ROMEO AND JULIET, DIRTY STORY and More Set for 2012 Intiman Theatre Festival, Now thru 8/26

Tony-award winning Intiman Theatre turns 40 this year and will celebrate by launching a new summer theatre festival with four plays: Romeo and Juliet, Hedda Gabler, Miracle! and Dirty Story. The artists leading the charge - Dan Savage, Valerie Curtis-Newton, Andrew Russell and Allison Narver – are bringing passion projects with a twist to awaken the theatre, and the company of 17 local actors features established heavyweights and new forces, twisting and turning to play more than 40 roles in more than 80 performances. Similarly, the design team is stretching and shifting to build a versatile playground on the mainstage that will support several shows while simultaneously creating a separate universe in Intiman's studio space.

"We're thrilled to finally share the fruits of our labor with audiences," said Artistic Director Andrew Russell. "Jumping between Shakespeare, Ibsen, Shanley and Savage, we've programmed work that warns: don't get too comfortable. From the political to the personal, this year's festival explores the rumblings beneath the surface, the unoccupied life, and the voices of those yet unheard. With the integration of dance, music and drag performance, we are re-imagining classics and launching epic new spectacles in the way that this community has come to expect from Intiman."

As promised, Intiman is offering honorary tickets to its 2011 subscribers, who will have priority options to redeem their seats before they go on sale to the general public on June 4. Information on how to redeem tickets was recently sent to subscribers via email or U.S. mail.

In February of this year, the Board of Directors voted to move ahead with the festival after more than 1,000 supporters stepped forward to raise the $1 million needed to produce the two-month festival. Since that time, an army of creative forces has worked tirelessly to generate the diverse and provocative work that Intiman will share with audiences this summer.

Intiman Theater is located at 201 Mercer Street in the Seattle Center. Previews begin tonight, July 5, with performances running July 11-August 26. Tickets are $30 each and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-982-2787. A limited number of tickets may also be available at the door for the same price one hour before performances. For more information about the plays, acting ensemble, company and interns, visit www.intiman.org.

ROMEO AND JULIET
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Allison Narver

For the first time, Intiman will produce the universal, red-hot, romantic epic of two lovers caught in the crossfire of their feuding families. In the claustrophobic marketplace of ancient Verona, young Romeo and Juliet burn for each other amidst a tinderbox of conflict waiting to explode. Stacked on top of each other, every form of violence is fair game as the Montagues and Capulets slash, tear, and flee to and from their addiction to violence. Under the directing force of Allison Narver, this raw, hot, dangerous, and sexy romance will explode the theatre awake again.

HEDDA GABLER
By Henrik Ibsen
Directed by Andrew Russell

This emotional thriller zeros in on the magnificent Hedda Gabler as she fights to keep her world from tearing apart. Immediately after returning from her outrageous honeymoon she's circled by a past lover who has her heart, a wealthy judge who holds her money, and a husband whose baby she secretly carries. Over the course of two days, mysteries, betrayals, and live ammunition go unbridled in Ibsen's most personal play. Marya Sea Kaminski will combat the primal forces rumbling beneath the surface as Intiman continues to deepen the tradition of producing Ibsen's masterpieces in ways that are inventive, dangerous, and scarily close to home.

MIRACLE!
Created and directed by Dan Savage
Choreographed by Waxie Moon

You know writer and activist Dan Savage from The Stranger and the It Gets Better Project, but Dan's first love was theatre. This summer Dan returns from his theatrical hiatus to create a drag extravaganza that asks what would happen if Helen Keller and the Seattle drag scene of the early 1990's smashed into each other. Raised by a drag queen amidst false lashes and sequined bras, Helen Stellar struggles to find her voice during amateur drag nights at Seattle's own Brass Connection. Only with the help of a mysterious out-of-town tutor, and an army of divas, will Helen become a show-stopping queen in this comedy that guarantees to be offensively heartwarming and celebrate the unique voice in us all.

DIRTY STORY
By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton

Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award winning playwright and screenwriter John Patrick Shanley (playwright of Doubt and screenwriter of Moonstruck) has created what seems to be another crazy, co-dependent couple prone to battles and reconciliation. Spend more time with this unlikely couple in this lively and sharp comedy, and catch the intimate turn international as lovers take sides, demand territory, and seek the support of a pot-bellied, gun-toting, cigarette-selling American cowboy and a snide British side-kick. Valerie Curtis-Newton's bold gut-punch of a production turns itself inside out as it tackles and tickles one of the touchiest political issues on the planet. Dirty Story will be Intiman's first play in our intimate studio space, so tickets are limited. Act now to get front and center for this knockout inter-personal-political spectacle.

Acting Company:

Burton Curtis* Shawn Law
Ryan Fields Fawn Ledesma
Allen Fitzpatrick* Timothy McCuen Piggee*
Hannah Victoria Franklin Michael Place*
Quinn Franzen Carol Roscoe*
Marya Sea Kaminski* Shellie Shulkin

*Denotes Actors' Equity Association

Acting Interns: Jonathan Crimeni, Drew Highlands, Jonathon Pyburn, Angela Rose Sink, Tsige Tafesse

Intiman Theatre presents engaging dramatic work that celebrates the intimate relationship among artist, audience and language and, through the exploration of enduring themes, illuminates the shared human experience of our diverse community.

Intiman Theatre is a Tony Award winning regional theatre founded in 1972. Over the past 40 years the theatre has been host to artistic directors Margaret Booker, Liz Huddle, Warner Shook, Bartlett Sher, Kate Whoriskey, and Andrew Russell. Intiman is known for producing bold classical productions and epic new works, including Angels in America, The Kentucky Cycle, The Light in the Piazza, and Ruined. The theatre has presented over 200 productions to Seattle audiences and celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2012 by launching the Intiman Theatre Festival, featuring a repertory company of actors in multiple rotating productions.

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