OTA’s new season begins with collaboration

Olympic Theatre Arts’ 2019-20 season opens this September with a continued spirit of collaboration in the community.

This season features biting comedies taking a poke at “the system,” period dramas shedding delicate light on women’s roles in American history, a tongue-in-cheek look at rural America, an alternative tale of Christmas and more.

OTA has once again gathered community artists to collaborate with the theater. These have all created original artwork to go with a production of this promising new season. Their original artwork will be used as the centerpiece for each production’s visual marketing materials and will be raffled off during the run of the show to the benefit of the contributing artist.

The contributing artists are:

Suzan Noyes — Greater Tuna – October 4–13, 2019: A reprise of a popular OTA show featuring the original cast – OTA founder Rick Waites and Michael Aldrich. In addition other OTA contributors will spice up the presentation with whimsical, nostalgic and above all hilarious anecdotes from OTA’s rich forty year history.

Priscilla Patterson — Silent Sky – November 8–24, 2019: The true story of the 19th century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries and when women’s ideas were dismissed until men claimed credit for them.

Gail McLain – Another Night Before Christmas – December 13–22, 2019: A seemingly innocent gesture traps a disillusioned social worker with a homeless man claiming to be Santa Claus. A comedically touching musical battle between cynicism and belief.

Debbie Harding – Quilters – February 21–March 8, 2020: The musical story of a pioneer woman and her six daughters, Quilters blends love, warmth, rich and lively humor and the moving spectacle of simple human dignity and steadfastness in the face of adversity.

Jim Bradrick – A Facility for Living – May 1–17, 2020 – June 19–28, 2020: Joe Taylor, a retired actor, moves into a prison-turned-elder-care facility shortly after the demise of Medicare and discovers a community of lovable, irascible inmates hell-bent on bucking the dehumanizing system in which they have landed.

David Willis – Let Me Down Easy – June 19–28, 2020: A comedy-drama constructed from verbatim interview transcripts, Let Me Down Easy examines the miracle of human resilience through the lens of the national debate on health care. A work of emotional brilliance and political substance from one of the treasures of the American theater.

Sharman Owings – Miss Lillian, A Life of Some Significance – an OTA Special Event, January 18-19, 2020: Step inside the personal history of Jimmy Carter’s mother in this one-woman show starring Carol Swarbrick of Sequim, an internationally known stage and television actress. In partnership with The League of Women Voters.

“I think it’s a great blend of artwork and artists,” said Bradrick. “I had a ball with it and I’m interested to see if the concepts I came up with for the art influences the art direction of the play.”

“I was really thrilled and honored to be a part of this,” said McLain. “It’s great to see what all of the other artists did in their interpretation of the plays they represent as well. I think it’s fabulous!”

“It’s community outreach,” said Patterson. “and this brings us all together in one place as artists.”

Harding worked closely with production director Richard Stephens while creating the art for Quilters, a musical about frontier women. “I had an idea of these pioneer women telling the stories of their lives through the play, so I wanted to do a painting showing the backdrop of their lives becoming the quilt.”

OTA is also continuing its long standing community outreach campaign with other area nonprofits, having approached organizations such as the Sequim Food Bank, Story People of Clallam County, and the Sequim PC Users Group in the hopes that theatergoers might become more aware of the various needs of the community by having a presence at the theater.

“Season tickets are on sale now for this exciting new season during which OTA is celebrating its fortieth anniversary,” stated Carol Willis Executive Director. “We encourage our patrons to make live theatre a part of their lives by buying tickets now and also taking advantage of the discounted prices offered to season ticket subscribers.” Individual ticket sales will become available in early August. Memberships for the new season are also available, granting reduced ticket prices, voting privileges and member invites to special events.

Olympic Theatre Arts is a registered 501(c)3 non profit community theatre and is at 414 N. Sequim Ave. More information about the new season is available online at www.OlympicTheatreArts.org or at the theatre box office 1-5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Interested parties can also call the theatre during office hours at 360-683-7326.