The 2011-2012 theater season for ArtsWest was debuted Monday evening March, 14 and it promises to be more ambitious and intriguing than ever. The host for the evening was Alan Harrison, Executive Director of ArtsWest who prompted various directors and actors to talk about the work they will be part of next season. The six plays are wildly diverse but fill the mission of the theater as Harrison said, "We don't just do plays because we think they are cool."

The highlight for many may be the return of the raucous over the top "Evil Dead the Musical".

Leading off the season on Sept. 7 is "Amy's View" by David Hare. A drama, the play is set in 1979 and is about an actress in London and the confilicts she encounters in her career, with her daughter, her daughter's boyfriend and how these issues develop over a 20 year period. Director Christopher Zinovitch drew parallels between this play and the public support of the arts. He said, "It's a wonderful place to be reminding ourselves what theater does for the soul and what theater does to a relationship (...) The way theaters or any non-profits are going to survive is by people supporting them."Amy's View" runs through Oct. 1.

Second in line is what ArtsWest is billing as a "hilarious revenge comedy "Exit, Pursued by a Bear", by Lauren Gunderson. Set in the North Georgia Woods the theme is a difficult one, spousal abuse, and yet the end product is drama laced with comedy. The play begins Oct. 19 and ends Nov. 19. The title is a "real stage direction in The Winter's Tale" by William Shakespeare said Harrison, "and is the bane of many directors." The play is directed by Keri Healy. She described the play by quoting Gunderson, "she describes it as part 'I Love Lucy', part Jacobean revenge tragedy, part feminist manifesto, and part 1980's power ballad, and she absolutely hits on all of those cylinders."

Next, for the holiday season is the Seattle Premiere of "Every Christmas Story Ever Told" by Michael Carleton, John K. Alvarez, and James Fitzgerald. Harrison referenced, in describing this play, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, famous for performing all 37 of The Bard's plays in 90 minutes. "This isn't one of their plays but it's in line with their plays," he said. Essentially the story is a condensation of many familiar Christmas stories into a single theater experience. Directed by Kate Yeager the play features three actors who also manage to sing every carol ever sung. It runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 24.

The fourth play of the season is "All Through The Night" by Shirley Lauro. Christopher Zinovitch returns as the director and said, "It's a story we all know. We've seen it told by men, told by Gypsies, by gays, but we haven't seen this story told by women. The story is about four young women who are Aryan during the takeover of the Third Reich (...) they follow their government, they don't ask questions and yet their lives are turned upside down." This drama plays from January 18 to Feb. 12.

Fifth in the series is "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice" by Jim Cartwright. Set in England this play was made into film starring Michael Caine (who won a Golden Globe) and Harrison said, "It's a fabulous piece about a young woman who goes by the name of Little Voice (...) who is so well hidden that her whole life exists in old record albums of Judy Garland, Edith Piaf and Shirley Bassey." Little Voice becomes extremely adept at singing just like her idols but never sings in public.

"Her mother is such a force in her life that she does not allow her daughter to be herself," said director Zinovitch. It debuts March 7 and plays until the end of the month March 31.

Sixth is a Seattle Premiere called "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding", by David Hein and Irene Carr Sankoff. "It is a remarkably sweet show," said Harrison, "very funny, the music is terrific, it's going to give everybody a lift in April and May."

Director Cindy Bradder said, "The author is the narrator of the show, he plays his guitar with his band. His mother goes off to find herself and then she has a new love (...) What runs through the whole thing is this woman's relationship with her son as a teenager and then as an adult and as a heterosexual man who is getting married himself, in the end they are a new form of family."
April 18 to May 18.

Closing the current season this year is "Shipwrecked, an Entertainment, The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by Himself) " Written by Donald Margulies. Directed by Christopher Zinovitch. It's a comedic adventure tale about truth, fiction and the colorful world that can exist between the two. It's about a real person whose grasp on the truth is hazy and Harrison said, "after he was debunked he went on tour in South Africa as The Greatest Liar In the World and still drew huge crowds." It opens at the end of next month April 27 – May 21 2011.

The bonus production of "Evil Dead the Musical" will be be performed during the run of "Exit Pursued by a Bear", on the same set, just at alternate times and nights. Harrison said, "We filled 98% of the seats for the run of that show last year."

They will literally remove all the front row seats and replace them with vinyl covered chairs since, "what's good about vinyl is that it is easy to clean," he said. The crazy action in the play involves actors spraying the audience with fake blood in the campy send up of horror films. "There will be blood," Harrison said, "and the first row is known as the Splatter Zone." It will be performed Friday at 11:00 pm, Saturday at 11:00 pm, Sunday 7:30 pm, Monday at 7:30 pm and Tuesday at 7:30 pm. It will be directed by Kimberly Dare.

The educational arm of ArtsWest will be doing three productions this summer. "The 16 to 21 year olds will be performing in July doing the "Rocky Horror Show". The Conservatory (12 to 16 year olds) "will be doing a musical called "Starmites"which was nominated for a Tony Award for best Musical of the Year in 1989 (...) it takes place in outer space," said Harrison. The 8 to 12 year olds will perform "Once Upon This Island" which Harrison described as a ,"wonderful Caribbean, Tempest sort of show." "They won't just be rehearsing plays," he said, "They will be taking classes."

Harrison also touted an event on March 25 called a WackaDoodle Party at 6:00 pm with what they say will include," off the wall drinks, snacks, and other wackadoodle entertainment as prelude to a performance of "Distracted" the comedy currently in production.

Harrison said that the current season is the most successful in the theater's history, and that it is due to city-wide support. "Our last survey showed that our audience this year, for the first time, less than half were from the four zip codes in West Seattle."

The cost of a season ticket for ArtsWest is $169.50 for six plays. Tickets are available online
or at the box office at 4711 California Ave SW. You can contact ArtsWest at Box Office: (206) 938-0339 or the Administrative Office: (206) 938-0963.