Seattle Times 2014 Footlight Awards

Seattle Times critic Misha Berson just dropped her annual year-end list of the highlights (and lowlights) of 2014's Seattle-area theatre season. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Invisible Hand were both recognized as "Top Main Stage Plays," and the set for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was also singled out in the category of "Dazzling Designs." 

Pamela Reed, R. Hamilton Wright (both from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) and Elijah Alexander (The Invisible Hand) were all award winners in the category of "Great Performances" and The Invisible Hand's Conor Toms was rightfully called the "hardest working guy in Seattle Theatre."

Congratulations to everyone recognized! 

Read the whole Footlights Award list here. 

Peggy Piacenza's Touch Me Here

The show is already closed and the scenery struck and stored, but by all accounts Seattle dancer and choreographer Peggy Piacenza's solo performance piece Touch Me Here was a great success.  In the preview article in Seattle Dances,  Melody Datz Hansen writes:

Peggy Piacenza’s new solo work, Touch Me Here, opens this Thursday, November 20, under the crumbling balconies of Seattle’s Washington Hall. Jimi Hendrix once played here, and Billie Holiday, but some of the windows are now boarded up and giant chunks of plaster have fallen from the intricately carved moldings. For Touch Me Here, the stage is dark and the audience sits in a half-moon configuration facing the side of the theater. Piacenza stands on a brightly polished wooden dance floor, dressed in a wildly-patterned floral jacket and bright pink stilettos, her head topped with a bobbed wig and fingers caressing an unlit cigarette. Despite the disguise, the venue, choreography, music, and narratives in Touch Me Here are essential Piacenza, and her performance imparts a personal history and ethos as naked as the hall around her.

Read the whole preview here, as well as Ciara McCormick's review, and take a look at the video preview and some production photos of the set and performance below:

Elf goes East for the Holidays

My scenic design for the 5th Avenue Theatre's 2012 Seattle production of the musical ELF has been working its way across the country, one holiday season at a time.  In 2013, the set appeared at Houston's Theatre Under the Stars, and this year the show re-opens with its original director, Eric Ankrim, at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse. You can click here to see the lovely spread of production photos at Broadwayworld.com as well as clicking here to purchase tickets and to get further info about the production from the Paper Mill.

(Follow up edit: It is always satisfying to see your name in a New York Times review... )

A Final Look at Seattle's The Invisible Hand

The Invisible Hand has now closed in Seattle, but will be moving down to Artist's Repertory Theatre in Portland, Oregon in the spring. In the meantime, here's a look at a gallery some of my production shots from the ACT run. Clothes are by Rose Pederson, lighting is by Kristeen Crosser, and direction by Allen Nause.

Across the board raves for ACT's Invisible Hand

"The Invisible Hand is already in the running to be one of the most memorable shows of the season." says Brenden Kiley in The Stranger.

"There are moments, Dear Reader, when you can encounter a work that can completely revitalize your love of good theater. Such was a moment for me the other night when I was lucky enough to catch ACT's production of The Invisible Hand"  writes Jay Irwin of Broadway World.

"Three men. One room. A stack of virtual money. Amazing how they can add up to a gripping tale that is so much more than the sum of its parts." raves Seattle Times reviewer Misha Bearson.

And from Seattle Actor's Jerry Kraft: "I cannot recommend The Invisible Hand highly enough. We are each every character in this play, and their world is our world, as well. The physical production is attractive and thoroughly appropriate, and the direction is as tight and resonant as the drumhead of the story. Don’t miss this show. If you ever find yourself wondering what importance the theater can have in our complex, technological and politically volatile world, this play will remind you that life is about the people who live it. You need to meet these four men so that you’ll better recognize them in your mirror."

Catch it before it closes September 28th! 

Press Photos released for The Invisible Hand

A series of pre-production photos have just been released for ACT's upcoming production of Ayad Ahktar's The Invisible Hand, and while they weren't taken on the real set, the images definitely capture the feeling of the isolated detention cell setting quite well.  

Photos are by Tim Durken. The Invisible Hand heads into technical rehearsals at Seattle's ACT Theatre next week.

UW Scenic Designer Roundtable

From the University of Washington School of Drama's Blog comes this transcript from a scenic designer roundtable that I recently participated in:

"Every student in the MFA Design program takes a quarter to do a professional internship. Some students choose to work outside Seattle, but many remain in town. For Julia Welch and Jared Roberts, scenic designer students graduating spring 2015, they chose to stay in Seattle and have been working with UW alums Matthew Smucker (MFA ’02) and Jennifer Zeyl (MFA ’03), respectively.

The designers all agreed to sit down to chat about their projects, the internship experience, and their time at UW. It turned into a conversation that included discussion about director-designer dynamics and the shift in visual training brought on by the insurgence of digital media. Some highlights from the chat are excerpted here."

Read more at the School of Drama's site, and look for additional UW Drama news and info here.

And the Gregory goes to...

Theatre Puget Sound's annual Gregory Awards nominations are being revealed throughout this week, and Seattle Rep's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is up for an award in the Outstanding Scenic Design category! Read more here and follow along as nominations are made public daily on the Gregory Awards Facebook page.

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(Update: At the end of the week, nominations for the show include Outstanding Production, Oustanding Direction, Outstanding Actress, and Outstanding Actor! Congratulations all!)