January 25th & 26th, 7:30pm, at Washington Ensemble Theatre
$5 tickets

To the Nines!

An elegant Old-Hollywood-style bash to raise our glasses to Season 9, to raise our budget for future shows, and to raise some hell with the members of the Ensemble!

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Please join us in attendance on Saturday, February 16^th at 6:00pm as we share a lovely evening of bubbly, bites, and boisterous entertainment at the gorgeous Russian Community Center on 19^th and Roy, on the east side of Capitol Hill.

Picture this…

You enter a dimly-lit hall. A seductive, sultry melody invites you from the piano at the other end of the ballroom. All at once, there’s a flash! The paparazzi have caught you. You hustle down the red carpet towards the stage, where a sexy young starlet is serenading you with a fierce falsetto. A handsome server bows slightly and hands you a flute of champagne, looks up, smiles, and says… 

“Welcome, my lovely, to the party!”

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The evening will feature a dazzling array of delicious bites and devilish drinks, as well as a fabulous lineup of entertainment headlined by your heartbreaker host for the evening, from such shows as The Habit, Modern Luv, and Café Nordo,

The crooner, the charmer, the cat’s meow….

MARK SIANO!

Followed by a series of lovely mad-cap acts by the Ensemble capturing the spirit of each of the shows we brought to life in Season 9, and so much more!!!

Live Music! Auction! Prizes, and… Surprises!

Tickets available at www.washingtonensemble.org/tickets
General Admission: $65, $75 at the door
VIP Ticket: $100 (includes valet parking, a special gift  bag, and a take home bottle of wine)

And a huge thank you to our wine sponsor:

See you there, darling!

“Olson and Lass are both resourceful performers, who under Erin Kraft’s direction don’t let up on the intensity of their encounters. And Mullin’s dialogue has real bite and sting.”

MISHA BERSON, THE SEATTLE TIMES

“An actor’s dream: You’re cast in a lead role that has you onstage for most of the show. The part requires you to exercise virtually every emotion in your repertoire at least once. Your character is intelligent and likable, but has enough flaws to keep you and the audience interested. You even get a few monologues.”

“The tall, animated Olson seems 110 percent comfortable in the skin of Heidi, an ambitious, ethical, but manipulative woman who uses her charms to advance her career as a TV-show host.”

“… Mullin packs heaps of detail into the conversations and monologues—betrayal, men, sibling rivalry, and a genetic curse that only one sister has inherited.”

MARGARET FRIEDMAN, THE SEATTLE WEEKLY

“Have I seen a better acted show this year than Ballard House Duet? I don’t think so. It is ferociously bold and unvarnished and about real people, giving the audience very little distance to shelter in.”

“This is to good-enough Seattle theatre as HBO or Showtime productions are to network TV.”

“You just want to watch Olson and Lass keep sparking with this truth, the incompatibility of this accidental, familial love with the adults they are, and how they keep returning to try it again — resentful and singing their sisters’ songs.”

MICHAEL VAN BAKER, THE SUNBREAK

“In terms of the acting, both women are excellent in their roles; they are honest, natural, and engaging in their interpretation. They do a great job of playing the characters at the various stages in their lives and are never too trite, exaggerated, or clichéd.”

“As for the script itself, it has some very raw and realistic dialogue, with a lot of psychological weightiness, and I would say that this is its greatest strength. The playwright captures, quite remarkably, the strain, tension, love, and complications of dealing with family.”

SCOTT TAYLOR, DRAMA IN THE HOOD

“The Custom Made Play Project proceeds from the radical notion that playwrights and actors should collaborate on new work. That notion shouldn’t be radical, of course. Playwrights wrote with actors in the mix for centuries, before the idea of a “director” was even invented.”

BRENDAN KILEY, THE STRANGER (preview article)

James Schreck: I’m here with Ella Dorband, the newest member of Washington Ensemble Theatre. How are you doing, Ella?

Ella Dorband: I’m doing well, thank you for asking.

JS: When did you start working for WET?

ED: I have kind of a funny background with WET, in that I’ve curated the company’s gallery for a while, last season, and it kind of came out of nowhere- Ali suggested that. I started working with the company that way, and I also was the playwright for The Callers last season.

JS: How long have you been an ensemble member?

ED: When did I start? I joined a couple of months ago.

JS: And what is your role in the ensemble?

ED: So, I am a curator, which is the job that I am continuing with, and I am the Front of House Director, and I’m hoping to work more as a playwright- I’m working a new script right now.

JS: Shifting gears back to the gallery- what is WET’s gallery’s role in the larger Seattle arts community?

ED: It’s really exciting; I see it as a way to bridge the visual arts and the performing arts in Seattle. There’s a few ways of going about that- they aren’t nearly as involved with each other as they should be. I see it as a way to make new connections and bring up various topics that are being explored in both arenas, and explore the similarities and dissimilarities in how they deal with a broad range of topics.

JS: How do you think that visual arts and theatre can intersect more effectively to the enrichment of both?

ED: I think that over the last, well, quite a few years, that we have been seeing that movement in general on both sides. I think that acknowledging both- acknowledging the other when you’re making either really will enrich both experiences. We should be thinking about different ways of engaging our audiences. Both disciplines can gain so much from the other that it makes sense to be thinking about these questions.

JS: What do you have planned for WET’s gallery?

ED: I’m really excited- I just got thrown the chance to curate our co-production, Ballard House Duet, because what we were originally going to do fell through. So I’m going to my boyfriend, actually, which is kind of incestuous, but I’ve been wanting to show his work for a long time. So, I’m going to dig something out of his basement and do a really practical installation of just one piece. For Smudge, our next show, I’m looking at doing a more three-dimensional installation. We usually have only done two-dimensional pieces hanging from the wall. I’m looking forward to bringing in more types of art.

JS: Like you said, you co-wrote The Callers with Ali el-Gasseir. What’s up next for you as a playwright?

ED: I just finished up the most recent draft of a play which has been referred to as The Shark Play, and is now being called Darkest Sea Deepest Night. We’ll see if that fits, but I really like it.

JS: Sort of a maritime theme.

ED: Well, yeah. It’s about a guy who’s poaching sharks, and what becomes of him.

JS: And in general, what are you most excited about, with your role in the ensemble?

ED: I’m just really excited to get more involved, and bring about a greater connection to the arts community in Seattle. And to dig in behind the scenes, too, and bring my other skills to the ensemble.

You can check out reviews here and here.

The show runs until November 18 at Theatre Off Jackson. Shows begin at 7:30pm on Thursdays and Sundays and cost $60 (or $50 without the flight of cocktails). Shows begin at 8:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays and cost $70 (or $60 without the flight of cocktails). Buy your tickets now and don’t miss this one-of-a-kind theatrical event!

James Schreck: Who are the actors? Are there ‘leads’, or would you describe it as an ensemble piece?

AJ Epstein: It’s a true ensemble, and I’m REALLY F’ING LUCKY to have such a great/smart/playful cast. Matthew Aguayo, Susanna Burney, Christopher MacDonald, Sara Peterson, Heather Persinger, Carter Rodriquez. What’s really neat is that I’m both able to work with folks for the first time in years, and also a couple are right out of Cornish (actually, Cornish has really been sending out some incredible talent the last few years, we have at least 5 recent grads who have worked on the show)

JS: Who is the director? Designers?

AE: I’m directing. I’m working with Rick Lorig as scenic designer, who is a semi-regular collaborator of mine, Dominic CodyKramers, who I’ve worked with several times is doing sound. Dave Vaught on lights who I’ve not worked with in about 16 years, but have always been a fan of, Sarah Mosher, who is a new collaborator, but who is WAYYYY crafty and an incredible designer. The Poster was designed by the woodcut artist Charles Spitzak, who is also a recent Cornish grad.

JS: What company is producing it? Any tidbits you can give me about their history?

AE: The show is being produced by The Ethereal Mutt – Limited/AJ Epstein Presents. We’ve been doing shows locally and nationally for about 15 years. Some notables are: John Kaufmann & Dan Dennis’ Starball, Saving Tania’s Privates, Kevin Joyce’s A Pale & Lovely Place, Mike Daisey’s How Theatre Failed America (off broadway), Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree (off broadway), The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Pali Chant Suite, and a few films to boot.

JS: Are there any particularly notable or unique aspects of the production design?

AE: We’re arranging the space in an ‘alley’ configuration – that’s different from the standard seating layout that we use. I created the space to be a true black box, in that you could arrange it in any number of ways with just a few hours of work. In our first year, we’ve already had a few shows take advantage of that flexibility, but this is the first time that I’ve spun the room around a bit. I’m very excited to have the chance to do so. (Keep in mind that this is the first time I’ve directed in the space, so I’ve had a couple years of pent up ideas and excitement on how I would use the space for a show.)

JS: What’s the #1 reason people should see the play?

AE: It’s really a fun and touching piece. With an incredible cast.

We Love Women: Washington Ensemble Theatre Season 9

With a killer ensemble cast and brilliant designers, Demon Dreams is a theatrical event not to be missed. With a preview on the 18th, a special Halloween show, and a run through the 10th of November, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to catch this fantastic new work by one of the hottest playwrights on the scene today. And, if you come to the opening night party, you might just get your photograph taken by yours truly- so come out in your best duds and celebrate life, art, good, evil, and the magic of theatre!