5TH AVENUE THEATER
⢠1308 Fifth Ave, 625-1900, www.5thavenue.org
Memphis (Sept 18âOct 7): A Tony Awardâwinning musical about the origins of rock 'n' roll and a romance between a black lady and white guy.
The Addams Family (Oct 24âNov 11): It came from Broadway.
ELF: The Musical: (Nov 20âDec 31): Based on the film starring Will Ferrell.
ACT THEATER
⢠700 Union St, 292-7676, www.acttheatre.org
Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam (Sept 7âOct 7): A solo performance by Trieu Tran about a Vietnamese boy who lives through the fall of Saigon, a Viet Cong reeducation camp, refugee camps, and the confusion and turbulence of moving to the United States, in a "land of snow, hiphop, urban gangs, and clashing cultures." Directed by Robert Egan.
Nuevo y Solo (Sept 7â9): A showcase of new solo work by members of local Latino theater company eSe Teatro.
Seattle Confidential (Sept 10, Dec 3): Ian Bell's quarterly collection of anonymous true stories, submitted by Seattleites, read by actors, and accompanied by charts, graphs, PowerPoint presentations, and other bells and whistles. The September theme is "The Unforgettable Summer." In December, it's "Ghost Stories" and the afterlife.
The Great Soul of Russia (Sept 11, Oct 9): Readings of Russian stories, plays, and poetry by members of the Seagull Project. The September theme is "Fairies and Frights: Lessons Remembered." The October theme is "They Ate Cabbage and Brown Bread."
Ramayana (Oct 12âNov 11): See preview, page 23. ACT Theater has been working for more than two years with two directors (Kurt Beattie and Sheila Daniels) and two playwrights (Yussef El Guindi and Stephanie Timm) on this three-hour adaptation of the South Asian epic poem.
A Christmas Carol (Nov 23âDec 24): ACT Theater's annual performance of the Dickens holiday story as adapted by early Seattle theater pioneer Greg Falls. Falls's sleek, pared-down script hits all the major notes of the story and trims the unnecessary fatâit may be one of the best stage adaptations of A Christmas Carol ever written.
BROADWAY PERFORMANCE HALL
⢠1625 Broadway, 934-3052, www.broadwayperfhall.com
Men in Dance Festival (Oct 12â14, 19â21): The ninth annual festival for dancing dudes, including local artists (Iyun Harrison, Olivier Wevers, Geoff Johnson, others) and out-of-towners (Mike Esperanza, Bill Wade, others).
MEANY HALL
⢠University of Washington Campus, 543-4880, www.uwworldseries.org
Paul Taylor Dance Company (Oct 4â6): Work by Paul Taylor, who the UW World Series calls "the last living member of the pantheon that created America's indigenous art of modern dance" and who Martha Graham called the "naughty boy" of modern dance.
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (Nov 15â17): The Seattle premiere of this sparkly new company, with choreography by Crystal Pite (of Kidd Pivot and a favorite at On the Boards).
Laurie Anderson (Oct 20): Laurie Anderson is an all-around artist: singer, songwriter, performance artist, storyteller. She will perform Dirtday!, the final installment of the trilogy that includes Happiness and The End of the Moon.
MOORE THEATER
⢠1932 Second Ave, 682-1414, www.stgpresents.org
Genius Awards (Sept 22): The 10th annual Genius Awards are happening in a way that they've never happened before: Of three finalists in each category, the winners will be announced from the stage. The theater nominees are Grady West, Keri Healy, and Zoe Scofield. More info at thestranger.com/genius.
Dance Theater of Harlem (Nov 16â17): The Harlem ballet company founded in 1969.
ON THE BOARDS
⢠100 W Roy St, 217-9888, www.ontheboards.org
Christian Rizzo and Sophie Laly (Sept 14â15): The art/fashion/dance provocateur Christian Rizzoâwho sparks robust debates every time he performs hereâwill partner with video installation artist Sophie Laly to create NĂŠo-Fiction, based on a three-week trek across the Pacific Northwest.
Badminton Royale (Sept 18): OtB's annual badminton tournament for arts organizations with 32 teams, cold beer, and lots of friendly smack talk.
Gob Squad (Sept 27â30): The experimental UK/German company re-creates the Andy Warhol experience of 1965 by remaking his real-time films Kitchen, Kiss, his "screen tests," and others by using audience members. The result is anthropological, historical, comical, and oddly touching by the end.
Mark Morris Dance Group (Oct 4â6): Iconic choreographer Mark Morris presents four works under the umbrella title Back On the Boards. From the On the Boards website, which says it best: "Before Mark Morris became a household name in contemporary dance, he premiered one of his earliest works as part of OtB's inaugural season. In this spectacular homecoming, Morris and his company return to the intimate confines of the OtB main stage with a special program set to live music performed by the MMDG Music Ensemble."
Kidd Pivot (Oct 23â25): Choreographer Crystal Piteâa favorite at On the Boards for her ability to fuse stirring narrative with aesthetics that tickle your guts like a roller-coaster rideâreturns with The Tempest Replica, a meditation on Shakespeare's The Tempest.
12 Minutes Max (Oct 28â29, Dec 2â3): The cabaret of fresh, half-cooked work curated by Seattle artists.
Teatro LĂnea de Sombra (Nov 8â11): The Mexican theater ensemble brings its story about a man who heads for the border and disappears before he reaches his destination of Amarillo, Texas. A timely piece of experimental theater about one of the world's most tender and tragic zones.
Kyle Loven (Dec 5â9): The local experimental puppeteerâwhose work has been described in The Stranger as "a little bit Edward Gorey, a little bit Samuel Beckett, and a little bit Czech surrealism"âperforms another one of his expressionistic shows with an intricately rigged set, titled Loss Machine.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET
⢠McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, 441-2424, www.pnb.org
Celebrate Seattle (Sept 16): A party with NASA astronauts, ballet dancers, and the PNB orchestra playing music from Back to the Future, The Pink Panther, Bizet, Stravinsky, and much more.
Cinderella (Sept 21â30): Music by Prokofiev, choreography by Kent Stowell, with a performance of Circus Polka by Stravinsky and Jerome Robbins on opening night only.
All Premiere (Nov 2â11): Four world premieres with choreography by Mark Morris, Andrew Bartee, Margaret Mullin, and Kiyon Gaines.
PARAMOUNT THEATER
⢠911 Pine St, 682-1414, www.stgpresents.org
Stephanie Miller's Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour (Sept 29): Stephanie Miller's dad was Barry Goldwater's vice presidential choice during his failed attempt to become president in 1964. The lady herself is a comedian and TV/radio pundit.
Wicked (Oct 10âNov 17): The smash-hit Broadway musical based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager (Dec 1): A conversation.
SEATTLE OPERA
⢠McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St, 389-7676, www.seattleopera.org
Fidelio (Oct 13â27): Ludwig van Beethoven wrote one opera in his life, and this is it. The synopsis from Wikipedia: "Two years prior to the opening scene, the nobleman Florestan has exposed or attempted to expose certain crimes of the nobleman Pizarro. In revenge, Pizarro has secretly imprisoned Florestan in the prison over which Pizarro is governor. The jailer of the prison, Rocco, has a daughter, Marzelline, and a servant (or assistant), Jaquino. Florestan's wife, Leonore, came to Rocco's door dressed as a boy seeking employment, and Rocco hired her. On orders, Rocco has been giving Florestan diminishing rations until he is nearly starved to death. Place: A Spanish state prison, a few miles from Seville. Time: Late 18th century." It will be directed by Chris Alexander.
SEATTLE REPERTORY THEATER
⢠155 Mercer St, 443-2222, www.seattlerep.org
Pullman Porter Blues (Sept 27âOct 28): Cheryl L. West's play set in 1937, directed by Lisa Peterson, about trains, race, the Midwest, and three generations of porters on a choo-choo bound from Chicago to New Orleans. With a live band.
The Glass Menagerie (Oct 26âDec 2): The Tennessee Williams classic about an aging Southern belle, directed by Braden Abraham.
Inspecting Carol (Nov 23âDec 23): In this ensemble-developed play originally spearheaded by Daniel Sullivan in 1991âand now revived by current artistic director Jerry Manningâthe curtain rises backstage on a theater's rattletrap production of A Christmas Carol that is falling the fuck apart. (Is the Rep taking a stab at ACT Theater's annual holiday hegemony and its Christmas Carol?)
THE TRIPLE DOOR
⢠216 Union St, 838-4333, www.tripledoor.net
Through the Looking Glass: The Burlesque Alice in Wonderland (Sept 12â15): With Lily Verlaine, Waxie Moon, Indigo Blue, Jasper McCann, Ben Delacreme, Lou Henry Hoover (of Cherdonna and Lou, playing Alice), Inga IngĂŠnue, and other familiar burlesque personalities.
This Is Halloween (Oct 26â31): A burlesque-inflected dance show by the great crew of the Can Can Cabaretâa bunch of nightclub dancers who are secretly a gateway drug for modern danceâwith music by the marvelous Balkan-style brass band Orkestar Zirkonium. Expect heavy aesthetic influence from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.
VILLAGE THEATER
⢠303 Front St N, Issaquah, 425-392-2202, www.villagetheatre.org
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Sept 12âOct 21): Novel by great American writer Mark Twain; lyrics and music by the great American blues, country, and bluegrass songwriter Roger Miller.
Fiddler on the Roof (Nov 7âDec 30): The famous musical inspired by Marc Chagall's paintings of Eastern European Jewish life, which often featured a fiddler character.
14/48: THE WORLD'S QUICKEST THEATER FESTIVAL
⢠Seattle Center, www.1448fest.com
14/48 Outdoor Festival (Sept 7â8): The world's quickest theater festivalâwhich creates, designs, rehearses, and performs 14 new plays in 48 hoursâhappens outdoors next to the Seattle Rep as part of Seattle Center's "Next Fifty Celebration" to commemorate the Center's 50th anniversary.
ANNEX THEATER
⢠1100 E Pike St, 728-0933, www.annextheatre.org
Weird and Awesome with Emmett Montgomery (Sept 2, Oct 7, Nov 4, Dec 2): A monthly collection of people saying things (oftentimes people doing things outside of their comfort zone: scientists telling jokes, comedians being sincere) curated by longtime Seattle comedy guy Emmett Montgomery.
Spin the Bottle (Sept 7, Oct 5, Nov 2): On the first Friday of every month since 1997, Annex has hosted a cabaret of new stuff that people do in front of other peopleâmusic, comedy, dance, film, theater, burlesque, pornography, paper-airplane-making demonstrations, and stuff you can't even imagine.
ARTS CRUSH
⢠Theaters across Seattle, 770-0370, www.artscrush.org
Arts Crush (Oct 1â31): A citywide program, run by Theater Puget Sound, with free shows, workshops, and special events designed to make theater more exciting and accessible to the citizens of our fair city. See the website for more details.
ARTSWEST
⢠4711 California Ave SW, 938-0963, www.artswest.org
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Sept 19âOct 20): The emo-rock musical that reads the history of American populismâespecially the rise of Andrew Jacksonâthrough the emotional and dramatic filter of American teenagehood.
The Winter Wonderettes (Nov 23âDec 30): A holiday show with four-part harmony and late '60s nostalgia.
BALAGAN THEATER
⢠Erickson Theater Off Broadway, 1524 Harvard Ave, 329-1050, www.balagantheatre.org
Avenue Q (Nov 16âDec 15): Last year's production of Rent was a big audience success for Balagan Theater, and they've got more musicals in the works, including Hedwig and Next to Normal (in 2013). First, they'll hit up Avenue Q, the puppet musical loosely based on Sesame Street but grown-up and dirty.
BOOK-IT THEATER
⢠Center House Theater, Seattle Center, 216-0833, www.book-it.org
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Sept 18âOct 21): A trip through the life of Henry Lee, a Chinese American man who went to an all-white school in the 1940s and whose already-complicated life was made more complicated by international eventsâthe Japanese invasion of China, WWII, the internment of Japanese Americans, and so on.
Owen Meany's Christmas Pageant (Nov 29âDec 23): Another installment of Book-It's popular adaptations of the John Irving novels about a boy, an orphanage, and the physician who watches over them all.
DEGENERATE ART ENSEMBLE
⢠Beneath Seattle Center, 800-838-3006, www.degenerateartensemble.com
Underbelly (Oct 5â6): The long-beloved music-theater-design collective Degenerate Art Ensemble pairs with Olson Kundig Architects to build an installation and performance in some of the subterraneous regions of Seattle Center, along with fellow artists and performers SuttonBeresCuller, Lilienthal | Zamora, John Osebold, Korby Sears, and several others.
GHOST LIGHT THEATRICALS
⢠Ballard Underground, 2220 NW Market St, 395-5458, www.ghostlighttheatricals.org
Scapin (Oct 26âNov 11): A punk-rock adaptation of the Molière farce about a mischievous, deceitful servant and his machinations to help two rich, young men marry two poor, young women despite the objections of rich fathers.
HEINEKEN CITY ARTS FEST
⢠Various venues, www.cityartsfest.com
Heineken City Arts Fest (Oct 17â20): This year's festival has some promising theater and dance artists in its lineup: Zoe Scofield and Juniper Shuey, who will perform some things in semi-secret locations (to get the details, you must reserve tickets); the New Mystics, who are putting together a 12-hour bicycle race/scavenger hunt (called "Art Dash 4 Ca$h") to find and photograph street art and graffiti works in Seattle. Plus stuff by Jose Bold (aka Genius Awardâwinner John Osebold), moody/rock 'n' roll marimba siren Erin Jorgensen, Rodrigo Valenzuela, Queen Shmooquan, and other quality oddballs we've praised over the years. See the festival's website for details.
LANGSTON HUGHES PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
⢠104 17th Ave S, 684-4758, www.seattle.gov/parks/centers/langston.htm
Moms Mabley (Nov 3â4): An NEA Awardâwinning, world-premiere project to "bring artists and intergenerational community members together to create a play based on the life and work of Jackie 'Moms' Mabley," who worked the famous Chitlin' Circuit as a standup comedian.
MOISTURE FESTIVAL
⢠Hale's Palladium, 4301 Leary Way NW, www.moisturefestival.com
Moulin to Moisture (Oct 5): A performance and fundraiser for Seattle's neo-vaudeville/cirque festival with entertainers Frank Olivier, Kevin Joyce, Fuchsia Foxx, Charly Castor of Les Castors, and others.
NEW CITY THEATER
⢠1404 18th Ave, 271-4430 www.newcitytheater.org
Tiny Kushner (Sept 13âOct 6): Five short, thematically linked plays by Tony Kushner with characters such as Queen Geraldine of Albania, Richard Nixon, Laura Bush, and others. Directed by John Kazanjian.
A Celebration of the Career of Actor Clayton Corzatte (Oct 22): A party for actor Clayton Corzatte, who has been an actor for more than 60 years and was nominated for a Tony Award in the 1960s for his performance in Richard Sheridan's A School for Scandal.
Dance on Film: Pina Bausch and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker (Oct 19âNov 3): New City Theater will show some dance films.
How They Attack Us (Nov 15âDec 8): A world-premier play by Kevin McKeon about the media, politics, and paranoia.
NORTHWEST FILM FORUM
⢠1515 12th Ave, 329-2629, www.nwfilmforum.org
Maldoror (Sept 13â15): Vashon Island's impressionistic-surrealistic UMO Ensemble performs something with theater, acrobatics, industrial-noise compositions, and video.
RE-BAR
⢠1114 Howell St, 233-9873, www.rebarseattle.com
Ian Bell's Brown Derby Series: Nightmare on Elm Street (Oct 25â27): The long-running, hilarious Brown Derby Seriesâin which actors perform absurd, chaotic, and camped-up versions of popular movie scriptsâgoes for Hollywood horror with Freddy Krueger and his long, bloody knife-fingers. Brown Derby is one of Seattle's most consistently entertaining nights out.
RICHARD HUGO HOUSE
⢠1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, www.hugohouse.org
The Second Annual Local Celebrity Spelling Bee (Sept 13): A terrifying/hilarious fundraiser for Hugo House, starring comedians, writers, and artists such as Emmett Montgomery, Nicole Brodeur, Charles Mudede, Ellen Forney, Rachel Flotard, and others.
THE ROYAL ROOM
⢠5000 Rainier Ave S, 906-9920, www.theroyalroomseattle.com
55: Music and Dance in Concrete (Sept 14): Musician Wayne Horvitz, along with choreographer Yukio Suzuki and other performers, filmmakers, and artists will perform 55 composed pieces and 55 improvised pieces based on a series of works Horvitz created for concrete cisterns and bunkers around Western Washington.
SEATTLE CHILDREN'S THEATER
⢠201 Thomas St, 443-0807, www.sct.org
Dr. Seuss's the Cat in the Hat (Sept 27âOct 28): Did you know Senator Harry Reid once read from The Cat in the Hat on the Senate floor to compare American immigration policy to a "mess" that the titular cat made? Washington Post op-ed writer Dana Milbank responded: "Ah, but the Cat in the Hat did not have to contend with cloture."
Danny, King of the Basement (Oct 18âNov 18): A story about a boy with a hard-knock life who escapes via his imagination. Directed by David S. Craig.
The Wizard of Oz (Nov 15â Jan 6): Adapted for the stage by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
SEATTLE FRINGE FESTIVAL
⢠Various venues, www.seattlefringefestival.org
Seattle Fringe Festival (Sept 19â23): Seattle's last fringe festival imploded and left a smoking crater almost 10 years ago. Now it has returned with a whole new administrative team and whole new ambitions this September. Stay tuned to The Stranger for more information about what this festival could mean for the city and its theater scene.
SEATTLE MUSICAL THEATER
⢠Magnuson Park Community Center Building, 7120 62nd Ave NE, 363-2809, www.seattlemusicaltheatre.org
Legally Blonde (Sept 14âOct 7): A musical comedy about a blond woman who goes to law school.
Scrooge (Nov 16âDec 9): A musical comedy about A Christmas Carol.
SEATTLE PUBLIC THEATER
⢠Bathhouse Theater, 7312 W Green Lake Dr N, 524-1300, www.seattlepublictheater.org
Superior Donuts (Sept 28âOct 21): A 2008 play by Tracy Letts (Bug, August: Osage County) about a doughnut shop in Chicago run by a former 1960s radical and the people who pass into his life: a young would-be novelist with a problematic past, a beat cop, a local drunk, a loan shark, and others. Directed by Russ Banham.
The Habit (Nov 16âDec 1): Back in the 1990s, The Habit was one of Seattle's favorite sketch comedy groups, starring John Osebold, Mark Siano, Jeff Schell, and others. They reunited last year for a wildly successful show at the Bathhouseâin which God got a performance review, Peter Pan was busted on To Catch a Predator, and astronauts failed to launch the Starship Coriander because none of them could (or would) count properlyâand proved they've still got it.
SEATTLE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY
⢠Center House Theater, Seattle Center, 733-8222, www.seattleshakespeare.org
Antony and Cleopatra (Dates TBA): Directed by the big brains and hot aesthetics of John Langs (who directed Romeo and Juliet for Seattle Shakes in 2010 and many other things since) and starring Hans Altwies and Amy Thone.
SKETCHFEST SEATTLE
⢠Various venues (mostly Theater Off Jackson, 409 Seventh Ave S), www.sketchfest.org
Sketchfest (Sept 28âOct 6): This year's participants include Charles, the Ubiquitous They, Cody Rivers Show, and Pork-Filled Players, plus a short-film contest at Central Cinema.
SOUND THEATER COMPANY
⢠Ballard Underground, 2220 NW Market St, 856-5520, www.soundtheatrecompany.org
Disco Pigs (Sept 20âOct 6): A dark coming-of-age play by Tony Awardâwinner Enda Walsh, directed by Gianni Truzzi, about teenagers named Pig and Runt.
SPECTRUM DANCE THEATER
⢠800 Lake Washington Blvd, 325-4161, www.spectrumdance.org
Fall Studio Series (Nov 30â Dec 9): Three world-premier works by three choreographers: Olivier Wevers, Donald Byrd, and Crispin Spaeth.
STONE SOUP THEATER
⢠DownStage Theater, 4029 Stone Way N, 633-1883, www.stonesouptheatre.org
Shel Silverstein & David Ives (Oct 19âNov 11): A collection of eight short plays exploring the juxtaposition of the dark wits of Shel Silverstein and David Ives.
STRAWBERRY THEATER WORKSHOP
⢠Erickson Theater Off Broadway, 1524 Harvard Ave, 427-5207, www.strawshop.org
This Land: Woody Guthrie (Sept 6âOct 6): A play for puppets and actors based around Woody Guthrie. Strawberry Theater Workshop (which won a Genius Award a few years ago) exhumes this celebrated production for Guthrie's 100th birthday.
TAPROOT THEATER COMPANY
⢠204 N 85th St, 781-9707, www.taproottheatre.org
Gaudy Night (Sept 21âOct 20): A stage adaptation of the mystery novel by Dorothy Sayersâstarring her beloved character Lord Peter Wimseyâabout an Oxford University reunion and its concomitant death threats.
THEATER SCHMEATER
⢠1500 Summit Ave, 324-5801, www.schmeater.org
Is He Dead? (Sept 14âOct 13): A complicated, sprightly play by Mark Twain, adapted by David Ives, about a Parisian painterâcirca 1850âand various machinations to keep him solvent and happy.
The Betty Plays (Sept 23âOct 7): Short plays by Scot Augustson, Paul Mullin, Pamela Hobart Carter, and Jim Lapan/Paul Klein.
Fallen Angels (Nov 15âDec 15): An early play by NoĂŤl Coward about wives who drink cocktailsâwhile their husbands are away for a weekend of golfâand are waiting for "an assignation" with another man. Things get weird when they realize they're waiting for the same man.
THEATER OFF JACKSON
⢠409 Seventh Ave S, 340-1049, www.theatreoffjackson.org
Puu Puu Vii (Sept 25): Theater Off Jackson's annual fundraising party and auction.
I Can Hear You... but I'm Not Listening (Sept 27â29): Longtime Seattle actor Jennifer Jasper reprises her autobiographical solo show that, David Schmader writes, "concerns itself with Jasper's big, weird, hilarious family, with stories ranging from sweet to sad to filthy."
UNEXPECTED PRODUCTIONS
⢠1428 Post Alley, 587-4214, www.unexpectedproductions.org
Improv Happy Hour (ongoing): Improv comedy every Saturday at 7 pm, with "an edgier story based on long-form comedy" instead of their Theatersports specialty.
UPSTART CROW COLLECTIVE
⢠Lee Center for the Arts, 901 12th Ave, www.facebook.com/upstartcrowcollective
Titus Andronicus (Sept 6â Oct 7): An all-female version of Shakespeare's brutal revenge drama starring Genius Awardâwinner Amy Thone as Titus, as well as Kate Wisniewski, Terri Weagant, Sarah Harlett, Peggy Gannon, Kelly Kitchens, and almost a dozen other premier Seattle actors. Directed by Rosa Joshi, who directed the last Upstart Crow outingâan all-female 2006 production of King John. That was excellent and starred many of the same actors. Expect Titus to be excellent, too.
VELOCITY DANCE CENTER
⢠1621 12th Ave, 325-8773, www.velocitydancecenter.org
Fall Kickoff/Big Bang! Remix Party (Sept 14â16): A weekend of dance and parties to celebrate Velocity's new fall season. More than 30 artists will be "filling every nook and cranny with dance, music, film, and visual spectacle."
Keith Hennessy/Circo Zero (Sept 21â22): The award-winning, California-based choreographer Keith Hennessy brings his Turbulence (a dance about the economy)âor, as he calls it, "a collaborative failure"âto Velocity Dance Center one week after he performs it at Portland's Time-Based Art Festival. Part dance, part improvised "happening," Turbulence concerns disaster capitalism, debt, and precariousness. Velocity will also host a series of workshops, dinners, and round-table conversations in the days surrounding the performance.
Amy O'Neal (Oct 12â21): Choreographer Amy O'Neal presents a "non-verbal lecture" audaciously titled The Most Innovative, Daring, and Original Piece of Dance/Performance You Will See This Decade. She says it will explore and deconstruct a variety of her dance influences, including hiphop, ballet, Cyndi Lauper, Ciara, dubstep, Janet Jackson, and others. This project has been developed over a year as part of Velocity's artist-in- residence program.
Seattle Butoh Festival (Oct 22â28): DAIPANbutoh Collective presents its annual Butoh festival.
WASHINGTON ENSEMBLE THEATER
⢠608 19th Ave E, 325-5105, www.washingtonensemble.org
The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Sept 28âOct 22): A West Coast premiere by Meg Miroshnik about an American who goes to Russia in 2005 and meets bears, prostitutes with axes, and a witch. Directed by Ali el-Gasseir.
Ballard House Duet (December, exact dates TBA): A new play by Genius Awardâwinner Paul Mullin about two sisters who meet at their great aunt's house to save her from her own hoarding. Developed for and starring Hana Lass and Rebecca Olson.
WEST OF LENIN
⢠203 N 36th St, 352-1777, www.westoflenin.com
Fancy Mud (Sept 7â15): Last year, Paul Constant wrote about this three-person, absurdist sketch-comedy show: "Three actors in pastel outfits and lab coats take the stage. Carter Rodriguez (tall, wild-haired, in yellow) begins explaining black holes and the origins of the universe in a broad, physics-class lecture. Sachie Mikawa (short, peppy, in pink) keeps hijacking the conversation toward a topic more to her likingâcute bunny rabbits. As a gullible, easily excited moron (Ben Burris in blue, finding a mouth-breathing nondescript white-guy median between the two) listens, she explains the makeup of a 'cuteness molecule'âthe four pads of a rabbit's foot. Soon the whole lecture is derailed and the three are fighting over who gets sacrificed to a volcano god to save the universe. It's like a well-acted Three Stooges routine, plumped up on pretension and massive amounts of processed sugar."
Demon Dreams (Oct 18âNov 10): Seattle/NYC playwright Tommy Smith, who specializes in people behaving badly in this and previous centuriesâWhite Hot at West of Lenin, Quartet at Washington Ensemble Theaterâreturns with a new work directed by West of Lenin artistic director AJ Epstein. Starring Susanna Burney (Torso) Carter Rodriquez (Fancy Mud, Cafe Nordo), and several others.
YOUNGSTOWN CULTURAL ARTS CENTER
⢠4408 Delridge Way SW, 800-838-3006, www.anunnaki.org
The Ghost Game: Beneath a Wing-Darkened Sky (Oct 18â28): The Cabiri group performs a dessert-theater cabaret with aerial and acrobatic versions of stories of folkloric and mythological heroes who had wings.
