Larger Theaters

5th AVENUE THEATRE

1308 Fifth Ave, 625-1900, www.5thavenue.org

Les Misérables (June 27–July 8): The mega-hit musical based on the 1815 novel by Victor Hugo about a guy who steals a loaf of bread.

RENT (July 21–Aug 19): The mega-hit musical based on Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera about poor artists and tuberculosis. Starring Jerick Hoffer (aka Jinkx Monsoon), among others.

ACT THEATRE

700 Union St, 292-7676, www.acttheatre.org

One Slight Hitch (through July 8): Comedian Lewis Black—of The Daily Show fame—has written a farce set in 1980s Cincinnati about a woman whose "perfect" wedding goes off the rails when her ex-boyfriend (who is hitchhiking around the country) shows up and inspires second thoughts about the marriage.

Jesus Hopped the A Train (June 15–June 30): Set at Riker's Island prison, this play by Stephen Adly Guirgis examines "life, death, salvation, and what it takes to be a 'good' person." Directed by Desdemona Chiang, starring Ray Tagavilla, Angela DiMarco, and others.

The Construction Zone (June 25, July 30, Aug 27): A monthly play-development series co-created by Anita Montgomery and Christine Sumption.

Benjamin Franklin: The Original American (June 30): G. Robin Smith portrays Benjamin Franklin in an interactive solo show delivered in "the Chautauqua style."

The Pinter Festival (July 20­–Aug 26): A festival of Harold Pinter's haunting, soul-twisting plays—Celebration, No Man's Land, Old Times, The Dumb Waiter—with some of Seattle's best actors and directors, including John Langs, Victor Pappas, Julie Briskman, Anne Allgood, Charles Leggett, Darragh Kennan, and many others.

99 Layoffs (Aug 2–25): A new comedy by Vincent Delaney about two artists trying to negotiate their way to gainful employment. Directed by David Gassner, starring Aimée Bruneau and K. Brian Neel.

Represent! A Multicultural Playwrights Festival (July 17–July 22): Staged readings of four new full-length plays (Don Quixote: Homeless in Seattle by Rose Cano, The Banyan Tree Trilogy by Tulika Kumar, Fight by Kimber Lee, and Paradise Blues by Dominique Morriseau) as well as a one-night showcase of six local writers.

Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam (Sept 7–Oct 7): A world premiere about a Vietnamese boy's adventure from the fall of Saigon to a Viet Cong re-education camp to a refugee camp to the United States. Starring Trieu Tran.

INTIMAN THEATRE

201 Mercer St, 800-982-2787, www.intiman.org

Hedda Gabler (July 5–Aug 25): As you may have heard, Intiman Theatre went down in a blaze of ingloriousness in 2011. But someone left the keys to the car lying around, and a bunch of newcomers decided to rev the old girl up and see what she can do with a four-play summer festival. At the helm: 29-year-old artistic director Andrew Russell, who is also directing Hedda Gabler, starring Marya Sea Kaminski as the iconic, destructively bored housewife surrounded by men who pine for her.

Romeo and Juliet (July 6–Aug 26): Shakespeare's brooding reminder that love does not conquer all, directed by Allison Narver, starring Quinn Franzen, Fawn Ledesma, Michael Place, and others.

Miracle! (July 7–Aug 25): An original drag-show version of the Helen Keller story, created and directed by Dan Savage (of The Stranger and other, more reputable projects including the MTV series Savage U). Starring Hannah Victoria Franklin, Tsige Tafesse, Timothy Piggee, and others.

Dirty Story (July 7–Aug 25): A play about a codependent couple by John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, Moonstruck), directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton and starring Shawn Law, Carol Roscoe, Quinn Franzen, and Allen Fitzpatrick.

MOORE THEATRE

1932 Second Ave, 682-1414, www.stgpresents.org

Dance This (July 13–14): Seattle Theatre Group's excellent annual dance extravaganza. This year will feature modern dance by Mark Haim, a solo from the Broadway hit FELA! performed by Danny Soto (choreographed by Bill T. Jones), hiphop from Electriq Dance, as well as Tibetan, Vietnamese, Chinese, and a finale by modern-hiphop fusion maestro Daniel Cruz.

NEPTUNE THEATRE

1303 NE 45th St, www.stgpresents.org

Savage Love Live! A Live Taping of the Savage Lovecast (June 13): Garfunkel and Oates, the two-lady, New York–based, internet musical sensation, will sing some of their frank, funny, and delightful songs (with titles such as "Pregnant Women Are Smug" and subjects such as getting turned on and "accidentally masturbating while go-kart racing") will perform. Also, some guy named Dan Savage who has a podcast or something will say some words. Or something.

Brian Posehn (June 15): He's a comedian! He's famous! Some people say his standup is surprisingly effective and good, even if you think he's just so-so on that show that Sarah Silverman does.

ON THE BOARDS

100 W Roy St, 217-9888, www.ontheboards.org

NW New Works Festival (through June 17): Artists, both new and established, attend NW New Works to stretch themselves and try new things; audiences attend to see the seeds of works they'll be watching grow in years to come. Performers this year include Zoe Scofield and Juniper Shuey (who are also Stranger Genius Award nominees this year, see profile on page 16), Richard Lefebvre, Waxie Moon, Mike Pham, Corrie Befort, and other shiny and talented folks.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET

McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, 441-2424, www.pnb.org

Next Step (June 16): Next Step is a one-night showcase of world-premiere choreography by dancers at Pacific Northwest Ballet—PNB has a reputation for producing successful dancer-choreographers (Olivier Wevers, Kiyon Gaines, et al.). This is your chance to see the next wave.

SEATTLE OPERA

McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, 389-7676, www.seattleopera.org

Turandot (Aug 4–18): Puccini's opera about a "bloodthirsty princess," set in China's Imperial City.

SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATRE

155 Mercer St, 443-2222, www.pattersong.org

Iolanthe (July 13–28): The Gilbert and Sullivan Society performs a comic opera from 1882.

TEATRO ZINZANNI

222 Mercer St, 802-0015, www.zinzanni.org

Gangsters of Love (June 14-Sept 30)

THE TRIPLE DOOR

216 Union St, 838-4333, www.tripledoor.net

Burlesco Divino: Wine in Rome (Aug 8-10)

VILLAGE THEATRE

303 Front St N, Issaquah, 425-392-2202 www.villagetheatre.org

Big River (Sept 12-Nov 18)

Smaller Theaters

ANNEX THEATRE

1100 E Pike St, 728-0933, www.annextheatre.org

Behind the Blue Door: A Dr. Who–Inspired Cabaret (June 29–30): Burlesque and cabaret based on the classic British sci-fi series Dr. Who. Starring Rebecca M. Davis, Vixen Valentine, Fosse Jack, and a truckload of other folks.

Weird and Awesome with Emmett Montgomery (July 1, Aug 5): The world's only sweetly melancholy comedy cabaret, hosted and curated by comedian Emmett Montgomery. The first half usually includes people stepping out of their comfort zones (puppeteers playing music, journalists telling jokes, mimes delivering monologues, that kind of thing). The second half usually includes accomplished joke-tellers telling jokes.

Spin the Bottle (July 6, Aug 3): Annex's long-standing variety show that culls from all kinds of weird stuff around the city: dance, comedy, music, clowning, short film, pornography, and paper-airplane engineering.

Kittens in a Cage (July 27–Aug 25): A new play by Kelleen Conway Blanchard—who wrote the hilariously dark romantic murder-comedy Hearts Are Monsters—about a good girl gone bad and her time in prison. Featuring knife fights, mess-hall riots, and Blanchard's marvelous, curlicue imagination. Directed by Bret Fetzer.

El Ultimo Coconut (July 31–Aug 22): A solo show by Gerald Alejandro Ford about a Mexican-American cyber-nerd who is addicted to World of Warcraft.

ARTSWEST

4711 California Ave SW, 938-0963, www.artswest.org

Xanadu (June 27–July 15): A stage adaptation of the 1980s roller-skating movie-musical starring Olivia Newton-John as an airy Greek goddess who comes to earth. Performed by the students of the ArtsWest apprenticeship program.

BALAGAN THEATRE

1524 Harvard Ave, 329-1050, www.balagantheatre.org)

Sally and Thor Save the World (at Summer Camp) (June 30–Aug 12): An outdoor theater production at various parks around the city that has something to do with Little Red Riding Hood, Thor and his hammer, The Jungle Book, local indigenous mythology, and bunches of other stuff. Sound like a bucketful of pastiche.

BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE

305 Harrison St, 216-0833, www.book-it.org

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Sept 18–Oct 21): From the Book-It website: "Henry Lee's memory takes him from 1980s Seattle to his childhood as a Chinese-American student in an exclusive all-White school in the 1940s. Isolated and bullied, Henry finds comfort in the unlikely figure of Keiko Okabe, a Japanese student. Following the Japanese invasion of China, Henry's father forbids their friendship, and despite increasing hardship, the friendship becomes a budding romance only to be cut short by evacuations and internment. Forty years later, newly a widower, Henry struggles to bridge the gap between his Chinese father and his American son, between the America past and present, between despair and hope, and finally between the girl he loved and the woman who can finally give him peace."

BOOM! THEATER

429 Fairview Ave N, www.boomtheatercompany.org

Blood/Sailing (July 13–28): A collaboration between experimental theater company Blood Ensemble and heavy-metal band Smooth Sailing.

RICHARD HUGO HOUSE

1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, www.hugohouse.org

Riddled (through June 23): A solo show (with backing band) by Marya Sea Kaminski set in a fictional rock club where a singer is on the lam. The band sounds like a cross between X and the Epoxies, and Kaminski's lyrics and between-song patter are a triangulation of Kaminski's own life, the life of Bonnie Parker (of Bonnie and Clyde), and fictionalizations.

SAINT GENET

Information TBA

Saint Genet—the performance company that rose from the ashes of Stranger Genius Award–winners Implied Violence—looks and sounds increasingly unhinged. Yet we'll continue to post calendar items about them when we can. Last week, when asked if they had any upcoming performances within the scope of this issue of A&P, they responded: "On June 17, Saint Genet will ride to victory or death. On June 17, Saint Genet may or may not stage a performance for no audience. The company may or may not live in an apple-storage warehouse. The apple-storage warehouse may or may not be planted with a wheat field." There was also talk of a trench, a mountain, a gaucho, nitrous oxide, local dancer Alan Sutherland walking into the mountain, it collapsing, and a funeral "that lasts till dawn."

SEATTLE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY/WOODEN O

Free performances in various parks throughout the Puget Sound region, 733-8228, www.seattleshakespeare.org

Twelfth Night (July 12–Aug 11): "If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die." Directed by Makaela Pollock, starring Emily Chisholm, Jim Gall, Connor Toms, and others.

The Winter's Tale (July 12–Aug 12): "You may as well forbid the sea to obey the moon." Directed by Mary Machala, starring Brenda Joyner, David Quicksall, and others.

THEATER ANONYMOUS

Erickson Theater Off Broadway, 1524 Harvard Ave, 587-5400

The Government Inspector (June 18): Theater Anonymous (in which nobody except the director, who has been rehearsing with the actors individually, knows who will show up onstage for the performance) returns with Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector. The cast is kept secret until each actor's first line, at which point the actor gets up from the audience and joins the show.

THEATER OFF JACKSON

409 Seventh St, 340-1049, www.theateroffjackson.org

Quickies! Volume Thirteen (through June 18): Live Girls! Theater presents their annual short play festival, including plays by Elizabeth Heffron and Keri Healey, who was nominated for a Stranger Genius Award this year for her play Torso (see profile on page 16).

I Can Hear You... But I'm Not Listening (July 27–28): An evening with solo performer Jennifer Jasper.

THEATER SCHMEATER

1500 Summit Ave, 324-5801. www.schmeater.org

Parallel Lives (July 13–Aug 11): Based on Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney's 1989 stage show and a 1991 HBO special by the same name.

Is He Dead? (Sept 14–Oct 13): Based on a lost manuscript by Mark Twain that was rediscovered in 2003 and adapted by David Ives, Is He Dead? considers how much more valuable art becomes when the artist is deceased. (Of course, it could all be an elaborate hoax by David Ives. Writers are slippery people.)

VELOCITY DANCE CENTER

1621 12th Ave, 325-8773, www.velocitydancecenter.org

30/30 (June 22–23): DAIPANbutoh will premiere new work by choreographers Sheri Brown, Diana Garcia-Snyder, Joan Laage, and Helen Thorsen, with a little help from media artists, software developers, and others. Butoh attack!

Strictly Seattle (July 27–28): Performances by some of Seattle's most kick-ass dancers and choreographers, including Zoe Scofield, Amy O'Neal, Mary Sheldon Scott, Kate Wallich, and Tonya Lockyer working with Kristin Hapke.

Julyen Hamilton (July 30): An evening with the renowned solo improviser at the Broadway Performance Hall (courtesy of Velocity and the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation).

Off the Cuff: Dance Innovators in Performance (Aug 2): Part of the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation.

WASHINGTON ENSEMBLE THEATRE

608 19th Ave E, 325-5101, www.washingtonensemble.org

QTET: Queer Teen Ensemble Theatre (June 21–24): Since 2007, Washington Ensemble Theatre has hosted its QTET summer theater workshop with annual performances.

WATERFRONT PARK

1301 Alaskan Way, www.artsonthewaterfront.com

Romeo and Juliet (June 15–July 1): Arts on the Waterfront presents a two-actor version of Romeo and Juliet with a cellist accompanist. The performance will be followed by live music, including performances by local bands SolBird, The Horse Thieves, and others.

WEST OF LENIN

203 N 36th St, www.west oflenin.com

Poets, PowerPoint, and a Delightful Misuse of Company Time (July 19): A collection of writers who fooled around with PowerPoint and came up with presentations, including writers Kathleen Flenniken, Martha Silano, Molly Tenenbaum, Peter Pereira, and others, including Keri Healey. This event is a benefit for Humanities Washington.