Seattle Rep Announces 50th Anniversary Season

Seattle Repertory Theatre and Artistic Director Jerry Manning announced today its full 50th Anniversary Season. The Seattle Rep artistic team has spent years putting together this landmark season-one that showcases what the Rep does best and celebrates its history. Seattle Rep's 50th Anniversary season will run from September 2012-May 2013.

"We'll be celebrating this milestone with a wide-range of plays that are sure to speak to the hearts and minds of our audiences," Manning commented. "I wanted to put a season together that honors our past, speaks to our future, and reflects what we do best: inspire, provoke thought, and entertain."

The 2012-13 season opens in the Bagley Wright Theatre with the previously announced world premiere of Cheryl L. West's Pullman Porter Blues, a coming of age story that is woven with iconic blues music and features a live band. Audience favorite and Seattle Rep holiday classic Inspecting Carol follows to honor Daniel Sullivan and the Seattle Repertory Theatre Resident Company. The season continues with David Mamet's American Buffalo, followed by recent Tony Award nominee Good People, by David Lindsay-Abaire, and Marc Camoletti's Boeing-Boeing, adapted by Beverley Cross, provides an appropriate end to the season with a trip back to the 1960s.

In the Leo K., Seattle Rep will feature Tennessee Williams' contemporary classic, The Glass Menagerie and a new work by Anna Ziegler, Photograph 51. The Rep is also partnering with Seattle Theatre Group to present the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit War Horse at the Paramount Theatre. In addition, the Rep will launch a New Play Festival in January 2013 that will feature a selection of current commissions.

Seattle Rep, founded in 1963 by the late Bagley Wright, has remained a vital source for creative thought, outstanding productions, and a home for artists at the top of their craft. A pillar and leader in the regional theater movement, Seattle Rep has continually been honored and recognized for its work including the 1990 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. In addition to producing more than 500 productions, the theater is also renowned for launching and fostering the careers of many writers, actors, directors and designers. To honor and pay tribute to those artists, Seattle Rep has established an Honorary Artistic Council including Lily Tomlin, Bill Irwin, Kevin Kling, and HAl Holbrook.

During its 50th Anniversary season, Seattle Rep will continue its commitment to expanding audiences and developing new work through initiatives such as the Yes Project, supporting and inspiring the next generation of artists and theater-goers; the New Play Program, dedicated to finding and developing the next great plays in American theatre; and the recently launched Writers Group, fostering the talent of Northwest playwrights at all stages of their careers, from emerging new voices to established professionals.

About the plays

Pullman Porter Blues, by Cheryl L. West
Produced in association with Arena Stage
September 27 – October 28, 2012
Bagley
In 2008, Seattle Rep commissioned playwright Cheryl L. West (Holiday Heart, Play On!) to write Pullman Porter Blues. Since re-energizing the New Play Program, this is the first Seattle Rep commission to premiere on the main stage. Set in 1937, three generations of porters are hard at work on the luxurious Panama Limited train. Midwest blues songs flavor their journey from Chicago to New Orleans as the porters confront dark secrets from their past and tough truths about their future together. This coming of age story is woven with blues music and features a live band.

The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams
October 19 – December 1, 2012
Leo K.
In Tennessee Williams' shattering classic, an aging Southern Belle longs for her youth and dreams of a better life for her children. Her restless son Tom-a would-be poet and the story's narrator-gets swept up in his mother's funny and heartbreaking schemes to find his painfully shy sister, Laura, a husband. Associate Artistic Director Braden Abraham brings an imaginative and intimate take on this drama in American theatre.

Inspecting Carol, by Daniel Sullivan and the Seattle Repertory Theatre Resident Company
November 23 – December 23, 2012
Bagley
An audience-favorite, this quirky Seattle Rep classic comes home for the holidays. Behind the scenes at a struggling theatre's annual slapdash production of A Christmas Carol, rehearsals are at a standstill. Tim is no longer tiny, Scrooge wants to do the play in Spanish, and a major grant is on hold pending an inspection! Directed by Artistic Director Jerry Manning, this hilarious spoof makes for a night at the theatre that is anything but show business as usual.

American Buffalo, by David Mamet
January 11 – February 3, 2013
Bagley
During one long day in a run-down junk shop, three men of great ambition and low morals plan a heist of a customer's valuable coin collection. David Mamet's breakout 1975 drama won an Obie and introduced audiences to "Mamet-speak," a poetry which his aggressive characters wield like weapons to intimidate, cajole and manipulate each other. 

Photograph 51, by Anna Ziegler
February 1 – March 3, 2013
Leo K.
A portrait of British scientist Rosalind Franklin and her-often overlooked-role in the discovery of DNA's double helix structure. This complex tale explores how Franklin, a smart, stubborn, and courageous woman, operated in a field dominated by men. A balance of the historical, romantic, and scientific, Photograph 51 is a play of ideas.

War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford in association with Handspring Puppet Company, presented in association with Seattle Theatre Group
February 13 – 24, 2013
Paramount Theatre
War Horse is a Tony-winning tour de force about the unforgettable bond between a young man and his horse. At the outbreak of World War I, a British farm boy's horse is sold to the cavalry and sent to France. The boy, now a young man, sets out on an epic mission to find his beloved horse and bring him home. Revel in the spectacle of seeing intricate, life-sized horse puppets come to life on stage and witness the strength of ties that bind.

Good People, by David Lindsay-Abaire
March 8 – 31, 2013
Bagley
This deft and insightful comedy of class and culture focuses on Margie, a tough middle-aged "Southie" from the wrong part of Boston, who loses her job and is one rent check away from homelessness. In reaching out to an old flame from her youth who's now a successful doctor, Margie risks all as she tries to find a fresh start. This Tony-nominated New York hit questions the American dream and how to achieve it-hard work, skill, or luck?

Boeing-Boeing, by Marc Camoletti, adapted by Beverley Cross
April 19 – May 19, 2013
Bagley
It's the 1960s, and swinging bachelor Bernard couldn't be happier: a flat in Paris and three gorgeous stewardesses all engaged to him without knowing about each other. But Bernard's perfect life gets bumpy when his friend Robert comes to stay and a new and speedier Boeing jet throws off all of his careful planning. Soon all three stewardesses are in town simultaneously, timid Robert Is forgetting which lies to tell to whom, and catastrophe looms. A riotous farce that recently enjoyed hit revivals in London and New York, Boeing-Boeing is now set to arrive in Jet City-fasten your seat belts!

The 50th Anniversary season begins on September 27, 2012, and runs through May 19, 2013. Performance days: Wednesday–Sunday at 7:30 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.

Seattle Repertory Theatre is located at Seattle Center at the corner of Second Ave. and Mercer St., Seattle, Washington.

Patrons will be able to purchase subscriptions starting March 31, 2012; single tickets go on sale in August. Packages range from $141-$472. Tickets can be ordered online (www.seattlerep.org), by phone (206-443-2222), or in person at the Seattle Repertory Theatre Box Office.

Seattle Repertory Theatre 50th Anniversary Honorary Artistic Council

HAl Holbrook
Doug Hughes
Tom Hulce
Bill Irwin
Kevin Kling
Eugene Lee
Sharon Ott
Constanza Romero
Robert Schenkkan
Daniel Sullivan
Lily Tomlin
Stuart Vaughan
Stephen Wadsworth
Cheryl L. West
Charlayne Woodard

Seattle Repertory Theatre celebrates its 50th anniversary with the 2012-2013 season. The theatre was founded in 1963 and is currently led by Producing Artistic Director Jerry Manning and Managing Director Benjamin Moore. One of America's premier nonprofit resident theatres, Seattle Repertory Theatre has achieved international renown for its consistently high production and artistic standards, and was awarded the 1990 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. With an emphasis on entertaining plays of true dramatic and literary worth, Seattle Rep produces a season of plays along with educational programs, new play workshops and special presentations.

*Plays, dates, and artists subject to change.

To post a comment, you must register and login.