Vashon Repertory Theatre (VRT) has announced its fifth season, with works involving collaborations with both local theater-makers as well as those from the broader region and around the country.
This season, said founder and producing artistic director Charlotte Tienken, will include new creations, re-fashioned works, premieres, and joyful experiments.
“We are thrilled to be joined by some outstanding artists in our mission of making extraordinary theater accessible to everyone,” said Tiencken. “And we’re doing it with local talent — from the actors on the stage through those people behind the scenes, and all the others who support VRT with their time and treasure.”
All of the works in the company’s new season will be staged at Vashon Center for the Arts.
An original play, “Oscar’s Journey,” by Bryan Willis, will launch the season on Aug. 23 to 25 with a work sure to intrigue those who have followed the installation of Thomas Dambo’s latest troll sculpture on Maury Island.
Drawing on an abundance of Scandinavian folklore, Willis, playwright-in-residence at Northwest Playwrights Alliance, has created an original, fanciful story about Vashon’s troll, and the origins of both his “trolliness” and his place as protector of the birds. The family-friendly and playful tale, filled with humor and opportunities for audience interaction, will be staged outdoors at VCA’s Heron’s Meadow, and include original music by Kat Eggleston.
Andy James, director of Vashon High School’s theater program, will helm the production. The play will be accessible to all, with a “pay what you can” ticket price at the entrance.
Auditions for the show will take place from 2-5 p.m. Saturday, June 1, in the Vashon High School auditorium. Rehearsals start the week of July 8. The cast includes adults, young people, and children. Cast wannabees should prepare a short monologue, no longer than two minutes, to perform at the auditions. Sign up for a time to audition at tinyurl.com/m59dvt76.
“The Story of Edgar Sawtelle,” by David Wroblewski, will be next up in VRT’s season on Oct. 10-13 and 17-20.
Book-it Repertory Theatre’s founding artistic director Jane Jones has adapted and will direct this poignant story of a farm boy and his heroic dog, in the Book-It style. In this retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the title character is a mute boy who, after his father is killed, runs away but then returns to his usurped home, hoping to prove his suspicions that his uncle murdered his father.
Continuing its practice of championing new plays, VRT will showcase contemporary women playwrights by presenting staged readings of five new plays to celebrate Women’s History Month in March of 2025. The plays, with themes that are variously intimate, tragic, funny and universal, will be followed by talk-backs with the playwrights.
In May of 2025, VRT will stage the West Coast premiere of “Summer, 1976,” by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright David Auburn. It’s a story of two Ohio women who become unlikely friends over play dates with their young daughters during the summer of 1976, the year of the American Bicentennial. Against the backdrop of the national celebration, the two women navigate motherhood, ambition, and intimacy, and help each other discover their own independence. The play will be directed by Tiencken.
Tickets for all shows are on sale now, at vashonrepertorytheatre.org, with pay-what-you-can tickets always available at the door.
