July 18–August 17, 2014 ES074 covers.indd 2 6/30/14 1:37 PM July-August 2014 Volume 10, No. 7 Mirabella. Paul Heppner The people you want to know: Publisher Smart, fun, active, accomplished, and socially engaged. Susan Peterson Design & Production Director Ana Alvira, Deb Choat, Robin Kessler, Kim Love Design and Production Artists Mike Hathaway Advertising Sales Director Marty Griswold, Seattle Sales Director Gwendolyn Fairbanks, Ann Manning, Lenore Waldron Seattle Area Account Executives Staci Hyatt, Marilyn Kallins, Tia Mignonne, Terri Reed San Francisco/Bay Area Account Executives Denise Wong Executive Sales Coordinator Jonathan Shipley Ad Services Coordinator www.encoreartsseattle.com Mirabella Paul Heppner Put yourself in Publisher Leah Baltus Editor-in-Chief the middle of it. Marty Griswold Sales Director Joey Chapman Account Executive Dan Paulus Art Director The place you want to be: Jonathan Zwickel Surrounded by luxury, in the center of Senior Editor Gemma Wilson the city where everything is happening. Associate Editor Amanda Manitach Visual Arts Editor Amanda Townsend Events Coordinator www.cityartsonline.com Paul Heppner President Mike Hathaway Vice President Erin Johnston Communications Manager Genay Genereux Accounting 2014 MB5690 Corporate Office 425 North 85th Street Seattle, WA 98103 p 206.443.0445 f 206.443.1246 [email protected] 800.308.2898 x105 A not-for-profit, resident-centered community www.encoremediagroup.com 206-254-1441 • 877-447-5658 Encore Arts Programs is published monthly by Encore Media Group to serve musical and theatrical events in Western Washington and the San Francisco Bay Area. All rights reserved. 116 Fairview Ave. N • Seattle, WA 98109 • www.retirement.org/mirabellaseattle ©2014 Encore Media Group. Reproduction without written permission is prohibited. 2 ENCORE STAGES EAP 2_3 V template.indd 1 6/20/14 3:37 PM ENCORE ARTS NEWS FROM CITY ARTS MAGAZINE Contrast and Smolder Molly Sides peels back layers of texture. BY AMANDA MANITACH WHO Molly Sides, the 25-year-old multidisciplinary artist from Ketchum, Idaho. Sides arrived in Seattle in 2006 to study dance at Cornish College of the Arts and since graduating has shared the stage with Northwest performance companies like tEEth, New Animals and Lingo. Recently Sides added curator to her resumé: She’s the brains behind Trigger. New Dance Happenings, a quarterly event that puts dancers in non-tradi- tional settings like Vermillion Gallery, Love City Love and the lobby at On the Boards. AND ROCKSTAR In her off time, Sides shreds the stage in knee- high, lace-up stilettos and spike-studded brassiere as the smol- dering voice of four-piece band Thunderpussy. “Thunderpussy is my love affair with rock ’n’ roll. I grew up singing in choir and musical theatre productions. I’m a feely-lovey person and I want to share an experience with you, not just show you.” AESTHETICS “I love red lipstick and velvet and [have] an obses- sion with shoes—particularly Fluevogs. I still like to think a pair of shoes makes an outfit. If I were born in a different era, it would have been during Prohibition. You know, put together classy on the outside with layers of lace, silk, velvet and fringe underneath. I like layers and the peeling away of them.” ICONS Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Every character in every Bernardo Bertolucci film. Every character in every Wes Anderson film. Stevie Nicks, Karen O. Probably every character Cate Blanchett has ever played. LAUREN MAX encoreartsseattle.com 3 CONTENTS July 18–August 17, 2014 An Evening of One Acts A1 A-1 Title Page A-2 Kurt Beattie’s Welcome Letter A-3 Up Next at ACT A-4 An Evening of One Acts Cast Lists A-5 Director’s Note A-6 About the Plays A-8 Who’s Who in An Evening of One Acts A-10 ACT Partners A-16 ACT Board & Staff ES074 covers.indd 2 6/30/14 1:37 PM ENCORE ARTS NEWS FROM CITY ARTS MAGAZINE English from video games, from titles like Final Fantasy and Disciples. They The Most had stories, man! And movies—I loved Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Terminator 2, Predator. But I only started questioning my life in Dhaka after I left it, and especially when I started school at Stanford. That’s when I began to feel badly about myself. But really, I was just feeling the pain of cultural Pure Thing change. Zubair Ahmed is a Did you start writing during that transition? Boeing engineer and Poetry helped me transition. I wrote a lot because I was very depressed. I had fallen in love with a girl who I knew I’d never get. Common story. So at poet whose verse that time I did a lot of thinking and writing in English. I had a Xanga [a type tackles deracination of blog], and I wrote a lot in there. It wasn’t all about her. I would make up and loneliness with the stories. I remember one about a man who planted an apple tree. The apple tree grew, but it never made apples. He took care of it for his whole life and buoyancy of a quieter, then he died, but the tree never made apples. tinier Whitman. Did any of that writing turn into poetry? ZUBAIR AHMED was raised in No. Poetry was completely separate. Poetry is the most pure thing in my life. Dhaka, Bangladesh, and moved I don’t take care of it. I don’t think about it. I have no idea how to relate to to Texas when he was 17. He it. I just love it. It’s there. I exist with it. I don’t put any thought into it. None. attended Stanford, where his passion for science and poetry bloomed. Now Poetry is like my right arm. I never wake up in the morning and say, “I’m so a mechanical engineer at Boeing, he lives in Seattle where he continues grateful I have a right arm!” I just feel like I’m supposed to have it. to write. Ahmed’s poetry, like his personality, brims with earnestness and generosity of spirit. His chapbook Ashulia (Tavern Books) and his full-length Are you working on a new book? collection, City of Rivers (McSweeney’s), released earlier this year, reveal I am! I’m working on my third book. The working title is Pink Stone Axe. a poet who approaches life’s darknesses with wide-eyed curiosity and It’s about not being able to find meaning in life. I’m thinking about all this acceptance: “It starts to rain / So I shoot down a cloud. / We take it back to because my best friend died last year while having his wisdom tooth Mom / Who kisses our ears and pokes our eyes— / She does that.” removed. When I found out, my first instinct was to text him! His death was We caught up with him to talk about life in Dhaka, his new book and the a blow. He was the only man I’ve made a 60-year plan with. educational potential of Terminator 2. RICH SMITH Do you see a connection between engineering and poetry? You claim that your family was one of the poorest in Bangladesh. To Poetry is the hunt for truth, and engineering helps with that because what extent did you experience any hardship? engineering is pretty reasonable. But poetry is a hunt for truth in the realm of Hardship is a mindset. You can either be sad about being poor or you can emotions. It’s as not-science as you can possibly get. So when you combine be happy with what you have. Our family was the latter. I was always around the two worlds, you see a bigger picture—and everything fits into that my cousins. I was always playing video games. In fact, I learned most of my picture. Loneliness too. SHANNON PERRY SHANNON 4 ENCORE STAGES Kurt Beattie Carlo Scandiuzzi Artistic Director Executive Director ACT – A Contemporary Theatre presents Beginning July 18, 2014 • Opening Night July 24, 2014 COMPANY Eric Ray Anderson* Quinn Armstrong Chris Ensweiler* David Foubert* Hana Lass* Jessica Skerritt* CREATIVE TEAM R. Hamilton Wright Director Martin Christoffel Scenic Designer Melanie Taylor Burgess Costume Designer Rick Paulsen Lighting Designer Brendan Patrick Hogan Sound Designer Erin B. Zatloka* Stage Manager Geoffrey Alm Fight Director Ruth Eitemiller Production Assistant Kent Cubbage Assistant Lighting Designer Running Time: This performance runs approximately two hours. There will be one 15-minute intermission between the final two plays. *Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Patter for the Floating Lady, Riverside Drive, and The Unseen Hand are presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any means whatsoever are strictly prohibited. PRODUCTION SPONSOR: THEATRE AND SEASON SPONSORS: A Contemporary Theatre Foundation Katharyn Alvord Gerlich, Eulalie M. & Gian-Carlo Scandiuzzi, Nancy Alvord, Betty Bottler, Gregory & Diane Lind, Chuck Sitkin, Chap & Eve Alvord Audience members are cordially reminded to silence all electronic devices. Please do not walk on the stage before, during, or after the show. Patrons wearing Google Glass must power down the device if wearing them in the theatre. encoreartsprograms.com A-1 Welcome to ACT Kurt Beattie I’ve always loved one-act plays, particularly in evenings The poet Richard Hugo came up with a wonderful which include the works of different authors. Delightful title for one of his poems: “What Thou Lovest Well pieces have been generated in the form since antiquity. Remains American.” The title is a spin on an Ezra Pound With such a vast treasure chest of works to choose line.