1. food and drink
2. beverages
3. alcoholic beverages
4. cocktails and beer

APRIL 2015
BY
CHRIS CLEAVE
A DA P T E D & D IREC TE D BY
MYRA PLATT
APRIL 22 - MAY 17, 2015
I AM OF IRELAND | PRIDE AND PREJUDICE | THE D O G OF THE SOUTH | LITTLE BEE | SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
“Phenomenal.”
– United Way of King County
These Million Dollar Roundtable donors bring
unique energy to making beautiful change in our
community. Their generosity builds a community
where everyone has a home, students graduate
and families are financially stable.
Truly sensational.
Barrie and Richard Galanti
Ginger and Barry* Ackerley
Apex Foundation
Bacon Family Foundation
Ballmer Family Giving
Stan and Alta Barer
Carl and Renee Behnke
The Behnke Family:
Sally Skinner Behnke*
John S. and Shari D. Behnke
Brettler Family Foundation
Jon and Bobbe Bridge
Jeffrey and Susan Brotman
Scott and Linda Carson
Barney A. Ebsworth
Ellison Foundation
Ed and Karen Fritzky Family
Richard and Barrie Galanti
Lynn and Mike Garvey
Melinda French Gates and William H. Gates III
Theresa E. Gillespie and John W. Stanton
Greenstein Family Foundation
Matt Griffin and Evelyne Rozner
The Nick and Leslie Hanauer Foundation
John C. and Karyl Kay Hughes Foundation
Craig Jelinek
Linda and Ted Johnson
Firoz and Najma Lalji
William A. and Martha* Longbrake
John and Ginny Meisenbach
Bruce and Jeannie Nordstrom
Raikes Foundation
James D. and Sherry Raisbeck Foundation
John and Nancy Rudolf
Herman and Faye Sarkowsky Charitable Foundation
The Schultz Family Foundation
Jon and Mary Shirley Foundation
Jim and Jan Sinegal
Brad Smith and Kathy Surace-Smith
Orin Smith Family Foundation
James Solimano and Karen Marcotte Solimano
Tom Walker
Robert L. and Mary Ann T. Wiley Fund
*deceased
Gifts received July 1, 2103 through June 30, 2014.
March-April 2015
Volume 11, No. 5
Paul Heppner
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CONTENTS
APRIL 2015
Little Bee
A1
by Chris Cleave
Adapted and Directed by Myra Platt
BY
CHRIS CLEAVE
A DA P T E D & D I R EC T E D BY
MYRA PLATT
A-1 A-3 A-8 A-13 A-16 Welcome
Little Bee Credits
Meet the Cast and Crew
Thank You to Our Contributors
Company Information
APRIL 22 - MAY 17, 2015
I AM OF IRELAND | PRIDE AND PREJUDICE | THE D O G OF THE SOUTH | LITTLE BEE | SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE
ES055 covers.indd 7
2/23/15 3:25 PM
Visit EncoreArtsSeattle.com
ENCORE ARTS NEWS
Five Friday Questions with
Keiko Green
BY BRETT HAMIL
Keiko Green is a half-Japanese writer/performer from Georgia who came
to Seattle via New York three years ago. Since then, she’s appeared in
numerous productions: Annex’s Chaos Theory, WET’s Bengal Tiger
at the Baghdad Zoo, Pony World’s Or, the Whale. This year she makes
her debuts at the Rep in The Comparables in March and at Seattle
Shakespeare in next May’s production of Othello. Her original musical
Bunnies, inspired by the Woodland Park bunny infestation with music
by Jesse Smith, will have its world premiere as part of Annex Theatre’s
mainstage season this April.
Green is preparing for a creatively prolific year. I caught up with her
for this installment of Five Friday Questions.
What’s the best performance you’ve seen lately?
That fake field goal in the NFC championship game. I’m obsessed with
it. I can’t stop watching loops of it online. It’s everything you want in a
performance: a solid set-up and a beautiful twist in the plot. I want all
my work to be like that fake field goal.
There’s also been so much good theatre in town so far this year. I
saw seven shows last week. The performance that is currently sticking
in my mind is Robin Jones as Blanche in Civic Rep’s A Streetcar Named
Desire. She was so layered. Her Blanche was so delicate, and yet she
would victimize herself in a way that fooled no one. You wanted to
4 ENCORE STAGES
shake her and scream,
“Stop pretending to be
broken! You’re broken
already!”
What’s the best meal
in Seattle?
I’m a sucker for a good
happy hour. I often end
up eating dinner really
early because of this
happy hour obsession.
The grilled sardine
tartine at Lecosho is the
single most delicious
bite in Seattle, and it’s
only available at happy
hour unless you use your puppy dog eyes -- which I have used to varied
success.
Add a salad with a perfect egg, some sausages to share, and a glass (or
two) of wine for the perfect meal. If I could get the roasted bone marrow
from Quinn’s Pub added to that, well…a girl can dream.
ENCORE ARTS NEWS
What music gets you pumped up? What do
you listen to when you’re sad?
I like danceable music to get pumped up — or
at least something I can jump up and down
to. I really like Metric’s “Black Sheep,” though
the intro is way too long, so I usually skip 30
seconds in. I actually like the actress who sang
it in Scott Pilgrim’s voice better, so I often listen
to the movie version online instead.
Also my classmate from the Experimental
Theatre Wing at NYU is the lead singer of this
band Avan Lava, and they’re amazing. Their
song “Feels Good” gets me pumped not just
because I love the song, but also because it
reminds me that I’ve worked with tons of people
who are way more talented than I am —it taps
into my competitive nature.
“Don’t stop never stop.” It’s my mantra. Don’t
get left behind.
When I’m sad, I like to listen to songs from
Young Jean Lee’s band Future Wife. Their song
“Horrible Things” puts things into perspective.
The lyrics are depressing and hilarious: “Who
do you think you are to be immune from
tragedy? What makes you so special that you
should go unscathed?” But it’s set to this really
cute music and her voice is so sweet. All the
songs are like that. “I’m Gonna Die” is also
really great. I like to play cutesy sad music and
just lie there and wallow, if time permits.
Do you “treat yourself” to anything special
after a show closes?
Well, I think the Olympus Spa or “naked spa”
in Lynnwood will be my new treat. A friend
introduced me to it last October, and I’m pretty
smitten. They have a Korean restaurant inside
the spa! How am I supposed to resist going to
that place?
Other than that, I pretty much like to
celebrate all night after closing then lock myself
in the house the day after, cooking and eating
all day. Near the end of a run, I’m eating out
more often than I like. So I spend this lazy day
filling my body with hot, stinky, healthy Asian
foods. I’ll stock up on everything fermented at
Uwajimaya a couple days before, preparing for
this stinkfest.
What’s the most useful thing anyone’s ever
taught you about working in theatre?
In an audition, the people on the other side of
the table are always on your side. Auditors want
you to walk into the room and blow everyone
else out of the water. It makes their job easier.
They are rooting for you.
FEB 12 – MAY 17
This exhibition is organized by the American
Federation of Arts and was made possible
by the generosity of an anonymous donor, the
JFM Foundation, and Mrs. Donald M. Cox.
The Seattle presentation is made possible through the
support of these funders
For more previews, stories, video and a look
behind the scenes, visit EncoreArtsSeattle.com
PROGRAM LIBRARY
CALENDAR
PREVIEWS
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Generous Support
Anonymous
ArtsFund/Guendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff
Fund for the Decorative and Design Arts
The MacRae Foundation
Seattle Art Museum Supporters (SAMS)
Corporate Sponsor
Perkins Coie LLP
Image: Child’s jacket, ca. 1880, Apsáalooke (Crow),
Montana, hide, glass beads, 30 x 20 in., Diker no. 846,
Courtesy American Federation of Arts.
seattleartmuseum.org
encore artsseattle.com 5
THRIVE
PARENT PREVIEW
OPEN HOUSES
drop-in event
ACHIEVE
oct. 23, nov. 8, & May 13
Nov. 12 & Dec. 2
jan. 10, 2015
For more information visit WWW.BILLINGSMIDDLESCHOOL.ORG
BE
ENCORE ARTS PREVIEWS
Seattle Rock Orchestra
May 9 and 10
With over 50 instrumentalists and special guest
vocalists, the Seattle Rock Orchestra combines
the energy of rock ‘n’ roll with the colors and
subtleties of classical music. This Mother’s Day
weekend the Seattle Rock Orchestra continues
their chronological foray into the albums of the
Beatles with Abbey Road and Let It Be.
The Moore Theatre
Pilobolus
May 14-16
With a vast repertoire and new works created
every year, the dancers of Pilobolus are known
for their extreme athleticism and strength.
Named after phototropic fungi, this globetrotting
dance troupe has performed on the Academy
Awards, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The
Oprah Winfrey Show.
Meany Hall
Jeeves Intervenes
May 13-June 13
Reginald Jeeves, the expertly capable valet
whose surname has become a synonym for
“manservant,” must once again save the day
in this comedy adapted from a P.G. Wodehouse
story by Margaret Raether.
Taproot Theatre
Threesome
June 5-28
An Egyptian American couple invite another
man into their bed for a threesome and end up
exploring issues of sexism and independence in
this world premiere written by local playwright
Yussef El Guindi and directed by Chris Coleman.
ACT Theatre
Slaughterhouse Five
June 11-July 3
Kurt Vonnegut’s beloved story about the
human consequences of war comes to life in
this Book-It production adapted and directed
by Josh Aaseng. Unstuck in time, Billy Pilgrim
bounces from the firebombing of Dresden to the
alien planet Tralfamadore and many points in
between.
Book-It Repertory Theatre
Correction: In the last issue, we mischaracterized
the plot of Book-It’s Little Bee as the story of a
Nigerian immigrant father committing suicide
to keep his son, Little Bee, from being deported.
The actual plot revolves around Little Bee’s
encounter later in life with Sarah, a middle-class
Englishwoman. We regret the error.
For more previews, stories, video and a look
behind the scenes, visit EncoreArtsSeattle.com
PROGRAM LIBRARY
6 ENCORE STAGES
CALENDAR
PREVIEWS
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
ENCORE ARTS NEWS
Beer
Central
from city arts magazine
Saturday, March 21
$39, $34 & $29,
$15 youth/student
Rose Ann Finkel
and Charles Finkel
inspired the craftbeer revolution.
A tribute to the black
musicians of the 1920s
and ’30s who were
part of the Harlem
Renaissance, this show
takes its title from the
1929 Waller song of the same title.
KORESH DANCE COMPANY
Wednesday, April 1
$34, $29 & $24,
$15 youth/student
Pike Place
Brewing
is a secret
treasure.
Thank its
owner for
craft beer.
Founded in Philadelphia
in 1991, Koresh Dance
Company is widely recognized for its superb
technique and emotionally-compelling appeal.
THE WONDER
BREAD YEARS
Thursday, April 16
$34, $29 & $24,
$15 youth/student
BY JONATHAN ZWICKEL
ONE THING MOST museums get wrong is
no beer. Though Pike Brewing Company is
technically a brewpub, it could easily qualify
as a museum. A museum of beer.
In other cities an establishment as grand
as Pike Brew would be a point of civic pride
and a go-to hangout for crusty locals and
gawping tourists alike. Somehow—maybe
because it’s existed so long in a location so
prominent—most Seattleites forget it exists.
The cavernous warren of rooms and bars and
more bars and more rooms winds through
two floors of the South end of Pike Place
Market. It’s a 19-year-old secret treasure hidden in plain sight.
Every inch of every vertical surface is
bedecked with “beeriana,” the highlights of
what might be the greatest collection of beerrelated ephemera on Earth: beer labels, beer
ads, beer articles, beer books, beer accessories, beer photos, beer illustrations, beer
recipes, beer history and legend and data. A
sprawling array, for sure, but thoughtfully
curated, elegantly framed and captioned
in exacting detail. Brain candy for the beer
drinker. One room is dedicated entirely to
the 9,000-year history of brewing; you can
follow the timeline across three walls, from
Sumer to Seattle. Another details the story
of Nellie Curtis, the glamorous madam who
operated one of Seattle’s last brothels in a
hotel below the Market. There’s also a shrine
to King Gambrinus, the legendary Lowlands
royal known as the King of Beer. He purportedly invented the toast.
Contemplate all this lore while drinking
beer made one floor below. Pike Brewing’s
Naughty Nellie—a robust but delicate golden
ale named after Nellie Curtis—is one of
Seattle’s greatest achievements. Pike Entire
Wood Aged Stout is chewy and smooth. The
current seasonal special is the Octopus Ink
Black IPA, full-hopped but balanced and as
dark as its namesake.
AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’
The owner of the collection—the executive brewmaster and self-described “creative
director” and president and founder of the
brewery—is also the man responsible, at
least indirectly, for the craft beer revolution that began in the early ’80s. Back then,
Charles Finkel was a renegade importer who
believed Americans were ready for beer with
a flavor profile beyond the bland, cornsyrupy lagers that dominated the landscape.
Today Finkel is considered a visionary, one
of the primary catalysts of a new American
industry.
“When we started in the beer business,
sales of craft beer were so small that they
weren’t measurable,” Finkel says, sitting in a
booth inside Pike Brewing’s office (which is
also covered floor-to-ceiling with ephemera).
“Last year, sales of craft beer exceeded sales
of the Budweiser brand for the first time.
That’s a major milestone.”
Vindication through longevity. And recognition: Finkel was described as “among a
dozen principals responsible for the modern
renaissance of beer” by no less an eminence
than Michael Jackson, the scholar who
was to beer what James Beard was to food.
Finkel edited the illustrations to the Oxford
Companion to Beer, 2011’s massive, authoritative volume on the subject. And here he
sits, bowtied and bespectacled, a 71-year-old
Jewish boy born in New York and raised in
Oklahoma, inside the inner sanctum of his
unassuming empire. His wife Rose Ann,
who’s worked alongside him every step, is
answering emails a few steps away.
“You’re speaking to the artist right now,”
she says of her husband.
True in more ways than one. Charles
Finkel’s entry into the beer business wasn’t
as a brewer but as an importer—an auteur, if
you will. After moving to Woodinville, Wash.
from New York and working in the marketing department of the fledgling Chateau Ste.
A fresh & funny salute to
Americana, The Wonder
Bread Years starring
Pat Hazell (Seinfeld) is
a fast-paced, hilarious
production that gracefully walks the line between standup and theater.
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206.508.4535
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encore artsseattle.com 7
ENCORE ARTS NEWS
from city arts magazine
We treat the
whole you.
Attentive care that considers
every aspect of your health.
Healthy.BastyrCenter.net | 206.834.4100
photo: wireimage
ROBERT
SCHENKKAN
All the Way, The Great Society and The Kentucky Cycle
Keynote Speaker at Friends of the Libraries
Literary Voices Dinner
Saturday May 9, 6 pm
Club Husky, Husky Stadium
Tickets $150 to support conservation
$300 patron tickets | sponsorships available
[email protected]
206-616-8397
8 ENCORE STAGES
With his encyclopedic knowledge of beer history, Charles Finkel was the first to market traditional European ales
and lagers to an American audience.
Michelle winery in the ’70s, one of his first
entrepreneurial endeavors was to re-launch
Samuel Smith, a 250-year-old brewery in
Yorkshire, England. Rather than make his
own full-bodied beer, Finkel convinced the
owners of the struggling brewery to remake
theirs.
From his travels across Europe with Rose
Ann, he’d developed a taste for artisanal
beers made by traditional methods for regional tastes. “And as a guy from Oklahoma
I’m not beyond going to a guy in Yorkshire
and saying, ‘Can you make an oatmeal stout
for me?’ And the guy from Yorkshire says,
‘What’s an oatmeal stout?’ And I have to
teach them what their own heritage is. It’s
not below my own chutzpah or dignity level
to do that.”
When their product met his standards,
Finkel applied his schooling in graphic design to develop a new, now-iconic label for the
beer. Then, with its sophisticated look and
flavor profile, he began importing Samuel
Smith Oatmeal Stout into the U.S. Soon he
redesigned their entire line of beers. His
success led him to rebranding and importing
beers from Germany, Norway and Belgium.
His import company, Merchant du Vin, is
responsible for introducing American drinkers to their favorite European beers. And this
is how Finkel inspired America’s craft beer
movement.
“He was so far ahead of the curve in
the alcoholic beverage business that even
pioneers like me were astonished,” says
Paul Shipman, co-founder of Redhook, the
Northwest’s first microbrewery. Back then,
he and co-founder Gordon Bowker were
cracking open a brand-new marketplace in
the U.S. (much like the current dawn of the
recreational marijuana industry, Shipman
notes.) “What Charlie did with imports was
a beacon. It was an inspiration to us as we
contemplated doing it ourselves. He was
there at the big bang, recognizing that the
consumer had an interest in a more flavorful,
distinctive product.”
Once they’d amassed the finances, the
Finkels opened the original Pike Brewing
Company on Western Ave. in 1989. Charles
developed the beer list and designed all
the labels, both of which remain consistent
through today. They moved to their present location, which serves a full menu of
hearty, wholesome pub fare, in 1996. Pike
Brewing Co. often features guest beers from
upstart Seattle breweries and hosts food and
drink events that draw talent from around
the world. Pike brewers have gone on to
brewmaster positions at breweries across
the country and launched breweries of their
own.
By unofficial count, eight breweries
opened in Seattle in the last half of 2014.
Several others debuted in the burbs. Still
more are slated to launch in the coming
months. Due to their minimal production
capacities, most of them are categorized
as nanobreweries—smaller even that the
original four-barrel facility Finkel started
with. As the brewery count in King County
nears 70—and with some 200 in Washington
state—the craft beer revolution that Finkel
incited shows no signs of slowing. Neither
does Pike Brew.
“We’ve got enough momentum that the
more nanobreweries there are, the more
there’s a need for a place like this, where
you can come and learn about beer,” Finkel
says. “Beer is a great lens to look at history
through. We’re trying to introduce people,
and hopefully encourage those nanobeweries, to recognize that we’re talking about a
serious product of gastronomy through the
ages. Nine thousand years of people having
a civilized attitude about consuming beer.
And we’re beer central.” n
PIKE BREWING
1415 1st. Ave.
MIGUEL EDWARDS
Naturopathic Medicine • Counseling
Acupuncture • Ayurveda • Nutrition
#seaarts
feminism
Last month the Seattle Office of Arts and
Culture sponsored a Twitter conversation
entitled “Feminism + Arts in Seattle.” It
was a lively conversation and sparked much
interest in the topic both during that forum
and since then. It spawned a Facebook
page and further conversation on Twitter
(#SeaArtsFeminism), and is one part of an
ongoing national dialogue about feminism in
the arts.
Feminism and the role of women in all
fields is a topic that should be central to our
society, and The Office of Arts and Culture is
to be congratulated for getting the ball rolling
on the issue of feminism in the arts in our
area.
This topic also sparked many conversations
in our offices. We began thinking about how
Book-It represents women, and the role of
women in the work we do on stage. That led
to some number crunching as you see in the
statistics below. Although we pat ourselves on
the back because the vast majority of Book-It
shows are directed by women and a majority
of our adapters are women, we pause to
reflect on the lower percentage of female
authors presented on our stage.
Why is the percentage of women authors
lower than the other statistics? Some suggested
it is because we present many classics from the
19th and 20th centuries, an era when writing
was dominated by men; some said it was only
coincidence; some said it was a reflection
of the publishing industry’s inherent bias.
Regardless of whether any of these factors
is true—it has made us stop, reflect, and get
more thoughtful about presenting work from
all viewpoints and perspectives.
“The story of women’s stuggle
for equality belongs to no
single feminist nor to any one
organization but to the collective
efforts of all who care about
human rights.”
GLORIA STEINEM
Why does it matter that women are given
opportunities as directors, adapters and
authors? Is it an issue of equity and fairness?
I have been following Melinda Gates’ posts
on these topics and the work of the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation addressing
worldwide issues of gender equality and
empowerment for women, and she makes an
important point about why having women in
leadership roles is essential—girls and young
women need role models of women leading
WOMEN AT BOOK-IT: THE NUMBERS
the way in key positions making a difference
in society.
Book-It Repertory Theatre has been
blazing the trail with two women leading
the organization for the last quarter century.
Jane Jones and Myra Platt have mentored
countless women and been role models of
how to succeed in the arts in our community
and beyond. Over the years, Book-It has
provided women opportunities to build their
résumés and hone their skills as writers and
adapters, directors, designers, actors, stage
managers, and arts administrators to go on to
careers locally, regionally, and nationally. The
success of this organization has been driven
by women in leadership roles at every level.
(In fact, I’m also trail-blazing as the first male
managing director in Book-It’s history.)
We cannot answer the question of how to
create more opportunities for women or how
to remove the barriers to success for women
in the performing arts. What we can do is to
raise issues, question our own assumptions,
and welcome dialogue as we move this
topic forward. We appreciate everyone who
has participated in the #seaartsfeminism
conversation started by the Seattle Office of
Arts and Culture—please join us!
Welcome to Book-It.
Daniel Mayer
Managing Director
Gender breakdown of 107 stories and novels produced by Book-It from 1993 to 2015
Book-It has hired
26 directors: 15 women, 11 men
33 adapters: 15 women, 18 men
and adapted the work of
75 authors: 27 women, 48 men
WHAT DO YOU THINK? TWEET US.
@book_it
#seaartsfeminism
encore artsseattle.com A-1
WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE OUR
2015-16 SEASON
What We Talk About
When We Talk About Love
by RAYMOND CARVER
An evening of stories adapted from the 1981
collection by Northwest native Raymond Carver.
Emma
by JANE AUSTEN
Book-It brings back the Jane Austen classic in time
for the 200th anniversary of its publication.
The Brothers K
by DAVID JAMES DUNCAN
From the celebrated author of The River Why: an
uplifting novel spanning decades of loyalty, anger,
regret, and love in the lives of the Chance family.
—Presented in two full-length parts—
OPENIN
G JUNE
9
Turn to p
age Aa b o u t t h 1 2 f o r m o re
e show!
F O R M O R E S E AS O N I N F O R M AT I O N
B O O K - I T. O R G
JANE JONES & MYRA PLATT, FOUNDING CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTORS | DANIEL Y. MAYER, MANAGING DIRECTOR
LITTLE BEE
by Chris Cleave
Adapted and directed by Myra Platt
cast
Sydney Andrews*
Kourtney Connor†
Elena Flory-Barnes
Jonah Kowal
Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako
Meiko Parton
Michael Patten*
Eric Riedmann*
Jason Sanford
Zenaida Smith
Kaila Towers
William E. Cruttenden III*
Xandria Nirvana Barber
Sarah
Ensemble
Yevette / Hunter / Ensemble
Charlie
Little Bee
Leader / Ensemble
Lawrence / Ensemble
Andrew / Ensemble
Nigerian Guard / Ensemble
No Name / Ensemble
Nkiruka / Ensemble
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Artistic Team
Will Abrahamse
Andrew D. Smith
Christine Meyers
Evan Mosher
Harry Todd Jamieson
Anthea Carns
Gin Hammond
Tom Dewey
Scenic Designer
Lighting Designer
Costume Designer
Sound Designer
Assistant Sound Designer
Dramaturg
Dialect Coach
Fight Choreographer
Setting: London and Nigeria, 2007
* Member Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States † Book-It Acting Intern
season support
Lucky Seven
Foundation
media sponsorS
Additional generous support is provided by individuals and by The Ex Anima Fund,
The Williams Miller Family Foundation, and Spark Charitable Foundation. Many thanks to all our supporters!
encore artsseattle.com A-3
notes
director
from
the
Beyond the Book
Where
The Center Theatre lobby
Admission
Free and open to the public
APRIL 29, 6:30PM
Hear from Anya Gedrath Smith from
the International Rescue Committee,
which provides resources to refugees.
MAY 3, 4:30PM
Learn more about the important legal
work being done by the Northwest
Immigrant Rights Project.
MAY 6, 6:30PM
Listen to a representative from
the Refugee Women’s Alliance
speak about the work they do with
immigrant women in Washington.
MAY 10, 4:30PM
Maggie Cheng from the Northwest
Immigrant Rights Project will speak
about her legal work with asylumseekers.
Speakers subject to change.
For more information
BOOK-IT.ORG/LITTLEBEE
A-4 BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE
JO H N ULMA N
Join Book-It as we discuss
issues of immigration and
asylum-seeking and how
they resonate with us in
Seattle.
My Heart’s pounding
When I first read this page-turner, my
I wanted to investigate this story, with its
heart was pounding. I attributed that to
unique double narrative, precisely because
compelling storytelling, the need to know
of how Little Bee and Sarah navigate their
what happens next. But I became aware
way past their fear on a planet that seems to
of the same sensation while I worked on
reward fearmongering and male dominance.
the adaptation and again while working
These women possess a naturally strong
with the actors in rehearsal. Even though I
capacity to turn atrocity into beauty and help
knew what happened,
us see how empowering
my heart would thump.
women across the globe
What causes our hearts
can lead to peace.
SShhhh...
to pound? Excitement.
The broader story of
“We don’t want to tell you too
Nervousness.
Fear.
immigration,
refugees
Elation.
Pinpointing much about this book. It is a truly and asylum seekers is
those moments in the
huge and complicated.
special story and we don’t want
story and figuring out to spoil it... Once you have read it, The statistics are mindhow to effectively bring
numbing regarding the
you’ll want to tell everyone about
them to life on stage was
numbers of men, women
it. When you do, please don’t tell
no simple task.
and children who are
them what happens either. The
A flurry of questions
caught seeking a safe life,
magic is in how it unfolds.”
arose during our rehearsal
and then are essentially
process regarding our
arrested, treated like
BOOK JACKET BLURB FOR
responsibility as global
criminals and deported
LITTLE BEE (THE OTHER HAND)
citizens: How far would
to the place from which
we go to help someone
they were seeking refuge.
not of our culture? Whose lives have value?
This is not an easy story to tell. But we
Who are we to tell someone they do not
are so lucky that Little Bee helps tell it. Her
belong? We spent time exploring how we
voice inspires with its strength and resolve.
balance our compassion with self-protection,
Her innate sense of humor and candor is
our pragmatism with our idealism—how we
winsome. It turns out my heart’s pounding
rationalize our selfishness and excuse our
is my profound gratitude to be here doing
ignorance and our naiveté. Chris Cleave refers
what I love to do: telling an important
to the “mutual incomprehension” between
story and sharing it with as many people as
developing and developed countries. Little
possible, in the hope that together we can
Bee seeks a common language and earns her
make a difference in our developing world.
right to a safe, joyful life; Sarah feels guilt
Myra Platt
and responsibility for how to make things
Adapter & Director
right.
NW IR P
S EATTLE PUBLIC LIBR A R Y
Get Involved
Chris Cleave speaks after the 2011 Seattle Public Library reading of Little Bee.
FRom page to stage
In 2011, when Little Bee was chosen as the
Seattle Reads novel by the Center for the
Book at the Seattle Public Library, Book-It
had the pleasure of meeting Chris Cleave.
SPL’s Chris Higashi hired Book-It to adapt
and perform a portion of Little Bee for a
series of readings to tour Seattle libraries. The
culminating performance at the central library
was followed by a Q&A with the author.
These are always terrifying events for
both the performing artists and the author.
Both sides hold their breaths and whisper to
themselves “I hope I/they like it.” Luckily,
Chris Cleave did like it and we are so
honored that we were granted permission
to do a fully realized stage adaptation in our
25th anniversary season.
NORTHWEST IMMIGRANT
RIGHTS PROJECT
A nationally recognized legal services
organization based in Washington
State that provides direct legal
assistance in immigration matters to
over 10,000 low-income people from
over 150 countries each year.
u nwirp.org
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE
COMMITTEE
Chris Cleave was born
in London in 1973, but spent his
childhood up to the age of eight in
Cameroon. In university he studied
Experimental Psychology at Balliol
College, Oxford. His debut novel,
Incendiary, won a 2006 Somerset
Maugham Award, was shortlisted for
the 2006 Commonwealth Writers’
Prize, and is now a feature film.
He credits a “chance encounter” with
the immigration detention system—a
few days working as a laborer in the
canteen of Campsfield House—as
part of the inspiration for his second
novel, Little Bee. Little Bee, originally
published as The Other Hand in the UK,
is an international bestseller with over
2 million copies in print and a film
adaptation in development.
He lives in London with his wife
and three children.
S EAT T LE P U B L I C LI B R A R Y
These organizations make
a difference in immigrant
lives here in Washington and
around the world.
NOVELS BY CHRIS CLEAVE
Incendiary 2005
Little Bee (The Other Hand)
2008
Every year, the IRC resettles
thousands of refugees in 22 U.S.
cities and their teams provide health
care, infrastructure, learning, and
economic support to people in 40
countries, with special programs
designed for women and children.
u rescue.org
REFUGEE WOMEN’S ALLIANCE
With a mission to help immigrant
women and their families to thrive,
ReWA serves as a home-base for
Washington State’s immigrant
and refugee communities. Holistic
services are offered in more than 50
languages and dialects.
u rewa.org
you can
Donate
today!
During the run
of Little Bee,
Book-It is
collecting
donations for
these groups.
Make your gift
in the lobby on
your way out!
Gold 2012
encore artsseattle.com A-5
DRAMATURGY BY ANTHEA CARNS
Nigeria is big. It’s the seventh most populous country
in the world, with more than 174 million citizens.
It has the largest economy in Africa, bypassing
South Africa in 2014. And it’s among the top 15 oilproducing countries in the world, producing 2.44
million barrels of oil per day at the industry’s
peak. Crude petroleum makes up 72% of
Nigeria’s export earnings, with natural
gas and refined petroleum making up
another 19%. The largest oil reserves
are under the Niger Delta, on the
southern coast of the country.
Developers, led by ShellBritish Petroleum, discovered
oil in the Delta in the ’50s,
shortly before Nigeria gained its
independence from Britain. Oil
production in Nigeria has continued
to this day in spite of a civil war,
multiple military coups, and worsening
conflict in the Delta region itself.
The causes of conflict in the
Delta are many, complicated, and
interconnected: ethnic conflict
plays a part, as does poverty, as
does governmental corruption, as
does corporate corruption. Though
oil production serves as the linchpin
of Nigeria’s national economy, those
economic benefits are rarely seen by the
people who live in the Delta states, in
and around the guts of the oil industry.
In the Delta, oil spills and gas flaring (burning
off usable associated natural gas) are common. As
is petroleum theft, illegal refining, and violent and
non-violent protests against the oil industry and its
infrastructure. These security concerns led to Shell
allegedly hiring local gangs and militants on security
contracts, and then turning a blind eye to the resulting
violence between gangs, the military, and civilians.
In more recent years, the international
community’s gaze has been on the northeast of
Nigeria, home of the terrorist group Boko Haram. In
April 2014, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276
schoolgirls, most of whom have not been released
nor escaped. Though Boko Haram
and the Niger Delta conflict are
separate crises, the corruption
and frequent instability of
the Nigerian government
have been a major factor in
dealing with both groups.
The recent presidential
election on March 31, 2015,
and the prospect of a peaceful
transfer of power from
President Goodluck Jonathan
to President-Elect Muhammadu
Buhari, have raised hopes that the
new president will be able to bring some measure of
stability to the country.
It’s a common mistake in the West to think of
scams and horrors first when we think of Nigeria,
like emails from Nigerian princes, or 2014’s
#BringBackOurGirls. But Nigeria is far more than
its saddest stories. The country boasts a prolific film
industry, a vibrant fashion week, internationally
acclaimed authors and musicians, and is poised to
become one of the next global economic powers.
Thinking of it as a faraway country of conflict with
little bearing on our lives perpetuates the imaginary
divide between us and them, here and there,
concrete jungle and Darkest Africa.
Hotlines
If you need help with citizenship,
asylum, domestic violence,
or other immigration issues
in Western Washington, the
Northwest Immigrant Rights
Project can be reached at
1-800-445-5771, M-F 9:30-4.
A-6 BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE
If you or someone you know
need help, call the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1-800-273-8255
or the National Domestic
Violence Hotline
1-800-799 SAFE
DEADLINES
If the asylum seeker claims asylum at the US
border, they will have around a week to prepare
to see an immigration judge. If the asylum
seeker does not claim asylum at the border, they
must apply for asylum within a year of entering
the country.
Asylum seekers must claim asylum “as soon as
possible—Your application is more likely to be
denied if you wait.”
Because immigration is considered a civil
issue, asylum seekers do not have a right to
state-appointed counsel; they must acquire
representation on their own or represent
themselves.
Asylum seekers may be eligible for legal aid
from the U.K. government. On appeal, asylum
seekers are only entitled to publicly funded
legal representation to pursue their appeal if it
has a 50 per cent or more chance of success.
If their asylum claim is rejected, an asylum
seeker can appeal to the Board of Immigration
Appeals, then to a federal circuit court, then to
the U.S. Supreme Court. If they are unable to
file an appeal or if their appeal is rejected, they
will be deported as soon as possible.
If their asylum claim is refused, an asylum
seeker can appeal to the First Tier Tribunal.
If they are unable to file an appeal or if their
appeal is rejected, they will be deported as
soon as possible.
If their asylum claim is granted, an asylum
seeker may apply for lawful permanent
residence after one year.
If their asylum claim is granted, an asylum
seeker is granted Refugee Status and may
apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the
U.K. after five years.
Undocumented immigrants, including asylum
seekers who have not been granted asylum,
can be detained in immigration detention
centers for multiple reasons including “crimes
involving moral turpitude” which do not carry
prison sentences for U.S. citizens.
Undocumented immigrants, including
asylum seekers, can be detained when they
are apprehended at the border, or if they are
apprehended in public without papers.
Unaccompanied minors are to be handed
over to the Department of Health and Human
Services; in practice unaccompanied minors
are often deported without getting access to
asylum proceedings and legal assistance.
Unaccompanied minors are often granted
discretionary leave to stay in the U.K., but
in more recent years the U.K. and the EU
have begun implementing policies to deport
unaccompanied minors.
MINORS
UNACCOMPANIED
LEGAL
COUNSEL
a
APPEALS
Read
that
criteria
here
LONG-TERM
STATUS
Asylum seeker must prove they meet the criteria laid out in the
United Nations Convention by submitting evidence.
DETAINMENT
ELIGIBILITY
IN THE U.K.
When I was a teenager in the 1980s, we
thought of asylum seekers as heroes. The hundreds who
died while trying to cross the Berlin Wall, for example...
Or the heroes of previous generations—Sigmund
Freud, who fled to London to escape the Nazis, or Anne
Frank, who could not flee far enough. Albert Einstein,
Karl Marx, Joseph Conrad—all of them refugees—I
could go on and on. When horror and darkness
descend, asylum seekers are the ones who get away. They
are typically above average in terms of intellectual gifts,
far-sightedness, motivation, and resilience. These are
the people you want to have on your side. It will be a
monument to our hubris if we allow ourselves to start
thinking of them as a burden.
UNITED NATIONS’ REFUGEE CRITERIA: The term ‘refugee’ shall apply to any person who... owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race,
religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is
unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a
result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.
IN THE U.S.
CHRIS CLEAVE
encore artsseattle.com A-7
meet the
Cast
SYDNEY ANDREWS*
Sarah
Sydney is so happy to
be returning to Book-It
this season! Previous
productions include
Jesus’ Son and Hotel on
the Corner of Bitter and
Sweet. Most recently, she was seen as Irina
in The Three Sisters with The Seagull Project,
of which she is also a company member. In
Seattle, her credits include Vanya and Sonia
and Masha and Spike and A Christmas Carol
with ACT Theatre, The Trial with New
Century Theatre Company, Antony and
Cleopatra with Seattle Shakespeare Company,
Undo with Annex, and she understudied for
Pippi Longstocking with Seattle Children’s
Theatre. Regionally, she has worked at Zach
Scott Theatre, the Berkshire Theatre Festival,
Austin Shakespeare, Children’s Theatre of
Charlotte, and participated in the New York
International Fringe Festival. Sydney holds an
MFA in acting from the University of Texas
at Austin.
KOURTNEY CONNOR†
Ensemble
This is Connor’s first
time performing in
any theatre production
(excluding childhood
Christmas productions
where he played
Manger Haystack #2). He is very excited and
grateful to take part in Book-It’s production
of Little Bee.
ELENA FLORYBARNES
Yevette / Ensemble
A Seattle native
and a University of
Washington graduate,
Elena is pleased to be
making her mainstage
Book-It debut in Little Bee. Previously with
Book-It she played Moe Moe Bay in their
arts and education touring production of
Pink and Say. Her local credits include The
Kentucky Cycle with Bainbridge Performing
Arts, Honky with Mirror Stage, and several
shows with quiet Productions.
* Member Actors’ Equity Association, the Union
of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the
United States.
† Book-It Acting Intern
A-8 BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE
JONAH KOWAL
Charlie
Jonah is overjoyed to
be back on stage at
Book-It Repertory
Theatre where he was
last seen as Elias in
Truth Like the Sun.
Having the opportunity to work with such
talented and supportive people once again
at Book-It makes him feel like a superhero!
His other adventures in theatre include
classes, camps, and productions at Studio
East in Kirkland and Village Theatre in
Issaquah. Jonah is in the third grade at St.
Louise School and is a youth reader at St.
James Cathedral. In his spare time he enjoys
computer programming, creative writing, and
making video animations.
CLAUDINE
MBOLIGIKPELANI
NAKO
Little Bee
Nako makes her
Book-It debut in the
role of Little Bee. She
has lived in Seattle for two years, earning stage
credits at various companies including Village
Theatre, ArtsWest, Seattle Public Theater,
and Balagan Theatre. She also served as vocal
captain and lead singer/dancer for Carnival
Cruise Lines’ Playlist Productions. Most
recently, she played Grace Bradley in Seattle
Public Theater’s holiday favorite, The Best
Christmas Pageant Ever. In addition to the
stage, Nako works in film and television and
can be seen in multiple national commercials.
She is a freelance youth theatre director and
a passionate advocate for arts education in
schools. She is deeply inspired by Little Bee’s
story and honored with the task of bringing
it to life.
MEIKO PARTON
Leader / Ensemble
Like long-lost family,
Meiko has been
happily reunited with
his love for theater.
With theater homes
spread like pins on
a map (thanks to a military background),
Meiko has had the pleasure of portraying
a wide range of roles from romantic to
beautifully villainous. A character of
characters, Meiko is as grateful as he is proud
to accept another pin, another home, and
welcome another theater family into his heart.
He plans to continue his growth here in
Seattle and looks forward to the adventures,
opportunities, and fulfillment that only
theater life can offer.
MICHAEL PATTEN*
Lawrence / Ensemble
Most recently for
Book-It, Michael
played George Deasey/
Shannenhouse/
Ensemble in The
Amazing Adventures
of Kavalier & Clay. Previously for Book-It,
he originated the role of Mellors in Lady
Chatterley’s Lover, and appeared as Jaggers
and Magwitch in Great Expectations and
Reverend Wiggin in Owen Meany’s Christmas
Pageant. In Seattle, he has worked with
New Century Theatre Company (founding
company member), Seattle Repertory
Theatre, ACT Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare
Company, Seattle Opera, Intiman, Strawberry
Theatre Workshop, and others. Regional
credits include McCarter Theatre, Alabama
Shakespeare Festival, Huntington Theatre,
Mill Mountain Theatre, Camden Shakespeare
Festival, Interplayers, Tacoma Actors Guild.
Film and Television credits include Prefontaine,
Georgia, Highway, “Grimm,” “Leverage,” and
“The Commish,” among others. Michael is a
proud member of Actors’ Equity Association
and SAG-AFTRA.
ERIC RIEDMANN*
Andrew / Ensemble
Eric is absolutely
thrilled to return to the
Book-It stage, where
he was last seen in The
Art of Racing in the
Rain. Additional credits
include King Lear at Seattle Shakespeare
Company, Middletown at ACT Theatre,
Good People (co-production) with George
Street Playhouse and Seattle Rep, The Glass
Menagerie at Seattle Rep, A Single Shard at
Seattle Children’s Theatre, A Lie of the Mind
at ACT/Collektor, The Violet Hour at Seattle
Public Theater, and more. His screen credits
include NBC’s “Grimm,” TNT’s “Leverage,”
CBS’s “The Fugitive,” Lynn Shelton’s Laggies,
and Disney’s 10 Things I Hate About You. Eric
lives in Queen Anne with his wife, Jesse, and
kitty, Scout.
JASON SANFORD
Nigerian Guard /
Ensemble
Jason is proud to
make his Book-It
debut. Most recently
he appeared in We
Are Proud to Present
a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia,
Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the
German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884
– 1915 with Pony World. He has worked with
Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts,
Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and Oregon
Shakespeare Festival. He has previously
appeared locally in productions with Seattle
Shakespeare Company and their Wooden O
Theatre. He obtained his MFA from the UW
Professional Actor Training Program.
ZENAIDA SMITH
No Name / Ensemble
Zenaida graduated
with a BFA in acting
from Nebraska
Wesleyan University
and is thrilled to make
her Book-It debut.
Recent roles in the Seattle area include various
characters in A Gogolplex, Viola in Twelfth
Night, and Mayella in To Kill a Mockingbird.
KAILA TOWERS
meet the
Nkiruka / Ensemble
Kaila is honored and
excited to be making
her mainstage debut
at Book-It. Her last
opportunity to work
with this amazing
company was portraying Wilma in their arts
and education touring production of Wilma
Rudolph: How Wilma Rudolph Became The
World’s Fastest Woman. Towers received her
BFA in theatre from Cornish College of the
Arts in 2012. She was most recently seen in
the role of Kate in David Lindsay-Abaire’s
Good People, at the newly named The Modern
Theater in Spokane, Wash.
Artistic
staff
MYRA PLATT
Adapter / Director
As co-founder, Myra has helped Book-It
produce over 100 world-premiere mainstage
productions and over 30 education touring
productions. Most recently she directed
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,
which won the 2014 Gregory Award for
Outstanding Production and received a Seattle
Times 2014 Footlight Award. She directed
Persuasion, Plainsong, Cry, the Beloved Country,
and Sweet Thursday, and she adapted and
directed The Financial Lives of the Poets, The
River Why, Night Flight, Red Ranger Came
Calling, The House of the Spirits, Giant, I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Cowboys Are
My Weakness, Roman Fever, A Little Cloud,
A Telephone Call, and A Child’s Christmas in
Wales. She adapted The Art of Racing in the
Rain, co-adapted Owen Meany’s Christmas
Pageant with Jane Jones, and composed music
for Prairie Nocturne, Night Flight (with Joshua
Kohl), Red Ranger Came Calling (with Edd
Key), The Awakening, Ethan Frome, Owen
Meany’s Christmas Pageant, A Child’s Christmas
in Wales, A Telephone Call, and I Am of Ireland.
Her acting credits include Prairie Nocturne,
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears,
The Awakening (West Los Angeles Garland
Award), Howards End, and The Cider House
Rules, Parts I and II (original production). She
has performed at Seattle Repertory Theatre,
Intiman, New City Theatre, and the Mark
Taper Forum. Myra is the recipient, with Jane
Jones, of a Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
Anniversary grant, the 2010 Women of
Influence from Puget Sound Business Journal,
and was named by Seattle Times an Unsung
Hero and Uncommon Genius for their 20year contribution to life in the Puget Sound
region.
CHRISTINE MEYERS
WILL ABRAHAMSE
Sound Designer
Evan is thrilled to be collaborating with
Book-It for the first time. His design
credits include The Flick for New Century
Theatre Company; The Bells, Accidental
Death of an Anarchist, and Black Comedy for
Strawberry Theatre Workshop; Love Horse for
Washington Ensemble Theatre; Cryptogram,
Arcadia, Slip/Shot, and Slowgirl for Seattle
Public Theater; Returning to Albert Joseph for
Satori Group; Gruesome Playground Injuries,
Red Light Winter, and 25 Saints for Azeotrope;
and The Important of Being Earnest and
Measure for Measure for Seattle Shakespeare
Company. Evan is a founding member of
art-pop band “Awesome” and a performing
member of foodie-theatre company Café
Nordo, which will open Nordo’s Culinarium
at the former Elliott Bay Books space in
Pioneer Square this spring. cafenordo.com
Scenic Designer
Will is thrilled to back with the Book-It family
for this production, his second of this season.
With more than a decade in theatre and nearly
100 productions under his belt, Will’s work as
a scenic artist and designer has also been seen
on the stages of Tacoma Musical Playhouse,
ArtsWest, Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre,
and 14/48, among others. Will received
Broadway World Seattle’s award for Best
Scenic Design (Local) in 2013 for his work
on Ragtime with Tacoma Musical Playhouse.
He studied architecture and technical theatre
at Washington State University and The
University of Idaho, and now serves as the
technical director and auditorium manager
for Enumclaw High School, helping to foster
a love of the arts in the next generation of
theatre artists and patrons.
ANDREW D. SMITH
Lighting Designer
Andrew is a Seattle-based lighting designer,
and is pleased to be working again with
Book-It, where he previously designed
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus,
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Uncensored,
and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
Other credits include Red Light Winter and 25
Saints with Azeotrope, Pippi Longstocking with
Seattle Children’s Theatre, Intiman Summer
Festival 2013, and The Seagull Project with
ACT Central Heating Lab. Andrew has
worked nationally at Flint Youth Theatre,
Horizon Theatre Company, Cincinnati
Shakespeare Company, Roust Theatre, and
Cardinal Stage Company. He received
the 2010 and 2011 Gregory Award for
Outstanding Lighting Designer, as well as the
2010 Seattle Times Footlight Award. Andrew
holds a BA from Duke University and an
MFA from the University of Washington,
where he currently teaches.
Costume Designer
Since attending Motley School of Theatre
Design in London, Christine has designed
costumes for opera, theatre and film across
the USA and Europe. She has designed for
Peter Pan, The Highest Tide, and The Beautiful
Things That Heaven Bears at Book-It Repertory
Theatre, Julius Caesar at Seattle Shakespeare
Company, and The Imaginary Invalid at
Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Her
relationship with Rogue Opera produced
Hansel and Gretel, Carousel, and Amahl and the
Night Visitors. Film credits include 48hrFilm
Lethal Cotillion, which screened at the 2008
Cannes Film Festival, and Ryder Clan. She has
worked since 1999 with Handel Festival in
Göttingen, Germany.
EVAN MOSHER
HARRY TODD JAMIESON
Assistant Sound Designer
Harry is pleased to be designing again with
Book-It, having last worked with them on
Pride and Prejudice and many touring shows
for their arts and education program. Harry
is a freelance sound designer, actor, and
director and has worked in these disciplines
at many local theaters and institutions. Local
sound design credits include Twelfth Night
with Seattle Shakespeare Company; Two
Gentlemen of Verona with Seattle Shakespeare
Company’s Wooden O Theatre; Chinglish and
The Mountaintop with ArtsWest; Gideon’s Knot
and Broke-ology with Seattle Public Theater;
SOAPfest One-Act festival with Sandbox
Artist Collective; and Othello and Julius Caesar
with Seattle Shakespeare Company’s statewide
tour. Harry received his BA in drama from
Western Washington University.
encore artsseattle.com A-9
meet the
Artistic
staff
WILLIAM E. CRUTTENDEN III*
Stage Manager
This is Will’s Book-It debut. His D.C. credits
include King Hedley II, Five Guys Named
Moe, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and
The Mountaintop with Arena Stage; The
Totalitarians, Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play,
Bootycandy, Clybourne Park, Maria/Stuart,
and Dead Man’s Cellphone with Woolly
Mammoth Theatre; Knuffle Bunny with The
Kennedy Center; and And the Curtain Rises,
Sunset Boulevard, Chess, and I Am My Own
Wife with Signature Theatre. Will’s OffBroadway credits include Wild With Happy
with The Public Theater and Perfect Harmony
with Acorn Theatre. His national credits
include Cleveland Play House, Alley Theatre,
Gulfshore Playhouse, and West Virginia
Public Theatre.
XANDRIA NIRVANA BARBER
Assistant Stage Manager
Xandria Barber is delighted to be joining
Book-It Repertory Theatre for Little Bee.
Other regional stage management credits
include The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
(2014, 2013) at Seattle Public Theater, The
Mountaintop at ArtsWest, and Returning to
Albert Joseph with The Satori Group. Assistant
stage management credits include Twelfth
Night with Seattle Shakespeare Company and
Julius Caesar with their Wooden O Theatre.
You’ll see her returning to the parks this
summer for Wooden O’s As You Like It.
ANTHEA CARNS
Dramaturg
Anthea is pleased to be working with
Book-It again. She has worked in
Washington, Pennsylvania, and Alaska
as a dramaturg, director, writer, and arts
administrator. Her co-written play Bad
Hamlet was an official selection of the 2011
Last Frontier Theatre Conference; more
recently she worked on Book-It’s Pride and
Prejudice and The Dog of the South. Her
current projects include hosting a monthly
community Shakespeare event, and branching
into original fiction and digital media.
www.antheacarns.com
GIN HAMMOND
Dialect Coach
Gin is a Harvard University/Moscow Art
Theatre grad, a certified voice geek, and is
very happy to be coaching another terrific
Book-It show. Gin has performed in Russia,
Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and England;
teaches voice, voice-over, and public
speaking; and can be heard on commercials,
audiobooks, and a variety of video games
including Undead Labs: State of Decay, DotA
2, Aion, and Halo 3 ODST.
A-10 BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE
TOM DEWEY
Fight Choreographer
Tom is honored to join the team of Little
Bee. As an actor and fight choreographer, his
work has been seen around the Puget Sound
Region. For Book-It, he has choreographed
the fights for Great Expectations, The Financial
Lives of the Poets, and She’s Come Undone. He
also played the role of Fisher in Border Songs.
Other credits include Brad in Gloucester
Blue at Harlequin Productions, Titus Lartius
in Coriolanus with Seattle Shakespeare
Company, and Petruchio in The Taming of
the Shrew with GreenStage. Tom is an actor
combatant with the Society of American
Fight Directors and a proud graduate of
the theatre arts and history programs at the
University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.
MYRA PLATT
Founding Co-Artistic Director
See bio on page A-9.
JANE JONES
Founder, Founding Co-Artistic Director
Jane is the founder of Book-It and founding
co-artistic director of Book-It Repertory
Theatre, with Myra Platt. In her 27 years of
staging literature, she has performed, adapted,
and directed works by such literary giants
as Charles Dickens, Eudora Welty, Edith
Wharton, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Pam Houston,
Raymond Carver, Frank O’Connor, Ernest
Hemingway, Colette, Amy Bloom, John
Irving, John Steinbeck, Daphne du Maurier,
and Jane Austen. A veteran actress of 30
years, she has played leading roles in many of
America’s most prominent regional theatres.
Most recently, she played the role of Miss
Havisham in Book-It’s Great Expectations.
Film and TV credits include The Hand That
Rocks the Cradle, Singles, Homeward Bound,
“Twin Peaks,” and Rose Red. She co-directed
with Tom Hulce at Seattle Rep, Peter Parnell’s
adaptation of John Irving’s The Cider House
Rules, Parts I and II, which enjoyed successful
runs here in Seattle, at the Mark Taper Forum
in Los Angeles (Ovation Award, best director)
and in New York (Drama Desk Nomination,
best director). Jane directed Cyrano, Pride
and Prejudice, and Twelfth Night at Portland
Center Stage which won the 2008 Drammy
award for Best Direction and Production. For
Book-It, she has directed The Dog of the
South, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
Uncensored, Truth Like the Sun, The House
of Mirth, The Highest Tide, Travels with
Charley, Pride and Prejudice, Howard’s End,
In a Shallow Grave, The Awakening, Owen
Meany’s Christmas Pageant, A Tale of Two
Cities, and The Cider House Rules, Parts I and
II, winner of the 2010 and 2011 Gregory
Awards for Outstanding Production. In 2008
she, Myra Platt, and Book-It were honored to
be named by the Seattle Times among seven
Unsung Heroes and Uncommon Genius
for their 20-year contribution to life in the
Puget Sound region. She is a recipient of the
2009 Women’s University Club of Seattle
Brava Award, a 2010 Women of Influence
award from Puget Sound Business Journal,
and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s
20th Anniversary Founders Grant, and was
a finalist for the American Union for Stage
Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s
2012 Zelda Fichandler Award.
DANIEL Y. MAYER
Managing Director
This past November, Daniel joined the staff of
Book-It as its managing director. Most
recently, he spent eight years as executive
director of the Kirkland Performance Center.
Prior to that, Mayer worked in a variety of
arts nonprofits in the Seattle area including
Photographic Center Northwest, Spectrum
Dance Theater, On the Boards, Seattle Jewish
Film Festival, Sand Point Arts & Cultural
Exchange, The Empty Space, and the
Bellevue Philharmonic. Dan returned to his
hometown of Seattle 16 years ago from New
York where he worked as a consultant to POZ
Publishing and Condé Nast Publications and
as executive director at Volunteer Lawyers
for the Arts for five years. Earlier, Mayer
lived in Washington, D.C. where he was the
executive director of artsave, an artist rights
project founded by People for the American
Way, a civil liberties organization founded by
Norman Lear. Mayer began his legal career in
Chicago as executive director of Lawyers for
the Creative Arts, a pro bono legal assistance
organization for artists of all genres. During
this time he was also a fellow at the Office of
Policy, Planning and Research at the National
Endowment for the Arts. Mayer is a graduate
of Case Western Reserve University School
of Law and Claremont McKenna College,
and also studied at the London School of
Economics. He has taught at Columbia
College in Chicago, New York University,
and Columbia University School of Law;
in Seattle he has been a lecturer at Cornish
College of the Arts, Edmonds Community
College, and the EDGE Artist Professional
Development Program at Artist Trust. Mayer
is the co-chair of the Arts Advisory Council
of 4Culture and on the board of directors
of Khambatta Dance Company and Coyote
Central.
production
staff
BRYAN BURCH
affiliations
Interim Production Manager
ACTORS’ EQUITY
ASSOCIATION
SHANE GOLDBAUM-UNGER
Actor’s Equity Foundation, founded
in 1913, is the U.S. labor union
that represents more than 50,000
professional actors and stage managers. Equity
endeavors to advance the careers of its members by
negotiating wages, working conditions and providing
a wide range of benefits (health and pension included).
Member: AFL-CIO, FIA. #EquityWorks.
Properties Mananger
DAN SCHUY
Interim Technical Director
Book-It Calling
ANDERS BOLANG
Master Carpenter
THEATRE PUGET SOUND
THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS
GROUP
Can we count on you
for support?
CARMEN RODRIGUEZ
Charge Artist
TREVOR CUSHMAN
special thanks to
Rachel Alquist, Maggie Cheng,
Deng Duot, Temie Fancy,
Chris Higashi, Nike Imoru,
Erin Lunde Keenan, Annie Lareau,
Susan Y. Lee, Ernie Piper IV, Joey Sills,
Anya Gedrath Smith, North Seattle
College, Seattle Repertory Theatre,
Seattle Children’s Theatre
We are
proud to
announce
JESSICA JONES
Sound Engineer / Sound Board Operator
During April and May, we’ll be
reaching out to patrons by phone
asking for your support. We love to
talk with our patrons so be sure to
answer your phone when you see
Book-It calling!
ANNA CURTISS
Wardrobe Supervisor
Book-It’s Arts & Education Program’s
2015-16 TOURING SEASON
Secret Garden
THE
Master Electrician / Light Board Operator
We love performing for you but
ticket sales do not cover the full
cost of each production. In fact
ticket sales cover only half of
Book-It’s expenses.
Flora
Ulysses
A ND
A
Splash
Red
OF
Call to book your touring story,
student matinée, or residency today!
206.428.6266 | [email protected]
encore artsseattle.com A-11
Gala a big success!
This Year’s
Honorees
Once again, the Seattle
Foundation is sponsoring
GiveBig, a one-day, online
fundraising initiative where
donors are encouraged
to support their favorite
organizations and gifts
are stretched with Seattle
Foundation donor dollars.
Be sure to support Book-It
on May 5 during this year’s
GiveBig campaign.
Read more:
seattlefoundation.org
A-12 BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE
MI KE H IP P L E
Every year at our annual
gala, we honor someone
special to Book-It. This
year’s honorees were
our founding co-artistic
directors, Jane Jones and
Myra Platt, the ones who
started it all.
1.
Little
green aliens
shaped like
toilet plungers
ON STAGE
JUNE 9 - JULY 3
Thank you to our many supporters who
made Book-It’s 25th Anniversary Gala a
fantastic evening of fun and fundraising in
support of our mainstage and education
programming. Two hundred and ten guests
helped us raise $137,000 while enjoying live
Book-It performances, both silent and live
auctions, and dancing to The Dusty 45s on
March 7, 2015 at the Showbox.
So many people who were involved with
Book-It over the years were in attendance
including former board members Kay
Alexander, Steve Bull, Mary Anne Christy,
Melissa Manning, Colette Ogle, John
Platt, Sharon Prosser, Lynne Reynolds,
Gail Sehlhorst, Jim Tune and Kathy Tune;
and former managing directors Elizabeth
Fleming, Jen Teunon, and Charlotte
Tiencken. We were thrilled to toast 25 years
of history with old friends and new, and
look forward to sharing the next 25 years of
bringing books to life with you and yours.
View the gala photo gallery online
book-it.org/silver-jubilee-gala
2.
3.
Three great actors
playing the singular
Billy Pilgrim
A barbershop
quartet
honoring
book-it contributors
Book-It would like to thank the
following for their generous support!
Literary Legends’ Circle $75,000+
Leadership circle, cont.
Nobel Prize Circle, cont.
ArtsFund
Beth McCaw & Yahn Bernier
The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
The Boeing Company
Sonya & Tom Campion
Matthew Clapp
National Endowment for the Arts
Mary Pigott
Ann Ramsay-Jenkins
Shirley & David Urdal
Microsoft Matching Gifts Program
Cheryl & Tom Oliver
Deborah Parsons
Christiane Pein & Steven Bull
Anne Repass
Shirley Roberson
Martha Sidlo
Colleen & Brad Stangeland
Deborah Swets
U.S. Bank
Elizabeth Warman
April Williamson
producers’ circle $10,000+
Nobel Prize Circle $1,000+
Sage Foundation
Christine Sanders
Martha & Donald Sands
John Schaffer
The Seattle Foundation
Gail & John Sehlhorst
Virginia Sly & Richard Wesley
Mary Snapp
Spark Charitable Foundation
Judith Jesiolowski & David Thompson
Sara Thompson & Richard Gelinas
Charlotte Tiencken & Bill West
Kathy & Jim Tune
Ruth & Jerry Verhoff
Beverly Welti & John Pehrson
Judith Whetzel
Williams Miller Family Foundation
Patricia Wilson
Margaret Winsor & Jay Hereford
Christina Wright & Luther Black
Wyman Youth Trust
Literary CHampions’ Circle $25,000+
4Culture
City of Seattle Office of Arts
& Cultural Affairs
Stuart Frank & Marty Hoiness
Gretl Galgon
Ellen & John Hill
Stellman Keehnel
Margaret Kineke & Dennis West
Lucky Seven Foundation
Nordstrom
The Shubert Foundation, Inc.
Drella & Garth Stein
Kris & Mike Villiott
Mary Ann and Robert Wiley Fund,
United Way
Partners’ circle $5,000+
ArtsWA
Monica Alquist
Arthur N. Rupe Foundation
The Boeing Gift Matching Program
Joann Byrd
Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
Lucy Helm
Holly & Bill Marklyn
Michell & Larry Pihl
Lynne & Nick Reynolds
Steve Schwartzman & Daniel Karches
Leadership circle $2,500+
Karen Brandvick-Baker & Ross Baker
Catherine Clark & Marc Jacques
Carolyn & George Cox
D.A. Davidson & Co.
Emily Davis
Caroline Feiss & Gordy Davidson
Ellen & Stephen Lutz
Melissa & Don Manning
Ellen Maxson
Mary Metastasio
Anonymous (4)
All One Family Fund
Emily Anthony & David Maymudes
Salli & Stephen Bauer
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Elizabeth Braun
Patricia Britton
Sally Brunette
Karen Bystrom
Karen & D. Thompson Challinor
Mary Anne Christy & Mark Klebanoff
Amy & Matthew Cockburn
Carol & Bill Collins
Nora & Allan Davis
Sara Elward
The Ex Anima Fund
Polly Feigl
Elizabeth & Paul Fleming
Merck Foundation
Liz Harris
Signy & James Hayden
Mary Frances & Harold Hill
Humanities Washington
Pamela Johnson
Jane Jones & Kevin McKeon
Thomas Jones
Jamie & Jeremy Joseph
Debbie Killinger
Lea Knight
Joyce Latino & John O’Connell
Peter Maunsell
Anne McDuffie & Tim Wood
Lisa Merrill
Colette Ogle
Joni Ostergaard & Will Patton
Myra Platt & Dave Ellis
Puget Sound Business Journal
Reeya Raman
Paula & Stephen Reynolds
Stephen Robinson
Pulitzer Prize Circle $500+
Connie Anderson
Jennifer & Russ Banham
Donna & Anthony Barnett
Lenore & Dick Bensinger
Kathleen Best
Judy Brandon & H. Randall Webb
Nancy Cleveland
Dorothy & Sean Corry
Pamela Cowan & Steve Miller
Deborah Cowley & Mark Dexter
Rebecca Dietz & Michael Drumheller
Julie Edsforth & Jabez Blumenthal
Kim & Rob Entrop
Jane & Stanley Fields
Jean Gorecki
Mark Hamburg
Laura & Erik Hanson
Phyllis Hatfield
Mary Horvitz
Heather Howard
Joleen Hughes
Hughes Media Law Group
Melissa Joyce
Clare Kapitan & Keith Schreiber
Jacqueline Kiser
Emily Krebill
Marsha Kremen & Jilly Eddy
Eleni Ledesma & Eric Rose
Lee & Darcy MacLaren
Richard Monroe
Whitney & Jerry Neufeld-Kaiser
encore artsseattle.com A-13
honoring
book-it contributors
Book-It would like to thank the
following for their generous support!
Pulitzer Prize Circle $500, cont.
National Book Award Circle, cont.
Pen/Faulkner Award Circle, cont.
Andrea Niculescu
Glenna Olson & Conrad Wouters
Cecilia Paul & Harry Reinert
Sandra Perala & John Platt
Judy Pigott
Scott Pinckney
Eleanor Moseley Pollnow & Charles Pollnow
Roberta Reaber & Leo Butzel
Bradley Renner
Janey L. Repensek
Rebecca Roe & T. A. Greenleaf
Polly Schlitz
Pamela & Nate Searle
Charyl & Earl Sedlik
Jo & Michael Shapiro
Marcia & Peter Sill
Margaret Silver
B. Richal Smith
Cassandra Tate & Glenn Drosendahl
Susan Tate
Cassandra & Eric Taylor
Janet Vail
Eddie & Marty Westerman
Jean & David White
Paula & Bill Whitham
Bo Willsey
Merrily Wyman
Mary Zyskowski
Jonah, Robert, & Tami Kowal •
Richard LeBlanc • Larry Lewin • Lori
Eickelberg & Arni Litt • Cynthia Livak &
Peter Davenport • Todd London • Craig
Lorch • Stephen Lovell • Alexander Lindsey
& Lynn Manley • Molly & Mike Martinez
• Elaine Mathies • Ann McCurdy & Frank
Lawler • Marion McGowan • Jennifer
Mcintyre • Susan Mecklenburg • Christine
Mosere • Paige Packman • Judd Parkin •
Corliss Perdaems • Sherry Perrault • Gloria
Pfeif • Olivia Pi-Sunyer • Sharon Prosser •
Barbara & Daniel Radin • Doris & Charles
Ray • Michelle Rebert • Paula Riggert • Beth
Rutherford • Debby & Dave Rutherford
• Sarah Ryan & Douglas Larson • Lena
Saba • Kim & Kenneth Schiewetz • Cindi
Schoettler • Frank Schumann • Schwab
Charitable Fund • Diane Stark • Jenness &
John Starks • Christine Stepherson • Maria
Strickland • Paul Stucki • LiAnn Sundquist
• Jill Sylwester • Jennifer Lee Taylor • Alan
Tesler • Jennifer Teunon & Adam Smith •
Cappy Thompson • Joe Casalini & Molly
Thompson • Ruth Valine & Ed McNerney
• Matthew Villiott • Pat Walker • Sandra
Waugh • Suzanne Weaver • Kristi & Tom
Weir • Gregory Wetzel • Hope & Ken
Wiljanen • Shari Zehm & Kerry Thompson
Jennifer Fontaine • Denise & James Fortier •
Susan Fuchs • Lori Fujimoto & Jim Simon •
Kai Fujita • R. Brooks Gekler • Susan George
• Mitzi Gligorea • Ann Glusker • Suzanne
Goren • Patricia Graves & David Nash •
Anke Gray • Laurie Greig • Jim Hamerlinck
• Faith Hanna • Janet & Corina Hardin
• Pamela & W.B. Harer • Jill Hashimoto •
Elizabeth Hatch • Elizabeth Heath • Rebecca
Herzfeld & Gordon Crawford • Rita Hibbard
& Roger Neale • Diana Hice • Patricia Highet
• Stephanie Hilbert • Sandy Hill • Mary
Hinderliter • Julie Howe & Dennis Shaw •
Cynthia Huffman • Melissa Huther • IBM
Matching Grants Program • Robert Jones
• Susan Jones & Christopher Monck • Kris
Jorgensen • Joan Kalhorn • David Kasik •
Malia & Chang Kawaguchi • Shannon Kelly
• Harris & Jean Klein • Shannon Knipp •
Alan Kristal • Fay Krokower • Gerald Kroon •
Sandy Kubishta • Erika Larson • Molly Lawless
• Nancy Lawton & Steve Fury • Judd Lees •
Meredith Lehr & William Severson • Sylvia
Levy • Sandy Lew-Hailer • Nancy Lomneth
& Mark Boyd • Sheila Lukehart • Carol Lumb
• Scott Maddock • Elizabeth Mathewson •
Daniel Mayer • Susan McCloskey • Kathy
McCluskey • Deirdre & Jay McCrary •
Patricia H. McCreary • Jim McDermott •
Morna McEachern • John & Marcie McHale
• Nancy McSharry & Andy Jensen • Jeanne
Metzger • Bonnie Miller • Gary Miller •
Shyla Miller • Donna Miller-Parker • Marion
& George Mohler • Becky Monk • Cornelia,
Terry, & Tallis Moore • Milly Mullarky • Judy
Niver • Pam & Scott Nolte • Laura O’Hara
• Kevin O’Morrison • Timothy O’Sullivan •
Sam Pailca • Susan Palmer • Donna Peha •
Steve Pellegrin • Carol & Ed Perrin • Barbara
Peterson • Robert Pillitteri • Anne Pipkin •
Felicia Porter • Susan Porterfield • Joan &
William Potter • Gordon Prouty • Andrea
Ptak • Linda Quirk • Roberta & Brian
Reed • Carolyn Rees • Nancy Reichley •
Marcia Repaci • Jeannette Reynolds • Karen
& Eric Richter • Rebecca Ripley • Roberta
Roberts • Amy Robertson • Beth Rollinger •
Robert Romeo • Catherine Roosevelt
• Fernne & Roger Rosenblatt • Debra
Rourke • Donna Sand • Betty Sanders •
Donna, Carol, & Robert Saunders • Lisa
Schafer • Andy Schneider • Greg Scully
• Lavonne & Josh Searle • Marilyn Sherron
• Mark Siano • Charly Silva • Catharine Simon
Marilyn Sloan • George Smith • Warren Smith
National Book Award Circle $250+
Anonymous (4) • Mito Alfieri & Norman
Cheuk • Sarah & Robert Alsdorf • Christina
Amante • Dan Atkinson • Inez Noble Black
• Bob Blazek • Betty Bostrom • Mary Anne
Braund & Steve Pellegrin • Margaret Bullitt
• Kristina Huus Campbell • Linda & Peter
Capell • Sylvia & Craig Chambers • Mala
Chandra • Susan Chiavelli • 4 Rudders,
LLC • Susan Cotterell • Melinda Deane &
Dan Wheetman • Rachel DeBusk • Dottie
Delaney • Carol & Kelly Dole • David Dong
• Lauren Dudley • Gayle & James Duncan •
Laura Einstein • Mary Fallon • Jane Faulkner
• Liz Fitzhugh & Jim Feldman • Jamie &
Steve Froebe • Norman Garner • Claire
Gebben • Elizabeth Gilchrist • Siobhan
Ginnane • Vicki & Gerrie Goddard • Terry
Graham • Laurie Griffith • Kat Hazzard •
Bruce & Nancy Herbert • Lloyd Herman
& Richard Wilson • Barbara Hieronymus
• Chris Higashi • Carolyn Holtzen •
Elizabeth Hubbard • Joyce & John Jackson
• Edwin Jones • Pam Kendrick • Janine
King • Mary Klubben • Karen Koon •
A-14 BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE
Pen/Faulkner Award Circle $100+
Anonymous (8) • Carole Aaron • Gary
Ackerman & Robin Dearling • Douglas
Adams • Lynne & Shawn Aebi • Heather
Allison • Kimberly Allison • Gail Anderson
• Katherine Anderson & Robert Di Pietrae
• Marjorie Anderson • Virginia Anderson •
Cinnimin Avena • Kendall & Sonia Baker
• Jo Ann Bardeen • Mary & Doug Bayley •
Deb Bigelow • Lindsay & Tony Blackner •
Gina Breukelman • Rebecca Brewer • Vibeke
Brinck • Don Brown • Jonathan Buchter •
Rachel & David Bukey • Barbara Buxbaum
• Michela Carpino • Casey Family Programs
• Joyce Chase • David & Marilyn Chelimer •
Carl Chew • Jack Clay • Catherine Clemens
• Harriett Cody & Harvey Sadis • Susan
Connors & Eric Helland • Kay & Garry Crane
• Amy Curtis • Kate Curtis • Chas DeBolt •
Sandra & Paul Dehmer • Richard Detrano
• Susan Dyer • Jeremy Eknoian Judith
Endejan • Marilyn Endriss • Joyce Erickson •
Judith Erickson • Constance Euerle •
Laura
Fischetti
•
Sarah
Fleming
Pen/Faulkner Award Circle, cont.
O. Henry Award Circle, cont.
in-kind donors, Cont.
Diane Snell • Janice & Pat Strand •
Streamline Consulting, LLC • Amy Sweigert
• Gail Tanaka • Anne Terry • Catherine
Thayer • Richard Thorvilson • Jennifer Tice
• Grace Urdal • John Urdal • Eugene Usui
• Marcia Utla • Elizabeth Valentine • Karen
Van Genderen • Roxann Van Wyk • Pieter
Vandermeulen • Jorie Wackerman • Colin
Wagoner • Todd Warren • Jerry Watt • Jennifer
Weis • Julie Weisbach • Laurie Wenzel • Dan
Whalen • Sara White • Chelene Whiteaker
• Margaret Whittemore • Jane Wiegenstein
• Melinda Williams • John Wilson • Lauren
Wilson • Mary Wilson & Barry Boone •
Elana Winsberg • Michael Winters • Jodie
Wohl & Richard Hert • Kim R. York •
Sherri & Daniel Youmans • Juliet Ziegler
Amy Olsson • Janice O’Mahony • Julia
Paulsen • Annie Pearson & Jacyn Stewart •
Susan Petitpas • Carolita Phillips • Wilson
Platt • Kim Port • Marion Reed • Mildred
Renfrow • Ginger Rich • Carla Rickerson
• Virginia & Thomas Riedinger • Jo Ann
Roberts • Michele Ruess • David Rush •
Jennifer Russell • Joshua Ryder • Patricia
Rytkonen & William Karn • Rebecca
Sadinsky • Deanna & Bo Saxbe • Julie
Schoenfeld • Heidi Schor • B. Charlotte
Schreiber • Sally Sheck • Audrey & John
Sheffield • Linda Snider • Barbara Spear •
Dale Stammen • Dana Standish & Noah
Seixas • Julie Stohlman • Sheila Striegl •
Constance Swank • Deborah Torgerson •
Jonna Ward • Doug Weese • Dorothy Wendler
• Cristina Wenzl • Christopher Wiggins •
Kim Winward • Kathy Young • Sam Zeiler
Steve Schwartzman • Pacific Science Center
• Seattle Art Museum • Seattle Arts &
Lectures • Seattle Children’s Museum • Seattle
Children’s Theatre • Seattle International Film
Festival • Seattle Repertory Theatre • Seattle
Shakespeare Company • Seattle Theatre Group
• Seattle7Writers • Jenny Shortridge • Preston
Singletary • The Sitting Room • Richard
Sloniker • Something Silver • Sound Brewery •
St. Clouds Food & Spirits • Storiarts • Studio
A Photography • Deborah Swets • Taproot
Theatre • Taylor Shellfish Farms • Terry Tazioli/
TVW • Ten Mercer • Sara Thompson &
Richard Gelinas • Tom Douglas Restaurants •
Toulouse Petit Kitchen and Lounge • Town Hall
• The Triple Door • Turgeon Raine • University
Book Store • Unstill Life • UW World Series •
Vashon Allied Arts • Village Theatre • Kristine
Villiott • Virginia Mason Medical Center •
Vittles • Volterra • West of Lenin • Woodhouse
Wine Estates • Woodland Park Zoo
O. Henry Award Circle $50+
Anonymous (4) • Marilee Amendola •
Amgen Foundation • Anne & Roger Baker
• Anne Banks • Rebecca Barnett & Roger
Tucker • Susan Bean • Brook Becker • Beth
& Benjamin Berman • Colleen Bernier •
Michael Betts & Klint Keys • Ellen Bezona &
Shawn Baz • John Bigelow • John Bortnem •
Crai Bower • Bridge Partners, LLC • Carolyn
Burger • Zimmie Caner • Diana & Chuck
Carey • Tracy Chellis • Deborah Christensen
• Greta Climer • Frank Cohee • Samantha
Cooper • Susan Corzatte • Maureen Crawford
• Margaret Curtin • Claudette Davison •
Terence DeHart • Nancy Dirksen • Ellen
Downey • Andi Duncan • Betty Eberharter
• Karen Elledge • Nancy Ellingham • Brent
Enarson • Judi Finney • Mary Ellen Flanagan
• Susan Ford • Nina Gerbic • Carla Granat
& Stephen Smith • Jake Greenberg • Scott
Guettinger • Shuko Hashimoto • Kate
Hemer • Karyn Henry • Kate Hokanson
• Rebecca Hsia • Zhen Huang • Beatrice
Hull • Heather Hutchinson • Alison Inkley
• Wendy Jackson • Michael Johnson •
Gil Joynt • Trina Kauf-Jones • Jim Kelly
• Vicki & James King • Shirley Knight •
Mary Catherine Kolb • David Krakora
• Barb & Art Lachman • Jo Anne Laz •
Teri J. Lazzara • Shawn LeValley • Bonnie
Lewman • Madalene Lickey • Erika Lim •
Robert Lowe • Cecilia Matta • Eile McClellan
• Ellen Mills • Kathleen Moore • Mark
Morgan • Susan Mozer • Donna Murphy
• Betty Ngan & Tom Mailhot • Martha Noerr
& Jeff Keane • Nancy & Stephen Olsen
in-kind donors
5th Avenue Theatre • ACT Theatre • Alaska
Distributors • Rachel Alquist • The Art Bank
• Banya 5 Urban Spa • Beneath the Streets
• Bill & Holly Marklyn • Blue Highway
Games • Bluewater Taco Grill • Bookwalter
Winery • Karen Brandvick-Baker & Ross
Baker • Brimmer & Heeltap • Lorie Britton •
Patricia Britton • Sally Brunette • Joann Byrd
• Sam Crannell/Lloyd Martin • Irish Reels
Film Festival • DeLille Cellars • Dimitriou’s
Jazz Alley • Eltana • EMP Museum • Ethan
Stowell Restaurants • Firesteed Cellars
• Flying House Productions • Jocelyne
Fowler • Fox’s Gem Shop • Stuart Frank •
Fundamental Nutrition • Gage Academy of
Art • El Gaucho • The Heathman Hotel,
Kirkland • Hilliard’s Beer • Tom Hoffmann
• Homewood Suites, Seattle Downtown
• Hotel 1000 • Icicle Creek Center for the
Arts • Margaret Kineke • Kimberly King •
Jo Anne Laz • Eleni Ledesma & Eric Rose
• The Living Desert Xoo and Gardens •
Steve Loeb • LT Nails • Daniel Mayer •
Christine & Sandy McDade • Mediterranean
Inn • MOHAI • Cheryl & Tom Oliver •
On The Boards • OOLA Distillery • Pacific
Northwest Ballet • Palisade • Michael Patten
• Myra Platt • Poquito’s • Puget Sound
Business Journal • Queen Anne Book
Company • Queen Anne Olive Oil • David
Quicksall • Ray’s Boathouse • Anne Repass
• Lynne Reynolds • Rhein Haus • Shirley
Roberson • Stephen Robinson • Perennial Tea
Room • The Royal Room • Schilling Cider •
Gifts in Honor & memory
The Book-It Babes
in memory of Ivan Doig
John Hirschel in honor of
Tom Oliver’s birthday
Polly Schlitz, Blake Wilson,
and Patricia Wilson in honor of
Myra Platt’s birthday
Deborah Swets in memory of
Jack Slater
Caren L. Toney in memory of
Willis Strange
This list reflects gifts received
February 1, 2014 – March 20, 2015.
Book-It makes every attempt to be accurate
with our acknowledgements. Please email
Development Associate Leslie Witkamp at
[email protected] with any changes.
encore artsseattle.com A-15
OUR MISSION IS TO TRANSFORM GREAT LITERATURE INTO GREAT THEATRE THROUGH SIMPLE AND SENSITIVE PRODUCTION AND TO INSPIRE OUR AUDIENCES TO READ.
book-it staff
Jane Jones
Myra Platt
Founder & Founding
Co-Artistic Director
Daniel Y. Mayer
Founding Co-Artistic Director
artistic
marketing &
communications
Josh Aaseng
Managing Director
administrative
Board of
Directors
Patricia Britton
Bill Whitham
Bookkeeper
Stuart Frank, President
Anthea Carns
Shannon Loys
production
Thomas Oliver, Vice-President
Lindsay Carpenter
Dana Masters
Literary Manager
Director of Marketing
& Communications
Gavin Reub
Casting Associate
Publications & Media Manager
Literary & Artistic Intern
Interim Technical Director
Patron Services
education
Anders Bolang
Dana Masters
Scene Shop Manager
House Manager
Annie DiMartino
Director of Education
Jocelyne Fowler
Tom Dewey
Costume Shop Manager
Box Office Manager
Katie McKellar
Tour Manager
Elizabeth Stasio
Haley Alaji
Stage Management Intern
Box Office Associate
Amelia Reynolds
Education Intern
Ali Rose Schultz
Nikita Ares
Costume Shop Intern
Box Office Associate
Ana Duenas
development
services
Box Office Associate
Sally Brunette
Adam Smith Photography
Alan Alabastro Photography
Chris Bennion Photography
John Ulman Photography
The Makeup Session
Robert Thornburgh, Custodian
Tom Wahl, IT Support
Anna Heinen
Director of Development
Box Office Associate
Leslie Witkamp
Amelia Reynolds
Development Associate
Box Office Associate
Anna Strickland
Interim Production Manager
Dan Schuy
Publications Intern
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Development Intern
Educator
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Director of Events & Special Projects,
Puget Sound Business Journal
Ross Baker
Public Policy Director,
Virginia Mason Medical Center
Joann Byrd
Journalist & Editor, Retired
Jane Jones
Founder & Founding Co-Artistic Director,
Book-It
Margaret Kineke
Senior V.P., D.A. Davidson & Co.
contact us
Mary Metastasio
Senior Portfolio Manager, Safeco, Retired
BOOK-IT REPERTORY THEATRE
Myra Platt
2010 Mayor’s Arts Award-winner, recipient of the 2012 Governor’s Arts Award and the 2014 Inaugural Sherry
Prowda Literary Champion Award, Book-It Repertory Theatre began 27 years ago as an artists’ collective,
adapting short stories for performance and touring them throughout the Northwest. The company incorporated
as a non-profit in 1990. Today, with over 100 world-premiere adaptations of literature to its credit—many of
which have garnered rave reviews and gone on to subsequent productions all over the country—Book-It is widely
respected for the consistent artistic excellence of its work.
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206.216.0833 | [email protected]
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206.216.0877 | [email protected]
305 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA 98109
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Founding Co-Artistic Director, Book-It
David Quicksall
Independent Theatre Artist & Teacher
Anne Repass
Community Leader
Stephen Robinson
158 Thomas Street, Seattle, WA 98109
Writer
Steven Schwartzman
Attorney, U.S. Postal Service,
Western Area Law Department
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Washington State Hospital Association
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Q&A
BEHIND
THE SCENES
ARTIST
SPOTLIGHT
NEWS
PREVIEWS
ENCORE ARTS NEWS
A BEAUTIFUL
EXPLOSION
The artists of
Electric Coffin
are helping
define Seattle’s
landscape—
one giant squid
at a time.
By JONATHAN ZWICKEL
T
ROV E, THE SIX-MONTH-OLD PA NASIA N RESTAUR A NT ON CAPITOL
HILL , throbs like a living thing. An
energ i z e d T hu rsd ay-n ight crowd
radiates a warm din under a ceiling
painted the vivid red of an internal organ.
Exposed ducts and HVAC tubes stretch
through the space like arteries carrying
sweet meat smoke from tabletop hibachis.
Iris-colored wallpaper speckled with Space
Needles and Godzillas lines the restroom
hall. Hanging on the wall of the cocktail bar
is a giant, gilt-framed painting that depicts
Mt. Rainier spewing neon-orange lava into a
bruise-purple sky. Diners and drinkers linger
in the bustle.
Spray paint ready for use at Electric
Coffin’s Ballard workshop, which is set
in a row of warehouses that are home
to metal fabricators, furniture makers,
machinists and woodworkers.
PHOTO BY STEVE KORN
from city arts magazine
2014–2015 SEASON
JUNE 26 & 27
On their way out, a couple stops to
order frozen custards, served from a fullsized ice cream truck parked by the front
door. They fail to notice the peephole
inside the gas cap, set about kneehigh. A look inside reveals a miniature
diorama: Godzilla attacking the Space
Needle.
This is not a place you visit and forget.
More than most restaurants, Trove has
vibe. As in vibration. Trove feels like
action.
Across town, Westward sits on the
shore of Lake Union like a steamship
ready to push off from its gravel mooring
and cruise into the Seattle skyline. Aside
from its dramatic waterfront setting,
the most striking visual aspect of the
year-and-a-half-old seafood restaurant
is a 25-foot-long model ship, its interior
visible in cross-section, revealing
breadbox-sized chambers that each
contain a tiny, 3-D diorama—an angry
yeti, a professional wrestling match,
a great white shark swimming with a
unicorn. Plus life-size bottles of booze,
full of actual booze. Because this highfantasy art installation is Westward’s
back bar.
The food at Westward is superb. But
it wasn’t the menu that garnered the
place a 2014 James Beard Nomination
for Outstanding Restaurant Design. It
was the space, and specifically the ship
that launched a thousand Instagrams.
It, like the whole interior of Trove, was
conceived, constructed and installed
by the three-man collective known as
Electric Coffin.
Patrick “Duffy” De Armas, Justin
Kane Elder and Stefan Hofmann have
worked together as Electric Coffin for
four years. In that time they’ve been
let loose on a slew of interior spaces
across the Northwest with orders to tilt
each one toward the unexpected. Trove
is their most extensive project so far;
Westward the most celebrated. They also
worked on Joule, the Fremont restaurant
WITH THE SEATTLE SYMPHONY
Scott Dunn, conductor / Seattle Symphony
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a division of ABC Inc.© All rights reserved.
2 0 6 . 2 1 5 . 4 7 4 7 | S E AT T L E SY M P H O N Y. O R G
encore art sseattle.com 11
ENCORE ARTS NEWS
Detail of EC’s first collaboration, a
diorama inset into a custom-built
coffee table. PHOTO COURTESY OF
ELECTRIC COFFIN
AF 012915 classes 1_12.pdf
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Seattle, WA
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BV 071811 repair 1_12.pdf
owned by the same restaurateurs as Trove;
the Hollywood Tavern in Woodinville,
owned by the same restaurant group as
Westward; EVO, the homegrown snowsports store in Wallingford that recently
opened a new, Electric Coffin-designed
store in Portland; and Via6, the highprofile high-rise apartment towers in
Belltown.
Their style explodes in three
dimensions with Skittles-bright colors
and meticulous, ridiculous details.
It lands somewhere between the
Midcentury hot-rod cartoonery of Ed “Big
Daddy” Roth, the salacious-but-refined
lowbrow paintings of Robert Williams,
the childlike handcrafted charm of
Wes Anderson and the hypermodern
maximalism of Takashi Murakami. Their
work pulls from the restless mania of
three fanatic skaters and snowboarders
who’ve harbored their own iconoclastic,
artistic inclinations since childhood. The
trio matches its collective imagination
with individual skills in fabrication—
carpentry, mechanics, metalwork,
screenprinting, airbrushing—a rare
combination that puts Electric Coffin in
the design/build category that’s highly
sought after by architecture firms and
marketing departments alike.
Electric Coffin’s mondo-destructo/
punk-funk/industrial-artistic aesthetic is
unprecedented in Seattle. Over the past 10
years, restaurants and retail spaces have
sprouted an urban forest of reclaimed
barnwood, corralled a menagerie of
taxidermy and wrought enough blackened
iron to gird a medieval prison. Owing to
a devout sense of history and perhaps
a sense of that history vanishing, the
hunting lodge, the faux dive and the
oyster shell are the traditional touchstones
of Northwest design. These have been
done well—over and over—and they’ll
forever remain part of the regional
visual vocabulary. But as the Northwest
continues its inexorable march into
the 21st century, those designs will be
augmented by new visual cues. Electric
Coffin speaks a homegrown slang that
deftly describes the post-Millennial world.
“Their creativity is born out of an
irreverence to some of the stuff that was
done before,” says Jim Graham of Graham
Baba Architects, who worked with Electric
Coffin on Via6 and Westward. “I appreciate
that about those guys. Architects take
themselves far too seriously. That’s not to
say that we should drape the entire world in
Electric Coffin—that wouldn’t work either,
because then how do you judge it? But that’s
why it’s so exciting. We’re starved for their
work right now.”
T
HERE ARE TOO MANY CHAIRS IN
Electric Coffin’s Ballard HQ. Far more
chairs than people to sit in them, even
when the three guys and their intern
are all present. Plastic shell chairs,
metal wire chairs, vintage office chairs—
more than a dozen around the office, which
is situated up a steep flight of stairs from a
giant construction warehouse filled with
paint and power tools.
“We have a serious chair problem,” De
Armas says. “We love chairs. It gets to a
point where they’re not useful.”
To put it mildly, the decor is eclectic.
One wall is opaque corrugated plastic,
giving off a mellow glow in the afternoon
sunlight. Eighties action figures stand
sentry on desktops next to Power Macs, beer
cans and whiskey bottles. A blackboard
is covered with doodles and agenda
items. The disembodied hood of a Camaro
leans against a wall, screenprinted and
acid-distressed, a piece of De Armas’ art
exhibition showing at AXIS Gallery this
summer. Beside it is a big metal sign for
“Squid Inc.” that looks like it was found at
the bottom of a scrap heap after languishing
for decades.
Turns out Electric Coffin built the sign in
2013, mixing salvaged metal letters, pages
from ’70s porn mags, airbrushed paint and
custom neon. Squid Inc., De Armas tells
me, is a fictional company they dreamed
up as an art project and then designed 150
years of backstory for, including print ads,
packaging artifacts and a subtitled, Frenchlanguage biographical documentary (“Their
from city arts magazine
Electric
Coffin’s mondodestructo/punkfunk/industrialartistic
aesthetic is
unprecedented
in Seattle.
miracle-cure squid ink battled ailments from
halitosis to boot rot and could be found across
the nation—and the world!”). They mounted
a show at Bherd Gallery in Greenwood,
displaying phony vintage ephemera with
painter Kellie Talbot’s photorealistic oil
images of Squid Inc. signage.
The project was meant as “a discussion
about the reverence for classic Americana
analog,” as De Armas diplomatically puts
it. Like all of Electric Coffin’s work, it was
a playful discussion. It involved some
nose-thumbing—a fake brand imbued with
fake character via the group’s skills and an
intentionally obtuse backstory. It was the
gallery version of their commercial work,
both of which follow the same dictate: If you
can’t source the object you envision from
salvage, make it from scratch. Make it look
old, worn, real. And make it fun.
The design aesthetic of the moment, as
seen on Pinterest and in the pages of Dwell
and Kinfolk, is rather serious. Conservative.
Twee. It fetishizes the old, whether vintage
furniture, reclaimed wood or a dying dive
bar. If it’s old, it’s beautiful, even precious.
The Electric Coffin guys appreciate old stuff—
the vintage chairs, the Camaro hood, the G.I.
Joes—but they appreciate it as a medium, not
as an end to itself. They pay it the honor of
destroying it so they can give it new life.
“Recontextualization of cultural icons,”
Hofmann says. “At the EVO storefront we
built totems, animals stacked on top of
animals. You start creating narrative out
of these kinds of things, almost a pop-icon
sensibility. You put it in this candy shell but it
contains more expansive concepts of idealism
and cultural identities.”
De Armas: “Everyone’s trying to wax their
pants now instead of buying Gore-Tex. Like, ‘I
drink out of a mason jar!’ Just because you’re
buying a mason jar you’re still a consumer.
You’re idolizing the idea of consuming.”
EAP 1_3 S template.indd 1
10/8/14 1:06 PM
A N N H A M I LT O N
the common S E N S E
ON VIEW THROUGH APRIL 26
HENRY ART GALLERY
H E N R YA R T.O R G
Ann Hamilton. Digital scan of
specimens from the Division
of Tetrapods at the Museum of
Biological Diversity at The Ohio
State University. 2013. Courtesy
of the artist.
encore art sseattle.com 13
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ENCORE ARTS NEWS
Elder: “We’re electrifying dead things,
dead images and concepts that have been
lost that we dig up, these archeological
finds.”
The name Electric Coffin applies to the
group’s current obsession with monster
reanimation, but De Armas came up with it
years ago during his time in the University
of Washington sculpture program. It just
sounded cool, like the name of one of the hotrod shops in Phoenix he grew up working in.
De Armas moved to Seattle at 18 with no real
game plan other than to get out of Arizona,
make art and skate and snowboard as much
as possible—which is how he met Hofmann
and Elder.
Hofmann came from small-town Arizona
and Reno to study at the UW sculpture
program 10 years before De Armas. While in
school he won a Fulbright Fellowship that
sent him traveling through Southeast Asia
for three years, taking photos and surfing.
He spent the next 14 years traveling back
and forth from Seattle to Bali, surfing there
and snowboarding here. During that time
he designed a logo to attach to the hand-knit
beanies he imported and sold to friends.
This now-iconic snowcat logo was the start
of Spacecraft, a snow apparel business that
still thrives today. When De Armas arrived
in Seattle, he found work with Hofmann at
Spacecraft.
Elder was raised in the rural woodlands
outside Arlington, Wash., the feral child of
survivalist-hippie parents who eventually
moved the family to Seattle for a more
conventional lifestyle. He graduated with an
MFA in painting and sculpture from Cornish
College of the Arts but found more practical
work as a carpenter. After painting on his
own and skating with De Armas for years, he
gave up his day job and the three went all-in
on Electric Coffin in 2011 with no strategy
other than working on cool projects with
friends, starting with a tentacle-creature
disaster-scene coffee table installation for a
pop-up shop in the New York Nordstrom.
“We don’t live in the real world,” De
Armas says. “That’s one trait we all share.”
“None of us knows where we’re going,”
Hofmann says.
“That approach has helped us,” Elder
adds. “There is no Plan B.”
They clashed at the beginning. Three
artists, three egos. One guy would spend
hours working on a segment of a piece only
to have another guy come in and, without
so much as a blink, paint over it with a giant
roller.
“We got into a lot of fights: ‘Dude, I just
painted that and you just destroyed it!’”
De Armas says. “People were leaving and
yelling. We drank a lot of beer and talked
about it. We’ve come to terms. You just
do it and trust that we all know what
we’re doing.”
from city arts magazine
“When you’re working in a truly collaborative
way unexpected things may come about,”
Hofmann says. “Looking back you can see
the continuity—larger narratives that relate to
consumerism and disaster and sarcasm.”
Elder, De Armas and Hofmann at work.
PHOTO BY STEVE KORN
“We were almost challenging each other,
like we were children trying to understand
the realm of truly collaborating and what
that meant,” Hofmann says. Time and
practice solved that problem. Overlap is now
an intentional part of the process, a sort of
interpersonal geologic layering of paint and
paper and metal and plastic that gives their
work physical depth and creates the illusion
of the passage of time.
Snowboarders know the butterflies-in-thebelly feeling of carving a fresh line on a virgin
run. And they know the feeling of following
a friend’s fresh tracks, helixing them with
your own, side by side, simultaneous but
individual. The crossover between action
sports and Electric Coffin’s gestural art is
uncanny. Elegant chaos, controlled just long
enough to finish the run.
“Creativity in motion,” Elder says.
“Instead of using a canvas to express your
creative vision you’re using the environment,
whether it’s a bowl in a skate park or an open
field of powder.”
“We made a conscious choice to let go,”
Hofmann says.
E
VERYTHING IS UP FOR GRABS
THESE days—the way business is run,
the way we brand and market, the way
we run restaurants,” says Matthew
Parker, lead designer of Huxley Wallace
Collective, the restaurant group that built
Westward. “We’re constantly changing
old models and flipping them around
and creating new ones. The design style
those guys carry fits perfectly with these
contradictions. And within contradictions
things get exciting.”
Electric Coffin’s latest, greatest canvas is
the city itself. As its population explodes,
Seattle is building its own future to live and
work and play in. Developers mostly hew to a
bottom-line principle, wary of expenditures
on risky design—which gives us the lowbudget, low-concept eyesore architecture
that’s turned swaths of the city into the
urban equivalent of Ikea furniture.
Since their involvement with the Via6—
one of the more visible projects in the city—
Electric Coffin has been fielding more calls
for commissions on large-scale commercial
projects. They built a winter forest inside a
yurt at the downtown REI that’s on display
through the spring; REI corporate has since
requested custom installations in each of
their flagship stores nationwide. A new W
Hotel is going up in Bellevue with space for
a three-floor-tall mural in its lobby. And
they’re negotiating a contract to design the
interior of a new high rise in South Lake
Union, a two-year project that would involve
creating multiple installations and art pieces
for the entire building.
“We have an awesome opportunity and a
legitimate responsibility to work with these
people and make things that are progressive,
thoughtful, interesting on multiple levels,
not just to look at but also functional,” De
Armas says. “Seattle is a weird little city
that should’ve been bigger years ago and
now we’re having this boom. Development’s
happening regardless. We can affect the face
of that development by infusing it with art.”
Ready yourself: Tomorrow’s Seattle will
be airbrushed raspberry red and wrapped
in giant-squid wallpaper. It will be expertly
constructed, scaled mini to macro and rich
with subtle visual humor. It will be brandnew but look ageless. It will be distinctly
American—but an America that’s been
blown up, reconfigured and reborn for a new
era.
“There’s something intrinsically beautiful
about an explosion,” Hofmann says. “Aside
from the destruction, it represents rebirth.
What comes from this? What’s the next new
thing? And it’s hopeful in the sense that
whatever it is, it might be better.” n
encore art sseattle.com 15
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