Author: Ciara Caya

For the past year we have been living in a time of uncertainty—a perpetual “to be or not to be” if you will. But today we have something more to look forward to, the return of Wooden O, Seattle Shakespeare Company’s park series.

This announcement from the classical company is one more bright spot for our community, as many are looking for performance events they can attend while still staying safe. Wooden O offers the perfect solution as the performances take place outdoors at parks around the Puget Sound area. And as if that wasn’t good enough, the performances are always free, a sure way to appeal to those who are not familiar with classical theatre and want to test it out without committing to the cost of a ticket.

The energetic performances are produced in a casual setting—audiences bring their camp chairs, blankets, snacks and drinks, and Seattle Shakespeare Company provides the entertainment, working with minimal sets and props which removes all pretense and just leaves fun. And this year’s show, The Comedy of Errors, is sure to bring the laughs.

“The Comedy of Errors is a shot-in-the-arm of silliness and the perfect show for welcoming back audiences after the year we’ve all had,” said Artistic Director George Mount. “We were originally scheduled to present the play last summer, but as our plans got waylaid, we re-tooled and pared it down. We’ve got five really funny folks ready to jump into all the parts in a mash-up of improv comedy stylings with Shakespeare’s text and story. It’ll be swift. It’ll be entertaining. It’ll be just what Dr. Pinch ordered…in addition to getting a vaccination.”

A Comedy of Errors follows the mishaps and mayhem created by Antipholus and Dromio as they search for their lost family. After arriving in a new city, the two are treated like old friends…but something seems amiss. Soon the pair is thrown into a quagmire of jealous wives, stolen goods, and an enigmatic nun who holds the key to solving the riddle. As the sun starts to set the comic confusion lifts just in time to end with a loopy family reunion.

The Shakespeare in the park series will begin on July 23 and run through August 8. A full calendar of dates is below, and most up-to-date information can be found on Seattle Shakespeare Company’s website.

Wooden O 2021 Schedule

July 23 (Time TBA) — SeaTac — Riverton Heights Park

July 24 (Time TBA) — Sammamish — Klahanie Park

July 25 (Time TBA) — Seattle Center — Venue TBA

July 29 (Time TBA) — Issaquah — Venue TBA

July 30 (Time TBA) — Tacoma — Venue TBA

August 1 (Time TBA) — Des Moines Beach Park

August 4 (Time TBA) — Federal Way — Steel Lake Park

August 6 (Time TBA) — Tacoma — Venue TBA

August 7 (Time TBA) – Seattle – Columbia Park

August 8 (Time TBA) – Seattle – Seward Park Amphitheater

San Francisco Ballet has announced their next season will begin February 2022 with in-person performances as well as select digital material. Along with this joyous news for ballet aficionados, there is some heartbreak as well—after 37 years leading the company, Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson will be saying goodbye.

Aptly named Celebrating Helgi Tomasson, the 2022 season will present seven programs that highlight Tomasson’s career as both a dancer and choreographer. The season will represent his legacy of supporting the careers of emerging choreographers and making San Francisco Ballet a company recognized worldwide for its excellence and creativity.

“From my very first days in San Francisco, my goal has been to build a ballet company that draws from the past while looking forward.” said Tomasson. “Thirty-six years later, I’m proud that San Francisco Ballet’s distinctiveness derives from this duality: a brilliant ability to bring the classics to life as well as a curiosity for exploring new works. I am excited for the company in its next chapter, as the arrival of a new artistic director will usher in new artistic opportunities to continue in the spirit of innovation and exploration.”

Celebrating Helgi Tomasson will include the world premiere of Tomasson’s new work Harmony, revivals of story ballets Don Quixote and Swan Lake, as well as Trio, The Fifth Season, Caprice and Prism. Harmony was created during the pandemic and will be Tomasson’s 46th creation for SF Ballet.

As SF Ballet continues to roll with setbacks and challenges of the pandemic era, they look forward to the future with hope. “We have a lot to celebrate in 2022,” said Executive Director Kelly Tweeddale, “the commitment of our entire community to get us this far, the ability to keep our artists in the creative mode during the darkest of times, the almost four decades–long tenure of Helgi Tomasson in his final celebratory season with San Francisco Ballet, and being reunited with our audiences, without whom we could not exist.”

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San Francisco Ballet’s 2022 season will run February 1–May 8, 2022. Subscription packages are on sale now. Single tickets will be available for purchase this fall.

Seattle Opera pairs up with Bloodworks Northwest this May to provide a pop-up blood drive in a time of national shortage. The blood drive will be hosted at the Opera Center, Seattle Opera’s new administration and civic home, located next to McCaw Hall. People wishing to give blood can sign up to donate on May 18, 20, 25 or 27.  

This blood drive is the third that Seattle Opera has hosted with Bloodworks Northwest within the last year. The first drive held in August 2020 attracted 196 donators over four days and it is estimated that the donations helped as many as 500 people in the Greater Seattle area.

It is initiated in response to a desperate need in the Pacific Northwest as demand has increased by 18% and most blood types are at emergency levels in hospitals. Confusion surrounding blood donation and the COVID-19 vaccine have caused donators to skip appointments—to clear up this confusion, no wait time is needed between receiving the vaccine and giving blood.

Vicki Finson, Bloodworks EVP of Blood Services, urges the public to make—and keep—a donation appointment. “We’re actively communicating with hospitals to conserve blood and appealing to donors to book appointments so that doctors don’t need to make difficult decisions like canceling surgeries or postponing treatments based on the blood supply. And because donation is by appointment only, if you cannot make your appointment, it’s critical to cancel so others can fill in for you.”

The pop-up will follow social-distancing guidelines and donors must wear a mask or face covering. No walk-ins, guests, or those under 16 years of age will be allowed onsite. The donation appointment will last one hour.

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The Seattle Opera and Bloodworks Northwest blood drive will be held on May 18 at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on May 20, 25 and 27 at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments are required; they can be made on Seattle Opera’s website or by calling 800.398.7888.

Beginning April 29, Stanford Live will begin the series Stanford Under the Stars: Movie Nights at Frost. Every week films that have a connection with Stanford University will play at the outdoor Frost Amphitheater, following state social-distancing protocol.

Stanford Under the Stars: Movie Nights curates a selection based on actors that attended Stanford University and films located in Northern California. The movies range from children’s films such as Frozen 2 (connected through Sterling K. Brown who studied economics and then drama at Stanford) to Aliens (Sigourney Weaver class of ’72) to short films from Stanford University MFA students.

This series will be a return to live programming for Stanford Live after canceling all live events last March due to COVID-19. “We are so excited to start bringing people back into our spaces and think this movie series is a fun way to kick things off,” said Chris Lorway, Stanford Live’s executive director. “We know that creating a safe environment for these events is important to our audiences, so we’ve spent months developing our health and safety protocols and following the latest county and state guidelines.”

These safety protocols include limiting audience numbers in the Frost Amphitheater to 400 people, less than 5% of the total capacity. The seating will allow for social distancing from other groups and audiences will be required to wear face coverings during the events.

The full schedule of films can be viewed here.

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Tickets cost $15 and will be available in groups of one, two, four and six. Tickets will go on sale to the public on April 9 and can be purchased here.

Ten esteemed writers take listeners on an aural adventure to meaningful places around Berkeley.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre announced today that all 10 episodes of the audio series Place/Settings: Berkeley are now available. Place/Settings: Berkeley premiered on January 12 with one episode released each week. Now listeners can enjoy the entire series all in one sitting. Each episode runs approximately 10-20 minutes.

Ten revered writers, each with deep ties to Berkeley, have all crafted a story around a place or a setting within the city of Berkeley that is significant to them. Celebrated New Yorker illustrator Tom Toro has created a physical fold out map that will be mailed to each ticket buyer. Place/Settings: Berkeley is free to 2021 Berkeley Rep 7-Play subscribers and $10 for others.

The Fundamental Kiss, With Overtones

By Eisa Davis

Set at the corner of Oxford and Center

A young oboist kisses a pianist on a street corner. At long last! But the kiss unlocks pressures, expectations, dreams, and fears. Can we learn to live with uncertainty? To ask for what we need?

night fishing

By Philip Kan Gotanda, read by Steven Anthony Jones and BD Wong

Set at an imaginary dried-up lake in Tilden Park

On a chilly autumn night, an old fisherman makes his way to the lake in the dark. He casts a line…and reels in the ghost he’s been seeking.

The Black Mass Sonata

By Daniel Handler, read by Lance Gardner

Set at The Musical Offering Café

Bored, lost, and lonely, a teenager stumbles into a café. While eating a cup of soup, he hears a wondrously inscrutable sonata, and begins to sense that being lost might not be such a lonesome condition after all.

West Berkeley West Indian

By Aya de León

Set at Franklin School 

How do you find your people in middle school – especially when you don’t quite fit the mold? A girl experiments, assimilates, adapts, and journeys towards genuine self-love and community.

20 Weeks

By Adam Mansbach

Set at Alta Bates

Hope, fear, excitement, and a dizzying array of possibilities unspool across an expectant dad’s imagination, as he and his partner navigate medical uncertainties and rediscover each other as almost-parents.

Suicide on Telegraph

by Richard Montoya

Set at Robbie’s Coffee House and Diner on Telegraph Ave.

It’s 1959, and tobacco smoke snakes across the bustling café from its prized corner table, where artists and students debate political treatises, muse on philosophy, and share thrilling new poetry.

The Slide

by Itamar Moses

Set at the slide in Codornices Park

A neighborhood park – its playground, sloping hillside, and basketball court; its tunnel to a rose garden and many paths – bears witness to a boy, growing up and growing old.

The Third Sphere

by Kamala Parks read by Denmo Ibrahim

Set at North Berkeley BART

Straddling the worlds of her divorced parents, Yasmine doesn’t feel fully at home in either. Desperate to see her best friend in San Francisco, she embarks on the voyage across the Bay alone, exhilarated at her newfound independence.

The Character Actor

by Sarah Ruhl directed by Les Waters read by Charles Shaw Robinson

Set at Berkeley Repertory Theatre

From a perch beyond this life, an actor observes as a group of masked people finally return to the courtyard of Berkeley Rep – to the theatre, the place we made to gather, breathe together, and share the stories that remind us of our humanity.

For the Record

by Sean San José

Set at Leopold’s Records on Durant Ave.

Sometimes music becomes indelibly linked to specific memories, invoking the people with whom we shared them. Songs by Isaac Hayes, Peter Tosh, Stevie Wonder, the Doors, the Knight Brothers, and Patti LaBelle conjure a deep friendship, one that began on a hot night in 1986 outside Leopold’s Records.

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Place/Settings: Berkeley is free to 2021 Berkeley Rep 7-Play subscribers and $10 for others. View more information and listen to Place/Settings: Berkeley here.

Has Valentine’s Day caught you by surprise this year? With everything else happening, planning a Valentine’s date may be the last thing on your to-do list. Not to worry—we’ve got three ways you can bring the romance right to your living room. Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet are streaming performances throughout Valentine’s Day weekend so you can share the drama and enchantment of the performing arts with your love at home.

Roméo et Juliette

February 11–15

When you think of iconic romances a few come to mind; Jack and Rose, Wesley and Buttercup, Elizabeth and Mr. Darby, and of course, Romeo and Juliet. Pacific Northwest Ballet presents Jean-Christophe Maillot’s interpretation of the star-crossed lovers’ story. Maillot focuses his ballet on the youthfulness and extreme emotions that the titular characters experience. This beautiful choreography is accompanied by Sergei Prokofiev’s classic score.

We promise you and your partner’s evening will be far from ill-fated.

Purchase tickets here to stream—$29/$39

To Woo: A Shakespeare Valentine

February 12–14

It wouldn’t be a proper Valentine’s Day without the master of love and desire: William Shakespeare. Seattle Shakespeare Company presents a collection of scenes, sonnets and songs from the Bard’s works that will inspire love, joy and romance. Directed by George Mount, Makaela Milburn and Lamar Legend, these selections will be performed by 21 talented artists, many of whom you may recognize from Seattle Shakespeare and other local Seattle performances.    

Register here to stream—free    

The Elixir of Love

February 12–14

Back by popular demand, Seattle Opera presents this romantic comedy for a second time after its resounding success in November 2020. With music by Gaetano Donizetti and a libretto by Felice Romani, The Elixir of Love tells the age-old story of a man going to extreme lengths to win the heart of his love. Naive Nemorino purchases a “love potion” from a shady source to use on Adina, and somehow it works! Enjoy this staging designed specifically for streaming at home, where you can sing along—if you know Italian, that is.

Purchase tickets here to stream—$35

This month enjoy Black history, Black arts, Black artists, and Black heritage through a virtual or drive-in event. We have compiled a few opportunities throughout Black History Month to get involved. Don’t forget to follow these organizations and artists to learn about future events and to stay involved in Black-focused arts year-round; the importance of Black voices is not prescribed to one month.

August Wilson Reading Challenge

February 2021

Celebrate Black History Month with Seattle Rep by joining the August Wilson Reading Challenge. To ramp up for the 11th annual August Wilson Monologue Challenge, Seattle Rep is inviting the community to read all 10 plays in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle during February. Get involved by sharing your inspiration for participation and why Wilson’s works are important to you.

Beginning on February 12, Seattle Rep will host virtual book club meetings to delve deeper into the Century Cycle and discuss the plays with others. 

Learn more about the event and where to find the plays here. 

African Dance Class

Ongoing

Join a class this month with Gansango Music & Dance. Every Monday and Wednesday at 10 a.m. or Fridays at 7 p.m., you can join an online class with Etienne Cakpo where you will learn contemporary African dance and traditional dance from Benin. All levels are welcome!

Register for a class here.

Sites of Power

Ongoing 

“Sites of Power”is the latest Black Imagination exhibition-slash-experience co-created in community to center and amplify the resonance of intersectional Black voices. Viral conceptual artist, Natasha Marin, led the evocative iteration of this on-going project with award-winning director, Jay O’Leary Woods. Including living testimonies, audio files, videos, and visual art, there is plenty here to enjoy.

Listen, watch and imagine with the online exhibit here.

A Night at the Opera: Celebrating Black Voices

February 13 at 6:30 p.m.

Northwest African American Museum and Seattle Opera present a live, drive-in event at the Museum of Flight. The event will present contemporary Black singers, ranging from soprano to baritone, performing pieces that highlight and celebrate Black history. Performers include Frederick Ballentine, Damien Geter, Jasmine Habersham and Jorell Williams.

Purchase tickets for the event here.

Charcoal, Wood, and Metal: Charmaine Lurch’s “Being, Belonging and Grace”

February 16 at 12 p.m.

Wa Na Wari presents a virtual lecture by Katherine McKittrick, Professor of Gender Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Drawing on Sylvia Wynter’s “rethinking aesthetics” and Andrea Fatona’s “undulating depths of fields,” this paper will theorize the charcoal drawings of visual artist Charmaine Lurch as unwieldy and provisional moments of joy. Rather than exalting Black joy, the paper will demonstrate how Lurch’s aesthetic decisions visually gesture blackness as a location of entanglement, one that captures brief moments of happiness—relief, actually—and nests them within the broader context of racial violence, colonialism and extraction.

Learn more about the event and join here.

Black Theatre Beyond the Politics of Representation

February 23 at 5 p.m.

Intiman Theatre presents a Black History Month virtual conversation with Stacie McCormick, PhD and Wind Dell Woods, MFA/PhD, hosted by Jasmine Jamillah Mahmoud, PhD. Discussing questions such as, what are the tensions embedded in the politics of representation for Black theatre artists? How can Black theatre become a liberatory space that pierces the veneer of how blackness gets to be represented on stage?

Register for the event here.

When History is Your Story

February 24 at 6:30 p.m.

Co-presented by the Black Heritage Society of Washington State and MOHAI, this virtual event features places, people and legacies shared by community members Eddie Rye, Ryan Donaldson, and Chardonnay Beaver. Hear stories of how moments have impacted their lives as they answer the question: how does history shape who you are?

Register for the free event here. 

Truth & Meaning at Play: The Work of a Contemporary Dramaturg

February 26 at 5:30 p.m.

Cal Shakes Resident Dramaturg Phillipa Kelly speaks with Dr. Martine Kei Green-Rogers in this virtual series. Green-Rogers will describe how she and director Ron OJ Parson have approached the staging of August Wilson’s plays. In the same spirit of Wilson pushing the truths (the good and the bad) of the Black experience into a larger limelight until the day he died, Green-Rogers will discuss how her work on Wilson’s canon at the Court Theatre with Parson resists, complicates, and exposes the patterns of oppression that Black people in the U.S. experience while also celebrating the joy that is being Black in the U.S.

Register for the event here.

Call & Response

February 28 at 4 p.m.

Living Jazz presents a unique series of intimate conversations featuring some of the world’s most iconic jazz musicians. This event focuses on the role of the artist as a catalyst for change with Grammy award-winning bassist Christian McBride.

Moderated by Andre Kimo Stone Guess, McBride will speak candidly about the inspiration behind their music, their struggles and victories, what it means to be an artist during these challenging times, and what the future holds for the music industry. The virtual event will include a question-and-answer segment with audience participation.  

Register for the event here.

In an upcoming virtual event on February 4, artist Anastacia-Renee will lead a discussion that explores how Artist Trust “and other artist-serving organizations interrupt white supremacy”.

As many of us meet the new year with equal measures of renewed hope and lingering trepidation, Artist Trust is welcoming it, and you, with opportunities for improvement and change. On February 4, Artist Trust will hold Community Conversation: Racial Equity, the second in a virtual event series. Anastacia-Renee will be joined by Washington artists Raleigh Hawthrone, Emma Noyes, Elisheba Johnson and Che Sehyun to discuss how organizations that serve the artistic community can combat racism and white supremacy. The conversation will be followed by a question-and-answer session with attendees.   

This community event is part of Artist Trust’s larger undertaking to dismantle racial inequity for people of color in artist-focused organizations, including their own. In July 2020, Artist Trust was urged by the community to confront the institutional racism and white supremacy within their own organization. Other steps include hiring a racial equity consultant to review the organization’s programs, resources, development, communications and operations, and creating a new Racial Equity Committee. All with the goal of igniting a cultural change within Artist Trust and their donors, volunteers, artists and partner organizations.

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Community Conversation: Racial Equity will be held on Thursday, February 4, 2021 at 5 to 6:15 p.m. You can RSVP for the free event and learn more about the discussion leaders here.

Museums are the corner stone of culture in our region, ranging from fine art to anthropology to culture. Due to the severe impact of COVID-19 and the extended closure of museums, it is important that we embrace and re-engage with these cultural organizations.

Encore partnered with ArtsFund, 4Culture and local museums to create The Museum Guide to help educate, engage and safely invite patrons back into museums. As a cooperative marketing effort, The Museum Guide was mailed to museum members and patrons across the Puget Sound region promoting upcoming exhibits, event—both in-person and virtual, and new entry processes to keep all visitors safe.

Enjoy reading The Museum Guide to help you plan a visit to a museum in the coming weeks and months. Join us in saying ‘Welcome Back’ to our cultural community!

The Digital Beethoven Fest will take place June 22–26 and will include panel discussions, performances, and family programming to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday. 

Last year—before any of us had heard of the Corona virus—Seattle Symphony announced that they would be celebrating Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday with a festival. Originally planned to take place over three weeks this month, the festival would highlight all nine symphonies performed by the orchestra, as well as music created, inspired and performed by the community. 

The Beethoven Festival performances and events have, of course, been canceled as a result of COVID-19. However, the Seattle Symphony has announced that they will be presenting a Digital Beethoven Fest instead. The Symphony, led by Music Director Thomas Dausgaard, will offer hosted panel discussions with orchestra musicians and local artists and composers; the family program, Tiny Tots; and special Morning Notes performances throughout the week by members of the orchestra and partner artists.

All performances and programs will be available through Seattle Symphony’s  YouTube channel. 

Festival Schedule

Hosted Panel Discussion: Thomas Dausgaard & Paul Chiyokten Wagner

Monday, June 22, at 2 p.m. 

Hosted Panel Discussion: Angelique Poteat, Megan McCormick & Christine Siegert

Wednesday, June 24 at 2 p.m.

Family Programming: Tiny Clips for Tiny Tots Beethoven’s Birthday

Friday, June 26 at 11 a.m.

Hosted Panel Discussion: Charles Corey & Mary Lynch

Friday, June 26 at 2 p.m. 

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More information can be found on Seattle Symphony’s website.