DG National Report: Seattle by Duane Kelly
@dramatistsguild @DuaneKelly
2014 has been a year of change for theatre leadership in Seattle. Braden Abraham was named Acting Artistic Director at Seattle Repertory Theatre, following the death of Jerry Manning due to complications from heart surgery. ArtsWest, a smaller long-established company, selected Matthew Wright as its new artistic director, and Kurt Beattie, who has been A.D. at ACT Theatre since 2003, announced that he will step down at the end of the 2015 season. His successor will be John Langs, ACT’s current Associate A.D.
Balagan Theatre, an ambitious mid-sized company that focused on musicals, abruptly ceased operations in September when $340,000 in unpaid bills was brought to its board’s attention. Writers and actors are among the unpaid creditors. The demise of Balagan brought back memories of Intiman Theatre’s collapse in 2011. (Intiman has since re-emerged as a scaled back summer festival; this year it mounted a strong production of Angels in America.)
All is not dire however. Under Beattie’s leadership, ACT Theatre recovered from its own financial crisis in 2003 and came back stronger than ever. Its five stages are now a beehive of activity; some evenings there are actors on every stage.
The 5th Avenue Theatre, which concentrates on musicals, is another bright spot. It boasts the biggest budget and subscriber base among Seattle theatres. Two years ago, it launched a multi-layered new musical development program and appointed veteran musical director Ian Eisendrath to head it up.
One layer involves three to four writer retreats each year. The 5th flies in the creative team and whisks them away to a secluded cabin on an island in Puget Sound, where they spend about a week working on their show. Eisendrath has found that since most writers have multiple projects going on at once, with impending deadlines clamoring for attention, a week away in focused seclusion with 5th Avenue’s artistic support can be often just what they need to get a new project off the ground. One liability can be weight gain – the writers are also provided gourmet meals throughout the week.
A project being developed this way is Beautiful Poison. Guild member Duane Poole is the book writer. Collaborating with Poole are Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda. The 5th Avenue has since commissioned this team to complete that musical.
Cry to Heaven is another musical The 5th has commissioned. The creative team includes Guild members Matthew Wilder (composer) and Debrah Neal (book writer). Cry to Heaven is a gothic mystery set in 16th-century Italy, adapted from the Anne Rice novel of the same name.
Another facet of 5th Avenue’s initiative is extensive development labs where writers are immersed in a three-week collaboration with a creative team and full company of actors, refining the material for eight hours a day, five days a week. At the end of each week there is a read/sing-through, followed by a brainstorming session between the writers, creative team and 5th Avenue artistic staff. Over the weekend the writers retreat to their hotel rooms, doing rewrites based on what they learned the previous week. They arrive at Monday morning’s rehearsal with a revised script and score for the cast to rehearse. This intensive process repeats itself two more times. By the end of three weeks a more focused and successful show has emerged.
A further layer of the New Works Program is the Seattle Writers Group, a two-year program in which six local writers meet regularly, collaborate and refine their craft. The writers receive staff-level access to 5th Avenue projects, space and equipment, a small stipend and a showcase of their work at the end of each year. These showcases are preceded by a “29-hour reading” process; the writers and creative team receive twenty-nine hours to rehearse with a company of actors to present an informal, non-paid presentation of the new musical at music stands for a non-paying audience. Guild member Lauren Marshall is among the Writers Group current members.
What The 5th Avenue Theatre is doing to develop new musicals may well be the most extensive and ambitious of any nonprofit company in the country, and attests to the vibrant theatre scene in Seattle.