Shortlist: Theater

Chelsey Rives

I first saw Chelsey Rives in Intiman’s world-premiere production of
Craig Lucas’s Prayer for My Enemy, where, in the supporting role
of a young divorcée, Rives lit up Lucas’s ambitious
work-in-progress with an undeniable intelligence and compelling sense
of spontaneity. This initial promise was realized and then some in this
year’s A Streetcar Named Desire, which brought Rives back to the
Intiman stage in the role of Stella (DuBois) Kowalski. Great actors
have been digging into Stella’s kaleidoscopic submissiveness for over
half a century, but Rives brought something new to the role—an
undeniable intelligence and compelling sense of spontaneity, of course,
underscored with a bone-deep lustiness that was all her own. Rives
built a Stella who’d never heard of Stella, never heard of Tennessee
Williams, and gave no hint of reanimating an icon. It was a thrilling
thing to behold, and I can’t wait to see her work some more. (Up next:
a starring role in this fall’s local-star-studded production of
boom at Seattle Rep.) DAVID SCHMADER

Marya Sea Kaminski

She made the Genius shortlist in 2006. She made the Genius shortlist
in 2007. And she’s done it again. Why don’t we just give her a Genius
Award already? Maybe because, as great as she is, we know she will go
even higher. Electric and mercurial, Marya Sea Kaminski galvinizes
audiences whether she’s playing an innocent little girl with disturbing
fantasies (Mr. Marmalade), or an idealistic and doomed college
student (My Name Is Rachel Corrie), or Hedda-fucking-Gabler
(blahblahblahBANG). She’s also one of the smartest directors in
the city (Finer Noble Gases, Museum Play) and a
heart-wrenching writer. Her October: A Eulogy, a recounting of
her little brother’s suicide that she read at the gazebo in the Seattle
Arboretum last October, made everyone within earshot a little more
humane. Goddamnit, why don’t we give her a Genius Award already?
BRENDAN KILEY

Carlo Scandiuzzi

In the summer of 2007, ACT Theatre launched the Central Heating Lab,
a theater-within-the-theater that tries to bring livelier, fresher work
into its august building. The Heating Lab produces stuff you don’t
normally expect to see in big regional theaters: modern dance, standup
comedy, drag and burlesque, music (such as the garage-pop-theater band
“Awesome”). The Heating Lab has even helped produce new plays outside
of ACT (The K of D at Balagan).

The Heating Lab is a shot of adrenaline, injecting new, local
vitality into the heart of a regional theater that, just a few years
ago, was on the verge of death. It’s a model every regional theater
across the country should adopt. And the man behind this invigorating
experiment? Carlo Scandiuzzi, a genial and energetic Swiss-Italian who
has worked in Seattle as an actor, film producer, entrepreneur, and
philanthropist. After Scandiuzzi’s success with the Heating Lab, ACT
had the good sense to hire him as its new executive director. We expect
him to help rewrite the job description of the American regional
theater—which must evolve or die. BRENDAN KILEY

brendan@thestranger.com