Category Archives: Shows

SET’s many unique productions.

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PHOTOS: Time’s Arrow

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Production photos from Time’s Arrow (2016). People pass through. Spaces remain. A world premiere improvised play debuting Oct 13-22 at the Ballard Underground in Seattle. Tickets available at http://timesarrow.bpt.me

Time’s Arrow: Behind the Scenes with Tony Beeman

Tony Beeman is a SET veteran (The Doctor, Where No Man Has Gone Before) who rejoins us in the cast of Time’s Arrow. Below, he shares his thoughts on being a part of this truly unique world premiere production.

Time’s Arrow runs October 13 – 22 at the Ballard Underground – 6 performances only. Get tickets now at http://timesarrow.bpt.me today!

I grew up in East Tennessee, along the Clinch River, where the earth would give up a lot of arrowheads each spring. A friend of the family gave me one of those arrowheads: a quartz arrowhead from the banks of the river, crafted by unknown tribes which had populated the area long before the Shawnee or Cherokee. I remember holding the chipped quartz in my ten-year-old hand and imagining the men and women who must have stood exactly where I was standing all those years ago. How they stood, what they wore, what they were doing. Who they loved. How they lived and how they died.

Time’s Arrow, created by director Elizabeth Brammer, and produced by Seattle Experimental Theater, is a show about an arrow of another sort. It opens this Thursday, and of the hundred-some shows I’ve performed in, it’s already among my favorites. The show explores a fixed place on Earth, while jumping through time. In 1972, a teenager storms out of the dining room, and collapses into a chair that stands where we just watched a 1790’s settler bury her own daughter. In 2173, our descendants argue water as dust sweeps across the landscape. In 1870, two conferderate deserters plan a doomed heist as they hide away in the settler’s now-abandoned shack.

Tony Beeman and Sarah Scheller at tech rehearsal for "Time's Arrow".

Tony Beeman and Sarah Scheller at tech rehearsal for “Time’s Arrow”.

We are surrounded by the ghosts of what has been and what will be. And while the characters are unable to break out of that arrow’s path, the audience escapes that velocity, and witnesses the past, present and future simultanously. It’s a sometimes funny, sometimes sad love song to places, with the dusty smell of old bookstores, the lit spark of future possibilities, and the comfortable air of a present that keeps slipping away. We’ve had a great time rehearsing the show, and are incredibly excited to invite an audience to participate in the journey!

Time’s Arrow opens Thursday, October 13th, and plays for two weeks on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at the Ballard Underground. Advance tickets available at Brown Paper Tickets.

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AUDITIONS: As You Wish (Coming February 2017)

Audition Announcement for Seattle Experimental Theater’s production of As You Wish

Seattle Experimental Theater will be holding auditions November 6, 2016 from 12pm to 4pm for its latest original improv show, As You Wish, an improvised parody inspired by The Princess Bride. The show is directed by Paul Levy.

PERFORMANCES:

February 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, and a special Valentine’s Day Performance February 14th at 8pm at the Theatre Off Jackson.

REHEARSALS:

Saturdays and Sundays January 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, & 28 in Seattle.
Tech dates are January 29, and two of the three days between January 30-February 1st.

COMPENSATION:

Improvisers will receive a $70 stipend ($10 a show) for participation in this production.

Auditions will be one day only, on November 6, from 12pm-4pm in Seattle. For an audition spot, please email Samantha.Hecker@seattleexperimentaltheater.com with your name, resume and headshot. Please plan to stay for the entire four hours. The time will be broken up into explanation of the show, auditions and callbacks.

ABOUT THE SHOW:

As You Wish is supported by a small cast of improvisers that are willing to take risks, play, and ultimately have fun together telling a love story. The cast requires improvisers that are light, playful, and comfortable breaking the rules and inviting the audience along the journey with them – the fourth wall is there to be broken. The As You Wish ensemble cast each has a main role, but will also be used to play supporting characters. Below are the main roles in the show and what is required for each of them.

CASTING THE FOLLOWING ROLES:

The Master of Dance (Male/Female)
Seeking revenge for something in the past this accented character is a master of dance and will stop at nothing to avenge the wrong doing of the past. Male or female role, this role requires someone passionate about improvising character accents and improvised dance styles.

The Best Rhymer (Male/Female)
This oddly shaped character won a prize in school for the best rhyming skills. To this day, the Best Rhymer continues to entertain large crowds no matter the style: musical, rap, Dr. Seuss, even Shakespearean verse. Male or female role, this role requires someone passionate about rhyming.

The Only Person Who Dies In The Show (Male/Female)
Master of nothing but full of great ideas, The Only Person Who Dies In The Show is very good at big dramatic deaths. Male or female role this role requires someone who is over dramatic.

The Girl (Female)
Full of heart, The Girl brings heart to the show. She is smart, charming, and wears her heart on a sleeve. This improviser must be comfortable falling in love on stage.

The Boy (Boy)
Full of heart, The Boy is excellent at many things but notably: dancing, rhyming, and loving. Male role, this role requires an improviser who is very comfortable dancing, rhyming, and falling in love.

The Torturer (Male/Female)
About as evil as it gets, The Torturer enjoys others misery. Male or female role, this role requires an improviser who is comfortably being a terrible person.

The Prince (Male)
The Prince is really good a wishing for things that are ridiculous. Focused primarily on himself, The Prince will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Male role, this role requires an improviser who is comfortable caring only about himself and his wants.

The Unemployed Miracle Worker (Male/Female)
Full of delight, energy, and charm The Unemployed Miracle Worker is great at singing and can make even the most depressing of situations come to life. Male or female role, this role requires an improviser who is full of charm, singing, and great at working an audience.

WORLD PREMIERE: Time’s Arrow (October 2016)

Time’s Arrow

People Pass Through. Spaces Remain.

teaserSeattle, Wa— Seattle Experimental Theater is proud to present its original improvised play, Time’s Arrow.

The old jail that might be haunted. The house that has housed three generations of a family. The local restaurant that was the site of a bank robbery in the 1940s. What ghosts are you walking through? The spaces around us are rich with history defined by wonderful, terrible, forgettable, sublime individual and collective experiences, yet we exist in them for only one moment at a time.

Time’s Arrow invites you to take a walk through the spaces of the past. Every performance, Time’s Arrow uses stories from the audience to explore the layers of life piled in a single location. Every performance will be completely improvised and unique, based on that evening’s stories from the audience.

Time’s Arrow is created and directed by Elizabeth Brammer.

Performances

Performances are October 13, 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22 at 8pm
at the Ballard Underground.
(2220 NW Market Street, Lower Level; Seattle, WA 98107)

Tickets are $20 at the door or $18 online. Advance tickets available at brownpapertickets.com

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Press Release

For Press Comps, please email Jeannine Clarke at info@seattleexperimentaltheater.com

July 28, 2016
For Immediate Release
Kill Date: October 23, 2016
Media Contact: Jeannine Clarke (seattleexperimental@gmail.com)

Download the Time’s Arrow Press Release

#TheJournal: Behind the Scenes with Daryl Ducharme

13522739_10101100713937289_6842638392664971713_oThis is OPENING WEEKEND for the return of The Journal, a romantic improvised comedy inspired by the work of Nicholas Sparks. Continues Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through July 23 (8PM) at the Ballard Underground. Tickets $18 online or $20 at the door.

Daryl Ducharme is one of the three returning members of the cast of The Journal (2016). His SET debut was with the cast of “Wedding Horror Stories” in 2013. Along with Wayne (who shared his perspective in yesterday’s blog) we asked Daryl if he’d be willing to share his thoughts on returning to The Journal; here is his reply in his own words.

From Daryl:

Tonight is opening night of The Journal and I am nervous. I’m not nervous in an “Oh, my god I can’t go out there” sort of way but rather in an “I love this show so much, I hope the audience shares the love with me” way. What’s there to love about The Journal? Please, allow me to let you in on my love of it.

First, there is the nostalgia. In 2012, when The Journal first came out, I had never been a part of an improv show before. This was the first time I had ever been cast in a show. I remember being nervous about playing with a cast that already worked so well together and that I thought were clearly better than I. By the end of the run, however, I learned how easy it is to play with them all and that run still has one of my favorite improv memories.

Another big reason I love this show is that I am a romantic at heart. While I do love a good big budget summer blockbuster, my favorite movie is a romance by Baz Luhrman called Strictly Ballroom. Before that my favorite movie was The Cutting Edge starring DB Sweeney and Moira Kelly. These romances are vastly different than Nicholas Sparks romances, which I actually find quite hard to watch. Sure, I might cry at a Sparks flick but life has the silliness of a good romantic comedy. That is exactly why I love making fun of the “taking ourselves too seriously” tropes of Nicholas Sparks while still getting to see a good romance blossom. The Journal consistently melts my heart. I’m sure it will melt yours.

Finally, I love this show because of the people. SET is great people and the people they cast are of a certain breed. They make me laugh. They make me cry. They get me excited to improvise a whole new romance at every rehearsal. I hope that the audience will enjoy The Journal as much as I do and that they leave with more love in their hearts. That’s the way I’ve been leaving rehearsals and I believe the performances will only be better.

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Aditya Sriyam (L) and Daryl Ducharme (R) play the men of Swan Beach sharing a drink in dress rehearsal for “The Journal” (2016)


Join Us For “The Journal”

Intrigued? The Journal opened on July 14 and gave the audience a dramatic romance between a juggler and a woman who had a dark secret: cheating at Pokemon Go.

We continue tonight through July 23 at the Ballard Underground in Seattle. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8PM. Tickets available for $18 ($14 for groups of 4 or more) online at http://thejournal.bpt.me OR for $20 each at the door.