We’ve got six feisty exes, an inspiring civil rights leader, and one pretty woman. Check out some of the accessible performances happening this month in the San Francisco Bay Area.
This March, get to know the six wives of Henry VIII like never before in SIX at Broadway San Francisco; get inspired with Fannie:The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer at TheatreWorks; and don’t make a big mistake—huge—by missing Pretty Woman: The Musical at Broadway San Jose. You can see all these shows this March with audio described, open captioned, and ASL performances available.
SIX
Broadway San Francisco
From Tudor Queens to Pop Icons, the SIX wives of Henry VIII take the microphone to remix five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a Euphoric Celebration of 21st century girl power! This new original musical is the global sensation that everyone is losing their head over!
“To hope is to vote!” Famed activist and civil rights hero Fannie Lou Hamer makes this impassioned rally cry, reminding us that change begins with just one voice. Tracing her steps from sharecropper to activist to political candidate, Fannie takes audiences on a gospel-filled journey of justice and self-determination, inspiring every American to rise up and fight for the vital issues of our time. Featuring a live band and the return of Greta Oglesby, star of last season’s critically-acclaimed Gem of the Ocean!
Pretty Woman: The Musical, based on one of Hollywood’s most beloved romantic stories of all time, springs to life with a powerhouse creative team led by two-time Tony Award®-winning director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray, Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde).
Brought to the stage by lead producer Paula Wagner, Pretty Woman: The Musical features an original score by Grammy® winner Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance (“Summer of ’69”, “Heaven”), and a book by the movie’s legendary director Garry Marshall and screenwriter J. F. Lawton. Pretty Woman: The Musical will lift your spirits and light up your heart. “If you love the movie, you’ll love the musical!” (BuzzFeed News).
We’ve got musicals, we’ve got drama, we’ve even got Gene Kelly! Check out this month’s accessible performances in the Greater Seattle Area.
This March, you can lose yourself in a twist on the classic fairytale with Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods at 5th Avenue Theatre; laugh uproariously to the 1491s first ever play, Between Two Knees at Seattle Rep; or get posh with the Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility at Village Theatre. Check out the full list of open captioned, ASL interpreted, audio described, and sensory friendly performances coming to Seattle in March.
Changer: A Hand Telling
Sound Theatre Company
Released last year as a radio play, renowned Deaf storyteller Howie Seago worked with original adapters Fern Naomi Renville and Roger Fernandes to create this first-of-its-kind, sign-language-based film featuring two Deaf Native storytellers. This film takes the original audio and augments it with gorgeous Lower Elwha S’Klallam landscapes and visual storytelling created for the screen.
Seattle Opera World Premiere. Set against Afghanistan’s volatile history, this new opera tells the breathtaking story of Mariam and Laila, two Afghan women. Brought together under the brutal Taliban rule, the bond between Laila and Mariam leads to unthinkable sacrifices, and ultimately, one family’s survival. Based on Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel, this story has captured the hearts of millions including American composer Sheila Silver and librettist Stephen Kitsakos who adapted the novel for the opera stage.
“Happily Ever After” has never been so complicated. That’s what Little Red, a Witch, Cinderella, the Baker, and his wife discover as they invade one another’s stories and find themselves tangled in a web of unexpected consequences. They quickly find this web is too big to untangle on their own and that they must work together to set everything right in the kingdom. Into the Woods reminds us that only together can we defeat the wolves and giants of the world. With a stunning, unforgettable score featuring “No One is Alone,” “Children Will Listen,” and “Giants in the Sky,” this iconic show will enchant, entrance, and delight! A Tony Award-winning Broadway hit and feature film sensation, Into the Woods continues to enthrall theater lovers more than three decades after its creation.
Carmela Full of Wishes is based on the book of the same title by Newbery Medal and Caldecott Honor-winning author Matt de la Peña and illustrator Christian Robinson. When young Carmela wakes up on her birthday, her wish has already come true–she’s finally old enough to join her big brother as he does the family errands! Traveling through their neighborhood, Carmela finds a lone dandelion growing in the pavement. But before she can blow its white fluff away, her brother tells her she has to make a wish. If only she can think of just the right wish to make! Join us for this moving ode to family, dreamers, and to finding hope in the most unexpected places.
The Broadway tour of “Dear Evan Hansen” at Broadway at The Paramount. PHOTO BY EVAN ZIMMERMAN
Dear Evan Hansen
Broadway at The Paramount
A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he’s always wanted: a chance to finally fit in. Dear Evan Hansen is the deeply personal and profoundly contemporary musical about life and the way we live it.
The first play by acclaimed intertribal sketch comedy troupe The 1491s—best known for the hit television series “Reservation Dogs”—takes audiences on a searing and absurdly funny series of vignettes through American history centered on one family’s account of their experiences from the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 to the protests there in 1973.
Music was central to Gene Kelly’s work. It influenced him, inspired him and in many ways, defined him. In 1969, the musical arrangements to many of MGM’s classic films were destroyed. Now with these scores carefully reconstructed, we bring you a remarkable event: Gene Kelly dancing on the big screen accompanied live by the Seattle Symphony! Hosted by Kelly’s wife and biographer, Patricia Ward Kelly, this special Seattle Pops event takes you behind the scenes to share Gene Kelly’s own insights about the making of these enduring works.
With a flirtatious nod to Netflix’s smash hit Bridgerton, our production of this playful new adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Dashwood sisters—sensible Elinor and sensitive Marianne—after their father’s sudden death leaves them financially destitute and socially vulnerable. This classic-modern mashup revisits the 18th-century England of the beloved iconic characters, and layers it with smart comedy and zany antics—all cheekily underscored by a contemporary mix of your favorite pop songs, bringing to life this delightfully indulgent literary masterpiece on Village Theatre’s intimate mainstage.
Snapshot 2023 will present the latest development in new opera. Five completely new and different operas in the making will be exhibited in one showcase. “Expressive, insinuating, full of enigmatic fervor… Each excerpt includes passages that make one intrigued to hear the work at fuller length” said Joshua Kosman from the SF Chronicle.
Snapshot 2023 will take place on March 18 at 7 p.m. at the Hillside Club in Berkeley and on March 19 at 3 p.m. at the Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco. Tickets are now available for purchase.
When Purple Mountains Burn
Three different places, three different times: Ying Ying Chang reads Hansel and Gretel to her young daughter Iris, while the older Iris, now a journalist, learns of the horrors of the Rape of Nanking, and the old Japanese soldier Shiro Azuma recalls his own part in that tragedy.
The Limit of the Sun
A complex relationship develops between the mother of a kidnapped journalist and her son’s young minder, who, after the son’s death in captivity, connects with the mother and is lured into federal custody in the West.
Port City
Set in a post-tech San Francisco, Cal and Gal develop avatars Kal and Qal to explore Port City: where neurological systems are turned into memory maps.
The Morpheus Quartet
Tonight, the musicians of the Morpheus Quartet are perfectly in sync—in their dreams!—as the verbal counterpoint of their subconscious desires yields a surprising kind of bed-chamber music.
L’Autre Moi
1939. Surrealist Claude Cahun, who has just moved into a new home on the Isle of Jersey—in retreat from the rise of Fascism—writes a letter to André Breton. As Claude’s partner Marcel joins in Claude’s reflections, Charlotte, their young local housekeeper, unwittingly intervenes.
The second chapter of Qui Nguyen’s trilogy takes the stage at American Conservatory Theater’s (A.C.T.) Strand Theater March 30–May 7, 2023. Jaime Castañeda will return to the helm after directing the first show in the trilogy, Vietgone.
Following the rousing success of the first installment, Poor Yella Rednecks will reunite audiences with the lovers Tong and Quang and although they are now married, its not quite a fairytale ending. Castañeda draws from rap, leaps into martial arts, and digs deep into his own family journey. Funny, sexy, and subversive, Poor Yella Rednecks confirms Nguyen as a groundbreaking American voice.
“I can’t wait to be back in San Francisco at one of my favorite theaters in the country,” said director Jaime Castañeda. “Set in 1981, class and assimilation intersect to create a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience that feels closer to a live concert event than your average contemporary play.”
Cast
The cast for Poor Yella Rednecks includes (in alphabetical order) Ben Chau-Chiu, Will Dao, Christine Jamlig, Jenny Nguyen Nelson, Amanda Le Nguyen, Jed Parsario, Hyunmin Rhee, and Jomar Tagatac.
Creative Team
Directed by Jaime Castañeda, the creative team for Poor Yella Rednecks includes Tanya Orellana (Scenic Designer), Jessie Amoroso (Costume Designer), Yi Zhao (Lighting Designer), Jake Rodriguez (Sound Designer), Yee Eun Nam (Projection Designer), James Ortiz (Puppet Designer), and Shammy Dee (Composer).
Tickets & Events
Tickets are now available at the box office at 415.749.2228 or online. A.C.T. will also offer a variety of InterACT events as well as accessible performances.
An open captioned performance will be held on April 22 at 2 p.m. At this performance, the dialogue will be displayed on a screen at the front of the stage on house left. To purchase seats in the best viewing section, please use code CAPTION when ordering.
Seattle Opera presents the world premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns, on McCaw Hall’s stage February 25 to March 11, 2023. The new opera, based on the book by Khaled Hosseini, has been years in the making. Hear from the artistic team about how this exceptional new production has come to be made. And get your tickets to see it now!
“The arts remain our most powerful teachers of empathy, and it is my hope that this opera proves not only a beautiful musical journey but also an expression—through the tale of Mariam and Laila—of the collective struggles and sacrifices of Afghan women.”—Khaled Hosseini
DIG IN is a new program announced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s School of Theatre that will give school communities across California digital access to professional theatre performances. The program aims to inspire creativity in the younger generations by providing them access to interactive experiences in the arts community.
There are two elements to DIG IN—the Digital Library and the Virtual Stage. The Digital Library is made up of professionally recorded productions, including works that align directly with California Core Curriculum and CASEL Standards. These recordings will be available to any student in California, along with production programs, resource guides, performance clips, video lessons in arts and humanities, interactive challenges, and career development interviews.
The Virtual Stage will provoke discussion among students with Berkeley Rep’s productions. Students will have the opportunity to create art—music, video, dance, poetry, stories, visual art, theatre pieces—through interactive challenges on the virtual stage and social media.
“Berkeley Rep is committed to our values of innovation, equity, and discovery,” said Tom Parrish, Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s managing director. “DIG IN will provide students and teachers with incredible access to theatrical resources and experiences that can provide entry points for new audiences, tools for artists and students to harness their creative power and build empathy, and curricular support in a variety of subjects.”
The full cast and creative teams have been announced for the Seattle premiere of Between Two Knees, a play by the sketch comedy troupe The 1491s. Obie Award-winner Eric Ting will be directing the show which will run March 3–26, 2023 at the Bagley Wright Theater.
Between Two Kneesis the first play by The 1491s, an intertribal sketch comedy troupe whose credits include the acclaimed TV show Reservation Dogs. Through a series of vignettes, it takes audiences through American history centered around one family’s experiences from the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 to the protest there in 1973.
“Between each glorious bit and slapstick joke is a subversive indictment of America’s particular brand of extractive dominance and a commitment to using comedy to heal, provoke, and transform. In a style that’s both Monty Python and Brechtian Epic Theater, The 1491s have crafted an unforgettable theatrical experience that comes for everyone. No one is safe from the satire,” said Seattle Rep Artistic Producer Kaytlin McIntyre.
Cast
Between Two Knees features performances from Jennifer Bobiwash as Older Irma/Ensemble (TV: The Power; Magnum P.I.; Rutherford Falls), Rachel Crowl as Ensemble (La Jolla Playhouse: As You Like It), Derek Garza as Young Isaiah/Eddie/Ensemble (Studio Theatre: People, Places & Things), Justin Gauthier as Larry (Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Between Two Knees), Shyla Lefner as Young Irma/Irene/Ensemble (Yale Rep: Manahatta), Wotko Long as Older Isaiah/Ensemble (Featured in the documentary This May Be The Last Time), James Ryen as Ensemble (Seattle Rep: Vietgone), and Shaun Taylor-Corbett as William/Ensemble (Second National Tour: Jersey Boys), also credited for Original Choreography.
The cast also includes understudies Irma-Estel Laguerre (Broadway: The King and I), Nikcoma Lee Mahkewa (Discovery+ series Book of Queer), John Scott-Richardson (Film: The Reunion), Kholan Studi (Native Voices at The Autry: They Don’t Talk Back) and Maribel Torres Barragán (Irene Ryan Award double-nominee and semifinalist).
Creative Team
The creative team for Between Two Knees includes The 1491s (Playwrights), Eric Ting (Director), Ty Defoe (Choreographer), Regina García (Scenic Designer), Lux Haac (Costume Designer), Elizabeth Harper (Lighting Designer), Jake Rodriguez (Sound Designer), Shawn Duan (Projection Designer), Younghawk Bautista (Wig and Hair Designer), Julie Felise Dubiner (Production Dramaturg), Stacey Rice, CSA (Casting Director), Rod Kinger (Fight Director), Kelsey Rainwater (Intimacy Director), Liz Hayes (Vocal Coach), R. Réal Vargas Alanis (Associate Director), Amanda Nita Luke-Sayed (Production Stage Manager), and Kevin Jinghong Zhu (Assistant Stage Manager).
San Francisco Opera has announced free, live performances of Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. This abridged version of the fan-favorite opera will be performed this spring at outdoor locations throughout the Bay Area.
La Bohème was the first opera presented by SF Opera 100 years ago and the company is now bringing an altered, intimate one-hour adaptation to modern audiences in a completely new way. To travel across the San Francisco Bay Area, San Francisco Opera will bring the beloved tale of love and loss to the public via a converted shipping container, turned into a portable stage.
Bohème Out of the Box will be directed by Jose Maria Condemi and will be sung in Italian with English dialogue—there will not be supertitles, but a translation of the libretto will be available online. The opera will feature San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellows and guest artists with piano accompaniment.
Bohème Out of the Box will take place March 10–April 2, 2023 at outdoor venues across the Bay Area. Specific performance dates and locations can be found on San Francisco Opera’s website.
History of Theatre: About, By, For, and Near is now playing at ACT Theatre through February 12. The world premiere by playwright Reginald André Jackson is an inventive new play that travels through Seattle’s theatre scene from 1820 to the mid-1930s, exploring Black artists of American history who are often forgotten.
With the host of the show, Sister Blacknall, audiences will meet The Rabbit’s Foot founder Pat Chapelle, creator of the first all-Black touring vaudeville troupe. Actors Ira Aldridge and Rose McClendon will make appearances, as well as members of Seattle’s Negro Repertory Company.
Reviews
“From the first Black theater in the country (in New York) to the Seattle-based Negro Repertory Company, federally funded in the New Deal era of the 1930s, the play adds fresh context to the present state of theater.” — Misha Berson, Crosscut
“Unheard voices are released, forgotten stars are remembered, and a rich legacy is revealed.” — Kelly Rogers Flynt, Broadway World
“When I say that…History of Theatre: About, By, For, and Near…is a ‘must see’ theatre event, it may actually be an understatement.” — Greg Heilman, Heilman and Haver
Views
ACT TheatreACT Theatre
Tickets are now available for purchase online. Please be aware that History of Theatre: About, By, Near and For contains themes, language, and imagery that may affect viewers. For full details, click here.
In conjunction with its upcoming world premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Seattle Opera offers a slate of unique educational and cultural events to celebrate Afghan art, culture, and history, and provide a deeper look into the making of a new opera.
First up is Jashin: A Celebration of Afghan Arts, a cultural festival highlighting the remarkable achievements of Afghan artists. The lineup of events on Saturday, February 11, includes a concert by world-renowned rubab player Homayoun Sakhi, an exhibition of rescued artworks by the artist-activist group ArtLords, the unveiling of an embroidery project created by local Afghan women in partnership with Refugee Artisan Initiative, and a presentation by film director and A Thousand Splendid Suns stage director, Roya Sadat. The event will also feature opportunities to support local Afghan artists and refugees through financial and supply donations.
Jashin offers northwest audiences the chance to learn more about Afghan culture and engage with a community that has recently resettled in western Washington. “Since the American withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer, Washington state has welcomed thousands of Afghan refugees who worked and fought alongside Americans during the decades-long conflict with the Taliban,” said Lokela Alexander Minami, associate director of community engagement. “Despite this, the American public knows little about Afghanistan’s rich and diverse culture. Jashin offers an opportunity to celebrate this culture, and we hope our audiences will come away with an appreciation of contemporary Afghan music and art, as well as an understanding of how they can help support our new Afghan neighbors.”
Other events connected to A Thousand Splendid Suns include an Opera Talk with the creators of the opera, a film screening of director Roya Sadat’s A Letter to the President, a special Community Conversation on International Women’s Day, and a recital from cast member John Moore.
