What Is PLAYWORKS?
We are a professional theatre company that creates and performs touring shows based on literature: poetry, prose, drama. And sometimes we add a bit of music, too.
We mounted our first production in 1985 - a one-person play by William Luce, THE BELLE OF AMHERST, about the 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson. We did it outdoors in the middle of the woods at the Snoqualmie Falls Forest Theatre. Birds sang, trains whistled, bugs bit, wind blew, rain fell - but our show went on!
MORE DICKINSON
Then for National Public Radio, we produced BETTER THAN MUSIC! with Dickinson's poems and an original musical score. The program was broadcast nationally on the 100th anniversary of Dickinson's death.
And we weren't through with her yet.
Our own member, Ruth McRee, wrote and performed two new scripts for the stage: A VISIT WITH EMILY and VESUVIUS AT HOME. These plays reveal the connections between Dickinson's writings, her reclusive life and her mysterious illnesses. PLAYWORKS toured the shows throughout King County to libraries, schools and colleges. Then we sent Ruth out on the road with them: Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Washington, D.C.
WE HAVE DONE OTHER WRITERS TOO
For example, William Shakespeare.
One year we celebrated his birthday by putting together A SONNET MARATHON, for the Seattle Public Library system. It was a lunch-time show that included a bit of commentary, some songs and Shakespeare’s complete sonnets. Audience members could eat a big lunch while we performed ALL 154 poems.
And Leo Tolstoy.
In a library archive, one of our members came upon a tiny book, THE WISDOM OF CHILDREN. It's a little-known collection of scenes Tolstoy wrote toward the end of his life in which children enact events that show Tolstoy's humanistic and egalitarian philosophy. PLAYWORKS mounted the vignettes and toured the show in the Seattle area.
For example, William Shakespeare.
One year we celebrated his birthday by putting together A SONNET MARATHON, for the Seattle Public Library system. It was a lunch-time show that included a bit of commentary, some songs and Shakespeare’s complete sonnets. Audience members could eat a big lunch while we performed ALL 154 poems.
And Leo Tolstoy.
In a library archive, one of our members came upon a tiny book, THE WISDOM OF CHILDREN. It's a little-known collection of scenes Tolstoy wrote toward the end of his life in which children enact events that show Tolstoy's humanistic and egalitarian philosophy. PLAYWORKS mounted the vignettes and toured the show in the Seattle area.
PLAYWRIGHTS?
Anton Chekhov and Henrik Ibsen.
We’re fascinated by how theater artists interpret dramatic material differently. So we took scenes from Chekhov’s THE CHERRY ORCHARD and THE SEA GULL and from Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE and produced each scene with three different approaches: e.g. as seduction, as intellectual argument, as power struggle. The result was an entertaining demonstration of how identical words can convey different meanings, depending on intent. We called the program SCENE AND RE-SEEN and toured it widely, sponsored by the Washington Commission for the Humanities.
Maria Irene Fornes, the Cuban-American playwright.
In her short one-person play, DR. KHEAL, David Klein, a founding PLAYWORKS member, portrayed “The world’s greatest expert on most things” and in 35 minutes told all that can be known about truth, love and Brussels sprouts.
Other Latinas.
Another PLAYWORKS founder, Anne Ludlum, put together THE TENTH MUSE, a program in Spanish and English of poetry about the creative process. All the selections were written by women in the Americas from the 17th century to the present.
Anton Chekhov and Henrik Ibsen.
We’re fascinated by how theater artists interpret dramatic material differently. So we took scenes from Chekhov’s THE CHERRY ORCHARD and THE SEA GULL and from Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE and produced each scene with three different approaches: e.g. as seduction, as intellectual argument, as power struggle. The result was an entertaining demonstration of how identical words can convey different meanings, depending on intent. We called the program SCENE AND RE-SEEN and toured it widely, sponsored by the Washington Commission for the Humanities.
Maria Irene Fornes, the Cuban-American playwright.
In her short one-person play, DR. KHEAL, David Klein, a founding PLAYWORKS member, portrayed “The world’s greatest expert on most things” and in 35 minutes told all that can be known about truth, love and Brussels sprouts.
Other Latinas.
Another PLAYWORKS founder, Anne Ludlum, put together THE TENTH MUSE, a program in Spanish and English of poetry about the creative process. All the selections were written by women in the Americas from the 17th century to the present.
RECENT PROJECTS AND CONCERNS
We realized that with each passing year, we’d been getting older. So we pulled together a group of scenes, songs, poems, excerpts from fiction and some personal stories too – all about the joys, sorrows and enigmas of maturing. That show, RED WAGON: AN EXPLORATION OF AGING, became part of the Washington Humanities’ Enquiring Mind roster and toured the state for several years to audiences of all ages.
Our educational programs: THEATRE GAMES, for middle school students; EXPLORING HISTORY THROUGH THE ARTS, for 5th and 6th graders; and training workshops for teachers on integrating the arts into the academic curriculum. These are all on-going PLAYWORKS offerings in local public and private schools.
Our most recent project is Arthur Miller’s play I CAN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING.
PLAYWORKS founding member Paul O’Connell recently spent several seasons managing The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis and now he’s back with us. He’s directing PLAYWORKS’ first show by the eminent American playwright, Arthur Miller, I CAN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING. In this moving and thought-provoking one-act play, Ruth McRee and David Klein portray two long-time friends, who tease and challenge each other while maintaining their deep affection and mutual dependence.
As with all PLAYWORKS productions, post-performance conversations with audience members are part of the event.
We realized that with each passing year, we’d been getting older. So we pulled together a group of scenes, songs, poems, excerpts from fiction and some personal stories too – all about the joys, sorrows and enigmas of maturing. That show, RED WAGON: AN EXPLORATION OF AGING, became part of the Washington Humanities’ Enquiring Mind roster and toured the state for several years to audiences of all ages.
Our educational programs: THEATRE GAMES, for middle school students; EXPLORING HISTORY THROUGH THE ARTS, for 5th and 6th graders; and training workshops for teachers on integrating the arts into the academic curriculum. These are all on-going PLAYWORKS offerings in local public and private schools.
Our most recent project is Arthur Miller’s play I CAN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING.
PLAYWORKS founding member Paul O’Connell recently spent several seasons managing The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis and now he’s back with us. He’s directing PLAYWORKS’ first show by the eminent American playwright, Arthur Miller, I CAN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING. In this moving and thought-provoking one-act play, Ruth McRee and David Klein portray two long-time friends, who tease and challenge each other while maintaining their deep affection and mutual dependence.
As with all PLAYWORKS productions, post-performance conversations with audience members are part of the event.
Partial List of Presenters
American University, D.C. Auburn Arts Council, WA Bainbridge performing Arts Center, WA Bellevue Community College, WA Berkshire Athenaeum, MA Boise State University, ID Ethel Walker School, CT Evergreen Community College, WA Evergreen State College, WA Fairhaven College, WA Friends Academy of North Dartmouth, MA Hickory Little Theatre, NC Holden Village, WA King County Arts Commission Lake District Library, WA Lenox Library, MA Mid-Columbia Arts Council, WA Miss Hall’s School, MA North Seattle Community College, WA Northfield Mount Hermon School, MA |
Olympic College, WA Pacific Lutheran University, WA Plymouth Congregational Church of Seattle, WA Rutgers University, NJ Seattle Art Museum, WA Seattle Lutheran High School, WA Seattle Public Schools, WA Spokane Falls Community College, WA Twin Rivers Correctional Center, WA University Lutheran Church of Seattle, WA University of North Carolina, NC University of Washington, WA University Women’s Club of Seattle, WA Valparaiso University, IN Walla Walla College, WA Washington State Arts Commission Washington State University, WA Whitworth College, WA Williams College, MA |
PLAYWORKS is a 501c (3) organization, incorporated in the state of Washington.