“A Series of Small Cataclysms” by Jen Anderson and Carolynne Wilcox, Mythodical Ensemble – Role: Co-writer and Producer
Directed by Ralph Fontaine From the Press Release: It is the year 2121, and the Earth has weathered through the slow, gradual domino effects of climate change disaster – population has been drastically reduced. Four middle-aged sisters gather at the deathbed of their controlling mother. Things take a darker turn when mother collapses and an unearthly visitor is a harbinger of things to come as they discover there are greater, more chaotic forces at work in the universe in which they surprisingly play a role, in this post-apocalyptic, family-oriented drama where gods walk the earth with disconcerting agendas. But time is happening concurrently, and while the past informs the future, the present can also inform the past. Can the world be saved from total annihilation? Or will humanity reap the final gifts of what we have sown?
Come experience this powerful and timely new work performed by a veteran cast of 9 women, using the conventions of Greek-style chorus, extreme physicality and pure ritual as we midwife the apocalypse into being…or not.
Directed by Andrew Coopman and Kristie Post Wallace, 1st year MFA Directors Every other year, our first-year MFA directors make their UW Drama mainstage debuts. This year, our directors have divided Annie Baker’s Body Awareness in two. Working with the same team of lighting and set designers, but two costume designers and two separate casts, each director will bring their own, distinct directorial vision to their half of the show. Audiences will begin the evening in Coopman’s version of the play, and end in Wallace’s.
Review from Drama In the Hood: It’s an excellent cast. I doubt there is a performance in Seattle at this moment any more profound than that of Patricia Haines-Ainsworth as A, especially in the first act where she practically withers away over the course of the hour. Jen Anderson and Megan Twamley fill out the cast as B and C, respectively. The former is weary, but hardened by time. The latter is energetic, selfish, positive about the future. The three balance each other very well, both in script and performance. Patrick Ostander plays The Boy, remorseful yet dismissed. Three Tall Women glides by, examining legacies of womanhood, expectation, and familial trauma. Buckley and his crew have acquitted themselves perfectly to its realization.
About the play: A laugh out loud look at the political infighting in a Hollywood TV writers’ room, 99 Tropes tackles issues of race, gender, culture and money in today’s entertainment business. Who gets to decide what story is told in modern America? What voices should be heard?
When C. Chan’s big chance at TV writing stardom – his own show on network television – tanks in the ratings, the ambitious artist stages a coup in the writers’ room, forcing veteran show runner Sally Higgins to the sidelines. But C. Chan’s vision for the show is outrageous – a race blind America with a shocking twist.
Sit back and laugh as veteran screenwriter Andrew Chapman’s 99 Tropes pokes a big, blunt finger in the eye of Hollywood’s conventional wisdom.
Jen Anderson 