Under the new artistic direction of Bartlett Sher, who recently had a hit in New York City with Waste, Seattle's Intiman Theatre have chosen their 2001 season -- minus the finale. Highlights include a revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Craig Lucas' The Dying Gaul and the San Francisco hit, R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE.
William Shakespeare's romance Cymbeline kicks off 2001 with a tale of secretly married lovers, a wicked stepmother, a seductive villain and the powers of love, running March 9-April 7. Sher makes his Seattle directing debut with the production.
What happens to a dream deferred? More than forty years ago, Lorraine Hansberry attempted to answer the poet's question with her story of the Younger family, three generations of whom have struggled for a better life against Chicago's poverty and prejudice in the years before the civil rights movement. Jacqueline Moscou (Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Black Nativity) directs A Raisin in the Sun, performing April 13-May 13.
R. Buckminster Fuller -- or Bucky as he was known -- may have been one of the greatest innovators of the 20th Century. From his architectural designs to his day long lectures, Fuller challenged and angered many intellectuals and students of thought. Ron Campell brings the thinker to life in R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE, set to run June 8-July 8, 2001. HISTORY (and Mystery) scripter D.W. Jacobs directs.
Sher tackles another classic, Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, July 20-Aug. 18. A commedia from the 18th Century, Servant follows Truffaldino, the Harlequin, as he races back and forth collecting money and food from his two masters, without letting either know of the other's identity or his own. Lucas' The Dying Gaul follows with a run Aug. 24-Sept. 23 with a director to be announced. Grounded in deceit and sex, The Dying Gaul's love triangle is set among screenwriter Robert, his studio boss Jeffrey, and Jeffrey's wife, Elaine. When Robert and Jeffrey begin an affair based around getting the young writer's script made into a movie, Elaine decides not to ignore it but instead torture Robert with a twisted game in an internet chat room. Both a playwright and scriptwriter, Lucas' works include God's Heart, Prelude to a Kiss, "Longtime Companion" and "Reckless."
The season closer has not yet been chosen, but is expected to be announced soon.
Subscription packages run from $213-$66, single tickets from Feb. 19, 2001 on are $42-$10. The Intiman Theatre is located in the Seattle Center at 201 Mercer St. For reservation information, call (206)-269 1900. The Intiman Theatre is on the web at http://www.intiman.org.
-- By Christine Ehren
