ACT – A Contemporary Theatre 2008 Season

44^th Season Delivers High Impact, Innovative Works

Seattle, WA – November 13, 2007 – ACT Artistic Director Kurt Beattie announces six Mainstage plays for ACT – A Contemporary Theatre’s 2008 Season, to start March, 14 2008.

“Our 2008 season explores the incredibly rich and varied cultural influences inspiring contemporary theatre artists,” said ACT Artistic Director Kurt Beattie. “The theatrical imagination gets sparked in so many thrilling and deliciously unpredictable ways, and often through the marvelous collision of cultural perspectives and sensibilities. We’re honored to open with a special engagement by the Ilkhom Theatre Company of Uzbekistan, a first for Seattle, presenting two socially and politically relevant plays. We’ll also see a work by young American playwright Sarah Ruhl that’s inspired by classical Greek myth; fiery clashes between generations in a world premiere by Michael Bradford; comic collisions between individuals and the random moment in ingenious pieces by Alan Ayckbourn and Steven Dietz; and a fusion between the 21st century energy of ebullient young American performers and the 1920s wit of the very English Noel Coward. I think audiences are going to be really excited by the depth and variety of next season’s plays.”

ACT will utilize both the Allen Theatre , an arena theatre with seating in-the-round, and the thrust-style Falls Theatre during the 2008 season.

Subscriptions, from $66 (for students and people 25 and under) to $300, are available at the Ticket Office, 700 Union Street in downtown Seattle, by phone at (206) 292-7676 or online at acttheatre.org. Single ticket prices range $10/$15 (for students/people 25 and under) to $55.

ACT’s 2008 Mainstage Season

The Ilkhom Theatre Festival – A First for Seattle!

White White Black Stork by Elkin Tuichiev, Mark Weil

Ecstasy With The Pomegranate by M.Weil, D.Tikhomirov

Previews: March 14-19, 2008. Opens: March 20, 2008. Closes: April 13, 2008.
The internationally lauded Ilkhom Theatre Company from Tashkent, Uzbekistan has thrilled audiences in Europe, Israel, Japan, and the U.S. with its brilliant actors and the remarkable genius of its late artistic director, Mark Weil. Renowned for both its classical and innovative stagings, this astonishing theatre company from Central Asia will open ACT's season with a mini-festival of plays that delves into the culture of the Silk Road and its historical connection to Russia and the West. The work addresses the cultural, religious, and political interactions and conflicts between East and West, between Christian and Muslim traditions, between free and repressive governments, and represents the most exciting international theatrical event to come to Seattle in many years.

Fathers and Sons by Michael Bradford – A World Premiere!

Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton

Previews: April 25-30, 2008. Opens: May 1, 2008. Closes: May 25, 2008.

What is it to be a ‘father', a ‘son,' a ‘husband,' a ‘man'? Fathers and Sons is a thoughtful, rich, and poignant mediation on these eternal questions. Marcus, his father Leon, and grandfather Bernard confront a history of absence, mistakes, mistrust, and broken promises as they strive to redefine themselves as fathers and sons. Initially wary of each other, they come together in the midst of a family crisis and ultimately discover that “ain't nothing a good love can't heal.” Fathers and Sons represents the third project to be produced at ACT from the Hansberry Project, a professional Black theatre company dedicated to the artistic exploration of African American life, history, and culture.

A Marvelous Party: The Noel Coward Celebration

Words and Music by Noel Coward

Devised by David Ira Goldstein, Carl Danielsen, Mark Anders and Patricia Wilcox

Directed by David Ira Goldstein

Previews: June 13-18, 2008. Opens: June 19, 2008. Closes: July 13, 2008.

A Marvelous Party pays tribute to the extraordinary career of Noel Coward, one of the wittiest and most elegant performers of the 20th Century. This delightful two-hour romp of music, dance, and devilry brings to the stage the most delicious songs and sayings of Coward's oeuvre. Classics like “Mrs. Worthington”, “Why Do The Wrong People Travel”, and “I'll See You Again” are combined with lesser know gems and performed by a three-person ensemble of top Seattle-based musical talent. This glorious revue brings the elegance, éclat, and sheer fun of the inimitable Mr. Coward alive once more.

Intimate Exchanges by Alan Ayckbourn

Directed by Kurt Beattie

Previews: August 15-20, 2008. Opens: August 21, 2008. Closes: September 14, 2008.

The brilliantly observed social comedy of Alan Ayckbourn returns to ACT in this tour de force for two actors playing six characters. Trapped in a crushing marriage to the alcoholic headmaster of a suburban English prep school, Celia Teasdale makes the momentous decision to assert her independence by catering the school sports day in partnership with a very peculiar gardener. Will her leap of faith pay off? Will she find adventure or misadventure? A wise and witty consideration of the relationship between our desire for change and the capricious ways that life interprets it for us.

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Allison Narver

Previews: September 5-10, 2008. Opens: September 11, 2008. Closes: October 5, 2008.

From the award-winning author of last season's delicious comedy The Clean House and one of America's most original and exciting young playwrights, comes a lyrical meditation on love and loss that puts a contemporary spin on the classic Orpheus myth. Shifting the focus to the bride Eurydice, carried off to the Underworld on the very day of her wedding, Ruhl follows her on her journey through multiple realms of love and memory in search of something that will transcend even the inevitability of death. Whimsical, mystical, and deeply moving, Eurydice is a unique and haunting look at the power of love and the ties that bind.

Becky's New Car by Steven Dietz – A World Premiere!

Directed by Kurt Beattie

Previews: October 17-22, 2008. Opens: October 23, 2008. Closes: November 16, 2008.

Fortyish Becky Foster has a decent job at an auto dealership, a solid husband named Joe, and a freeloading psych-major son living in her basement. Her life is…okay, if not sublime. But when she crosses paths with billionaire widower Walter Flood, she's offered the chance to test drive a very different kind of existence – if she can just keep him in the dark about the one she already has! Playful and painful, wacky and wistful, this world premiere comedy by longtime Seattle playwright Steven Dietz reminds us that the road not taken can be full of hairpin turns.

Following the 2008 season, ACT will once again stage its 33^rd annual production of the heartwarming holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Gregory A. Falls, November 28, 2008-December 28, 2008.