Theatre Northwest, Tacoma's newest professional company, is back at Theatre on the Square with "Educating Rita" this weekend and next. I saw last Friday's opening, and here's what I thought.

For a two-person play, the Theatre Northwest production of “Educating Rita” made a fine solo show. Despite excellent production values and mostly good direction, the acting was intensely lopsided, resulting in a play that was only half as enjoyable as it could have been.

This 1980 reversal of the Pygmalion myth is now standard repertoire, and deservedly—it’s a good story. Working-class but smart (and brutally honest) hairdresser Rita takes literature lessons from disillusioned, alcoholic professor Frank, and as her star rises, his falls, with everyone’s prejudices dissected en route.

As Rita, Casi Wilkerson began rather too caffeinatedly nervous, but engaging nevertheless. After the first few scenes she hit her stride: direct, funny, likeable, passionate. Holding up through Willy Russell’s rather self-conscious lines she delivered with conviction, including great timing on the academic jokes (Frank: “Have you seen Chekov in the theater?” Rita: “No, does he go?”) But it must have been a hard slog through the play’s three hours with so little support from Steve Manning, who played a Frank so sunk in depression as to be near-catatonic. Gruff and grumpy, Frank was boring as well as bored, taking his phlegmatic time with responses and stumbling over several lines.

It’s a pity, as the dynamic intensity between these two opposing yet attracting characters is what sustains the play through its length. But instead of edgy flirtation and tension, there was tedium. Only in the pivotal drunk scene did Manning pull out the stops, before losing the tension again. Director Charlotte Tiencken, who otherwise held a good brisk tempo, could have pulled Frank out from behind his desk and restrained some of Rita’s frantic to-ing and fro-ing.

On the other hand, “Rita” made lovely eye candy. Designer Kurt Walls and charge artist Kim Izenman created a beautiful Oxbridge don’s study, all tweed and faded red book covers, with a frieze of voluptuous Rubenesque women suggestively lit during scene changes. Costume designer Alex Lewington had a great time with the ever-more-enlightened Rita, garbing her in each scene with a fun array of ‘80s trash (love the red parachute jacket,) ‘70s hippie-peasant, late ‘70s Vogue (leather trench-coat) and a final ‘80s air-stewardess look for the finished, educated product. Only the endlessly trite matching of movements from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” to each scene marred the excellent production quality.

After three hours of one-sided action and way too much cigarette smoke, the funny ending comes not a moment too soon. It also has to be asked whether this play, with all its English class angst, ‘80s education-crisis references and clunky philosophy, is the right choice for Tacoma at the moment. Yet Theatre Northwest’s “Educating Rita” is still enjoyable. Just focus on Rita.

Theatre Northwest's “Educating Rita” runs 7:30 p.m. May 22, 23, 29, 30; and 3 p.m. May 30 at Theatre on the Square, 915 Broadway, Tacoma. Tickets: $22/$34. 253-591-5894, www.broadwaycenter.org

Playwright August Wilson. Photo courtesy Broadway Center.

August Wilson is one of the late 20th-century's best playwrights. He was a Seattle resident for the latter part of his life. But are his plays performed in Tacoma? Not much.

Which is why three local arts groups are partnering to present readings of Wilson's 10-play "Pittsburgh Cycle" over the next five years: two plays per year. The first one, "Gem of the Ocean," is on Saturday night.

"He's arguably the finest American playwright in the last 50 years," says Bryan Willis of the Northwest Playwrights Alliance. The NPA is part of the Wilson series partnership: They supply directors and actors, the Washington State History Museum is supplying the theater, and the Broadway Center for Performing Arts is handling marketing and contributing financially to ensure everyone gets paid. The cycle is also produced in special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc. It's a great thing for Tacoma, Willis says.

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Hana Lass as Juliet, John Farage as Friar Laurence and Michael Place as Romeo in last year's Wooden O production of "Romeo and Juliet". (Seattle Shakespeare Company)

Summer seems so far away right now but it's time to get out your calendars and turn to July. That's when Shakespeare in the park returns.

Seattle Shakespeare Company announced today its Wooden O outdoor summer play schedule. Most of the free shows for "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Richard III" are in Seattle/King County but you'll be able to catch "Shrew" in Federal Way and Bonney Lake.

Here's how the company describes "Shrew":
 

With a sharp tongue and a volcanic temper, the headstrong Kate bows down to no man.  But then a fortune-hunting suitor named Petruchio swaggers into town with a mischievous plan to reach her guarded heart.  Through bickering and brawling their comic courtship is a no-holds-barred battle of the sexes that results in a love and understanding that neither one imagined. 

Last year over 10,000 Bard lovers attended the summer shows.

The full performance schedule for "Richard III" and "The Taming of the Shrew" can be found at the company's website but here's the info for our local free "Shrew" shows:

Federal Way: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday July 22 at Steel Lake Park

Bonney Lake: 2 p.m., Sunday Aug. 2 at Allen York Park

In this 1992 file photo, Studs Terkel takes a bus home after a stint at the WFMT studio (Chicago Tribune, Chris Walker)

Last year on Halloween, Studs Terkel died. The 96-year-old had been a radio broadcaster, radio play actor and jazz aficionado throughout the '40s and '50s. But above all, Louis "Studs" Terkel was one of the most prolific oral historians of 20th-century America. Stumbling into interviewing by chance for his radio show "The Studs Terkel Program," Terkel listened to thousands of ordinary Americans, documenting their histories of the Great Depression, World War II, employment, race relations and the American dream. He compiled these interviews into a succession of prize-winning books from the 1960s through to a posthumous publication last November.

Why think about Studs Terkel now? Because this week Stadium High School is mounting a production of the Broadway musical "Working." It's based on his 1974 book of the same title, whose subtitle--"People Talk About What They Do All Day and Why They Do What They Do"--pretty much sums it up. Terkel interviews regular working-class folks--waitresses, baseball players, managers, musicians--and the 1978 musical wraps them up into a working day, from morning to late shift. Along the way are songs by Stephen Schwartz and James Taylor.

"Working" is from a working era so different it might be another planet, a time when typewriters sat on desks and cell phones hadn't been invented. But, says Stadium's director Suzy Wilhoft, the show still pulls a meaningful punch.

"I love the humanity of it, the voices of real people, the glimpse into 20-plus lives and jobs and the message that we are individuals inside of our work titles," says Wilhoft, who has directed the musical three times now. "It has great passion, humor, and power."

It's also highly relevant to today's world of increasing unemployment, and people trying to make sense of whatever jobs they can get.

The Stadium production features a stellar cast, including students like Olivia Seward and Amanda Jones who've starred in community theater and poetry competitions, and a musical director/pianist who's toured nationally with "Mamma Mia", 1996 Stadium alum Gabriel McPherson.

Show times are 7:30 p.m. March 12 and 13, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. March 14. Tickets $8/$5 at the door. Stadium High School auditorium, 111 N. E St., Tacoma. 253-571-3100, www.stadiumtigers.org

They're at it again. Teenagers from all over Washington state will declaim, recite, spout and vent this Saturday at the University of Puget Sound. Teenage angst? No, the state finals of the annual Poetry Out Loud contest.
Poetry Out Loud is an NEA-cosponsored competition encouraging students around the country to read more poetry. Around 225,000 kids competed this year, including six Pierce County high schools. Of the thousands from Washington, 12 finalists will get up onstage at Schneebeck Hall and recite selections from classic and contemporary poems. The winner will receive $200, with an extra $500 for his/her school to buy poetry books, and go on to the national finals in Washington, D.C. on April 26-29 to compete for $50,000 in prize money and scholarships.
The two local state finalists this year are Olivia Seward of Stadium High School, and Amanda Welch from Puyallup High School. Seward, 16, is a former State winner (2007), and traveled to Washington, D.C. last April in that capacity to present for the NEA to the House Appropriations Committee. A local actor and singer (Tacoma Little Theatre, Lakewood Playhouse, Tacoma Opera), Seward will compete this year against last year's state champion BreAnna Jones, of Yakima, and 2008 competitors Sara Pittman (Yakima) and Kevin Ma (Spokane). Special guests will include Washington State Poet Laureate Samuel Green and the Kareem Kandi Band.
Poetry Out Loud is co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington State Arts Commission, and the Poetry Foundation.
Why read poetry?
“Reciting poetry brings it to life!” explained Seward, in a story I wrote last year. “I love English class, but reading poetry in a book can be immensely boring. It’s just like Shakespeare – it’s meant to be read aloud.”
The state Poetry Out Loud finals will be held from 1-5 p.m. at Schneebeck Hall at UPS, off Union Street at North 15th, on March 7. Entry is free. There's a performance afterward by hip-hop artist Bruce George at 7:30 p.m., tickets $5.