Post navigation

Prev: (07/18/15) | Next: (07/19/15)

‘Existential transgender wild western’ Sidewinders one of many ‘lasts’ before Hugo House redevelopment

There will be many last bows for Hugo House as we know it before a planned, literary nonprofit-friendly redevelopment of the property.

Sidewinders, the production from Fantastic.Z Theatre Company now playing Hugo, is lined up to be the last of its kind in the old space — and possibly the new:

In the Northwest premiere of this existential transgender wild western by award winning playwright Basil Kreimendahl, Dakota and Bailey find themselves stranded in a strange barren land.

Part of a planned six-story development, The new Hugo House facility will be “approximately 10,000 square feet” and will share the ground floor with a 1,500 square-foot “commercial space” being planned for a cafe at the corner of 11th and E Olive.

While the design of the new facility is still being worked out, the players involved in Sidewinders say a theater stage likely won’t be part of the new Hugo as the center focuses its mission and other performance spaces at 12th Ave Arts establish themselves in the area.

Literary events are scheduled through the fall at Hugo House and there has been no announcement yet for a planned community gathering to say goodbye to the old building and celebrate the new.

In the meantime, you can begin the drama of nostalgia now through August. Information on Sidewinders showtimes and more here on the CHS Calendar.

Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

2 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ryan on Summit
Ryan on Summit
8 years ago

None of the alternatives presented at design review included a theatre. Really, the amount of space given to Hugo House depended on where they placed the parking garage ramp. It’s really quite sad that we are required to build our builldings this way.

I wonder how many theaters we could have for staging glorious new plays if we didn’t build huge parking garages by mandate.

I know, it all comes back to parking. But after the Hugo House loses its theater space, we really aren’t gaining anything with 12th Avenue Arts. We still lost this, Theater Schmeater, the Little Theater and the Erickson, (mostly).

Kellen Braddock
8 years ago

While we will be focusing more on our mission as a place for writers, Hugo House will have a performance space in the future facility with some opportunities for rental.