SEPTEMBER 2014 Sep 5–28

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Season The Great Society was developed, in part, with assistance Jack Willis in All the Way. Marty Griswold Sponsor from The Orchard Project, a program of The Exchange Photo by Jenny Graham. Associate Publisher Leah Baltus Editor-in-Chief SRT 080414 society 1_3s.pdf Dan Paulus Art Director CONCERT MONDAY, Jonathan Zwickel SELLS OUT Senior Editor QUICKLY, SO GET DeceMber 1, Gemma Wilson YOUR TICKETS Associate Editor EARLY! 7:30 p.M., Amanda Manitach Visual Arts Editor MccAw HAll, Amanda Townsend SeAttle ceNter Events Coordinator www.cityartsonline.com

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2 ENCORE STAGES ENCORE ARTS NEWS FROM CITY ARTS MAGAZINE

Splendor in the Grass “Blood Ensemble’s process is really organic. The land is really what drove this produc- tion—someone would bring in an image or a scene and go to a part of the property and show the rest of the ensemble. This tree in particular was very inspiring. It reaches into the sky, protective but silent. The ability to walk toward a lit barn at sunset is an amazing asset. Why should theatre stay in theatres? As long as you have artists and an audience, you have a show.” —Emily Harvey, co-director of Blood Ensemble’s Barn Show, a site- specific theatre piece built around a 100-year-old barn in Marysville, Wash., and the (fictional) family that built it (seen here). The show spans a hundred years and several generations, from first loves to last breaths.

SEE MORE PHOTOS AT cityartsonline.com/barnshow MIGUEL EDWARDS MIGUEL

encoreartsseattle.com 3 CONTENTS

SEPTEMBER 2014 Sep 5–28

The Invisible Hand A1

A-1 Title Page A-2 Welcome to ACT A-3 Up Next at ACT A-4 An Interview with Ayad Akhtar A-8 Who’s Who A-10 ACT Partners A-16 ACT Board & Staff

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ENCORE ARTS NEWS FROM CITY ARTS MAGAZINE

THREE YEARS AGO, Phoenix native and Whitman College grad Ben Hunter, now 29, started Community Arts Create, a nonprofit that offers folk-music classes and a mural program and runs the Columbia City Art Walk, among other things. For years CAC operated without a home base, until seven months ago when Hunter and his volunteer cohort opened the Hillman City Collaboratory, a multi-purpose arts and co-working space on the corner of Rainier Ave. S and S Orcas St. Now a new arts hub is taking root there. LEAH BALTUS

How did CAC start? It started with the Columbia City Art Walk, which provided this really good foundation for meeting people, for having the conversations that eventually led to where we are now. For example, Taste International, our culinary arts program, was a vendor for the Art Walk at first.

How did you find your way to community work? I stumbled upon a job at the [arts education] nonprofit Arts in Motion about six years ago as a violin teacher. But not everybody wants to be a musician. For me, the idea isn’t to create an army of performing artists, but Keeping an army of artists generally. People who are imaginative and want to use their creativity for whatever they want to get into.

How did you identify Columbia City as the place where you wanted to Tradition Alive work? When I first came to Columbia City for Arts in Motion, I remember walking around and everything was so different. I see black people—regularly. People of Fiddler, violinist and teacher color. And people say hi on the streets. The rest of Seattle is so different. Not just culturally—economically, development-wise. People in South Ben Hunter forges an arts hub Seattle need to own South Seattle. We need to build up this community the way this community wants to build it up and not at the hands of in South Seattle’s Hillman City. developers who have no intention to keep the cultural traditions alive in

this neighborhood. PERRY SHANNON

4 ENCORE STAGES ENCORE ARTS NEWS

What’s it’s like now that you have the 8000 25th Avenue NE • Seattle Collaboratory? www.universityprep.org This space has been a big step for us. In the Have you discovered your potential? seven months we’ve been open, I’ve developed University Prep is an independent school relationships with people on a whole new level serving grades six through twelve. because people can come in and just talk. It’s Our program takes students on a collaborative journey of learning in a diverse and inclusive been really enlightening. I can ask questions community. Our alumni span the globe, and listen to what people from all backgrounds fulfilling their dreams in professions that range have to say, what they see, what they’re hoping from chef, to professor, engineer, to see. A lot of people have ideas about what physicist, and musician... they want this place to become and a lot of Come visit University Prep and people want to talk about what once was. Discover the Puma in You! One of the first guys I met in this For information, call 206.523.6407 neighborhood, Joe, sweeps the sidewalk pretty much every day. He works at the mortuary down the street. He’s got an interesting perspective because he sees the kids that get shot and killed; he works on them. He’s lived here for a really long time and he’ll come in to get coffee. He’s a beautiful piano player. Northwest Art Alliance presents Fall 2014 Art and Fine Craft Show “A lot of people have ideas about what they want this place to become and a lot of people want to talk about what once was.”

Back Street Bazaar just got started and it kicked ass. We had a 10-piece brass band, we had three chefs here cooking and giving out food. There was a guy who came who a lot of art by Dennis Brady people would probably consider a thug. He just saw this place, walked in and was like, this is A Two Act Show: cool. No one needs to know who I am or what I do. I can just come in here and be. On a Thursday or Friday night, I usually cook October 24 - 26 & November 14 - 16 some food and suggest a donation. It’s bring- your-own-beer, like a living room concert, which goes back to the whole idea of folk in the first place. We’ve done three months of installations Hangar 30 • Magnuson Park • nwartalliance.com in our art gallery. And there’s a community garden out back, too.

How does your love of folk music connect to the Collaboratory? Benaroya Hall, the S. Mark Taper Folk music is a tradition. It’s this idea that you Foundation Auditorium pass down something from one generation to Benefiting Ballard NW the next or one family to the next. From some person to some other person, you’re telling a Senior Center & story. Maybe retelling exactly how it was told Senior Center of West Seattle to you, maybe reinterpreting that story and tickets: changing some of the storylines. America’s music and arts scenes lost that connection online at BenaroyaHall.org, by phone with the people before us and we’ve lost our 206.215.4747 or 1.866.833.4747 (toll free) responsibility to pass that down to the next in person at The Benaroya Hall Ticket Office at generation. There’re a lot of musicians and the corner of Third Avenue & Union Street, open there’s a lot of artists in our culture. Who are Mon-Fri, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. they learning from and who are they teaching?

Back Street Bazaar takes place the first Sunday of every month at the Collaboratory.

encoreartsseattle.com 5 EAP 1_6 H template.indd 1 8/18/14 11:10 AM ad proofs.indd 1 8/15/14 1:35 PM LAUREN MAX BY AMANDA MANITACH BY AMANDA starrock uniform. the upgrades Eric Howk Summer Never ENCORE ARTS NEWS ENCORE ARTS

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- ENCORE ARTS NEWS

Art Project Funds Environmental a common sense Restoration Art trio SuttonBeresCuller is selling canned dirt in Ann Hamilton its new show at Greg Kucera Gallery, but this isn’t an aesthetic gambit about art-world commodi- Henry Art Gallery fication or an effort to exalt the commonplace. 10/11/14 – 4/26/15 Each of the 1,354 cans they produced for the show contains 19 ounces of contaminated soil collected from the site of their Mini Mart City Park project, an abandoned Georgetown gas station. Sales go

atural History toward restoring the property. n SBC leased the gas station at 6525 Ellis Ave. in 2008 with plans to convert it into a pocket park and a temporary installation. But in the process of getting permits, environmental assessments revealed high levels of pesticides, gas and diesel from the former filling station and noxious chemi- cals from a dry cleaning business that once oper- ated there. (Boeing stored fuel there in the 1940s, too.) After studies by the Department of Ecology produced alarming results, the Environmental Protection Agency got involved, debating whether to expand the Duwamish Superfund site to in-

G clude the property. “We have a stack of reports nine inches tall,” rt.or

A Zac Culler says. “This was all we worked on for a solid eight months. We weren’t making art at that enry

H point, just dealing with bureaucracy.” Nevertheless, last year the trio doubled down, buying the land in order to proceed with the arduous cleanup required to secure a Certificate of

Ann Hamilton. Digital scan of a specimen from University of Washington’s Burke Museum of Museum Burke of Washington’s University of a specimen from Digital scan Hamilton. Ann of the artist. Courtesy Collection. Mammal and Culture Occupancy and enable them to use the site for ex- hibitions, performances and events. The purchase was made with support from numerous organiza- HAG 080414 hamilton 1_3s.pdf tions, including 4Culture, Creative Capital, the Georgetown Community Council and the King County Brownfields Program. Full remediation would mean removing all the soil around the building to a depth of 20 feet and trucking it to a dump in Eastern Oregon. “We deemed that ridiculous and wasteful, using tons of time and even more petroleum just to move it somewhere else,” Ben Beres says. Instead they began canning the dirt to sell as a means of funding the cleanup. After years of work yielding little more than reams of red tape, the By Samuel Beckett project finally entered the sculptural realm. SBC’s smartly packaged tins echo the canned Directed by George Mount feces in Piero Manzoni’s 1961 work Artist’s Shit and Warhol’s deadpan reproductions of supermar- ket packaging. The “Nutrition Facts” list an array of toxins such as arsenic, lead and nitrobenzene, followed by a warning in jaunty retro fonts: Do Not Open! or Not Non Toxic. The “Serving Size”: 5,341,878 ounces. That’s how much polluted dirt they’ll have to sell to rehabilitate the site. Theoretically, the cans are a limited edition. Purchasing a can of the tainted dirt is a symbol- ic and concrete means of collectively shouldering the burden left by past generations. If sales end up fully funding the recovery, this process could be a model for future public art/land reclamation projects. “The parameters dictate the process,” John Sutton says. “That happens a lot in everything we do. This one is just very slow and bureaucratic.” September 3–21, 2014 | www.seattleshakespeare.org BRETT HAMIL You knew it was wrong…but you did it anyway runs from Sept. 5 to Nov. 1 at Greg Kucera Gallery.

8 ENCORE STAGES Kurt Beattie Carlo Scandiuzzi Artistic Director Executive Director ACT – A Contemporary Theatre presents

Beginning September 5, 2014 • Opening Night September 11, 2014

CAST Elijah Alexander* Bashir Erwin Galán Dar William Ontiveros* Imam Saleem Connor Toms* Nick Bright

CREATIVE TEAM Allen Nause Director Matthew Smucker Scenic Designer Rose Pederson Costume Designer Kristeen Willis Crosser Lighting Designer Brendan Patrick Hogan Sound Designer JR Welden* Stage Manager Geoffrey Alm Fight Director Marianna de Fazio Dialect Coach Agastya Kohli Language Coach Becca Rowlett Production Assistant Marcella Barbeau Assistant Lighting Designer

Running Time: This performance runs approximately two hours. There will be one 15-minute intermission.

*Members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Originally Produced by THE REPERTORY THEATRE OF ST. LOUIS Steven Woolf, Artistic Director Mark Bernstein, Managing Director

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, Brian Turner & Susan Hoffman

Audience members are cordially reminded to silence all electronic devices. All forms of photography and the use of recording devices are strictly prohibited. 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 A Note from Director to ACT Allen Nause

ACT has always been committed A few years ago I read an early draft to new art and artists. And there of Ayad Akhtar’s play The Invisible is no more exciting arrival on the Hand and immediately fell in love national theatrical scene than Ayad with its surprising story, compelling Akhtar, one of our most talented characters and universal themes. I new playwrights. American by knew immediately that I had to direct birth, American-Pakistani in it—I couldn’t get it out of my head! It heritage, his novels and plays had me pondering and questioning articulate with remarkable clarity my politics, patriotism, belief system, Kurt Beattie Allen Nause and power the current pressure relationships—the very core of who points in America’s shifting cultural identity, and how I am as a person, artist, friend, husband, parent, and citizen of those vacillations have influenced the complexity of the this planet. Isn’t that what great art should do? I’m thrilled to relations America currently has with the rest of the world— be back at ACT to direct this extraordinary play by one of the particularly, in this play, with its longtime ally, Pakistan. most distinctive new voices in American theatre. The “invisible hand” of Akhtar’s title refers to Adam Smith’s idea that the market is self-correcting, governed by a “Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls law as inevitable as the laws of physics, and, sooner or later, the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can if society allows the individual to act unfettered in his own control the world.” -HENRY KISSINGER self-interest, this will eventually work out to the good of all. But if nations, like individuals, drive their behavior only “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a -ABRAHAM LINCOLN through “self interest,” and encourage others to think that man’s character, give him power.” way, what might be the ultimate outcome? “The adoption of Western economic theory and practice will not Director Allen Nause has worked in Pakistan many help us in achieving our goal of creating a happy and contented times, and describes it as a society full of great and gifted people. We must work our destiny in our own way and present to people, but also a place where no one pays taxes, a middle the world an economic system based on the true Islamic concept of class is virtually nonexistent, and the rest of the country equality of manhood and social justice.” -MUHAMMAD ALI JINNAH is divided economically between a tiny group of very rich people, and millions who live in poverty. Compounding “The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when these stresses are religious and tribal strife and an they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than ambiguously aligned military armed with nuclear weapons. is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. America’s own internally fraught political conversation Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from only makes things more difficult when it comes to deciding any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct how the two countries should relate with one another. economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, What moral standard should be adhered to in this case? Or are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few even cared about? Euripides, the great ancient playwright, years back.” -JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES says that there is one Goddess who rules all the others, even Zeus: Necessity. Should that ultimately govern our “Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is relationship? Should it be a matter of simply maximizing wrong, and which course is patriotic and what isn’t. You cannot our economic and political power and opportunities? shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to All this and more lives in Ayad Ahktar’s remarkable play, be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to -MARK TWAIN and I cannot be more grateful that ACT has the chance to your country, let men label you as they may.” produce it as his Seattle debut. Thank you for coming and “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some listening. coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” -1 TIMOTHY 6:10

“So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever Kurt Beattie, Artistic Director asked what is the root of all money?” -AYN RAND

A-2 ACT THEATRE COMING SOON TO ACT THEATRE

Oct 17–Nov 16

A dysfunctional family reunion you won’t soon forget.

Waiting for Godot Don Quixote & Sancho Panza: Sep 4-21 Homeless in Seattle Two vagabonds struggle to make sense of their Sep 10-28 predicament in an absurd world. Part of the Seattle A humorous adaptation of Don Quixote set in Beckett Fest with Seattle Shakespeare Company. modern-day Seattle depicting the friendship of two homeless Latinos. ©Stephanie Mallard©Stephanie Couch Sandbox Radio LIVE! The Beauty of Noh: Sep 8 Tomoe + Yoshinaka Go “behind the speaker” of a radio show and watch the recording happen. This fall, Sandbox Radio takes Sep 26-28 you “Back to School” with an all-new episode. A rare opportunity to see Munenori Takeda performing a love story from Japan’s epic, The Tale of the Heike, with a full Noh troupe. ©Truman Buffet ©Truman Represent! Endangered Species Project A Multicultural Playwrights Festival Oct 6 Oct 1-5 Join Seattle theatre artists as they give voice to The Hansberry Project with eSe Teatro, SIS, and the characters that sit silent on your bookshelves. Pratidhwani present a festival of new work by October features Waiting in the Wings by playwrights of color. Noël Coward. © Jimmy Malecki acttheatre.org | (206) 292-7676 | 700 Union Street, Seattle $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ INVISIBLE HAND

“Every individual necessarily labours to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it ... He intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to AN INTERVIEW WITH promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse AYAD AKHTAR for society that it was no part of his intention. By A conversation between pursuing his own interest playwright Ayad Akhtar he frequently promotes and Anita Montgomery that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. Literary Manager, Director of Education I have never known much good done by those who AM: I read that you grew up in AA: I think as a kid it probably made me affected to trade for the Milwaukee and that yours was one of the run toward it, in a way, because there public good.” only Muslim families in your community. was a recognition that in some way I was different. The way I came to formulate and Economist Adam Smith in his AA: On the west side, in the suburbs, understand what that difference meant was 1776 book, An Inquiry into yeah. When we moved there, I don’t the Nature and Causes of through religion. And that the difference believe there was anybody else, as far as I the Wealth of Nations. was not necessarily a bad thing, that in its know. We certainly didn’t meet anybody. own way it was good because my religion We were the first. was good. I think something that you see in a lot of young, early pre-pubescents is AM: Did that cause you to run toward or a kind of flowering of the devotional, of a $$$$$$$$$$$$$ away from your religious identity as a child? $$$$$$$$$$$$$A-4 ACT THEATRE $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ preoccupation that seems to either pre- AM: You’ve referred to yourself as a figure or coincide with the development— cultural Muslim, is that what you mean?$$$$$$$$$$$$$ the hormonal changes—that are happening AA: in the body. I went through a very strong Well, no, I think what I mean interest in the Quran and in tradition, to when I say that is… You know, a lot of HIGH the confusion of my parents, who were not Muslims and non-Muslims wonder: particularly religious at all, in any way. I “Well, so, do you pray five times a day? FREQUENCY had to seek that information out elsewhere Do you do the fast thing? Do you do TRADING because they didn’t really care or know this? Do you do that?” and whatever, and at the end of the day: no. My much about it. The use of technology childhood faith, my literalist belief in and computer algorithms AM: Did your parents take you to the the childhood version of my faith died to trade securities at mosque? in my late adolescence. And with that died any pretension of exclusivity on the the rate of seconds or AA: Sometimes. I had to pester my dad. It truth. It came to feel increasingly absurd fractions of a second, didn’t happen very often. Sometimes my dad to me that who you were born to and often made for fractions would go and sit with me, but he couldn’t what part of the planet you were born to of a penny, but at an tolerate any of the stuff that was being said. somehow was responsible for your so- incredibly high volume. But I really think that the attention to the called “salvation.” It just seemed patently At any one time, it is likely living word spoken in public, which, to me, absurd. I went through that traditional that 50% of all trades are is what theatre is, began there with my rapt awakening from the slumber of made by high-frequency attention to whatever was being said to childhood faith, if you will, that so many traders in United States this group of people. There’s a pageantry, thinking individuals go through. And I equity markets. a theatricality to it, and, interestingly was a militant agnostic for some years enough, in Muslim tradition there’s a kind of in college. And then, on the other side soberness to that. I think that also informs of that, my essential devotional nature my aesthetic. There is some very deep source re-emerged. But this time it emerged of what my own sense of theatricality is in a non-denominational form and the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ about that goes back to my experiences as a practice of particular rites and rituals young boy in the mosque. was not meaningful to me because it $$$$$$$$$$$$$ was not about my experience, it was AM: Did you find with your friends as a really more about the performance of young person that this somehow separated $$$$$$$$$$$$$ those things. you, or did you feel there was a place you could put your faith and then there was AM: It sounds as though you’re still a $$$$$$$$$$$$$ your other life? How did you incorporate deeply religious person. the two? AA: I do consider myself a very religious $$$$$$$$$$$$$ AA: My experience was that it brought person, actually, but I have my own me closer to others. I understood what relationship to it. It’s not about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ kids were doing when they were going prophet, or what language you speak away on retreats with the Catholic Church when you speak to the Lord. I’m not or Lutheran Church or when kids were $$$$$$$$$$$$$ disavowing my Islamic origins and the talking about Sunday school. It was a shared way in which it has been an important universe. In Islam and Christianity there are foundation for my life. I consider $$$$$$$$$$$$$ a lot of figures that overlap. But there was myself to be part of the community. But something about the devotional mindset of Muslims will sometimes write to me $$$$$$$$$$$$$ religion being important. There’s a love of a and say: “You know, you’re a wonderful kind that shows up in my book, American writer, why don’t you write something Dervish—that very pure love of whatever that makes people want to become $$$$$$$$$$$$$ the mystery is that the divine stands in for— Muslims.” And I don’t even know how that was always first and foremost with me. to begin talking or explaining to them $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ encoreartsprograms.com A-5 $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ that my fidelity is not to the Quran, my AA: In college I started acting. I had $$$$$$$$$$$$$ fidelity is to the truth. The practice of a friend who was a director and he questioning the truth—that’s the only made me audition for a play, and it $$$$$$$$$$$$$ religion that I have at this point. turned out I had a knack for it. I got really interested in Jerzy Grotowski and AM: The characters in your plays and in Andre Gregory after seeing My Dinner $$$$$$$$$$$$$ American Dervish really struggle with with Andre. Then I found myself, crazily attempting to reconcile contemporary life enough, working with Grotowski as his $$$$$$$$$$$$$ with traditional Islamic culture. Do you assistant for a year right out of college. find this a fairly common experience for Then came back to New York and $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Muslims in America? started working with Andre Gregory! I was just very fortunate to meet these AA: I think it’s a fairly common very, very central, pivotal people along experience for Muslims around the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ the path. I always knew I would write world, actually. I think that the advent a play someday, but I was gathering of modernity has been the big question kindling and the igniting spark hadn’t $$$$$$$$$$$$$ in the Muslim world for well near a come along yet. And then it did, and hundred years. I think every immigrant I was in my very late thirties at that community, whether they’re defined point. I wrote drafts of four plays back– by their faith or by their national BLACK- to–back in somewhere between eight identity, goes through this process of SHOLES and ten months. The Invisible Hand wrestling with what to hold on to and was the second one. Disgraced was MODEL what to leave behind. And I think that the first. ThenThe Who and the What. can become all the more pungent for a And then a fourth play which I don’t A model of price variation community when the issues are not just really show anybody, or I haven’t shown over time, regarded as about national identity but they really anybody yet. one of the best ways to do touch more on a question of faith. determine fair prices for I’m expressing them in the idiom of the AM: Do you see these plays as a kind of options. When applied to community I grew up in, which is the progression? a stock option, this model Muslim community. AA: incorporates the constant Absolutely. You can actually see AM: What drew you to the theatre and price variation of the stock, American Dervish, Disgraced, The Who then to writing for the theatre? and the What, and The Invisible Hand the time value of money, the all as movements, parts of the same option’s strike price, and the AA: Up until high school there’d always gesture. And I have three more works time to the option’s expiry. been an assumption that I would just that come from this vein of inspiration. become a doctor. Both my parents So when I finally get through them it’ll are doctors. But I had a teacher when be seven pieces. I think it’s gonna be I was fifteen who really changed my three books, three plays, and a film. But life when she exposed me to literature $$$$$$$$$$$$$ that will be the body of work that sort and made me read all kinds of stuff. of tries to give voice to this question of She got me reading plays. I spent two Western identity and Muslim identity $$$$$$$$$$$$$ years reading everything on her shelf, for people who are living here. and I got fascinated with the theatre. $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Something about it felt natural. I feel AM: Who do you write for? like I’ve always been sensitive to certain Who’s your audience? kinds of aesthetic principles or aesthetic $$$$$$$$$$$$$ AA: experiences that seem to lend themselves My audience is…it’s a very simple to theatre. thing. I think that as a narrative artist, $$$$$$$$$$$$$ the way that I articulate this simple AM: And then you really dove into the sense of being human is…When an $$$$$$$$$$$$$ theatre in college? audience begins to sense that they’re $$$$$$$$$$$$$A-6 ACT THEATRE $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ “Power and as a species. So, to me the play is set in the financial world that deals with $$$$$$$$$$$$$ the second generation immigrant money are community—Pakistani, Muslim an important immigrant community—and somebody BEARS, who grows up to make a tremendous American amount of money in the world of finance BULLS, and lives out that sort of American & PIGS obsession.” paradigm of self-made. But it turns out that this very new American Bear Market: a market being told a story there is a kind of a phenomenon of widespread cheating condition in which the waking up that happens, a very simple to get ahead is part and parcel of what prices of securities are kind of ‘Oh, what’s gonna happen next?’ is actually behind this guy’s lies. That’s falling, and widespread an important issue. Power and money feeling. And that feeling is very similar pessimism causes the to the feeling that I think children have are an important American obsession. negative sentiment to be when they’re hearing a story. It’s very You go back to de Tocqueville and see self-sustaining. clear when a child gets bored that he that that’s at the heart of whatever our or she has lost confidence that what national identity really is. And, so being Bull Market: a financial happens next is interesting, or is going interested in that is just, I think, de market in which prices to be delivered, or is plausible. So rigueur for somebody who’s interested in there’s a sacred trust built on a narrative understanding America. are rising or are expected bond between the audience and the to rise. Most often used AM: I think that a lot of people do not writer and the artist. It’s something I in reference to the stock understand the market in this country. can track in myself by seeing if I am market, but can be used for paying attention. And, so, in a way, AA: It’s true, and I think that I’m an anything that is traded. I’m writing with an almost child-like artist who definitely takes very seriously openness in myself to the question of: that dictum in Horace’s “Ars Poetica,” “Bears” & “Bulls” are Do I care what happens next? that the purpose of art is to delight as investors whose strategies well as to instruct. You see this now are based on these AM: The Invisible Hand is certainly your with cable TV, where you have these respective viewpoints of most overtly political play. You wrote a long-form series that are often set in novel—or worked on one for about seven pessimism and optimism these interesting worlds and part of years—about a poet working at Goldman about the market. the pleasure of the series is seeing and Sachs. You’ve had a long-time fascination understanding and learning about a with Wall Street and the effects of the Chickens & Pigs: “Chickens” whole swathe of American activity. It market. are afraid to lose anything, isn’t about anything didactic. It’s about and avoid all risk in the AA: opening horizons of consciousness Absolutely. As somebody who market; “Pigs” are high-risk wishes to sort of understand the world for the audience, which is what art is investors who are looking better, I think that, in our day and ultimately supposed to do. And I think it for the most money in the age, not to understand how deeply scares a lot of writers to do that, because shortest period of time, often finance has informed and defined our there’s a prevailing prejudice against without doing their research. relationships is to miss an important being perceived as somehow didactic. part of what it means to be alive right You know? But audiences love to learn now, in this civilization. I have various new things. And if you can do it in a “Bears make money, bulls zones of obsession and interest: delightful way, it leads to some very, make money, pigs get finance has been one of them. And all very, profoundly satisfying theatrical slaughtered.” of these are just modalities of trying experiences. to understand what it means to be human at this particular moment in Read more of the interview online at our evolution or being as a civilization, acttheatre.org/TheInvisibleHand. $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ encoreartsprograms.com A-7 $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Who's Who in The Invisible Hand Elijah Alexander Director of The Pioneer Square Theater and Allen Nause (Bashir) recently Seattle’s Group Theatre. His credits include (Director) is a played Macbeth in Geraldo in Death and the Maiden at Resident Artist at Macbeth at A Noise Portland Rep, Grumio in The Taming of the Artists Repertory Within in LA, where Shrew at The Old Globe Theatre, Dr. Cauis Theatre where he he also played the in The Merry Wives of Windsor at Seattle previously served as title role in Don Juan. Rep, Tito in Lend Me a Tenor at Tacoma Artistic Director for He has also appeared in Broadway’s Actors Guild, and Mickey in The Normal 25 years. Besides directing over 75 Metamorphoses and in the Brooklyn Heart at Pioneer Square Theater. His film productions for Artists Rep, Allen directed Academy of Music’s Throne of Blood. and television credits include Harry and the at many professional theaters throughout Regionally, he has been involved with Hendersons, McGyver, 21 Jump Street, the Northwest. Allen has also acted productions for Denver Center, Berkeley Twice in a Lifetime, and Knots Landing. nationally and internationally. Regionally, Rep, Yale Rep, Old Globe, Pasadena William is a proud member of I.A.T.S.E. he has acted at the Oregon Shakespeare Playhouse, Great Barrington Stage, Local 134 in San Jose, California. Festival, Portland Center Stage, Artists Southcoast Rep, Geva, Syracuse Stage, and Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory the Santa Fe Shakespeare Festival. Elijah Connor Toms (Nick Theatre, ACT, Intiman Theatre, and many has also been a company member at The Bright) was last seen others. In 2000, Allen traveled to Vietnam Oregon Shakespeare Festival (three at ACT Theatre in and co-directed a bilingual, bicultural seasons), The Utah Shakespeare Festival Sarah Ruhl’s In the production of A Midsummer Night’s (four seasons), and The California Next Room, or the Dream and a Vietnamese production of A Shakespeare Festival. In film and television, vibrator play. He has Glass Menagerie as part of the Vietnam/ he has appeared in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, also worked at The America Theater Exchange. In May 2007, Amazing Love, Touch, Awake, Emily’s Seattle Rep, Intiman, Arizona Theater Allen directed All My Sons with the Reasons Why Not, JAG, Summerland, So Company, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Palestinian National Theater in Jerusalem Notorious, and Guiding Light. Elijah is a Book-It Repertory, Seattle Children’s as a Cultural Envoy with the US Dept. of graduate of the Yale School of Drama and Theater, New Century Theater Company, State. In 2010, Allen directed The Odd is a Fox Fellowship recipient. Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and many more. Couple in Islamabad, Pakistan, also as a He recently turned his wife, Hana Lass, into Cultural Envoy. Allen has also appeared in Erwin Galán (Dar) a Trekkie, and has absolutely no regrets. feature films and on national television. In was most recently 2003 Allen was the recipient of the Ayad Akhtar seen as Mourad in Oregon Governor’s Arts Award. Impenetrable at (Playwright) Akhtar’s West of Lenin and as plays include Matthew Smucker (Scenic Designer) is Musa in Bengal Tiger Disgraced (LCT3/ pleased to return to ACT, where previous at the Baghdad Zoo Lincoln Center designs include Sugar Daddies; Rapture at Washington Ensemble Theatre. Theater, 2013 Blister Burn; Grey Gardens; Ramayana; Previously, he was Oedipus in Oedipus el Pulitzer Prize for First Date; In the Next Room, or the Rey and Mr. Five in The Adding Machine, Drama and 2013 Obie Award for vibrator play; Vanities; The Prisoner of both part of The Central Heating Lab. The Extraordinary Achievement), The Who & Second Avenue; Yankee Tavern; The Trip latter three all won Seattle Times Footlight The What (LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater to Bountiful; Rock ’n’ Roll; Below the Awards. He has also been in a dozen and La Jolla Playhouse), and The Invisible Belt; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Eurydice; films, including the SIFF featuresMan-Chu Hand (The Repertory Theater of St. Louis). The Clean House; The Women; and (Late Autumn) and Shadowed. He’d like Also a novelist, Akhtar is the author of The Pillowman. Smucker’s work has to thank his adopted parents for their American Dervish, published in 2012 by appeared at The 5th Avenue Theatre (Elf; ongoing guidance and support, and you Little, Brown and Company, published in Oklahoma!; Candide), Seattle Repertory for being part of the vibrancy here at ACT. 20 languages worldwide. He co-wrote Theatre (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; and starred in The War Within (Magnolia Or; Circle Mirror Transformation; Speech William Ontiveros Pictures), which was released & Debate; Three Tall Women), Intiman, (Imam Saleem) was internationally and nominated for an SCT, Village Theatre, Arizona Theatre born and raised in Independent Spirit Award for Best Company, Portland Center Stage, San the San Francisco Bay Screenplay. As an actor, Akhtar also Jose Rep, Kansas City Rep, Houston’s Area and has been starred as Neel Kashkari in HBO’s Theatre Under the Stars, and Minneapolis acting for over four adaptation of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book Children’s Theatre Company. Smucker decades. He studied Too Big to Fail. He studied at Brown received the 2011 Gregory Award for acting at Cañada College with Kurtwood University and Columbia University’s Outstanding Scenic Design, a 2012 Smith. William has served as Artistic School of the Arts. Seattle Magazine Spotlight Award, and

A-8 ACT THEATRE appeared on The Stranger’s 2011 Genius Brendan Patrick Hogan (Sound Festival. As an actor, he has appeared in Awards short list. Smucker teaches at Designer) As the Resident Sound Designer leading and major roles at ACT (most Cornish College of the Arts and received at ACT, Hogan has designed over 30 recently as Ebenezer Scrooge in A his M.F.A. from the UW School of Drama. productions since 2009. In addition to Christmas Carol), Seattle Repertory productions at ACT, his designs and Theatre, Intiman Theatre, The Empty Rose Pederson (Costume Designer) compositions have been heard locally Space, Seattle Shakespeare Company, as has designed costumes for more than at theaters such as Seattle Repertory well as many regional theatres one hundred professional productions Theatre, Washington Ensemble Theatre, throughout the country. Beattie is a at theaters from Broadway to Seattle. and Seattle Shakespeare Company, and recipient of the Theatre Puget Sound She designed over 25 productions for nationally at Arizona Theatre Company, Gregory A. Falls Sustained Achievement ACT including The Price; Middletown; Center Theater Group (CA), and George Award, and the Outstanding Achievement Mrs. California; Language of Flowers; Street Playhouse (NJ). Compositions and in the Arts Award from ArtsFund. Glengarry Glen Ross; Merrily We Roll design for film and video include local Along; Sunsets and Glories; Lloyd’s productions such as Waxie Moon in Fallen Carlo Scandiuzzi Prayer; The Downside; Polish Joke; Jewel and global organizations including (Executive Director) Absurd Person Singular; The Nina Amnesty International (Reggie Clemmons: is a founder of Variations; The Notebook of Trigorin; Justice Derailed). Agate Films and Temporary Help; My Children, My Clear Pictures, Africa; and Hapgood. On Broadway, she JR Welden (Stage Manager) has stage producing such films designed the costumes for Largely, New managed Uncle Ho to Uncle Sam, Mary as Prototype, Dark York. She has designed many productions Stuart, One Slight Hitch, Eurydice, The Drive, Outpatient, and The Flats, and for the Seattle Repertory Theater, Underpants, and A Christmas Carol at Indieflix, a distribution company. In 1979, including An American Daughter; ACT. He stage managed 10 seasons at Scandiuzzi started Modern Productions, The Heidi Chronicles; and The Sisters Intiman working on productions including bringing to Seattle such legendary bands Rosenzweig. She has also designed for The Grapes of Wrath, Nickel and Dimed, as The Police, Devo, Nina Hagen, Iggy Seattle Children’s Theater, New City and The Mandrake Root with Lynn Pop, The Ramones, John Cale, Robert Theater, The Empty Space, Tacoma Actors Redgrave. At Seattle Rep, his credits Fripp, James Brown, Muddy Waters, and Guild, Portland Center Stage, Arizona include Blue Door, The Chosen, and many more. He performed in several plays Theater Company, Cleveland Playhouse, Pygmalion. at The Empty Space including Aunt Dan Idaho Shakespeare Festival, The Kennedy and Lemon, The Return of Pinocchio, and Center, and Berkley Repertory Theater Kurt Beattie Dracula. In the early ‘80s, he collaborated where her work was nominated for a Bay (Artistic Director) has with many Seattle performance artists Area Drama Critics Award. been creating such as Norman Durkee, Alan Lande, and theater for Puget Jesse Bernstein. He also acted in various Kristeen Willis Crosser (Lighting Sound audiences for films includingBugsy , The Public Eye, Designer) This is Kristeen’s first design for over 40 years as an Another You, Casanova’s Kiss, and Killing ACT and her Seattle premiere and she is actor, playwright, Zoe. He graduated from the Ecole thrilled to be here. She is usually found and director. His productions at ACT Superieure D’Art Dramatique of Geneva. in the Portland, Oregon area where she include Grey Gardens; Ramayana (with Carlo currently serves as a member of the designs scenery and lighting for several Sheila Daniels); The Pitmen Painters; Seattle Arts Commission. area theatres including Artists Repertory Double Indemnity; In the Next Room, or Theatre, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, the vibrator play; The Lieutenant of Northwest Children’s Theatre, Profile Inishmore; Rock ‘n’ Roll; Becky’s New Car; Theatre, Teatro Milagro, and Oregon Intimate Exchanges; First Class; The ACT operates under agreements Children’s Theatre. She is a Resident Pillowman; Mitzi’s Abortion; The with the following: Artist at Artists Rep and will be designing Underpants; Bach at Leipzig; Vincent in their production of this play later this Brixton; Black Coffee; Alki; Moon for the season. She has received several Portland- Misbegotten; Fuddy Meers; Fully area theatre awards, otherwise known Committed; Via Dolorosa; and the holiday as “Drammys,” including the 2014 classic, A Christmas Carol. Elsewhere, he Outstanding Lighting Design Drammy for has directed at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Third Rail’s A Bright New Boise and the The Empty Space, Intiman Theatre, Seattle 2014 Outstanding Scenic Design Drammy Children’s Theatre, University of for Third Rail’s Gidion’s Knot. As always, Washington, San Jose Repertory Theatre, she is grateful to her husband, Mike, for Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, The Alley all of his love and support. Theatre in Houston, and Ojai Playwrights

encoreartsprograms.com A-9 PATRON INFORMATION Special Fund Donors ACT Endowment Donors Emergency Evacuation Procedures In the event of an emergency, please wait for ACT’s endowment is administered by A Contemporary Theatre Foundation. an announcement for further instructions. Buster & Nancy Alvord • Joan & Larry Barokas • Michael Corliss-Investco • Katharyn Alvord Gerlich • Ushers will be available for assistance. Becky & Jack Benaroya • Charles Blumenfeld & Karla Axell • The Ewert Family • Bruce & Dawn Goto • William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education & Outreach Programs • Emergency Number The theatre’s emergency number in the Union Kreielsheimer Remainder Fund • Doug & Nancy Norberg • Sally Pence • Katherine & Douglass Raff • lobby is (206) 292-7667. Leave your exact seat Brooks & Suzanne Ragen • Herman & Faye Sarkowsky • David E. & Catherine E. Skinner • location with your emergency contact in case Kayla Skinner • Estate of Stuart Smailes • John & Rose Southall • David & Joyce Veterane • they need to reach you. The Peg & Rick Young Foundation • Anonymous Smoking Policy Smoking is NOT allowed in any part of the theatre or within 25 feet of the entrance. The ACT Legacy Society Firearms Policy No firearms of any kind are allowed in any part The ACT Legacy Society honors those who remember ACT in their wills or other estate of the theatre. plans. Legacy Society members ensure ACT’s ongoing tradition of presenting the best of contemporary theatre for future generations. Investments of all sizes can make significant Food Food is not allowed in the theatre. Tuxedos & future gifts by using tax-advantaged estate and financial planning techniques. Notify ACT of Tennis Shoes is the preferred caterer of ACT your arrangements by calling Rebecca Lane at (206) 292-7660 ext. 1321. Theatre. Nancy Alvord • Laurie Besteman • Jean Burch Falls • Linda & Brad Fowler • Accessibility Suzanne Howard • H. David Kaplan • Mike McCaw • Catherine & Barry McConnell • Wheelchair seating is available. The theatre Dr. Arnie & Judy Ness • Lisbeth Pisk • Brooks & Suzanne Ragen • is equipped with the Sennheiser Listening Teresa Revelle • Chuck Sitkin • GregRobin Smith • John & Rose Southall • System for the hard of hearing; headsets are Judith Warshal & Wade Sowers • Dorothy E. Wendler • Janet Westin available from the house manager for use, free of charge, with a valid ID and subject to availability. ACT Theatre offers American Sign Language interpreted and audio-described performances. For more information, email Special Thanks [email protected]. ACT gratefully acknowledges the following professionals and organizations who have helped Lost & Found make this season a success: Call (206) 292-7676 between 12:00pm and Keith Johnsen, Daqopa Brands LLC • Seattle Children’s Theatre • AJ Epstein • 6:00pm, Tues-Sun. Seattle Repertory Theatre • UW Drama • Mike Dodge • Avast! Recording Co. • Address & Website Serenza Salon & Spa • Intiman Theatre • Carlson Audio • Quinn Armstrong ACT Theatre is located at 700 Union Street, Seattle WA 98101. Ticket Office Phone: (206) 292-7676. Administrative Office Phone: (206) 292-7660. Fax: (206) 292-7670. Website: www.acttheatre.org.

Theater Rental For information regarding booking, contact [email protected]. We’re Growing our Board Group Sales The ACT Board of Trustees is a dynamo group of volunteers committed to making sure Groups of 10 or more can save. ACT is strong, healthy, and on track to achieve our mission. Call (206) 292-7676 or email [email protected].

Fragrance From young professionals Please be considerate and keep personal to established community fragrance to a minimum. leaders, the ACT Board is a diverse group sharing a common goal: Support ACT Theatre!

If you are passionate about ACT and interested in getting more involved, this just might be a great way to start! Photo by LaRae Lobdell

Email Richard Hesik for more information: [email protected]

A-10 ACT THEATRE ACT Corporate, Foundation & Government Sponsors ACT gratefully recognizes the following corporations, foundations, and government agencies for their generous support of our 2014 programs. Without such tremendous community support, ACT would not be able to offer outstanding contemporary theatre, in-school educational programming, or community based outreach.

THEATRE SPONSORS STAGE SPONSORS MEDIA SPONSORS $100,000+ $5,000-$9,999 City Arts Magazine† ArtsFund Fran’s Chocolates† Jewish Transcript Media† Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. KCTS 9† SEASON SPONSORS Homewood Suites† KEXP† $50,000-$99,999 Nordstrom KUOW† 4Culture* RealNetworks Foundation KING FM† The Boeing Company The Seattle Foundation Northwest Asian Weekly† The Shubert Foundation, Inc. Seattle Magazine† SUSTAINING SPONSORS SHOW SPONSORS $1,000-$4,999 * Denotes ACT for the Future Campaign Donor $25,000-$49,999 2bar Spirits† John Graham Foundation † Support provided through in-kind contributions. Alaska Airlines† Joshua Green Foundation* Carlson Audio Systems† Nesholm Family Foundation Charles Schwab The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation E & J Gallo Winery† Tateuchi Foundation Encore Publishing† Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes† Fales Foundation Trust EVENING SPONSORS Foster Pepper & Shefelman † $10,000-$24,999 Glass Distillery Elizabeth George Foundation HSBC † Microsoft Corporation Loulay Kitchen & Bar † The Peg & Rick Young Foundation Pike Brewing Company † TEW Foundation Traver Gallery Theatre Development Fund† Washington Holdings True Fabrications Wyman Youth Trust

ACT gratefully acknowledges the following for their contributions to this production and season:

THE JOHN GRAHAM FOUNDATION

encoreartsprograms.com A-11 ACTFOR ALL SeasonsTHE 2014 ACT GALA

OctoberAt ACT 11, Theatre 2014

THE EXTRAVAGANZA INCLUDES Food • Cocktails • Music • Dancing Games of Chance • Silent Auction • Live Auction Epic Fun

Tickets on Sale Call or Order Online acttheatre.org/actforallseasons (206) 292–7660 x1330 Individual tickets, young professional, and row prices available

A CELEBRATION BENEFITING ACT THEATRE’S ARTISTIC AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

A-12 ACT THEATRE ACT Partners ACT Theatre’s mission is to raise consciousness through theatre—a mission made possible by generous contributions from people in our community. We would like to recognize and thank the many kind individuals who have partnered with A Contemporary Theatre this year. You inspire us all. Thank you.

EVENING SPONSOR $10,000-$24,999 THEATRE SPONSOR Laurie Besteman & Jack Lauderbaugh* $100,000+ SHOW SPONSOR Colin & Jennifer Chapman* Nancy Alvord $25,000-$49,999 Allan & Nora Davis Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Chap & Eve Alvord Linda & Brad Fowler* Eulalie M. & Gian-Carlo Scandiuzzi* Linda Brown & Larry True Heather & Grady Hughes Trevor Cobb & Cecilia Cayetano* Bill Kuhn & Patricia Daniels* SEASON SPONSOR James Degel & Jeanne Berwick, Berwick Yoshi & Naomi Minegishi $50,000-$99,999 Degel Family Foundation Linda & George Ojemann Betty Bottler Jean Burch Falls Victor Pappas Gregory & Diane Lind* Richard Hesik & Dr. Barbara Johns* Katherine & Douglass Raff* Chuck Sitkin* May McCarthy & Don Smith* Teresa & Geoff Revelle* Brian Turner & Susan Hoffman* Dr. Arnie & Judy Ness* Barry & Colleen Scovel* Anonymous Margaret Stanley* Robert & Shirley Stewart* Jean Walkinshaw Marcia & Klaus Zech

ASSOCIATE FRIEND Dirk & Mary Lou Van Woerden A.J. Epstein $5,000-$9,999 $2,500-$4,999 Judith Warshal & Wade Sowers Charles & Margaret Fitzgerald Sheena Aebig & Eric Taylor Richard & Constance Albrecht Anonymous Anne Foster Allan & Anne Affleck Kenneth & Marleen Alhadeff Richard & Mary Beth Gemperle Melinda & Walter Andrews Akhtar & Alka Badshah SUSTAINING PARTNER Boyd & Ann Givan Joan & Larry Barokas Peter & Jane Barrett $1,000-$2,499 Kelly & Jeffrey Greene Benjamin & Marianne Bourland Kurt Beattie & Marianne Owen John Akin & Mary Stevens Charles & Lenore Hale Sonya & Tom Campion Don Beaty & Carrie Sjaarda Rhett Alden & Marcia Engel Lawrence & Hylton Hard Bob & Kristi Diercks* Peter & Fran Bigelow Kermit & Danna Anderson Peter Hartley & Sheila Noonan Natalie Gendler Bruce Butterfield & Irene Stewart Jason Astorquia Phyllis Hatfield James & Barbara Heavey Estate of George Carlson Kendall & Sonia Baker Ellen Hazzard Stephanie M. Hilbert* Dennis & Deborah DeYoung Marge & Dave Baylor Rodney & Jill Hearne John & Ellen Hill Betsy & Charles Fitzgerald Eric Bennett Marjorie Kennedy Hemphill Dr. Larry Hohm & Karen Shaw Thomas P. & Christine M. Griesa Sarika & Samir Bodas Ross Henry Linda & Ted Johnson Lee Dicks Guice June & Alan Brockmeier Vaughn Himes & Martie Ann Bohn Jane W. & James A. Lyons Katherine Ann Janeway & H.S. Dr. William Calvin & Dr. Katherine Nancy & Martha Hines McKibben Merner Family Wright III Graubard Dale & Donna Holpainen Foundation Lisa & Norman Judah Corinne A. Campbell Gary & Parul Houlahan Nadine & John Murray H. David Kaplan Midge & Steve Carstensen Susan & Philip Hubbard Dr. Greg Perkins Karen Koon & Brad Edwards Dennis & Aline Caulley Dan & Connie Hungate Marie Peters Greg Kucera & Larry Yocom Donald Cavanaugh Joseph & Linda Iacolucci Eric and Margaret Rothchild Marcella McCaffray Manisha Chainani Victor Janusz Charitable Fund Bill & Mary Ann Mundy D.T. & Karen Challinor Steve Jensen Ingrid Sarapuu & Michael Anderson Sally Nelson Clement Family Foundation Judith Jesiolowski & David Herman & Faye Sarkowsky The Nordhoff Family Steven & Judith Clifford Thompson Lisa Simonson* Brooks & Suzanne Ragen Patricia & Theodore Collins Clare Kapitan & Keith Schreiber Spark Charitable Foundation Ann Ramsay-Jenkins Steve Coulter Lura & David Kerschner Garth & Drella Stein Donald & Jo Anne Rosen Craig Davis & Ellen Le Vita Dr. Edward & Mimi Kirsch David & Shirley Urdal Evelyne Rozner & Matt Griffin Kathy & Don DeCaprio Joanne M. Kuhns Vijay & Sita Vashee Debra Sinick & David Ballenger Ben & Kathy Derby George & Linda Lamb David & Joyce Veterane John & Rose Southall James & Amanda Devine Steve Langs Jean Viereck Ron & Carol Sperling Eva & Gary Dines Eileen Lennon Kären White* Cathy & Ron Thompson Michael Dupille Steven & Anne Lipner Mark & Arlene Tibergien Lonnie Edelheit Jim Lobsenz & Elizabeth Choy Annette Toutonghi & Bruce Oberg Lori Eickelberg D.W. & Shirley Logan

encoreartsprograms.com A-13 Laura Lundgren SUPPORTING PARTNER Theodore & Mary Ann Mandelkorn CONTRIBUTING PARTNER James Madison $500-$999 David Marty $250-$499 Meg & Jake Mahoney Reham Abdelshahid Barbara Martyn Renate & Croil Anderson Alice Mailloux Monica Alcabin Maxine Mattson Jane & Brian Andrew Bill & Holly Marklyn Connie Anderson & Tom Clement David Meckstroth Basil & Gretchen Anex Tony Martello Richard Andler & Carole Rush Erika Michael Loren & June Arnett Eric Mattson & Carla Fowler Bruce P. Babbitt Lauren Mikov Ronald & Marcia Baltrusis Peter & Kelly Maunsell Diane & Jean-Loup Baer Michael & Sarajane Milder John & Eva Banbury Ann McCurdy & Frank Lawler Richard & Lenore Bensinger Michael Moody & Martha Bob & Melisse Barrett Samuel B. McKinney Cleve & Judith Borth Clatterbaugh Carolyn Bechtel Joy McNichols Stanley & Barbara Bosse Adam & Shellie Moomey Julie Beckman & Paul Lippert Frances Mead Matthew Brantley Wesley Moore & Sandra Walker Ruth & Greg Berkman Gail & John Mensher Margaret Bullitt Sallie & Lee Morris Dennis Birch & Evette Ludman Eugene & Donna Mikov Martin Christoffel & Shirley Schultz Zack Mosner & Patty Friedman Siggi Bjarnason Kelly Miller & Ruthann Stolk Clark Family Charitable Fund Jim Mullin Gail & Randy Bohannon Mark & Susan Minerich Jack Clay Cynthia & Morris Muscatel John Boling Dayle Moss & David Brown Ellen & Phil Collins Sarah Navarre Pirkko Borland John Muhic Jan & Bill Corriston Paul & Linda Niebanck Jerome & Barbara Bosley James Nichols Chris Curry Cecilia Paul & Harry Reinert James Brashears Chris & BJ Ohlweiler Angela Davila Lisa & Cheri Perazzoli Karen Brattesani & Douglas Potter Sue Oliver Patricia & Cor DeHart Chuck Perry Mark Brewster Kristin Olson John Delo Carol Pierce Brad & Amy Brotherton Hal Opperman & JoLynn Edwards Carole Ellison Donald Pogoloff Dorothy A. Brown Don Oxford Steven Engle Megan & Greg Pursell Dr. James & Donna Brudvik Cynthia & Bruce Parks Joanne R. Euster Marjorie Raleigh & Jerry Kimball Val Brustad Valerie D. Payne Amy Faherty & Jeff Kephart Jeff & Pat Randall Carol & Jonathan Buchter Bill & Beth Pitt Jeannie Falls Pamela Reed & Sandy Smolan Carl Bunje & Patricia Costello Kate Purwin & Sergei Tschernisch Nancy Federici Craig & Melissa Reese Joel Buxbaum Alan & Andrea Rabinowitz Kevin & Tricia Fetter Cindy & Lance Richmond Judith Callahan & John Van Richard Rafoth Mrigankka Fotedar Jeff Robbins & Marci Wing Bronkhorst Ken Ragsdale Rick Freedman Judy & Kermit Rosen John & Arlene Carpenter Sharon & Paul Ramey Eleanor & Jeff Freeman Marc Rosenshein & Judy Soferman Kathryn & Bill Carruthers David and Valerie Robinson Fund Lucy Gaskill-Gaddis & Terry Gaddis Marybeth & Jerry Satterlee Christopher Chan William & Rae Saltzstein Sergey Genkin John Scearce & Nancy Buckland Nicole Boyer Cochran Barbara Sando Genevra Gerhart Darshana Shanbhag Patrick & Jerri Cohen Terry Scheihing & Ben Kramer Hellmut & Marcy Golde Michael C. Shannon Marc Coltrera & Anne Buchinski M. Darrel & Barbara Sharrard Claire & Paul Grace Barbara & Richard Shikiar Kevin & Lisa Conner John Shaw Robert Greco Peggy O’Neill Skinner & John Judith & Thomas Connor Judith Simmons Rhonda & Jim Greer Skinner John & Catherine Crowley Jeff Slesinger & Cynthia Wold Michael Greer, MD & Steve Bryant Don & Kathy Smith-DiJulio Barbara & Ted Daniels Marianna Veress Smirnes Alexander Grigorovitch & Vera Jeanne Soule Emily Davis Sheila Smith & Don Ferguson Kirichuk Helen Speegle Paul & Sandy Dehmer Kathleen Sneden-Cook & Jack Meg & David Haggerty Jen Steele & Jon Hoekstra Dottie Delaney Cook Wier Harman & Barbara Sauermann Isabel & Herb Stusser Ron & Jan Delismon Elaine Spencer & Dennis Forsyth Diana & Peter Hartwell Sally Sullivan Mike Dey Kim Stindt & Mark Heilala Jim & Linda Hoff Norm & Lynn Swick Paula Diehr & Frank Hughes Jeffrey A. Sutherland Cynthia Huffman and Ray Heacox Arthur & Louise Torgerson Darrel & Nancy Dochow Christine Swanson Alice Ikeda & Philip Guess Ellen Wallach & Tom Darden Kristine Donovick & Jim Daly Tamzen Talman Dean M. Ishiki Eric Weber Ellen Downey Timothy Tomlinson Ann Janes-Waller & Fletch Waller Robin Weiss Michael Dryfoos & Ilga Jansons Tom & Connie Walsh David B. Johnson Dr. Sheree Wen Kathryn Dugaw Nancy Weintraub Joan Julnes Janet Westin & Mike McCaw Vasiliki Dwyer Steve & Diana White Steven & Patricia Kessler Gregory Wetzel Glenn & Bertha Eades Mary & Donald Wieckowicz Deborah Killinger Marjory Willkens Suzanne Edison Kathy & Chic Wilson Agastya & Marianna Kohli Dianne & Douglas Wills Shmuel El-Ad Cathy Woo Max Langley Susan Wolcott & George Taniwaki Constance Euerle Kyoko Matsumoto Wright Rhoda & Thomas Lawrence Maria & Michael Wolfe Thea & Alexander Fefer Ann P. Wyckoff Candy Lee & Rocke Koreis Judith Wood Alicia Feichtmeir & David Krieger Anonymous (6) Robert Lehman & Christopher Josette Yolo Eric & Polly Feigl Mathews Joyce & Christian Zobel Karen & Bill Feldt Gary Lindsey Igor Zverev & Yana Solovyeva Carol Finn Loeb Family Foundation Anonymous (4) K. Denice Fischer-Fortier & James

A-14 ACT THEATRE M. Fortier Dan & Denise Niles Kairu Yao Matching Gifts Rynold & Judge Fleck Craig & Deanna Norsen Jan Zager ACT would like to thank the Ricky Flickenger Colette J. Ogle Anonymous (7) following corporations for their Rob Folendorf Clarke O’Reilly contributions through Gift Mary Fosse Tina Orr-Cahall *Denotes ACT for the Future Matching Programs. We greatly Andy Foster Mari Osuna & Adam de Boor Campaign Donor appreciate the support of these Jane & Richard Gallagher Angela Owens institutions and their employees. Jean Garber & Clyde Moore Angela Palmer Jean Gardner John Peeples Adobe Systems Inc, Matching Gift Bruce & Peggy Gladner Susan Perkins Gifts in Tribute Program Carol & Tal Godding Barbara Phillips In honor of Joan Barokas: Judy & Alaskan Copper & Brass Company Catherine Gorman Greg & Sherre Piantanida Kermit Rosen Amgen Foundation Dick & Jan Gram Judy Pigott In honor of Kurt Beattie & Marianne Applied Precision Drs. Verena & Basil Grieco Judy G. Poll Owen: Dawn Maloney Bank of America Foundation Susan Griffith & Drew Fillipo Joan Potter In memory of Lana Denison: Dr. Bentall Capital Joe & Nancy Guppy Sheila Preston Comerford Arnie & Judy Ness Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Paul & Sheila Gutowski Darryn Quincey & Kristi Falkner In appreciation of Nicole Boyer- The Boeing Company Kevin & Molly Haggerty Carol Radovich Cochran: Mark Jenkins Carillon Point Account Marja Hall Charles & Doris Ray In memory of Clayton Corzatte: Casey Family Programs Libby Hanna & Don Fleming Peg Rieder Anonymous CBIC Insurance Sharron & David Hartman Bruce F. Robertson In honor of Petra Franklin & Carlo Chevron Hashisaki/Tubridy Family Drs. Tom & Christine Robertson Scandiuzzi: Linda & Brad Fowler The Chubb Corporation Richard & Susan Hecht Richard & Nancy Rust In honor of Richard Hesik & Barbara CIGNA Matching Gift Program Lisa Helker Stuart & Amy Scarff Johns: Bob & Phyllis Hesik Citibank, N.A./Citicorp Arlene & Doug Hendrix Duane & Pat Schoeppach In memory of Melissa Hines: Eli Lilly & Co. Foundation Amy Henry Garreth Schuh Martha & Nancy Hines Expedia, Inc. Pat Highet Sandra & Kenneth Schwartz In honor of Carolyn Keim & Connie Google Weldon Ihrig & Susan Knox Karen & Patrick Scott Rinchiuso: Angela Owens Harbor Properties, Inc Joel Ivey & Sheryl Murdock Ted & Patricia Scoville In honor of Teresa Revelle: Dr. Arnie IBM International Foundation Wendy Jackson Mike Scully & Judy Ness Key Foundation Cathy Jeney David & Elizabeth Seidel In memory of Patty Rose’s Merck Mark Jenkins Deborah Senn mother, Marian: PCLELC Cameo Microsoft Corporation Matching Andy & Nancy Jensen Lynne & Bill Shepherd Subcommittee The Prudential Foundation Paula Jenson Gursharan Sidhu Matching Gifts William & Sandy Justen John Siegler & Alexandra Read, MD Puget Sound Energy Nancy Karasan Gail & Robert Stagman RealNetworks Foundation Paul Kassen Alec & Jane Stevens Russell Investments Kay Keovongphet Lisa & John Stewart SAFECO Matching Funds Gary & Melissa Klein Margaret Stoner & Robert Jacobsen Satori Software Ursula Kuepfer & Jon Paddock Derek Storm & Cynthia Gossett Starbucks Matching Gifts Program Jim & Jean Kunz Stephen Strong & Lorri Falterman Sterling Realty Organization Jill Kurfirst Bill & Pat Taylor Sun Microsystems Foundation Edie Lackland Steven Thomas United Way of King County Bob & Janet Lackman Michael Thompson The UPS Foundation Sharon Lamm Dennis M. Tiffany US Bancorp Foundation Becky Lathrop & Rob Witmer Joan Toggenburger Verizon Foundation Kathleen F. Leahy & H. Dale Sarah & Russell Tousley Washington Chain and Supply, Inc Hinkson Andrew Valaas Washington Mutual Foundation Midge & Richard Levy Constance Vorman & Pres Matching Gifts Program Arni Litt Sloterbeck Zymogenetics Inc. David Longmuir Mary & Findlay Wallace Mark P. Lutz Vreni Von Arx Watt Jeffrey & Barbara Mandula Bruce Weech Lora & Parker Mason Randall Weers Tim Mauk & Noble Golden Jim & Sharron Welch Arthur Mazzola Leora Wheeler Carol McDonald Peggy & Dennis Willingham Mary Metastasio Mr. & Mrs. Clyde Wilson Col. Norman D. Miller Marianne & Arnold Wolff ACT works to maintain our list of donors as accurately as possible. Annette & Gordon Mumford Nancy Worsham We apologize for any misspellings or omissions. Should you find any, please Robert Mustard Conrad & Glenna Wouters contact our office so that we may correct any mistakes in future publications. John Naye Dadog Wriggley Email [email protected] or call (206) 292-7660 x1330.

encoreartsprograms.com A-15 ACT A Theatre of New Ideas ACT Board A Contemporary FINANCE SALES AND AUDIENCE COSTUME DEPARTMENTS Sheila Smith SERVICES Carolyn Keim† Of Trustees Theatre Director of Finance Jessica Howard Costume Director Charles Sitkin Foundation Tobi Beauchamp-Loya Director of Sales & Service Connie Rinchiuso† Chairman Payroll & Human Resources Ashley Schalow Costume Shop Foreman Kermit Anderson Manager Ticket Systems Associate Colin Chapman President Candace Frank President Ash Hyman Lynch Resources Costume Coordinator Lucinda Richmond Senior Accountant Telemarketing † Richard Hesik Vice President Kim Dancy Vice President Montreux Rotholtz Cutter Katherine Raff DEVELOPMENT Ticket Office & † Lisa Simonson Secretary Sally Mellis Treasurer Maria Kolby-Wolfe Customer Service Manager Wardrobe Master Catherine Roach Director of Development A. Aiden Karamanyan Bill Kuhn Treasurer Fawn Bartlett Secretary Rebecca Lane Front Office Representative Assistant to the Costume Director Colin Chapman Major Gifts and Campaign Megan Tuschhoff † Joan Barokas Brad Fowler Joyce Degenfelder Manager Ticket Office Lead Eric Bennett John Siegler Wig Master Angela Palmer Laurie Besteman Lisa Simonson Jaron Boggs Donor Relations Manager Jacob Burns Charles Sitkin Kelton Engle SCENIC DEPARTMENTS Trevor Cobb Ticket Office Representatives Brian Turner Kyle Thompson Steve Coulter† Bob Diercks Development Coordinator: Board Jim Moran Technical Director Charles Fitzgerald & Office Operations Audience Services Manager Ross Henry ACT Staff Derek Baylor Stephanie Hilbert Julia Nardin Jeremy Rupprecht Assistant Technical Director Development Coordinator: Grady Hughes EXECUTIVE House Manager † Stewardship & Special Events Austin Smart Abha Khanna † Kurt Beattie Libby Barnard Master Scenic Carpenter Diane Lind Artistic Director Charly McCreary Katie Bicknell Kyoko Matsumoto Wright Sean Wilkins Development Intern Dennis Hardin May McCarthy Carlo Scandiuzzi Lead Scenic Carpenter Ryan Higgins Lauren Mikov Executive Director MARKETING AND Monika Holm Michael Sterkowicz Naomi Minegishi Becky Witmer Becky Plant Nick Murel John Muhic COMMUNICATIONS General Manager Robin Obourn Scenic Carpenters Judy Ness Aubrey Scheffel Robert Hankins Kristi Quiroz † George Ojemann Associate Director of Marketing Mona Lang Executive and Artistic Manager Luke Sayler Scenic Charge Artist Dr. Greg Perkins Karoline Nauss Adam Vanhee Teresa Revelle Marketing Coordinator Lisa Bellero† Audience Services Ingrid Sarapuu ARTISTIC Assistant Charge Artist Marissa Stein Barry Scovel John Langs Christine Jew Graphics & Email Coordinator Marne Cohen-Vance† Karen Shaw Associate Artistic Director Audience Services Affiliate Properties Master John Siegler Malie Fujii Margaret Layne† Goldie Gendler Silverman Marketing Intern Ken Ewert† Casting Director & PRODUCTION Margaret Stanley Master Properties Artisan Artistic Associate Mark Siano Joan Toggenburger† Rob Stewart Public Relations Manager Producing Director Thomas Verdos Anita Montgomery† Larry True Lead Properties Artisan Brian Turner Literary Manager and Sebastien Scandiuzzi Alyssa Byer Director of Education Video Manager Central Heating Lab Production Manager STAGE OPERATIONS Kenna Kettrick Apex Media Advisory Council Nick Farwell† Education Associate Advertising Emily Cedergreen Stage Operations Supervisor Aubrey Davis Production Office Manager Robert Keene Chris Bennion Daniel D. Ederer James Nichols† Literary Intern Production Photographic Services Skylar Hansen Jean Burch Falls Master Stage Carpenter Production Runner Jeannie M. Falls Emily Penick Christa Fleming Pam Mulkern John H. Faris Artistic Intern Graphic Designn Master Electrician Brad Fowler STAGE MANAGEMENT Carolyn H. Grinstein ADMINISTRATION Jeffrey K. Hanson† Max Langley Sara Comings Hoppin Production Stage Manager Master Sound Engineer Adam Moomey† C. David Hughbanks Operations Manager JR Welden Brendan Patrick Hogan Jonathan D. Klein Erin B. Zatloka Resident Sound Designer Keith Larson* Susanna Pugh Stage Managers Jane W. Lyons Venue Manager Michael Cornforth Ruth Eitemiller Central Heating Lab Technician Louise J. McKinney* Robert McDonald Gloria A. Moses Production Assistant Facilities Maintenance Nadine H. Murray FOR THIS PRODUCTION AC/R Services Douglas E. Norberg Ron Darling Engineer Kristin G. Olson Props Artisan Donald B. Paterson Lawrence Curington Eric Pettigrew IT Support Manager Pamela Powers * Deceased Rica Wolken Katherine L. Raff † Tessitura Manager Denotes staff member has worked Brooks G. Ragen at ACT for 10 years or more Catherine Roach Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes Jo Anne Rosen Catering Sam Rubinstein* Bar and Concessions Faye Sarkowsky David E. Skinner Walter Walkinshaw* Dr. Robert Willkens* George V. Willoughby David E. Wyman, Jr. Jane H. Yerkes A-16 ACT THEATRE ENCORE ARTS NEWS FROM CITY ARTS MAGAZINE

Triumph of Unambition Fiddler’s Inn doesn’t have to try. BY JONATHAN ZWICKEL

WHEN IS A TAVERN just a tavern? When it selection. Call it a café because it serves serves only beer and wine, no booze. food—sandwiches and pizzas that are basic That’s how the law once defined the word. and wholesome and affordable and good. And for years, Seattle was a tavern town, The original owner was a guy named Walt proud to pour Rainier and Olympia—the Haines, a professional musician who moved microbrews of the day—and later, Red Hook. to Seattle from the Midwest to play double Decades hence, liquor enforcement has bass—aka bass fiddle—in the 5th Avenue softened alongside linguistic standards, Theatre orchestra. The beginning of the and these days calling your establishment Depression nudged Haines out of the music a tavern is more a shortcut to picaresque business and the end of Prohibition provided rusticity than an indicator of the stuff behind a new direction: Haines often entertained the bar. As the city’s cocktail craze continues, his patrons by playing musical spoons. After the tavern and the pub (short for public selling the bar in the ‘60s, he moved to LA house, the model of beer-focused hospitality and partnered with Lawrence Welk in a launched in England eons ago), traditional business that manufactured and sold musical bastions of come-as-you-are comfort, are spoons with a patented handle. losing ground. You can’t make this stuff up. But you can Which is why you must head to the find further eyebrow-raising anecdotes about hinterlands to find a good one. For instance: Haines and Fiddler’s at the Wedgwood in Fiddler’s Inn in Wedgwood. Wedgewhere? Seattle History website. Author Valarie Bunn Exactly. interviewed Gerry Haines, Walt’s eldest Seriously though. As a Seattle enclave, daughter, who was six when her dad opened Wedgwood is a newcomer, incorporated the bar and today, at 86, lives in Redmond. around 1945. Fiddler’s Inn predates even History this deep and unlikely is part of that; it won one of the first King County liquor what makes Fiddler’s remarkable. Another licenses after prohibition ended in 1933. It sits is living, breathing personality. On my first on the corner of NE 94th St. and 35th Ave. NE, visit in June, I sat at the six-stool bar next to Wedgwood’s languid main drag. The rusted a guy named Mattie who regaled me with a sign out front offers a beaten-up countenance fair amount of lore, some jiving with Bunn’s to oppose the place’s unfailingly chipper research, some suggesting an alternative moniker. You’ve probably never driven narrative, including an “accidental fire” that by because it isn’t on the way to or from led to Fiddler’s being completely rebuilt in anyplace you’d care to go—unless you live in the ’90s, finally adding a foundation and Wedgwood. reusing original materials for the interior. Inside, Fiddler’s radiates an instant Affable, heavy-lidded and unhurried, Mattie familiarity. It doesn’t feel new or old; it reminded me of Northwest natives I knew at doesn’t strive for authenticity or innovation. the University of Oregon. It simply exists/exists simply. Its lack I discovered later that Mattie is a of ambition is a triumph. The walls are bartender and cook at Fiddler’s and that conspicuously absent a bunch of crazy crap, the current owners also run the Latona Pub its ceiling is angled haphazardly, the result in Greenlake and the Hopvine on Capitol of renovations over the decades. It’s bright Hill. The thread between establishments: and airy and cozy and inviting. An outdoor neighborhood-centric, beer-forward, long patio lined with foliage nooks onto the south lived-in. Ideal for a simple Saturday, if you side of the building in sweet seclusion. Call like that sort of stuff. n

Fiddler’s a pub or a tavern because it serves FIDDLER’S INN

MIGUEL EDWARDS MIGUEL just wine and a very good, very local beer 9219 35th Ave. NE

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EAP 1_6 V template.indd 1 8/4/14 3:59 PM I DREAM OF LEENI PROM QUEEN’S MIDNIGHT VEIL IS A CANDY-COLORED, AUDIO-VISUAL ODYSSEY. BY AMANDA MANITACH 1

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1 Ramadan in the film’s opening track, “Black 3 Burlesque dancer and choreographer Lily 5 Jamie Von Stratton made Ramadan’s costume for Magic.” “It’s a bit of a sad song to kick off the Verlaine takes on the Big Bad Wolf at Vito’s in “Mystery.” The film’s final track brims with slowmo album, but to me, beginning a journey with heart- “Daddy’s Got a Big Bad Gun.” waterfalls of gold tinsel curtains, a mesmerizing break is true to life.” 4 Ramadan and her genies in a bottle (members of belly dance by turquoise-coiffed Fuschia Foxx and 2 For “Can’t Seem To Cry” Adé, Ramadan and The the burlesque/cabaret troupe Heavenly Spies) use those eyes. Luminous Pariah get into drag at the Triple XXX their magic to materialize the man of their dreams in 6 Erika Zabelle has a thing for mermaids—and has Rootbeer Drive-In in Issaquah, Wash. “He Loves Me Not.” even taught herself to swim with a fin. For “Out

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he sumptuous, retro swank of Vito’s feels made for Prom Queen. From a dark corner of the First Hill cocktail bar, the petite songstress looks equal parts I Dream of Jeannie and Nefertiti, with a dash of Brigitte Bardot. Her smoldering eyes, rimmed with kohl, and pouty lips curled into a mischief-making smile, T command the room. In May, the 34-year-old musician also known consumption. as Celene Ramadan—Leeni to her friends— “As a musician, sometimes it’s tough to get wrapped production on Midnight Veil, an anything but a passive listen,” she says. “A hour-long concept album of what she describes spin on Spotify while someone’s working on as “dreamy vintage pop.” The 12 songs are their laptop isn’t exactly ideal. I love the ritual packaged with 12 music videos that will be around film: People go inside a darkened room, available to stream, download or purchase on turn off their cellphones and watch something DVD on Oct. 11. (Let it be known that Ramadan that transports them for a couple of hours. I conceived of her video album before Beyoncé wanted to make something more immersive released hers late last year.) than audio-only tends to be.” Midnight Veil is a tour de force of high camp There’s no real storyline in Midnight Veil. and unrepentant glitz, from Middle Eastern Instead, the thread is a slender-necked, kitsch and fire dancing to drag queens, Betty jewel-encrusted magic lamp that weaves its Of My Mind,” Ramadan teamed with David Draper-esque housewives and animated way through each video. The lamp appears in a Peterman to shoot an underwater sequence. cartoons right out of Hanna-Barbera. She was gothic castle surrounded by potions in crystal 7 Susan Hunter gets frisky in “Pretty Little inspired, she says, by Barbarella, the Monkees’ ampoules, then in the arms of a sticky-fingered Thing.” “I really wanted an Adam West Batman- movie Head—and I Dream of Jeannie, of pole dancer, then with a mermaid under the esque video and thought Susan looked so course: “I wanted to capture a fun, ’60s exotica sea. It turns up in dim nightclubs, with greasers much like Julie Newmar that I couldn’t resist a Catwoman pole video!” psychedelic vibe.” She was also determined in muscle cars. It turns up at a ’50s soda shop to create something that defied typical music where Ramadan—flanked by drag queens in

encoreartsseattle.com 11 ENCORE ARTS NEWS FROM CITY ARTS MAGAZINE Midnight Veil is a tour de force of high camp and unrepentant glitz, from Middle Eastern kitsch and AuguSt – NovemBer A city-wide fire dancing to drag queens, Betty Draper-esque celebration of the works of Samuel Beckett housewives and animated cartoons.

pearls intoning melancholy she-bops over root Ramadan started Prom Queen as a solo beer floats—sings:You tell me I’m living a lie / My project in 2012, with her own vocals, electric head is in the sky / And you never felt the same so guitar and backing tracks on a Boss pedal. After this is goodbye / And still I don’t know why I can’t a year performing solo at intimate venues and seem to cry. Then the scene cuts away to three parties around the West Coast, she enlisted slick-haired boys trapped in a black-and-white Jason Goessl and Ben von Wildenhaus to play TV, looking dour, playing castanets. It’s marvel- guitar and Tom Meyers on drums. Over the past ously absurd, just a hair shy of saccharine. year, the Prom Queen foursome has played the “My favorite moments in film usually have Royal Room, the Showbox and is a semi-regular something to do with a song,” Ramadan says. act at Vito’s. “The moment in Life Aquatic when Steve Zissou Ramadan returned to Vito’s and other discovers he has a son and does the slow- Seattle locales to shoot the majority of the i llustration by Kathryn r athke motion walk onto the bow of the ship is all the scenes in Midnight Veil. The Museum of Flight more unforgettable and complete because the appears as a retro-futuristic backdrop, as does chorus of ‘Life on Mars?’ kicks in. What would Seattle Center (the Space Needle blasts off, of David Lynch be without music? Or Tarantino? course), Dick’s Drive-In, Gas Works Park and Sofia Coppola?” the confectionary-colored retro boutique Pretty Ramadan’s father—a singer and drummer Parlor. from Cairo who instilled in her an obsession The project’s supporting cast includes many with the Beatles—taught her to drum, sing and of Ramadan’s closest friends and collaborators, play guitar as a kid. In high school, Ramadan who comprise a glitterati of Seattle’s drag and taught herself keys, rehearsing after school in burlesque scene: Waxie Moon, Inga Ingenue, All that Fall the band room hunched over a piano, playing Randi Rascal, the Luminous Pariah, Paris Tori Amos ballads until they kicked her out. Original, Lily Verlaine, Tory Tiara and Jamie endgame If you ask Ramadan, high-school Leeni was Von Stratton all sing, dance or make cameos more of a shy, goofball funny girl than a sexpot throughout. Like when a bouffanted and Krapp’s Last tape chanteuse. She never was a prom queen. She raygun-toting Kitten N’ Lou beat the dickens out didn’t even go to prom. of a glitter-crusted space cadet in order to get Waiting for godot “I was the weirdo,” she says. “I chose the their mitts on the magical lamp. They dash—a name Prom Queen partially as a joke but then full-on cartoon dash in platform heels—past a partially because it sounds like the music I silvery EMP Museum. and more wanted to make.” So what is in that bottle? Ramadan’s crystalline voice is in one swipe “The lamp can mean whatever you want,” sugary and sultry, her lyrics the lovelorn stuff of Ramadan says. seattlebeckettfest.org classic ’60s girl-group hits. Where Lana Del Rey In the song “He Loves Me Not,” the stop- zigs ultra dark and broody, Prom Queen zags, per comes off and we dive in, headlong. The keeping head and heart above water with a lamp’s interior looks like a frou-frou dressing helping of ham, or stone-cold nonchalance. The room-cum-hair parlor. There’s Ramadan a SponSored program of Prom Queen sound is a mash-up of timeless pop inside, strumming a glittery, cotton candy- tropes: a little Johnny Cash twang along with colored electric guitar. She and an entourage some rockabilly dips, lush surf rock riffs and of belly-dancing genies dressed in billows of tongue-in-cheek orchestral bombast. powder-pink chiffon wrestle a mannequin Flexing her musical muscle in offbeat dummy, trying to put together the perfect man. print and media SponSorS ways—and making a living doing it—is par for The flesh-and-blood specimen they conjure is the course for Ramadan. For the past nine years, nothing less than inspired (played by Jonny Boy she’s worked part-time as a singing telegram of the Can Can Castaways). girl, impersonating celebrities: Cher, Britney, But in the final moments of the song, the Celine Dion, Björk, Katy Perry, Marilyn Monroe. mischievous djinn have their way with him and YOUR GUIDE THROUGH THE PRINTING & MAILING JUNGLE When she isn’t popping out of birthday cakes he emerges from a makeover swimming in long or serenading in chicken suits, she composes lashes, rose-colored curls and an ill-fitting dress music for smartphone apps and video game covered in gems. No matter if the boys come or developers. go, these girls have fun. n

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The Studios Open this Fall with 60 Classes

A common lament among Seattle’s professional performance community is a career ceiling, the idea that an actor or dancer can achieve only so much here before hitting a limit, forced to accept that limit or leave town to grow. In the last few years, the theatre community has made an effort to create more avenues for local performers, but available roles are only one piece in the complex puzzle MOZART’S facing the area’s maturing performance scene. BAD BOY “Having been a working actor here, Don this was the thing that was missing,” Shanna says. “I Giovanni kept hearing in the dressing rooms and in the audition lines, Ugh, there’s nowhere to train.”

Another is education—classes where adults can hone their craft and add skills to their repertoire. Enter The Studios, a massive new undertaking opening 25 % OFF downtown as early as late September, offering some 60 drop-in classes ranging SELECT SEATS , Seattle Opera, 2007 © Rozarii Lynch from voice lessons to stage combat, intermediate rhythm tap, audition FRIDAY, OCT. 31 coaching and “Oh Crap I Have Lines”—

all taught by an impressive roster of 46 Giovanni Don founding faculty. And those teaching jobs? Also good for the rising tide of performance in the region. “We think about being a spring in the city,” says Shanna Waite, who co- OCT. 18-NOV. 1, 2014 founded The Studios along with her MARION OLIVER MCCAW HALL husband, Ryan Waite. Shanna, 33, is a WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | EVENINGS 7:30 P.M., SUNDAY MATINEE 2:00 P.M. performance veteran; Ryan is a longtime With the Seattle Opera Chorus and members of Seattle Symphony Orchestra. software engineer and tech exec. The Studios are their way of giving back to PHONE 206.389.7676 | 800.426.1619 the city. “Having been a working actor here, UNDER 40? SAVE 30% seattleopera.org/under40 this was the thing that was missing,” GROUPS SAVE 15% 206.676.5588 Shanna says. “I kept hearing in the IN PERSON Ticket Office: 1020 John St., Mon-Fri 9 a.m.-3 p.m. dressing rooms and in the audition lines, PRODUCTION SPONSORS: MARYANNE TAGNEY AND DAVID JONES Ugh, there’s nowhere to train. You have 2014/15 SEASON IN HONOR OF SPEIGHT JENKINS to go to New York or LA or Chicago if you want to keep up.” (continued on page 14) SEATTLEOPERA.ORG

SOP 081214 giovanniES014 2_3v.pdf encoreartsseattle.com 13 ENCORE ARTS NEWS

CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE (continued from page 13) In space alone, The Studios command attention. The facility is housed in the JULY 2014 Times Square Building—the triangular An experimental building with the Mariners Team Store in movement’s 40-year legacy its nose—its enormous exterior windows Ishmael Butler on the evolution of facing Fifth Avenue. Inside, the totally AUTHENTIC Shabazz Palaces gutted 10,000-square-foot space will include a modular, light-drenched ENTERTAINING performance and rehearsal space and a lobby at street level, as well as a lower REVEALING level with five additional studios in various sizes. Subscribe Each studio is today and say being outfitted yes to exercise with state-of-the- your freedom art equipment, NEW AMERICA including wireless of choice. KITTEN N’ LOU REVOLUTIONIZE CAMP touch-sensitive speakers, LED ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION – $36 CITYARTSONLINE.COM/SUBSCRIBE 2 YEAR SUBSCRIPTION – $48 OR CALL 206.443.0445 x100 lights, and sprung floors (yes, tap will happen here).

Each studio is being outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment, including wireless touch-sensitive speakers, LED lights, sprung floors (yes, tap will happen here), custom ballet barres, 10-foot-tall mirrors and electric pianos. Then there’s the locker rooms, a physical therapy and conditioning area (“the only people who have that these days are the ballet and the Rockettes,” Shanna quips) and a former bank vault, now ultra-soundproofed as a LOS RICHARD ETHEL AND recording studio meant to record voiceover demos and new musicals and to assist with PINGUOS THOMPSON KAKI KING out-of-town auditions held via Skype. Saturday | October 11 Saturday | October 25 Thursday | October 30 Though some of The Studios’ classes are $29, $24 & $19, $44, $39 & $34, $39, $34 & $29, geared toward professionals, others are $15 youth/student $15 youth/student $15 youth/student designed for students at every level and a Sponsored by Koenig Financial Sponsored by Comprehensive high-octane customer service staff ensures Group/Mike & Dusty Koenig and Wealth Management, Best Western All performances begin at 7:30 pm. that you’re “not in over your head,” as Ron & Michelle Clyborne/ Plus Edmonds Harbor Inn, and Windermere Real Estate North Destination Marketing 10% discount for Seniors 62+ & Shanna puts it. As a hub for novices and Military on events presented by ECA! experts alike, The Studios offer a safe space where students can learn from each other as well as from teachers and visiting ec4arts.org | 425.275.9595 guests. Every class offered is a drop-in; 410FOURTHAVENUENORTH there are no intensives with multi-week EDMONDSWA98020 commitments. “Drop-in classes are a proven practice in the dance world,” Shanna says. “You actually get more 2014–2015 SEASON intensity in the classroom; people show up, presented by like, I am present.” LEAH BALTUS

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On TV and Shame BY LAUREN HOFFMAN

COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, I was reading a Pitchfork profile of what gets called “prestige television” is actually just of Passion Pit’s brilliant frontman, Michael Angelakos. “television about how hard it is to be a white man,” but It was a compelling look at his ability to create in that’s a separate essay.) spite of mental illness, but I kept getting stuck on one The term gets thrown around pretty loosely these days, throwaway detail about Angelakos’ domestic life: “The but I do believe we’re living in a golden age of television, couple doesn’t own a television, because they’d rather which is to say there’s more incredible television out encourage chatter between their guests; they use a there than ever before. Enlightened. Broadchurch. Parks projector to watch films and TV shows on DVD when and Recreation. But I don’t like hearing people claim they feel like it.” that it’s now okay to watch TV—some TV—now that that It’s not really the sort of quote a person should golden age has dawned. More than any other art form, be stewing over years later, but that doesn’t stop me the lines we draw between good and bad when it comes from pointing out that, projector or not, a screen you to television feel completely arbitrary, although you use to watch television programs is a TV. I’m also still wouldn’t know it from how passionately people argue wondering what point the writer was trying to prove by for them. specifically noting the absence of a television. Was he The truth is, we can line up Breaking Bad and Keeping trying to prove Angelakos’ intelligence? His coolness? Up with the Kardashians and decide the former has more Years ago, writer, frequent This American Life dramatic or artistic merit, but that doesn’t change the contributor and avowed curmudgeon David Rakoff did a fact that decades from now, schoolchildren (or at least scathing imitation of people who forgo television: “Well. sociology majors) will intently study the Kimye Vogue I don’t watch TV. But I do enjoy NOVA.” cover. Put another way: Place the brow By now, that’s evolved into something wherever you want, but it’s all your that sounds more like, “We don’t have Place the brow culture. a TV, but we use my parents’ HBO GO® wherever you Television might reflect our culture login because we’re totally obsessed more accurately (or maybe just more with Game of Thrones.” want, but it’s all literally) than any other art form. It I’ve written about television (not for might also be the art form we shame it, although if you held me upside down your culture. the most. But why? It’s been decades and shook me long enough some Parks since Newton Minow became chairman and Recreation fanfiction might fall out of my pockets) of the Federal Communications Commission and for several years, and it’s a peculiar line of work to pronounced the landscape of television he’d inherited describe. I watch a show. I write down what happened “a vast wasteland.” The term “idiot box” hasn’t been en and what I thought about it and how it made me feel. vogue for a long time. So why do we roll our eyes at some And then, to answer the question I hear at parties, yeah, of what’s on TV, even as we’re gluing them to the rest? someone pays me. A few weeks ago, I had drinks with an I don’t think it’s intentional; it’s just easy to be ex-boyfriend I hadn’t seen in a few years (classic rookie reflexively superior about our own cultural choices. mistake), and when the conversation turned to the work If we stopped long enough to realize we’re essentially I do, he excitedly told me how into television he’s been saying, “Your TV program on network television where these days. He listed the usual suspects: True Detective, people sing is stupid, but my TV program on premium Mad Men, Community, Breaking Bad. cable with dragons is sophisticated,” we’d probably dial “What I hate, though, are…you know the trashy it back a little. shows? Stuff like American Idol. Or any of the reality There’s never been a better summer to stay inside with shows, really. Or, God, Glee. That’s the sort of television a Netflix subscription and I’m here to tell you that if you that’s tearing apart the fabric of our culture.” do, there’s nothing to feel guilty about, whether you It is also precisely the sort of television I write about. choose Big Brother or The Leftovers or Orphan Black or I realized recently that I’ve written more about Glee than Finding Carter. Live in a golden age of television that’s anything else in my career (with the possible exception golden not because TV is better than it’s ever been, but of my own feelings). I’ve also extensively covered Project because you’re able to find what you like and watch it, Runway and Keeping Up with the Kardashians—all sorts with all of the pleasure and none of the guilt. of shows that often get lumped under the umbrella of And, seriously, Glee is destroying the fabric of our “guilty pleasures,” not prestige television. (The bulk culture? Please. At worst, it’s auto-tuning it. n

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