Seattle Shakespeare Announces 2023-2024 Season Including THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, ROMEO AND JULIET And More
The indoor season also includes The Comedy of Errors and The Bed Trick.
By: A.A. Cristi Jun. 02, 2023
Seattle Shakespeare Company has announced a full slate of shows for their 2023-2024 season. Along with programming selections, they have announced reduced prices for almost all single tickets for the upcoming season.
The indoor season includes The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors, The Bed Trick, and Romeo and Juliet. Productions have been trimmed to sleek three-week runs, and the company will use the fourth weekend to feature an inaugural run of special one-off events.
Educational programming this season includes the return of the youth ensemble performing their own versions of The Merry Wives of Windsor and Romeo and Juliet. Serving students in schools, the spring educational tour will be Macbeth presented by an ensemble of professional actors. Student matinees of all indoor stage productions and the tour are available for booking for educators.
The season will close with the traditional Wooden O free Shakespeare in the parks with a show to be announced. More information about all of these offerings are available at seattleshakespeare.org.
Starting strong in October, artist Eddie DeHais opens the season with a rousing adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor. DeHais is creating a Windsor that feels farcically familiar while examining the stickiness of conflicting personalities and viewpoints in a small town. This rowdy, raucous, unruly romp features some of Shakespeare's most clever and comic characters.
The Merry Wives of Windsor runs October 25 – November 12, 2023.
On Thursday, November 16 and Saturday, November 18, following the closing of Windsor, Seattle Shakespeare will produce a unique, one-off cabaret event. In the vein of Broadway's Miscast, Seattle's favorite actors will take the stage with vignettes from Shakespeare that they're unlikely to perform otherwise. It will prove to be a night full of surprise and delight.
Following will be a sunny production of The Comedy of Errors, to get Seattleites through the darkest part of winter, Directed by Jimmy Shields, who joined SSC in this spring's Twelfth Night. This small ensemble version cleaves right to the heart of the comedy, with economical use of cast members presenting the show's doubling to uproarious effect. Shields will be joined by powerhouse members of Seattle Shakespeare's Drum and Colours company, a troupe comprised of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) collaborators.
The Comedy of Errors runs January 10 – 28, 2024.
A tipsy, jolly nearly-improvised performance of Henry V follows Seattle Shakespeare's recent presentation of both parts of Henry IV, and Falstaff's autumn return in Windsor. This special event will take place on Thursday, February 1 and Saturday, February 3.
Next in the lineup is The Bed Trick, a new play written by Seattle favorite, and longtime SSC collaborator, Keiko Green and directed by SSC's Associate Artistic Director Makaela Milburn. Green brings her sharp provocation and biting humor to a new play that puts contemporary discussions of consent and manipulation in direct conversation with one of the most problematic devices in Shakespeare.
The Bed Trick runs March 20 – April 7, 2024.
The final extra event for the season is to be a showcase featuring a local Seattle luminary. Full details on the project are forthcoming, but there will be four performances in the week of April 8, following the closing of The Bed Trick.
The mainstage season will close with a comedy that goes wrong—Romeo and Juliet, directed by SSC's Artistic Director George Mount. “With so many interpretations out there on this comic romance-turned-tragedy, this production is going to really focus on the stresses teenagers experience on a daily basis,” Mount said. “Pressure from peers, parents, societal expectations, sex, changing bodies, childhood/adulthood transitions, lack of autonomy, self-identity, violence. Romeo and Juliet die because they are young. And if society kills its young people, it kills its future.”
Romeo and Juliet runs April 24 – May 12, 2024.
“I hope everyone is going to fall in love with everything we've got on the docket just as much as we have while crafting it,” said Mount. “We had the fun challenge of thinking creatively about how we can rebuild our community during a time of such uncertainty while simultaneously being able to foster the future of the organization.”
“This past year has shown that the arts are struggling to get audiences to return, but our community has made it clear that there's always time to laugh,” said Associate Artistic Director Makaela Milburn. “So we had an eye to finding the humor in all the pieces that we're presenting, even if that humor is dark. We're leaning into the hysterical in every sense of the word, with all the connotations and history that carries. We look forward to exploring how that theme flows through the season.”
With regard to the pricing changes, Managing Director John Bradshaw said, “We have heard feedback from our community that the cost of attending an evening at the theatre is prohibitive. And we don't want our community to have to choose between feeding their families or feeding their souls. This is not the end, but just one more step in increasing accessibility by decreasing barriers.” Seattle Shakespeare's rush program, Groundlings, also continues to be a budget-conscious option, as those with a $5 lifetime membership are able to buy up to two (2) $10 tickets an hour before the show.
Subscriptions are now available and range in price from $92 to $200 for all four shows. Three-show packages and flexible subscriptions are also available. Season ticket packages can be purchased by calling the box office at 206.733.8222 or online at seattleshakespeare.org. Single tickets will go on sale mid-July.
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