Politically charged "Rachel Corrie" leads bold Rep lineup for 2006-07

Seattle Repertory Theatre is now the first major U.S. regional theater to announce that it will produce "My Name Is Rachel Corrie."

The controversial play, a hit in London, will appear at the Rep (March 15-April 22, 2007) as part of the theater's boldly contemporary 2006-07 season, the second under its new artistic head David Esbjornson.

Other standouts on the compelling, nine-play agenda: the season-opening, 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about suspected child abuse in a Catholic school, "Doubt" (Sept. 21-Oct. 21). A little-known Edward Albee work, "The Lady from Dubuque" (Jan. 11-Feb. 10, 2007). A new adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's resonant novel, "The Great Gatsby" (Nov. 2-Dec. 10).

Also: "Gem of the Ocean," the only work in August Wilson's 10-play African-American cycle not yet staged in Seattle (April 5-May 6, 2007).

Local ties a factor

But the most provocative choice is "My Name Is Rachel Corrie." Drawn from writings by an American political activist who died in Gaza while protesting Israel's treatment of Palestinians, the Alan Rickman-Katharine Viner script sparked a censorship debate when New York Theatre Workshop delayed a spring staging of it, due to political concerns.

Esbjornson says he read the play months ago, found "it very moving and well-done," and the New York flap did not affect his decision to produce it here.

"The fact that Rachel Corrie was from Olympia, and went to college at Evergreen, is a big part of why we want to do this," he noted. "This is about someone local, who could have been any of us. And it's about what happens when your passion and activism reaches the level that hers did."

Local ties also figured in other Rep choices. Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean," a post-slavery tale set in 1904, pays tribute to the late Seattle dramatist, whose "Radio Golf" scored big at the Rep this year.

Kathleen Tolan's mother-daughter drama "Memory House" (Nov. 16-Dec. 17) was developed at Seattle's Women Playwrights Festival. And "Fire on the Mountain" (Feb. 22-March 24, 2007) an homage to Appalachian folk music, was created by a Seattle composer-musician, Dan Wheetman, and Randal Myler (who also devised the hit Rep revue, "It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues").

Even "Doubt," which gets its first regional staging at the Rep, has a local tie: former Rep associate artistic head Doug Hughes staged it on Broadway.

In Minneapolis first

The Seattle link to Simon Levy's new adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" is Esbjornson. He'll direct it first in Minneapolis in June, to inaugurate the Guthrie Theatre's new $125 million facility. (Esbjornson has been a frequent guest director at the Guthrie.)

In the fall, he'll remount "Gatsby" for the Rep; He says, "A new work of this magnitude can really benefit from two productions."

Five plays in the 2006-07 season will be staged on the Rep's Bagley Wright mainstage: "Doubt," "Gatsby," "Gem of the Ocean," "Fire on the Mountain" and "Lady From Dubuque." Four will be in the smaller Leo K. Theatre: "Rachel Corrie," "Memory House," Will Eno's neo-absurdist "Thom Pain (based on nothing)" which runs Oct. 5-Nov. 5, and Tanya Barfield's look at black identity, "Blue Door" (Feb. 1-March 4, 2007).

Esbjornson's second Rep season already looks quite different from his first, which continues into May with his mounting of the play "Tuesdays With Morrie."

The Rep's 2005-06 roster was initially packed with tryouts of new works — two of which, the musical "Temple" and Neil Simon's "Rewrites," were later replaced by better-known properties.

Critically and at the box office, the current season has had its successes — Amy Freed's new romp "Restoration Comedy," "Radio Golf," Noel Coward's "Private Lives." And, early on, it had its stumbles — the faltering "King Stag" and the new Ariel Dorfman drama "Purgatorio," which divided critics and did not sell well.

"All new artistic directors have a transitional year," Esbjornson says. "This was a trial by fire, in the sense there was no time for me to learn about the community between getting the job and having to put a season together right away.

"But I think all the choices I made had validity," he contends. "And I'm doing exactly what I set out to do. I'm presenting a wide variety of material, and listening to the response to it."

In the future, Esbjornson hopes to "protect" new scripts by giving them more time to be developed and rehearsed.

And he already is acting on another observation: that Seattle patrons are keenly interested in shows which include social/political elements.

"All the titles for next season are meant to be somewhat provocative," he says, "and to ask, can theater talk to us about things that really matter to us?

"It's very much a season that's inviting people in, and asking them to step up to the plate and engage."

Seattle Rep subscriptions go on sale Saturday, and range from $177-$369 for all nine plays (smaller series are available). Information: 206-443-2222.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com