A great way to celebrate Pride is to support queer artists, so take the opportunity this month to engage with LGBTQIA+ voices and talents! Dive into the magic of queer storytelling on stage, and you will be rewarded with a more open heart and mind and a lifted spirit.
This June, one production in particular deserves a special mention for its singular approach to telling a story we think we already know. In “Sweets by Kate,” presented by Lowbrow Opera Collective, a woman in the 1950s returns with her partner to the small town she left 12 years earlier, after coming out and being shunned by her community. The twist? The Devil lives there as well and is scheming to run her out of town by fueling the disapproval and intolerance of the townspeople. With composition for string quartet and piano by Griffin Candey and libretto by Thom Miller, this sweet treat of an opera will open at Theatre Off Jackson (TOJ) June 7 and run until June 15.
Speaking of TOJ, there’s another special coming to the venue: “Fable,” a one-day theater event on June 29, presented in association with Magpie Artists’ Ensemble. The immersive show starts at 4 p.m. and runs for six hours, bringing audiences into “a world not unlike our own.” Central is the love story between the Sun and Moon, but surrounding it are a variety of mystical characters whose stories and backgrounds are based on Filipino, Slavic, Celtic and Ojibwe traditions. The performance is deliberately long to give you a chance to fully experience and get lost in the world, and your tickets cover the entire performance, with the freedom to come and go as you please and take the evening at your own pace.
Finally, a very exciting production directed by Shermona Mitchell and Teresa Thuman and featuring an all-female-presenting cast is set to be one of the season’s must-see shows: “53% Of.” Although the title seems to suggest a show about consumerism or the retail industry, this is certainly not a musical about a half-off sale; what it presents instead is a clever take on feminism in America. The title is taken from an unnerving and not-too-well-known fact: In 2016’s U.S. presidential election, 53% of white women voted for Donald Trump. Set during that contentious time, the satire casts an unflattering and unfiltered light on different voter demographics, aiming to reflect hard truths to the audience about who we really are and how we see ourselves. Written by Steph Del Rosso and part of Sound Theatre Company’s exciting 2024 season (Chris Bush’s “Hungry” in the fall promises to be another fantastic show for the company), “53% Of” runs from June 15 to 30 at the Center Theatre, located in the Seattle Center Armory.
Johannes Saca is a writer, actor and artist based in Seattle. Connect with him on social media @JohannesSaca
Read more of the June 5–11, 2024 issue.