The Northwest Playwright Alliance's Third International Tour Opens in Seattle January 9 with a one-night only date at New City Theater prior to a tour of the Northwest, NYC, England and Japan. Come join us for the premiere of this program of six short plays by NPA members, directed by Rich Brown. The plays include:

Tads, by Eva Suter

Johnny Elgam and the Newport Kid, by Aaron Shay

Poor Shem, Gregory Hischak

Scent of Man, By Soloman Olmstead

The Square, by Michael Wallace

The Lazy Beauty, by Bryan Willis

Shows are this Saturday, January 9, at 7:00 and 9:00 pm (the 2 pm matinee is already sold out!)

New City Theater: 1404 18th Ave. Seattle, WA 98122

Tickets: $15, via brownpapertickets or cash at the door

special thanks to John Kazanjian. Co-sponsored by New City Theater and Western Washington University.

Also coming up, Tuesday January 19 we have our:

MONTHLY READING SERIES

Presented by NPA & Seattle Repertory Theater

In the Poncho Forum – Seattle Rep – 155 Mercer St

(please use main entrance)

Memory Fragments

by Sam Wallin

Directed by the Rep’s Associate Artistic Director Braden Abraham (Opus by Michael Hollinger, Breakin’ Hearts and Takin’ Names by Kevin Kling and Simone Perrin, Betrayal by Harold Pinter, and My Name is Rachel Corrie by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner).

About the playwright: Sam Wallin is a librarian and playwright living in Vancouver, WA. He is married, has two kids, works full time, writes in his spare time, and in general lives a life most people only dream about.

History of the play: Sam wrote "Memory Fragments" in April of 2008 as a participant of "Script Frenzy" - a challenge for playwrights to write a full-length play in one month. A year later, it was the winner of the prestigious Stanley Drama Award, which gave Sam the opportunity to go to New York and hear the play read aloud for the first time. Some months and an extensive revision later, here it is for your pleasure!

Play synopsis for "Memory Fragments" : In the not-so-distant future, people will have the ability to record their memories in 3-D and either watch from the outside or directly experience those memories later, with the aid of computers. Most of these memories would be of no interest to anyone whatsoever, like slide shows or home movies - unless there is a murder. Then, detectives comb the recorded memories for clues to the murder. When a John Doe washes up on the banks of the river with his head blown off and most of his memories corroded, Detective James Cloud is called in examine the fragments of memory left behind. In spite of mounting dangers, he follows the trail through virtual meetings, psychiatric sessions and recorded reports, while the stability of the global capitalist plutocracy hangs in the balance.

Tues. January 19 @ 7 p.m.

Free Admission.