SGN Jan 19, 2018 - Part 2

Così fan tutte a problematic opera for our times

by Sharon Cumberland SGN Contributing Writer

COSÌ FAN TUTTE

WOLFGANG MOZART

LORENZO DA PONTE

MARION OLIVER MCCAW HALL

January 13 (Opening Night Cast) (Also, 1/24 & 1/27)

Seattle

Seattle Opera is advertising its current production of Così fan tutte as “Mozart’s Opera About Sex.” True enough, but all of Mozart’s operas are about sex, as the preopening night lecturer (University of Washington’s Stephen Rumph) pointed out. Consider the famous seducer of Don Giovanni who has 1,003 conquests in Spain alone;

see COSÌ FAN TUTTE page 5

2018 Academy Award nominations predictions

Expecting big things for Lady Bird , Get Out , Shape of Water and Three Billboards

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer

It can safely be said that predicting the nominees, let alone the eventual winners, of the 90th annual Academy Awards, is as difficult this year as it has ever been. There are

no clear frontrunners like Moonlight and La La Land from last year or Spotlight, The Big Sick and The Revenant in 2016. This isn’t like 2013 where it became a foregone conclusion that Argo was going to sweep

by Miryam Gordon, SGN A&E Writer

TIMON OF ATHENS

SEATTLE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY Through February 4

We all know that Oprah was born dirt poor and achieved the American Dream and is part of the 1%. Maybe some people like her because she’s rich and she’s generous and she might give them a car….. What if she suddenly ran out of money and could no longer

Cyndi Lauper to perform with Rod Stewart this summer at White River Amphitheater

Mary Lambert to appear at Pizza Klatch benefit in Olympia on February 3

by Albert Rodriguez SGN A&E Writer

We’ll have to wait until September, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be worth the wait. ’80s icon Cyndi Lauper is set to appear in concert at White River Amphitheater in late summer, opening for pop legend Rod Stewart. The show, happening on September 1 over the Labor Day Weekend, is part of a second wave of performances by the pair, who began touring together last year to rave reviews. This time around, Lauper and Stewart will visit 22 cities that include Los Angeles, Nashville, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Denver, Phoenix and New York City. Both artists are expected to play some of their biggest hits. For Stewart fans, this means they might hear “Young Turks,” “Maggie May,” “Hot Legs,” “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” “Forever Young” and “Tonight’s the Night.” And for Lauper followers, her set list might include “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” “True Colors,” “Money Changes Everything,” “She Bop,” “All Through the Night,” “Change of Heart” and my personal favorite, “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough.” Tickets are on sale now at www.LiveNation.com, or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Also headed to Seattle this summer is another legendary artist pairing, Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers. Both bands enjoyed successful peaks in their respective careers during the ’70s and ’80s; and the former continued to release original material most recently in 2003 with its ninth and final studio album, Everything Must Go. With the death last year of founding

member Walter Becker and the frequent absence of co-creator Donald Fagen, it isn’t clear who’ll represent Steely Dan when they come to Seattle on June 5, but whoever comprises the group will surely perform some of the acts most widely-known songs, such as “Peg,” “Hey Nineteen,” “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” “Deacon Blues” and “FM (No Static At All).” It’s also unknown which members of the Doobie Brothers will appear at the show, though fans will probably hear a collection of their hits, from “Minute by Minute” and “What a Fool Believes” to “Jesus is Just Alright” and “Real Love.” Tickets are on sale now at www.LiveNation.com, or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Returning to Washington state in two weeks is Grammy-nominated artist Mary Lambert. The out and proud singer-songwriter last visited her hometown around Halloween, when she played at The Crocodile. If you missed her then, or if you want to see her again, she’ll be performing at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Olympia on February 3. Her appearance will help raise funds for Pizza Klatch, a regional organization that fosters resiliency in LGBTQ+ youth and creates a safe, positive school experience through support, education and empowerment. Tickets for the show, which begins on the Main Stage at 7:30pm, are available at www.washingtoncenter.org, or by calling (360) 753-8586; VIP

tickets that include a pre-concert reception are available, too.

Here are more new shows to announce to you: Taylor Bennett (LGBT artist and brother of Chance the Rapper) at Neumos on March 25, Tower of Power (50th Anniversary Tour) at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley on April 5-8, The Breeders at The Showbox SoDo on April 13, Nada Surf (celebrating the 25th anniversary of Let Go) at The Neptune on May 9 and Sugarland with Brandy Clark at the ShoWare Center on June 7.

The Grammy Awards are just two weeks away and while we won’t know until then who’ll be walking away with coveted golden gramophones, it has been confirmed that Kesha, Luis Fonsi with Daddy Yankee, SZA and Bruno Mars with Cardi B will all perform on the broadcast. Additionally, Logic with Alessia Cara and Khalid will be joined by a group of suicide attempt survivors when they collaborate on “1-800-2738255,” a Song of the Year nominee. Look for a Grammy preview in the January 26 issue of the SGN

Finally, I wrote recently that Justin Timberlake was on the brink of unveiling tour dates, and he didn’t wait until the Super Bowl, as expected. Announced a week ago, he’ll open his tour on March 13 in Toronto, but unfortunately he won’t be coming through Seattle, at least not on this leg of the itinerary. The closest to the Northwest that Timberlake will be playing is San Jose on April 24.

Broadway stars Jeremy Jordan and Betsy Wolfe get double standing ovations at Seattle Symphony Pops’ “Broadway Today” concert

by MK Scott SGN Contributing Writer

It was a full house at Benaroya Hall this past Friday, January 12, when not one, but two Broadway stars Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, Bonnie and Clyde, and TV’s “Smash”) and Betsy Wolfe (Bullets Over Broadway, Waitress) teamed up with guest conductor Steven Reineke (from the New York Symphony Pops) for the Seattle Symphony Pop series. The theme this year was “Broadway Today,” and featured songs from hit Broadway shows and revivals from the past 30 years.

The energetic Reineke led the full symphony with Selections from Phantom of the Opera, before introducing their first special

guest, Jeremy Jordan, singing his signature song from Newsies, “Santa Fe.” Betsy Wolfe then joined Jordan on stage for a duet performance of “Falling Slowly” from the Broadway musical, Once. Jordan then left the stage and Wolfe sang “Meadowlark” from the musical, The Baker’s Wife

As Wolfe exited the stage, Reineke led the symphony in Selections from Chicago

Then Wolfe returned to the stage to sing “A Summer from Ohio” from The Last Five Years

Coincidentally, Wolfe starred in the 2013 Off-Broadway production of The Last Five Years and Jordan starred in the 2014 film-adaptation of the same show.

One of the best numbers of the evening happened next with Jordan singing the

comical, “You and Me (But Mostly Me)” from the Book of Mormon with Reineke singing with Jordan. It was a glorious moment.

Jordan and Wolfe then sang “Before and After You/One Second and Million Miles” from The Bridges of Madison County to close the first act.

In Act Two, Reineke led the symphony with “He Lives in You” from Lion King, “Jellicle Ball” from Cats and later Selections from Les Miserables

Wolfe, who just finished a seven and a half month run as the lead in Waitress (the Sara Bareilles hit musical) just a few days earlier, performed “She Used to be Mine” from Waitress and “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret

Jordan performed a powerful “Why God, Why?” from Miss Saigon and “Waving Through a Window” from Dear Evan Hansen (which won the 2017 Tony Award for Best Musical).

Wolfe and Jordan came together again for the finale with “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors, followed by a rocking encore with “Love Me or Leave Me” from Rent

The Seattle Symphony’s “Broadway Today” concert was a very energetic show and it showed what the Seattle Symphony Pops series does best: Fun! Fun! Fun!

MK Scott is a Seattle based blogger. Check out his site at outview.online

Così fan tutte at Seattle Opera mines the work’s complexity

by Alice Bloch SGN Contributing Writer

SEATTLE OPERA

COSÌ FAN TUTTE

WOLFGANG MOZART

LORENZO DA PONTE

MARION OLIVER MCCAW HALL

January 14

(First Sunday Matinee Cast)

(Also, 1/20 & 1/26)

Aidan Lang, now in his fourth season as General Director of Seattle Opera, has instituted a number of changes; one of the most obvious is the elimination of the “Gold and Silver” casting system. Because opera singers perform without amplification, those who are cast in large, difficult roles cannot sing two days in a row. Therefore, Seattle Opera employs two casts to sing at alternate performances. Beginning in the 1980s, singers in the “Gold” cast were those with greater experience and popularity. They sang for opening night and for the KING-FM radio broadcast, and tickets to their performances were more expensive than those to the performances of the “Silver” cast.

Before last season, Lang announced that the two casts would now be of equal caliber, and to reinforce that promise, he changed this season’s schedule so that the second cast would sing in the radio broadcast performance. He also changed the pricing structure to a more equitable one.

After attending performances of both casts in the past several productions, I’m here to say that Lang is keeping his promise. In fact, I found the Sunday matinee performance of Così fan tutte superior to that of opening night (reviewed by Sharon Cumberland, also in this week’s paper). Specifically, soprano Marjukka Tepponen and mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp, as the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, sang more beautifully and were more convincing as sisters than the much-touted actual sisters (Marina and Ginger Costa-Jackson) who played these roles on opening night.

Attending a performance of Così fan tutte is always an uncomfortable experience, because of the tension between Mozart’s heart-melting, gorgeous music and Da Ponte’s cynical, misogynistic libretto. (For more on the cruelty and misogyny of the libretto, see Sharon Cumberland’s review.) This opera is categorized as a comedy, but I see it as a tragicomedy. Guglielmo and Ferrando, each other’s best friends, who are engaged to the two sisters, make a bet with their mentor Don Alfonso, who claims the women will be unfaithful within 24 hours. Alfonso’s sadistic plan is for the two buddies to pretend to be sent off to war. The buddies are then to return in disguise and attempt to seduce the women. Alfonso enlists the help of the women’s worldly servant, Despina, but doesn’t tell her the identity of the new suitors.

Act 1 is mostly fun and games, but in Act 2, everyone gets hurt except Don Alfonso. Nobody dies, but everyone is betrayed by everyone else, and the disillusionment and distress of the four lovers are enormously painful to witness.

Jonathan Miller designed and directed this modern-day production for Seattle Opera in 2006, and it has been updated and revitalized by revival director Harry Fehr. The young men’s disguises now turn them

into hipsters from Portland, with a man bun, tattoo sleeves, the works. Fehr’s direction ratchets up the action and fills Act 1 with slapstick and frenetic movement. The result is an even more uncomfortable experience for the audience than usual – and that’s a good thing. We’re constantly aware of the bitter heartbreak awaiting the four lovers after all their preening and posing, their checking their phones and taking selfies and admiring themselves in the mirror.

Fiordiligi is the most challenging role in this opera, because it demands the ability to jump to the extremes of a huge vocal range. Most sopranos who attempt this role end up sounding harsh and unpleasant, but Tepponen maintained her lustrous tone in every part of her range. She delivered the goods, both vocally and emotionally.

Ben Bliss shone in the nearly as difficult role of Ferrando. His sweet tenor voice sounded lovely and carried well even when he was lying on a pile of pillows during his toughest aria.

Hipp and Michael Adams (Guglielmo) also sang flawlessly and showed their considerable acting skills throughout.

In the crucial but somewhat smaller roles of Don Alfonso and Despina, Kevin Burdette and Laura Tatulescu (who sing these roles in all performances) nearly stole the show. Tatulescu was perfect as the spunky, resentful servant who also turns up disguised as a doctor and a notary. Burdette was a marvel: suave, graceful, and charming, he almost made the audience like the deplorable Don Alfonso, thereby adding another layer of discomfort and complexity. I look forward to Tatulescu’s and Burdette’s performances in Beatrice and Benedict, the next Seattle Opera offering.

Conductor Paul Daniel kept the fine orchestra going at a breezy pace and earned a well-deserved ovation after intermission. The woodwinds and strings sounded spectacular; special praise is due principal flutist Demarre

McGill, oboist Ben Hausmann, clarinetist Emil Khudyev, and bassoonist Paul Rafanelli for their outstanding solo work. Jonathan Dean outdid himself with apt, colloquial English captions. My favorite: when the men first show up in disguise as

wild and crazy hipsters, Guglielmo greets Despina with a line translated as “What’s shaking, righteous queen?”

A lot’s shaking at McCaw Hall this month, and I’m glad I didn’t miss it.

the bored aristocrat who tries to seduce Figaro’s fiancée in The Marriage of Figaro, Tammino and Tamina in The Magic Flute who walk through fire in an attempt to find happiness; or Abduction from the Seraglio in which two lovers try to steal their girlfriends from the Pasha’s harem º and so on, throughout many of Mozart’s twenty-two operas.

And Così fan tutte – the second in the trio of collaborations between Mozart and the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte – is no different in its focus on sex, but different in scale. The cast is small, the chorus all but invisible, and the somewhat claustrophobic focus is on a pair of lovers whose lives are re-routed by a cynical older man who wants to prove that women are incapable of fidelity. The music is fabulous, of course – did Mozart ever write a wrong note? – and Englishman Paul Daniel made his conducting debut at Seattle Opera to the cheers of his appreciative opening night audience. The sets are minimalist but gorgeous – pastel drapes, with heaps of pillows on the floor into which the lovers dive, roll, collapse, and fling one another – as well as stylish, contemporary costumes that strike the perfect note of elegance and humor. It’s sexy, all right – especially since the entire cast is either beautiful or handsome. The girls wear chic high heels and have flowing locks down to their waists. The boys look great in suits, jeans, and bomber jackets. Even the cynical Don Alfonso, a slightly older man, has power-suited elegance and a badass shaved head.

This modernized production originated in London at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It was devised and designed by Jonathan Miller, the Renaissance man whose re-thinking of everything from Shakespeare to Alice in Wonderland has revolutionized theater over the past fifty years. By bringing Mozart’s eighteenthcentury opera into the present Miller demonstrated the idea that things never change: girls are fickle and as changeable as the moon. Da Ponte’s title, Così fan tutte translates as “All women are like that.” He and Mozart considered this opera a comedy and it does, indeed, have many funny moments. We never find out why Don Alfonso is so convinced that women are faithless, but he bets two young men, Ferrando and Gugliemo, that their “promesi sposi” or fiancées – a pair of lively sisters – will betray them if given the opportunity. The boys protest but accept the bet and agree to participate in Don Alfonso’s scheme to trick the girls

into believing their lovers are being conscripted, when in fact they disguise themselves as “Albanians” and return to woo their lovers into betraying their vows. The comedy thickens when each of the sisters falls for the other’s fiancée.

The staging is clever and the audience laughed all the way through, but the story itself is as barbed as fishhook in a cactus on a fence in Montana. The only way a meanspirited story can have a happy ending is if everyone forgives and forgets, and in Da Ponte’s original libretto, that’s what happens. But really – how can you forget that your sister had sex with your future husband? Or that you threw your fiancée over in less than a day? In this modern version the lovers can’t forget.

The first time I saw this production at Seattle Opera in 2006, the ending was ambiguous – did they forgive each other? Did they switch partners? Did they go back to their original lovers? The curtain came down on the four standing in a square gaping back and forth at each other in unresolved confusion. I was disappointed in that ending and hoped for a change in this revival – and stage director Harry Fehr gave us that change. No spoilers, but the

ending is no longer ambiguous (though it may not be the Disney ending we were hoping for).

This story of lovers who are set-up for failure may not have been a barrel of laughs even in Mozart’s time, as an essay on the Covent Garden website explains: “Unlike the other two Da Ponte operas [Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro], Così’s reception has always been more complex, with the opera variously considered immoral, unfinished, cruel or simply odd since its 1790 premiere, but it’s now finally accepted as one of Mozart’s masterpieces.” I buy that last statement – it contains passages that are truly among Mozart’s most beautiful compositions. But I’m not sure it’s Da Ponte’s masterpiece. The idea of testing a lover’s faithfulness is an ancient literary theme – Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, for instance, or, going back to medieval times, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. But the lovers in those stories were faithful, and the legends extol virtue and constancy rather than betrayal of trust. Though Da Ponte’s libretto is cynical and even cruel, in the twenty-first century (and with a pussy-grabbing president in the White House) Così is a very modern story, and looks perfectly

natural in this updated presentation.

Yet in spite of the edgy plot and somewhat uncomfortable ending, this production has many charms, one of which is that the two sisters at the center of the story, Flordiligi and Dorabella, were performed on opening night by two real-life sisters, Marina and Ginger Costa-Jackson. What are the chances that there would be two beautiful young opera singers in the same family – one a soprano and one a mezzosoprano – who could take on these very challenging roles with such aplomb? Their real-life sisterhood added depth to an already complex story. The Costa-Jackson sisters not only sang with soaring confidence, but their interactions – teasing, pouting, holding hands, commiserating – had a natural conviction that was quite moving. The two men, Finnish tenor Tuommas Katajala making his Seattle Opera debut as Ferrando and baritone Craig Verm sang with passionate conviction, whether defending their fiancées, pretending to be “Albanians,” or reeling with despair and anxiety. Kevin Burdette as the sly and despicable Don Alfonso was deceptively charming, like the devil with a particularly juicy apple on offer.

I applaud Seattle Opera for bringing this superlative production of Mozart’s opera to the stage, but I left wondering if Così fan tutte is right for our historical moment. This Saturday is the Womxn’s March 2.0, which I hope will be as impactful as the last march almost a year ago, when a massive number of women showed up in Seattle and across the globe to protest the appalling fact that a self-confessed sex abuser won the White House with lies and skullduggery against a female candidate. One reason that men like Donald Trump get away with their crimes is because so many people – some types of men and some women with what critic bell hooks describes as “colonized minds” –believe that women are unreliable, changeable, flighty, easily led astray, and not to be trusted unless they conform to a masculinist world view. Da Ponte did not tell us Così fan tutte – Everyone is like that – but only that tutte – all women – are like that. I know, and you know, that it’s one of those old lies that needs to be put to rest for the world to move forward.

I hope everyone reading this will see Seattle Opera’s Così fan tutte and then tell me if they think it’s time to give this opera a rest or if I am being an over-zealous feminist who would suppress a great work of art because of a political moment. (You can contact me via the SGN at sgn2@sgn.org) It’s a tough call – like the last scene of the opera.

Così fan tutte is playing at McCaw Hall through January 27.

GYPSY NOMS

by Miryam Gordon

SGN A&E Writer

Members of Seattle’s critics group, Seattle Theater Writers, announce the nominees of excellence in Seattle theatrical productions. This year’s nominee favorites include Ragtime from the 5th Avenue Theatre, Hoodoo Love from Sound Theatre Company, Lydia from Strawberry Theatre Workshop and Teh Internet Is Serious Business by Washington Ensemble Theatre, with multiple nominations each.

Spanning dozens of theater companies and productions, from large and prominent to small and humble, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor the excellence found in as much professional theater as we reviewers can attend in a year. Named in honor of the famed theater entrepreneur and Seattle native, Gypsy Rose Lee, and in a nod to the vast numbers of theater practitioners forced to travel the country to earn their living, the Gypsys seek to acknowledge the excellence of the Seattle theater community.

The winners will be announced January 26, 2018.

And so without further ado, arranged in 33 categories in two divisions (Large Theaters and Small Theaters), the 2017 Gypsy Rose Lee Award Nominees are (by category, in alpha order by name):

EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION OF A PLAY:

(Large Theaters):

Barbecue – Intiman Theatre

Bring Down The House Parts 1 & 2 –Seattle Shakespeare Company/upstart crow collective

Blues for Mister Charlie – The Williams Project

Lydia – Strawberry Theatre Workshop

The Crucible – ACT Theatre

(Small Theaters):

Downstairs – Theatre22

Greensward – MAP Theatre

Hoodoo Love – Sound Theatre Company/ The Hansberry Project

Scary Mary and the Nightmare Nine –Annex Theatre

Teh Internet Is Serious Business – Washington Ensemble Theatre

EXCELLENCE IN

PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL:

Dreamgirls – Village Theatre

Newsies – Village Theatre

Persuasion – Taproot Theatre

Ragtime – 5th Avenue Theatre

The Pajama Game – 5th Avenue Theatre

EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTION OF A PLAY: (Large Theaters):

Sheila Daniels – Lydia (Strawberry Theatre Workshop)

Rosa Joshi – Bring Down the House Parts 1 & 2 (Seattle Shakespeare Company/upstart crow collective)

John Langs – The Crucible (ACT Theatre)

Malika Oyetimein – Barbecue (Intiman Theatre)

Ryan Purcell – Blues for Mr. Charlie (The Williams Project) (Small Theaters):

Julie Beckman – Downstairs (Theatre22)

Eddie DeHais – Scary Mary and the Nightmare Nine (Annex Theatre)

Malika Oyetimein – Hoodoo Love (Sound Theatre Company/The Hansberry Project)

Bobbin Ramsey – Wellesley Girl (The Horse in Motion)

Wayne Rawley – Teh Internet Is Serious Business (Washington Ensemble Theatre)

EXCELLENCE IN

DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL:

Bill Berry – The Pajama Game (5th Avenue Theatre)

Peter Rothstein – Ragtime (5th Avenue Theatre)

Steve Tomkins – Dreamgirls (Village Theatre)

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY AS A LEAD ACTOR (MALE): (Large Theaters):

Joshua Castille – Tribes (ACT Theatre)

Craig MacArthur – (IM)Pulse (Spectrum Dance Theater)

Timothy McCuen Piggee – The Legend of Georgia McBride (ACT Theatre)

Brandon J. Simmons – The Cherry Orchard (The Seagull Project)

Michael Winters – Evidence of Things Unseen (Taproot Theatre) (Small Theaters):

Peter Crook – Frozen (ArtsWest)

Tim Gouran – Building the Wall (Azeotrope)

Tim Gouran – Burn This (Theatre22)

Richard Gray – The Nance (ArtsWest)

Brandon Ryan – Downstairs (Theatre22)

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL AS A LEAD ACTOR (MALE):

Joey Barriero – Newsies (Village Theatre)

Joshua Carter – Ragtime (5th Avenue Theatre)

John Devereaux – Dreamgirls (Village Theatre)

Richard Gray – Murder for Two (5th AvenueTheatre/ACT Theatre)

Douglas Lyons – Ragtime (5th Avenue Theatre)

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE IN A PLAY AS A LEAD ACTOR (FEMALE):

(Large Theaters):

Lindsay W. Evans – Tribes (ACT Theatre)

Anastasia Higham – Proof (Strawberry Theatre Workshop)

Nike Imoru – Coriolanus: Fight Like a Bitch (Rebel Kat Productions)

Aishé Keita – I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (Book-It Repertory Theatre)

Mari Nelson – Bring Down The House Parts 1 & 2 (Seattle Shakespeare Company/ upstart crow collective)

Sofía Raquel Sánchez – Lydia (Strawberry Theatre Workshop)

(Small Theaters):

Kiki Abba – No More Sad Things (Forward Flux Productions)

Christine Marie Brown – Downstairs (Theatre22)

Demene E. Hall – Sycorax (Snowflake Avalanche)

Jody Kuehner – Cherdonna’s Doll’s House (Washington Ensemble Theatre)

Porscha Shaw – Hoodoo Love (Sound Theatre Company/The Hansberry Project)

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL AS A LEAD ACTOR (FEMALE): Kendra Kassebaum – Ragtime (5th Avenue Theatre)

Corinna Lapid Munter – Sweeney Todd (ArtsWest)

Mari Nelson – Into the Woods (Village Theatre)

Sara Porkalob – Howl’s Moving Castle (Book-It Repertory Theatre)

Sara Porkalob – Madame Dragon’s 60th Birthday (Cafe Nordo/Sara Porkalob)

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE OF A PLAY AS A SUPPORTING ACTOR (MALE) – ANY NON-LEAD (Large Theaters):

Ronnie Hill – I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (Book-It Repertory Theatre)

Charles Leggett – Proof (Strawberry Theatre Workshop)

Christopher Morson – Room Service (Taproot Theatre)

Brandon O’Neill – Pride and Prejudice (Seattle Repertory Theatre)

Andrew Pryor-Ramírez – Lydia (Strawberry Theatre Workshop) (Small Theaters):

André G. Brown – Hoodoo Love (Sound Theatre Company/The Hansberry Project)

Daniel Christensen – The Secret & Impossible League of the Noösphere in the Baltimore Plot (Live Girls! Theater)

Drew Highlands – The Nance (ArtsWest)

John Q. Smith – Downstairs (Theatre22)

Corey Spruill – Hoodoo Love (Sound Theatre Company/The Hansberry Project)

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE OF A MUSICAL AS A SUPPORTING ACTOR

(MALE) – ANY NON-LEAD:

Greg McCormick Allen – The Pajama Game (5th Avenue Theatre)

Guthrie Bettinger – Newsies (Village Theatre)

John Coons – Howl’s Moving Castle (Book-It Repertory Theatre)

Michael Krenning – Newsies (Village Theatre)

Nathaniel Tenenbaum – Dreamgirls (Village Theatre)

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE OF A PLAY AS A SUPPORTING ACTOR (FEMALE) – ANY NON-LEAD (Large Theaters):

Sunam Ellis – The Realistic Joneses (New Century Theatre Company)

Peggy Gannon – Bring Down The House Parts 1 & 2 (Seattle Shakespeare Company/ upstart crow collective)

Kamaria Harris – Barbecue (Intiman Theatre)

Shaunyce Omar – I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (Book-It Repertory Theatre)

Wendy Robie – Coriolanus: Fight Like A Bitch (Rebel Kat Productions) (Small Theaters):

Eva Abram – Hoodoo Love (Sound Theatre Company/The Hansberry Project)

Megan Ahiers – Money, Take Run (Theater Schmeater)

Nabilah Ahmed – No More Sad Things (Forward Flux Prods.)

Rachel Guyer-Mafune – Teh Internet Is Serious Business (Washington Ensemble Theatre)

Jay O’Leary – Milk Like Sugar (ArtsWest)

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE OF A MUSICAL AS A SUPPORTING ACTOR (FEMALE) – ANY NON-LEAD:

Danyel Fulton – Ragtime (5th Avenue Theatre)

Alexandria Henderson – Dreamgirls (Village Theatre)

Kate Jaeger – Howl’s Moving Castle (Book-It Repertory Theatre)

Lorna Luft – Holiday Inn (5th Avenue Theatre)

Arika Matoba – Into the Woods (Village Theatre)

TIMON OF ATHENS

continued from cover

be generous and it means you will definitely not get the car? Would you dislike her then?

Besides the “born poor” part of above, that is the situation that Shakespeare puts Timon (pronounced Tie-mun) in. Seattle Shakespeare Company is presenting Timon of Athens

Timon thinks that generosity means to give and not to receive. I think a lot of us would agree in general with that sentiment, thinking that to turn generosity into a transaction – I give and then I get – would negate the generous nature of the gift. Timon thinks that by doing this giving, he is cementing his friendships. Then he finds out he’s spent himself into penury and everything is lost.

When Timon goes to his friends to ask for a portion of largesse back, they turn their pockets out and show him they are empty –for him. So Shakespeare has him go to the other extreme, renounce men, hate men, and declare that the riches themselves are the culprit. Even when a small handful of people show Timon that they really do love him, he can’t see it.

Timon is played by Mary Ewald and the play is directed by her husband John Kazanjian. They are a reliable theatrical couple. They’ve been producing theater non-stop here in Seattle for many years, and though many might not have gone to see the tren-

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE AS AN ENSEMBLE: (Large Theaters):

Barbecue – Intiman Theatre (Angel Brice, Macall Gordon, Kamaria Harris, Eryn Joslyn, Lamar Legend, Charles Leggett, Shaunyce Omar, Rachel Pate, Carol Roscoe, Cynthia Lauren Tewes)

Blues for Mister Charlie – The Williams Project (Grant Chapman, Ryan Williams French, Alexis Green, Rafael Jordan, Brenda Joyner, Leicester Landon, Elise LeBreton, Nancy Moricette, Max Rosenak, Reggie D. White)

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings –Book-It Repertory Theatre (Ronnie Hill, Aishé Keita, Lamar Legend, Shaunyce Omar, Chip Sherman, Anthony Lee Sim-

chant work they produced in their storefront theater off E. Union St. – now known as 18th and Union – they have chosen work that allows Ewald’s acting to shine.

In this version, she plays Timon “as” a man, but there are multiple subtle ways that the shift in casting alters the character. A male actor might have chosen to focus on Timon’s lack of inner questioning, bearing straight ahead at “giving” and never heeding his servant’s entreaties to slow down. Here, Ewald’s Timon uses his heart, instead, never allowing himself to believe badly of his friends, even when warned by his servant Flavius (Peter Crook). There’s a difference in motivation.

Often, Shakespeare’s plays have a subplot, and in this subplot, Alcibiades, also cast female with Julie Briskman, is a general who tries to save a soldier condemned to death for drunken debauchery. When he tries to bargain with the Senators and request that the soldier be allowed to die in war, instead, they irately banish him from Athens. Then Alcibiades turns his hate on Athens and works to bring an army from Sparta to attack Athens. Alcibiades is usually an asshole, by history’s portrayal, and might have been more so in this production without the change in casting which made the friendship between Timon and Alcibiades more real. Alcibiades’ change of heart at the end of the play, perhaps in homage to Timon’s generosity, is also tinged with more heart than might usually be present in a production with male casting.

mons, Lindsay Zae Summers, Brennie Tellu, Dedra D. Woods)

Lydia – Strawberry Theatre Workshop (Yadira Duarte, Ray González, Pablo López, Rafael Molina, Carolyn Marie Monroe, Andrew Pryor-Ramírez, Sofía Raquel Sánchez)

The Legend of Georgia McBride – ACT Theatre (Adam Standley, Nastacia Guimont, Timothy McCuen Piggee, Jeff Steitzer, Charles Smith)

(Small Theaters): Downstairs – Theatre22 (Christine Marie Brown, Brandon Ryan, John Q. Smith)

Hoodoo Love – Sound Theatre Company/The Hansberry Project (Eva Abram, André G. Brown, Porscha Shaw, Corey Spruill)

Milk Like Sugar – ArtsWest (Allyson Lee Brown, Andre G. Brown, Marlette Buchannan, Nastacia Guimont, Jay O’Leary, Lindsay Zae Summers, Dimitri Woods) Scary Mary and the Nightmare Nine – Annex Theatre (Kiki Abba, Kai Curtis, Kelly Johnson, Corinne Magin, Jordan Moeller, Emily Pike, Carter Rodriquez, Jenn Ruzumna, Cody Smith, Raymond Williams, Sarah Winsor)

Teh Internet Is Serious Business – Washington Ensemble Theatre (Megan Ahiers, Jeffrey Azevedo, Ian Bond, Stanley Dang, Samie Spring Detzer, Nick Edwards, Rachel Guyer-Mafune, Kevin Kelly, Arjun Pande, Ryan Sanders, Zenaida Smith, Jessie Underhill, Lisa Viertel, Jordan-Michael Whidbey)

see GYPSY NOMS page 15

This play is rarely done, so if one of your buckets included seeing live versions of all of Shakespeare’s play, you should definitely see it. It’s a pretty “talky” play and in some ways not a lot “happens.” But it’s solidly done overall. The supporting cast have to play dozens of people and there isn’t much that differentiates them, so it devalues those characters and leads to thoughts like “then why not cut them out?” The play is short and could be made shorter.

However, one of the pleasures of this

production is the scene between misanthrope Apemantus (played by the venerated Michael Winters) and Timon as they spar over humanity and its worth. Philosophers will love these scenes!

For more information, go to www.seattleshakespeare.com or call 206-733-8222.

Discuss your opinions with SGNcritic@ gmail.com or go to www.facebook.com/SeattleTheaterWriters. More articles can be found at MiryamsTheaterMusings.blogspot.com.

OSCAR NOMS

(especially after the uproar caused by Ben Affleck’s supposed Best Director snub) or 2009 where Slumdog Millionaire steamrolled its way through awards season like an untouchable juggernaut. No, it’s all up in the air this year, and anyone telling you they know what’s going to happen, which films are going to get nominated and which title is eventually going to come out victorious, I’ll bet they’ve also got a bridge in Brooklyn they’d like to sell you for pennies on the dollar.

This doesn’t feel like hyperbole. When nominations are announced Tuesday morning it will surprise no one if Steven Spielberg’s The Post, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name, Jordan Peele’s Get Out, Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water end up with a number of key nods in many of the top categories. Same time, it would also not come as a great shock if one or more of them ends up being all but shut out. There are so many ways things could go, and by my count we’ve got 15 films that could realistically compete for a Best Picture nomination and with another five or six outliers with an outside chance to sneak into the field; and with the possibility of only ten nominees it’s a guarantee some in Hollywood will be waking up Tuesday to disappointing news.

But it’s not just Best Picture that’s a mess. If last year’s Best Actress race was the most competitive in recent history (Amy Adams, a presupposed frontrunner for her performance in Arrival, didn’t receive a nomination), that looks relatively pedestrian and straightforward in comparison to the bloodbath this year’s contenders find themselves submerged within. In any other awards season, Emma Stone (Battle of the Sexes), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Diane Kruger (In the Fade), Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul ), Michelle Williams (All the Money in the World ), Jessica Chastain (Molly’s Game, The Zookeeper’s Wife), Gemma Arterton (Their Finest), Jennifer Lawrence (mother!), Kristin Stewart (Personal Shopper) and Anne Hathaway (Colossal ) would have been

right in the middle of any best actress discussion? But this time around they’re all on the outside looking in, the chances any of these ladies sneak their way into a nomination virtually nil.

The Best Actor race is a little more predictable, Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour), Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread ) and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name) almost assured of nominations, while it’s fairly likely the trio of Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), James Franco (The Disaster Artist) and Tom Hanks (The Post) will compete for the final two spots. But there are contenders out there who could surprise, big names like Hugh Jackman (The Greatest Showman), Robert Pattinson (Good Time) and Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.) all in the hunt to burst their way into the conversation.

Best Director could also be interesting what with first-timers Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig pushing hard to make the cut. The recent Director’s Guild of America (DGA) nominations helped each filmmaker’s case, and while it is all but certain Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan and Martin McDonagh are going to round out the category, with the likes of Luca Guadagnino, Steven Spielberg, Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman) and especially Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread ) out there Best Director could look nothing like what most Oscar prognosticators assume it will be right at this moment.

Things to know about the four films

considered to be the frontrunners for multiple Oscar nominations:

• Get Out is a Producers Guild of America (PGA) nominee for Outstanding Producer, has a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast and has won a number of awards from critics groups throughout the United States.

• Lady Bird won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, is a PGA nominee for Outstanding Producer, has a SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast and has won a number of awards from critics groups throughout the United States.

• The Shape of Wate r won the Broadcast Film Critics Association award for Best Picture, is a BAFTA nominee for Best Film, is a PGA nominee for Outstanding Producer and has won a number of awards from critics groups throughout the United States.

• Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri won the Golden Globe for Best Drama, is a BAFTA nominee for Best Film, has a SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast, is a PGA nominee for Outstanding Producer and has won a number of awards from critics groups throughout the United States.

With all that in mind, here are my predictions for the 90th annual Academy Awards along with a general reminder to take them with a grain of salt as reading the collective minds of Oscar voters isn’t anywhere near as simple or as easy as some might lead you to believe:

BEST PICTURE

Contenders: Battle of the Sexes, The Big Sick, Blade Runner 2049, Call Me by Your Name, Coco, Darkest Hour, Detroit, The Disaster Artist, Dunkirk, The Florida Project, Get Out, I, Tonya, Lady Bird, Logan, Molly’s Game, Mudbound, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, War for the Planet of the Apes, Wonder Woman

Thoughts: There can be no fewer than five and no more than ten nominees here. The secret is that a film must receive 5% of the first place votes submitted by Academy membership. Since this rule went into effect in 2012, there have never been fewer than eight and no more than nine nominees. With so many strong contenders, this feels like a year where we could go back to a full ten nominees. At least, that’s what I’m predicting.

Prediction: The Big Sick, Call Me by Your Name, Dunkirk, The Florida Project, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Movie I Wish Had a Shot (but sadly doesn’t): Their Finest

BEST DIRECTOR

Contenders: Ridley Scott (All the Money in the World ), Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049), Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name), Joe Wright (Darkest Hour), Kathryn Bigelow (Detroit), Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Sean Baker (The Florida Project), Jordan Peele (Get Out), Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird ), Dee Rees (Mudbound ), Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread ), Steven Spielberg (The Post), Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri), Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes), Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman)

Thoughts: It’s very easy to assume this category is going to look exactly as the DGA nominations. But that’s actually pretty rare, and my gut tells me McDonagh or del Toro is going to get left out in the cold for either Anderson or Spielberg.

Prediction: Anderson, del Toro, Gerwig, Nolan, Peele

Director I Wish Had a Shot (but sadly doesn’t): Darren Aronofsky (mother!)

BEST ACTOR

Contenders: Steve Carell (Battle of the Sexes), Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour), James Franco (The Disaster Artist), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Robert Pattinson (Good Time), Hugh Jackman (The Greatest Showman), Christian Bale (Hostiles), Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread ), Tom Hanks (The Post), Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.), James McAvoy (Split), Andy Serkis (War for the Planet of the Apes), Jeremy Renner (Wind River)

Thoughts: There were more performances in 2017 deserving of recognition than this, but these are the only ones that have been consistently talked about as far as Oscar consideration is concerned. Don’t expect a lot in the way of surprises here.

Prediction: Chalamet, Day-Lewis, Franco, Kaluuya, Oldman

Actor I Wish Had a Shot (but sadly doesn’t): Charlie Hunnam (The Lost City of Z )

BEST ACTRESS

Contenders: Michelle Williams (All the Money in the World ), Emma Stone (Battle of the Sexes), Anne Hathaway (Colossal ), Daniela Vega (A Fantastic Woman), Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project), Margot Robbie (I, Tonya), Diane Kruger (In the Fade), Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird ), Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth), Jessica Chastain (Molly’s Game), Jennifer Lawrence (mother!), Kristin Stewart (Personal Shopper), Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread ), Meryl Streep (The Post), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Frances McDormand (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri), Judi Dench (Victoria & Abdul ), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)

Thoughts: I could have listed another dozen women here, but the reality an Oscar voter’s thought process can only ponder so many names before it explodes. Needless to say, something entirely unexpected is going to happen here. Guaranteed.

Prediction: Hawkins, McDormand, Robbie, Ronan, Streep Actress I Wish Had a Shot (but sadly doesn’t): Garance Marillier (Raw)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Contenders: Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World ), Ray Romano (The Big Sick), Armie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name), Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me by Your Name), Ben Mendelsohn (Darkest Hour), Will Poulter (Detroit), Dave Franco (The Disaster Artist), Mark Rylance (Dunkirk), Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project), Barry Keoghan (The Killing of a Sacred Deer), Patrick Stewart (Logan), Robert Pattinson (The Lost City of Z ), Idris Elba (Molly’s Game), Bob Odenkirk (The Post), Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water), Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water), Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri), Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri ), Chris Pine (Wonder Woman)

Thoughts: The big question as far as this category is concerned is whether or not films like Call Me by Your Name, The Shape of Water or Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri get more than one nomination in the category, killing the chances for any of the outlier contenders. In fact, it’s possible those are the only three films featured in the category, all five slots filled with members from each motion picture’s respective male supporting cast. It’s not what I’m predicting, but if it happens I won’t be even slightly surprised.

Prediction: Dafoe, Hammer, Jenkins, Rockwell, Stuhlbarg

Actor I Wish Had a Shot (but sadly doesn’t): Daniel Craig (Logan Lucky)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Contenders: Andrea Riseborough (Battle of the Sexes), Holly Hunter (The Big Sick), Kristin Scott Thomas (Darkest Hour), Hong Chau (Downsizing), Bria Vinaite (The Florida Project), Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip), Allison Janney (I, Tonya), Nicole Kidman (The Killing of a Sacred Deer), Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird ), Michelle Pfeiffer (mother!), Mary J. Blige (Mudbound ), Cathy Moriarty (Patti Cake$), Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread ), Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water)

Thoughts: This is actually an interesting category. While Janney and Metcalf are the runaway frontrunners to win the Oscar, the makeup of the remainder of the quintet is entirely up in the air, making predicting the nominees close to impossible.

Prediction: Haddish, Hunter, Janney, Manville, Metcalf

Actress I Wish Had a Shot (but sadly doesn’t): Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2049)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Contenders: Simon Beaufoy (Battle of the Sexes), Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon (The Big Sick), Adrian Molina (Coco), Anthony McCarten (Darkest Hour), Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Sean Baker (The Florida Project), Jordan Peele (Get Out), David Lowery (A Ghost Story), Steven Rogers (I, Tonya), Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou (The Killing of a Sacred Deer), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird ), Darren Aronofsky (mother!), Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread ), Liz Hannah and Josh Singer (The Post), Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor (The Shape of Water), Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri), Taylor Sheridan (Wind River)

Thoughts: There’s almost always an out-of-left-field surprise in this category, some completely unheard of choice that has every pundit scratching their heads wondering what happened. I have this sneaking suspicion this year won’t be any different.

Prediction: The Big Sick, Get Out, I, Tonya, Lady Bird, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Original Script I Wish Had a Shot (but sadly doesn’t): Hirokazu Koreeda (After the Storm)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Contenders: David Scarpa (All the Money in the World ), Sofia Coppola (The Beguiled ), Hampton Fancher and Michael Green (Blade Runner 2049), James Ivory (Call Me by Your Name), Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (The Disaster Artist), Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman (IT ), Scott Frank and James Mangold (Logan), James Gray (The Lost City of Z ), Aaron Sorkin (Molly’s Game), Virgil Williams and Dee Rees (Mudbound ), Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Mark Bomback and Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes), Stephen Chbosky, Steve Conrad and Jack Thorne (Wonder), Allan Heinberg, Zack Snyder and Jason Fuchs (Wonder Woman), Brian Selznick (Wonderstruck)

Thoughts: Basically my thoughts here are exactly the same as what I wrote for Original Screenplay. However, one interesting item of note is whether or not Netflix will finally breakthrough with Academy voters with any of their releases. While I’m guessing they will not, it seems to me this category is likely the streaming service’s best chance to do so, Dee Rees’s Mudbound a stellar achievement that simply does not deserve to be entirely forgotten.

Prediction: Call Me by Your Name, The Disaster Artist, Logan, Molly’s Game, Wonder Adapted Script I Wish Had a Shot (but sadly doesn’t): Richard Linklater and Darryl Ponicsan (Last Flag Flying)

HELP WANTED

The Seattle AIDS Legacy Memorial (SALM) Project seeks an individual or organization to direct its Inreach Initiative, which will engage African Americans and its diaspora and other communities of color to tell the history of Seattle/King County’s AIDS crisis by creating stories for The Seattle AIDS Legacy Memorial’s HIV/AIDS Story Bank.

Applicants for this contract position should visit http://bit.ly/2CVo1ng to learn more and apply no later than January 31, 2018.

NOTE: THE APPLICATION PERIOD HAS BEEN EXTENDED (FROM JANUARY 25 TO JANUARY 31) AND APPLICATIONS WILL BE REVIEWED AS RECEIVED BEGINNING ON JANUARY 31, 2018.

GYPSY NOMS

continued from page 7

EXCELLENCE IN SET DESIGN:

(Large Theaters):

Andrea Bryn Bush – The Realistic Joneses (New Century Theatre Company)

Shawn Ketchum Johnson – Bring Down The House Parts 1 & 2 (Seattle Shakespeare Company/upstart crow collective)

Matthew Smucker – Dry Powder (Seattle Repertory Theatre)

Julia Welch – Coriolanus: Fight Like A Bitch (Rebel Kat Productions)

Carey Wong – Murder for Two (5th Ave Theatre/ACT Theatre)

(Small Theaters):

Eddie DeHais – Scary Mary and the Nightmare Nine (Annex Theatre)

Brandon Estrella – Greensward (MAP Theatre)

Robin Macartney – Downstairs (Theatre22)

Tristan Roberson – Teh Internet Is Serious Business (Washington Ensemble Theatre)

Margaret Toomey – Hoodoo Love (Sound Theatre Company/The Hansberry Project)

EXCELLENCE IN

COSTUME DESIGN:

(Large Theaters):

Karen Ann Ledger – Dreamgirls (Village Theatre)

Rose Pederson – The Pajama Game (5th Avenue Theatre)

Pete Rush – The Government Inspector (Seattle Shakespeare Company)

Pete Rush – The Legend of Georgia McBride (ACT Theatre)

Christine Tschirgi – Bring Down The House Parts 1 & 2 (Seattle Shakespeare Company/upstart crow collective)

(Small Theaters):

Jordan Emery Fell – Hoodoo Love (Sound Theatre Company/The Hansberry Project)

Michael Notestine & Danial Hellman – Cherdonna’s Doll’s House (Washington Ensemble Theatre)

Jennifer Oaster – Teh Internet Is Serious Business (Washington Ensemble Theatre)

Fantasia Oslund & Sydney Tucker – Scary Mary and the Nightmare Nine (Annex Theatre)

Kelsey Rogers – Milk Like Sugar (ArtsWest)

EXCELLENCE IN

LIGHTING DESIGN:

(Large Theaters):

Evan Christian Anderson – The Realistic Joneses (New Century Theatre Company)

Jack Mehler – (IM)Pulse (Spectrum Dance Theater)

Reed Nakayama – Lydia (Strawberry Theatre Workshop)

Duane Schuler – Ragtime (5th Avenue Theatre)

Tom Sturge – Dreamgirls (Village Theatre) (Small Theaters):

Ahren Buhmann – Burn This (Theatre22)

Emily Leong – Scary Mary and the Nightmare Nine (Annex Theatre)

Tess Malone – Greensward (MAP Theatre)

Alyssa Millione – Milk Like Sugar (ArtsWest)

Tristan Roberson – Teh Internet Is Serious Business (Washington Ensemble Theatre)

EXCELLENCE IN SOUND DESIGN: (Large Theaters):

Matt Jorgensen – Proof (Strawberry Theatre Workshop)

Sharath Patel – Coriolanus: Fight Like a Bitch (Rebel Kat Productions)

Matt Starritt – Pride and Prejudice (Seattle Repertory Theatre)

Robertson Witmer – Bring Down The House Parts 1 & 2 (Seattle Shakespeare Company/upstart crow collective)

Robertson Witmer – (IM)Pulse (Spectrum Dance Theater)

(Small Theaters):

D. R. Amromin – Into the Deeps (Dangerswitch)

Erin Bednarz & D.R. Amromin – Scary Mary and the Nightmare Nine (Annex Theatre)

Mariah Brougher – Teh Internet Is Serious Business (Washington Ensemble Theatre)

GOODSTEPH – Milk Like Sugar (ArtsWest)

Stefanie Senior – The Secret & Impossible League of the Noösphere in the Baltimore Plot (Live Girls! Theater)

EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL DIRECTION:

Joel Fram – The Pajama Game (5th Avenue Theatre)

Michael Nutting – Persuasion (Taproot Theatre)

R.J. Tancioco – Dreamgirls (Village Theatre)

R.J. Tancioco – Newsies (Village Theatre)

Ben Whiteley – Ragtime (5th Avenue Theatre)

EXCELLENCE IN CHOREOGRAPHY OR MOVEMENT:

Daniel Cruz – Dreamgirls (Village Theatre)

Alyza DelPan–Monley – Teh Internet Is Serious Business (Washington Ensemble Theatre)

Alice Gosti (Movement) & Peter Dylan O’Connor (Fight Choreography) – Bring Down The House Parts 1 & 2 (Seattle Shakespeare Company/upstart crow collective)

Ryan Higgins (Fight Choreography) –Money & Run Trilogy (Theater Schmeater)

Katy Tabb – Newsies (Village Theatre)

EXCELLENCE IN LOCAL PLAYWRITING:

Amy Escobar – Scary Mary and the Nightmare Nine (Annex Theatre)

Katie Forgette – Evidence of Things Unseen (Taproot Theatre)

Rosa Joshi & Kate Wisniewski – Bring Down The House Parts 1 & 2 – Adapting Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part I, II, III (Seattle Shakespeare Company/upstart crow collective)

Darian Lindle – The Secret & Impossible League of the Noösphere in the Baltimore Plot (Live Girls! Theater)

Y York – Sycorax (Snowflake Avalanche)

EXCELLENCE IN LOCAL COMPOSING:

William Satake Blauvelt – Bring Down The House Parts 1 & 2 (Seattle Shakespeare Company/upstart crow collective)

Amy Escobar – Scary Mary and the Nightmare Nine (Annex Theatre)

Chris Jeffries – Persuasion (Taproot Theatre)

EXCELLENCE IN VIDEO DESIGN: Reed Nakayama – Proof (Strawberry Theatre Workshop)

Travis Mouffe – (IM)Pulse (Spectrum Dance Theater)

Charlie Spears – Much Better (ReallyReally Theatre Group)

About Seattle Theater Writers: Founded in 2010 by Miryam Gordon and comprised of local writers and reviewers, Seattle Theater Writers is a group of critic/ reviewers dedicated to raising public awareness of theater practitioners and the work produced by professional theater organizations in the Seattle area. Seattle Theater Writers’ hope is that these awards might encourage theater attendance and enjoyment of our rich cultural offerings. Born from this mission are the annual Gypsy Rose Lee Awards, recognizing excellence in Seattle theater across 33 categories.

The participants in this year’s award process were Candace Brown (goodlifenw. blogspot.com), Miryam Gordon (Seattle Gay News and miryamstheatermusings. blogspot.com), Rosemary Jones (www.seattletheateranddance.com/), Dusty Somers (guest writer for Seattle Times), and Michael Strangeways (www.seattlegayscene.com/).

A growing (years’ long) reality regarding reviewing and reviewers has reduced the number of reliable and credible critics writing today. Fewer and fewer reviewers are paid anything for their work, and fewer reviews are being published in every kind of publication. It is harder than ever to establish oneself as a critic since companies are reducing the numbers of seats they can or will provide for that kind of effort.

To support the reviewers’ nominations, STW has established an Auxiliary of theater-going members, some of whom are also theater practitioners and all of whom are ardent fans of theater. All members go to multiple dozens of productions per year, many over 100. The Auxiliary supports our Round Two in the selection process where points are given to the dozens of nominees and individuals select their top five in each category. The Auxiliary points are used to support STW members’ choices as we pick our nominees and winners.

For more information, go to www.facebook.com/SeattleTheaterWriters. The Notes section of the Facebook page shows the evolution of the awards.

Magnificent Paddington 2 a candy-colored treat

by Sara Michelle Fetters

SGN A&E Writer

PADDINGTON 2

Now playing

Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) loves his life with the Brown family. They in turn have accepted him as another member of their clan. Heck, so has the entire neighborhood, everyone from the forgetful Dr. Jafri (Sanjeev Bhaskar), to the bubbly Miss Kitts (Jessica Hynes), to the lonely Colonel Lancaster (Ben Miller), to the charming Mademoiselle Dubois (MarieFrance Alvarez), to the gregarious Mr. Barnes (Robbie Gee) embracing the Peruvian bear as one of their own, imagining their daily lives without him impossible.

But after a break-in at Mr. Gruber’s (Jim Broadbent) antique shop, former movie star turned neighborhood celebrity Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant) claims to have witnessed Paddington robbing the store. With his paw prints everywhere and the bear freely admitting he was in Mr. Gruber’s place, stating under oath to have gone inside only after seeing another mysterious figure breaking in, the cranky Judge Gerald Biggleswade (Tom Conti) has no other choice but to send the Brown family’s furriest member to prison. But while he attempts to make the best of what is undeniably a bad situation, Mary Brown (Sally Hawkins), her husband Henry (Hugh Bonneville), her mother Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) and their children Judy (Madeleine Harris) and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) will not rest until Paddington is free, investigating the crime for themselves and discovering the secretive Buchanan might not have been entirely truthful with his testimony during the trial.

If 2014’s Paddington was a pleasantly heartfelt surprise that did real justice to author Michael Bond’s timeless stories featuring everyone’s favorite blue coat and red hat wearing bear, then Paddington 2 is an outright revelation. To put it more bluntly,

this sequel is what The Godfather Part II is to The Godfather, what The Empire Strikes Back is to Star Wars, what Before Sunset is to Before Sunrise. It is an immediate, undeniably wonderful instant classic that starts off 2018 here in the United States on an endearingly enchanting high, and it’s hard to believe less than a dozen days into a new year I’ve already watched a motion picture I can honestly proclaim is worthy of

noms. Returning writer/director Paul King and his entire creative team (most notably co-writer Simon Farnaby) outdo themselves with this sequel, filling the movie with so much intelligence, heart, whimsy, emotion and, most importantly, kindness watching it proves to be an absolute joy I didn’t want to see come to an end.

Grant is having a blast as the flamboyant Phoenix Buchanan. But where he could

being considered for my December top ten list, and we’ve still got roughly 50 weeks of movie watching left to go!

I do have to say, “Here in the United States,” because Paddington 2 did open in England to rave reviews last November. Not only that, it was recently nominated for BAFTA Awards (the British version of the Oscars) for Outstanding British Film of the Year, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Hugh Grant. Even more importantly, it deserved all three

have just decided to play things as over the top and as cartoonishly theatrical as humanly possible, instead the veteran actor chooses to give an actual bona fide performance. He infuses this nefarious villain of a thousand faces with a maniacally driven wherewithal that’s a continual delight. More, Grant shows an affinity and respect for the material, fitting right into the work King has so expertly constructed for him to be a part of with a determined enthusiasm that’s just plain marvelous.

Of course, the same could also be said for the returning cast members, Hawkins, Bonneville, Walters, Harris and Joslin in particular. They are the Browns, the way they collectively show such genuine affection for Paddington, how they so selflessly welcome him into the center of their hearts with such festive grace, it’s all just so beguilingly authentic, each of them disappearing so completely it’s hard not to believe they’re a real family. I just adored the way they so altruistically rally to the bear’s defense, in the process showing the audience how to be better human beings just by accepting others for who they are and not expecting them to be anything else but that.

The stuff in the prison feels like it was pulled out of some Wes Anderson stylishly imaginative fever-dream, the whole section a mad cross of Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel Yet King never loses the core sensibilities of Bond’s source material. In fact, the prison, thanks to some timely marmalade and a newfound yen for deliciously sugary pastry, becomes a candy-colored playground of pink pastels, flowery table settings and bitesized teacakes. It all makes sense, and in this world where a talking Peruvian bear can make friends and become a valuable member of the community this is an important element that cannot be underappreciated.

Whishaw continues to voice Paddington with magnificent restraint, while a central plot strand concerning his beloved Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton), about to celebrate her 100th birthday, no less, brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it again now as I sit here writing this review. There’s also a climactic chase involving a pair of locomotives, a window washing ladder and a pop-up book that’s energetically sublime, many of the various characters introduced throughout the film coming together in a way that’s merrily wondrous. I might even go so far as to proclaim Paddington 2 pretty much perfect, but let me indulge in one more marmalade sandwich before I make the decision to say just that.

Lively Den of Thieves a derivative heist thriller

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer

DEN OF THIEVES

Now playing

Detective “Big” Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler) runs the Major Crimes Unit of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. He’s aggressive, belligerent, violent and could care less if he or his men burn a few bridges as they go about bringing down career criminal crews while they’re in the middle of their latest high-profile robbery. Even though he’s a drunk and his home life is a bona fide mess, Big Nick likes to think he’s a good cop, all of his efforts going into doing his job instead of being a better husband or father.

Former Marine Ray Merriman (Pablo Schreiber) is one of the best thieves in the business. He runs the tightest crew in L.A., his group responsible for some of the most profitable, and still unsolved, bank robberies and heists the city has ever seen. Now, with the help of getaway driver Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), a newcomer to his team who makes an immediate impression, Merriman is planning his coup de grace. He and his men are going to steal millions right out from under the nose of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Even better, he’s going to do it in a way that all but guarantees the government won’t even realize they’ve been robbed.

Following in the footsteps of Michael Mann’s 1995 classic Heat (not to mention coming quick on the heels of John Hillcoat’s Triple 9 released last February), director Christian Gudegast, the screenwriter behind London has Fallen and A Man Apart making his directorial debut, attempts to revitalize the cops and robbers melodrama with the testosterone-filled action-thriller Den of Thieves. Featuring a solid cast of grizzled

character actors (which includes the likes of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Evan Jones, Jordan Bridges, Mo McRae and Brian Van Holt), the movie certainly looks authentic, and as such the filmmaker is able to craft an aura of imminent violence that’s decidedly palpable for every second of his film’s epic 140-minute running time.

Pity it’s all so unrelentingly dumb, clichéd and devoid of a single new idea. Gudegast and co-writer Paul Scheuring’s (The Experiment) script is a giant mess that creates archetypes instead of complex threedimensional characters, more concerned with coming up with unforeseen twists and turns that will hopefully spin this overly familiar scenario on its head than it is in grounding things in anything even slightly plausible. Big Nick and his team do things that would not just get them fired, but would likely put them in jail alongside the criminals they’re chasing. Merriman is billed as criminal genius yet he never makes the obvious move to eliminate the one major obstacle that could lead to him getting caught or killed.

It doesn’t matter that Butler and Schreiber play their respective characters with conviction and strength. It doesn’t matter that a handful of individual moments lead to a smidgen of insight that makes these men far more interesting than they eventually turn out to be. It doesn’t matter that Gudegast stages his action scenes with an eye for detail, the level of intensity he engineers for a climactic shootout and during the actual Federal Reserve heist itself both undeniably exciting. None of that matters, however, because the movie is so brain dead, so filled with bad ideas and lame plot devices, that maintaining interest in what is going on and why, let alone caring about who is going to survive until the end, is practically impossible.

There is one exception, and thank-

2018 SALISH SEA EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL

fully it is a major one. Jackson, so terrific in Straight Outta Compton and amusingly memorable in Ingrid Goes West, is fantastic, adding a layer of mischievous gravitas to his portrayal of Donnie that’s enthralling. It isn’t even a question that he’s the film’s most interesting character, this man is far more than he appears to be, and as such there’s a constant sense that there is more going on behind his eyes and inside his head than initially meets the eye. Jackson registers these nuances with ease, and almost all on his own he made me enjoy what was going on far more than I otherwise would have.

Make no mistake, there is amusement to be found in watching Butler do his best over-the-top Al Pacino impersonation, the action veteran having so much fun wallowing around in the muck and mire of Gudegast and Scheuring’s screenplay it’s hard not to enjoy what he’s doing. The film’s sound design is also extraordinary, while Cliff Martinez’s (Only God Forgives, Drive) suitably visceral score adds an atmosphere of edgy uncertainty I couldn’t resist. Finally, I really did love the actual heist, and while

the sequence doesn’t compare to the one in Rififi, there are at least elements of it that do deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as that 1955 classic.

Unfortunately, none of these items that I found pleasing or that I felt worked about the movie mean I think anyone should rush out to a theatre to see it. Den of Thieves is way too derivative of similar motion pictures (most notably the aforementioned Heat) and features a script that continually presents the majority of its characters as short-tempered nincompoops who could barely plan a birthday party or catch the common cold let alone plan the heist of the Federal Reserve or capture hardened criminals in the act of participating in a heinous crime. There’s fun to be had, that’s a certainty, just not enough of it to make Gudegast’s flashy debut anything more than a moderately intriguing, yet still instantly forgettable, ill-plotted curiosity.

Seven programs of early music on period instruments in Seattle

2018 SALISH SEA EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL

“TREBLE VIOL, BARQUE GUITAR & FLUTE” CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

January 24 @ 7pm

“Treble Viol, Baroque Guitar & Flute,” the opening performance among seven in the 2018 Salish Sea Early Music Festival, features Annalisa Pappano from Cincinnati, one of the world’s foremost players of treble viol, who also plays the pardessus de viole, lirone and viola da gamba and directs the Catacoustic Consort, and Michael Freimuth from Kiel Germany, one of Europe’s most active performers on baroque guitar and theorbo, along with renaissance and baroque flutist and artistic director Jeffrey Cohan.

The treble viol was widely used during the 17th and early 18th centuries, but is extremely seldom to be heard today, as is also true of the renaissance transverse flute. This exploration of mostly French and Italian repertoire for treble viol, baroque guitar and flute from about 1625 to 1725 will present solos, duos and trios by Buonamente, Sweelinck, Heudelinne, Lully, De Visee and Cheron.

This opening concert takes place on Wednesday, January 24 at 7pm at Christ Episcopal Church (4548 Brooklyn Ave NE) in the U-District in Seattle. Please see http:// www.salishseafestival.org/seattle or call Christ Episcopal Church at (206) 633-1611 for additional information.

Admission to the Seattle concerts is by suggested donation: $15, $20 or $25 (a free

will offering), and those 18 & under are free. Tickets are available through http:// SalishSeaSeattle.brownpapertickets.com and at the door.

The concerts are repeated on Vashon, Whidbey, Orcas, Lopez and San Juan Islands and in Tacoma, Bellingham and Port Townsend. All concerts are at 7pm. For complete information, see www.salishseafestival.org.

The remaining concerts in this series are:

“Flute Trios” – Fabulous baroque flute trios with harpsichord with renowned flutists – Tuesday, February 13 at 7pm at Christ Episcopal Church. The concert features Janet See and Mindy Rosenfeld of the Baltimore Consort with Janet See, Mindy Rosenfeld (San Francisco) and Jeffrey Cohan on baroque flute and Jonathan Oddie on harpsichord.

“Four Part Canzonas 1585-1625” –Rarely-heard Italian four-part canzona, inspired by four-part French and Flemish chansons, which blossomed in print from 1582 to 1628 concurrently with the emerging “baroque” style – Saturday, March 10 at 7pm at Christ Episcopal Church – with Anna Marsh on dulcian (Renaissance bassoon), Courtney Kuroda on violin, Stephen Creswell on viola and Jeffrey Cohan on Renaissance flute.

“The Instrumental Air de Cour” –The intensely moving and intimate vocal French air de cour inspired instrumentalists from the late 16th century and yielded trends that resonated still in the early 1700’s – Monday, April 9 at 7pm at Christ Episcopal Church – with Susie Napper (Montreal) on viola da gamba and Jeffrey Cohan on baroque flute

“The Capable Virtuoso” – Johann Mattheson’s “The Capable Virtuoso,” published in Hamburg in 1720, sets the tone for this program of trio sonatas inspired by Corelli and the idea that Italian, French, and German styles might be fused in an integrated musical style – Tuesday, May 22 at 7pm at Christ Episcopal Church – with Carrie Krause (Bozeman) on baroque violin, John Lenti on theorbo & baroque guitar and Jeffrey Cohan on baroque flute.

“Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto” –The 5th Brandenburg Concerto by Johann Sebastian Bach and other works for flute, violin, harpsichord and string chamber orchestra –Wednesday, May 30 at 7pm at Christ Episcopal Church – with Carrie Krause on baroque violin, Jeffrey Cohan on baroque flute, Jonathan Oddie on harpsichord, Courtney Kuroda on baroque violin, Stephen Creswell on baroque viola and Anna March on baroque bassoon.

“Frederick the Great” – Slvius Leopold Weiss, the most prolific and highly esteemed lutenist of the baroque and teacher of Frederick the Great, wrote sonatas for obbligato lute and flute from which this program branches out to explore music at the court of the flutist King Frederick II of Prussia – Saturday, June 16 at 7pm at Christ Episcopal Church – with Oleg Timofeyev (Iowa City) on baroque lute and Jeffrey Cohan on eight-keyed flute.

Courtesy of 2018 Salish Sea Early Music Festival

1533 13th Ave. - 323-1525

SEATTLE

SEATTLE

BATHS

CLUB Z - (men)

BATHS

1117 Pike near Boren - 622-9958

HOT HOUSE SPA & SAUNA - (women)

CLUB Z - (men)

SW corner of Pike & 11th

1117 Pike near Boren - 622-9958

(stairs behind Wildrose) - 568-3240

HOT HOUSE SPA & SAUNA - (women)

STEAM WORKS - (men)

SW corner of Pike & 11th

1520 Summit - 388-4818

(stairs behind Wildrose) - 568-3240

STEAM WORKS - (men) 1520 Summit - 388-4818

RESTAURANTS & BARS

88 KEYS - 315 2nd Ave. S. - 839-1300

BALTIC ROOM - 1207 Pine St. - 625-4444

RESTAURANTS & BARS

THE BOTTLENECK LOUNGE

2328 E. Madison St. - 323-1098

88 KEYS - 315 2nd Ave. S. - 839-1300

C.C. ATTLE’S BAR & GRILLE

BALTIC ROOM - 1207 Pine St. - 625-4444

1701 E. Olive Way - 726-0565

THE BOTTLENECK LOUNGE

2328 E. Madison St. - 323-1098

RETAIL SHOPS

DIESEL BAR - 1413 14th Ave. - 322-1080

GLO’S - 1621 E. Olive Way - 324-2577

HOT MAMA’S PIZZA - 700 E. Pine St. - 322-6444

CASTLE SUPERSTORE #17

JAZZ ALLEY - 2033 6th Ave. E. - 441-9729

1017 E. Pike St - 204-0126

JULIA’S - 300 Broadway Ave. E. - 860-1818

DOGHOUSE LEATHERS

KREMWERK - 1809 Minor Ave. #10 - 682-2935

1312 E. Pike St. - 257-0231

MADISON PUB - 1315 E. Madison - 325-6537

EMERSON SALON - 909 E. Pike St. - 323-7437

NEIGHBOURS - 1509 Broadway - 324-5358

OUT WEST - 5401California Ave. SW

HASHTAG - 3540 Stone Way N - 946-8157

NEW YORK EXCHANGE

THE PINE BOX - 1600 Melrose Ave - 588-0375

POCO WINE ROOM

225 Broadway E. - 726-3300

1408 E. Pine St. - 322-9463

ONYX LEATHER - 1605 12th Ave. #8 - 328-1965

OZ - 3831 Stone Way N - 251-0630

POKE BAR - 1542 12th Ave - 402-5178

PANACHE - 225 Broadway E. - 726-3300

PONY - 1221 E. Madison St. - 324-2854

PURR - 1518 11th Ave. - 325-3112

RUCKUS 1465 E Republican St. - 257-4805

R PLACE - 619 E. Pine - 322-8828

THE FANTASY SHOP

RE-BAR - 1114 Howell at Boren - 233-9873

9630 16th Ave. SW - 762-3299

TABOO ADULT VIDEO

THE CANTERBURY - 534 15th Ave. E. - 322-3130

CHANGES IN WALLINGFORD

C.C. ATTLE’S BAR & GRILLE

2103 N. 45th - 545-8363

1701 E. Olive Way - 726-0565

ROOT TABLE 2213 NW Market St. - 420-3214

9813 16th Ave SW - 767-4855

SEATTLE EAGLE - 314 E. Pike - 621-7591

BABELAND - 707 E. Pike St. - 328-2914

SHORTY’S 2222 2nd Ave - 441-5449

UNDER U 4 MEN

THE CRESCENT - 1413 E. Olive Way - 720-8188

THE CANTERBURY - 534 15th Ave. E. - 322-3130

THE CUFF COMPLEX

CHANGES IN WALLINGFORD

2103 N. 45th - 545-8363

THE CRESCENT - 1413 E. Olive Way - 720-8188

THE CUFF COMPLEX - 1533 13th Ave. - 323-1525

DIESEL BAR - 1413 14th Ave. - 322-1080

GLO’S - 1621 E. Olive Way - 324-2577

HOT MAMA’S PIZZA - 700 E. Pine St. - 322-6444

JAZZ ALLEY - 2033 6th Ave. E. - 441-9729

JULIA’S - 300 Broadway Ave. E. - 860-1818

KREMWERK - 1809 Minor Ave. #10 - 682-2935

THE LUMBER YARD - 9619 16th Ave. SW - 695-2007

MADISON PUB - 1315 E. Madison - 325-6537

NEIGHBOURS - 1509 Broadway - 324-5358

OUT WEST - 5401California Ave. SW

THE PINE BOX - 1600 Melrose Ave - 588-0375

POCO WINE ROOM - 1408 E. Pine St. - 322-9463

POKE BAR - 1542 12th Ave - 402-5178

PONY - 1221 E. Madison St. - 324-2854

PURR - 2307 24th Ave E. - 325-3112

QUEER BAR - 1518 11th Ave - 687-7491

R PLACE - 619 E. Pine - 322-8828

RE-BAR - 1114 Howell at Boren - 233-9873

ROOT TABLE 2213 NW Market St. - 420-3214

SEATTLE EAGLE - 314 E. Pike - 621-7591

SHORTY’S 2222 2nd Ave - 441-5449

STOUT -1530 11th Ave - 397-3825

TOULOUSE PETIT

601 Queen Anne Ave N - 432-9069

UNICORN - 1118 E Pike - 325-6492

WILDROSE - 1021 E. Pike - 324-9210

ZIPPY’S GIANT BURGERS

5633 Airport Way S - 466-5954

9614 14th Ave SW - 763-1347

STOUT -1530 11th Ave - 397-3825

TOULOUSE PETIT

709 Broadway Ave. E. - 324-6446

UNCLE IKE’S

601 Queen Anne Ave N - 432-9069

UNICORN - 1118 E Pike - 325-6492

2310 E Union St - 1-800-GET-DRUGS 501 15th Ave E - 1-800-GET-DRUGS 9822 15th Ave SW - 1-800-GET-DRUGS

WILD AT HEART 1111 NW Leary Way - 782-5538

BELLINGHAM

LOVER’S 193 Telegraph Road - (360) 752-1862

RUMORS CABARET 1119 Railroad - (306) 671-1849

DES MOINES

ADULT AIRPORT VIDEO 2 21635 Pacific Hwy S - 878-7780

EVERETT

ADULT

WILDROSE - 1021 E. Pike - 324-9210

LA CONNER

ZIPPY’S GIANT BURGERS

5633 Airport Way S - 466-5954 9614 14th Ave SW - 763-1347

THE HERON INN & WATERGRASS DAY SPA

LA CONNER

TACOMA

OVER’S - 25801 104th Ave. S.E. - (253) 852-1720

NASHVILLE’S SPORTS BAR (Drag Shows) 114 - Railroad Ave. N. - (253) 852 - 0909

RETAIL SHOPS

CASTLE SUPERSTORE 6015 Tacoma Mall Blvd. - (253) 471-0391

117 Maple Ave. - (877) 883-8899 info@theheron.com

CASTLE SUPERSTORE #17

OLYMPIA

1017 E. Pike St - 204-0126

DOGHOUSE LEATHERS

1312 E. Pike St. - 257-0231

EMERSON SALON - 909 E. Pike St. - 323-7437

DARBY’S CAFE 211 5th Ave. S.E. - (360) 357-6229

HASHTAG - 3540 Stone Way N - 946-8157

NEW YORK EXCHANGE

LOVER’S

225 Broadway E. - 726-3300

3959 Martin Way E. Suite D - (360) 456-7300

JAKES - 311 4th Ave. E. - (360) 956-3247

ONYX LEATHER - 1605 12th Ave. #8 - 328-1965

OZ - 3831 Stone Way N - 251-0630

PANACHE

PORT ANGELES

225 Broadway E. - 726-3300

RUCKUS 1465 E Republican St. - 257-4805

THE FANTASY SHOP

MAPLE ROSE INN 112 Reservoir Rd - (800) 570-2007

9630 16th Ave. SW - 762-3299

SPOKANE

TABOO ADULT VIDEO 9813 16th Ave SW - 767-4855

TOYS IN BABELAND - 707 E. Pike St. - 328-2914

ANDY’S - 1401 W. 1st Ave. - (509) 747 - 0304

UNDER U 4 MEN 709 Broadway Ave. E. - 324-6446

STRAY NIGHTCLUB 415 W. Sprague Ave. - (509) 624 - 4450

UNCLE IKE’S

2310 E Union St - 1-800-GET-DRUGS

501 15th Ave E - 1-800-GET-DRUGS

NYNE BAR AND BISTRO 232 W. Sprague Ave. - (509) 474 -1621

9822 15th Ave SW - 1-800-GET-DRUGS

WILD AT HEART 1111 NW Leary Way - 782-5538

BELLINGHAM

LOVER’S 193 Telegraph Road - (360) 752-1862 RUMORS CABARET 1119 Railroad - (306) 671-1849

DES MOINES

ADULT AIRPORT VIDEO 2 21635 Pacific

EVERETT

OLYMPIA

CLUB SILVERSTONE 739½ St. Helens Ave. - (253) 404-0273

THE FANTASY

PORT

SPOKANE

Meetings Events Activities

TO GET A CALENDAR LISTING: To have your meeting or event considered for the Community Calendar, please mail, fax, or drop off details to: SGN, Attn: Community Calendar, 1707 23rd Ave., Seattle, WA 98122. SGN phone: (206) 324-4297. E-mail: sgn2@sgn.org.

INCLUDE: Date, time, location, contact phone # for publication (if possible), brief description of event & sponsoring organization. DEADLINE: Tuesday 5pm. ACCESSIBILITY: Is your event accessible to LGBTQ people with visible or hidden disabilities? See Jean’s List webpage www.scn.org/activism/calendar/disabilities. html for Marla Nonken’s disabilities accommodations lists.

NOTE: 10-digit dialing has come to the Seattle area. The (206) area code must now be used to dial local calls. Location of meetings/events is in Seattle unless otherwise noted.

SATURDAY - January 20

Seattle Frontrunners Fun Run. 9am. Greenlake (outside Evans Pool). Every Saturday. GLBT running & walking club sponsors weekly runs, monthly potlucks, track & field activity, annual Run With Pride. (206) 4488518. www.seattlefrontrunners.org.

Positively Living Coffee Social. 9:30am-12 noon. Cupcake Royale, 1111 E Pike St. Every Saturday. Casual social get-together for the HIV community. Anthony, 206-957-1600. Sponsored by LIfelong. Emerald City Softball Association Field Day. 10am. North SeaTac Playfields, S 128th St & 20th Ave S, SeaTac. New player clinic/skills assessment. Players of all skill levels welcome. Email membership@emeraldcitysoftball.org for info.

Crystal Meth Anonymous. 10:30am. Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 1729 Harvard Ave. Also Mon @ 6:30pm, Thurs @ 6:30pm, Sun @ 6:30pm. Lambert House Queer Rec. 1pm. 1818 15th Ave. Meets 3rd Saturday each month. Outdoor & indoor adventures for youth ages 22 & under. www.lamberthouse.org

PNW G/B/Q Longhaired Men. 2pm. Locations vary. Check the website or call for details. An informal social group for longhairs, growers, longhair admirers & their friends. We gather for brunch on the 3rd Saturday each month to socialize, chat & often go out afterwards for coffee or some activity. Please join us! For information & to RSVP: www.longhair.shorturl.com

Seattle Prime Timers Monthly Potluck. 2pm. Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 1729 Harvard Ave (behind Seattle Central College and a block from the SIFF Cinema Egyptian Theatre) (enter via the north parking lot and get a free parking sticker). There is a $4 per person door fee (please try to bring exact change) to help pay for the cost of the room. Please bring a dish that will serve 8 or more to share. Close to Metro bus lines 11, 49, 60 and the Capitol Hill streetcar line.

Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 6pm-12 midnight. Call for location & details. Every Saturday. (253) 671-2838. www.oasisyouthcenter.org.

(Also Thursdays & Fridays 4-10pm.)

“To Exist is to Resist” (1/11 & 1/12; 1/20 & 1/21). 7pm. Calamus Auditorium at Gay City, 517 E Pike St. Tickets: $15-$20; students/seniors $12. www.gaycity.org/arts Rainbow City Band in Concert - “The Music of Fairy Tales and Fantastic Beasts.” 7pm. Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway (off the South Plaza of Seattle Central College). “With this concert we want to take you on a journey exploring tales of the enchanting and magical. Creatures and their stories will jump off the page and show that sometimes the ostracized become the most influential and often times we may draw power from those very things that make us queer,” says Tim Norris, RCB Musical and Artistic Director. “Together we’ll travel through the looking glass and take time to enjoy the frivolity of the ride.” The concert also includes performances by the Purple Passion Swing Band, The Saxodies, and Flutrange. Tickets: $20 general; $12 student/senior; $5 children under 10. rainbowcityband.com; www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3219792.

SUNDAY - January 21

Center for Spiritual Living. 8:25, 9:45, 11:30am. 5801 Sand Point Way NE. Blessings & we hope to see you soon! (206) 527-8801 ext 203, www.cslseattle.org Ravenna United Methodist Church. 8:30am “Seattle’s most dangerous Sunday school” - 9:45am Worship. 5751 33rd Ave NE. A reconciling congregation, fully inclusive and affirming of LGBTQ persons. (206) 525-7988. Seattle Unity Church. 9am & 11am Sunday Services. 200 8th Ave N. “Come join our Gay & Lesbian-friendly, spiritual family at Seattle Unity Church. Our mission is to bring love, miracles & spiritual awakening into everyday life!” (206) 622-8475; www.seattleunity.org.

Seattle Soto Zen. 9:15am Zazen Instruction, 9:30am Zazen. 101 Nickerson St, Lower Level. Follow the traditional forms of the Soto school of Zen in a spirit of warmth & inclusion. Anyone interested in meditation, whether new or experienced in Zen practice or other traditions, is welcome. (206) 323-1659, www.seattlesotozen.org

Gay Men’s Bowling in Everett 9:30am. Glacier Lanes, 9630 Evergreen Way, Everett. Every Sunday. Spectators welcome. Join us for lunch afterwards! Sponsored by the Snohomish County Gay Men’s Task Force. For info email John at johndmarsh@mac.com; www.gaysnohomish.org

Tacoma First United Methodist Church. 9:30am Worship, 11am Adult Education. 423 Martin Luther King

community calendar

Way, Tacoma. This reconciling congregation welcomes with warm hands, warm hearts & open minds GLBT persons seeking a spiritual home. (253) 627-0129, www. fumctacoma.org

University Lutheran Church. 9:30am Worship, 10:30am Coffee Fellowship, 11am Adult Forum & Education Hour. 1604 NE 50th St. All are welcome. We choose love. (206) 525-7074. universitylutheranseattle.org

University Unitarian Church. 9:30am & 11:15am Sunday Services. (Late June-Aug 9:30am only.) 6556 35th Ave NE. Interweave is the official name for LGBTQ groups in the Unitarian-Universalist family as a common thread of identification. UUC’s Interweave group meets the first Friday every other month (Oct, Dec, Feb, April & June) usually at UUC for a potluck, a summer picnic or whatever else we might dream up. Drop in & join us. www.uuchurch.org for details.

Baha’i Prayer & Fellowship Circle. 10am. Pearl Warren Bldg, 606 12th Ave S. Meets 3rd Sunday each month. Share prayers, readings, thoughts & music. All backgrounds, all faiths welcome. (206) 391-2188. Central Lutheran Church. 10am Worship. 1710 11th Ave (just north of E Pine St). An open & affirming church, which in Lutheran churches is called “Reconciled in Christ.” “We seek to share God’s love with all people regardless of race, age, gender or sexual orientation.” All are welcome. (206) 322-7500. East Shore Unitarian Church. 10am Sunday Service. 12700 SE 32nd St, Bellevue. An open & affirming congregation. (425) 747-3780.

Gethsemane Lutheran Church. 10am Worship. 911 Stewart St. A downtown faith community centered in justice. An open & affirming congregation. (206) 682-3620. Plymouth Church United Church of Christ. 10am Workship. 1217 6th Ave. Love your (LGBTQ) neighbor as yourself. (206) 622-4865, plymouthchurchseattle.org

Queen Anne United Methodist Church. 10am Worship. 1606 5th Ave W. (206) 282-4307.

University Congregational United Church of Christ. 9am all ages education; 10am Worship. 4515 16th Ave NE. UCUCC is an open & affirming congregation. (206) 524-2322; www.universityucc.org.

Wallingford United Methodist Church. 10am Worship. 2115 N 42nd St. A progressive congregation. In 1984

Wallingford UMC became the 9th reconciling Methodist church in the U.S. (206) 547-6945 (office); (206) 2855077 (George).

All Pilgrims Christian Church. 10:30am Worship. 500 Broadway E. Come as you are. All are welcome.

A congregation of the Disciples of Christ & the United Church of Christ. (206) 322-0487, www.allpilgrims.org

St. Clement’s Episcopal Church. 10:30am Worship. 1501 32nd Ave S. Great music. Dynamic preaching. Holy communion. Encountering the transformative and unconditional love of God in Christ. Join us! www. stclementseattle.org

Seattle Sunday Bowling. 10:30am. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW (at SW Oregon St). Open bowl every Sunday for the GLBT community & friends. You don’t have to worry about how you bowl! $6.50 + $3 shoe rental. (425) 785-4729.

Welcome Table Christian Church. 9:45am Meditation; 10:30am Worship; Labyrinth 2nd Sundays 1-4pm. 1322 S Bayview St. Where people of all genders and sexualities, and families of all shapes & sizes are welcome and celebrated. A welcoming and affirming community since 1987. welcometablecc.org

Ethyl Forever Car Club, Pacific NW Region Lambda Car Club Monthly Tire Kick/Social. 10:30am. Randy’s Restaurant, 10016 E Marginal Way S (south of the Museum of Flight). Meets 3rd Sunday each month. This monthly informal auto enthusiasts event starts with breakfast at this location with a show & tell and continues to a chosen point of interest. Open to all LGBTQ persons & friends who have an interest in the automobile, not just collector or performance vehicles. ethylforever@hotmail.com

Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation. 10:30am. 7141 California Ave SW. (206) 935-0418, office@wsuu.org, www.wsuu.org

Emerald City Metropolitan Community Church Seattle. 11am Worship. Chapel at University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 NE 43rd St. MCC is a progressive Christ-centered faith community committed to providing a nurturing environment for individual & community growth thru Jesus Christ while celebrating unity in diversity. MCC is Seattle’s oldest Gay-friendly church. (206) 325-2421, www.mccseattle.org.

Gay Dodgeball Seattle League. 11am. Yesler Community Center, 917 E Yesler Way. 8-week league season - thru 1/21 . A league for the whole LGBTQ+ community. Registration is OPEN at https://www.gaydodgeball.com/ seattle.html. Also on Facebook. Meditation for GBT Men. 11am-1pm. Cal Anderson House, 400 Broadway. Suitable for beginning & experienced meditators. Sponsored by Dharma Buddies. Contact Forrest Rode, (206) 920-6117, or Doug Allison, doug.l.allison@gmail.com. Find us under “Dharma Buddies” under Meetup.com or DharmaBuddies.org.

January 20 thru January 28

(Women may wish to contact our sister meditation group at www.LotusSisters.org.)

St Paul’s United Church of Christ. 11am Worship. 6512 12th Ave NW. An “open & affirming” congregation. “We celebrate our diversity in religious background, sexual orientation, race, age & abilities.” (206) 783-6733; www.stpauluccseattle.com.

St Paul’s Episcopal Church. 11:15am (also 7:30am, 9am, 5pm). 15 W Roy St. We are an accepting, progressive, Anglo-Catholic parish, renewing its people for their Christian lives in today’s world through worship, spiritual formation, engagement in the arts, and acts of compassion. www.stpaulseattle.com

Holy Covenant International Christian Community Church. 12pm. 4525 19th Ave NE. Outreach to the LGBT community. holycovenantccc@gmail.com

Just for Today. 12-1:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Sunday. Drop-in 12-step (Narcotics Anonymous) group open to anyone in recovery. www. sasgcc.org

Paths to Recovery Al-Anon Family Group. 12-1:30pm. Seattle University Student Center, 901 12th Ave, Room 122. Every Sunday. LGBTQ supported. The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives & friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength & hope in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness & that changed attitudes can aid recovery. Greater Seattle AIS 24-hour number (206) 625-0000; www.seattle-al-anon.org

SLAA New Beginnings. 12 noon-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E #201, O’Neil Room. Meets daily (except Saturday). SLAA is a 12 Step/12 Tradition-oriented Fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope to overcome sex and love patterns of addiction. www.sasgcc.org

Orca Swim Team Workout. Sun: Afternoon; Mon/Weds/ Fri: Evenings; Tues/Thurs: Mornings. Seattle University, Connolly Athletic Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. Preregistration required. Orca Swim Team workouts are for both competitive & recreational swimmers. www. orcaswimteam.org Rain City Soccer Club - Kickabout. Sunday afternoon usually at 3pm. Location varies. Join us for Seattle’s mostly-weekly mostly-LGBTQ pickup soccer game. We play an organized, 2-hour scrimmage on nice fieldturf surface. Sometimes there is a brief training/practice session before we play. Usually there is a “one-beer” after the scrimmage. To sign up visit www.raincitysoccer.org

Seattle Poly Potluck & Discussion Group. 5-8pm. (contact for new location) Meets 3rd Sunday each month. For people interested in polyamorous, open, and ethically non-monogamous relationships. $5 donation; please bring a potluck dish. This event is open to the public. Look for us on Facebook or Meetup. Shame to Grace Sunday SAA. 6-7:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Sunday. SAA is a fellowship of men & women who share their experience, strength & hope with each other so they may overcome their sexual addiction & help others recover from sexual addiction or dependency. Seattle SAA helpline (206) 237-8828, SAA International Service Organization 1-800-477-8191. Crystal Meth Anonymous. 6:30pm. Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 1729 Harvard Ave. Also Mon @ 6:30pm, Thurs @ 6:30pm, Sat @ 10:30am. crystalmeth.org. Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle and the Olympic & Rainier Empire Announcement of Candidates Show for Emperor Candidate for Rainier 44 and Empress Candidate for Olympia 47. 6pm doors; 6:30pm show. An evening of fine drag entertainment. R Place, 619 E Pine St. Pride League Bowling. 6:30pm. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW. Every Sunday. Regular league bowling. Jeff, (206) 932-3731; leagues@wsbowl.com. [EXCEPT no bowling June, July & August.] “To Exist is to Resist” (1/11 & 1/12; 1/20 & 1/21). 7pm. Calamus Auditorium at Gay City, 517 E Pike St. Tickets: $15-$20; students/seniors $12. www.gaycity.org/arts Integrity/Puget Sound. 7pm Worship & Fellowship. St. Mark’s Cathedral, Thomson Chapel, 1245 10th Ave E. Integrity is an international ministry of Gay & Lesbian Episcopalians, their friends & families, dedicated to education, support & service within the Church & the GLBT community. (425) 226-2746. Noche Latina - Latino Night. 10pm. Neighbours, 1509 Broadway. Every Sunday.

MONDAY - January 22

SOBER - On Meds. 1-2pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Monday. 12-step group open to anyone in recovery & living on a medicine regimen. www.sasgcc.org Strength Over Speed. 2-3:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. FREE drop-in support group (not a 12 step) for Gay & Bi men who desire recovery from meth. www. strengthoverspeed.org.

Over 40’s Group - For Lesbian Women 40 & OlderGame Night. 5:45-8:30pm. University Congregational Church, 4515 16th Ave NE, Pilgrim Room. Meets 4th Monday each month. (206) 545-3521. (Also meets 1st Tuesday from 7-8:30pm for open support group.) Crystal Meth Anonymous. 6:30pm. Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 1729 Harvard Ave. Also Thurs @ 6:30pm, Sat @ 10:30am, Sun @ 6:30pm. crystalmeth.org. Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Connolly Athletic Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday afternoon listing.)

10 [HOUSEMATES] 11 [FOR RENT]

[HELP WANTED]

CLUB Z

Help wanted, various shifts. Apply within at Club Z, 1117 Pike St. or email application request to info@thezclub. com with "request application" in the subject line. 04/3

SEATTLE AIDS LEGACY MEMORIAL PROJECT

The Seattle AIDS Legacy Memorial Project is seeking an individual or organization to direct its Inreach Initiative, which will engage African Americans and its diaspora and other communities of color to tell the history of Seattle/King County's AIDS crisis by creating stories for Seattle AIDS Legacy Memorial Project's HIV/ AIDS Story Bank. Applicants for this contract position should visit http://bit.ly/2CVo1ng to learn more and apply no later than January 31, 2018. NOTE: THE APPLICATION PERIOD HAS BEEN EXTENDED (FROM JANUARY 25 TO JANUARY 31) AND APPLICATIONS WILL BE REVIEWED AS RECEIVED BEGINNING ON JANUARY 31, 2018. 03/2

19 [SERVICES] HOME IMPROVEMENT

CHUCK'S HANDYMAN SERVICE

Painting / Decks / Fences / Drywall / Miscellaneous Jobs. Over 20 years exoerience in the West Seattle area. References. 206-935-6730. 38/6

Looking to clean beautiful homes. Attention to detail and hardworking. References available upon request. Jeffrey, 206-919-0194. jeffhealea@gmail.com 48/3

SILVERHAWK SERVICES

General Contractor

SILVES*835KH

Licensed Bonded & Insured

I do pool painting, interior/exterior painting, remodeling, fire damage, water damage. 34/3

David - 206-465-6639

20 [HEALTH & WELL-BEING]

ENERGY/BODYWORK

Therapeutic massage. 30 years experience. Relaxation, major/minor injuries, chronic muscle pain. Small Queen Anne home office/studio. Massage table or massage chair. Convenient parking. (I’m a Gay-friendly straight male graphic artist, web author.) First session 50% off = $45/1.5 hours (travel extra). By appointment only. References available. Chris Pringer, Reiki Master, 206-286-0899. If you get a voice message mentioning “extension #,” please hang up and call back again. Brochure, testimonials, etc. via chalicebridge.com/ BMI-Brochure.html. 44/21

21 [LICENSED MASSAGE - NON-SEXUAL]

EXCEPTIONAL BODYWORK

Given by highly trained LMP. I specialize in injury treatment, acute, chronic, and repetitive stress motion. I have a studio on CapHill, and one just north of the UW. Insurance accepted. Matt Shafer, LMP, 206-2357766. 05/12

22

[FOR SALE]

36 [ESCORTS]

Pain, Humiliation, Slavery, Golden Showers, Fetishes, Extreme Domination, Fisting. 5'9", 169, Puerto Rican, Black, Masculine, DDF, Attractive. 206-432-2606. 03/3

PETS OF THE WEEK

Avery T. Yams

Introducing Avery T. Yams, a handsome tan and white American Pit Bull mix. He eagerly trains for treats and loves to be outside and loves to run; he participates in our Run Dog Run program where trained staff and volunteers take qualified dogs for runs. Avery is a strong and social fellow but prefers humans to dogs. Despite his size, he can be fearful when confronted face-to-face with another dog. So no dog parks for Avery, but if you're a runner looking for a loyal sidekick to join you on your outings, stop by Seattle Humane to meet this lovable hunk.

As with all our dogs, Avery has been neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and behavior tested. He will go home with a certificate for a veterinary examination and an identification tag PLUS most dog adoptions include 30 days of pet insurance from Trupanion and a training rebate when the two of you complete a dog behavior course - a great way to learn together and start off on the right paw!

Introduce to children to 10 years and older. Avery will need to be the only pet in the home.

37

[BODYWORK]

EROTICALLY CHARGED nude full body rubdown from playful top, stimulating the senses. Get seduced. Incalls in Renton area. Scott, 206-355-4469. 40/3

GREAT MASSAGE

Given by highly-trained, clean-cut, handsome guy. I have two private studios, one on CapHill, and one just north of the UW. Call/text Matt, 206-235-7766. In/ out calls. 05/12

38 [MEN]

RAIN CITY JACKS

RCJ is Seattle’s private club hosting hundreds of group jack-off events since 2005. Hot, friendly, and genuine male bonding for men 18+ only. Email or visit our web site for information. info@raincityjacks.org; www. raincityjacks.org. 46/12

FREE & ANONYMOUS HIV & STD COUNSELING/TESTING Walk-In or by Appt GAY CITY HEALTH PROJECT 517 E. Pike St. M-F: 3pm-8pm; SAT: 12:30pm-5pm More Info & to Schedule Appt 206-860-6969

Kera

Meet Kera, a beautiful long-haired, 10-year-old kitty! With Kera's grey coat and piercing green eyes, she'll melt your heart in an instant. This girl has been described by her foster family as a well-oiled purring machine who's incredibly sweet and gentle! Kera likes to live a mellow lifestyle, filled with tons of headbutts and lounging time. If you're interested in learning more about Kera, contact Seattle Humane's adoption department today!

As with all of our cats, Kera is spayed, microchipped and vaccinated. All of our cats have been tested for Feline Leukemia/ FIV and go home with a certificate for an examination by a King County veterinarian and their very own identification tag and collar. PLUS, most cat adoptions include 30 days of pet insurance from Trupanion - a great way to start off on the right paw!