Azeotrope (theatre)

Last updated
Azeotrope
Formation2010 (2010)
TypeTheatre group
PurposeNew work that focuses on bringing voice and representation to the marginalized and invisible.
Location
  • Seattle, USA
Artistic director(s)
Richard Nguyen Sloniker, Desdemona Chiang
Notable members
Red Light Winter, Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train

Azeotrope is Seattle-based theatre company specializing in new work that focuses on bringing voice and representation to the marginalized and invisible.

Contents

History

Azeotrope was founded in 2010 by Seattle actor Richard Nguyen Sloniker and director Desdemona Chiang, who met as graduate students at the University of Washington School of Drama. [1] The company debuted its first production, Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp, and was subsequently invited to participate in ACT Theatre's Central Heating Lab program. In 2012, they produced Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train by Stephen Adly Guirgis, which won the 2012 Gregory Awards for Outstanding Production, Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Scenic Design, and Outstanding Supporting Actor; [2] as well as the Gypsy Lee Rose awards and Footlight Awards.

Azeotope's most noted production to date is Sound by Don Nguyen, bilingual play performed in American Sign Language and spoken English, featuring a mixed ensemble of Deaf and hearing actors. [3] [4]

In 2018, they produced Building the Wall by Robert Schenkkan, a two actor drama set in the near dystopian future where President Donald Trump's anti-immigration policies lead to the mass detention of thousands of people and devastating consequences. [5]

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<i>Gypsy</i> (musical) 1959 musical by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents

Gypsy: A Musical Fable is a 1959 musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.

Paula Vogel American playwright

Paula Vogel is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play How I Learned to Drive. A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Brown University, where she served as Adele Kellenberg Seaver Professor in Creative Writing, oversaw its playwriting program, and helped found the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium. From 2008 to 2012, Vogel was Eugene O'Neill Professor of Playwriting and department chair at the Yale School of Drama, as well as playwright in residence at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

Tyne Daly American actress

Ellen Tyne Daly is an American actress. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work and a Tony Award, and is a 2011 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee.

The Daytime Emmy Award is an American accolade bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming. Ceremonies generally are held in May or June.

Imelda Staunton English actress and singer

Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in the 1970s before appearing in various theatre productions in the United Kingdom.

The Dora Mavor Moore Award is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped establish Canadian professional theatre, the award was established on December 13, 1978. Each winner receives a bronze statue made from the original by John Romano.

The Primetime Emmy Award is an American award bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming. First given out in 1949, the award was originally referred to as simply the "Emmy Awards" until the first Daytime Emmy Award ceremony was held in 1974 and the word "prime time" was added to distinguish between the two.

Laura Benanti American actress and singer

Laura Ilene Benanti is an American actress and singer.

David Esbjornson is a director and producer who has worked throughout the United States in regional theatres and on Broadway, and has established strong and productive relationships with some of the profession’s top playwrights, actors, and companies. Esbjornson was the artistic director of Seattle Repertory Theatre in Seattle, Washington, but left that position in summer 2008.

Daniel J. Sullivan is an American theatre and film director and playwright.

Tracy Letts American actor and screenwriter

Tracy S. Letts is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play August: Osage County and a Tony Award for his portrayal of George in the revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2013).

Stephen Adly Guirgis is an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. He is a member and a former co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced both Off-Broadway and on Broadway as well as in the UK. His play Between Riverside and Crazy won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The Joseph Jefferson Award, more commonly known informally as the Jeff Award, is given for theatre arts produced in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are named in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson, a 19th-century American theater star who, as a child, was a player in Chicago's first theater company. Two types of awards are given: "Equity" for work done under an Actors' Equity Association contract, and "Non-Equity" for non-union work. Award recipients are determined by a secret ballot.

Rodney Hicks is an American playwright, stage and television actor. Hicks is currently writing a new American play called, The Flawed Play. Hicks originated the role of Bob and others in the Broadway musical Come from Away and was in the original and closing casts of the Broadway musical Rent.

University of Washington School of Drama American drama school is Seattle, Washington

The School of Drama is an undergraduate and graduate theatre school in the Arts Division of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.

Peter Kellogg is a musical theater book writer and lyricist. He wrote the lyrics and the book for the 1992 production of the Broadway musical Anna Karenina, for which he received two 1993 Tony Award nominations, one for Best Book of a musical and one for the Best Original Score. He also wrote the lyrics and book for the musicals Chasing Nicolette, Desperate Measures, Lincoln In Love, Stunt Girl, Money Talks, and The Rivals which have been read and produced regionally. Kellogg also received the New York Musical Theatre Festival 2006 award for Excellence in Musical Theatre Writing (Book) for Desperate Measures. On June 3, 2018, Kellogg won the 2018 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics for Desperate Measures.

Edi Gathegi American actor

Edi Mūe Gathegi is a Kenyan-born American actor. He appeared as recurring character, Dr. Jeffrey Cole in the television series House, as Cheese in the 2007 film Gone Baby Gone, Laurent in the films Twilight and its sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and as Darwin in X-Men: First Class. Edi also featured in the AMC series, Into the Badlands, as Baron Jacobee. He has also been a recurring character in NBC's television series, The Blacklist as Matias Solomon, an operative for a covert organization. Gathegi reprised the role in the 2016–2017 season crime thriller, The Blacklist: Redemption.

Strawberry Theatre Workshop is an award-winning Seattle theatre company founded in 2003 by Greg Carter, associated with a movement in that city to improve wages for professional theatre artists. Its name "is derived from the Strawberry Fields of popular music, and the Beatles, who used their recording studio as a daily laboratory of expression."

Desdemona Chiang is a Chinese-American theatre director of Chinese descent, and co-artistic director of Azeotrope in Seattle, WA. Her directing credits include the Guthrie Theater, Alley Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Playmakers Repertory Company, and ACT Theatre. She directs in a variety of genres, including Shakespeare, new plays, and musicals.

Valerie Curtis-Newton is an American artistic director. Newton is head of Performance – Acting and Directing at the University of Washington School of Drama and Artistic Director for The Hansberry Project.

References

  1. May, Thomas (November 1, 2013). "Prostitutes in Amsterdam, meth in Appalachia". Crosscut.
  2. Berson, Misha (October 30, 2012). "Azeotrope, ACT Theatre among Gregory Award winners". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2014-12-18.
  3. "Azeotrope's Thoughtful, Successful 'Sound' - City Arts Magazine". City Arts Magazine. 2015-09-14. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
  4. "Cochlear controversy dramatized in 'Sound'". The Seattle Times. 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
  5. "Pulitzer-winning playwright takes on Trump". crosscut.com. Retrieved 2018-07-01.