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Event
Why We Have a Body
NEW! GOLD TICKETS FOR "WHY WE HAVE A BODY":
Ten $10 tickets are available for every performance
Available to everyone until they sell out
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*****
"WHY WE HAVE A BODY" IS A COMEDY
OF LOVERS, SISTERS, AND MOTHERS
WHO PERSISTED
Strawberry Theatre Workshop
presents its all-female cast
September 14-October 14 at 12th Ave Arts
Claire Chafee's "Why We Have a Body" follows the lives of four women through snapshot monologues and short intimate scenes. Though the play originally opened in San Francisco in 1993, it is achingly in sync with the current political climate. Directed by Rhonda J Soikowski for Strawberry Theatre Workshop, "Body" opens Sep-14 at 12th Ave Arts for a five-week run.
Chafee presents four women who have each built lives for themselves outside of patriarchal expectationslives without children, lives without husbands, and one life beyond the rule of law. They demonstrate the illusion of LGBTQ-identifying individuals gaining equality, and the constrictions placed on women who were brought up in a world defined by men.
"The play works in archetypes," says Soikowski. "Lesbian, Criminal, Lover, Mother; or Detective, Philosopher, Scientist, Adventurer; or Loner, Psychotic, Cheater, Abandoner. There are many ways each of these characters can be seen. The play encourages the audience to try to pigeonhole characters into one identity or another, while they each try to find their own essence of self, despite our attempts to do it for them."
Soikowski was one of Artistic Director Greg Carter's earliest collaborators at Strawberry Theatre Workshop. She sat on the founding Board of Trustees, directed the second production in the organization's history ("Fellow Passengers", 2004), and performed in the third ("Accidental Death of an Anarchist", 2005). Her ensemble for "Body" includes another Strawshop favorite, Amy Fleetwood, who played the lead role in the company's "An Enemy of the People" in 2007, and returned for "Breaking the Code", "This Land: Woody Guthrie", and "Our Town".
"Body's" other three actors are new to Strawshop. Mahria Zook (who was featured in the one-woman "Grounded" at Seattle Public Theatre) plays the paleontologist Renee. She shares the stage with Alyssa Keene ("Mother Courage" at Seattle Shakespeare) and Katya Landau ("SQUATCH! The Musical" at Centerstage) who play the sisters Lili and Mary. The design team includes Margaret Toomey (costumes), Levi Plumb (lights), Brian Murphy (sound), and Robin Macartney (scenery). The production is stage-managed by Evan Price and Lexi Chipman.
"Why We Have a Body" had its world premiere at the Magic Theatre and went on to be produced Off-Broadway at the Judith Anderson Theatre by Women's Project. It won four San Francisco Dramalogue Awards, the Bay Area Critic's Circle Award for original script, and Newsday's George Oppenheimer Award, presented annually for the most impressive debut of an American playwright. "Body" has been produced in around the country in Los Angeles, Boston, Minneapolis, Dallas, and Chicago, as well as in Vancouver BC and Perth, Australia.
"Why We Have a Body" features the first of two all-female casts who will occupy the Strawshop stage to begin its 2017/18 season. The company will produce Peter Morgan's "Frost/Nixon" in January with eight women playing roles originally written for men. Amy Thone and Alexandra Tavares will play the famous title characters. The third show of the season--though not an all-female cast--is from a Pulitzer Prize winning female playwright, Paula Vogel. Vogel's "How I Learned to Drive" opens in June.
About Strawberry Theatre Workshop
Founded in 2004 by Greg Carter, Strawberry Theatre Workshop is a professional theatre company dedicated to socially engaged work of the highest caliber. Strawshop is a Stranger Genius Award winner, a six-time Seattle Times Footlight Award winner, and the only company to be nominated for a TPS Gregory Award for Outstanding Production four years in a row (2009-12). Known for its critically acclaimed productions of "Our Town", "The Normal Heart", "Breaking the Code", "The Elephant Man", "Proof" and "The Laramie Project", Strawshop is anchored in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Strawshop is one of three resident companies in the new 12th Ave Arts building, which opened on Capitol Hill in 2015.
Mission Statement
Strawberry Theatre Workshop is committed to the idea that the theatre is the people's place of aspiration, and that any voice from the stage is translated exponentially into conversations at coffee shops, bus stops, classrooms, and play fields. Strawshop is dedicated to the idea of ensemble, in the broadest sense of the word. Our ensemble does not only mean a resident company of workers, but a collective that includes our work, our audience, and our neighborhood. This is an activist stance. To be a good neighbor is to be a relevant neighbor, a responsible neighbor, and a vocal neighbor.
Listing Information
Title: "Why We Have a Body"
Opens: Thursday, September 14, 2017
Plays: Thu-Fri-Sat and Mon, 7:30 pm
NO PERFORMANCE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 18
Venue: Studio Theatre at 12th Ave Arts
Address: 1620 12th Ave, Capitol Hill, Seattle
Ticket Prices: $36 General, $24 Mondays
Phone Sales: 1-800-838-3006
Online Sales: strawshop.bpt.me
READ MORE AT: www.strawshop.org
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Location12th Ave Arts (View)
1620 12th Ave
Seattle, WA 98122
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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