David Esbjornson, the new artistic director of the Seattle Repertory Theatre, is in a learning curve right now. So is his audience.
Esbjornson is a high-profile theater artist and freelance director with major credits on and off Broadway. The Rep’s new leader has been associated with some of America’s most significant playwrights, including Edward Albee, Arthur Miller and Tony Kushner.
Esbjornson was named to the Rep job early this year and came on board in July. He quickly put together a 2005-2006 season, rich in world premieres, which opened in September, giving Rep audiences their first look at things to come.
As he’s settled in, Esbjornson says he’s impressed with the people he’s met here.
“There are some amazing people here with tremendous intelligence,” he said in a telephone interview, taking a break from the chores of moving into a new apartment.
“One of the things I am really impressed by is the local talent, especially the acting talent. We have been auditioning for the season. It’s a terrific group of people.”
Esbjornson’s been soaking it all in, even as he sets a new course for the Rep. In past seasons, the Rep has relied on productions of “the classics” as well as new works, but Esbjornson is clearly in the latter category in his inaugural season.
The mainstage season opened with the world premiere of a new adaptation of Carlo Gozzi’s fantasy play “The King Stag,” an 18th-century commedia-style farce updated for modern audiences.
“By and large ‘The King Stag” has jazzed younger people in a way that no one has seen around here,” Esbjornson said.
Also on the schedule are an adaptation of the best-seller “Tuesdays With Morrie,” a world-premiere musical by Norman Durkee (musical director of Teatro ZinZanni) and “9 Parts of Desire,” writer-performer Heather Raffo’s theater piece based on interviews with Iraqi women.
Next up is another world premiere that Esbjornson is directing. “Purgatorio” by Ariel Dorfman is a two-person drama inspired by the Greek myth-tragedy Medea that opens on Wednesday.
Dorfman is an award-winning Chilean-American writer and human rights activist and his plays have been staged in more than 100 countries.
Esbjornson directed a workshop production of the play at Duke University and he’s been working with the playwright to hone “Purgatorio” for Seattle.
“The season has been laid out intentionally to see who the audience is and where the boundaries are,” Esbjornson said. “I like to break those barriers down a bit.”
While some folks react negatively to the new, the different, “others say it’s the best thing they have ever seen,” Esbjornson said.
“If you really want theater to be effective you can’t have everyone love you,” he said. “The best work in the world has always met with controversy.”
“Little Women”: A production of the Broadway musical “Little Women” opens Tuesday at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre.
Louisa May Alcott’s sentimental coming-of-age story about the March sisters has been given the musical-theater treatment with a contemporary score and one of America’s greatest singers in a featured role.
Maureen McGovern’s portrayal of Marmee earned a Drama Desk Award nomination and glowing reviews on Broadway. This is a touring production of that show, which faithfully follows Alcott’s 1886 story of Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March as they grow up in New England during the Civil War.
McGovern, whose career spans more than 30 years, possesses one of American music’s greatest voices. Critics have dubbed it “The Stradivarius Voice” because of her ability to match the tonal quality and flexibility of musical instruments.
| “Purgatorio”: A Seattle Repertory Theatre production Wednesday through Nov. 26 at the Bagley Wright Theatre, Seattle Center. Tickets $10-$46, 206-443-2222, 877-900-9285, www.seattlerep.org.
“Little Women”: A touring production playing Tuesday through Nov. 6 at the Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., Seattle. Tickets, $20-$65, at Ticketmaster, 206-292-2787. “Abundance”: An Edmonds Community College Theater Arts Department production at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Nov. 4 and 5, and 2 p.m. Nov. 6 in Triton Union Building 202 on campus, 20000 68th Ave. W., Lynnwood. Tickets are $5-$8, at the door and the college bookstore. Dinner theater performances begin at 6:15 p.m. Nov. 4 and 5, $17-$20 by reservation only, call the box office at 425-640-1313. |
McGovern gets to showcase her big, buttery sound in two soaring ballads, “Here Alone” and “Days of Plenty.”
There are eight performances of “Little Women” running through Nov. 6.
Dinner and a play: Drama students at Edmonds Community College are serving up an evening of comedy and a western-style dinner next week.
The students are performing “Abundance,” a dark comedy by Beth Henley (“Crimes of the Heart”) about mail-order brides in 1870s in Wyoming territory.
Two of the six performances will be offered as a dinner-theater combo, with a meal prepared by the college’s culinary arts department. In keeping with the Wild West theme, the appetizer is buffalo sausage on toast with roasted corn relish. The Western-theme dinner includes roast chicken hindquarters, slaw, grits, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans, plus three different desserts.
David Esbjornson
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