Strawberry Theatre Workshop

Last updated

Strawberry Theatre Workshop (aka Strawshop) is a 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." [1]

Contents

History

Strawshop performed seven plays at the Richard Hugo House from 2004 to 2006, before moving to the Lee Center for the Arts at Seattle University, and eventually to the Erickson Theatre Off Broadway on Capitol Hill, where they have performed a summer season since 2008. In January 2015, Strawshop began performing in a new arts space developed by Capitol Hill Housing called 12th Avenue Arts. [2] Strawshop is designing and managing the new venue in a partnership with New Century Theatre Company and Washington Ensemble Theatre.

In its inaugural season, Strawshop presented an original play for puppets and actors derived from the writing, drawing, and music of American folk artist Woody Guthrie called This Land. The show was created by Carter at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis in 1993. This Land is one of two puppet plays produced by Strawshop during its time at Hugo House, the other being a premiere adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey . Both puppet plays were supported by grants from the Puppeteers of America, and Bridge gained additional funding from the Jim Henson Foundation.

In an effort to be genre-breaking, Strawshop has produced two narrative theatre plays, two plays for puppets, three musicals, one original play, and a West Coast premiere ( Gutenberg! The Musical! ), in addition to work from a more traditional canon of Ibsen, Miller, Fo, Brecht, and Mamet. Between 2008 and 2010, the company featured a series of plays about real people called Biograph that included Life of Galileo , The Elephant Man , and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. The series concluded in 2010 with productions of The Laramie Project and Breaking the Code , though historical/biographical work (such as Inherit the Wind and The Normal Heart ) have continued to be featured. Likewise, Strawshop has championed gay drama ( Laramie , Code , Normal , as well as Prelude to a Kiss and Take Me Out ) without adopting that genre as its exclusive mission. The 2017/18 season focussed entirely on the work of women: two plays with all-female casts—including a non-traditional casting of Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon —followed by Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive .

Strawshop has no formal relationship with Cornish College of the Arts, though two of the founding Board Members (Carter and Rhonda J Soikowski) were employed there, and dozens of Cornish faculty, staff, and alumni have appeared on the Strawshop stage or worked in design/production positions.

Critical reception

In 2007, Strawshop received The Stranger newspaper's Genius Award for an Organization [3] —a prize awarded in other years to On the Boards, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Frye Art Museum. Actors associated with Strawshop have won Genius Awards as Individual Artists in Theatre including Gabriel Baron (2005), and Amy Thone (2007). Composer/designer John Osebold—who designed The Laramie Project at Strawshop—was the Stranger Theatre Genius in 2012. The award is given to only one person or individual in each category every year.

In 2006, actor Todd Jefferson Moore was the Gregory A Falls Award for Career Achievement, shortly after appearing in Strawshop's Fellow Passengers (a three-actor narrative performance of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol ), which he cited as a favorite role. [4]

The Seattle Times critic Misha Berson has named Strawshop winners of several Footlight Awards, including best performance by Amy Thone (2008), [5] Felicia Loud (2009), [6] and Bradford Farwell (2010). [7] Footlights for best play were given for Accidental Death of an Anarchist (2005), [8] Leni (2008), The Elephant Man (2009), Breaking the Code (2010), The Bells (2012), [9] The Normal Heart (2014), [10] and Our Town (2015). The Times retired the awards after 2015.

Since 2013, Seattle Theatre Writers have nominated Strawshop productions and artists in multiple categories for the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards. In 2014, actor Greg Lyle-Newton won the award for Excellence in Performance for The Normal Heart . In 2017, Lydia won Gypsies for director Sheila Daniels, designer Reed Nakayama, and performers Sofiá Raquel Sánchez and Andrew Pryor-Ramírez.

The company was nominated in five of six categories in the inaugural Gregory Awards hosted by Theatre Puget Sound in 2009. Don Darryl Rivera was the winner as Person to Watch, having created music for Strawshop's The Elephant Man and Gutenberg! The Musical! . In 2012, Strawshop became the only theatre in Seattle nominated for a Gregory Award for Outstanding Production four years in a row: The Elephant Man (2009), The Laramie Project (2010), Breaking the Code (2011), and Accidental Death of an Anarchist (2012). This recognition was made more remarkable by the fact that Strawshop only produced nine plays during the four years considered. Strawshop artists Robertson Witmer (sound), Andrew Smith (lighting), Brendan Patrick Hogan (sound), and Sheila Daniels (directing) are individual TPS Gregory Award winners. Amy Thone ( The Normal Heart ) won the Gregory as a Supporting Actor in 2014. Strawshop received additional nominations for Outstanding Production in 2015 ( Our Town ), 2017 (Lydia), and 2018 ( Frost/Nixon ).

Productions

Richard Hugo House
Lee Center for the Arts
Erickson Theatre Off Broadway
Town Hall Seattle
12th Ave Arts

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Hulce</span> American actor and producer

Thomas Edward Hulce is an American actor and theater producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus (1984), as well as the roles of Larry "Pinto" Kroger in Animal House (1978), Larry Buckman in Parenthood (1989), and Quasimodo in Disney's animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Awards include an Emmy Award for The Heidi Chronicles, a Tony Award for Spring Awakening, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Amadeus, and four Golden Globe nominations.

<i>The Laramie Project</i>

The Laramie Project is a 2000 play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. The murder was denounced as a hate crime and brought attention to the lack of hate crime laws in various states, including Wyoming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phylicia Rashad</span> American actress and singer

Phylicia Rashad is an American actress, singer and director who is dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University. She is best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992) which earned her Emmy Award nominations in 1985 and 1986. She also played Ruth Lucas on Cosby (1996–2000). She was dubbed "The Mother of the Black Community" at the 2010 NAACP Image Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Gibson</span> American actor and director

Thomas Ellis Gibson is an American actor and director. He is best known for his television roles as Daniel Nyland on Chicago Hope (1994–1997), Greg Montgomery on Dharma & Greg (1997–2002) and Aaron Hotchner on Criminal Minds (2005–2016).

Thomas Colbert Carter is an American film and television director, producer and actor, known for Swing Kids, Save the Last Dance and Coach Carter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Jbara</span> American actor (born 1961)

Gregory Jbara is an American film, television, and stage actor, and a singer.

Live at the Aladdin Las Vegas is a 2003 direct to video film of Prince in concert at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts. The concert was recorded December 15, 2002, and features several notable cover versions, an unreleased song and touches on some of his rarely performed back catalog of material. Special guests included former band associates, Eric Leeds and Sheila E., funk legends Maceo Parker and Greg Boyer, as well as Nikka Costa. The soundcheck contains an excerpt of "The Rainbow Children" from the album of the same name and "Nagoya" from C-Note. The audio was recorded directly from the mix console of Prince's long time sound engineer, Scottie Baldwin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dadi Pudumjee</span> Indian puppeteer awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Dadi Pudumjee is a leading puppeteer in India and he is the founder of The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków</span>

AST National Academy of Theatre Arts, is a drama school based in Kraków and Wrocław, Poland. It was founded in 1946 by actor Juliusz Osterwa, who took the initial steps leading to the establishment of the Academy through the amalgamation of three local studios; Stary Teatr, the Słowacki Theatre, and Iwo Gall's Dramatic Studio.

Stephen Belber is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. His plays have been produced on Broadway and in over 50 countries. He directed the film adaptation of his Broadway play, Match, starring Patrick Stewart,. He also wrote and directed the film Management, starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson and wrote the HBO film O.G., starring Jeffrey Wright, Theothus Carter, and William Fichtner. Belber was an actor and associate writer on The Laramie Project,, as well as a co-writer of The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a 1927 novel by Thornton Wilder. The Bridge of San Luis Rey may also refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Satori Group</span>

The Satori Group is a Seattle-based theatre ensemble that unites innovative multi-media, dynamic physical styles, and contemporary content in live performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seattle Children's Theatre</span>

The Seattle Children's Theatre (SCT) is a resident theatre for young audiences in Seattle, Washington, founded in 1975. Its main performances are at the Seattle Center in a 482-seat and a 275-seat theatre, from September through June. SCT also has a drama school with its own performances during the summer. Total annual attendance is about 220,000.

Fellow Passengers is a three-actor narrative theatre adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, written by Greg Carter. The title is derived from a first-scene speech by Fred, the nephew of Ebenezer Scrooge, who says: "I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round... as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."

Greg Carter is the founding Artistic Director of Strawberry Theatre Workshop, a non-profit theatre company in Seattle, Washington. He works as a freelance director, designer, and stage manager and teaches at Cornish College of the Arts. As a playwright, he has adapted This Land, Fellow Passengers, and The Bridge of San Luis Rey for the stage.

The Cape Cod Theatre Project is a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 by actors Andrew Polk and Jim Bracchitta, with the mission of collaborating with playwrights, actors, directors, and the public in developing new American plays. The performances are staged readings, after which the audience members may share their reactions with the playwright and help him/her revise the script. Playwrights who tried out work at the Project in its early years include Paula Vogel and Jeff Daniels. Performances are staged at Falmouth Academy, in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolina Actors Studio Theatre</span> Theatre company in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.

Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST) was an independent non-profit theatre company located at 2424 North Davidson Street in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was founded in 1992 by Charlotte acting instructor Ed Gilweit as an actor's teaching school. In 2000 Gilweit's company partnered with a video and stage production company run by Michael Simmons called Victory Pictures, Inc., and then with the fledgling theatre group Another Roadside Performance Company run by Robert Lee Simmons, Michael Simmons' son. Through this series of mergers, Gilweit and the Simmons' became the founders of the Carolina Actors Studio Theatre. After Gilweit's death in 2002, Michael Simmons became the Managing Artistic Director.

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

Kate Goehring is an American stage, film and television actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purple Rose Theatre Company</span> Michigan not-for-profit theater company

The Purple Rose Theatre Company is a Michigan not-for-profit theatre company founded in 1991 by Jeff Daniels in an old pizza parlor/garage in Chelsea. Its name comes from the 1985 film The Purple Rose of Cairo, which starred Daniels and for which he earned his first Golden Globe nomination.

References

  1. ↑ Mission
  2. ↑ 12th Avenue Arts
  3. ↑ Stranger Genius 2007
  4. ↑ 2006 Gregory A. Falls Award
  5. ↑ 2008 Footlight Awards
  6. ↑ 2009 Footlight Awards
  7. ↑ 2010 Footlight Awards
  8. ↑ 2005 Footlight Awards
  9. ↑ "Footlight Awards: Honoring 2012's best in performing arts". 30 December 2012.
  10. ↑ "2014 Footlight Awards: The stars (And stumbles) of the theater season". 23 December 2014.

Coordinates: 47°36′53″N122°19′19″W / 47.61472°N 122.32194°W / 47.61472; -122.32194

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.