Theater review | “The Oddwoman of Pioneer Square” is a fresh Seattle spin on a French classic
By Tom Keogh
Theatre 9/12’s engaging and occasionally inspired The Oddwoman of Pioneer Square could well encourage every neighborhood in Seattle to select its own, eccentric matriarch to remind us of the things that make life truly worthwhile. And to defend us from those who would crush our good life for a profit.
Inspired by Jean Giradoux’s 1943 fantasy-satire The Madwoman of Chaillot, Oddwoman… transfers the original play’s story about oil profiteers, and the street characters who prevent them from destroying Paris, to our Emerald City.
Written by Charles S. Waxberg, Oddwoman begins in a cheerless old cafe on the Seattle waterfront. There, a pair of wheeler-dealers (David S. Klein, Robert A. Barnett) and a high-strung prospector (Michael Oaks) plot to exploit an oil deposit deep below Pioneer Square.
Their surprisingly violent and terrifying plan involves a confederate, Pierre (Alex Robertson), who changes his mind and comes under the sway of Aurelia (Ruth McRee), the play’s titular sage.
The whimsical but affirming oddwoman’s grand pronouncements about love, freedom and responsibility uplift a colorful coterie on the neighborhood’s fringe: including a homeless man (Terry Edward Moore), street musician (Marty Ofsowitz) and waitress (Heidi Jean Weinrich). Gabriella leads the downtown denizens in a plot against the oilmen, including a mock trial that becomes — largely through a driven, almost frightening performance by Moore — Oddwoman’s most powerful scene.
Directed by Paul O’Connell and staged in a rehearsal room at A Contemporary Theatre, Oddwoman… is self-produced by its professional actors. While the work has a casual, in-development and slightly hit-and-miss feel, one tends to focus on its admirably balanced elements. These include garrulous villains offset by laconic (in one case, mute) characters, and a chimerical strain countered by many shades of desperation among Gabriella’s devotees and friends.
As with its Giradoux template, the overall feeling of Oddwoman… is of a thriving life pool — in this case, with just the right amount of Seattle texture, including a second act set entirely in the city’s fabled underground. The story’s surreal conclusion could well create a new urban legend about what really lies beneath our feet.
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Equity Member Project
initiated by Company Members of Theatre 9/12
ACT ONE—Six Sundays
sells out to overflow audiences 5 out of 6 Sundays
featured in “Best of 2008” by SGN news
Laura Kenny, Christine Mosere, Aaron Heinzen in: PC PANIC
Michael Oaks, Ryan Fields, Lee Morris, Ray Irvin, Collen Carey in DUTY, HONOR, PROFIT
Seattle Gay News – Milt Hamlin
NEW THEATRE GROUP PRESENTS ORIGINAL ONE-ACTS ON SUNDAY
The new Theatre 9/12, a group of Equity actors who have gathered together to produce four original one-act plays on Sunday afternoons through the next two Sundays, are well worth a look.
The four new one-act plays, ranging from a serious examination of the effects of the war in Iraq to an absurd comedy about a dog in a post office, are offered on a pay-what-you-will basis. That’s a great attention getting device in the current times of economic uncertainty. $1 will get you in.
PC Panic, the first play, is more of a skit about a customer who insists on bringing his dog into the local post office, creating a “PC” moment – politically correct behavior goes out the window in this out-and-out farce. Laura Kenny (truth be told, a good theater friend of this scribe) is hysterical as the post office worker who knows a dog when she sees one. Her performance is a standout in the afternoon collection. Ninko, the dog who plays “himself,” is another scene-stealer.
Act One, Six Sundays uses the intimate Buster’s Lounge area at ACT Theatre in downtown Seattle. Performances are at 2 p.m. Check it out.
Seatle Gay News — Miryam Gordon “Best of 2008”
…Two other special efforts must be mentioned. ACT’s importation of The Ilkholm Theater Company from the Ukraine was a risky, expensive move and a wonderful opportunity for Seattle to experience another city’s artistic treasure. And anyone fortunate enough to have gone to new theater company, Theatre 9/12, during their Sunday afternoon one-acts by local playwrights knows that they spent their Sunday in a meaningful way.
PC Panic (world premiere) by Charles Waxberg, directed by Paul O’Connell
Duty, Honor, Profit (world premiere) by Dave Tucker, directed by Charles Waxberg
Canyon’s Edge (new revision) by Babs Lindsay. directed by Charles Waxberg
Ibsen’s Note (world premiere) by Charles Waxberg, directed by Paul O’Connell
