Construction is planned to start in August on the project to replace Volunteer Park’s amphitheater.
The Volunteer Park Trust tells CHS the planned August start will allow community groups to use the stage through most of summer. Work was originally being planned to begin this month. “By starting in August, we will be able to maximize use of both the old stage this summer and the new Amphitheater for next season,” a VPT representative said. Continue reading
They’re symbols, sure, but you can also think of them as good user interface design. New Capitol Hill Arts District medallions are being installed across the neighborhood to help identify the 40 or so cultural and arts spaces part of the district.
“The medallions are a low-tech complement to the Arts District website, Facebook page, and the dozens of online event calendars,” Michael Seiwerath of Capitol Hill Housing tells CHS about the new additions to the neighborhood streetscape. “On a Saturday night, Pike/Pine can attract more people than Key Arena, so it’s a good marker for the thousands of people who visit the neighborhood each week.” Continue reading
(Image: Alex Garland)
Where do small theatre companies take the stage when their affordable performance spaces can no longer afford the rent? While many actors having long been priced out of the neighborhood, the Capitol Hill theatre community is losing another piece of its charm: affordable rents.
Rik Deskin, the founder of Eclectic Theater, has announced the end of the venue’s 11-year run on 10th Ave at the end of the month.
“We knew that we had a five year lease, and we knew the end was coming. We started exploring the possibility of renewing the lease,” Deskin said. “At the same time, we were having difficulties paying the current rent so we decided to not renew the lease. We heard from some other people who looked into it that he’s expecting $3,500 a month for the space, which is ridiculous in my opinion. With no upgrades, not that I’m aware of.”
“Capitol Hill is the densest area of arts and culture businesses and organizations in the state,” says Tonya Lockyer, executive director at the neighborhood’s globally respected Velocity Dance. “Imagine if you have this incredible natural resource — creative businesses, organizations, and people. When that is threatened, you want to preserve it.” Continue reading
Gassner (Image: CHS)
David Gassner, an actor, director and producer, has wanted to help solo performers present their work. His vision is becoming a reality. Gassner got the keys to the former New City Theater at 1406 18th Ave on September 1st and with a few small changes, is reopening it as 18th & Union.
Seattle has a lack of venues for solo performers to present their work, Gassner said. He wants to fill that void and provide solo and small-scale artists who create theater, poetry, music, comedy and other art with an audience.
“It’s a big deal for people who are working in this style,” he said. Continue reading
In 1986 a group of friends started the Annex Theatre to help emerging Seattle artists produce work. Their endeavor and the effort of those who have lead Annex after was honored this month when Capitol Hill’s Annex Theatre received a legacy honor at the Mayor’s Arts Awards. The theatre is celebrating its 30th season in 2017.
After receiving the award, outgoing Annex artistic director Pamala Mijatov carried it off the stage and handed it to the new AD Catherine Smith.
“I said, ‘This is yours. … I carried this for a long time, but it’s yours now,’” Mijatov told CHS. Continue reading
In a neighborhood crunched for arts spaces that arts groups can actually afford, the REBATEnsemble might present a few useful lessons.
Bringing “engaging theatre to unconventional spaces,” the “Recession-Era Broke-Ass Theatre Ensemble” has learned how to stage even the greatest works of performance without a stage. Or a theater, for that matter. Continue reading
Cast members of Girl (Image: Mary Hubert)
Creators of a new play at Capitol Hill’s Annex Theater aim to unravel the classic hero’s journey story framework famously outlined by Joseph Campbell.
“Back in college I was really interested in the hero’s journey structure, but I never really felt like it related that much to women,” said director and cowriter of Girl, Mary Hubert. She came up with the idea for the play in 2015 and said she wanted the work to lay bare the heroic story formula’s “lack of applicability to modern-day women.”
For example, a traditional hero’s journey can be considered a success when the protagonist completes their quest by winning a prize. “In most people’s lives, not just women’s, they don’t get a prize,” said Hubert. Continue reading
Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival organizer Ken Holmes says that the weekend of outdoor drama in Volunteer Park is outdoors and donation-based because theater should be an accessible form of entertainment like going to a baseball game.
“That’s part of our mission — to provide theater that anyone can go and see,” Holmes tells CHS. Continue reading
Trying to make sense of life in a strange new world of avian murder
As 12th Ave Arts enters its second year of full programming, its three resident companies have begun carving their own niches as their identities change with the benefits that come from permanent homes. It’s from this stable base that The Birds — one of the most chaotic 12th Ave productions yet — takes off.
Strawberry Theater Workshop, with founder and artistic director Greg Carter at the helm, has always been the most political, or at least issue forward, of the three companies, producing such plays as Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Laramie Project, and The Normal Heart. Their mission statement itself gets at this, saying, “The Workshop is dedicated to the idea of ensemble, in the broadest sense of the word. Our ensemble does not only mean a resident company of workers, but a collective that includes our work, our audience, and our neighborhood. This is an activist stance.” Continue reading
The Balagan Theatre company has announced it is breaking up one year after it moved out of its Capitol Hill home. Balagan’s incoming executive director said the theater company’s board had apparently been blindsided after discovering a large amount of debt that the company had no chance of repaying.
“This is not a decision that the board took lightly,” said board president Jim Griffin in a statement. “When viewing the big picture of our overall financial health, this was a difficult conclusion, but ultimately a responsible fiscal action to take.”
From 2011-2013 the Balagan troupe had used the Seattle Central College owned Erickson Theater Off Broadway on E Harvard Ave. After moving off the Hill, Balagan relocated its office to Interbay but continued to put on shows around the city.
It is with tremendous sadness that we must announce that Balagan will be closing its doors permanently. https://t.co/vSdXpsbafW
— Balagan Theatre (@BalaganTheatre) September 20, 2014
An SCC spokesperson said the college is currently utilizing the Erickson Theater for classes and occasional special events.
After eight years of performances Balagan built a reputation for producing quirky and inventive shows. The loss to the Seattle theater scene was even noted by the New York Times earlier this week.
In the past year bad accounting practices have created problems at several other Capitol Hill nonprofits. Last year the Friends of the Volunteer Park Conservatory discovered their former treasurer had potentially embezzled thousands of dollars before leaving the state. CHS also uncovered a lawsuit last year that alleged the former director of an after school program at Stevens Elementary school had embezzled at least $236,000 for personal shopping trips and to pay for her kid’s college tuition.