“Native Son”: Intiman Theatre’s American Cycle continues this season with Richard Wright and Paul Green’s play “Native Son,” adapted and directed by Kent Gash.
Richard Wright’s novel “Native Son,” published in 1940, is one of the most powerful stories about racism – and its consequences for individuals and society – ever written. When Bigger Thomas accidentally murders the daughter of his white employer in a moment of panic, he sets off a series of tragic events that, 66 years after the novel was published, continue to yield powerful insights and emotions regarding poverty, power and the state of race relations in America.
Gash, the adapter and director, is associate artistic director of the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, where he has directed and choreographed numerous productions.
“Native Son” features Ato Essandoh as Bigger Thomas and an original score composed and performed live on stage by musician Chic Street Man.
“Sweet Charity”: Molly Ringwald takes center stage as Charity Hope Valentine, the unluckiest romantic in New York.
Do you want to have fun? Then just dance on over to “Sweet Charity,” the Broadway musical that offers fun, laughs and good times.
Ringwald, the star of Broadway’s “Cabaret” and such memorable films as “The Breakfast Club,” “Pretty in Pink,” and “Sixteen Candles,” plays Charity Hope Valentine who is a true original, eternal optimist.
The musical’s tuneful score by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields features such hits as “Hey, Big Spender,” “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This” and “If My Friends Could See Me Now.” The show features a hilarious book by none other than Neil Simon.
USA Today called this new production “a real kick.” The Wall Street Journal determined it was “a blast!”
The 1 p.m. Oct. 29 performance will be American Sign Language. Tickets are available at a discounted price through TicketMaster by calling 206-292-2787 or 800-359-2525 (TTY), in person at all TicketMaster outlets including Fred Meyer, and in person at the Paramount Theatre box office, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“Steel Magnolias”: The entire play takes place in Truvy’s beauty salon in a small town in Louisiana during the mid-1980s.
The women who frequent the salon are witty, fun and have unbreakable connections with one another, weathering the good times as well as the bad, always there to lift each other up in the worst of times or to celebrate their victories.
Returning to this Sky Performing Arts production in Monroe is Leslie Foley as the irascible Ouiser and Barbara Gentil as Truvy. Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling, is directed by Suzie Morrow.
“The Winter’s Tale”: Seattle Shakespeare Company launches its 2006-07 season with Shakespeare’s magical fairy tale of fallen kings, lost princesses and the journey to love’s true home.
Mark Harrison, former head of the professional directing program at the University of Washington, will direct the production.
In “The Winter’s Tale” a royal family is torn apart when jealous King Leontes imprisons his pregnant wife, Hermione, on charges of infidelity and exiles his newborn daughter. Sixteen years later in the pastoral haven of Bohemia, a young girl raised by two shepherds falls in love with a prince. Their love starts a magical journey leading to the key that will heal her family’s wounds.
“I’m so thrilled to have Mark Harrison shepherd this lovely play,” said Seattle Shakespeare Company artistic director Stephanie Shine. “Although it’s rarely produced, “The Winter’s Tale” is very much a story about finding your way home, both body and soul. The play is dark and enchanting, and Mark is the perfect person to bring out all of its wonders.”
Seattle Shakespeare Company is the Puget Sound region’s only year-round professional, classical theater dedicated to producing the work of Shakespeare.
Where to see it
“Native Son”: Oct. 20 to Nov. 18, Intiman Theatre, 201 Mercer St., Seattle. $27 to $46, 206-269-1900, www.intiman.org.
“Steel Magnolias”: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 20 to Nov. 5, Wagner Memorial Auditorium, 639 W. Main St., Monroe. $10 adults; $8 students and seniors, 360-863-1663, www. skyperformingarts.com.
“Sweet Charity”: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 24-29, The Paramount, 911 Pine St., Seattle. $22 to $65. 206-628-0888, www.theparamount.com.
“The Winter’s Tale”: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, Oct. 26 through Nov. 19, Center House Theatre, Seattle Center, 306 Harrison St., Seattle. $28 to $33 adults, $22 to $26 seniors, $18 to $22 students, 206-733-8222, www.seattleshakespeare .org.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
