Sound Theatre to Present COST OF LIVING and More for 'Sweet 16' Season Lineup

During Sound Theatre Company's 2023 season, an unprecedented number of new works will hit the stages: two world premieres, the Seattle premiere of a Pulitzer-winning play currently on Broadway, and a playwright-in-residence' latest work in development.

"The time is now to build a space for intersectional stories, artists, and communities. In 2023, we will deepen our commitment to building a new canon of work - and forge a future that builds bridges between worlds in ways that entertain, inform, and challenge," said artistic director Teresa Thuman. "For the first time since 2018, we offer a full season of three mission-centered mainstage productions and an expanded Making Waves New Works program - all reflecting a diversity of voices, artist-centered care, and our organizational growth and learning in the past five years."

MAINSTAGE

11th & Pine: Stories from the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) by Nikki Yeboah
WORLD PREMIERE
March 2022 at Erikson Theatre (1524 Harvard Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122)

11TH & PINE takes a gripping look at the organized protests of Summer 2020, when the nation's fissures erupted onto Seattle streets. A group of strangers come together to fight racial inequality in what would become one of the largest and prolonged protests in Seattle's history. In this world premiere, playwright Nikki Yeboah (The [M]others) and a research team will adapt the testimonials of activists, law enforcement, community members, and media to lay bare the diversity of visions of what a civically engaged community owes it citizenry. Yeboah is a playwright and oral historian who writes about the human toll of political movements. At the Erikson Theatre Off-Broadway (mere footsteps from the CHOP epicenter), actors will stage the political and social reckoning that still shapes Seattle. Talkbacks follow each performance.

Cost of Living by Martyna Majok
Directed by Teresa Thuman
SEATTLE PREMIERE
June 2023 at 12th Ave Arts Studio Theatre

Next summer, a current Broadway-running play makes its Seattle premiere: COST OF LIVING, a 2018 Pulitzer-winning play weaving parallel lives in the rarely-seen world of disabled individuals (Ani and John) and their caregivers (Eddie and Jess). Themes of connection (or lack thereof), class divisions, safety nets, financial haves and have-nots, and interdependence emerge in playwright Martyna Majok's deft bridging of the worlds of those with disabilities and those without. COST OF LIVING's current limited engagement Broadway run was extended. The play is a Tony Awards hopeful, following its awards circuit including Outstanding Play (Lortel Awards), Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play, and a Top Ten nod in the 2016 Kilroys' List.

Autocorrect Thinks I'm Dead by Aimee Chou
World Premiere
September 2023 at 12th Ave Arts
Languages: Bilingual ASL-English, with captions

Three Deaf friends move into an old house during the centennial anniversary of Alexander Graham Bell's 1922 death, unaware that things go bump in the night. But when a vintage teletypewriter phone (TTY) becomes a landline to the afterlife, the trio finds themselves in a madcap caper of portals - between the hearing and deaf, and living and dead. This world premiere play by Deaf playwright Aimee Chou was presented in Pork Filled Productions and Cafe Nordo's Slow Cooker Unleashed! stage reading program (which introduced Seattle to Darren Canady's REPARATIONS, which Sound Theatre produced in 2020). Meshing historic and technological realities with the theatrical absurd, this tale is both a homage and a home to horror fans of all generations.

MAKING WAVES NEW WORKS - 2023 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Since 2012, Sound Theatre's incubator-style Making Waves New Works program has developed and presented bold, untested new work. Through seismic shifts and an urgent call for new canons and formats, Making Waves will make its largest splash yet during our 2023 season.

In addition to a mainstage season of premiere productions for Seattle audiences, Making Waves' new William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. Playwright Residency will debut a staged reading of playwright-in-residence Zharia O' Neal's new work (ROOST, a new play about Black women in reality television and media), a community playwriting workshop, and a 10-minute short play festival. Learn more about the residency program here.

Making Waves will also bring a Cabaret of Broadway Hits, In American Sign Language (March 6 and 7) as part of Deaf Spotlight's week-long variety showcase. The cabaret will engage local artists in learning a unique process that is trending in other cities: a theatrical model that centers artistic sign language translations, and trains local Deaf and hearing musical theatre artists in synchrony.

Also on the Making Waves deck: After a whopping 15 film festival showings, CHANGER: A HAND TELLING will continue to reach new audiences in 2023 through a series of live and digital community screening events, including panels and educational engagement.

For more updates on ticket sales and event information, visit soundtheatrecompany.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.