You might say that New Everett Theatre is taking it down a notch and kicking up the comedy and the classics.
New Everett, which is based inside the historic Everett Theatre on Colby Avenue, has brought us racy and edgier offerings such as “The Vagina Monologues,” “Rocky Horror Show,” and the drama about death-row inmates, “The Exonerated.”
Last season, New Everett asked its patrons: “Do you want your theater naughty or nice?” New Everett bet that audiences wanted mostly naughty. For the most part, that was a good bet, with ticket sales brisk and a buzz created.
For the 2007-08 season, which kicks off in October, the theater is booked close to capacity with shows and other events on the calendar almost every weekend. Still, the tone’s a bit different, not so much edgy theater as funny theater. The catchphrase this year is “Mainstage Masterpieces.”
“I decided that the edgier has a place, but so does classic theater,” said artistic director Victoria Walker. “This season we will offer a more tame and family-oriented season. I believe that we should bring something for everyone to the theater. It is about educating the audience by giving them choices. Children are the future of the arts, so we must include them in our program offerings.”
Still, the theater isn’t forsaking controversy all together. The season kicks off with “Hair,” a rock musical about hippies, peace and love, drugs and the Vietnam War. The show will contain strong language, but the question remains: Will the cast be nude?
“Hair,” which premiered in 1968, was the first Broadway show with a nude scene.
“We are torn between honoring the playwright’s original work and offering a piece of theater to a younger audience, the opportunity to see the classic ‘Hair’ and that time period, without offending them or their parents,” Walker said.
In addition to “Hair,” New Everett’s season includes lots of comedy, such as “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” and “Something’s Afoot” along with classics like “A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley.”
The theater is also offering up lots of opportunities for the younger crowd. One example is the “2D or not 2D Animation Festival” set for November.
It’s still unclear which animation master will be unveiled as the event’s guest speaker, but among the choices is Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons.”
Walker said the theater is specifically targeting schools, promoting the theater’s programming to the school districts and also offering to provide buses if need be to get the kids in the seats.
“Theater is giving them something beyond TV,” Walker said. “It’s a live experience. I so often hear from younger people that ‘a theater was a place where I fit in somewhere.’”
Lori Hughes, who is part of the theater’s management team, said the arts “provides so much for kids: Self esteem and the ability to stand in front of people with confidence.”
New Everett also will continue its commitment to the community by helping to promote such local events as the 11th annual Everett Women’s Film Festival, which happens in March.
This year the theater is gussying up that event by holding the reception in the theater’s upper lobby as a catered affair, taking it beyond “just a bunch of films and a sandwich,” Walker said.
“We’re going to support that event because we have the facility and because we are supporting community organizations,” Walker said. “That’s part of our mission.”
Arts writer Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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