2019 Season Announcement Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2019
Contact: Joann Natalia Aquino, Marketing Contractor
joann@intiman.org | (206) 931-3202

Intiman Theatre Announces Its 2019 WILD WICKED WOKE Season
Get CAUGHT in an intricate web of ideological truths, come bear witness to THE EVENTS, and revision our collective liberation with BULRUSHER.

Season package go on sale today, Monday, January 14, 2019 via intiman.org.

Seattle, WA (January 14, 2019) — Intiman Theatre has announced its 2019 WILD WICKED WOKE Season featuring three mainstage productions, which include CAUGHT written by Christopher Chen and directed by Desdemona Chiang, THE EVENTS written by David Greig and directed by Paul Budraitis, and BULRUSHER written by Eisa Davis and directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton.

“2019 finds Intiman in part 2 of our WILD WICKED WOKE Season,” says Intiman’s Artistic Director Jennifer Zeyl. “We continue to explore narrative that confronts American inequities; centering intellectual property, artistic license, our collective struggle for liberation and our need to understand the abhorrent.”

Intiman’s 2019 WILD WICKED WOKE Season kicks off with CAUGHT by Obie award-winning playwright Christopher Chen. Directed by Seattle/San Francisco-based director Desdemona Chiang, CAUGHT is a labyrinthine exploration of truth, art, social justice and cultural appropriation, where nothing is as it first appears. CAUGHT opens on March 7 and plays through March 30, 2019 at 12th Ave Arts in Capitol Hill.

Following CAUGHT is THE EVENTS by Scottish-born playwright David Greig. A timely exploration of violence, obsession, and our desire to fathom the unfathomable, THE EVENTS excavates the humanity found even in circumstances of extraordinary evil, examining the actors on both sides of an unimaginable tragedy. Directed by Seattle-based director Paul Budraitis, THE EVENTS is playing at the Erickson Theatre in Capitol Hill from July 18-August 10, 2019.

Closing out Intiman’s 2019 Season is BULRUSHER by Eisa Davis, a 2007 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Passionate, lyrical, and brimming with down-home humor, BULRUSHER is an unforgettable experience in revisioning community. Directed by Seattle-based director Valerie Curtis-Newton, BULRUSHER is playing at the Jones Playhouse at UW from August 22-September 14, 2019.

Since its founding in 1972, Intiman Theatre, has presented over 230 productions to Seattle audiences. Among the more recent of these are HIR by Taylor Mac, WILD HORSES by Allison Gregory, NATIVE GARDENS by Karen Zacarías, ANGELS IN AMERICA by Tony Kushner, TROUBLE IN MIND and WEDDING BAND by Alice Childress, BOOTYCANDY and BARBECUE by Robert O’hara, and DRAGON LADY by Sara Porkalob. These incredible stories encourage civic dialogue and personal reflections about the issues we face as a community, in our country and on the planet. Intiman believes there is a connection between what we choose as entertainment and the questions we ask about what it means to be human; that connection is the foundation of every play in Intiman’s season.

“Intiman has a passion for social justice and we strive towards liberation through artistic activism,” says Phillip Chavira, Intiman’s Executive Director. “We look at inequities plaguing our country and talk about these injustices in our theatrical productions, work through these injustices in our educational programs, and we evaluate our own policies within community to check our own institutional injustices. Intiman has come a long way from the 1972 company Margaret Booker started, and we’re proud of the artistic and activist evolution we have gone through. We have a strong future because the Seattle arts community said yes to art.”

A leader in the Seattle community, Intiman has received national recognition and many honors, including the 2006 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, a 2018 Teeny Award for Most Transformative Production and 2018 Gregory Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical.

Intiman will announce additional programming and special events throughout the year. Stay tuned for more announcements to come.

Calendar Listings

INTIMAN THEATRE
2019 WILD WICKED WOKE SEASON
PRESENTS

CAUGHT
March 7-March 30, 2019
By Christopher Chen
Directed by Desdemona Chiang
At 12th Ave Arts, 1620 12th Avenue, Seattle

An art gallery hosts a retrospective of the work of a legendary Chinese dissident artist who was imprisoned in a Chinese detention center for a single work of art. Recently profiled in the New Yorker, the artist himself is present, and shares with patrons the details of an ordeal that defies belief. A labyrinthine exploration of truth, art, social justice, and cultural appropriation, where nothing is as it first appears. This irreverent new genre-bending work invites you to navigate a shape-shifting trail between truth and perception, authority and authenticity, illusionary art and real jeopardy.

  • New York Times Critic’s Pick: “An intricately constructed, unrelentingly destabilizing puzzle of a play about the anatomy of truth and the provocative power of illusion… As perceived realities dissolve, the one thing spectators can be sure of is that they are inside a production that is also a kind of art installation, and that it is messing with them. ” – Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times
  • “You’ll leave with a better appreciation of life’s shifting perspectives” – LA Times

THE EVENTS
July 18-August 10, 2019
By David Greig
Directed by Paul Budraitis
At Erickson Theatre, 1524 Harvard Avenue, Seattle

In the wake of a mass shooting, lone survivor Claire yearns to find the compassion, understanding, and peace she needs to overcome her trauma— but thoughts and visions of the shooter haunt her every step. A timely exploration of violence, obsession, and our desire to fathom the unfathomable, THE EVENTS excavates the humanity found even in circumstances of extraordinary evil, examining the actors on both sides of an unimaginable tragedy.

  • “A solemn, searching and ultimately very moving play about a faith-shattering act of violence” – The New York Times
  • “Best theatre of 2013, No 1: The Events… David Greig’s quiet, moving drama was a thoughtful and bruisingly honest attempt to understand the repercussions of a mass shooting.” – The Guardian

BULRUSHER
August 22-September 14, 2019
By Eisa Davis
Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton
At Jones Playhouse, 4045 University Way NE, Seattle

In 1955, in the redwood country north of San Francisco, a multiracial girl grows up in a predominantly white town whose residents pepper their speech with the historical dialect of Boontling. Found floating in a basket on the river as an infant, Bulrusher is an orphan with a gift for clairvoyance that makes her feel like a stranger even amongst the strange: the reserved schoolteacher who adopted her as a baby, the madam who runs her brothel with a fairness and discipline, the Black logger with a gentleness and a passion for living, and the guitar-slinging white boy who is after Bulrusher’s heart. Just when she thought her small world might stifle her, she discovers an entirely new place in her identity, when a black girl from Alabama comes to town. Passionate, lyrical, and brimming with down-home humor, this play is an unforgettable experience in revisioning community.

  • “[Davis] tickles the ears of her listeners…moving scenes on the banks of the pebble-strewn river…feel utterly true.” – The New York Times
  • “Davis explores her themes in unexpected and evocative ways…The still waters of Bulrusher turn out to run pretty deep.” – The San Francisco Chronicle
  • “An engrossing rush…Eisa Davis’ gleaming marriage of poetry and myth… has a big heart and a wide-open soul.” – Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

TICKETS
Season package go on sale today, Monday, January 14, 2019, via intiman.org.


About Intiman Theatre

Intiman Theatre wrestles with American Inequities. Intiman Theatre is a professional theater company in Seattle, Washington who won the 2018 Gregory Award for Outstanding Musical & 2006 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, and is overseen by Artistic Director Jennifer Zeyl, Executive Director Phillip Chavira, and Board President Daniel Nye.

Intiman produces in various venues throughout Seattle, which include the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute in Central District, 12th Avenue Arts, Velocity, UW Jones Playhouse, Seattle Center Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, the Alhadeff Studio and Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center.