8th Annual Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival

In 2001, GreenStage, Theater Schmeater and Wooden O Theater created a cooperative theater festival in Seattle's Volunteer Park. Starting in 2008, GreenStage will be the presenter of SOTF, but you can still look forward to performances by all your favorite companies from year to year.

Because of the huge success of the festival, there have been several other companies wanting to join in on the fun. This year we introduce the SOTF Second Stage, located directly behind the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

Here's the schedule:

Saturday, July 12
11am - The Tempest - Young Shakespeare Workshop
2pm - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Wooden O Productions
2pm - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Second Stage) - Open Circle Theater
5pm - The Wind in the Willows - Theater Schmeater
7pm - Hamlet - GreenStage
Sunday, July 13
12pm - All's Well That Ends Well - Last Leaf Productions
2pm - Twelfth Night - GreenStage
2pm - As You Like It (Second Stage)- Eclectic Theater
5pm - The Wind in the Willows - Theater Schmeater
7pm - Romeo and Juliet - Wooden O Productions

The Companies, the shows.

The Young Shakespeare Workshop The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Saturday, July 12 at 11:00am

The Tempest - Banished and shipwrecked with his infant daughter upon a lonely island for a dozen years, Prospero at last gathers his enemies to him by means of a magical storm.  

Each summer YSW gathers students together to create a new community bound by a love of words. Because there is no tuition, YSW is uniquely positioned to draw together students from all walks of life. The only requirement is a passion for language.

The Young Shakespeare Workshop empowers its participants to take ownership of rich, exciting, beautiful, subtle, dangerous, passionate language. The kind of ownership that only physical performance can give, spoken to an audience, lived in the moment of performance, breathing the life within the words as your own. Students begin work with sonnets, progressing to speeches and scenes during their first year, to work on an entire play as a returning student. The First Year Students meet for seven weeks, five days a week, three hours a day for text, voice, and fencing classes, culminating in a recital of sonnets, speeches, and scenes at the Broadway Performance Hall. The Returning Students produce and perform a Shakespearean play, touring it to a variety of venues indoor and out. Last summer's play was King Lear.

Open Circle Theater
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Directed by Ron Sandahl
Saturday, July 12 at 2:00pm (Second Stage)

Open Circle presents a new version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland if only Lewis Carroll would sit down and let the show get on.For the past eleven years Open Circle Theater's Youth Project has been a way to bring theater and the arts to under-funded at risk inner-city youth in the Seattle area. This on-going project helps youth to experience theater from the inside and shows them that art has a place in their lives.In the past few years they have embarked on a partnership with Seattle School District's Interagency Academy to greatly expand the scope of their programs and hopefully reach more of these deserving, under-served youth.

Wooden O Productions
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare Directed by Vanessa Miller, Saturday,July 12 at 2:00pm

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Directed by George Mount,Sunday, July 13 at 7:00pm
Seattle Shakespeare Company recently merged with Wooden O to create a year-round, indoor and outdoor resource for Shakespeare and classic plays. This summer Wooden O celebrates its 15th season of presenting free Shakespeare in the Parks.Seattle Shakespeare Company is the Puget Sound region's only year-round professional, classical theatre dedicated to producing the work of Shakespeare.  The company's growing success stems from a deep belief in the power and vibrancy of Shakespeare's words and ideas along with a commitment to artistic excellence on the stage.  The results have been provocative performances that both challenge and delight audiences while fostering an appreciation for the greatest playwright the world has ever known.

A Midsummer Night's Dream. A bit of glittering Vegas-pixie dust is sprinkled over lovers and fools alike in this casino-themed take on Shakespeare's most popular comedy. The stakes are high for fairy rulers Oberon and Titania as they gamble with love and power, drawing two sets of mortal lovers and a handyman/actor called Bottom into their wicked game. The wild card in this stacked deck is Puck who magically muddles the romance and comic confusion to dizzying heights.Romeo and Juliet. In war-torn Verona occupying forces have turned the streets for local citizens into a battlefield. Yet in this culture of violence hope emerges when two young strangers discover a love that makes them forget their historical bitter hostility. When friends, family and even faith conspire against their love, drastic measures lead to dire consequences. Romeo and Juliet is a timeless clarion call for peace and reconciliation in a conflict-ravaged culture.

Wooden O recognizes that the Seattle region provides a remarkable theatre environment featuring a dedicated, savvy audience and a diverse, talented artistic community. They believe the plays of William Shakespeare and the classics of theatre are timeless, crossing social and cultural boundaries. With a wide range of themes and a rich gallery of characters, the plays of William Shakespeare and other classic writers examine the full spectrum of the human experience: love, jealousy, loyalty, hatred, passion, vengeance, romance, ambition, and humor are all subject matter for these plays. With that in mind, they believe that the region, audiences and artists, deserve a theatre committed to first-rate, professional productions of Shakespeare and the classics.

Theater Schmeater
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame World Premiere Adaptation by J.D. Lloyd, Saturday, July 12 at 5:00pm,Sunday, July 13 at 5:00pm

Theater Schmeater is pleased to present a world premiere adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's beloved masterpiece The Wind in the Willows as an outdoor production at the Volunteer Park Amphitheater. The Wind in the Willows runs at 5:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays beginning on July 12th and running through August 10th.  All performances are free to the public.

If the world is perfect for those not cursed with self-awareness, then Toad Hall is in the best of all possible worlds.  Smitten by the passing delights of the new fangled art of "motoring", Toad's accidents and exploits send him to the slammer while the Weasels and Stoats take over his much admired residence.  Following his unlikely escape from jail dressed as a washerwoman, Toad is aided by Water Rat, Mole, and the incomparable Badger in removing the Weasels from Toad Hall and restoring balance to the Forest.

This new adaptation by director J. D. Lloyd brings all of Kenneth Grahame's wit and wisdom to the outdoor stage, encouraging the audience and cast to revel in the pastoral splendor of Volunteer Park.  Aaron Allshouse stars as the incorrigible Toad, with Tadd Alexander as Mole, Josh Hartvigson as Water Rat, and Doug Staley as Badger.  Terrance Boyd, Stacey Bush, Ian Gerrard, Julia Griffin, David Nance,  Jesse Ross, and Anne Schreck portray the rest of the forest's wily inhabitants.  Choreography by Kerry Christianson, costumes are by Karly Bickel with settings by Michael Mowery and Doug Staley.

GreenStage
Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Directed by Susanna Wilson
Saturday, July 12 at 7:00pm
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Directed by Amelia Meckler,Sunday, July 13 at 2:00pm

Hamlet. In Denmark, the old Norse gods are being relegated to the realm of mythology as Christianity becomes a way of life. When Hamlet's father, the King, dies, and his mother remarries the King's brother, thoughts of revenge, lust, ambition, and murder intertwine with questions of death itself. New concepts of Divine Providence and life after death are something only Prince Hamlet dares to explore. Shakespeare's masterful play presents an engaging story examining humanity's innermost thoughts and beliefs.

Twelfth Night. Shipwrecked in the land of Illyria, her brother lost at sea, Viola finds herself in the middle of a bizarre love triangle. Employed by Duke Orsino, and disguised as a boy, she is sent on an embassy of love to Countess Olivia, who finds herself smitten by this intriguing messenger. Love, mistaken identities, disguises, revenge, tomfoolery, sword fighting, passion, and music - sweet music, make Twelfth Night one of Shakespeare's funniest and most complete comedies.

GreenStage's mission is to inspire our audiences to engage in live theatre as part of their recreation. We wish to instill and foster in our community an appreciation for live theater, with a strong belief that theater can be enjoyed in the same spirit as a picnic or a ballgame. We make high-quality theatrical productions of Shakespeare's plays freely accessible to all residents and visitors to Seattle and King County.

Last Leaf Productions
All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare,Sunday, July 13 at 12:00noon

Last Leaf Productions is in its tenth year of touring schools, libraries, and daycares throughout Western Washington with their original adaptations of fairy and folk tales from around the world as well as the Shakespeare in the Park series.  We can be found this summer at Sno-Isle, King County and Timberland Libraries and city parks from Skagit to Olympia as well as area parks in the upper North East side of the water and Richland's Merrie Greenwood Faire.  Our focus has always been high quality, portable theatre that brings the theatre to the audience, After each performance, the children are invited to visit with the characters and the actors are available to autograph programs we include which feature word games, recipes and stories designed specifically for each program.

Eclectic Theater
As You Like It by William Shakespeare, Sunday, July 13 at 2:00pm (Second Stage)

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players
Banished to the forest of Arden, former courtiers try to make sense of life, love and laughter. Rosalind disguises herself as a man to protect her cousin Celia. Accompanied by the sarcastic Touchstone, they carve out a course to find their destinies.  As You Like It is one of William Shakespeare's early pastoral comedies.

This marks Eclectic Theater Company's fourth Summer Shakespeare in the Parks production, having presented A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night previously. ETC also produced a riveting Hamlet this past Winter as part of the 2007-2008 Season at Odd Duck Studio.

Eclectic Theater Company is dedicated to presenting original, contemporary, and classic works for the stage and independent screen. ETC is a professional 501 (c) 3 organization. Eclectic Theater Company is based at The Odd Duck Studio on Capitol Hill, a cozy theatre perfect for tucking in for a good show amidst rubber duckies and the occasional theatre cat.