A Contemporary Theater Announces Additions To 45th Season

A Contemporary Theatre announces adjustments and additions to its 45th Anniversary Season. Rounding out the six-play Mainstage season is the corporate comedy Below the Belt (May 22-June 21, previously listed as TBA), starring acclaimed film and television actor Judd Hirsch. In addition, subscribers to ACT receive special entrée to discounted tickets to the Broadway smash hit, August: Osage County, on tour at The Paramount October 27-November 1.

On the heels of a successful 2008 Season that The Seattle Times Theater Critic Misha Berson called, "the most consistently daring and creative of the major theaters" (12/28/08), ACT will open its season with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (April 10-May 22), followed by Below the Belt, the break/s (June 17-July 12), Das Barbecü (July 31-September 6), Runt of the Litter (September 18-October 11), and Rock 'n' Roll (October 9-November 8).

Season subscriptions are on sale now and single tickets go on sale mid-February. Subscriptions range from $60 (students with ID/25 and under) to $300, and include a special $171 senior matinee package. Subscriptions are available at the Ticket Office, 700 Union Street in downtown Seattle, by phone at (206) 292-7676 or online at acttheatre.org. Single ticket prices range $10/$15 (for students with ID/25 and under) to $55.

The Updated 2009 Mainstage Season:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (April 10 - May 10)

Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; directed by R. Hamilton Wright

Jeffrey Hatcher has seen the Victorians, and they are us. In his inventive retelling of the classic thriller, four different actors play Henry Jekyll's depraved alter ego. With its observations on the blurry line between good and evil, audiences will savor this show's psychological musings as much as its classic melodrama. And if you think this timeless story just might say something about how we live today, well…the doctor is in.
 
Below the Belt (May 22 – June 21)

By Richard Dresser, featuring award-winning actor Judd Hirsch

ACT is welcomes acclaimed actor Judd Hirsch (Ordinary People, television's Taxi and Numb3rs) in this farcical skewering of globalized corporate culture. Somewhere, in an anonymous factory cranking out units of some unnamed product, three men try to maintain some semblance of humanity and self, despite a crushingly conformist and hyper-masculine bureaucracy. Cross the sitcom The Office with Samuel Beckett, and the results might look like something like this—darkly funny, and disconcertingly familiar.

the break/s (June 17 – July 12)

Written and performed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph; directed by Michael John Garces; choreography by Stacy Printz; set and video design by David Szlasa; lighting design by James Clotfelter; original music by Ajayi Lumumba

Das Barbecü (July 31 – September 6)

Book and Lyrics by Jim Luigs | Music by Scott Warrender; directed by Stephen Terrell

Seattle Opera originally commissioned this comic adaptation of Wagner's Ring Cycle in 1991. This year, The Ring returns – and so, lest we take it too seriously, does Das Barbecü. It's a lightning-paced musical that grafts Teutonic myth onto Texas twang. Big hair, big hats, and wonderful music – including an infectious ode to guacamole and a tender ditty entitled "Hog Tie Your Man" – make this show a blast for opera buffs and anybody who just loves a good time.

Runt of the Litter (September 18 – October 11)

Written and performed by Bo Eason; directed by Larry Moss

Are you ready for some football?!? In this acclaimed one-man show, former Houston Oiler Bo Eason takes audiences down to the locker room and deep into the psyche of a pro with twin obsessions: winning a Super Bowl and vanquishing his star-quarterback brother. Snapping from comedy to drama and back, Eason spares no brutal detail in his depiction of the football field as an epic battleground. He is equally unflinching in reminding us that being part of the family can be a full-contact sport.

Rock 'n' Roll (October 9 – November 8)

By Tom Stoppard; directed by Kurt Beattie

When the Soviet hammer falls on Prague Spring, Jan returns to his native city to rescue two things – socialism and his mother. His only luggage: a suitcase full of rock albums. This show won raves on Broadway, and it's no wonder – Stoppard's writing, like the best music, invigorates your mind along with your spirit. The relationship of self to state and of body to mind are just some of the ideas he explores, with help from Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, and many others.

*SPECIAL OFFER TO ACT SUBSCRIBERS ONLY:

August: Osage County (October 27-November 1)

On tour at The Paramount

*Subscribers to ACT receive up to 25% off tickets; offer not valid for single ticket buyers

Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award® for Best Play, Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre production of August: Osage County is a grand, gripping new play which tells the story of the Westons, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead when the alcoholic patriarch disappears. Forced to confront unspoken truths and astonishing secrets, the family must also contend with matriarch Violet, a pill-popping, deeply unsettled woman at the center of this storm. August: Osage County is a rare theatrical event - a large-scale work filled with unforgettable characters, a powerful tale told with unflinching honesty.
 
Following the 2009 Mainstage season, ACT will stage its 34th annual production of the Seattle holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Gregory A. Falls, November 29-December 27, 2009.

Now with one solid season under its belt, The Central Heating Lab at ACT will continue to challenge audiences in 2009 with after-hour companion pieces inspired by the Mainstage productions, as well as an eight week comedy series, a dance residency by the Maureen Whiting Company, the 2009 New Play Award and workshop, the 5th Annual RAWSTOCK film festival, Seattle Dance Project, the Moisture Festival and much more.

**Titles, dates and venues subject to change.

For the past 44 seasons, ACT's mission has been to inspire our diverse community through theatre that advances our understanding of human life. To dare, excite, and enrich artists and audiences. To steward our many resources. Through The Central Heating Lab, ACT seeks to heat things up and create a conversation with its season that reaches for an even deeper impact.

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