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Members of the Company. Photo by Chris Bennion
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Tom Skerritt
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Our Town, the first production in The American Cycle, was produced in period with a multicultural cast, creating a production that looked and felt like our world today.
Bartlett Sher’s production of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play featured Tom Skerritt as the Stage Manager, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Emily and Joaquín Torres as George. The ensemble, many of whom also performed original musical compositions and vocal arrangements, included Earl Alexander, Vincent Balestri, Laurence Ballard, Patti Cohenour, Philip Davidson, Dominique Duncan, Justin Emeka, Allen Gilmore, Jose J. Gonzalez, Jarvis Antonio Green, Josephine Howell, Alyssa Keene, Lisa Li, Kelly Mak, Ella Mora, Jeanne Paulsen, Larry Paulsen, Andrew J. Peterson, Max Piscioneri, Lukas Shadair and Erwin Thomas. The creative team included scenic and lighting designer Christopher Akerlind, costume designer Elizabeth Caitlin Ward, sound designer Peter John Still and dialect coach Judith Shahn. The stage manager was Wendiana Walker. The Our Town Community Committee was co-chaired by Leonard Garfield, Executive Director of the Museum of History and Industry, and Sara Patton, Executive Director of the NW Energy Coalition.
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Deborah Jacobs
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Trish Millines Dziko
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Front Porch Theater:
Readings
of Our Town began in September at the Columbia Branch Library, with City Librarian Deborah Jacobs and Technology Access Alliance Foundation founder Trish Millines Dziko as featured readers. Subsequent readings were held at the Ugly Mug Café in Renton and La Casa de Arts’ Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Festival at Seattle Center, where actor Olga Sanchez, reading Emily, translated parts of Act III (encompassing Emily’s funeral, and her return to spend one day among the living) into Spanish. Private readings were held at a women’s shelter; the Hilltop House Senior Apartments; and the Microsoft Campus with Michael Klein, Curator of the Microsoft Art Collection, as the Stage Manager and Community Affairs Manager Rodney Hines reading Constable Warren.
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Photo by Team Photogenic
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Rough Eagles:
The Rough Eagles created an original multimedia response to Our Town, combining video footage and original, often deeply personal writing to explore the play’s themes of daily life, love, relationships and death as they related to their own high school experiences. The student performance, supported in part by the Longbrake Family Foundation and Wells Fargo, was developed with INTIMAN staff
Liza Comtois
and
Nicole Pearson
, director Amy Maguire, playwright Amy Wheeler and filmmaker Erin Katz. It was performed on the set of Our Town to an audience of more than 400 people and again at the Downtown Public Library in November. |
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Writers & Artists
Following the matinee performance of Our Town on November 6, New York-based dramaturg, writer and educator John Dias spoke about Thornton Wilder and discussed INTIMAN’s production with director Bartlett Sher. Dias has lectured on theatre across the
United States
and internationally, and has written on and worked with numerous American playwrights. He was dramaturg for a production of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth at The Public Theater, where he served as associate producer and head of the literary department. |
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Sir Mix-A-Lot, Dave Dederer and the 2004 Rough Eagles. Photo by Team Photogenic
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Open Minds/Open Dialogue
Following the Rough Eagles youth performance, INTIMAN hosted “Rock, Rap and Rough Eagles,” the Open Minds/Open Dialogue community forum. The forum brought the Rough Eagles students together with rocker Dave Dederer (an alumnus of the
Bush
School
and founding member of The Presidents of the
United States of America
) and Grammy winner Sir Mix-A-Lot (an alumnus of
Roosevelt
High School
who is credited as
Seattle
’s first superstar rapper). The panel was moderated by journalist Ann Powers, then senior curator of the Experience Music Project, another
Seattle
native.
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Lobby Display (All Lobby Photos courtesy of INTIMAN)
As part of our preparations for the production of Our Town we wanted to take care to involve and incorporate our OWN town of
Seattle
. To that end we created a revolving series of “special weeks” in the INTIMAN lobby that would celebrate various aspects of Seattle including the Arts, Sports, Seattle Communities, Green Spaces, Special Places and the history of the Seattle industries that helped define the city. These special weeks involved a series of displays, special events, activities and demonstrations.
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Time Capsule Burial —November 13
One major event during this week was the burial of a time capsule. In the production of Our Town there is a speech by the Stage Manager in which he talks about a Time Capsule to be buried in Grover’s Corners,
New Hampshire
. This inspired the staff at INTIMAN to bury a time capsule containing items relevant both to the production of Our Town and The American Cycle but also to “Our Town – Seattle 2004”. The ceremony was lead by INTIMAN Artistic Director Bartlett Sher and special guest Seattle Center Director Virginia Anderson. The spot of the time capsule is marked by a plaque. |
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A Map of the World – we asked patrons to put a colored dot on where they or their relatives originally came from. |
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Special Weeks Included: |
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The Arts: Connected by Creativity |
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October 8 to 17 |
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Neighborhoods: Many Towns in One |
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October 18 to 24 |
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Sports: Our Town at Play |
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October 25 to 31 |
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Industry: From Sound to Space |
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November 1 to 7 |
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Green Spaces, Gathering Places & Historic Events |
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November 8 to 20 |
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The Arts: Connected by Creativity – October 8 to 17
The week celebrated the contribution of the Arts to
Seattle
. Displays included:
A Salute to Grunge Music
EMP provided and installed a portion of their “Rock, Paper, Scissors” exhibit which featured show posters from concerts in the 1990’s of various local grunge bands.
A Salute to the
Seattle
Film Industry
the display included a 35mm professional film camera and studio lights provided in-kind by Oppenheimer Cine Rentals. Maps from the Mayor’s Office of Music and Film highlighted films shot in the
Seattle
area and the locations where they were shot. Further storyboards provided a
Seattle
filmography and movie posters of some of the more important films made in the
Puget Sound
area. The display area also provided information on TheFilmSchool, a local school for young people interested in film founded by Tom Skerritt.
A Salute to
Seattle
Architecture
INTIMAN Board Member Brad Tong and his architecture firm provided a not quite life-size wooden model of the six city blocks around the
new city
hall. The model was a centerpiece of interest as it was quite large at 6’ x 4’ and the tallest building stood almost 6’ tall. We enhanced the piece by adding the names to the buildings as well as a reference list for our patrons. The display also included full color pictures of the new downtown library provided by the architecture firm LMN Architects and a “how’d they do that” step-by-step posters for the construction of McCaw Hall. The display also featured stand-alone storyboards on
Smith
Tower
, the Space Needle and the Bank of America Tower. In addition we hooked up a computer in the area and installed a program called Virtual Seattle that allowed patrons to navigate through downtown
Seattle
clicking on buildings with pop up’s providing information on the buildings history.
Supporting the Arts in
Seattle
A display was created that highlighted the five organizations that provide funding and support to the Arts:
Washington
State
Arts Commission, 4 Culture, PONCHO, Mayor’s Office on Arts & Cultural Affairs and ArtsFund. It included information on how they receive their revenue, what they fund, whom they fund and the percentage that each organization they fund receives.
INTIMAN Staff Creations
Artwork created by INTIMAN staff was displayed in the upper lobby. Items included painting, drawings, clothing, photography and collage.
A Salute to
Seattle
Performing Arts Organizations
featured a collage of posters from theatres, dance troupes, Seattle Opera, Symphonies and Choirs in the local area along with fun facts such as the first staged performance in
Seattle
, number of equity actors in
Seattle
, etc.
Glassblowing
On certain days during the week featured artists Chico Raskey of Chico Art Glass gave glass blowing demonstrations in the Courtyard.
Timeline
A timeline of the history of the Arts in
Seattle
. The timeline covered 1869 to 2004. |
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Neighborhoods: Many Towns in One – October 18 to 24
The week recognized and commemorated the diversity and cultural richness that Seattle area neighborhoods provide, as well as the geographical layout of Seattle’s numerous and eclectic neighborhoods and their historical significance. Displays included:
Timeline
This timeline focused on significant events in each of
Seattle
’s distinct neighborhoods, beginning with the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805.
Seattle’s Neighborhoods
A breakdown of the areas of
Seattle
. Each neighborhood had it’s own display, featuring maps, facts and figures, and brief history including.
Model of Downtown
The wooden model of Downtown mentioned during the “Arts” week remained present during this week. |
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Sports: Our Town at Play – October 25 to 31
The week celebrated the contribution of Sports to
Seattle
. Displays included:
Timeline
A complete timeline of the history of Sports in
Seattle
, beginning with the founding of the City of
Seattle
in 1869 and the founding of the City’s first baseball club in 1872.
A Salute to Baseball in Seattle
Including memorabilia and display items from the Seattle Mariners (posters, bobblehead dolls, pictures, and collector cards), a complete history of baseball in the city, as well as a detailed background of the current franchise.
A Salute to Football in
Seattle
Including pictures and collectables from the Seattle Seahawks and a detailed history of the franchise, and of
Seattle
football in general (including UW football history).
A Salute to Basketball in
Seattle
Including memorabilia and display items from the Seattle SuperSonics and recent Women’s Basketball Champions the Seattle Storm (posters, bobblehead dolls, pictures, collector cards and a truly HUGE pair of shoes) as well as a detailed history of each franchise.
A Salute to Hockey in Seattle
Including memorabilia and display items from the Seattle Thunderbirds (posters, pictures, hockey sticks, skates and pucks) as well as a detailed history of every hockey franchise in Seattle’s history, from the Ironmen, to the Totems to the T-Birds.
A Salute to Soccer in
Seattle
Pictures and a history of the Seattle Sounders (Men’s and Women’s teams). |
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Industry: From Sound to Space – November 1 to 7
This week paid tribute to the industries that put
Seattle
on the map. From aerospace to logging and from dot-com to fishing and coffee. Displays included:
Timeline
The timeline featured important events for Boeing, Starbucks, Microsoft, Bartell, Nordstroms and many more.
A Salute to Boeing
Boeing provided us with two existing displays: A plexiglass nosepiece from a B-17 bomber that flew during WWII. They also loaned us a freestanding piece featuring airplane photos. We created storyboards chronicling the history of Boeing and its airplanes.
A Salute to Microsoft
To represent Microsoft we featured a 6 foot tall plastic mouse and framed artwork from their Windows 98 ad campaign. We also included a brief history of Microsoft and Bill Gates. |
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Green Spaces, Gathering Places & Historic Events – November 8 to 20
This week celebrated the significant events that shaped
Seattle
and the outdoor spaces that
Seattle
is famous for. Displays included:
Timeline
This timeline focused on significant historical events that shaped
Seattle
such as Alki Landing, WWII, World’s Fair, etc. from 1851 to 2004.
Neighborhood History
We utilized the information from the Neighborhoods week and organized the display by location. We added information on significant historical events and photographs showing key locations, such as
Pioneer Square
, Pike Place Market and
Seattle
Center-
as they are now and as they were in the past.Olmsted’s Parks
To celebrate
Seattle
’s Green Spaces we chose to focus on the cities parks that were designed by the famous landscape architects, John Charles and Frederick Law Olmsted. The panels listed their projects, explained their philosophies and pictured their parks then and now. |
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