Welcome to the area’s best theatre calendar.
Looking for what’s happening around town? — We’ve got you covered, with locally sourced plays, touring musicals, dance, comedy, and more, all around the Sound.
Use Categories to view only Theatre, Comedy, Dance, Outdoor Shows, Free Events, and more.
Use Tags to filter by location/region, representation, ASL interpreted shows, sliding scale tickets, and more.
Click the Calendar icon (MONTH YEAR) to start the view from a future date.
We try hard to provide updated information, but these showtimes are not official. Please confirm dates/times with the individual theatres via their ticketing pages.
Listings are currently limited to those based in King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Thurston Counties; and slowly expanding west and north (Kitsap, Jefferson, Skagit, and Whatcom counties). The below show listings will be updated as new information is received. If you have a professional, community theatre, dance, or fringe show coming up in Western Washington that’s not listed, please tell us about it.
This wacky, intelligent, highly unconventional musical points ahead to Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking work in the 1970s, even as it keeps a foot firmly rooted in musical theatre’s “golden age.” Anyone Can Whistle tells the story of a corrupt mayoress who fakes a miracle to revitalize her bankrupt town, and the ill-fated romance between the rational nurse, out to expose the fraud, and the easygoing doctor who is determined to enjoy the chaos that it brings. An unconventional satire of small-town life.
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents. Directed by Jasmine Joshua, music directed by Kaelee Bolme, choreographed by Harry Turpin. Co-presented by Reboot Theatre Company and Theatre Off Jackson.
Tickets $6-$106 (sliding scale available for all) here.
Mama’s up early to prepare the perfect stew for a very important community meal. As the day rolls on, tempers go from a simmer to a boil, and secrets rise to the surface for three generations of Tucker women. When the violence hovering around the periphery of their lives begins to intrude upon the sanctity of the kitchen, mothers and daughters wrestle with loss and hope in this hilarious, haunting drama. Written by Zora Howard; directed by Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako.
ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee); see info here.
Previews 3/15-20; opens 3/21
Limited number of pay-what-you-choose advance tickets available for each performance. Rush tickets ($20) offered for all performances, if available. See discount ticket information here.
Tickets here.
Winter, 2001, Newark, NJ. Two DREAMers — pre-DACA — meet up on the fire escape, which happens most nights. Both undocumented teens, they grapple with life’s challenges, from family to their futures. When one becomes naturalized, she promises to marry the other so he can receive his papers and truly start his life. As time passes and their relationship shifts, both must confront what they are willing to sacrifice to live freely and belong. This searing and captivating new play by a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright asks what we’re willing to risk for those we love.
Written by Martyna Majok. Directed by Desdemona Chiang.
Accessibility: English open captioned performance on 3/14 (evening); sensory friendly performance on 3/16 (matinee); ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee).
Pay-what-you-choose tickets available for all performances by phone or in person; see info here.
Tickets here.
Families are funny. When Bill Cain moves home to help his failing mother, he encounters the unexpected humor and mystery of his family. Amidst doctor appointments and baseball games he begins to see how seemingly ordinary details become the life-giving rituals that shape our lives. For anyone who treasures the beauty in their imperfect family.
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets at 3/27 show.
Tickets here.
Winter, 2001, Newark, NJ. Two DREAMers — pre-DACA — meet up on the fire escape, which happens most nights. Both undocumented teens, they grapple with life’s challenges, from family to their futures. When one becomes naturalized, she promises to marry the other so he can receive his papers and truly start his life. As time passes and their relationship shifts, both must confront what they are willing to sacrifice to live freely and belong. This searing and captivating new play by a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright asks what we’re willing to risk for those we love.
Written by Martyna Majok. Directed by Desdemona Chiang.
Accessibility: English open captioned performance on 3/14 (evening); sensory friendly performance on 3/16 (matinee); ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee).
Pay-what-you-choose tickets available for all performances by phone or in person; see info here.
Tickets here.
Prepare to laugh until it hurts with this musical spoof of the whodunit genre. Poking fun at the likes of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, in Something’s Afoot, 10 people are stranded in an isolated country estate during a raging thunderstorm and are picked off, one by one, with cleverly fiendish devices. As bodies pile up, the survivors frantically race to solve the mystery. Join in the tomfoolery of this farcical, raucous, and outrageous show. Book, music, and lyrics by James McDonald, David Voss, and Robert Gerlach; additional music by Ed Linderman.
Accessibility: ASL interpreted and open captioned performance on 3/24 (matinee); additional open captioned performance on 3/15 (evening); audio described performance on 3/23 (matinee). See accessibility info, dates, and seating information here.
Tickets here.
Mama’s up early to prepare the perfect stew for a very important community meal. As the day rolls on, tempers go from a simmer to a boil, and secrets rise to the surface for three generations of Tucker women. When the violence hovering around the periphery of their lives begins to intrude upon the sanctity of the kitchen, mothers and daughters wrestle with loss and hope in this hilarious, haunting drama. Written by Zora Howard; directed by Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako.
ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee); see info here.
Previews 3/15-20; opens 3/21
Limited number of pay-what-you-choose advance tickets available for each performance. Rush tickets ($20) offered for all performances, if available. See discount ticket information here.
Tickets here.
College: a time of freedom, of frivolity, of friskiness. Freshmen Lulu and Marianne test their limits as they party through the school year in search of their place in the world: Marianne is newly eighteen, while Lulu tries to reignite a spark with her boyfriend of 10 years. But when their drama-nerd-roommate Harriet brings in baggage from a student production of Measure for Measure, ideas of consent and manipulation start to seep into their lives.
Seattle favorite Keiko Green brings her sharp provocation and biting humor to a new play that puts contemporary discussions in direct conversation with one of the most problematic devices in Shakespeare. In the grand tradition of the problem plays, The Bed Trick has no answers, but will have you pondering the questions long after you leave the theatre.
Location: Center Theatre (Seattle Center Armory, lower level)
ASL interpreted performance on 4/4
Tickets ($41-$68, depending on day) here.
$10 rush tickets (if tickets remain) available for all performances; see Groundling tickets info here.
An irreverent, hilarious, high-speed romp through all 37 of the Bard’s plays (and 154 sonnets) in under two hours! Titus Andronicus becomes a cooking show, all the histories are performed as a football game, and we go wild with Hamlet. All performed by three actors.
Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Directed by Corey McDaniel.
Location: Washington Center Black Box
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets available for select dates. See discount and rush ticket info here.
Tickets here.
It’s no wonder this musical charmer was the longest-running musical in the world, with its breathtaking poetry, theatrical sophistication, and timeless songs like “Try to Remember” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain.” Full of buoyant humor and charming tunes, The Fantasticks tells the story of a boy and a girl who fall madly in love, and the two meddlesome fathers who try to keep them apart. This production features a newly revised and updated script and a lush new approach to this beloved classic. Don’t miss this magical, wild and witty tale about young love, wild fantasy, and growing up.
ASL interpreted performance 3/30, and open captioned performance 4/13 (matinees).
$20 Section B same-day, in-person rush tickets offered for all dates (subject to availability). Pay-what-you-choose tickets available same-day for select performances. See discount ticket info here and PWYC info here.
Tickets here.
Two sisters and a dog live out their lives on the bleak English moors, dreaming of love and power. The arrival of a hapless governess and a moor-hen set all three on a strange and dangerous path. The Moors is a dark comedy about love, desperation, and visibility. Written by Jen Silverman; directed by Annie Lareau.
Tickets $10-$100 (sliding scale available for all) here.
Duo Comedy Showcase is Seattle’s only public open-mic for improv. Two-person teams doing what they do best: creating spontaneous scenes on the fly that are so hilarious, quick-witted, and perfectly constructed, it’s hard to believe they are made up on the spot. At Duos, newer improvisers have an opportunity to improve while professional improvisers practice and try new things. Who knows, you might even want to join them. Every Wednesday.
Location: Unexpected Productions, at the Gum Wall in the Market
Tickets ($11) here.
Prepare to laugh until it hurts with this musical spoof of the whodunit genre. Poking fun at the likes of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, in Something’s Afoot, 10 people are stranded in an isolated country estate during a raging thunderstorm and are picked off, one by one, with cleverly fiendish devices. As bodies pile up, the survivors frantically race to solve the mystery. Join in the tomfoolery of this farcical, raucous, and outrageous show. Book, music, and lyrics by James McDonald, David Voss, and Robert Gerlach; additional music by Ed Linderman.
Accessibility: ASL interpreted and open captioned performance on 3/24 (matinee); additional open captioned performance on 3/15 (evening); audio described performance on 3/23 (matinee). See accessibility info, dates, and seating information here.
Tickets here.
The play takes place over a twenty year period, beginning in 1949 when Helene Hanff first writes Marks & Co. and ends in 1969 with the death of Frank Doel, the delightfully dusty supplier of so many old volumes to Helen who has shown her gratitude through the years by sending “care packages” to the staff of Marks & Co.
This wonderful show is a dramatization of business letters between a young struggling writer in New York and an antiquarian book store in London. In a sense, these are also love letters. They are about the love of good literature. By Helene Hanff, adapted for the stage by James Roose-Evans.
Tickets ($14-$18, depending on day) here.
This wacky, intelligent, highly unconventional musical points ahead to Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking work in the 1970s, even as it keeps a foot firmly rooted in musical theatre’s “golden age.” Anyone Can Whistle tells the story of a corrupt mayoress who fakes a miracle to revitalize her bankrupt town, and the ill-fated romance between the rational nurse, out to expose the fraud, and the easygoing doctor who is determined to enjoy the chaos that it brings. An unconventional satire of small-town life.
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents. Directed by Jasmine Joshua, music directed by Kaelee Bolme, choreographed by Harry Turpin. Co-presented by Reboot Theatre Company and Theatre Off Jackson.
Tickets $6-$106 (sliding scale available for all) here.
Myra’s typical, middle-class family is normal in its eccentricities, especially when it comes to dealing with her illness. The boiler keeps breaking, the cat’s gone missing, and the perfect funeral needs planning, but her husband would rather bury his head in a newspaper while her two daughters wrestle with their own problems. Myra might be busy researching flatpack coffins and creating a PowerPoint presentation of her dying wishes, but her last big project is to fix her family. Join As If Theatre Company for Laura Wade’s funny, moving journey through love, loss and laughter, that earned the playwright a Critics’ Circle Theatre Award and an Olivier Award nomination. Directed by Cindy Giese French.
Location: Kenmore Community Club (7304 NE 175th St., Kenmore)
Pay-what-you-choose tickets available for second week (3/21-24) performances.
Tickets ($27) here.
Families are funny. When Bill Cain moves home to help his failing mother, he encounters the unexpected humor and mystery of his family. Amidst doctor appointments and baseball games he begins to see how seemingly ordinary details become the life-giving rituals that shape our lives. For anyone who treasures the beauty in their imperfect family.
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets at 3/27 show.
Tickets here.
Four years after its originally scheduled PNB premiere, Alejandro Cerrudo’s complete One Thousand Pieces will finally take the stage. Cerrudo’s large-scale ensemble work, inspired by the artist Marc Chagall and featuring music from Philip Glass, is paired with the revelry and joy of Matthew Neenan’s made-for-PNB Bacchus in a double-bill that promises to be unforgettable.
Pay-what-you-choose performance on 3/21. (See PWYC and discount ticket info here.)
Show info, cast lists (subject to change), and advance tickets here.
Rent follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. The physical and emotional complications of the disease pervade the lives of Roger, Mimi, Tom and Angel. Maureen deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble. Benny has sold out his Bohemian ideals, and Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general. How these young bohemians negotiate their dreams, loves and conflicts provides the narrative thread to this groundbreaking musical.
Book, music, and lyrics by Jonathan Larson. Directed by Maria-Tania Bandes B. Weingarden; musical direction by Shawna Avinger; choreography by Eric Clausell. A collaboration with UW Tacoma’s Theatre Department.
Accessibility: Pay-what-you-choose performance on 3/21. ASL interpreted performance on 3/31.
PWYC tickets available for this performance, in person or by phone. Online tickets ($31) here.
Winter, 2001, Newark, NJ. Two DREAMers — pre-DACA — meet up on the fire escape, which happens most nights. Both undocumented teens, they grapple with life’s challenges, from family to their futures. When one becomes naturalized, she promises to marry the other so he can receive his papers and truly start his life. As time passes and their relationship shifts, both must confront what they are willing to sacrifice to live freely and belong. This searing and captivating new play by a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright asks what we’re willing to risk for those we love.
Written by Martyna Majok. Directed by Desdemona Chiang.
Accessibility: English open captioned performance on 3/14 (evening); sensory friendly performance on 3/16 (matinee); ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee).
Pay-what-you-choose tickets available for all performances by phone or in person; see info here.
Tickets here.
Supercell is an evening-length multidisciplinary quintet performance responding to climate consciousness, media sensationalism, desensitization, & environmental collapse. The title refers to supercells, large storms of deep, persistent updrafts often resulting in many tornadoes. While supercells are terrifying, ominous, and harbingers of great damage, they are simultaneously breathtaking environmental events when witnessed from afar. The effect is similar to sensationalist media, instantly amplifying catastrophic events for an insatiable public consumption. The work asks the question, how do we cultivate hope during continually uncertain times?
Fusing corporeal mime techniques, contemporary and improvisational dance frameworks, live vocalization/spoken text, electronic/sample based music and interactive technology/set design, Supercell builds a potent and tangible world on stage. Performers’ interactions have corresponding effects within their performance environment as they navigate a world in the midst of fallout from environmental collapse and toxic sensationalization. The amplified breaths and vocalizations of the dancers as a chorus function as a motif articulating the toxic environment’s effects on their bodies.
Location: 12th Avenue Arts (1620 12th Ave.)
Tickets (when available) and show info here.
Prepare to laugh until it hurts with this musical spoof of the whodunit genre. Poking fun at the likes of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, in Something’s Afoot, 10 people are stranded in an isolated country estate during a raging thunderstorm and are picked off, one by one, with cleverly fiendish devices. As bodies pile up, the survivors frantically race to solve the mystery. Join in the tomfoolery of this farcical, raucous, and outrageous show. Book, music, and lyrics by James McDonald, David Voss, and Robert Gerlach; additional music by Ed Linderman.
Accessibility: ASL interpreted and open captioned performance on 3/24 (matinee); additional open captioned performance on 3/15 (evening); audio described performance on 3/23 (matinee). See accessibility info, dates, and seating information here.
Tickets here.
Mama’s up early to prepare the perfect stew for a very important community meal. As the day rolls on, tempers go from a simmer to a boil, and secrets rise to the surface for three generations of Tucker women. When the violence hovering around the periphery of their lives begins to intrude upon the sanctity of the kitchen, mothers and daughters wrestle with loss and hope in this hilarious, haunting drama. Written by Zora Howard; directed by Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako.
ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee); see info here.
Previews 3/15-20; opens 3/21
Limited number of pay-what-you-choose advance tickets available for each performance. Rush tickets ($20) offered for all performances, if available. See discount ticket information here.
Tickets here.
College: a time of freedom, of frivolity, of friskiness. Freshmen Lulu and Marianne test their limits as they party through the school year in search of their place in the world: Marianne is newly eighteen, while Lulu tries to reignite a spark with her boyfriend of 10 years. But when their drama-nerd-roommate Harriet brings in baggage from a student production of Measure for Measure, ideas of consent and manipulation start to seep into their lives.
Seattle favorite Keiko Green brings her sharp provocation and biting humor to a new play that puts contemporary discussions in direct conversation with one of the most problematic devices in Shakespeare. In the grand tradition of the problem plays, The Bed Trick has no answers, but will have you pondering the questions long after you leave the theatre.
Location: Center Theatre (Seattle Center Armory, lower level)
ASL interpreted performance on 4/4
Tickets ($41-$68, depending on day) here.
$10 rush tickets (if tickets remain) available for all performances; see Groundling tickets info here.
An irreverent, hilarious, high-speed romp through all 37 of the Bard’s plays (and 154 sonnets) in under two hours! Titus Andronicus becomes a cooking show, all the histories are performed as a football game, and we go wild with Hamlet. All performed by three actors.
Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Directed by Corey McDaniel.
Location: Washington Center Black Box
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets available for select dates. See discount and rush ticket info here.
Tickets here.
It’s no wonder this musical charmer was the longest-running musical in the world, with its breathtaking poetry, theatrical sophistication, and timeless songs like “Try to Remember” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain.” Full of buoyant humor and charming tunes, The Fantasticks tells the story of a boy and a girl who fall madly in love, and the two meddlesome fathers who try to keep them apart. This production features a newly revised and updated script and a lush new approach to this beloved classic. Don’t miss this magical, wild and witty tale about young love, wild fantasy, and growing up.
ASL interpreted performance 3/30, and open captioned performance 4/13 (matinees).
$20 Section B same-day, in-person rush tickets offered for all dates (subject to availability). Pay-what-you-choose tickets available same-day for select performances. See discount ticket info here and PWYC info here.
Tickets here.
Two sisters and a dog live out their lives on the bleak English moors, dreaming of love and power. The arrival of a hapless governess and a moor-hen set all three on a strange and dangerous path. The Moors is a dark comedy about love, desperation, and visibility. Written by Jen Silverman; directed by Annie Lareau.
Tickets $10-$100 (sliding scale available for all) here.
Four strangers are invited to participate in a focus group where they are asked to watch a trailer about an infamous hidden-camera prankster. Despite being told “Your opinion matters!” they suddenly begin to wonder if they themselves are the subject of a sick joke or a life threatening disaster.
Written by Jesse Calixto. Directed by Catherine Blake Smith.
Tickets when available (sliding scale available for all) and show info here.
This gloriously nerdy new take on a hilarious classic puts the opera in “space opera.” Think special screwdrivers, dancing Redshirts, and pew pew guns. Take a voyage with Gilbert and Sullivan where no man has gone before.
Location: Enoch City Arts (714 Lebo Blvd, Bremerton)
Tickets ($28) here.
From Ancient Greece to the wild American frontier, Our Country brings origin myths down to earth in an intimate portrait of a complex sibling relationship. Inspired by Sophocles’ Antigone, artist Annie Saunders sets off on an autobiographical journey, using recreations of recorded conversations with her outlaw brother. The past unfurls, enveloping them and the audience. Inside this shape-shifting space, the two face each other at their most primal. Our Country excavates the past to rethink the present, recalling a time when we were young – as individuals, as a nation, as a democratic system. How far have we really come?
Tickets here.
The play takes place over a twenty year period, beginning in 1949 when Helene Hanff first writes Marks & Co. and ends in 1969 with the death of Frank Doel, the delightfully dusty supplier of so many old volumes to Helen who has shown her gratitude through the years by sending “care packages” to the staff of Marks & Co.
This wonderful show is a dramatization of business letters between a young struggling writer in New York and an antiquarian book store in London. In a sense, these are also love letters. They are about the love of good literature. By Helene Hanff, adapted for the stage by James Roose-Evans.
Tickets ($14-$18, depending on day) here.
This wacky, intelligent, highly unconventional musical points ahead to Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking work in the 1970s, even as it keeps a foot firmly rooted in musical theatre’s “golden age.” Anyone Can Whistle tells the story of a corrupt mayoress who fakes a miracle to revitalize her bankrupt town, and the ill-fated romance between the rational nurse, out to expose the fraud, and the easygoing doctor who is determined to enjoy the chaos that it brings. An unconventional satire of small-town life.
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents. Directed by Jasmine Joshua, music directed by Kaelee Bolme, choreographed by Harry Turpin. Co-presented by Reboot Theatre Company and Theatre Off Jackson.
Tickets $6-$106 (sliding scale available for all) here.
Myra’s typical, middle-class family is normal in its eccentricities, especially when it comes to dealing with her illness. The boiler keeps breaking, the cat’s gone missing, and the perfect funeral needs planning, but her husband would rather bury his head in a newspaper while her two daughters wrestle with their own problems. Myra might be busy researching flatpack coffins and creating a PowerPoint presentation of her dying wishes, but her last big project is to fix her family. Join As If Theatre Company for Laura Wade’s funny, moving journey through love, loss and laughter, that earned the playwright a Critics’ Circle Theatre Award and an Olivier Award nomination. Directed by Cindy Giese French.
Location: Kenmore Community Club (7304 NE 175th St., Kenmore)
Pay-what-you-choose tickets available for second week (3/21-24) performances.
Tickets ($27) here.
Families are funny. When Bill Cain moves home to help his failing mother, he encounters the unexpected humor and mystery of his family. Amidst doctor appointments and baseball games he begins to see how seemingly ordinary details become the life-giving rituals that shape our lives. For anyone who treasures the beauty in their imperfect family.
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets at 3/27 show.
Tickets here.
The moving, comic, and insightful words of the late author Brian Doyle are brought to life with this production, originally staged in 2019. Doyle published more than a dozen books and countless essays before he died of a brain tumor in 2017. His work is renowned for elevating “the little things” of life into profundity.
Read more about the 2019 production in The Riptide, here.
Adapted for the stage by Mike and Gerry Feinstein; directed by Charlotte Tiencken.
Location: Vashon Center for the Arts (19600 Vashon Hwy SW)
Limited pay-what-you-choose tickets offered at the door. Tickets ($26.50) here.
Four years after its originally scheduled PNB premiere, Alejandro Cerrudo’s complete One Thousand Pieces will finally take the stage. Cerrudo’s large-scale ensemble work, inspired by the artist Marc Chagall and featuring music from Philip Glass, is paired with the revelry and joy of Matthew Neenan’s made-for-PNB Bacchus in a double-bill that promises to be unforgettable.
Pay-what-you-choose performance on 3/21. (See PWYC and discount ticket info here.)
Show info, cast lists (subject to change), and tickets here.
Rent follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. The physical and emotional complications of the disease pervade the lives of Roger, Mimi, Tom and Angel. Maureen deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble. Benny has sold out his Bohemian ideals, and Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general. How these young bohemians negotiate their dreams, loves and conflicts provides the narrative thread to this groundbreaking musical.
Book, music, and lyrics by Jonathan Larson. Directed by Maria-Tania Bandes B. Weingarden; musical direction by Shawna Avinger; choreography by Eric Clausell. A collaboration with UW Tacoma’s Theatre Department.
Accessibility: Pay-what-you-choose performance on 3/21. ASL interpreted performance on 3/31.
Tickets ($31) here.
Winter, 2001, Newark, NJ. Two DREAMers — pre-DACA — meet up on the fire escape, which happens most nights. Both undocumented teens, they grapple with life’s challenges, from family to their futures. When one becomes naturalized, she promises to marry the other so he can receive his papers and truly start his life. As time passes and their relationship shifts, both must confront what they are willing to sacrifice to live freely and belong. This searing and captivating new play by a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright asks what we’re willing to risk for those we love.
Written by Martyna Majok. Directed by Desdemona Chiang.
Accessibility: English open captioned performance on 3/14 (evening); sensory friendly performance on 3/16 (matinee); ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee).
Pay-what-you-choose tickets available for all performances by phone or in person; see info here.
Tickets here.
Supercell is an evening-length multidisciplinary quintet performance responding to climate consciousness, media sensationalism, desensitization, & environmental collapse. The title refers to supercells, large storms of deep, persistent updrafts often resulting in many tornadoes. While supercells are terrifying, ominous, and harbingers of great damage, they are simultaneously breathtaking environmental events when witnessed from afar. The effect is similar to sensationalist media, instantly amplifying catastrophic events for an insatiable public consumption. The work asks the question, how do we cultivate hope during continually uncertain times?
Fusing corporeal mime techniques, contemporary and improvisational dance frameworks, live vocalization/spoken text, electronic/sample based music and interactive technology/set design, Supercell builds a potent and tangible world on stage. Performers’ interactions have corresponding effects within their performance environment as they navigate a world in the midst of fallout from environmental collapse and toxic sensationalization. The amplified breaths and vocalizations of the dancers as a chorus function as a motif articulating the toxic environment’s effects on their bodies.
Location: 12th Avenue Arts (1620 12th Ave.)
Tickets (when available) and show info here.
Prepare to laugh until it hurts with this musical spoof of the whodunit genre. Poking fun at the likes of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, in Something’s Afoot, 10 people are stranded in an isolated country estate during a raging thunderstorm and are picked off, one by one, with cleverly fiendish devices. As bodies pile up, the survivors frantically race to solve the mystery. Join in the tomfoolery of this farcical, raucous, and outrageous show. Book, music, and lyrics by James McDonald, David Voss, and Robert Gerlach; additional music by Ed Linderman.
Accessibility: ASL interpreted and open captioned performance on 3/24 (matinee); additional open captioned performance on 3/15 (evening); audio described performance on 3/23 (matinee). See accessibility info, dates, and seating information here.
Tickets here.
Mama’s up early to prepare the perfect stew for a very important community meal. As the day rolls on, tempers go from a simmer to a boil, and secrets rise to the surface for three generations of Tucker women. When the violence hovering around the periphery of their lives begins to intrude upon the sanctity of the kitchen, mothers and daughters wrestle with loss and hope in this hilarious, haunting drama. Written by Zora Howard; directed by Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako.
ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee); see info here.
Previews 3/15-20; opens 3/21
Limited number of pay-what-you-choose advance tickets available for each performance. Rush tickets ($20) offered for all performances, if available. See discount ticket information here.
Tickets here.
Eliot Pryne was once a highly regarded professor of English Literature. His specialty? Shakespeare’s King Lear. As the curtain rises on this story, Eliot is packing what he thinks is a suitcase and leaving what he thinks is a hotel.
In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, he is “taking leave” of the real world and imagining a new one, but the transition is painful. His three daughters Alma, Liz and Cordelia struggle to know what his next steps will be and how they can help.
A heartwarming story, filled with unexpected but compassionate humor, this rich dramatic comedy is about living and dying, and the strangely comedic value of both. Written by Nagle Jackson; directed by Melanie Gladstone.
Location: Dukesbay Theater (508 Sixth Ave. #10, Tacoma). Note: theatre is located up significant stairs, with no elevator access.
Tickets ($15) here. Admission includes coffee, tea, and cookies.
College: a time of freedom, of frivolity, of friskiness. Freshmen Lulu and Marianne test their limits as they party through the school year in search of their place in the world: Marianne is newly eighteen, while Lulu tries to reignite a spark with her boyfriend of 10 years. But when their drama-nerd-roommate Harriet brings in baggage from a student production of Measure for Measure, ideas of consent and manipulation start to seep into their lives.
Seattle favorite Keiko Green brings her sharp provocation and biting humor to a new play that puts contemporary discussions in direct conversation with one of the most problematic devices in Shakespeare. In the grand tradition of the problem plays, The Bed Trick has no answers, but will have you pondering the questions long after you leave the theatre.
Location: Center Theatre (Seattle Center Armory, lower level)
ASL interpreted performance on 4/4
Tickets ($41-$68, depending on day) here.
$10 rush tickets (if tickets remain) available for all performances; see Groundling tickets info here.
Dive into the untold story of Shakespeare’s friends and fellow actors, John Heminges and Henry Condell, who risk everything to preserve Shakespeare’s works for future generations. In the aftermath of Shakespeare’s death, they battle time, misfortune, and even their own failures to compile the First Folio, a collection that secures his legacy. This poignant and comedic drama is a testament to the enduring power of art and the dedication of those who love it. Written by Lauren Gunderson; directed by Kate Meyers.
Pay-what-you-choose preview 3/7, opens 3/8. View accessibility info here.
Tickets ($30) here.
An irreverent, hilarious, high-speed romp through all 37 of the Bard’s plays (and 154 sonnets) in under two hours! Titus Andronicus becomes a cooking show, all the histories are performed as a football game, and we go wild with Hamlet. All performed by three actors.
Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Directed by Corey McDaniel.
Location: Washington Center Black Box
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets available for select dates. See discount and rush ticket info here.
Tickets here.
Two sisters and a dog live out their lives on the bleak English moors, dreaming of love and power. The arrival of a hapless governess and a moor-hen set all three on a strange and dangerous path. The Moors is a dark comedy about love, desperation, and visibility. Written by Jen Silverman; directed by Annie Lareau.
Tickets $10-$100 (sliding scale available for all) here.
Four strangers are invited to participate in a focus group where they are asked to watch a trailer about an infamous hidden-camera prankster. Despite being told “Your opinion matters!” they suddenly begin to wonder if they themselves are the subject of a sick joke or a life threatening disaster.
Written by Jesse Calixto. Directed by Catherine Blake Smith.
Tickets when available (sliding scale available for all) and show info here.
This gloriously nerdy new take on a hilarious classic puts the opera in “space opera.” Think special screwdrivers, dancing Redshirts, and pew pew guns. Take a voyage with Gilbert and Sullivan where no man has gone before.
Location: Enoch City Arts (714 Lebo Blvd, Bremerton)
Tickets ($28) here.
From Ancient Greece to the wild American frontier, Our Country brings origin myths down to earth in an intimate portrait of a complex sibling relationship. Inspired by Sophocles’ Antigone, artist Annie Saunders sets off on an autobiographical journey, using recreations of recorded conversations with her outlaw brother. The past unfurls, enveloping them and the audience. Inside this shape-shifting space, the two face each other at their most primal. Our Country excavates the past to rethink the present, recalling a time when we were young – as individuals, as a nation, as a democratic system. How far have we really come?
Tickets here.
It’s no wonder this musical charmer was the longest-running musical in the world, with its breathtaking poetry, theatrical sophistication, and timeless songs like “Try to Remember” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain.” Full of buoyant humor and charming tunes, The Fantasticks tells the story of a boy and a girl who fall madly in love, and the two meddlesome fathers who try to keep them apart. This production features a newly revised and updated script and a lush new approach to this beloved classic. Don’t miss this magical, wild and witty tale about young love, wild fantasy, and growing up.
ASL interpreted performance 3/30, and open captioned performance 4/13 (matinees).
$20 Section B same-day, in-person rush tickets offered for all dates (subject to availability). Pay-what-you-choose tickets available same-day for select performances. See discount ticket info here and PWYC info here.
Tickets here.
Theatresports at Unexpected Productions is Seattle’s popular weekly, high-stakes, competitive improv comedy show. Based on audience suggestions, two teams of incredible improvisers rumble, creating exciting fast-paced improv games, hilarious stories, scenes, and songs right on the spot and in the moment. Boo the judges as they award points to each team. At the end of the night, one team is declared a winner, the audience member with the suggestion walks out with a prize. Every Friday and Saturday.
Location: Unexpected Productions, at the Gum Wall in the Market
Tickets here.
A PNB premiere, featuring Harold and his trusty crayon. This hour-long, narrated production features performances by PNB School students and is the perfect introduction to ballet for any young patron. Bring the whole family and watch as Harold draws, and dances through, a landscape full of wonder and excitement.
Sensory friendly performance on 3/30.
Tickets here.
Prepare to laugh until it hurts with this musical spoof of the whodunit genre. Poking fun at the likes of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, in Something’s Afoot, 10 people are stranded in an isolated country estate during a raging thunderstorm and are picked off, one by one, with cleverly fiendish devices. As bodies pile up, the survivors frantically race to solve the mystery. Join in the tomfoolery of this farcical, raucous, and outrageous show. Book, music, and lyrics by James McDonald, David Voss, and Robert Gerlach; additional music by Ed Linderman.
Accessibility: ASL interpreted and open captioned performance on 3/24 (matinee); additional open captioned performance on 3/15 (evening); audio described performance on 3/23 (matinee). See accessibility info, dates, and seating information here.
Tickets here.
Want more audio described theatre? See NWTheatre’s complete calendar of audio described performances here.
From Ancient Greece to the wild American frontier, Our Country brings origin myths down to earth in an intimate portrait of a complex sibling relationship. Inspired by Sophocles’ Antigone, artist Annie Saunders sets off on an autobiographical journey, using recreations of recorded conversations with her outlaw brother. The past unfurls, enveloping them and the audience. Inside this shape-shifting space, the two face each other at their most primal. Our Country excavates the past to rethink the present, recalling a time when we were young – as individuals, as a nation, as a democratic system. How far have we really come?
Tickets here.
This wacky, intelligent, highly unconventional musical points ahead to Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking work in the 1970s, even as it keeps a foot firmly rooted in musical theatre’s “golden age.” Anyone Can Whistle tells the story of a corrupt mayoress who fakes a miracle to revitalize her bankrupt town, and the ill-fated romance between the rational nurse, out to expose the fraud, and the easygoing doctor who is determined to enjoy the chaos that it brings. An unconventional satire of small-town life.
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents. Directed by Jasmine Joshua, music directed by Kaelee Bolme, choreographed by Harry Turpin. Co-presented by Reboot Theatre Company and Theatre Off Jackson.
Tickets $6-$106 (sliding scale available for all) here.
Families are funny. When Bill Cain moves home to help his failing mother, he encounters the unexpected humor and mystery of his family. Amidst doctor appointments and baseball games he begins to see how seemingly ordinary details become the life-giving rituals that shape our lives. For anyone who treasures the beauty in their imperfect family.
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets at 3/27 show.
Tickets here.
The moving, comic, and insightful words of the late author Brian Doyle are brought to life with this production, originally staged in 2019. Doyle published more than a dozen books and countless essays before he died of a brain tumor in 2017. His work is renowned for elevating “the little things” of life into profundity.
Read more about the 2019 production in The Riptide, here.
Adapted for the stage by Mike and Gerry Feinstein; directed by Charlotte Tiencken.
Location: Vashon Center for the Arts (19600 Vashon Hwy SW)
Limited pay-what-you-choose tickets offered at the door. Tickets ($26.50) here.
Mama’s up early to prepare the perfect stew for a very important community meal. As the day rolls on, tempers go from a simmer to a boil, and secrets rise to the surface for three generations of Tucker women. When the violence hovering around the periphery of their lives begins to intrude upon the sanctity of the kitchen, mothers and daughters wrestle with loss and hope in this hilarious, haunting drama. Written by Zora Howard; directed by Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako.
ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee); see info here.
Previews 3/15-20; opens 3/21
Limited number of pay-what-you-choose advance tickets available for each performance. Rush tickets ($20) offered for all performances, if available. See discount ticket information here.
Tickets here.
An irreverent, hilarious, high-speed romp through all 37 of the Bard’s plays (and 154 sonnets) in under two hours! Titus Andronicus becomes a cooking show, all the histories are performed as a football game, and we go wild with Hamlet. All performed by three actors.
Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Directed by Corey McDaniel.
Location: Washington Center Black Box
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets available for select dates. See discount and rush ticket info here.
Tickets here.
It’s no wonder this musical charmer was the longest-running musical in the world, with its breathtaking poetry, theatrical sophistication, and timeless songs like “Try to Remember” and “Soon It’s Gonna Rain.” Full of buoyant humor and charming tunes, The Fantasticks tells the story of a boy and a girl who fall madly in love, and the two meddlesome fathers who try to keep them apart. This production features a newly revised and updated script and a lush new approach to this beloved classic. Don’t miss this magical, wild and witty tale about young love, wild fantasy, and growing up.
ASL interpreted performance 3/30, and open captioned performance 4/13 (matinees).
$20 Section B same-day, in-person rush tickets offered for all dates (subject to availability). Pay-what-you-choose tickets available same-day for select performances. See discount ticket info here and PWYC info here.
Tickets here.
A PNB premiere, featuring Harold and his trusty crayon. This hour-long, narrated production features performances by PNB School students and is the perfect introduction to ballet for any young patron. Bring the whole family and watch as Harold draws, and dances through, a landscape full of wonder and excitement.
Sensory friendly performance on 3/30.
Tickets here.
This gloriously nerdy new take on a hilarious classic puts the opera in “space opera.” Think special screwdrivers, dancing Redshirts, and pew pew guns. Take a voyage with Gilbert and Sullivan where no man has gone before.
Location: Enoch City Arts (714 Lebo Blvd, Bremerton)
Tickets ($28) here.
The play takes place over a twenty year period, beginning in 1949 when Helene Hanff first writes Marks & Co. and ends in 1969 with the death of Frank Doel, the delightfully dusty supplier of so many old volumes to Helen who has shown her gratitude through the years by sending “care packages” to the staff of Marks & Co.
This wonderful show is a dramatization of business letters between a young struggling writer in New York and an antiquarian book store in London. In a sense, these are also love letters. They are about the love of good literature. By Helene Hanff, adapted for the stage by James Roose-Evans.
Tickets ($14-$18, depending on day) here.
This wacky, intelligent, highly unconventional musical points ahead to Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking work in the 1970s, even as it keeps a foot firmly rooted in musical theatre’s “golden age.” Anyone Can Whistle tells the story of a corrupt mayoress who fakes a miracle to revitalize her bankrupt town, and the ill-fated romance between the rational nurse, out to expose the fraud, and the easygoing doctor who is determined to enjoy the chaos that it brings. An unconventional satire of small-town life.
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents. Directed by Jasmine Joshua, music directed by Kaelee Bolme, choreographed by Harry Turpin. Co-presented by Reboot Theatre Company and Theatre Off Jackson.
Tickets $6-$106 (sliding scale available for all) here.
Myra’s typical, middle-class family is normal in its eccentricities, especially when it comes to dealing with her illness. The boiler keeps breaking, the cat’s gone missing, and the perfect funeral needs planning, but her husband would rather bury his head in a newspaper while her two daughters wrestle with their own problems. Myra might be busy researching flatpack coffins and creating a PowerPoint presentation of her dying wishes, but her last big project is to fix her family. Join As If Theatre Company for Laura Wade’s funny, moving journey through love, loss and laughter, that earned the playwright a Critics’ Circle Theatre Award and an Olivier Award nomination. Directed by Cindy Giese French.
Location: Kenmore Community Club (7304 NE 175th St., Kenmore)
Pay-what-you-choose tickets available for second week (3/21-24) performances.
Tickets ($27) here.
Families are funny. When Bill Cain moves home to help his failing mother, he encounters the unexpected humor and mystery of his family. Amidst doctor appointments and baseball games he begins to see how seemingly ordinary details become the life-giving rituals that shape our lives. For anyone who treasures the beauty in their imperfect family.
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets at 3/27 show.
Tickets here.
The moving, comic, and insightful words of the late author Brian Doyle are brought to life with this production, originally staged in 2019. Doyle published more than a dozen books and countless essays before he died of a brain tumor in 2017. His work is renowned for elevating “the little things” of life into profundity.
Read more about the 2019 production in The Riptide, here.
Adapted for the stage by Mike and Gerry Feinstein; directed by Charlotte Tiencken.
Location: Vashon Center for the Arts (19600 Vashon Hwy SW)
Limited pay-what-you-choose tickets offered at the door. Tickets ($26.50) here.
Four years after its originally scheduled PNB premiere, Alejandro Cerrudo’s complete One Thousand Pieces will finally take the stage. Cerrudo’s large-scale ensemble work, inspired by the artist Marc Chagall and featuring music from Philip Glass, is paired with the revelry and joy of Matthew Neenan’s made-for-PNB Bacchus in a double-bill that promises to be unforgettable.
Pay-what-you-choose performance on 3/21. (See PWYC and discount ticket info here.)
Show info, cast lists (subject to change), and tickets here.
Radical System Art fuses dance, theatre and martial arts with interactive technology and design to create impactful performances. The company is guided by a principle of harnessing opposition to find strength and balance: athleticism with artistry, structure with chaos, technique with instinct. By weaving movement, sound and imagery together, Radical System Art creates a universal language that voices what can’t be said with words.
Tickets ($33-$63) here.
Rent follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. The physical and emotional complications of the disease pervade the lives of Roger, Mimi, Tom and Angel. Maureen deals with her chronic infidelity through performance art; her partner, Joanne, wonders if their relationship is worth the trouble. Benny has sold out his Bohemian ideals, and Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, feels like an outsider to life in general. How these young bohemians negotiate their dreams, loves and conflicts provides the narrative thread to this groundbreaking musical.
Book, music, and lyrics by Jonathan Larson. Directed by Maria-Tania Bandes B. Weingarden; musical direction by Shawna Avinger; choreography by Eric Clausell. A collaboration with UW Tacoma’s Theatre Department.
Accessibility: Pay-what-you-choose performance on 3/21. ASL interpreted performance on 3/31.
Tickets ($31) here.
Winter, 2001, Newark, NJ. Two DREAMers — pre-DACA — meet up on the fire escape, which happens most nights. Both undocumented teens, they grapple with life’s challenges, from family to their futures. When one becomes naturalized, she promises to marry the other so he can receive his papers and truly start his life. As time passes and their relationship shifts, both must confront what they are willing to sacrifice to live freely and belong. This searing and captivating new play by a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright asks what we’re willing to risk for those we love.
Written by Martyna Majok. Directed by Desdemona Chiang.
Accessibility: English open captioned performance on 3/14 (evening); sensory friendly performance on 3/16 (matinee); ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee).
Pay-what-you-choose tickets available for all performances by phone or in person; see info here.
Tickets here.
Supercell is an evening-length multidisciplinary quintet performance responding to climate consciousness, media sensationalism, desensitization, & environmental collapse. The title refers to supercells, large storms of deep, persistent updrafts often resulting in many tornadoes. While supercells are terrifying, ominous, and harbingers of great damage, they are simultaneously breathtaking environmental events when witnessed from afar. The effect is similar to sensationalist media, instantly amplifying catastrophic events for an insatiable public consumption. The work asks the question, how do we cultivate hope during continually uncertain times?
Fusing corporeal mime techniques, contemporary and improvisational dance frameworks, live vocalization/spoken text, electronic/sample based music and interactive technology/set design, Supercell builds a potent and tangible world on stage. Performers’ interactions have corresponding effects within their performance environment as they navigate a world in the midst of fallout from environmental collapse and toxic sensationalization. The amplified breaths and vocalizations of the dancers as a chorus function as a motif articulating the toxic environment’s effects on their bodies.
Location: 12th Avenue Arts (1620 12th Ave.)
Tickets (when available) and show info here.
Prepare to laugh until it hurts with this musical spoof of the whodunit genre. Poking fun at the likes of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, in Something’s Afoot, 10 people are stranded in an isolated country estate during a raging thunderstorm and are picked off, one by one, with cleverly fiendish devices. As bodies pile up, the survivors frantically race to solve the mystery. Join in the tomfoolery of this farcical, raucous, and outrageous show. Book, music, and lyrics by James McDonald, David Voss, and Robert Gerlach; additional music by Ed Linderman.
Accessibility: ASL interpreted and open captioned performance on 3/24 (matinee); additional open captioned performance on 3/15 (evening); audio described performance on 3/23 (matinee). See accessibility info, dates, and seating information here.
Tickets here.
Mama’s up early to prepare the perfect stew for a very important community meal. As the day rolls on, tempers go from a simmer to a boil, and secrets rise to the surface for three generations of Tucker women. When the violence hovering around the periphery of their lives begins to intrude upon the sanctity of the kitchen, mothers and daughters wrestle with loss and hope in this hilarious, haunting drama. Written by Zora Howard; directed by Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako.
ASL interpreted and audio described performance on 3/30 (matinee); see info here.
Previews 3/15-20; opens 3/21
Limited number of pay-what-you-choose advance tickets available for each performance. Rush tickets ($20) offered for all performances, if available. See discount ticket information here.
Tickets here.
Eliot Pryne was once a highly regarded professor of English Literature. His specialty? Shakespeare’s King Lear. As the curtain rises on this story, Eliot is packing what he thinks is a suitcase and leaving what he thinks is a hotel.
In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, he is “taking leave” of the real world and imagining a new one, but the transition is painful. His three daughters Alma, Liz and Cordelia struggle to know what his next steps will be and how they can help.
A heartwarming story, filled with unexpected but compassionate humor, this rich dramatic comedy is about living and dying, and the strangely comedic value of both. Written by Nagle Jackson; directed by Melanie Gladstone.
Location: Dukesbay Theater (508 Sixth Ave. #10, Tacoma). Note: theatre is located up significant stairs, with no elevator access.
Tickets ($15) here. Admission includes coffee, tea, and cookies.
College: a time of freedom, of frivolity, of friskiness. Freshmen Lulu and Marianne test their limits as they party through the school year in search of their place in the world: Marianne is newly eighteen, while Lulu tries to reignite a spark with her boyfriend of 10 years. But when their drama-nerd-roommate Harriet brings in baggage from a student production of Measure for Measure, ideas of consent and manipulation start to seep into their lives.
Seattle favorite Keiko Green brings her sharp provocation and biting humor to a new play that puts contemporary discussions in direct conversation with one of the most problematic devices in Shakespeare. In the grand tradition of the problem plays, The Bed Trick has no answers, but will have you pondering the questions long after you leave the theatre.
Location: Center Theatre (Seattle Center Armory, lower level)
ASL interpreted performance on 4/4
Tickets ($41-$68, depending on day) here.
$10 rush tickets (if tickets remain) available for all performances; see Groundling tickets info here.
Dive into the untold story of Shakespeare’s friends and fellow actors, John Heminges and Henry Condell, who risk everything to preserve Shakespeare’s works for future generations. In the aftermath of Shakespeare’s death, they battle time, misfortune, and even their own failures to compile the First Folio, a collection that secures his legacy. This poignant and comedic drama is a testament to the enduring power of art and the dedication of those who love it. Written by Lauren Gunderson; directed by Kate Meyers.
Pay-what-you-choose preview 3/7, opens 3/8. View accessibility info here.
Tickets ($30) here.
An irreverent, hilarious, high-speed romp through all 37 of the Bard’s plays (and 154 sonnets) in under two hours! Titus Andronicus becomes a cooking show, all the histories are performed as a football game, and we go wild with Hamlet. All performed by three actors.
Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield. Directed by Corey McDaniel.
Location: Washington Center Black Box
Pay-what-you-choose rush tickets available for select dates. See discount and rush ticket info here.
Tickets here.
Two sisters and a dog live out their lives on the bleak English moors, dreaming of love and power. The arrival of a hapless governess and a moor-hen set all three on a strange and dangerous path. The Moors is a dark comedy about love, desperation, and visibility. Written by Jen Silverman; directed by Annie Lareau.
Tickets $10-$100 (sliding scale available for all) here.
Four strangers are invited to participate in a focus group where they are asked to watch a trailer about an infamous hidden-camera prankster. Despite being told “Your opinion matters!” they suddenly begin to wonder if they themselves are the subject of a sick joke or a life threatening disaster.
Written by Jesse Calixto. Directed by Catherine Blake Smith.
Tickets when available (sliding scale available for all) and show info here.