ODYSSEY, IDEAL HUSBAND Highlight Taproot Theatre Company's 35th Anniversary Season

"35 is a very attractive age," according to Oscar Wilde, and Taproot Theatre Company agrees. Taproot Theatre Company celebrates its 35th Anniversary Season in 2011 with a year-long party featuring Wilde and his dandies, a myriad of mythological characters, and countless Taproot Theatre patrons and friends. Taproot Theatre Company's 2011 Season runs from January through October. The resubscription period is currently underway, with subscriptions opening to the general public on September 28.

"35 years ago a seed was planted, and over the years it took root, sprouted and grew, becoming the Taproot Theatre we know today. Looking back at the journey of the past 35 years-from those beginning days as a touring company to planting our roots in Greenwood with our current playhouse-I'm amazed at the adventures we've experienced with our many guest artists, patrons and volunteers. I'm also excited about what the next 35 years will hold," said producing artistic director Scott Nolte. "Our 2011 Season reflects everything we love about theatre, everything we've sought to bring to the stage throughout the years. From the truly theatrical productions that hearken back to our early touring days to stories that make people stop and think-and even the murder mysteries our patrons have loved throughout the years-it's all here in 2011."

Encounter mythological monsters, gods and adventurers on the high seas when Taproot Theatre opens its 35th Anniversary Season with The Odyssey. Adapting Robert Fitzgerald's translation of Homer's epic poem, playwright Mary Zimmerman skillfully brings this story to life for modern audiences as she grounds it in the present day before jumping in and guiding Odysseus on his ten-year journey home from the battle of Troy. Zimmerman-a professor of performance studies at Northwest University-is active at Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company, and also at Goodman Theatre, where The Odyssey was originally produced in September 1999. Known for taking ancient and classic literature and tales and adapting-directing them for the stage, Zimmerman won the Tony Award for Metamorphoses in 2002, received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1998, and has won over two dozen Joseph Jefferson Awards.

From mythological adventures in the ancient world to a riveting true story set in Hitler's Nazi Germany, The Beams are Creaking will have audiences on the edges of their seats. Telling the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the theologian and pastor who unexpectedly became a resistance fighter during World War II, The Beams are Creaking is a historical drama, love story and thriller, all in one. Written by Douglas Anderson, this story premiered at Case Western Reserve University in October 1978, and won the Marc A. Klein Playwright Award and Wichita State National Playwright Competition that same year.

In the spring, the picturesque and tranquil mountains of George Quickly become the backdrop for conflict, tension and comedy in the West Coast premiere of Janece Shaffer's Brownie Points. When a fierce storm leaves a girls' scout troop and their chaperones stranded in a remote cabin, the close quarters, diverse backgrounds and differing walks of life collide, spurring conversations about race, religion and parenting. Brownie Points had its world premiere at Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta in February 2010. Shaffer won the 2009 Gene-Gabriel Moore Playwrighting Award for Managing Maxine and serves as director of communications for the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Another dark, stormy night results in a series of oddball deaths in Something's Afoot, a musical spoofing the murder mystery and detective genres. With characters including a "saucy maid," a "black sheep nephew" and a "tweedy, elderly amateur detective" known as Miss Tweed-who sings "I Owe It All to Agatha Christie"-fans of the genre will see elements of their favorite mystery novels parodied in this "engaging, funny, refreshing and original musical" (The New York Post). Something's Afoot features book, music and lyrics by James McDonald, David Vos and Robert Gerlach, with additional music by Ed Linderman. It premiered in 1972 at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, and then was produced at Goodspeed Musicals in 1973. Opening on Broadway at Lyceum Theatre in May 1976, it went on to the West End's Ambassadors Theatre in 1977.

Secrets, fraud and blackmail, decorum, dandies and diamonds-it's all there as Taproot Theatre wraps up its 2011 Season with Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. Taking place in London over the course of 24 hours, Wilde's smart satire glimmers with fashionable dinner guests with less-than-sparkly secrets. One of the great playwrights of the Victorian era, Wilde's plays include The Importance of Being Earnest-which premiered the same year as An Ideal Husband, and which Taproot Theatre staged in 2007-Lady Windemere's Fan and A Woman of No Importance. The Irish-born writer's bibliography also includes The Picture of Dorian Gray-his only novel-children's stories, poetry and articles.

For more information about subscriptions and single tickets, visit www.taproottheatre.org or contact the box office at 206.781.9707. The box office is open Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 5:00 p.m., and until show time on performance nights.

All performances are held at Taproot Theatre, located at 204 N. 85th St. in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood. The 226-seat theatre is wheelchair accessible and is equipped with assisted listening devices.

Taproot Theatre Company is a professional, non-profit theatre company with a multi-faceted production program. Founded in 1976, Taproot Theatre serves the Pacific Northwest with Mainstage Productions, Touring Productions and Acting Studio. Taproot exists to create theatre that explores the beauty and questions of life while bringing hope to our search for meaning. Taproot Theatre Company is a member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), Theatre Puget Sound (TPS), and the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce.

Support for Taproot Theatre's 2011 Mainstage season is generously provided by The Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, The Seattle Foundation, 4Culture, ArtsFund and PONCHO.

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