Macha Theatre Works Presents SHEATHED

Macha Theatre Works presents the world premiere of Sheathed by local playwright Maggie Lee, directed by Amy Poisson. This original new play was a semi-finalist in the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and will be a produced in association with Theatre Off Jackson (409 7th Ave. S.), with performances from March 8 - 23, 2019.

"This marks Macha Theatre Works' first time producing a Maggie Lee original and we couldn't be more thrilled," said Amy Poisson, Artistic Director. "But it is my fifth time working with Maggie as a director, and our collaborations over the years have formed a special artistic bond creating surprising, innovative work. Sheathed is the perfect show to end our season, exploring the theme Choose Differently."

In the aftermath of a devastating war between clans, two swordswomen try to find their way forward in this strange new world of peace: one trying to escape her past, and the other driven by an inherited thirst for revenge. When your very existence is defined by your blade, how do you keep the violence within yourself sheathed? A tale of an unlikely friendship tested by the bonds of honor and the terrible price of forgiveness, Sheathed combines movement and storytelling in an exciting new way to explore the emotional depths of why we fight. The play takes place in one of Maggie Lee's rich, multi-faceted fantastical worlds, combining influences from feudal Japanese samurai tales, classic Old Westerns, and heroic medieval legends. But in true Macha style, strong female characters lead the way, capable of carving out their own destinies with their swords but also learning to understand the true consequences of their actions. The cast includes Ayo Tushinde, Sunam Ellis, Fune Tautala, Maile Wong, Natalie Berg, Isis King, and Dylan Smith. Director Amy Poisson has brought together a powerful team of female theatre artists. Anna Ly is the Assistant Director, Leanna Keith is composing and performing an original score, Alyza DelPan-Monley is creating stylized movement, and May Nguyen Lee is choreographing combat with a variety of bladed weapons. The production design team is rounded out with Johanna Melamed (Sound Designer), Parmida Ziaei (Set and Props Designer), Ahren Buhmann (Lighting Designer) and Gregory Award winner Jocelyne Fowler (Costume Designer).

Maggie Lee is a Seattle playwright who creates diverse, imaginative new worlds in genres like science fiction, horror, and adventure. Her plays have been produced in Seattle, New York, Seoul, Chicago, and San Francisco by The Navigators Theater Company, Seattle Public Theater, Seoul Players, Radial Theater Project, Theater Schmeater, Pony World Theatre, Pork Filled Productions, The 14/48 Projects, Live Girls! Theater, SIS Productions, Infinity Box Theatre Project, ReAct, Balagan Theatre, Double Shot Theatre Festival, Bindlestiff Studio, Memoriam Development, Open Circle Theater, and others. Recently, her short play Paper and Ink won the Third Place Prize in the Seoul Players' 2018 Annual 10 Minute Play Festival. Her new play Sheathed was a semi-finalist for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and her steampunk train adventure The Tumbleweed Zephyr was nominated for a 2016 Gregory Award for Outstanding New Play and featured at the opening night event of the 2016 National Asian American Theater Conference in Ashland, Oregon. She also was a 2015 4Culture Art Projects grant recipient for The Journey of the Bell, a 2015 Playwright Mentor for Intiman Theatre's Emerging Artists Program, a 2013 Artist in Residence at Theatre Off Jackson, and a featured playwright at ACT's Local Writers Showcase for the REPRESENT! Multicultural Playwrights' Festival in 2011 and 2012. Maggie is currently a board member of Rain City Projects (an organization that supports playwrights in the Pacific Northwest), an Artist Associate with Macha Theatre Works, and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Amy Poisson is the Artistic Director of Macha Theatre Works. Amy's specialty is world premiere plays by female artists. Recent work includes: Le Grand Fromage by Nicole Aloni (West of Lenin); Smoke & Dust by Joy McCullough-Carranza (Macha Theatre Works); The Flight Before X-mas by Maggie Lee (Seattle Public Theatre); Happy, Happy, Happy... by Jenn Ruzumna and Lisa Every (Macha Theatre Works); A Hand of Talons by Maggie Lee, a 2016 Gregory Award Winner for Costumes, and multiple Gypsy Rose Award nominations (Pork Filled Productions); The Twelfth Story by Rebecca Goldberg (Annex Theatre); The Tumbleweed Zephyr by Maggie Lee, a 2016 Gregory Award nominee for Outstanding New Play (Pork Filled Productions); Blood/Water/Paint by Joy McCullough-Carranza (Live Girls! Theater); Fast Company by Carla Ching, a 2014 Seattle Times Footlight Award (Pork Filled Productions); and The Clockwork Professor by Maggie Lee (Pork Filled Productions). She also directed These Streets by Gretta Harley and Sarah Rudinoff (ACT Central Heating Lab). Amy envisions a world where women's voices thrive and their stories are revered.

Envisioning a world where fearless female voices thrive, Macha Theatre Works is a small, dynamic Seattle-based theatre company that produces exceptional new works featuring strong female characters. We are a nonprofit arts organization that strives to bring complex, provocative, empowering, innovative, eclectic, and diverse women's stories to the stage through professional productions, a new play reading series, and educational offerings. The company was founded in 2001 by Kristina Sutherland Rowell and Desiree Prewitt. In 2017, Macha transitioned the company under the leadership of Artistic Director Amy Poisson (director of Smoke & Dust, Happy, Happy, Happy..., The Clockwork Professor, The Tumbleweed Zephyr, A Hand of Talons, Blood/Water/Paint) and Managing Director Kyna Shilling (Melissa Hines Award for Outstanding Theatre Practitioner, 2016 Gregory Awards). Macha most recently produced the regional premiere of Veils by Tom Coash at West of Lenin (November - December 2018), the world premiere of Smoke & Dust by local playwright Joy McCullough-Carranza at Theatre Off Jackson (March - April 2018) and the world premiere of Happy, Happy, Happy... by Jenn Ruzumna and Lisa Every at the Erickson Theatre (October 2017). For more information on Macha Theatre Works, please visit www.machatheatreworks.com. You can reach us by phone at (608) 909-1252 or by e-mail at machapublicist@gmail.com Tickets and Info: For further information on tickets for any of Macha Theatre Works' productions, please visit www.machatheatreworks.com/tickets, call (608) 909-1252, or e-mail tickets@machatheatreworks.com

To post a comment, you must register and login.