July & August 2010 at ACT

Art, Uproarious Lunacy, Synergistic Cinema, Conspiracy Theories, New Plays, Wine and Buffoons…What a Line Up!

Seattle, WA – June 16, 2010 - ACT – A Contemporary Theatre splashes into summer with the continuation of its SOIL at ACT window displays, the irreverent satire The Female of the Species by Joanna Murray-Smith, then shifts to edge-of-your-seat intrigue with the Seattle premiere of Yankee Tavern by acclaimed playwright Steven Dietz. The Central Heating Lab at ACT delivers fresh hot talent all summer long with the next installment of RAWSTOCK’s experimental synergistic cinema project, a new songwriter showcase by Contemporary Classics, a bevy of Buffoons in UMO Ensemble’s presentation of El Dorado, and a first-of-its-kind event, the Icicle Creek Theatre Festival: An Uncorked Conversation: New Play Festival and Wine Tasting.

SOIL at ACT

A Central Heating Lab Event

July 1 & August 5

Tickets: FREE!

ACT’s First Thursday art collaboration with SOIL Artist-Run Gallery continues, July 1 and August 5. Commissioned by ACT, SOIL has curated and will install two, four-month cycles of new art at ACT in the windows facing 7^th Avenue, between Pike and Union, through August 30, with the second cycle, September 6-December 31. The cycle of window displays are inspired by ACT’s 2010 Mainstage season in what Artistic Director Kurt Beattie describes as “an evolution of consciousness, a journey through the ‘50s to now.” Each window is viewable from the street, and inside of ACT one hour prior to each show. Theatre tours are also available on First Thursdays. RSVP toservice@acttheatre.org the Sunday prior.

The Female of the Species by Joanna Murray-Smith

A Mainstage Play – A Seattle Premiere!

June 18- July 18

Tickets: start at $37.50 (adults) $10/$15 (students/people 25 and under) or included for ACTPass Monthly Members

Directed by Allison Narver and loosely based on a true story, this hilarious satire follows the plucky, obstinate, and opinionated feminist writer Margot Mason on her descent into the tortuous territory of writer's block and the misadventures of a day gone wrong. No feminist doctrine goes unscathed when this sacred monster of the movement is taken hostage by a disillusioned disciple in this viciously funny play about gender politics. Veteran Seattle stage actor Suzy Hunt leads a stellar cast, including Renata Friedman, Morgan Rowe, Paul Morgan Stetler, Tim Hyland, and Mark Chamberlin.

RAWSTOCK Short Film Festival

A Central Heating Lab Event

July 14 & August 18

Tickets: start at $10, or included for ACTPass Monthly Members

Now in its third year of partnership with ACT’s Central Heating Lab, RAWSTOCK Short Film Festival

continues to be Seattle’s destination for cutting-edge animation, politically incorrect comedy, and

relentless grindhouse cinema. This summer, RAWSTOCK debuts two new chapters of its Everyday is a Journey “synergistic cinema” project, where one story is told by six writers/directors via six

individual “chapter” films. See each chapter unfold at each RAWSTOCK event through November 17,

culminating in the final full screening of the film in its entirety in December.

Yankee Tavern by Steven Dietz

A Mainstage Play - A Seattle Premiere!

July 30- August 29

Tickets: start at $37.50 (adults) $10/$15 (students/people 25 and under) or included for ACTPass Monthly Members

From the acclaimed playwright who brought us the world-premiere of Becky’s New Car in 2008 comes an edge-of-your-seat political thriller brimming with intrigue. In aNew York dive bar five years after 9/11, a young couple find themselves face-to-face with a mysterious stranger who turns what seem like harmless conspiracy theories into a continuous stream of surprising and dangerous revelations in this eye-opening look at the events that forever changed our country. The cast includes Charles Leggett,Jennifer Lee Taylor, Shawn Telford and R. Hamilton Wright.

Contemporary Classics: NEW VOICES

A Central Heating Lab Event

August 2

Tickets: start at $20 ($15 for students w/ ID), or included for ACTPass Monthly Members

Now in its 9^th edition, featuring an exciting blend of Sondheim and pop/rock, this songwriter showcase has become a Seattle tradition, providing a first look at the future of musical theatre. This next generation of writers is turning Broadway on its ear with musicals about hysterical pregnancies, grunge bands, redheads and Ritalin. NEW VOICESstars some of Seattle’s hottest performers and the best songwriters in the country; it’s a concert event not to be missed!

UMO Ensemble

A Central Heating Lab Event

August 19 - 29

Tickets: start at $20, or included for ACTPass Monthly Members

UMO Ensemble returns to Seattle with its internationally acclaimed El Dorado. Through dark humor, live music, stylized text and fantastical images, El Dorado reveals the spirit of conquest and domination that characterized the European settling of the Americas. It’s created in the style of European “Buffoon Theatre.” Buffoons –similar to the classic court jester – play at humanity, mocking our follies and obsession with power. El Dorado applies this engaging, acrobatic, and colorful form to a retelling of the Spanish Conquistadors’ quest for the legendary “Kingdom of Gold.”

Icicle Creek Theatre Festival: An Uncorked Conversation: New Play Festival and Wine Tasting

A Central Heating Lab Event

August 23 - 24

Tickets: start at $40 (includes commemorative wine glass), for ACTPass Monthly Members, $20

The fourth annual Icicle Creek Theatre Festival tours from Leavenworth to Seattle bringing along wine from eight different area wineries and plays from two of thiscountry’s most talented contemporary

theatrical voices. Starting at 5:30 p.m., attendees can sample two dozen different wines along with hors d’oevres, followed by staged readings of two new plays: Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World by Yussef El Guindi and And When We Awoke There Was Light and Light by Laura Jacqmin. Post play discussions with the playwrights follow.

Launched in 2008, The Central Heating Lab at ACT serves as an incubator and catalyst for new works. ACT cultivates, produces, and presents artists working in all performance genres and provides an artistic home for a variety of local performance groups and artists. Relationships develop daily with individual actors, performers and playwrights while established partnerships with groups such as the New Century Theatre Company, RAWSTOCK, Seattle Dance Project, and Icicle Creek Theatre Festival deepen. New programs are added throughout the year.

With year-round programming produced by The Central Heating Lab at ACT alongside ACT’s Mainstage season of plays, ACT offers its patrons a unique opportunity to maximize their theatre experience – the ACTPass Monthly Membership: all you can see for only $20 (under age 30) to $25 per month! Members can attend any ACT produced performance throughout any given month, provided tickets are available. It is flexible, affordable, and is the first of its kind in the region. There is no contract, members may cancel at any time, and there is no limit to the number of times a member can attend. For the month of July and August, that means a Member can see all our shows, if they so choose, for only $20 to $25 vs. paying the single ticket price of at least $165 (if buyer would choose to see all offerings).

Memphis Takes the Tonys!

5th Avenue co-production from last season wins prestigious Broadway awards

SEATTLE, WA –Memphis, the high-octane musical about the early days of rock ‘n roll, has added to its critical reputation by receiving four Tonys at this year’s Tony Awards®: Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Orchestration. The musical was produced at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre in 2009 (in collaboration with theLa Jolla Playhouse) where it was acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. Memphis is one of nine new musicals that have been developed and produced by The 5th Avenue over the past nine years, along with the Tony Award-winning Hairspray and Catch Me If You Can, which will open on Broadway next season.

Memphis tells the fictional story of a white DJ who falls in love with a black singer in 1950s Tennessee and helps to usher in the birth of a new popular music. Opening on Broadway to ecstatic reviews (“exhilarating….the very essence of what a Broadway musical should be.” AP; “Memphis is a musical you have to see even if you have to bribe somebody to get tickets," WOR Radio), the show has already won three Drama Desk awards, including Best Musical, and four Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Best Broadway Musical.

In addition to winning the Best Musical Tony, awards went to Joe DiPietro (best known for I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change) for Best Book, to David Bryan(a founding member of Bon Jovi) for Best Score, and Daryl Waters & David Bryan for Best Orchestration. Seattle native (and Tony nominee) Chad Kimball stars in the show as white DJ Huey Calhoun; Kimball grew up in West Seattle and is a graduate of Roosevelt High School. The Broadway production is directed by Christopher Ashley (Xanadu) and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys).

Seattle’s connection also includes the involvement of two long-time 5th Avenue supporters, Kenny and Marleen Alhadeff. Both were introduced to the Memphisproducing team of Sue Frost and Randy Adams early on by Marilynn Sheldon, The 5th’s former Managing Director. “In addition to being great supporters of The 5th (Kenny had been our Board Chairman for four years, and together they serve as our ‘Producing Partners’), we knew that Kenny and Marleen were interested in getting into commercial theatre production as well,” recalls The 5th’s Executive Producer and Artistic Director David Armstrong. “This was, as I suspected, a match made in heaven, and Kenny and Marleen eventually become full partners in Junkyard Dog, the production company that Sue and Randy founded. Most importantly the Alhadeffs fell deeply in love with Memphis.”

“Kenny and Marleen have been at the center of all of that activity and effort, including raising a significant portion of the Broadway capitalization,” continues Armstrong. “Of course they drew many of their investors from the Puget Sound region including other 5th Avenue Board members and donors. Junkyard Dog has now established itself as a new and significant force on Broadway, and I’m certain that Memphis is only the first of many great shows that they will produce.”

We at The 5th congratulate the artists and producers of Memphis, as well as Village Theatre for Million Dollar Quartet, a show that had an early incarnation at their Theatre and won a Tony for actor Levi Kreis’s portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis.

INTIMAN Brings a Unique Treat to Seattle: Lynn Nottage's RUINED

Original Cast Members and the Design Team for Director Kate Whoriskey’s Production of Lynn Nottage’s Ruined Reunite at Intiman Theatre and the Geffen Playhouse for a Co-Production of the Award-Winning Play

Audiences in Seattle and Los Angeles will be the only theatregoers in the country to see the original production of Ruined, the most honored play of recent seasons and the centerpiece of Whoriskey’s first season as Intiman’s Artistic Director

Intiman Theatre Performances: July 2 – August 8, 2010
Geffen Playhouse Performances: September 7 – October 17, 2010

SEATTLE AND LOS ANGELES — Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, a powerful portrayal of the triumph of the human spirit in a war-torn country, will be co-produced this season byIntiman Theatre (opening July 9, 2010) and the Geffen Playhouse (opening September 15, 2010), the only two theatres in the country to host original cast members and the design team of director Kate Whoriskey’s acclaimed world-premiere production.

The company will be led by Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Salima), Cherise Boothe (Josephine), Russell G. Jones (Christian) and Condola Rashad (Sophie), all of whom originated their roles in the Goodman Theatre/Manhattan Theatre Club world-premiere production, and Portia, who took over the leading role of Mama Nadi during the extended run in New York .

Ruined is the most acclaimed play of 2009, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an Obie, Lucille Lortel Award, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. The play is set in a small mining town in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, where Mama Nadi both protects and profits from the young women who seek refuge in her rain forest bar and brothel. Expertly navigating relationships and politics, this remarkable story is rich with humor, music, hope and humanity.

“Both Lynn and I are thrilled to go back into the rehearsal room with Ruined for this co-production between Intiman and the Geffen,” says Whoriskey, who collaborated on the development of the play with Nottage for five years and staged the world-premiere production at the Goodman Theatre and Manhattan Theatre Club. “Ruined was a truly momentous experience for all of us who worked on it, and we are excited to bring back so many of our close collaborators—and artists who are joining us for the first time—to make new explorations into the heart and complexities of the play and the stories that inspired our work.”

Performance Schedules and Ticketing Information

In Seattle, where Ruined launches Intiman’s new International Cycle, performances will begin on Friday, July 2 and continue through Sunday, August 8 at Intiman Theatre, 201 Mercer Street at Seattle Center . The opening night is Friday, July 9 at 8 pm. Intiman’s production is sponsored in part by The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

Tickets are available from www.intiman.org or 206.269.1900. Single ticket prices range from $25 to $50 for Wednesday-Sunday performances. All adult tickets on Tuesday nights are $25. Discounts are available for groups and members of the military, and patrons age 25 and under can purchase tickets to any performance for $10. The pay-what-you-can performance for Ruined is Wednesday, July 7 at 7:30 pm. Tickets will go on sale that day at noon and may now be purchased over the phone as well as in person; patrons can pay by credit card with a $10 minimum per ticket. Patrons will be able to purchase standing room, standby and rush tickets for every performance, pending availability.

In Los Angeles, Ruined will run at the Geffen Playhouse from September 7 through October 17, with an official opening night of September 15. The Geffen Playhouse production is sponsored in part by International Medical Corps and Jewish World Watch.

Tickets to the Los Angeles production are currently available through subscription only. Beginning on July 20, single tickets will be available online at www.geffenplayhouse.com, at the Geffen Playhouse box office or via credit card phone order at (310) 208-5454. Ticket prices range from $35-$55 for preview performances and from $65-$85 for the regular run.

Ruined Production History

Ruined is the third collaboration between playwright Lynn Nottage and director Kate Whoriskey. The play began with an idea that they might work together on a new adaptation of Brecht’s anti-war drama Mother Courage and Her Children that would be set in Congo, where a war over natural resources had been raging for years without attracting significant mainstream media attention—despite being the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II, with more than 5.4 million people dead. The violence of the war in Congo is targeted against women and girls, perpetuated through the use of rape as a weapon.

In 2004, Nottage and Whoriskey traveled together to the bordering country of Uganda , where they spent two weeks interviewing Congolese women who had fled their country and found refuge. Inspired by these women, they abandoned the idea of adapting Mother Courage in order to tell a story that had not yet been heard—a story that would be specific to the complexity of what is happening now. The next year, Nottage returned and interviewed refugees fleeing armed conflicts in Congo , Uganda , Sudan and Somalia . Together with Whoriskey and their collaborators, she developed the play over five years.

Originally commissioned by the Goodman Theatre, Ruined had its world premiere in Chicago in late 2008. A co-production with the Manhattan Theatre Club, it moved to off-Broadway in January 2009, extending eight times during its acclaimed run.

“Zanna, Don’t!” is back for its third not-so-straight summer

Seattle, WA— Contemporary Classics will revive their hit summer production of ZANNA, DON’T! for a third time this summer June 25-July 3 at Seattle Repertory Theatre’s PONCHO Forum, coinciding with the 2010 Seattle Gay Pride Festival.

ZANNA, DON’T! is a hip musical fairy tale about a matchmaking teen who turns relationships upside down, challenges our point of view, and changes the world forever. In a world where it’s normal to be gay and taboo to be straight when Kate and Steve fall in love it’s up to Zanna, the local love fairy, to search for the right spell to make the world safe for the two lovers. But Zanna’s spell has a bigger impact than he planned. Is this new world really what he wanted? With a little magic and a fresh pop score, ZANNA celebrates the discovery of love in a world of adversity.

“We’re so happy to be bringing ZANNA, DON’T! back this summer,” Contemporary Classics artistic director Brandon Ivie said. “I feel ZANNA is like our gay ‘Christmas Carol.’ It had such an impact on our audience that I can’t think of a better way to spend a summer.” The Seattle production was named one of the Best Musicals of 2008 by Seattle Gay News and won a Seattle Times Footlight Award. ZANNA, DON’T! played Off-Broadway in 2003 and received four Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Musical, Best Book, Best Music and Best Lyrics.

The cast includes some of Seattle’s best young talent. Returning cast members include Justin Huertas (Seattle Rep’s Speech & Debate, ArtsWest’s History Boys), Sarah Davis (Village Theatre’s Terezin and Piece), Bill Williams (Village’s The Gypsy King, Beauty and the Beast), Cornish grad Diana Huey (5th Avenue’s Mame), Jared Michael Brown (ArtsWest’s Measure for Pleasure) and Lindsey Hedberg (Village Theatre’s The Yellow Wood). Joining the new cast is Kyle Anderson (Village Theatre’s Stunt Girl) and University of Washington student Casey Oliver.

The entire production team returns, including Contemporary Classics’ artistic director Brandon Ivie (A New Brain) as director/choreographer, Mark Rabe (Seattle Children’s Theatre’sBusytown, Goodnight Moon) as music director, Harmony Arnold (Seattle Rep’s My Name is Rachel Corrie, Boom) as costume designer, Robert J. Aguilar (Seattle Rep’s Boom, Speech & Debate) as lighting designer, and recent UW MFA grad Andrea Bush (Book-It’s upcoming Cider House Rules, Washington Ensemble Theatre’s Robopop!) as set designer.

The production runs Tuesday-Sunday at 8pm. Tickets are $20 general admission.

Founded in 2003, CONTEMPORARY CLASSICS got its start fundraising through concerts and cabarets. Since producing their first Seattle premiere in 2005 (Andrew Lippa’s john & jen) they have produced Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, William Finn’s A New Brain, and Tim Acito’s Zanna, Don’t!, and eight editions of the popular New Voices songwriter showcase series. New work development includes the Showtune Suckapunch series has produced the world premiere readings of Over Seas and Razia’s Shadow, and The Songs of David A. Austin, featured songs from the author’s upcoming Broadway debut, Writing Arthur. The Contemporary Classics season continues with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Yellow Wood, [title of show] and Over Seas.