Food & Drink
Don’t Miss the Smaller Productions from Big-Deal Local Arts Organizations
In addition to the front-page programming, many companies offer smaller-scale shows that are just as good as the mainstage fare
By Gemma Wilson March 11, 2020
This article originally appeared in the March 2020 issue of Seattle magazine.
This article appears in print in the March 2020 issue as part of the Spring Arts Preview feature. Click here to subscribe.
Due to evolving public health concerns related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, be sure to check with event hosts and venues for updates on event schedules and cancellations.
Splashy season announcements are a thrill, but when it comes to major arts venues, big productions aren’t always the whole story. In addition to the front-page programming, many companies offer smaller-scale shows that are just as good as the mainstage fare. Not all these secondary programs are the same—some are specifically for works in progress, in need of developmental stage time and live audience feedback; some are mainstage features translated to suit a more casual environment; some are specifically family-friendly, to give folks a chance to indulge in art with their kids. Whatever the set-up, these shows and concerts offer excellent opportunities to experience live performance in a new way. Here are our picks for the major and minor offerings by some of Seattle’s most prominent arts organizations this spring.
Seattle Opera
La bohème
This beloved Puccini opera is at once wildly romantic and a paean to artists everywhere: In a wide shot, it’s the story of bohemian artist friends living and loving in post-WWI Paris. (This Washington National Opera production updates La bohème from the 1840s.) Zoom in and it’s the tragic love story of Rodolfo and Mimi, who knocks on the door of Rodolfo’s freezing French garret in search of a light for her candle. Puccini’s sweeping melodies will play your emotions like the proverbial fiddle, from joyful start to tearful end. 5/2–5/19, McCaw Hall, seattleopera.org
Earth to Kenzie
This new one-act opera is staged in the new community-focused Opera Center, just down Mercer Street from McCaw Hall. Our heroine is Kenzie, an imaginative fifth-grader who yearns to disappear into her favorite video game after landing in a family shelter with her mother. Kenzie is aimed at families with kids in elementary school, but keep an eye on the opera’s future chamber productions and you’ll likely find a lot of variety; recent seasons included The Falling and the Rising, created from interviews with deployed soldiers, and the transgender story As One. 6/6 and 6/13, Tagney Jones Hall at Seattle Opera Center, seattleopera.org
Village Theatre
Hansel & Gretl & Heidi & Günter
This musical may be brand-new, but its main character is anything but. Our star is Gretl, that famous gingerbread-house-eating, witch-killing Grimm’s fairy-tale heroine, but now she’s a modern single mom living in Chicago and grappling with her traumatic childhood. Her kids wish they could live normal lives instead of dealing with their mother’s bizarre and overbearing rules, but when Uncle Hansel appears, they end up on another adventure entirely. 3/12–4/19, Village Theatre Issaquah. 4/24–5/17, Village Theatre Everett, villagetheatre.org
The Homefront
Village Theatre’s Beta Productions series is a musical theater lover’s dream and a testing ground for works in progress that may appear in mainstage seasons to come. In this season’s final Beta Productions show, The Homefront, one woman fights for female factory workers’ jobs after the end of World War II. Expect history, feminist revolution and a rock-inspired score; erstwhile (and much missed) Seattle director Malika Oyetimein is slated to direct. 6/12–6/21, First Stage Theatre, Issaquah, villagetheatre.org
Tracy Michelle Hughes and Anne Allgood star in Lynn Nottage’s Sweat at ACT. Photo by Rosemary Dai Ross.
Follow Us
Book Excerpt: Old White Man Writing
Seattle resident Joshua Gidding examines his own white privilege
In his book, Old White Man Writing, Seattle resident Joshua Gidding attempts to come to terms with his privilege. Gidding grapples with the rapidly changing cultural norms in 21st-century America while examining his own racial biases and prejudices. As Manhattan Book Review notes: “Old White Man Writing is an introspective deep dive into an eventful life…
Glacial Expressions
Local scientist and painter Jill Pelto spotlights climate change in a multi-artist show at Slip Gallery
The divide between the arts and sciences is long-fostered and well-documented. From elementary school onward, children are often singled out for their penchant for math or artistic ability and guided toward classes — and later careers — that align with their right or left brain tendencies. For Jill Pelto — a local climate scientist, painter,…
How Taproot Theatre Survived A Financial Crisis
Theatre is planning for its 50th birthday next year
Karen Lund vividly remembers that sinking feeling she had in the fall of 2023. That was when Lund, producing artistic director of Taproot Theatre Co., first realized that the financially strapped, midsized professional theatre in the Greenwood neighborhood might not survive. The theatre had already weathered the worst of the pandemic, but costs were mounting….
Humanities Washington Fights ‘Midnight’ Cuts
Nonprofit loses previously approved federal grants with little warning
The letter came without warning, like a slap in the face from an invisible hand. Humanities Washington CEO and Executive Director Julie Ziegler had already been talking with peers in other states, and she readied herself for the blow. The National Endowment for the Humanities (think DOGE) had terminated her nonprofit’s previously awarded federal grant…