Theater
Award-winning dramas will kick off Rep's season

By Misha Berson
Seattle Times theater critic

Kate Mulgrew will play Katharine Hepburn in the solo play "Tea at Five," at the Seattle Repertory Theatre in September.

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The Rep season will also include a new show by acclaimed Chicago director Mary Zimmerman, an adaptation of a Chaim Potok novel, and comedies by W. Somerset Maugham, Michael Frayn and Theresa Rebeck.

In September, the Rep will also host a nonsubscription, mainstage run of "Tea at Five," a solo play by Matthew Lombardo about Katharine Hepburn. Kate Mulgrew, a former Rep company member and "Star Trek: Voyager" star, will play Hepburn.

Back to full speed after a period of fiscal uncertainty and caution, the Rep plans six subscription shows in the mainstage Bagley Wright Theatre and two productions in the smaller Leo K. (Last year, Leo K. shows were not announced until the 2003-2004 season was under way.)

The 2004-2005 production schedule is as follows:

In the Bagley Wright Theatre

"Anna in the Tropics" (Oct. 2-30). Set in a Florida cigar factory in the 1920s, Cruz's romantic drama will be directed at the Rep by Sharon Ott (whose staging of a new Cruz play, "Beauty of the Father," is currently playing in the Leo K.).

"Take Me Out" (Nov. 6-Dec.4). Richard Greenberg's witty and provocative play focuses on the clubhouse fracas that ensues when a star baseball player reveals he is gay. The show opens its national tour in Seattle under the direction of Joe Mantello, who won a Tony Award for his mounting of the Broadway production.

"Noises Off" (Dec.11, 2004-Jan. 15, 2005). This widely-performed backstage/onstage farce by Michael Frayn focuses on a harried troupe of British actors. It will be staged by Richard Seyd, who directed a hit version of the play in San Francisco.

"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (Jan. 22-Feb. 19, 2005) August Wilson's early play about '20s jazz musicians will be staged by a director to be named.

"The Secret in the Wings" (Feb. 26-March 26, 2005). A retelling of familiar and obscure fairy tales, this show by Mary Zimmerman comes to the Rep via Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre. (Previous works by Zimmerman seen at the Rep include "Metamorphoses," "The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci" and "The Odyssey.")

"The Constant Wife" (April 2-30, 2005). English writer W. Somerset Maugham's 1926 bittersweet social comedy about philandering and marriage is staged at the Rep by Kyle Donnelly, who also directed the show in 2003 at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.

In the Leo K. Theatre

"Bad Dates" (Nov. 20-Dec. 18). In this recent Off Broadway comedy by stage/TV writer Theresa Rebeck, a modern urban woman undergoes a series of dating disasters. Director to be announced.

"The Chosen" (Feb. 5-March 2, 2005). The late Chaim Potok's famed novel about two boys raised as Orthodox Jews in 1940s Brooklyn is dramatized in a stage adaptation by Potok and Aaron Posner. Posner directs the play's Seattle premiere.

Subscription packages for the Bagley Wright series range in price from $82-$247, and Leo K. packages run $34-$62. (Extra subscription discounts are available for patrons under age 25.) Tickets to "Tea at Five" are available now to subscribers only at $19-$50. (Single tickets go on sale this summer.) Complete details: 206-443-2222 or www.seattlerep.org.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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