Etta Lilienthal and Ben Zamora
Etta Lilienthal’s design for God’s Ear at Washington Ensemble
Theatre this year was a triumph, a masterpiece of soft minimalism, and
(the ultimate challenge of any set) a visual elucidation of the script.
Jenny Schwartz’s play examines a family fracturing after the death of a
child, with harrowing and magical-realist imagination: dad turns to
booze and affairs, sister’s dolls come to life, mom’s mind splinters.
Lilienthal dialed straight into the play’s heart by building five white
walls on WET’s tiny stage, one behind the other, with concentric
circles cut from their centers. With precision lighting by Ben Zamora,
she created a telescope emphasizing the isolation between the
characters and the rabbit hole of their collective grief. The circles
took on different colors, dusky blue or bright yellow, allowing scenes
to play out simultaneously in living rooms and hotel rooms. The design
was simple but versatile and seemed to defy the physics of light. Not
since Crave (also at WET, also directed by Roger Benington) has
a Seattle design so intelligently and viscerally dovetailed with its
script. It was more than a set: It was an installation. BRENDAN
KILEY
Charles Leggett
Charles Leggett has been a notable presence on Seattle’s fringe
scene for over a decade, but his continuing adventures on professional
stages bring out his best. As the lackadaisically estranged
husband—sweet, schlumpy, “Soviet-hearted”—in ACT’s
Becky’s New Car, Leggett was a revelation, anchoring Steven
Dietz’s inspired flight of fancy with a spontaneous, hilarious,
endlessly humane performance. More, please. DAVID SCHMADER
Brandon Whitehead
Actor Brandon Whitehead has bobbed around Seattle theaters for
years, chronically underappreciated by big-theater casting directors
while unfailingly entertaining his audiences. He specializes in comedy
(large frame, booming voice, fearlessness), but he can zap a strong
current of pathos into the middle of his buffoonery. His performance as
Ignatius J. Reilly in A Confederacy of Dunces was gold standard.
He was Ignatius, the atavistic, outraged, gluttonous Catholic
pinballing through 1970s New Orleans, feeding himself with cheap hot
dogs, scorn for others, and pity for himself. Film adaptations of
Confederacy have been stalled for years at a time by disasters
and death. I am convinced God visited these disasters upon the projects
because He, in His infinite wisdom, was waiting for Whitehead to play
the part. I hope Hollywood is paying attention. BK
Marya Sea Kaminski
It has become an annual tradition at The Stranger to wring
our hands about not giving a Genius Award to actor, director, teacher,
and writer-of-solo-shows Marya Sea Kaminski. And here we are again.
Kaminski is a Seattle treasure, but we can’t help thinking her best
work is yet to come. BK
“It was more than a set: It was an installation.”
The set really sounds really lovely but all sets, even bad ones, are installations. Maybe you’re not giving sets enough credit or maybe all the shitty set design you have seen over the years has burned your eyes and warped your brain. Either way it’s like saying “she’s more than a playwright: she’s an author”