Seattle Spotlight: March 2007

Whether March comes in like a lion or a lamb, the forecast calls for a shower of controversy this month. First up is My Name is Rachel Corrie at Seattle Repertory Theatre (March 15-April 22), based on the diaries of the 23-year-old Evergreen College graduate who went to the Gaza Strip to support Palestinians and fatally ended up in the way of an Israeli bulldozer. Marya Sea Kaminski, a well-known Seattle performer, plays the title role.

The Scopes trial, reflecting current controversy over teaching Darwinism, is revisited with a revival of the 1950s chestnut, Inherit the Wind, at Renton Civic Theatre (March 23-April 8). Race-related political controversy explodes in The Story, about a black journalist who writes about a white teacher being killed in a black neighborhood, which will be given a reading by the Mirror Stage Company (March 11-12). The award-winning docudrama The Exonerated, presented at New Everett Theatre Company (March 9-25), reflects true life stories of innocent death row inmates who find freedom thanks to new evidence.

Love is analyzed in many different ways this month: Diana Son’s Stop Kiss at the Seattle Public Theater, (March 15-April 8), shows how a kiss between two women catalyzes an examination of their relationship. Mary’s Wedding, at Taproot Theatre Company (March 21-April 21), throws us back into World War I and a long-distance courtship. Seascape with Sharks and Dancer, at Absurd Reality Theatre (March 29-April 21), questions whether functional relationships between men and women are possible. Meanwhile, Act Theatre opens its season with Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House (March 30-April 29), a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize, in which an accomplished doctor loses her husband — also a physician — to an older cancer patient.

Two musicals of note, one old and one brand new, will pluck your heartstrings. The national tour of Camelot rides into the 5th Avenue Theatre (March 20-April 8), with Michael York, Rachel York, and James Barbour as the members of the star-crossed triangle, while Once Upon a Time in New Jersey at the Village Theatre (March 14-May 13) transports Issaquah into 1956 New Jersey and the days of doo-wop, and pony tails.

Other notable offerings this month include Before It Hits Home at Brownbox (March 3-25), in which a man dying with AIDS goes “home” to find unexpected support from his homophobic father; the Strawberry Theatre Workshop performs David Mamet’s The Water Engine (March 22-April 21) about a young inventor who runs an engine on distilled water, but is ridiculed and threatened; and GreenStage serves up Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth (March 2-24), which satirically tells of a wacky family’s journey through flood, fire, pestilence, the ice age, and a dozen wars.

For something completely different, try the 2007 Moisture Festival at Hales Palladium (March 15-April 1), featuring local, national, and international performers in more than 28 shows spread out over three weekends.

Children can visit with The Musicians of Bremen at SecondStory Repertory, (March 16-April 1) and Peter Pan at Studio East (March 16-April 1). Finally, if kids think Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like, they might be surprised by what they discover at Seattle Children’s Theatre (March 23-May 12).