UW Drama Presents State Of The Theatre: Playwriting In The Age Of Trump

The first installment of the new series, State of the Theatre: Seattle Artists in Conversation will feature some of Seattle's most accomplished dramatists in conversation with longtime Seattle Times theatre critic, lecturer, and author Misha Berson.

The playwrights will discuss how the current political landscape is impacting their work and the work of others in the local and national theater scenes.

The evening's panelists include Yussef El Guindi (Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, Threesome), UW Drama faculty member Karen Hartman (Roz and Ray, Goldie, Max and Milk), Vincent Delaney (The War Party, 99 Layoffs), and Ramon Esquivel (Luna, The Shahrazad Society).

This panel is the first installment of a three-event series of public discussions about the art and aesthetics of contemporary Seattle theatre, and anyone involved in or interested in the art form is encouraged to attend and participate.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Critic and educator Misha Berson helms State of the Theatre: Seattle Artists in Conversation, a three-part series of free panel discussions with working Seattle theatre artists.

What are the current trends, enthusiasms and controversies in Seattle theatre? What is brewing in the creative minds of local directors, designers, performers, and other theatre artists right now?

To explore these questions, the University of Washington School of Drama will host three free panel discussions on the current state of Seattle theatre. The series will offer a rare opportunity for theatre practitioners, patrons, and other interested members of the extended community to share thoughts and ideas on the art form as we begin a new year.

Each event will feature a panel of accomplished local stage artists and an open discussion with attendees. Series co-producer Misha Berson will be the moderator of each event.

FULL SERIES LINEUP
All events take place at:
Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse, 4045 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105.
All events are free and open to the public.

Playwriting in the Age of Trump
Monday, January 22, 2018
7 PM
How are dramatists addressing (or not) the current political turmoil in our nation? Is topical theater becoming more viable in this age? And, if so, what makes theatre "political," and how is political theatre best achieved?
Panelists: Yussef El Guindi, Karen Hartman, Vincent Delaney, Ramon Esquivel, and Keiko Green

Shakespeare, Our Contemporary
Monday, March 12, 2018
7 PM
Various Seattle cultural institutions are joining in on Seattle Celebrates Shakespeare, a year-long salute to William Shakespeare, during 2018. This panel will focus on what still makes the Bard's works timely, and investigate approaches to making his hallowed texts vibrant in production.
Panelists: Director, educator, and founder of upstart crow collective Rosa Joshi (Bring Down the House, Titus Andronicus), actor Darragh Kennan (Hamlet, Othello), and actor/writer Nike Imoru (Bring Down the House, Coriolanus: Fight Like a Bitch), plus one additional panelist (to be announced)

The Sound and the Fury
Monday April 30, 2018
7 PM
Seattle boasts a wealth of excellent theatrical sound designers. This discussion will center on the art of employing sound in the theater, including the aesthetic and technical challenges of weaving soundscapes into contemporary productions.
Panelists: TBA

LOCATION
Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse
4045 University Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/yUbevun1LKB2

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF DRAMA
The UW School of Drama develops innovative and courageous artists and scholars poised to be the creative leaders of tomorrow.

For 76 years it has served as one of this country's leading training institutions for theatre artists and scholars. The School of Drama offers MFA degrees in acting, design, and directing, a four-year undergraduate liberal arts education in Drama, and a PhD in theatre history and criticism. Faculty and alumni have founded theatres such as ACT Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Empty Space Theatre, Jet City Improv, and more recently, the Washington Ensemble Theatre, Azeotrope, and The Horse in Motion. The School of Drama is a laboratory for leading-edge performance research, attracting internationally renowned guest artists like Anne Washburn, Daniel Alexander Jones, Erik Ehn, Meiyin Wang, Chay Yew, Whit MacLaughlin, and PearlDamour, offering students the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from masters in their field and forge critical connections to the world of professional theatre.

UPCOMING UW DRAMA MAINSTAGE PRODUCTIONS

Trojan Women: A Love Story
By Charles L. Mee
Directed by Cody Holliday Haefner

Playwright Charles L. Mee recruits "shards of our contemporary world to lie, as in a bed of ruins, within the frame of the classical world." In his brutal, lusty collage, Trojan Women: A Love Story, Dido reads Aeneas' tarot cards in a post-apocalyptic spa and Cassandra incarnates as a furious dominatrix. The war is ended, yet it is unceasing: "A world destroyed by the hands of those who thought themselves the creators of civilization." Love songs leaven war's ravages, and a feminist utopia glitters, unreachable, on the horizon.

Dates: January 19 - 28 (Previews January 16 & 18)
Location: Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse
Tickets: $5 - $20
More info and tickets: https://drama.washington.edu/events/2018-01-16/trojan-women-love-story

12 Ophelias (a play with broken songs)
By Caridad Svich
Directed by Amanda Friou

In a neo-Elizabethan Appalachia, Ophelia rises out of the water, dreaming of Pop-Tarts and imagining how things might have gone differently for her. Hamlet is here, as Rude Boy. Gertrude is a brothel madam, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern her androgynous helpers. Playwright Caridad Svich constructs a beguiling lyrical landscape out of broken desires and repaired ambitions.

Dates: February 16 - 25 (Previews February 13 & 15)
Location: Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theatre
Tickets: $5 - $20
More info and tickets: https://drama.washington.edu/events/2018-02-13/12-ophelias-play-broken-songs

Angels in America Part 2: Perestroika
By Tony Kushner
Directed by Marc Valdez

Part two of Tony Kushner's epic tale of AIDS in 1980s America begins in a ruined place where the old orders are splintering and everything-and everyone-has come apart. Prior Walter is a prophet, and now the "great work" of rebuilding this devastated world can begin. We meet characters who, having faced annihilation, must now confront their own stubborn indestructability. Profoundly funny, magnificently theatrical, and startlingly timely, Perestroika is a story about locating hope in the midst of chaos. The New York Times called it "a true millennial work of art, uplifting, hugely comic and pantheistically religious in a very American style."

Dates: April 27 - May 6 (Previews April 24 & 26)
Location: Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse Theatre, University of Washington
Tickets: $5 - $20
More info and tickets: https://drama.washington.edu/events/2018-04-24/angels-america-part-two-perestroika

Goldie, Max and Milk
By Karen Hartman
Directed by Allison Narver

Max, a single lesbian, just gave birth. She's unemployed, with a house that's falling apart, an ex on the loose, and no clue how to nurse her newborn. Can Goldie, an Orthodox Jewish lactation consultant, guide Max into motherhood? Or will conflicting family values get the better of them both? Playwright and UW Drama Senior Artist-in-Residence Karen Hartman makes her UW Drama debut with this hilarious, surprising, and deeply human play. The Palm Beach New Times says, "No synopsis could adequately preview playwright Karen Hartman's wicked gift for language."

Dates: May 25 - June 3 (Previews May 22 & 24)
Location: Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theatre, University of Washington
Tickets: $5 - $20
More info and tickets: https://drama.washington.edu/events/2018-05-22/goldie-max-and-milk

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