Brett Love, performance binge-watcher who sat through 270 shows in 2014 and all-round spirit animal of the Seattle theater scene—especially the fringier, world-premierier part of it—is rallying the troops on Facebook.
As you’re probably aware, Hugo House is going to be torn down and rebuilt on the same piece of Capitol Hill property, but bigger and hopefully better.
The House is currently looking for input on what the rest of us would like to see in the new space—performance-world folks would like to see some variation on the current 87-seat theater in the building. (If you’re feeling technical: You can actually get more seats in there with different configurations, but most productions seem to go for the 87-seat version.)
Like any small theater where artists can afford to experiment, some good has come out of that room (it’s where Strawberry Theater Workshop got its start before winning a Stranger Genius Award), as well as some bad and a lot of mediocre.
But worse than my worst memories in that room—typically involving very sincere, very well-meaning people who just couldn’t get their production off the ground and into the air where electrifying theater belongs—would be Capitol Hill without it, or some version of it.
If we want gusty, inventive, great new companies, we need a place where people can fuck around and fail.
While we’re on the subject: You know what we need even more desperately? A gritty bar-theater to house the real wackos, like Re-bar used to back in the late ’90s (before my time) and the late ’00s (right when I got here).
Somehow I doubt Hugo House is going to build a bar that’s held together with gaff tape and false eyelashes from the bottom of a drag queen’s purse—but as long as we’re wishing for things, that’s what I really want to see.
In the meantime, tell Hugo House what you think.
