Press Releases

SEATTLE, WA (August 27, 2019) — Seattle Rep has announced details for its second iteration of Public Works, a groundbreaking community engagement and participatory theater initiative aimed at creating theater of the people, by the people, and for the people of the region. Adapted from the nationally recognized model built by New York City’s prestigious Public Theater, the program seeks to engage audiences in new ways by inviting them to be creators and not just spectators. This large-scale, community-wide initiative has been under new leadership this year, with Public Works Director Angie Kamel taking the helm in June 2018. Culminating in an extraordinary weekend of professional productions, this year’s program features a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, performing on the Bagley Wright stage September 6-8, 2019 - all tickets are free and can be reserved as soon as August 26, 2019 by calling the Seattle Rep Patron Services Office at 206.443.2222 or online at SeattleRep.org.

This year, Seattle Rep partnered with eight Seattle-area organizations to host regular workshops and classes throughout the winter and spring for the community to engage with and learn more about the program and its goals. These classes, workshops, and conversations - hosted with The Boys and Girls Clubs of King County, Jubilee Women’s Center, Path with Art, Byrd Barr Place, Sound Generations/Ballard NW Senior Center, Seattle Central College, Compass Housing Alliance/Renton Veterans Center, and Refugee Women’s Alliance (reWA) - encouraged participants to attend workshops and ultimately join in the process of creating an ambitious work of participatory theater. After months of Seattle Rep-led workshops, field trips, and meet-ups, auditions were held over the summer for this fall’s production of As You Like It. Seattle Rep saw unprecedented turn out and interest, a considerable boost from its inaugural run in 2017, and ultimately cast 80 community members who will appear on stage this September alongside professional actors, supported by a professional creative team and crew.

“Seattle Rep’s Public Works collaborates with an incredible group of community participants guided by the values of equity, imagination, and joy with an eye toward making this program truly with, by, and for the people of Seattle,” Angie Kamel, director of Seattle Rep's Public Works comments. “This program is the living embodiment of Seattle Rep’s commitment to offering theater that inspires community and in turn, invites our community to inspire the theater.”

The professional cast members of As You Like It includes Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako as Rosalind, Eric Ankrim as Touchstone, Keiko Green as Jaques, Christian Quinto as Orlando, and Shaunyce Omar as Duke Senior.                                            

The creative team includes Timothy McCuee Piggee (director), Hattie Claire Andres (associate director), Sarah Butts (associate director), R.J. Tancioco (music director), Julia Thornton (associate music director), Steven Tran (assistant music director), Kathryn Van Meter (choreographer), Jimmy Sheilds (associate choreographer), Scott Brateng (assistant choreographer), L.B. Morse (scenic and projection designer), Nephelie Andonyadis (costume designer), Geoff Korf (lighting designer), and Kevin Heard (sound designer).

Tickets to this production of As You Like It are free to the public, but seating is limited. Tickets will be available August 26, 2019 online or by calling the Patron Services Office at 206.443.2222.

# # #