Seattle Rep Announces 50th Anniversary Season

Seattle Repertory Theatre and Artistic Director Jerry Manning announced today its full 50th Anniversary Season. The Seattle Rep artistic team has spent years putting together this landmark season-one that showcases what the Rep does best and celebrates its history. Seattle Rep's 50th Anniversary season will run from September 2012-May 2013.

"We'll be celebrating this milestone with a wide-range of plays that are sure to speak to the hearts and minds of our audiences," Manning commented. "I wanted to put a season together that honors our past, speaks to our future, and reflects what we do best: inspire, provoke thought, and entertain."

The 2012-13 season opens in the Bagley Wright Theatre with the previously announced world premiere of Cheryl L. West's Pullman Porter Blues, a coming of age story that is woven with iconic blues music and features a live band. Audience favorite and Seattle Rep holiday classic Inspecting Carol follows to honor Daniel Sullivan and the Seattle Repertory Theatre Resident Company. The season continues with David Mamet's American Buffalo, followed by recent Tony Award nominee Good People, by David Lindsay-Abaire, and Marc Camoletti's Boeing-Boeing, adapted by Beverley Cross, provides an appropriate end to the season with a trip back to the 1960s.

In the Leo K., Seattle Rep will feature Tennessee Williams' contemporary classic, The Glass Menagerie and a new work by Anna Ziegler, Photograph 51. The Rep is also partnering with Seattle Theatre Group to present the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit War Horse at the Paramount Theatre. In addition, the Rep will launch a New Play Festival in January 2013 that will feature a selection of current commissions.

Seattle Rep, founded in 1963 by the late Bagley Wright, has remained a vital source for creative thought, outstanding productions, and a home for artists at the top of their craft. A pillar and leader in the regional theater movement, Seattle Rep has continually been honored and recognized for its work including the 1990 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. In addition to producing more than 500 productions, the theater is also renowned for launching and fostering the careers of many writers, actors, directors and designers. To honor and pay tribute to those artists, Seattle Rep has established an Honorary Artistic Council including Lily Tomlin, Bill Irwin, Kevin Kling, and HAl Holbrook.

During its 50th Anniversary season, Seattle Rep will continue its commitment to expanding audiences and developing new work through initiatives such as the Yes Project, supporting and inspiring the next generation of artists and theater-goers; the New Play Program, dedicated to finding and developing the next great plays in American theatre; and the recently launched Writers Group, fostering the talent of Northwest playwrights at all stages of their careers, from emerging new voices to established professionals.

About the plays

Pullman Porter Blues, by Cheryl L. West
Produced in association with Arena Stage
September 27 – October 28, 2012
Bagley
In 2008, Seattle Rep commissioned playwright Cheryl L. West (Holiday Heart, Play On!) to write Pullman Porter Blues. Since re-energizing the New Play Program, this is the first Seattle Rep commission to premiere on the main stage. Set in 1937, three generations of porters are hard at work on the luxurious Panama Limited train. Midwest blues songs flavor their journey from Chicago to New Orleans as the porters confront dark secrets from their past and tough truths about their future together. This coming of age story is woven with blues music and features a live band.

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