Tacoma playwright stages two new plays at Old City Hall

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STOKES

Tacoma playwright Nick Stokes will present two of his “greatest plays ever written” at Old City Hall Nov. 5-22. This unique production consists of two one-act plays, “Whiteout” and “The Sound We Make.”

The latter play, set at Fireman’s Park in Tacoma, finds three homeless locals coping with the loss of a street legend. This is a play about what was lost, what was acquired, and what can be saved. “Whiteout” traps a young traveler and an old caretaker in a snowbound motel, where ghosts and myth collide with cold reality in this haunting play. The reason for choosing these plays is, according to Stokes, that they’re ready to be produced.

“They have both received multiple public readings and development, and the next step in their existence is to become theatre,” he says.

Stokes has a noble reason for having this event at the Old City Hall.

“It’s a beautiful Tacoma landmark that is in need of life. Theatre can be staged almost anywhere, and we were looking for a new, atypical, exciting venue to stage new, atypical, exciting theatre. We believe we found the perfect place to match the settings and energy of the plays. These plays both have a hauntingness and sense of abandon that is echoed in Old City Hall. And we’re trying to bring something exciting to downtown Tacoma.”

Beyond producing excellent theatre that grabs, affects and engages people, the production company hopes it can engage Tacoma. “This is an experiment for theatre in Tacoma, producing new, non-conventional theatre as professionally as possible. We are paying people what we can, but we are paying people. It takes a small community to create theatre: producer, director, writer, actors, designers, set construction, ticket takers, publicity, tech and more and add to that help with the venue, the city of Tacoma and the press. But, it’s still not theatre unless people come. Can Tacoma as a community support new forward-thinking theatre?”

Nick Stokes has been writing for 10 years, “though I’ve been writing for theatre for less than that, perhaps five,” he said. Born in the ‘70s, he was mostly raised in St. Louis, but also in New Orleans and Iowa. He went to college at the University of Illinois, earning an engineering degree which he abandoned. Since then, Stokes has lived and worked in a lot of places, mostly in Montana where he still occasionally works in a wilderness area packing mules. But for the last four plus years he’s lived in Tacoma, where he’s gotten married, had kids and focuses on writing.

“In addition to theatre, I write fiction of all lengths, from flash fiction to overly long novels. I have, however, become increasingly involved in theatre.”

Stokes received the Tacoma Artists Initiative Project grant from the Tacoma Arts Commission for this production. He’s also been awarded a Grant for Artist Project (GAP) and the 2008 Camano Island residency by Artist Trust. He’s done a lot of work with Northwest Playwrights Alliance, including being featured in their monthly reading series at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Festival Northwest at Tacoma Little Theatre and Double Shot Theatre Festival at University of Puget Sound. He’s also been commissioned by Charles Wright Academy and done work at Hugo House in Seattle, iDiOM Theatre in Bellingham and The Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Alaska. “My fiction and other writings have been published by Word Riot, Opium, KNOCK, and Exquisite Disarray Publishing, and I was co-winner of the 2008 Rannu Fund Prize for Writers of Speculative Literature,” Stokes says.

The performances were directed by Phoebe Keleman and will feature Evan Tucker, Gabe McClelland, Kris Keppeler and Mike Tilton. Production crew includes scenic designer Julia Welch, lighting designer Tess Malone, and sound designer Clifford Dunn. Each play is about an hour in length, plus an intermission. Showtimes are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Children may attend the event however the plays were not written with children as an intended audience as there is minimal explicit language, but there are no sexual situations. The venue is wheelchair accessible, but there is no wheelchair accessible men’s restroom.

Tickets are $10-$14 and can be purchased at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/85060. There will be a pay-if-you-can preview Nov. 5, and live pre-show music for the Nov. 6 opening by the Hollowbodies, and on Nov. 14 and 20 by Jon Parker. There also will be “talkbacks” following the 2 p.m. performance Nov. 8 and 22, an opportunity for the audience to engage with the artists involved in creating the production, namely writer, director and actors.

Old City Hall is located at 625 Commerce St. The event is sponsored by Northwest Playwrights Alliance and the Tacoma Arts Commission. For more information, visit northwestplaywrights.org or seattleperforms.com or send e-mail to Nick Stokes at . Both Nick Stokes and the event have public Facebook pages.

Nick Stokes and Probably Forgettable Productions, consisting of Stokes, Evan Tucker and Phoebe Keleman, will be having an event called “The Greatest Plays Ever Written by Nick Stokes,” historic Old City Hall Nov. 5-22.

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