Intiman Playhouse
Encyclopedia
Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington
, was founded in 1972 by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it for August Strindberg's Stockholm theater
. With a self-declared focus on "a resident acting ensemble, fidelity to the playwright's intentions and a close relationship between actor and audience", the Intiman soon called itself as "Seattle's classic theater". Its debut season in 1972 included Rosmersholm
, The Creditors, The Underpants
, and Brecht on Brecht. The theater has been host to Tony
-nominated Director Bartlett Sher
(who served as both a director and artistic director), Tony-nominated actress Celia Keenan-Bolger, and movie actor Tom Skerritt
. It was also home to the world premieres of the Tony-winning Broadway
musical
The Light in the Piazza and Craig Lucas
's Singing Forest. Lucas also served as the Associate Artistic Director. Intiman won the 2006 Regional Theatre Tony Award
.
On April 18, 2011, the theater announced that, after the run of its first scheduled production, its financial situation had forced it to cancel the four productions scheduled for the rest of the 2011 season. The theater has stated that it intends to use the hiatus to develop a new strategic plan, and return with a 2012 season.
In August, 2011, Unexpected Productions
took up residence at the Intiman and currently performs improvised comedy there, including Theatresports, which is Seattle's longest-running show.
. Under the leadership of artistic directors Megs and John Booker, the Intiman officially incorporated as a non-profit theatre in 1973. Over the next few years, the company mounted productions at Cornish College and Gary Austin
's Second Stage Theatre in Seattle, growing in attendance and budget each season. By 1976, Intiman called itself "Seattle's Classic Theatre" and featured a resident company of fourteen actors, including Megan Cole, Clayton Corzatte, Ted D'Arms, John Gilbert, Patricia Healy, Richard Riele and Jean Smart.
In 1977, Intiman opened year-round administrative offices in Pioneer Square
and hired Simon Siegl as its first general manager. With a season of five classic plays, Intiman also began a parallel program "New Plays Onstage," staged readings of contemporary works directed and performed by members of the ensemble. Over the next several years, Intiman was awarded institutional status by the King County
and Washington State Arts Commissions and received an NEA
challenge grant.
After a three-year planning process Intiman participated in the 1982 Scandinavia Today, an international exposition of Nordic
culture, which took place in five American cities. Intiman presented staged readings of five contemporary works and two great classics on its main stage: The Wild Duck
and A Dream Play
, in collaboration with top Scandinavia
n directors, designers and playwrights.
Meanwhile, Second Stage, Intiman's venue for nine theatrical seasons, faced demolition to make way for the Washington State Convention Center. For several years, Intiman, unlike any other professional resident theatre in the area, operated without a permanent home. Under the continued leadership of Booker and Siegl, Intiman rented various performance venues around the city on a short term, basis, including Broadway Performance Hall on the campus of Seattle Central Community College
.
This picture changed radically after 1985, when Peter Davis came aboard as Intiman's first managing director. Davis—a former scenic designer who had worked for both Intiman and Seattle Repertory Theatre
—completely restructured Intiman's finances and administration. He successfully negotiated the plan for Intiman to operate and manage its current facility on the grounds of Seattle Center
. That facility, the Seattle Center Playhouse (now Intiman Playhouse) had been built for the Century 21 Exposition
(the 1962 Seattle World's Fair
), and had then served as the original home of the Seattle Repertory Theatre. In 1982, the Rep had moved to a new facility elsewhere on the Seattle Center grounds. Intiman received a 22-year lease from the City. After a US$
1.2 million renovation, in 1987, for the first time in its history, Intiman had a single facility with performance, rehearsal, production, shop and administrative areas. As it moved into its new facility, Intiman hired a new artistic director, Elizabeth Huddle, who served for the next six years, succeeded in 1993 by Warner Shook.
In 1994, Intiman became the first regional theatre company in the country to be awarded the rights to produce Tony Kushner
's Tony
- and Pulitzer
-winning two-part epic Angels in America
. Part One: Millennium Approaches closed Intiman's 1994 season, and Part Two: Perestroika opened the 1995 season. Directed by Shook, the complete Angels in America was the most commercially successful production ever to be produced at the theatre, reaching more than 63,000 attendees over its two-year run. Over the next decade, Intiman produced plays by such provocative and influential American writers as Edward Albee
, Moisés Kaufman
, Ellen McLaughlin
, Terrence McNally
, David Rabe, Anna Deavere Smith
, Paula Vogel
, and Chay Yew
.
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, was founded in 1972 by Margaret "Megs" Booker, who named it for August Strindberg's Stockholm theater
Strindbergs Intima Teater
Strindbergs Intima Teater or Intima teatern, is a theatre stage in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded and managed by the famous Swedish playwright August Strindberg between the years 1907-1910...
. With a self-declared focus on "a resident acting ensemble, fidelity to the playwright's intentions and a close relationship between actor and audience", the Intiman soon called itself as "Seattle's classic theater". Its debut season in 1972 included Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm
Rosmersholm is a play written in 1886 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In the estimation of many critics the piece is Ibsen's masterwork, only equalled by The Wild Duck of 1884...
, The Creditors, The Underpants
The Underpants
The Underpants is the most recent adaptation of the 1910 German farce Die Hose by playwright Carl Sternheim. The adaptation was written by Steve Martin...
, and Brecht on Brecht. The theater has been host to Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-nominated Director Bartlett Sher
Bartlett Sher
Bartlett Sher , is an American theatre director. He received both the 2008 Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Broadway revival of South Pacific. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but...
(who served as both a director and artistic director), Tony-nominated actress Celia Keenan-Bolger, and movie actor Tom Skerritt
Tom Skerritt
Thomas Roy "Tom" Skerritt is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962.-Early life:...
. It was also home to the world premieres of the Tony-winning Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
The Light in the Piazza and Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.-Biography:...
's Singing Forest. Lucas also served as the Associate Artistic Director. Intiman won the 2006 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Regional Theatre Tony Award
The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special non-competitive Tony Award given annually to a regional theatre company in the United States. Initially presented in 1948 to Robert Porterfield of the Virginia Barter Theatre for their Contribution To Development Of Regional Theatre, the Regional Theatre...
.
On April 18, 2011, the theater announced that, after the run of its first scheduled production, its financial situation had forced it to cancel the four productions scheduled for the rest of the 2011 season. The theater has stated that it intends to use the hiatus to develop a new strategic plan, and return with a 2012 season.
In August, 2011, Unexpected Productions
Unexpected Productions
Unexpected Productions is an improvisational comedy company in Seattle, Washington, USA. From their home at the Market Theater in Seattle's historic Pike Place Market, Unexpected Productions produces year-round shows, teaches improv classes, and hosts the Seattle International Festival of...
took up residence at the Intiman and currently performs improvised comedy there, including Theatresports, which is Seattle's longest-running show.
History
Intiman's original location was a 65-seat theater in Kirkland, WashingtonKirkland, Washington
Kirkland is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Seattle on the Eastside . The population was 48,787 at the 2010 census makes it the 9th largest city in King County and the 20th largest city in the state...
. Under the leadership of artistic directors Megs and John Booker, the Intiman officially incorporated as a non-profit theatre in 1973. Over the next few years, the company mounted productions at Cornish College and Gary Austin
Gary Austin
Gary Austin is an American comedian, improvisational theatre teacher, writer, and director. He has written two solo shows, "Church" and "Oil," and has performed them coast to coast...
's Second Stage Theatre in Seattle, growing in attendance and budget each season. By 1976, Intiman called itself "Seattle's Classic Theatre" and featured a resident company of fourteen actors, including Megan Cole, Clayton Corzatte, Ted D'Arms, John Gilbert, Patricia Healy, Richard Riele and Jean Smart.
In 1977, Intiman opened year-round administrative offices in Pioneer Square
Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington
Pioneer Square is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of Downtown Seattle, Washington, USA. It was once the heart of the city: Seattle's founders settled there in 1852, following a brief six-month settlement at Alki Point on the far side of Elliott Bay. The early structures in the neighborhood...
and hired Simon Siegl as its first general manager. With a season of five classic plays, Intiman also began a parallel program "New Plays Onstage," staged readings of contemporary works directed and performed by members of the ensemble. Over the next several years, Intiman was awarded institutional status by the King County
King County, Washington
King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....
and Washington State Arts Commissions and received an NEA
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
challenge grant.
After a three-year planning process Intiman participated in the 1982 Scandinavia Today, an international exposition of Nordic
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
culture, which took place in five American cities. Intiman presented staged readings of five contemporary works and two great classics on its main stage: The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Plot:The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home following a self-imposed...
and A Dream Play
A Dream Play
A Dream Play was written in 1901 by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. It was first performed in Stockholm on 17 April 1907. It remains one of Strindberg's most admired and influential dramas, seen as an important precursor to both dramatic Expressionism and Surrealism.-Plot:The primary...
, in collaboration with top Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n directors, designers and playwrights.
Meanwhile, Second Stage, Intiman's venue for nine theatrical seasons, faced demolition to make way for the Washington State Convention Center. For several years, Intiman, unlike any other professional resident theatre in the area, operated without a permanent home. Under the continued leadership of Booker and Siegl, Intiman rented various performance venues around the city on a short term, basis, including Broadway Performance Hall on the campus of Seattle Central Community College
Seattle Central Community College
Seattle Central Community College is a community college located in Seattle, Washington, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. It is one of the three colleges which make up the Seattle Community College District...
.
This picture changed radically after 1985, when Peter Davis came aboard as Intiman's first managing director. Davis—a former scenic designer who had worked for both Intiman and Seattle Repertory Theatre
Seattle Repertory Theatre
Seattle Repertory Theatre is a major regional theatre located in Seattle, Washington, at the Seattle Center. It is a member of Theatre Puget Sound and Theatre Communications Group. Founded in 1963, it is led by Artistic Director Jerry Manning and Managing Director Benjamin Moore...
—completely restructured Intiman's finances and administration. He successfully negotiated the plan for Intiman to operate and manage its current facility on the grounds of Seattle Center
Seattle Center
Seattle Center is a park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. The campus is the site used in 1962 by the Century 21 Exposition. It is located just north of Belltown in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.-Attractions:...
. That facility, the Seattle Center Playhouse (now Intiman Playhouse) had been built for the Century 21 Exposition
Century 21 Exposition
The Century 21 Exposition was a World's Fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962 in Seattle, Washington.Nearly 10 million people attended the fair...
(the 1962 Seattle World's Fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
), and had then served as the original home of the Seattle Repertory Theatre. In 1982, the Rep had moved to a new facility elsewhere on the Seattle Center grounds. Intiman received a 22-year lease from the City. After a US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1.2 million renovation, in 1987, for the first time in its history, Intiman had a single facility with performance, rehearsal, production, shop and administrative areas. As it moved into its new facility, Intiman hired a new artistic director, Elizabeth Huddle, who served for the next six years, succeeded in 1993 by Warner Shook.
In 1994, Intiman became the first regional theatre company in the country to be awarded the rights to produce Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
's Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
- and Pulitzer
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning two-part epic Angels in America
Angels in America
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winning play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...
. Part One: Millennium Approaches closed Intiman's 1994 season, and Part Two: Perestroika opened the 1995 season. Directed by Shook, the complete Angels in America was the most commercially successful production ever to be produced at the theatre, reaching more than 63,000 attendees over its two-year run. Over the next decade, Intiman produced plays by such provocative and influential American writers as Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
, Moisés Kaufman
Moisés Kaufman
Moisés Kaufman is a playwright, director and founder of Tectonic Theater Project. He is the author of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, 33 Variations and is perhaps best known for writing The Laramie Project with other members of Tectonic Theater Project...
, Ellen McLaughlin
Ellen McLaughlin
Ellen McLaughlin is an American playwright and actor for stage and film. Her plays include Days and Nights Within, A Narrow Bed, Infinity's House, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Tongue of a Bird, The Trojan Women, Helen, The Persians and Oedipus.Producers include: Actors' Theater of Louisville,...
, Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally is an American playwright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Council of the...
, David Rabe, Anna Deavere Smith
Anna Deavere Smith
Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, and professor. She is currently the artist in residence at the Center for American Progress.-Early life:...
, Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel is an American playwright and university professor. She received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, How I Learned to Drive.-Early years:...
, and Chay Yew
Chay Yew
Chay Yew is a playwright and stage director who was born in Singapore. As of 2007 he lives in New York City. As of July 2011, he becomes Artistic Director of Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago.-Career:...
.
Recent history
- On August 5, 2011 the first performance of Seattle Theatresports took place, the show having previously been performed in the Gum Wall Theatre in Pike Place MarketGum WallThe Market Theater Gum Wall is a local landmark in downtown Seattle, in Post Alley under Pike Place Market. Similar to Bubblegum Alley in San Luis Obispo, California, the Market Theater Gum Wall is a brick alleyway wall now covered in used chewing gum...
.
- On April 16, 2011 the Board of Trustees voted to close the Intiman theatre and lay off the entire staff, including Artistic Director Kate Whoriskey. In November, 2010 the Intiman had found that the theatre was $2.3 million in debt and had begun a fundraising effort to pay overdue expenses and reduce debt. However, shortly after the season opened, the Board decided that the financial situation would compel the Board to close the theatre, temporarily. The Board has engaged Susan Trapnell, a consultant, to advise it on a plan to reopen the theatre in 2012.
- Intiman has been transitioning from one generation of leaders to the next. Laura Penn departed as Managing Director in March, 2008. Her replacement, Brian Colburn, officially started in November, 2008 but did not move to Seattle until early 2009. Colburn resigned Nov. 1, 2010. Kate WhoriskeyKate WhoriskeyKate Whoriskey was the artistic director of the Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington, USA, for a year, departing in April, 2011 after the theater's board cancelled the remainder of the 2011 season due to financial problems. Whoriskey had been co-Artistic Director of Intiman along with Bartlett...
replaced Bartlett SherBartlett SherBartlett Sher , is an American theatre director. He received both the 2008 Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Broadway revival of South Pacific. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but...
as Artistic Director in 2010. Originally the plan was for them to jointly manage the first season of the transition, but that changed when Mr. Sher departed in March, 2010.
- Intiman completed a project entitled The American Cycle, a series of five plays written by prominent Americans— four of which were not originally written as plays. They were:
- Thornton WilderThornton WilderThornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
's Our TownOur TownOur Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives...
(2004) - adapted John SteinbeckJohn SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
novel The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
(2005) - adapted Richard WrightRichard Wright (author)Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African-Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries...
novel Native SonNative SonNative Son is a novel by American author Richard Wright. The novel tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, an African American living in utter poverty. Bigger lived in Chicago's South Side ghetto in the 1930s...
(2006) - adapted Harper LeeHarper LeeNelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...
novel To Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature...
(2007), and - adapted Robert Penn WarrenRobert Penn WarrenRobert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the influential literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935...
novel All the King's MenAll the King's MenAll the King's Men is a novel by Robert Penn Warren first published in 1946. Its title is drawn from the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. In 1947 Warren won the Pulitzer Prize for All the King's Men....
(2008)
- A new project, The New American Cycle, began in 2009 with Robert E. SherwoodRobert E. SherwoodRobert Emmet Sherwood was an American playwright, editor, and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in New Rochelle, New York, he was a son of Arthur Murray Sherwood, a rich stockbroker, and his wife, the former Rosina Emmet, a well-known illustrator and portrait painter known as Rosina E. Sherwood...
's Abe Lincoln in IllinoisAbe Lincoln in Illinois (play)Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a play written by the American playwright Robert E. Sherwood in 1938. The play, in three acts, covers the life of President Abraham Lincoln from his childhood through his final speech in Illinois before he left for Washington. The play also covers his romance with Mary...
.
Notable Intiman Artists
- Bartlett SherBartlett SherBartlett Sher , is an American theatre director. He received both the 2008 Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Broadway revival of South Pacific. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but...
- Former Artistic Director - Craig LucasCraig LucasCraig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.-Biography:...
- Associate Artistic Director - Tom SkerrittTom SkerrittThomas Roy "Tom" Skerritt is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962.-Early life:...
- Actor - Celia Keenan-Bolger - Actor
- Patti CohenourPatti CohenourPatti Cohenour is an American actress and singer. She was most recently seen in the Broadway production of The Light in the Piazza as Signora Naccarelli...
- Actor - Laurence BallardLaurence BallardLaurence Ballard is an American stage and screen actor, whose career has focused on regional theatre in the U.S.-Stage credits:Ballard has appeared in over 160 productions in the past thirty-five years, most recently as the spoken voice of Mr. Antrobus in Bartlett Sher's bilingual production of...
- Actor - Jeanne PaulsonJeanne PaulsonJeanne Paulsen is an American actress most recently seen in Singing Forestat Intiman Theatre, and has appeared in many productions there including Aristocrats, Faith Healer, Angels in America, The Little Foxes, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and The Kentucky Cycle.On Broadway she received a Tony...
- Actor - Barbara Dirickson - Actor