by Caroline Hall | Aug 17, 2021 | General, News
Seattle, WA. The Book-It Repertory Theatre has been putting on all-audio productions throughout the pandemic. Now, Book-It is preparing for an in-person 2022 season. The upcoming productions are highlighted in the graphic above.
After making an early decision to switch from a proposed traditional in-person slate of shows to all-audio productions for the 2020-21 season, Book-It was faced with the choice of how to best move forward in a post-vaccine world for 2021-22. According to Marketing and Communications Director Torrie McDonald, these decisions were made in the “heady days of pre-Delta Variant breakthroughs and rising infection rates.”
McDonald notes that the world moves quickly, and Book-It administration is doing what they can to keep up while ensuring that the health, safety, and comfort of everyone involved–artists, patrons, staff–is top of mind.
Brandon J. Simmons directed, adapted, and played the role of Ghost/Narrator in the all-audio production of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost.”
With the information from the CDC, Governor Inslee, and other appropriate officials, Book-It is beginning the upcoming season with two audio dramas, beginning in October. Opening in late January, Book-It will offer three in-person productions in the Center Theatre at Seattle Center.
McDonald says that the response to an all-audio season was “better than we hoped for.” While it can never replace the specific experience of seeing a show in-person, audio plays fit with Book-It’s particular niche and mission: adapting books into theatre experiences. As audiobooks are already a massive market, it was a pretty easy fit for Book-It, in “some ways.”
Of course, communicating the ways in which plays were different than strict audiobooks was important. McDonald feels that “audiences are savvy enough that they understood.” People appreciated the position Book-It, and the entire theatre industry were in. As a result, many of their patrons came “along for the ride.”
Many of Book-It’s colleagues have lost their jobs or had to shutter their organizations. “The lament that theatre is dead,” McDonald reflects, “has rung out. Again.” Book-It administration highlight that theatre is an artform that has survived for millennia; survived plagues and wars and changing climates, both political and environmental.
Theatre isn’t dead, or even dying, but it is evolving, according to Book-It. It “should” and “must” evolve–Book-It is ensuring this is the case through pandemic adaptations.
The 2021-2022 season will feature both audio and in-person productions.
As a final note, McDonald observes: “We are being forced to look at ourselves in a mirror, without our makeup on, and see who we really are, to decide who we can and should become. Hopefully, that will be more equitable, more accessible, and just as creative as ever.”
For the 32nd season of plays, Book-It will present two Audio Dramas and three In-Person Mainstage shows. See below for the list of titles and links to more information on each. For further information not detailed below, visit the 2021-2022 season page.
The first two productions are Audio Dramas this season. Zen and the Art of an Android Beatdown is a short story and will have one download available that contains the entire story start to finish. The Three Musketeers is a longer book presented in two parts, that will be released over two weeks. You will be able to stream or download each title starting on its release date and until June 30, 2022.
The Three Musketeers will be presented in two all-audio segments.
Beginning in January 2022, patrons will be welcomed back to the Center Theatre in the historic Seattle Center Armory for three in-person shows: Beowulf, Mrs. Caliban, and The Bonesetter’s Daughter.
For these in-person productions, please note that to ensure health and safety protocols are kept up to date, all seating will be General Admission this season. You will not be able to choose your specific seat in advance. However, let Book-It administration know if you have an accessibility need, and they will do their best to accommodate it.
Pricing Information:
- Full Season Subscription Packages: $122-$185
Audio Only Subscription for $40
From Book-It Repertory Theatre:
Book-It Repertory Theatre has built a 30-plus year legacy of creating new, evocative plays from some of the most compelling books on the shelves. By creating theatre exclusively from literature, Book-It strives to inspire a love of reading through a live, communal experience.
Today, with over 150 original adaptations to its credit, Book-It is widely respected for the consistent artistic excellence of its work. We are proud of our interpretations of classics by authors from the Western canon of literature—Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Bram Stoker, Miguel de Cervantes, Kate Chopin, and Herman Melville, among many. And we are thrilled to bring new, or often excluded, voices to that list of exceptional authors: N.K. Jemisin, Octavia Butler, Jamyang Norbu, Tochi Onyebuchi, and Mbolo Mbue, to name a few.
Though we produce our work primarily in the Center Theatre of Seattle Center’s historic Amory building, our work has been shown in multiple local venues including ACT, Intiman, Seattle Art Museum, Town Hall, Freehold, North Seattle Community College, Northwest Asian American Theatre, Hugo House, On the Boards, Café Nordo, and Seattle Repertory Theatre. Book-It’s national reputation continues to grow with our adaptations being performed in theatres across the country including the Hartford Stage, Center Stage Baltimore, Minnesota Children’s Theatre, Theatreworks Palo Alto, Portland Center Stage, and others.
The joy of sharing stories with our community continues to inspire us, and we look forward to the growing the list of voices we will experience together.
Our Mission: To transform great literature into great theatre, through simple and sensitive production, and to inspire our audiences to read.
Our Vision: To be a nationally-known theatre arts center where Book-It’s partnership of theatre, literature, and education nourishes the literacy and the artistic vitality of our community.
Our Land Acknowledgement: We would like to acknowledge that our company works on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish people, past and present; and we honor, with gratitude, the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe.
For more info click here: Book-It Repertory Theatre.
by Caroline Hall | Aug 10, 2021 | General, News
Seattle, WA. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center remains closed to visitors, but the work continues.
From the foundation: “we hope to educate, inspire, and motivate people by sharing stories of work that is improving lives, from Seattle to South Africa. Through our interactive exhibits, visitors can investigate some of the world’s tough challenges and learn how to act on their own ideas and solutions.” Pictured above is Employee Occupational Health Nurse Katherine Volner, featured by the Discovery Center for serving as an essential worker. Volner is one of five featured stories in the new exhibit.
The Gates Foundation Discovery Center’s latest online exhibit, “Enduring COVID-19: Stories from Our Transforming World,” is now live!
The new exhibit features five inspiring stories from the fight to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
️Bringing together stories of strength, innovation, and hope from the community in Washington State during the COVID-19 pandemic, this online experience creates a forum for connection, empathy, and healing.
The exhibit highlights people under five main themes:
- Fighting and Treating COVID-19
- Spreading Joy and Healing
- Sharing Critical Information
- Meeting the Needs of Communities
- Essential Workers Meeting Everyday Needs
Lynda Stuart of the Gates Foundation COVID-19 Response Team shares her story within the interactive exhibit. Stuart discusses rising to the challenge of COVID-19: “Being a global citizen comes with a fascinating insight into the world. One person’s success is everybody’s success; one person’s failure can take us all down. It gives you a pair of eyes on problems that other people don’t necessarily see.”
Lynda Stuart says that watching her father work in health care, she realized “public health and global health were in [her] blood.”
Find out more about Stuart’s contributions here, including how she finds hope in community and spending time with loved ones.
In addition to highlighting those fighting and treating COVID-19 like Stuart, the new exhibition emphasizes the work of spreading joy and healing. Roxana Pardo Garcia describes herself as “a small business owner who is fortunate to be in a place to not only be creative but act on that creativity and to be of service to my community.”
Pardo Garcia recalls being “scared and overwhelmed” by the possibility of the pandemic’s long-lasting effects on the Latinx community. As a disproportionately impacted group, Pardo Garcia voiced concerns about the genetic, emotional memories that would be passed down.
Roxana Pardo Garcia found herself asking: “What is my role in facilitating healing for our communities?”
In response to this call to healing, Pardo Garcia quit her job and started Alimentando al Pueblo, “a different kind of food bank.” The intent was to provide food to people that meets their basic needs, while also ensuring food would be relevant to those receiving it. Pardo Garcia and her family felt that growing up, other food banks would offer items that didn’t get used.
All the vendors Alimentando al Pueblo works with are Latinx- and BIPOC-owned groceries and farms.
To read more about Pardo Garcia’s journey to provide food amidst the pandemic, click here. For more details about the stories mentioned, or to explore other highlights of the exhibit, explore the site.
From The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
Our Role
Where does our foundation fit among the other institutions trying to improve the world?
We typically hear about two sectors, the public and the private. The private sector – business – is good at developing products and services, while the public sector – government – is good at delivering solutions to all the people who need them.
In many cases, the private and public sectors, acting either separately or together, meet people’s needs. But there are gaps, spaces where some people don’t get what they need to live healthy, productive lives.
Here’s an example: A generation ago, the market for vaccines worked well in wealthy countries – if you wanted to be immunized against a whole range of diseases, you could – but the system did not work for other parts of the world. Certain vaccines just weren’t available for most people. The private sector didn’t sell them in low-income countries because it wasn’t clear there would be buyers. Governments tried to step in, but they weren’t in a position to bring all the pieces — the funding, the partnerships, the logistics – together to make it work. Tragically, millions of children were dying of preventable diseases each year.
This is the kind of problem that philanthropies can help solve, and it’s how we define our foundation’s role.
For more info click here: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center.
by Caroline Hall | Jul 30, 2021 | General, News, The Arts
Seattle, WA. Things are getting closer to normal at The Henry Art Gallery. Visitors no longer have to register in advance, they can walk-up and buy tickets. Mask and social distancing requirements remain in place regardless of vaccination status. Here’s a link to visitor guidelines.
The Henry Art Gallery is part of the University of Washington and is currently showcasing Will Rawls: Everlasting Stranger which is featured in the image above. The exhibit, in collaboration with Velocity Dance Center, runs through August 15th.
In Everlasting Stranger, New York-based choreographer and writer Will Rawls (b. 1978, Boston, MA) activates relationships between language, dance, and image through the fragmentary medium of stop-motion animation. In his installation, time and movement slow as a live, automated camera photographs the frame-by-frame actions of four dancers. While the performers occupy the labor of becoming images, visual capture is staged as an obsessive process that is constant yet compromised by the movement it aims to fix.
Here, as in previous works, Rawls develops strategies of evasion and engagement within systems that mediate, distort, and abstract the body.
Rawls’s exhibition takes inspiration from the work of Guyanese writer Wilson Harris and his surrealist novel The Infinite Rehearsal (1987). In the book, the constrictive projections of the colonial gaze manifest as a child’s fever dream where ghosts reinterpret time, genealogy, and identity as unstable matter. Harris’s novel serves as a conduit through which Rawls addresses the misrepresentation that haunts all forms of capture, including photography and choreography. Within the temporal delirium that marks existence in quarantine, Rawls animates the life that appears between frames.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Saturdays: July 17 – August 14, 12 – 3 PM
Will Rawls: Everlasting Stranger is a collaboration between Henry Art Gallery and Velocity Dance Center and is organized by Nina Bozicnik, Henry Curator, and Erin Johnson, Velocity Interim Artistic and Managing Director. It is presented in conjunction with the Seattle Festival of Dance + Improvisation, with project support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support provided by UW Department of Dance, and by John Robinson and Maya Sonenberg. Costumes complements of womxn’s rites.
The exhibition is presented in conjunction with
Murmurations, a Seattle-wide arts collaboration featuring a series of exhibitions, performances, screenings, community conversations, artist talks, and other programs co-developed between cultural organizations.
Other exhibitions are continually available this summer. For an online opportunity, Henry Art Gallery is hosting Sonolocations: A Sounds Works Series from June – August 2021.
Partnered with the Jack Straw Cultural Center, The Henry has commissioned a three-part series of audio artworks, to be released free and online throughout the summer of 2021. The participating artists were invited to consider the theme of place, and its unique resonance throughout the pandemic, to offer directed sonic experiences for listeners wherever they might find themselves. Participating artists are Byron Au Yong (b. 1971, Pittsburgh, PA), Chenoa Egawa (b. 1964, Ellensburg, WA), and Bill Lowe (b. 1946, Pittsburgh, PA) and Naima Lowe (b. 1979, Middletown, CT).
To get a preview of Sonolocations, listen to Byron Au Yong’s “Pomelo” here:
Audio artworks will be available on
SoundCloud, and on the Jack Straw
website. You can also subscribe to
Sonolocations as a podcast to receive each piece when it launches.
The Henry is also hosting Gary Simmons: The Engine Room through August 22, 2021. The work of Gary Simmons (b. 1964, New York, NY) explores racial, social, and cultural politics, interrogating the ways in which we attempt to reconstruct the past via personal and collective memory. For this commissioned exhibition at the Henry, the artist created a large-scale wall drawing, a suite of new paintings and sculptures, and a sculptural installation, drawing together disparate components to create space for new interaction and invention.
This piece has been utilized in Jambalaya Jam at the Henry, a night of music celebrating Seattle’s recent musical past.
The installation will function as an interactive space, riffing off traditional American suburban garage architecture and referencing the garage as a site for invention, creativity, and experimentation, particularly for music/bands. As both a private laboratory and a public stage, the garage sculpture will be activated by a series of musician residencies, drawing on unique areas of the Seattle music scene, both historical and present, and tapping into the lesser-known, yet equally influential, genres and practices.
Simmons researched and archived band and concert posters from around the world to create this piece.
From Henry Art Gallery:
The Henry is internationally recognized for bold and challenging exhibitions, for pushing the boundaries of contemporary art and culture, and for being the first to premiere new works by established and emerging artists. Through individual experiences with art, we inspire visitors to upend their expectations and discover surprising connections.
For more info click here.
by Caroline Hall | Jul 23, 2021 | General
Seattle, WA. UW Botanic Gardens grounds are open to visitors. Building access is limited, yet opportunities to learn and experience the gardens are bountiful. Above, the Washington Park Arboretum is alive with plant life.
UW Botanic Gardens continues to follow all advice and directives set forth by the University of Washington, which are detailed at length on the UW Novel Coronavirus Information Page.
Washington Park Arboretum: The Graham Visitors Center (GVC) is now open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., with the Arboretum Gift Shop open 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Due to limited staffing, these hours are subject to change. GVC restrooms are open 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. daily, accessible only from the exterior of the building. Other restrooms are available at the bus turnaround in the Pacific Connections Garden, Washington Park Playfield, and Seattle Japanese Garden (south end of the Arboretum). Washington Park Arboretum closures are coordinated with Seattle Parks and Recreation. For more information about all Seattle Park closures, visit SPR’s Parkways blog.
The Washington Park Arboretum holds a world-class collection of woody plants that can be explored on your own, via group tours, or through classes and activities. All parts of the Washington Park Arboretum, with the exception of the Japanese Garden, are open to the public and are free of charge. The Graham Visitors Center has maps, restrooms, Arboretum Foundation offices, a gift shop, and a rental venue. Year-round visitors will find something of interest along the trails that wind through 230 acres of gardens, natural areas, and wetlands.
The Washington Park Arboretum’s Pacific Connections Garden hosts plant life from Cascadia, Australia, China, Chile and New Zealand.
This summer, explore the five eco-geographic regions of the Pacific Connections Garden. See stunning hydrangeas, magnolias and sorrel trees. The Japanese Garden is an opportunity for a tranquil summer stroll among water features and formal plantings.
Seasonal highlights for July and August include hardy fuchsias and Eucryphia species. More details about seasonal tours can be found here.
The UW Botanic Gardens has two locations: The Center for Urban Horticulture and the Washington Park Arboretum.
Tour Programs: Private Walking Tours and Tram Tours are available upon request. Walk-up tours for the general public are not currently offered.
Here are points to keep in mind regarding COVID-19 regulations:
- As of July 7, face coverings are optional for fully vaccinated individuals at UW campuses and facilities, with specific exceptions that include health-care and child-care facilities, and UW shuttles, where you must wear face coverings regardless of your vaccination status.
- Consistent with state regulations, individuals who are not fully vaccinated must continue to wear a face covering indoors at all UW campuses and facilities, in accordance with the UW Face Covering Policy. Individuals who are not fully vaccinated should also consider wearing face coverings outdoors when in crowds or when distancing is not possible.
- Tour groups will be required to provide a log with names and contact information for all participants.
Center for Urban Horticulture: All Center for Urban Horticulture buildings are closed to the public until further notice. The grounds are open to visitors. The center has opportunities for educational classes, bird watching, youth programming, and more.
Although the Center for Urban Horticulture building is closed, the gardens are open for exploration.
Elisabeth C. Miller Library: The Library is closed to in-person patrons until further notice. UW Botanic Gardens staff will continue to answer reference questions via email or the online form. Email is preferred for questions involving plant identification. The Library book drop has reopened, so you may return your borrowed materials any time. The library is now offering contactless pickup of holds. In order to place holds, you will need to return all borrowed items. Learn how to borrow books and schedule a pickup.
From UW Botanic Gardens:
The University of Washington Botanic Gardens has two sites: the Washington Park Arboretum and the Center for Urban Horticulture.
Our mission is sustaining managed to natural ecosystems and the human spirit through plant research, display, and education.
The 230-acre Arboretum includes a vibrant collection of more than 40,000 plants from around the world with trails to explore and programs for youth and adults.
The Center for Urban Horticulture includes demonstration gardens and natural areas, and also houses the Elisabeth C. Miller Library, Otis Douglas Hyde Herbarium, and the Washington Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program. The UW Botanic Gardens is a unit within the School of Environmental & Forest Sciences.
Both sites offer excellent opportunities for exercise, exploration, and wildlife viewing. Visit the Botanic Gardens to explore and enjoy on your own or join with others on guided tours, in classes or other fun programs. FACT SHEET (pdf)
For more info click here: UW Botanic Gardens.
by Caroline Hall | Jul 20, 2021 | General, News
Seattle, WA. Vadis has been providing services to people with disabilities since 1979, and had to creatively adapt to the pandemic. The nonprofit provides services to adults with disabilities and to youth and young adults experiencing homelessness and recently, Vadis administrators had to learn how to support people in new and virtual ways. This included helping the people Vadis supports in employment to understand the ramifications of COVID and in particular, all the safety protocols now in place, like masking in the photo above. According to CEO Christopher Christian, “this was not a swift and easy transition for many of the people we support in jobs in the community.”
Many of the people Vadis supports were deemed essential workers due to the nature of their jobs. They needed to keep working or rapidly return to work when many others in their lives were not, or had the option to work from home whereas they did not. In some cases, the people Vadis supports do not have control of their home environment and decisions are made for them. Some of those decisions included not being supported to go back to work for fear they would bring COVID back home with them from the work environment. Staff deployment and roles had to immediately change and morph with ever-evolving social restrictions and rules.
Many of the people supported by Vadis were deemed essential workers from the start of the pandemic.
Vadis administrators say they were in a “continual state of flux and adjustment, like everyone else, on a daily basis for a long time.” Alongside new employee-based working conditions and parameters, Vadis also “simply lost employees, or employees availability due to fear or the need to stay home with their school-aged children.” This stretched already strained staffing resources and ultimately affected how Vadis could support people in their jobs, or pursuit of jobs.
Team members at Vadis “learned by necessity” how to maximize the ability to support people in the best way possible through virtual means. This lead to the discovery of new and virtual ways for people with disabilities to engage in their communities, even during a pandemic. Virtual participation included online classes, clubs, support groups, educational events, and learning engagements.
New opportunities for employment arose when many were seeking assistance from Vadis during the ebb and flow of the pandemic.
There are additional positive developments for Vadis amidst COVID-19. Many of the people supported were designated as essential workers right from the start of the pandemic. As jobs became increasingly unfilled with employers, this created additional employment opportunities for people seeking employment, who did indeed want to work.
Christian says, “Like everyone else, we have helped people cope with the unknown, chronic change, sense of powerlessness in their lives and the uncertainty of knowing if their employer would be needing them back.” As safety protocols continued to shift and vary, and the frequency with which they changed, many people supported by Vadis faced consternation and adjustment challenges.
From Vadis:
Vadis has been providing services to people with disabilities since 1979.
From a small agency serving 25 people, we have evolved, expanded and now serve over 1,000 people per month in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap, Thurston and Mason Counties.
What hasn’t changed is our commitment to the people we serve. We strive to provide people with disabilities, and those who experience homelessness, opportunities and experiences to fulfill their economic and human potential.
Vadis is dedicated to assisting businesses in finding great employees and be a more inclusive employer. Our focus on customer service is your assurance of excellence!
If you have questions or need to talk with staff, please call (253) 863-5173.
For more info click here: Vadis.
