Download September 2016 Theater Newsletter

THEATER DEPARTMENT
Cornish College of the Arts
www.cornish.edu/theater
Phone: (206) 726-5042
THEATER@CORNISH
HIGHLIGHTS
SEPTEMBER 2016
THEATER ALUMNI AND FACULTY AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
2016 SEATTLE MAYOR’S ARTS AWARDS
Annex Theatre, Legacy Award Winner
Annex Theatre received the 2016 Mayor’s Arts Legacy Award from Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. The citation
read: “Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Annex Theatre is a democratic collective of theatre artists dedicated to
creating bold new work in an environment of improbability,
resourcefulness, and risk. For the last three decades, Annex has been
an accessible laboratory for new writing and performance work in
Seattle, generating dozens of world premiere plays and providing
crucial early-career development for hundreds of artists.”
Annex has featured a lot of work by Cornish alumni playwrights,
directors and performers; Cornish alumni have also served as ongoing
staff members. Accepting the award for Annex this year was artistic
director Pamala Mijatov, TH ’99.
THEATER PUGET SOUND GREGORYAWARDS
As always, Cornish Theater is well represented in the annual Gregory Award Nominations, which recognize
high achievements in Pacific Northwest theater, and are sponsored by our local service organization, Theater
Puget Sound. The winners are announced at a gala ceremony on Monday, October 24.
2016 Nominees include:
• Outstanding Actress in a Play
• Outstanding Actor in a Play
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play
• Outstanding Director
Amy Thone, Theater Faculty
Conner Nedderson TH ’10
Anna Kasabyan TH‘13
Shermona Mitchell TH‘04
Drew Highlands TH‘13
Riley Shanahan TH‘15
Connor Toms TH‘01
Desdemona Chiang, Theater Faculty
2 Theater Highlights September 2016
STRANGER 2016 “PERFORMANCE GENIUS” NOMINEES
Emily Chisholm ‘04 is one of several current and former members of the Cornish community nominated by the
staff of local paper The Stranger for its 2016 “Genius” awards recognizing significant contributors in the arts
community. Here is her profile interview:
http://www.thestranger.com/features/2016/08/03/24434521/2016-stranger-genius-award-nominee-emilychisholm
Also nominated as a “Performance Genius” is alumna HATLO (Jessica Hatlo ’08) for her collaboration as
director with playwright Courtney Meaker and performer Erin Pike on the incendiary feminist critique-astheater-piece thatswhatshesaid.
http://www.thestranger.com/features/2016/08/22/24492192/2016-stranger-genius-award-nominee
The winners of the 2016 Stranger “Genius” Awards will be announced on September 24.
AWARDS OVERSEAS
Denmark: Theater alumnus Malte Frid-Nielsen '02 spent the 2015-2106 season as a member of the Danish
generative company Theatre Momentum, which received the 2016 Reumert Award (essentially, the Danish
Tony Award) for Outstanding Dance/Theater Performance for their production of “Lige om lidt bliver alting
meget sjovere” or "In just a moment, everything will be much more fun."
Malte was also nominated for Outstanding Breakthrough Performer by Denmark’s CPH Culture for his work
with Theatre Momentum and in Why Not Theatre’s production of Love and Money.
Austria: Ryan Mitchell ’04 and his company St. Genet (which includes alumni from Theater, Music, Art and
Performance Production) received Austria’s 2016 Otto Retter Award for their installation-art-based opera Frail
Affinities at the Donau Festival outside Vienna.
ONSTAGE: SEATTLE AND THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Courtney Sale TH ’01 has begun her first season as Artistic Director at Seattle Children’s Theatre. Rehearsals
are beginning shortly for the first show in SCT’s 2016-2017 season, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Look for 2016 Cornish grads Miranda Troutt and Claire Marx as the valiant Pevensie sisters, with Richie
Stone TH’16 also in the cast.
Cornish Theater faculty member Timothy
McCuen Piggee is in rehearsal now,
directing the opening production of Seattle
Repertory Theatre’s 2016-2017 season. The
play is the American masterpiece A Raisin
in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, which
Timothy has taught for twenty years as a
core script in his TH 171 Text Analysis
class.
In the cast of A Raisin in the Sun are two of Timothy’s former students, Andrew Lee Creech TH ’13, and
Anthony Lee Simmons TH ‘15. Anthony just completed an acclaimed run as the central character in the drama
Hooded, produced by Theater Battery.
3 Theater Highlights September 2016
Intiman Theatre is presenting Alice Childress’s Wedding Band:
A Love/Hate Story in Black and White through October 2.
Featured in the cast is alumna Aishe Keita TH’14 (far left)
Cornish/ACT Creator Salons:
Cornish and ACT are now collaborating on a series of Creator Salons in which artists from ACT come to speak
to Cornish students about their work. Participants thus far have included artistic director John Langs and
playwright Sean Devine speaking about their collaboration on the world premiere of Daisy, and director
Ameenah Kaplan and sound designer Sharath Patel discussing their work on the upcoming production of The
Royale.
The staff for ACT’s currently running production of the rock musical Bad Apples was bolstered by dramaturg
Sherif Amin TH ’16 and professional directing intern Carlos Wagener Sobrero TH ‘17. And Theater faculty
member Elizabeth Heffron and alumna Kelleen Conway Blanchard TH ’96 are teaching in area high schools
for ACT’s Young Playwrights Program.
Upcoming at the 5th Avenue Theatre is a new staging
of Man of La Mancha, which brings Cornish
alumnus and Broadway veteran Don Darryl Rivera
’TH 06 back to Seattle in the role of Sancho Panza.
Joining Don in the cast are alumnus Jose J.
Gonzalez TH ’89 and Theater faculty member
Marlette Buchanan.
The 5th Avenue has also just announced the casting of Cornish Theater
alumna Diana Huey TH ’08 in the title role of Ariel in a new production of
The Little Mermaid, which opens on November 23 at the 5th Avenue and then
going on a National Tour in 2017.
Diana (pictured, right, in her award-winning performance in Signature
Theatre’s Miss Saigon) also recently performed in New York in a new
musical called Honor, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It set in
feudal Japan.
Following performances of his show The Vaudevillians at the Dublin Fringe Fest on September 19 and 20,
cabaret sensation Jinkx Monsoon (Jerick Hoffer TH ’10) come back to Seattle on September 29 at the
Egyptian Theatre as part of a national tour in the satirical drag performance Return to Grey Gardens.
4 Theater Highlights September 2016
Village Theatre is presenting the rollicking countrywestern revue Pump Boys and Dinettes, which runs
through November 20. The cast of six actormusicians is led by Tony Award-winner Levi Kreis
and features Theater alumni Michael Feldman ’13
(second from left) and Sara Porkalob ’12 (second
from right). Faculty member Chris DiStefano is
Kreis’s understudy.
Book-It Repertory Theatre is opening its 2016-2017 season with an adaptation of Ruth Ozeki’s novel A Tale for
the Time Being, directed by Theater faculty member Desdemona Chiang. It plays through October 9.
Seattle Musical Theatre is presenting the musical Working, updated with several new songs by Lin-Manuel
Miranda (Hamilton). It features Tom Stewart ’90 and runs through October 2.
Seattle Shakespeare Company is presenting The Winter’s Tale, directed by Theater faculty member Sheila
Daniels, playing now through October 2. Choreography is by faculty member Marc Kenison and faculty
member Geof Alm stages the fights, with original music by Rafael Molina TH ‘16. The cast includes Theater
alumni Jasmine Jean Sim ’15 as Perdita, MJ Sieber ‘01as Autolycus and Rachel Guyer-Mafune ‘16 as
Dorcas. Acting instructor Amy Thone plays the pivotal role of Paulina.
Seattle theatres are currently staging a number of timely election-inspired satires including:
• Strawberry Theatre Workshop is running Eugene Ionesco’s
absurdist comedy Rhinoceros, which features Carol Louise
Thompson ’10 and Amy Mayes ‘12 in leading roles, with
Conner Nedderson ’10 is the cast as well. Rhinoceros runs
through October 8 at 12th Avenue Arts.
• Theater Schmeater updates the classic French farce Ubu Roi
by Alfred Jarry into Trump the King or POTUS DRUMPF,
with Kevin Richard Bordi TH ’13 in the title role (pictured
at right), and Sherif Amin ’16 and Jackie Pomeroy ’15 in
the comic ensemble.
Forward Flux is presenting the Northwest premieres of two new plays from September 20-October 2. The
Summer House is co-directed by Haley Butler Bates TH’16 and features 2016 alumni Cameron Hodges and
Te Yelland in the cast, while The Wedding Gift is co-directed by Pilar O’Connell TH’12 and features Nazlah
Black TH’16, Haley Marie Alaji TH’16 and Marquicia Dominguez TH’12 in the cast. Andy Buffelen TH’10
serves as production manager.
Alumni neo-burlesque troupe OK Fine Collaborations presented Dump: A Garbage Burlesque at Seattle’s
Bumbershoot Festival. It featured Theater alumni from 2012 through 2015. OK Fine will follow that up with
Trash Talk: A Garbage Cabaret with Daisy O’Day at Seattle’s Rendezvous Jewelbox Theatre on September 23.
Daisy O’Day herself, AKA Sydney Tucker TH’12 also recently appeared in Many Hats Theatre’s production
of Scab by Sheila Callaghan.
5 Theater Highlights September 2016
Washington Ensemble Theatre stages the West Coast premiere of the acclaimed British feminist theatrical
provocation, REVOLT, SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN by Alice Birch. You can see it at 12th Ave Arts from
September 23 – October 10. The cast includes WET artistic director Samie Detzer TH ’10, Joe Cummings TH
’14, and Anna Kasabyan TH’13. WET’s casting director is Leah Salcido Pfenning TH’13.
Seattle Public Theatre will present Steven Dietz’s
suspenseful drama On Clover Road at the Bathhouse
Theater from September 23 to October 16. Cornish first-year
Voice & Speech teacher Meg McLynn (left) plays the
central role, with Chesa Greene TH’15 also in the cast.
Serendipitously, Meg’s role was played in San Francisco by
Cornish Theater alumna Sally Dana ’85.
One of Seattle’s unique theatrical institutions, Café Nordo mixes original plays, cabaret entertainment and
imaginative cuisine to create food-themed theatrical experiences. The current offering is Hotel Nordo, an eerie
evening in tribute to David Lynch, which features alumnae Opal Peachey TH’04 and Alyssa Keene TH’00 in
the cast. Hotel Nordo runs through November 20.
Another imaginative variation
on dinner theatre is Teatro
Zinzanni, which again mixes
fabulous food with cabaret,
acrobatics and comedy. For its
next show, Welcome to
Wonderland, Zinzanni
welcomes back internationally
celebrated chanteuse Lady
Rizo, also known as Amelia
Zirin-Brown TH ’99 (right).
Theater faculty member Katherine Strohmaier
performed in Harlequin Productions’
presentation of the musical The Last Five Years.
On September 18 at the Pocket Theatre, the Broken Cage Collective presented a revue entitled E-Sondheim: An
Electro-Cabaret, featuring Sondheim works reconceived as Electronic Dance Music. Performers included TH
alumni Ben Wippel ’13, Leah Fishbaugh ’13 and MU/TH alum Matt Reed ’13.
Also at the Pocket, Sophie Franco ‘TH 15 appeared in W O L F, running September 2-10.
At West of Lenin on September 15-17, the Moonshine Revival Tent presented its latest evening of storytelling
and song, The Trial of Pastor Goodson, with writer-performer Bret Fetzer accompanied by singers Christine
Longe TH ’06 and former Cornish Playhouse staffer Jillian Vashro.
6 Theater Highlights September 2016
ONSCREEN
Joshua Conkel TH ‘03 is relocating to the Bay Area to begin work as a staff writer on Netflix’s
upcoming show A Series of Unfortunate Events, based on the “Lemony Snicket” novels by Daniel
Handler.
C.S. Lee TH ’93 (at right in photo) appeared in
5 episodes of the current season of Starz’ thriller
Power. He can also be seen in the upcoming
Amazon streaming series Sneaky Pete, to be
released this fall.
Cornish alumna Dana Blasingame TH’10 plays the central role in the Bay Area-based dramatic short
film Only the Drum, currently in post-production. Dana’s comedy troupe Improv Lab also appeared at
the San Francisco Improv Festival.
Jake Hart TH’02 (pictured right) is
filming a recurring role on the CBS
series Shades of Blue.
He is not the most famous member of
his family, though: when they visited
Seattle recently, Jake’s daughter
Beatrix was caught onscreen at a
Mariners game and became an instant
viral sensation as the “Cotton Candy
Girl.”
Recently cast in a new TV pilot being shot in Seattle, Tabitha: Witch of the Order, are alumni Te
Yelland TH ’16 and Sean Schroeder TH’14.
CALIFORNIA
The award-winning musical Lizard Boy, which got its
start at the Seattle Rep, will travel to San Diego for a
run at the Diversionary Theatre from September 29October 30. The three-person cast of actor-musicians
includes the Gregory-Award winning William A.
Williams TH ’04 (pictured, right).
7 Theater Highlights September 2016
UTAH
Michelle Lynn Thompson TH ’15 is featured in the world premiere of The King’s Men at the Rose
Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City, running from September 30 to October 15.
CHICAGO
Michael Szala TH’16 is artistic intern at Chicago’s Collaboraction Theatre.
WASHINGTON DC
Fawn Ledesma TH ‘11 has begun her first year of studies in the MFA program at the Shakespeare
Theatre.
VIRGINIA
David Anthony Lewis TH ’99 is juggling four shows as a company member at Virginia’s American
Shakespeare Center, where he plays Kent in King Lear, Sir Toby in Twelfth Night, John C. Calhoun in
Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson and fiery rebel Jack Cade in Henry VI/2.
NEW YORK
Sarah E.R. Grosman TH ‘10 is the Public Works Associate of the New York Shakespeare
Festival/Public Theatre, where she recently helped produce their 2016 community-based adaptation of
Twelfth Night.
Victoria McNaughton TH’15 has joined the staff of Baker Entertainment Talent Management. Victoria
spent this past summer at Vassar’s Powerhouse Theatre as Company Manager for their new play
institute.
New York nightclub Le Poisson Rouge hosted Dollypalooza on September 3, and who better to perform
than Doll Parts, Brooklyn’s favorite Dolly Parton cover band? As always, Julia Sirna-Frest TH’05 was
featured on vocals and ukulele. New Yorkers can also catch them on September 23 and 25 at Gold
Sounds in Brooklyn.
Ramiz Monsef TH ’02 was in NY recently performing in a workshop of a new musical about jazz
legend Sidney Bechet.
ONTARIO
At Canada’s prestigious Stratford Festival,
Cornish alumna Lanise Antoine Shelley
TH ’04 is performing in three shows.
Lanise was recruited by the Festival
following several years of roles with
Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. She is
performing this year as the Third Witch in
Macbeth, Sue Bayliss in Arthur Miller’s All
My Sons (at right) and in a new production
of The Aeneid.
MALAYSIA
Internationally renowned physical theater performer Wolfe Bowart TH ‘87 presented his fantastical
solo show LaLaLuna at the DiverseCity Festival in Kuala Lumpur on September 10 and 11.
8 Theater Highlights September 2016
Fall 2016 Theater Season Features Cross-Department Collaborations
This fall, the Cornish Theater Department, in collaboration with the Performance Production Department, will
present a season full of classics, new adaptations of classics, and contemporary plays. Each play takes the
characters and the audience on a Journey, through time or space or memory—and sometimes all three.
Mary Zimmerman’s Argonautika, for instance, vividly theatricalizes the epic saga of Jason and the Argonauts’
quest across the Mediterranean in search of the Golden Fleece, while The Rimers of Eldritch and Nine: The
Musical play with fractured time and space to take their characters on journeys of memory and revelation.
One new and exciting aspect of this season is that four of the five productions will feature original music
written by composition students or recent alumni from the Cornish Music Department. Bertolt Brecht’s timely
political allegory The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Shakespeare’s magic-filled, redemptive The Tempest will
feature songs written to the playwright’s lyrics by Max Walker MU ’16 and Steven Silvers MU ’17,
respectively. Blake DeGraw MU ’19 provides music for Lanford Wilson’s haunting The Rimers of Eldritch and
guides the play’s anthemic church choir, while Reuben Woodruff ’17 composes the accompaniment for the
sailors’ adventures in Argonautika.
In November Theater seniors will perform in the musical Nine, with book by Arthur Kopit and songs by Maury
Yeston, based on the classic of European cinema, Federico Fellini’s 8 ½. Nine is followed by the ever-popular
Senior Cabaret at Raisbeck in December.
This year’s cabaret has been titled “The Line”—expect the ensemble, guided by directors Timothy McCuen
Piggee and Frances Leah King, to take that notion in evocative directions. Line in the sand? Line that has been
crossed?
Tickets for all productions will be available shortly. For now, mark your calendars for:
The Tempest by William Shakespeare; directed by Jane Nichols
Oct. 20 to 29, Skinner Theater at Raisbeck Performance Hall
Argonautika by Mary Zimmerman; directed by Rhonda J. Soikowski
Oct. 27 to Nov. 5, Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center
The Rimers of Eldritch by Lanford Wilson; directed by Kate Myre
Oct. 26 to Oct. 30, Alhadeff Studio at the Cornish Playhouse
Nine: The Musical, book by Arthur Kopit, music/lyrics by Maury Yeston
Directed by Annie Lareau; music direction by Chris DiStefano
Nov. 10 to 19, Alhadeff Studio at the Cornish Playhouse
The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht; directed by Sheila Daniels
Nov. 16 to 20, Skinner Theater at Raisbeck Performance Hall
The Line: A Cabaret, conceived and directed by Frances Leah King & Timothy McCuen Piggee
Dec. 14 to 16, Skinner Theater at Raisbeck Performance Hall