Live Girls! September 2013 Cupcake Reading Series

September 12-15th @ 7pm | $8

Spring was so nice we decided to do this twice! Live Girls! presents the return of the Cupcake Readings for a second series in 2013. For our fall series Live Girls! selected 3 new full length plays including work from Joy McCullough-Carranza, Krista Knight, and Emily Feldman and commissioned new short plays from Maggie Lee, Zoey Belyea, Ann Eisenberg, Kelsey Wilke, Kristina Sutherland, Seayoung Yim, and Juliet Waller Pruzan. With intimate readings followed by talk-backs, The Cupcake Reading Series gives audiences a chance to get to know the work of exciting up and coming playwrights as well as an opportunity to be directly involved in the shaping of new plays. And yes actual cupcake will be served!

September 12th 7pm
MADELINE J. SMALL IS GETTING SMALLER by Emily Feldman
Directed by Madeline Downs

September 13th 7pm
Clementine and the Cyber Ducks by Krista Knight
Directed by Lisa Glomb

September 14th 7pm
Shorts Night! New short plays commissioned by Live Girls! from Maggie Lee, Ann Eisenberg, Kelsey Wilke, Zoey Belyea, Kristina Sutherland, Seayoung Yim, and Juliet Waller Pruzan
Directed by Erin Bednarz and Meghan Arnette

September 15th 7pm
BLOOD/WATER/PAINT by Joy McCullough-Carranza
Directed by Amy Poisson

Live Girls! March 2013 Cupcake Reading Series

March 12-15th @ 7pm & March 16th @ 2pm & 7pm
Tickets are $8 OR save a bundle and get an All Festival Pass for only $20!

Taste a new play every day!

The Cupcake Reading Series is a staple of Live Girls! Bakery Play Development program, which helps female playwrights by providing resources like staged readings, talk-backs and new play commissions. With intimate readings followed by talk-backs, the Cupcake Reading Series gives audiences a chance to get to know the work of exciting up and coming playwrights as well as an opportunity to be directly involved in the shaping of new plays.

The Cupcake Readings kick-off the Live Girls! year with presentations of 11 new play over 5 days. For 2013 LG! selected 7 new plays including work from Rachel Atkins, Joanna Horowitz, Gillian Jorgenson, Juliet Waller Pruzan, Kristen Palmer, Kelsey Wilk, 2 plays from the ACT Young Playwrights(YPP) program from Holly Butterfield, and Alyson Davis and special co-presentation of Annex Theatre’s YPP playwrights, Rachel Habib and Jonathan Catterfeld.

March 12th 7pm
The Simon Fairchild Memorial Animal Choir by Kelsey Wilk / Directed by Erin Bednarz

March 13th 7pm
Gulch by Juliet Waller Pruzan / Directed by L. Nicol Cabe
AND
No Way Out by Gillian Jorgenson

March 14th 7pm
The Melting Point By Kristen Palmer / Directed by Meghan Arnette

March 15th 7pm
Black Like Us by Rachel Atkins / Directed by Jose Amador
AND
This is Not September 11 by Rachel Atkins / Directed by Annie Lareau

March 16th 2pm
Plays from ACT’s Young Playwrights program, Co-Presented with Annex Theatre:

LG! Award Plays
A Plot in the Dark by Holly Butterfield / Directed by Kristina Sutherland
Encourage Rebellion by Alyson Davis / Directed by Rachel Delmar

Annex Award Plays
Under The Apple Tree By Jonathan Catterfeld
The Purrrfect Crime by Rachel Habib

March 16th at 7pm
Miss End of the World, Etc. by Joanna Horowitz / Directed by Ashley Flannegan

A Mouse Who Knows Me

Book & lyrics by Scotto Moore
Music by Robertson Witmer
Directed by Kristina Sutherland

Thu-Sat at 8 pm, Oct 19-Nov 17 (Thu PWYC)
$15 general / $10 TPS, senior, military / $5 student
PWYC Industry Night: Monday, Nov 5

A Mouse Who Knows Me is a world premiere science fiction musical comedy with book & lyrics by Scotto Moore (Duel of the Linguist Mages), music by Robertson Witmer (of the band “Awesome”), & directed by Kristina Sutherland (artistic director of Macha Monkey Productions). In a genetics lab that is inserting human genes into mice to see what might happen, Dr. Audrey Whitman starts to believe that one of her mice has developed human empathy & intelligence and develops a strange relationship with the mouse she christens Romeo, to the chagrin of her colleagues in the lab. Her mentor secretly plots to use her intelligent mouse to breed a new form of war machine – but neither realize that the mice in the lab have their own plans for bloody revolution. It’s an inter-species West Side Story!

WHO’S INVOLVED

Scotto Mooreʼs previous plays at Annex include the Gregory-Award-nominated pair Duel of the Linguist Mages and 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).

Robertson Witmer‘s recent work as a composer and sound designer includes I Am My Own Wife and Of Mice and Men at Seattle Rep; As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, and Hamlet for Seattle Shakespeare Company; and The Art of Racing in the Rain for Book-It. His recent performance credits include A Doctor in Spite of Himself (Intiman, Yale Rep and Berkeley Rep), Go, Dog. Go! (Seattle Children’s Theatre), and West (On the Boards). Rob also performs with many bands, including “Awesome,” the Love Markets and the Toucans.

Kristina Sutherland is the Director of Education at ACT and the co-founder and Artistic Director of Macha Monkey Productions. She is the author of several plays, most recently the critically acclaimed THEBES. She has also co-created four plays with Desiree Prewitt: Nancy, Frank, and Joe (nominated for the American Theatre Critics Association Award 2009 and a Gregory Award for playwriting in 2010), The Cowgirl Play, R (The Swashbuckling Tale of Anne Bonny and Mary Read) and Live Girls Do Elektra. Her recent directing credits include When I Come to My Senses, I’m Alive! by Scotto Moore at Annex Theatre, Franklin and Figaro by Kristina Sutherland at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, Kid Simple, a radio play in the flesh by Jordan Harrison at Macha Monkey Productions, Melancholy Play by Sarah Ruhl (2004 Footlight Award Winner) at Macha Monkey Productions, and Dukthul by Kristina Sutherland and Red Eagle Soaring.

Reviews of ‘A Mouse Who Knows Me’:

“One of the wittiest, funniest and most topical musicals I have ever seen…this world premiere is not going to die in Seattle, but I suspect will soon be on Broadway and the West End. Hurry and get your tickets now, before it gets sold out.” – Drama In The Hood

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

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

“Beautiful imagining… Next to the shine of speculative nodes are jokes that snap, crackle, and pop… The presentation of this fantastic fusion, which also includes theological thought experiments and the narrative structure of a thriller, is strong all around… The pleasures of ‘interlace [falling star]’ are more than plenty.” — The Stranger

PRESS PHOTOS

CAST
Sara Mountjoy-Pepka Dr. Audrey Whitman
Allison Standley Dr. Audrey Whitman (understudy, Oct 25-27)/Ensemble
K. Brian Neel Dr. Roland Grant/Romeo
Josh Hartvigson Dr. Robert Cramer
Pamala Mijatov Dr. Lorelei Meadow
Tadd Morgan D29-1/Ensemble
Leilani Berinobis Dr. Helena Warwick/D28-2
John McKenna Theodore Werner/D29-2
Amanda Lee Williams D29-3/Ensemble
Lissa Bak D29-4/Ensemble
MUSICIANS
Greg Fulton Guitar
Chris Monroe Drums
Dave Pascal Bass
Robertson Witmer Piano, accordion, woodwinds & percussion
CREW
Book & Lyrics Scotto Moore
Music Robertson Witmer
Director Kristina Sutherland
Assistant Director Catherine Blake Smith
Choreographer Allegra Searle-LeBel
Vocal Arranger Brian Kinyon
Concept & Genetics Consultant Jenny Rooke Ph.D.
Mouse Consultant Molly Nixon Ph.D.
Production Manager Meaghan Darling
Stage Manager Katie McKellar
Assistant Stage Manager Raymond Williams
Scenic & Props Designer Robin Macartney
Costume Designer Samantha Armitage
Lighting Designer Tess Malone
Sound Designer Robertson Witmer
Puppet Designer Paul Velasquez
Vocal Coach Allison Standley
Recording Engineer Pete Remine

Sweet Nothing, a (grim) fairytale

Presented by Macha Monkey Productions
Written by Stephanie Timm
Directed by Laurel Pilar Garcia

Fri-Sat at 8 pm, June 1-23, 2012
Special Industry Performance Monday June 11 at 8pm
$15 in advance or $18 at the door

Macha Monkey is proud to present the northwest premiere of Stephanie Timm’s Sweet Nothing, a (grim) fairytale at Annex Theatre’s space in June 2012. Sweet Nothing explores the repercussions of violence and war through a fairytale lens. Once upon a time in a raped and pillaged land, the youngest of three sisters weds herself to a man she’s never met who lives across the sea. When the next youngest is offered a similar promise of living happily ever after, she discovers that hope might just be her worst enemy.

“…there really wasn’t an aspect of this production that didn’t appeal to me. From the outstanding script by Timm and direction by Garcia to the stunning cast to the gorgeously designed show make this one an absolute winner!” –Broadway World

“Timm is a smart, gifted writer and nicely sets up all the archetypal bowling pins—the three sisters, their ravaged land, the mysterious other-land where the youngest sister goes, the dangerous yet attractive wolf-man, the mute and sweet-hearted woodsboy, the alliteration and rhyming…” –The Stranger

“It’s a lovely evening’s entertainment, a little sticky in the chewing but tasty and a bit dark without being especially heavy.” –The Sunbreak

Photo gallery from the production

Playwright Stephanie Timm is company playwright for New Century Theatre Company, and recently finished a year-long residency with ACT Theatre. She was commissioned by 5th Avenue Musical Theatre to write Rosie the Riveter! with composer Albert Evans. She was nominated for a Gregory Award for New Century Theatre Company’s premiere of On the Nature of Dust. Her play Crumbs Are Also Bread was published in the Rain City Projects Manifesto Series, edited by Steven Dietz. Her plays have been produced and developed at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, Kennedy Center, Lark Theatre, Boots Up Theatre Company, Washington Ensemble Theatre, and Live Girls! among others. Stephanie also teaches at Cornish College of the Arts, and writes for video games. Stephanie received her MFA from UC San Diego.

Director Laurel Pilar Garcia most recently directed a reading of Royal Blood by Sonya Schneider with Northwest Playwright Alliance, Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl for Lincoln Center Directors Lab and Center of the Universe by Dustin Engstrom at Open Circle Theatre. Additional credits include directing and producing WAKE by Sonya Schneider at the Little Theatre with Onward Ho! Productions, The Diary of Anne Frank for the Driftwood Players, Zapatista for Teatro Milagro in Portland, Ore., Two Rooms by Lee Blessing at the Freehold Studio Series, Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies and A Christmas Carol, both at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts. Her assistant directing credits include several productions with former Intiman Artistic Director Bartlett Sher, including Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, Shakespeare’s Richard III and Chekhov’s Three Sisters. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and received her B.A. in Theatre Arts from Lewis & Clark College.

CAST
Monica Finney Iris
Libby Barnard Lily
Samantha Leeds Violet
Quinn Armstrong Woodsboy
Jason Sharp Wolf
CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright Stephanie Timm
Director Laurel Pilar Garcia
Assistant Director Courtney Meaker
Movement Juliet Waller Pruzan
Set Design Montana Tippett
Sound Design Joseph Swartz
Light Design Danny Fisher-Bruns
Costume Design Kelsey McCornack
Fight Choreography Stephen Scheide
Stage Manager Catrina Vroman
Assistant Stage Manager Seayoung Yim
Production Management Alexis Holzer, Kristina Sutherland

Macha Monkey Productions is a nonprofit arts organization showcasing exceptional artists, delivering innovative educational programs, and producing new theatrical work that features strong female characters.

When I Come to My Senses, I’m Alive!

written by Scotto Moore | directed by Kristina Sutherland
Apr 23 – May 22, 2010 | Fri-Sat at 8 pm
Industry Night: May 10 at 8pm
$15 gen | $5 stu

“When I Come To My Senses, I’m Alive!” is a near-future sci-fi story about a technological provocateur who invents a method for capturing emotions as digital information, as part of a project to “chart the emotional genome.” She develops a cult following of fans who download her very addictive “emoticlips” – each delivered with cryptic, poetic file names like “the surprise of an unfamiliar memory” – and play them back in hobby-built receiver helmets. The experience is not full blown virtual reality; instead, emotional responses & sensations are triggered, and each fan experiences something unique. A seedy television executive tries to coopt her technology to syndicate the emotions of TV stars, hiring an elite P.I. to figure out what her weaknesses are when she refuses to sell out… but in the meantime, publishing digital versions of her emotions to the internet has unexpected consequences amongst the botnets of the world.

SeattleActor.com review:

Scotto Moore‘s new play, “When I Come to My Senses, I’m Alive!” is the best kind of science fiction, the kind where speculation about the future feels like something you could wake up to tomorrow morning. In this World Premiere production, director Kristina Sutherland has kept the ideas fresh and intriguing and the performances finely finished and compelling. The acting is brisk and, at least for the enthusiastic opening night audience, it’s premise and articulation is easily embraced by a generation for whom the globalization of information, media and personal experience meld into our shared online identities…. [The play] is a lot of fun, at least in part because it is so confident and thoroughly considered in its ideas and equally finished in its theatrical savvy for putting them on stage.

Seattle Times review:

It’s not hard to be captivated by Moore’s provocative premise about a leap in information technology that makes human emotions a downloadable, vicarious experience. The story’s late turn toward suspense — with the spectral rise of freethinking, artificial intelligence on the Internet — certainly ups the ante in unexpected, spooky ways…. Director Kristina Sutherland keeps the action brisk and crisp, and knows how to nudge the audience’s imagination.

The Stranger review:

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

Seattle Gay News review:

Fun, fascinating, thoughtful and delightful.

[Note: omnipotent self-aware botnets click here]


Jade Justad in When I Come to My Senses, I'm Alive!

CAST
Annique Farrar Jennifer Pratt
Micky Carter Daniel Christensen
Veronica Bilious Jade Justad
Aleister Rowland Curtis Eastwood
Cicely Bryce Katie Beudert
Monica/Emily March LaChrista Borgers
Whisper/Cody Charles Jesse Keeter
CREW
Stage Manager Rob Bergquist
Set Design David Gignac
Light Design Dani Prados
Costume Design
Headgear Design
Rebecca Grabman
Props Design J H Welch
Sound Design Scotto Moore
Technical Consultant Brett Wagner
Technical Director Max Reichlin
Production Manager Ellie McKay
Build Team Jillian Vashro
Ian Johnston
Poster Design Miquela Suazo
Trailer: Director of
Photography/Editor
Ben Laurance
Trailer: Gaffer Michael Hayes
Trailer: Sound Ian Johnston
PRESS
Press Release Senses_Press_Release.pdf
Press Photos Senses_Press_Photo_1.jpg
Senses_Press_Photo_2.jpg
Senses_Press_Photo_3.jpg