The Washington company's 44th season will kick off March 14, 2008, and will feature works on both stages: the arena-style Allen Theatre and the thrust Falls Theatre.
"Our 2008 season explores the incredibly rich and varied cultural influences inspiring contemporary theatre artists," said ACT artistic director Kurt Beattie in a statement. "We're honored to open with a special engagement by the Ilkhom Theatre Company of Uzbekistan, a first for Seattle, presenting two socially and politically relevant plays."
The ACT 2008 mainstage season (subject to change) follows:
- White White Black Stork by Elkin Tuichiev, Mark Weil
- Ecstasy with the Pomegranate by M. Weil, D. Tikhomirov
Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton
"What is it to be a 'father,' a 'son,' a 'husband,' a 'man'?" asks this world-premiere work about three generations of men [who] "confront a history of absence, mistakes, mistrust, and broken promises as they... come together in the midst of a family crisis." The work is developed as part of the Hansberry Project — "a professional Black theatre company dedicated to the artistic exploration of African American life, history, and culture."
Words and music by Noel Coward
Devised by David Ira Goldstein, Carl Danielsen, Mark Anders and Patricia Wilcox
Goldstein directs this tribute to the writer's career billed as a "two-hour romp of music, dance, and devilry [that] brings to the stage the most delicious songs and sayings of Coward's oeuvre."
Directed by Kurt Beattie
Two actors take on six characters in this work centering on a woman "trapped in a crushing marriage to the alcoholic headmaster of a suburban English prep school [who] makes the momentous decision to assert her independence by catering the school sports day in partnership with a very peculiar gardener."
Directed by Allison Narver
Ruhl's The Clean House was seen last season at ACT. Now comes "a lyrical meditation on love and loss that puts a contemporary spin on the classic Orpheus myth... shifting the focus to the bride Eurydice, carried off to the Underworld on the very day of her wedding."
Directed by Kurt Beattie
"Fortyish Becky Foster has a decent job at an auto dealership, a solid husband named Joe, and a freeloading psych-major son living in her basement. Her life is…okay, if not sublime," reads show notes for the world premiere from the Seattle playwright. "But when she crosses paths with billionaire widower Walter Flood, she's offered the chance to test drive a very different kind of existence – if she can just keep him in the dark about the one she already has!" ACT will also present its 33rd annual production of Gregory A. Falls' adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (Nov. 28-Dec. 28, 2008).
Subscriptions to the season at ACT, 700 Union Street in downtown Seattle, are available at the Ticket Office, by phone at (206) 292-7676 or online at acttheatre.org.
