Tag: James Weidman

“‘Zapoi’ is Russian slang, dating back to at least the 19th century, for the national habit of going on days-long benders so catastrophic that, as one ethnographer reported to the Anthropological Society of London in 1870, they ‘are regarded as a disease.’ The word doesn’t appear anywhere besides the title in Quinn Armstrong’s world-premiere comedy at Annex Theatre, but it could be a one-word summary of a sprawling fantasia that treats Russian suffering and derangement as an endemic sickness…. It’s a delirious and damaged run at Our Town, filtered through the battered kidneys of Russian history…. Kayla Walker gives a commanding performance as the KGB agent Oksana, a woman with 1940s Hollywood glamour and torture chambers hidden behind her meticulously charming smile…. Zapoi! tends to be funniest when things are at their worst…. its darkness is delightful.” – The Stranger

“Zapoi!, the new play from writer Quinn Armstrong that is playing at Annex Theatre through February 21, is surrealist and ambitious…. it is a play that I hope a lot of people see and think and talk about. It’s what Annex Theatre likes to call a ‘#BoldNewWork.’ Armstrong and director Kaytlin McIntyre deserve credit for creating a work that never feels predictable…. What I found so timely and relevant about Zapoi!, was that the subjects of free speech and free will come up and they’re impossible to ignore…. there are so many ideas coming out of Zapoi! in its two and a half hours, that they all can’t be explored fully, and really shouldn’t be. It leaves a lot to the audience to continue the conversation afterward.” – The Journal of Precipitation

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The life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory- the historical noblewoman accused of bathing in young girl’s blood so she could live forever young becomes a supernatural tale both creepy and creepily funny in the hands of the playwright of “Kittens in a Cage” & “The Underneath”.

Kelleen Conway Blanchard lends her unique voice to the story of Elizabeth Bathory, the Hungarian Countess fabled to be one of the inspirations behind vampire lore. Bathory is rumored to have killed anywhere from 60 to 600 young woman and bathed in their blood to preserve her youth.

This fictional account follows the countess from her happy marriage to the fierce warrior Ferenc to her conviction and death bricked up within the walls of her castle. Along the way it explores her possible motivations for the sadistic murders of which she stands accused.

Landing solidly on the dark side of dark comedy, Blood Countess still employs plenty of Kelleen Conway Blanchard’s trademark humor and linguistic gymnastics. This historical horror story is filled with dead birds, headless soldiers, eel pies, and pailfulls of blood.

Blood Countess is directed by Bret Fetzer, and features original songs by Rick Miller, reuniting the team behind Gregory-nominated hit Kittens in a Cage.

Terri Weagant makes her Annex debut as Elizabeth. Weagant has appeared on stages big and small from Seattle Shakespeare Company and Book-It Repertory Theatre, to Theater Shmeater and upstart crow collective. Supporting Weagant is a group of wonderful local talent including Gregory-nominated Mary Murfin Bayley, Blanchard veterans James Weidman and Erin Stewart, and retuning Annex actors Ashlen Hodge, Martyn G Krouse and Sarah Winsor.

“Blanchard has written a gothic comedy that resists the temptation of camp. Instead, she lands startling punches with vivid and unexpected language… The two leads make grimly charming predators, bored by and superior to everything except morts, both petit and grand. Weidman brings a refreshingly abstracted, understated moodiness to a role that some actors would take as an excuse to chew up the scenery, while Weagant gives a positively sociopathic performance, fully unable to understand—and, in the end, not really caring—why other people don’t find chopping off people’s hands and branding the servant girls with hot coins diverting.” – The Stranger

“It would be easy to make the argument that Kelleen Conway Blanchard’s new play, ‘Blood Countess’ is a natural selection for October, with its Halloween balance of the horrific and the bizarre, its combination of cartoonish terror and god-awful blood lust. Blanchard, however, never lets a first impression become the content of her plays. As in ‘Kittens in a Cage’ and ‘The Underneath’ the initial triteness of commonplace tropes provide an easily accessible gateway to well-developed and compelling characters dealing with the absurdity of their situations with genuine emotion and real internal conflict. There are plenty of laughs throughout ‘Blood Countess’ but we never lose sight of the fact that these uncommon people are dealing with exactly the same challenges that we deal with daily, and that caring about their struggles is at least as rewarding as the pure entertainment of the evening…This is real drama. And it works.” – Seattle Actor

“…a gleefully fractured history tale that’s part wickedly black comedy, part demented love story and part scathing prod at the sexual and religious climate of the era… …with a sly performance as the bloodlust-consumed countess […] Weagant keeps the boiling passion simmering beneath the surface…” – Seattle Times

“Blood Countess is a lot of fun. As the countess, Terri Weagant’s unconventional looks and excellent expressive range are riveting… two other characters in her entourage are far more freaky: a deranged, id-like provocateur named Fitzco, played with nearly boundless perversity by Erin Stewart; and a priest, played with chilling, sexualized placidity (and heavy eye makeup) by Martyn G. Krouse. Bathory’s violence-loving libertine husband Ferenc (James Weidman) is another unctuous delight. In Bathory’s grim castle (a simple, black-walled, portrait-adorned set by Susannah Anderson), victims progress from birds to a parade of neighborhood girls (all winningly portrayed by Sarah Winsor)… canny performances and a wacky, Wikipedia-confirmed bite of Hungarian history make the Bathory vein a worthwhile draught.” – Seattle Weekly

“The mayhem is directed by Bret Fetzer as he uses Annex’s usual minimal technical accessories to exceed their low monetary value and provide great stagecraft at the same time. With Ian Johnston’s support for set design, Gwyn Skone providing inventive creepy lighting, super costuming and wigging from Samantha Armitage (probably on a miniscule budget), and sound by Kyle Thompson, the overall effect is a very sophisticated production… The play could be seen as a ‘Halloween’ event at this time of year, but that downplays its execution, cast and the beautiful poetry of the script. Blanchard seems to love creepy, but also demonstrates that she loves language more. Go get your fright on and also experience a multi-layered biography.” – Miryam Gordon

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Something monstrous is bubbling up at the new waterpark. Something icky is making Tina, misunderstood girl genius, uneasy—her little sister Winnie has a piece of tentacle in a jar that hisses, her mom Denise is taking too many pills, and the local Sheriff can’t bake enough crumb cakes to make himself feel better about the body parts washing up on the shore. And just what does the fry cook at Salty’s Sea Palace have in his pants? Welcome to the world of The Underneath, the latest play from the writer of Kittens in a Cage and Hearts Are Monsters. Featuring Daniel Christensen, Meaghan Halverson, Tracy Leigh, John McKenna, Pilar O’Connell, Mandy Price, and James Weidman.

“A show about the evil ocean … begins with humping and gore, which is a good precursor to the rest… Playwright Kelleen Conway Blanchard is drawn to pulp material, injecting it with funny grotesquery and ear-catching details… These moments, where actors have the freedom to just let loose with strings of Blanchard’s perfectly deranged rambling, make the show worth checking out.” —The Stranger

“Through the ingenuity of set designers Bret Fetzer and Susannah Anderson, there’s also clever and almost instantaneous transformation of the small stage into five separate sets… Meaghan Mary Halverson provides a really good portrayal of youth and innocence as sweet Winnie, the nice little girl who is abducted by the slithering monsters. Pilar O’Connell, as her brilliant but emotionally wounded and therefore nasty sister, is equally powerful. She’s cruel, angry and rebellious, yet you can’t help rooting for her. The dread, menace and humor underpinning ‘The Underneath’ work really well.” – Seattle Times

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Written & directed by Simon Astor
Music direction by Meg van Huygen

Thu-Sat at 8 pm, Jan 26-Feb 25 (Thu PWYC)
$15 general / $10 TPS, senior, military / $5 student
PWYC Industry Night: Monday, Feb 6

In a world run on refined, harvested mummies, where blimps are accessed via pneumatic tube, surgically enhanced foxes lecture on inter-species marriage, and self-winding is the latest advancement in mechanical men, there lived a great many people, who desired a great many things.

Set among the steamcabs and airships of this alternate world is a comedy of manners, in which street urchins try to land rich lovers, bandaged terrorists attempt to overthrow the government, and socialites train seahorses to bring them martinis.

Join an unlikely group of drinking buddies as they share secrets, sonnets, and sloe gin, in watering holes that range from the sea to the sky to the center of the earth.

With musical numbers, arch dialogue, and a dash of anarchy, Cocktails at the Centre of the Earth is a steampunk extravaganza of words, wit and wonder!

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Press Photos are available here

written & directed by Scotto Moore

Jan 21 – Feb 19, 2011
Friday and Saturday 8pm
$15 general / $10 TPS, senior, military / $5 student

PWYC Industry Night: Monday, Feb 7

DUEL OF THE LINGUIST MAGES is a dark new sci-fi comedy by Scotto Moore, about two researchers who learn to hack the very structure of language at a deeper level than ever before. Their discovery of “power morphemes” – tiny particles of meaning that mean much more than they should – turns out to be unexpectedly dangerous, and shockingly easy to weaponize. As the two researchers gain unprecedented linguistic power, they turn against each other in a struggle to control their new technology. A hapless computer programmer is unexpectedly caught in the crossfire – can he stop the spread of “power morphemes” before all of human civilization is brought to its knees? Who will survive the DUEL OF THE LINGUIST MAGES? Join us at Annex Theatre to find out!

WHO’S INVOLVED

Scotto Mooreʼs previous plays at Annex include the Gregory-Award-nominated When I Come to My Senses, Iʼm Alive!; interlace [falling star]; and Principia Discordia LIVE! (as well as having acted in such productions as The Front Page and Market Research Theatre). Mr. Moore is also the creator of the web series Cherub: The Vampire with Bunny Slippers and the forthcoming The Coffee Table, as well as a contributing writer to What the Funny (directed by Lynn Shelton, created by Wayne Rawley).

Reviews of ‘Duel Of The Linguist Mages’:

“Moore’s success here, as both writer and director, is finding the humor in confrontational moments… [It’s] good entertainment, filled with thought-provoking notions and moments of sincere laughter.” – Seattle Weekly

“Moore’s writing is high-caliber, his dialogue and plot devices are smart, his concepts are clearly inventive. He’s one to watch, so this is recommended.” – Seattle Gay News

“Duel of the Linguist Mages is a nicely crafted PLAY with a clever theatrical format, witty dialogue, a topical premise and it’s smartly directed, designed and acted… the entire premise of the piece is original and highly charming and smart.” – Seattle Gay Scene

Reviews of ‘When I Come to My Senses, Iʼm Alive!’:

“One wants to see more plays like this in Seattle—smart science fiction about the amazing world we have found ourselves heading toward.” —The Stranger

“Fun, fascinating, thoughtful and delightful” — Seattle Gay News

More about ‘When I Come to My Senses, Iʼm Alive!’:

Scotto Moore on Putting Sci-Fi on the Stage (The Sunbreak)

Digital Emotions? Seattle Play foresees possible future of tech (Techflash)

Reviews of ‘interlace [falling star]’:

“[Writer/director] Moore conjures a fairly logical extension of our wired world with geeky authority and comic flair.” —Seattle Times

“Just go see it and enjoy yourself.” —Seattlest

“The pleasures of ‘interlace [falling star]’ are more than plenty.” —The Stranger

Sara Mountjoy-Pepka & James Weidman

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