Seattle Rep Announces Its 2018–19 Season

The slate includes Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ‘In the Heights,’ Mike Daisey, and the Fremont Troll.

By Seth Sommerfeld • March 26, 2018 10:00 am

Tags: Stage

Last week Seattle Repertory Theatre revealed a fairly interesting slate for its 2018-19 season. Normally, this would be the place where I’d describe the themes of season lineup, but this was a rare occasion where the official press release actually did a pretty good job of that, so I’ll let Seattle Rep Artistic Director Braden Abraham’s prepared words speak for themselves: “Theatre makers all traverse the crossroads of myth and history. Drawing from unexpected sources of inspiration, the singular artists in next season are creating stories that often become microcosms of our larger world-stories brought to life in an exchange between people that can only happen in a theatre.”

The season starts in October with an adaption of Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which follows three generations of Afghan women who face very different societal struggles. Controversial monologuist Mike Daisey returns with A People’s History (Oct. 17–Nov. 25), where he contrasts the history he learned going up with the one told through the lens of marginalized groups as presented in Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States. That’s followed by a holiday season production Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pre-Hamilton musical In the Heights, which centers on Hispanic American community in New York City’s Washington Heights. The season also features veteran PTSD drama Last of the Boys, theatrical horror in the form of The Woman in Black, A Doll’s House, Part 2’s modern Henrik Ibsen continuation, and the soulful musical protest of Nina Simone: Four Women. Things wrap up in May with the world premiere of Lydia and the Troll, a Fremont Troll-inspired musical from the mind of Lizard Boy Seattleite Justin Huertas.