An Invitation to the Table

Directed by Shermona Mitchell & Teresa Thuman

June 15th–30th, 2024
Center Theatre at the Seattle Center Armory

Named for the percentage of white women who (according to initial exit polls) voted for Trump in 2016, 53% Of skewers different voter demographics: a conservative Pennsylvania moms group, their husbands, an enclave of progressive 20-something New Yorkers planning a march–as long as it doesn’t interfere with their yoga. This election year satire, set during 2016-17 with an all-female-presenting cast, holds an unfiltered mirror while asking us how truthfully we see ourselves. 

POSTPONED FOR SPRING 2025

“We are what we eat.” It’s a mantra that devours the relationship of two Brits who are first united by a love of food: Bex, a working-class Black waitress who knows the world isn’t her oyster, and prefers to slurp down Top Noodle than try the upscale delicacy. Then there’s her white girlfriend Lori, a chef with big dreams to fix up (read: gentrify) a humble chicken shack with high-concept, hard-to-pronounce fare. 

Soup’s not the only thing simmering; it’s got a powerful, hidden base of class, race, appropriation, family nostalgia, and righteousness. In the two-hander HUNGRY, opposites attract … but preparing meals with good intentions may be the very thing that poisons relationships.

Directed by Michelle Banks

June 2nd & 26th, 2024
Center Theatre at the Seattle Center Armory

Seattle audiences can experience an innovative staged reading of acts written, directed, and choreographed by Black Deaf artists. The BASL PROJECT illuminates a barely-known chapter of U.S. history: “Few people know that Black American Sign Language (BASL) originated from segregation in the U.S. educational space,” said Rhonda Cochran, who co-wrote the play. “Imagine how powerful it would be for us to tell this story.”

Through sign language, poetry, and dance, the reading is inspired by true narratives in Black Deaf culture.

There will be a 90-minute lecture on Sunday, June 2nd by University of Washington lecturer Heather D. Clark, Ph.D., whose research explores how Black Deaf individuals in the Pacific Northwest navigate identities and language. The staged reading itself will be on Wednesday, June 26th.

OCTOBER–DECEMBER

A three-month collection of new artistic works. Each month will feature new plays or films, each at different point in its development process—from completed projects to those hot-off-the-printer.