What a year! We've seen bad-ass gospel singers, lost Jewish plays, mythical towns of excretion and even an octopus wrestler or two. No, those aren't allusions to the crazy theater going on in Washington D.C. but the crazy wonderful theater going on right here in the Seattle area. It was tough coming up with just one winner (or even just a few Honorable Mentions) but I managed to do it a?? for the most part. Plus, some shows that more of you should have seen. (Yes, that's me nagging you all, Dear Readers, to check out more of the smaller or obscure theaters around here.) But what it all comes down to is, we're blessed here in the Northwest with an over-abundance of theatrical riches and I'm so fortunate to be able to share some of my favorites of the year with you with the BWW 2019 Seattle Critic's Choice Awards (Jay's Picks). So, let's get started, shall we?

Dear Readers, there are shows out there that are all dessert and give you the fun and fluff. A certain pee-soaked musical comes to mind. Then there are the shows that slip the meaningful messages or vegetables in with the yummy portions to trick you into enriching your mind and soul. There's a baseball show currently running that fits that bill. And then there are the shows that are all nutrition. Shows that are so meaningful and full of raw significance that some may not be ready to handle them. Such is "Blackbird" currently running at 18th & Union produced by White Rabbits Inc and Libby Barnard. That's not to say you can't enjoy those nutritious morsels on some level especially considering the stirring performances but know that while your mind and soul may be richer at the end, the rest of you may walk away feeling not so great. Or, as happened with one patron the night I saw it, you may not be able to handle it and may need to leave. But with the subject matter, the theater knows this may happen and even encouraged it.

White Rabbits Inc and Libby Barnard, in association with 18th & Union, will present the Seattle premiere of Blackbird by David Harrower.

The word that springs to mind when I think of Seattle Public Theater's current production of Ruby Rae Spiegel's "Dry Land" is "gratuitous". That's the first thing I think of. Not "intense" or "gripping" as the climactic scene was, or "raw" or "honest" as much of the dialog between the young girls felt, but "gratuitous" as all of that is overshadowed by a production that felt the need to, I don't know, shock or fill time? The play is already shocking, and the filler just diluted that shock, so I am only left with "gratuitous".

Unknown painter Nora Baker in 2016 visits the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where things quickly get weird. From New York she travels to an artist's studio in southern France in 1900. Nora desperately wants to get back to 2016 but Paul Cezanne, another obscure artist with his own problems, is not being helpful. Also ensnared in Nora's crisis are an art historian from Utah and Cezanne's gardener.

Red Rover Theatre Company presents the world premiere of 'Visiting Cezanne', a play by Duane Kelly, at 18th & Union Arts Space in Seattle.

Welcome aboard the HMS Whooville for your holiday excursion. But don't expect a quick trip around the solar system as the crew takes you on an adventure across space and time and they feed you too! It's "Christmas is Burning" from the folks at Cafe Nordo and Sgt. Rigsby and while the script may be a little thin at times (they say so themselves) the crazy antics and delicious meal completely make up for that.

When my Mom goes to see shows of mine that are on the edgy or weirder side she inevitably comes back with the comment, "That was interesting" afterward. Translation: not my thing and a little too weird. I, on the other hand, like a little weird in my theater especially when it culminates into a good message or "aha!" moment at the end. But while I was on board through Act One with the message and imagery in "Marisol", the inaugural production from newly hatched theater company The Collision Project, Act Two led me into a melange of overdone messages and just became kind of "interesting" for me.

The Collision Project a new Seattle-based artistic collaboration, announces its company debut with their production of Marisol by Jose Rivera, directed by The Collision Project's Co-Artistic Director Ryan Higgins (2012 Gregory Award winner for 'Outstanding Actor' in Live! From the Last Night of My Life, former Artistic Director of Balagan Theater) Marisol opens tonight, February 7th 2014 and is performed at The Satori Lab at Inscape in Seattle.

The Collision Project a new Seattle? based artistic collaboration, announces its company debut with their production of Marisol by Jose Rivera, directed by The Collision Project's Co-Artistic Director Ryan Higgins (2012 Gregory Award winner for 'Outstanding Actor' in Live! From the Last Night of My Life, former Artistic Director of Balagan Theater) Marisol opens Friday, February 7th 2014 and is performed at The Satori Lab at Inscape in Seattle.

Seattle Theater Writers, a critics' circle of local theater writers and reviewers, today announces the 2013 slate of nominees of the third annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, theater awards devoted to recognizing excellence across the economic spectrum of professional Seattle theaters.

There are some aspects of life that most of us don't delve into. Dark aspects that are all too common in the world but we've been fortunate enough to avoid. But it seems as dark and unseemly as these areas of life are, Azeotrope is determined to pull back the rug and take a good look at what skitters out whether it be prostitutes and infidelity or meth and murder, as is evident in their current offerings in repertory over at ACT, "Red Light Winter" and "25 Saints". And while we may not want to look straight into the maw of these seedy underbellies, what results are two stirring and intense bits of theater put on with Azeotrope's usual intelligence and power.

Following the success of their critically acclaimed production ofJesus Hopped the A Train (2012 Gregory Award and Gypsy Lee Rose Award winners), Seattle theatre company Azeotrope is excited to bring two powerful shows in repertory: Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp and 25 Saints by Joshua Rollins, directed by Artistic Associate Desdemona Chiang. Both shows open Today, October 26, and play through November 24; produced in association with Central Heating Lab at A Contemporary Theatre.

Following the success of their critically acclaimed production ofJesus Hopped the A Train (2012 Gregory Award and Gypsy Lee Rose Award winners), Seattle theatre company Azeotrope is excited to bring two powerful shows in repertory: Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp and 25 Saints by Joshua Rollins, directed by Artistic Associate Desdemona Chiang. Both shows open Saturday, October 26, and play through November 24; produced in association with Central Heating Lab at A Contemporary Theatre.