UW News

October 7, 2004

Moliere, Coward highlight 2004-05 UW drama season

The UW School of Drama has a diverse season for the coming school year that truly offers something for everyone.

From the glittering world of the Jazz Age in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter, to contemporary drama, to the melodies of the American popular song — and from the classic comedy of Moliere’s mischievous Scapin to the magical world of Salman Rushdie’s fantasy coming of age tale Haroun and the Sea of Stories — this season promises to delight, provoke and entertain any theater-goer.

Highlights of the 2004-5 subscription season include:


  • A production of Scapin directed by acclaimed actor and local favorite R. Hamilton Wright. When this adaptation (by Tony winner Bill Irwin and Mark O’Donnell) premiered at the Seattle Rep in 1995, Wright co-starred opposite Irwin. Now Wright returns to direct this tale of the scheming servant, Scapin, who swindles two fathers into providing the funds for their sons’ romantic misadventures in this rollicking, vaudeville-style take on Moliere’s classic comedy.
  • Novelist Salman Rushdie began Haroun and the Sea of Stories as a bedtime story for his own son. Now it is given theatrical life by guest director Aaron Posner in the Northwest premiere of the magical coming of age story that The London Times called “a gorgeous mix of The Arabian Nights, Alice, The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons.” Posner, the resident director and co-founder of the award-winning Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia, will direct the PATP (Professional Actor Training Program) class of 2005 in this fantastical tale of young Haroun, who must journey to the Sea of Stories to retrieve the lost yarns that will bring hope back to his people.
  • A tale from our own history in OBIE award-winning playwright Emily Mann’s play Execution of Justice. The play chronicles the trial of Dan White, who killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay city official in the nation. This play poses provocative questions about anti-gay prejudice and social justice in America.

The School of Drama also will present two Northwest premieres as part of its Studio 201 Series:


  • Kid-Simple, Jordan Harrison’s story of a girl-genius who invents a dangerous machine, won acclaim at last year’s Humana Festival of New Plays at the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville.
  • Helen Edmondson’s Mother Teresa is Dead finds middle-class English wife and mother Jane caring for orphans on the hot and dusty streets of India.

Season brochures, ticket and subscription information are available at 206-543-4880 or at http://depts.washington.edu/uwdrama/ .

Subscription prices range from $40 to $78, and $38 for students. Single tickets are $6 for previews, and $13 for performances. All students pay $8. The UW Arts Ticket Office is located at 4001 University Way NE.