Top Ten

I am currently rehearsing for The Vagina Monologues. It is one of those plays that women have fierce emotional reactions too, and most men avoid. A freind of my mothers said that when she saw this play, several years ago, it rated among her top three theatrical experiences of all time. She credited this more to the audience than the production, to a feeling of being part of a group of people who were all captivated, all completely present.

This got me thinking, what are my top theatrical experiences of all time? So in honor the end of awards season here are my personal current top ten favorite productions.

1) Hamlet, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, 2010
      I've seen a lot of Hamlets. I've seen the Royal Shakespeare company do it uncut at the Globe Tokyo, I've seen Peter Brooks do it on Rugs, I've seen it in the park, and I've seen it on film, and the Hamlet I saw in Ashland last summer was the best Hamlet I have ever seen. I credit this to both a mesmerizing subtle performance by Dan Donahue, and bold directorial choices that include using American Sign Language with the ghost, and placing the famous soliliquies in the middle of scenes.


2) Shockheaded Peter, Created and devised by Julian Bleach, Anthony Cairns, Julian Crouch, Graeme Gilmour, Tamzin Griffin, Jo Pocock, Phelim McDermott, Michael Morris and The Tiger Lillies, The Moore Theater, 2001
     This grisly, Gothic collection of morality tales is unlike anything else I've seen on stage before on since. Using puppets, and the music by collaborators The Tiger Lillies, it tells the story of children who do silly naughty things like sucking their thumbs or playing with matches. All the children die, and the play manages to be funny, inventive, strange, and the kind of one of a kind theater experience that stays with you years later.

3) Mary Stuart, Apollo Theater, London's West End, 2006
     One of four plays I saw during a ten day solo trip to London over the New Year. It featured two powerhouse female performers, an electrifying political current, and a costume choice I'm still wondering about. While Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter were in full period dress, the men that made up the court wore modern suits. I'm not sure if this choice was dictated in the adaptation by Peter Oswarld, or a directorial choice by Phyllida Lloyd, but whoever was responsible, it was a highly effective.  

4) To You, The Birdie! (Phedre), The Wooster Group at On the Boards, 2002
      I was in college, I was sitting in the front row, and Willem Dafoe played Theseus as a shirtless, daftly proud man. "look at that" he would say, and flex, and I couldn't look anywhere else.

5) The Odyssey, Mary Zimmerman's production at the Seattle Rep,  2000
     Visually and poetically stunning, punctuated by moments of laugh out loud humor, and heartbreaking beauty, this was a journey I will never forget.

6) Crumbs are also Bread, Washington Ensemble Theater, 2007
    I saw this quiet little play by Stephanie Timm when I was feeling a bit burned out on theater, and corny as it sounds, it restored my faith. WET managed to fit an entier town onto their very small stage, and using a combination of poetic writing, magical realism, and heartfelt performanes, made it a place I was grateful to spend two hours in.

7) Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,  Lily Tomlin at Seattle Rep, 2000
     2000 was a good year for the Seattle Rep in terms of hosting productions. It was also my first year back in Seattle after spending ten years in Japan with very little theater. Lily Tomlin lit up that stage; she was funny, she was poignant, she was a deeply human, and she was a goddess. I was eighteen and in raptures.

8) Spring Awakening, Paramount, 2009
     This is my token musical. I love the experience of going to see big budget musicals, the songs and stage magic serve as a shortcut for getting you emotionally involved. I'm going with Spring Awakening over some of my other favorite musical experiences (Les Miz, A Chorus Line, Avenue Q, and yes, Wicked) because it was amazing and memorable based only on the music and the performances. There was no gimmick, no spectacle, it was about teenagers and their angst and frustration. It was beautifully performed, raw, profane, and accessible.

9) The Good Body, Eve Ensler at the Moore Theater, 2006
     I saw this play twice. First in its workshop at the Seattle Rep, and then when it came to the Moore for its official run. I saw it on my birthday. I saw it at a time when I was working on my own play about women and our obsessions with our bodies. Eve Ensler is a talented performer, a gifted writer, and a great crusader for women.

10) Macbeth, little bilingual company in tiny theater in Osaka Japan, 1995
     This is one of my first memories of going to see live theater. I was fourteen, and my parents and I nearly got lost in the maze of trains and taxis trying to find the place. The staging was dark and intence, the actors took their curtain call still in character, not a smile to be seen, and when I went home I imediately went to the library and checked out the complete works of Shakespeare.