Once Again the Times Skims Seattle’s Surface and Gets it Wrong

I promised myself and you, gentle readers, that Just Wrought was moving on from being a Seattle theatre bitch blog, so I am asking you to help a homey out and chime in below in the comments section to educate The New York Times and Intiman’s Artistic Director, Andrew Russell, about why his statement in that paper’s recent article on the Intiman’s Summer Festival is so woefully ignorant. The condescending carpet-bagging quote in question: “Few theaters in Seattle have ambitious summer shows.” 

Here, I’ll prime the pump: every summer Balagan Theatre develops a brand new, original locally grown children’s show and puts it on free in Seattle parks. I had the immense pleasure of participating in the 2011 offering, King Arthur and the Knights of the Playground.

That’s just one example pulled from the myriad of amazing ambitious work getting done here each summer. Now you add one.

And seriously, New York Times, if you want to know what’s happening in Seattle, get on a plane and get out here.  Your breezy phone interviews with Big House wannabe auteurs just don’t cut it anymore. And if your shrinking budget doesn’t allow for that sort of quality reportage, then do us a favor and STFU about Seattle theatre, ‘cuz ya know what? We don’t care what you think.

I'm am striking the above paragraph out, as it is based on my eroneous assumption. The fact is, the Times reporter did fly out to research this story. (Thank you, Brendan Kiley, for setting me straight.)  I could wish that Mr. Healy had taken the time to investigate how rich and ambitious the Seattle theatre scene really is in the Summer (and every other season), but you know what they say about wishing.

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Paul Mullin on the NYT on Intiman

Comments

[Paul Mullin]

Some folks are responding over at Face Book, like my good friend Ed Hawkins:

"THE RING cycle isn't really that ambitions..."

[Erin Brindley]

Acrobatic Cunundrum's "The Way Out" which combines serious circus arts, breakdancing, modern dance, original music, and narrative is pretty safe and frankly lazy. Har har.

[Shannon Campbell]

Last summer ACT did "The Pinter Festival" which included full productions and runs of 4 different Pinter plays...I'd say that is pretty ambitious.

[Keith Dahlgren]

Okay, here you go Paul: Wooden O: Two free Shakespeare in the Park shows all over King County. 20th year of operation.

[Davidshogan]

Outdoor theatre companies that produce Shakespeare's plays - Greenstage, Wooden O Theatre, etc. - and have been doing so for 20+ years = ambition.

[Patrick Lennon]

The Seattle Outdoor Theatre Festival is two days of morning-til-night theatre in the park presented by EIGHT different companies. Almost all of whom run their shows all summer long throughout the region.

Village Theatre's Festival of New Musicals springs to mind as an awfully ambitious summer project that is also a springboard to ambitious productions in the future.

The Clockwork Professor is a world premiere by a local playwright.

There's too much ambitious theatre in Seattle in the summer to list. Although I pretty much despise the word "ambitious" in the way it is being used here...

[Keith Dahlgren]

Illyria, a musical adaptation of 12rth Night, at taproot Theatre. Ambitious enough to sell out.

[Patrick Lennon]

Thoughts Experiments on the Question of Being Human paired four local playwrights with four local scientists and had them write four new short plays ruminating on the theme "Robots and AI" and how technology and humanity interact. It was one of *several* new play festivals that happened in a single weekend in June.

[Keith Dahlgren]

Rapture, Blister, Burn at ACT. ACT alone could destroy all vestiges of a "slow time" in the summer.

[Patrick Lennon]

Sound Theatre Company is producing the Seattle premiere of Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, their biggest and most ambitious production in their 7 year history.

[Keith Dahlgren]

Again, I'm less concerned about what the NYT thinks than the comments themselves. I feel like the parent who is trying to tell his child, "You don't need to care what Susie the popular kid thinks of you. You need to care what YOU think of you."

[Shannon Campbell]

Azeotrope is opening "Gruesome Playground Injuries" this weekend at the Little Theatre.

[Shannon Campbell]

Arts on the Waterfront is doing "Waiting For Godot" this summer.

[Patrick Lennon]

I'm with Keith. What the NYT thinks of us is less appalling than the fact that this is how Intiman's AD thinks of the city he works in. If you asked Jerry Manning, Kurt Beattie, or David Armstrong a similar question, you'd get very different answers.

[Shannon Campbell]

On The Boards has the Northwest New Works Festival every summer.

[Rik Deskin]

Eclectic Theater just had a whole month of activity until Sunday and we have Midnight Mystery Theater Friday night.

[Paul Mullin]

Mickey Rowe had some trouble posting to the comments so he asked me to post this on his behalf:

I have total respect for Intiman and Andrew. I'm sure they must have misquoted him. He is far to smart to have said something like that, alienating the entire rest of his city. An artistic directors job is to help make the city love your theater, and Andrew knows that.

As a frequent employee at Seattle Opera, I can say that their RING CYCLE is huge and deserves all the international attention it gets.

My personal example is Arts on the Waterfront.

We were called, “Wickedly entertaining. . . ingenious” by the Stranger, “Recalling the great Shakespeare director Peter Brooks. . . Unmistakably Alive” by the Seattle Times, “Pier Pleasure” by Seattle Magazine, "Stunning" by Pipeline, and more.

www.artsonthewaterfront.com/press/

www.artsonthewaterfront.com/on-stage/

We did not charge for tickets and had a budget 1/1,000th the size. With out masses of unpaid interns and we managed to raise a lot of money for charity. We raised nearly four times our production cost in donations last year for The Trevor Project http://www.thetrevorproject.org/ for our very ambitious two actor, one cellist, Romeo and Juliet on the Waterfront where we did the entire story of Romeo and Juliet with one male and one female actor playing all the parts, and still letting it feel totally accessible and completely enjoyable to everyone in the general public. Links to the full articles in Seattle can be seen on our website.

This year we are raising money for Teen Feed http://www.teenfeed.org/ and working with Sanctuary Arts Center to provide our lobby art while creating a Waiting for Godot dealing with economic depression.

We would be happy to answer any questions, and can be reached at 206-954-6568.

[Keith Dahlgren]

14 plays in 48 hours. Can't forget 14/48.

[Keith Dahlgren]

Seattle Public Theater: 8 Youth shows plus half a dozen camps for kids. No ambition there.

[Paul Mullin]

SOAPFest. Four world premiere plays by Seattle playwrights developed and fully produced by professional actors, designers, directors and producers. First ever offering this year, but surely more to come.

http://soapfest.org/

Perhaps the problem is that Intiman doesn't understand the meaning of "ambitious."

[Pamela Carter]

Friday saw Maggie Lee's premier, The Clockwork Professor, a steampunk Pork Filled production. Last nigth saw Wooden O's Tempest. I've seen Paul Scofield as Prospero. Amy Thone was better. This was a new interpretation--three actors splitting Ariel, sisters as primaries, Prospero's final speech as an ensemble. it was brilliant, summery, ambitious. So many overlapping shows, it's hard to even see things by friends!

[Noah Benezra]

I guess I don't get what the hubbub is all about? He said “Few theaters in Seattle have ambitious summer shows" not "Zero theater's in Seattle have ambitious summer shows." I think that these comments have pointed out ambitious theater work being done during the summer. I don't think anyone is saying that good summer theater in Seattle is non-existent. But, the summers are generally slower times for producing theater in Seattle. which Andrew addresses in the next sentence by saying "Having a summer repertory festival seemed unique, and a way to give work to artists during a slow time.” We should also be thinking of designers when we're talking about summer productions. The glut of outdoor theater means less money is out there for designers and stage crews. So yes there's stuff going on. We all know there's stuff going on. There's just less stuff going on. Why is that a "condescending" thing to say?

[Paul Mullin]

Noah, I wouldn't even agree that there's less stuff going on. Try booking a venue in the summer. It ain't like it's any easier.

I know, I know, I'm hypersensitive to Intiman issues, but it ain't like they haven't bought that with years of bad blood, tone-deafness and flat out prevarication.

Or are we supposed to forget that because, hey, the New York Times is talking about them. The NYT knows bupkis about what went down in this town with that theatre.

But you know what? I'm happy to let it go, mostly because I'm letting it ALL go. I wrote this post at the request of others. A last hurrah, as it were. From now on, others will have to write their own posts, or go back to bitching in bars.