Seattle Public Theater Unveils New Holiday Double-Header

Seattle Public Theater's holiday double-header returns this season with beloved Seattle favorite Christmastown: A Holiday Noir, to be directed by Co-Producing Artistic Director Kelly Kitchens, and the newly-commissioned world premiere of The Flight Before Xmas by local Gregory Award-nominated playwright Maggie Lee.

With all the stress of the holidays, spending Christmas Eve stranded in an airport with a bunch of strangers is the last thing anyone needs! With endless delays, kids shuttling between stepfamilies, a rogue cat on the loose, an important business deal at stake, and missing your grandson's first Christmas morning, the holiday spirit can disappear quicker than your lost luggage. But sometimes, all you need is to be a little late in order to truly appreciate what you're rushing toward. The Flight Before Xmas is a heartwarming new holiday show about finding your way home and the family we discover for ourselves.

The cast for The Flight Before Xmas features an ensemble of Seattle actors, including Diego Cruz, Lauren Hwang, Kaiya Corthall, Hersh Powers, Jenn Ruzumna, Tadd Morgan, Lydia Hayes, Elora Coble, Nava Ruthfield, Skye Stephenson, Kiki Abba, Manny Cawaling, Marisol Gonzalez, Tessa Weinland, and Deniece Bleha. The design team includes Milo Robinson (scenic/props), Ahren Buhmann (lighting), Johanna Melamed (sound), Jocelyne Fowler (costumes).

Performances
Opening Night: Friday, December 1st, 2017 @ 7:30 pm
Saturday, December 2nd, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, December 3rd, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, December 9th, 2017 @ 2pm
Saturday, December 9th, 2017 @ 4pm
Sunday, December 10th, 2017 @ 2pm
Sunday, December 10th, 2017 @ 4pm
Saturday, December 16th, 2017 @ 2pm
Saturday, December 16th, 2017 @ 4pm
Tuesday, December 19th, 2017 @ 2pm
Tuesday, December 19th, 2017 @ 4pm
Wednesday, December 20th, 2017 @ 2pm
Wednesday, December 20th, 2017 @ 4pm
Thursday, December 21st, 2017 @ 2pm
Thursday, December 21st, 2017 @ 4pm
Friday, December 22nd, 2017 @ 2pm
Friday, December 22nd, 2017 @ 4pm
Sunday, December 24th, 2017 @ 2pm
Sunday, December 24th, 2017 @ 4pm

About Maggie Lee (Playwright)

Maggie Lee is a Seattle playwright whose work reflects her love of comedy, adventure, science fiction, and horror. Her plays have been produced by Pork Filled Productions, SPT Youth, The 14/48 Projects, Live Girls! Theater, Bindlestiff Studio, Balagan Theatre, SIS Productions, ReAct, and others. Recently, her steampunk adventure The Tumbleweed Zephyr was nominated for a 2016 Gregory Award for Outstanding New Play, and was featured at the 2016 National Asian American Theater Conference & Festival in Ashland, Oregon. She is a producer with Pork Filled Productions, Artistic Associate with Macha Monkey Productions, and board member with Rain City Projects.

CHRISTMASTOWN: A HOLIDAY NOIR

Written by Wayne Rawley
Directed by Kelly Kitchens

In this film noir-inspired holiday thrilller by Seattle playwright Wayne Rawley, hard-boiled detective Nick Holiday investigates some un-holiday-like shenanigans taking place in Christmastown that sends him on a search for the truth about Big Red. Add a glamorous elf, a used-Christmas-tree salesman, a muckraking reporter, and a quick-thinking cab driver, and you've got what the Seattle Times calls "best new holiday romp of the year!"

The full cast of 2016's production returns this year, including John Ulman (Nick Holiday), Pilar O'Connell (Holly Wonderland/Female #1), Carol Thompson (Female #2), and Brandon Felker (Male #2). The design team features Milo Robinson (scenic/props), Ahren Buhmann (lighting), Rob Witmer and Jay Weinland (sound), and Ali Rose Panzarella (costumes). Anastasia Higham will serve as the assistant director on the production.

Performances
Opening Night: Friday, December 8th, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, December 9th, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, December 10th, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, December 14th, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Friday, December 15th, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, December 16th, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, December 17th, 2017 @ 2pm
Tuesday, December 19th, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Wednesday, December 20th, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Thursday, December 21st, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Friday, December 22nd, 2017 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, December 23rd, 2017 @ 2pm
Sunday, December 24th, 2017 @ 7:30pm

About Wayne Rawley (Playwright)
Wayne S. Rawley is a playwright, director and actor. He is the creator and writer of Money & Run: An Action Adventure Serial for the Stage. To date, over 20 individual productions have appeared in Seattle, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area.

Other full-length plays include Live! From the Last Night of My Life (Finalist for the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award, 2010), Attack of the Killer Murder... Of Death!, God Damn Tom, and a present-day adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull.

Wayne is also a creator and writer of the web series What the Funny, produced by the Caution Zero Network, and has written the book for a "B-Musical" about the devil trying to break into the movie business, called Shoot! Cut! Print! Kill! Die!. He has directed and taught playwriting through ACT Theatre's Young Playwrights Program, at Cornish College of the Arts, his alma mater, and at the University of Oklahoma where he was the 2010 Faith Broome Playwright in Residence.

ABOUT SEATTLE PUBLIC THEATER

Seattle Public Theater produces compelling and socially relevant theater to spark conversation and ignite empathy in order to foster an intellectually curious and inclusive world. Every year, Seattle Public produces six shows as part of its professional Mainstage season at its location in Green Lake in addition to its robust education program and community events.

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