February 28, 2018 – March 25, 2018
March 1 – March 25
By Taylor Mac
Somewhere in the suburbs, Isaac has returned from the wars to help take care of his disabled father, only to enter a different warzone: a household in revolt. His mother, liberated from an abusive marriage – with Isaac’s newly out transgender sibling as her ally – is on a crusade to dismantle the patriarchy. But in Taylor Mac’s sly, subversive comedy HIR, annihilating the past doesn’t always free you from it.
“…sensational—in all senses of the word…[an] audacious and uproarious black comedy…Mac has his own gloriously skewed vision of the toxins fouling the American family from within, and in its avowedly loopy way HIR reflects current concerns about the decline of the middle class, as well as the trauma war veterans endure…brilliant writing…” —New York Times
*Note: Hir features the use of strong language, violent content, loud noises and pulsating lights.Cast
Gretchen Krich
Paige
She/her
Gretchen was last seen as Mrs. Pearce in My Fair Lady at Village Theatre and at Seattle Rep as Janet the park ranger in Sam Hunter’s A Great Wilderness. Other local credits include Dancing at Lughnasa, Circle Mirror Transformation, Boom! (Seattle Rep), Cloud Nine (Strawshop), O Lovely Glowworm (NCTC), Doubt, Butterflies are Free (Mount Baker Theatre), King John (Upstart Crow). She has travelled the country with the 1st National Tour of The Vagina Monologues and acted in regional theatres including La Jolla Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival), Hartford Theatre Works, BAM and many others. Television and film credits include Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon the Brain, Henry Fool, Eden, Seven Minutes and Law & Order. Gretchen is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and a proud Lunt Fontanne Fellow-Class of 2015 with Phylicia Rashad. Thank you JZ. Lugabuttsqueeah!!!!
Charles Leggett
Arnold
He/him
At Intiman: James T, Barbecue; Franklin, John Baxter Is a Switch Hitter; Roy Cohn, Angels in America; Narrator, Stu for Silverton; Phlaccidos, Lysistrata; Musician/Cop/Doctor, The Streetcar Named Desire. Charles is a three-time nominee (Ray, Yankee Tavern, ACT, 2010; Lennie, Of Mice and Men, Seattle Rep, 2011) and recipient (Shylock, The Merchant of Venice, Seattle Shakespeare Company, 2009) of the Theatre Puget Sound “Gregory” Award for Outstanding Actor, and has twice (2009 and 2015) been nominated for the Stranger Genius Award. Charles has also worked at Seattle Children’s Theatre, Book-It, The Village Theatre, 5thAvenue Theatre Company, many smaller local companies, and regionally at Portland Center Stage. His voice work includes over fifteen audio books (mostly for Seattle’s Cedar House Audio) and several video games. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in over three dozen publications nationwide and abroad and has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Adrian Kljucec
Max
He/they
Adrian Kljucec is a performer, director, dramaturg, designer, and stage carpenter. After completing his undergraduate degree from the University of Puget Sound this winter, Adrian is thrilled to be making his professional debut in Seattle with Hir, one of his favorite plays. Some of Adrian’s previous roles include Nick in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Matt/Homer/Troy McClure in Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play; Marcus G. Dahlman in Yellow Face; Connor in afterlife: a ghost story; and Dakota in Sidewinders. He has also collaborated with ARTBARN, The Satori Group, The Umbrella Project, ACTivate, and One Coast Collaboration.
Evan Barrett
Isaac
He/him
Evan Barrett is a Montana-born performer, musician and lifelong learner who is delighted to make his ArtsWest debut. He spent the holiday months in the Can Can Kitchen & Cabaret’s Wonderland Brunch, and performs regularly with the band Prom Queen, as Evonne, the yellow backup singer. He recently had the opportunity to direct Diverse Harmony, a queer-straight-alliance youth chorus housed in Seattle First Baptist Church. When he’s not engaging directly with the arts, you’ll find him in the mountains, waters, or forests surrounding Seattle. He is a graduate of Cornish College of the Arts, where he now works as a piano accompanist.
Michael Ramquist
Arnold (understudy)
He/him
Michael just finished a production of You Are Right, If You Think with Theatre 9/12. This past September, he appeared as George in Fully Reciprocal Theater’s production of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? He appeared as Sorin in The Seagull and the Duke/Doctor Pinch in Comedy Of Errors with Island Shakespeare Festival on Whidbey Island this past summer. He and the cast of In Arabia We’d All Be Kings received the Gypsy Rose Lee award for best ensemble for the 2016 production at Theater Schmeater.
Creative Team
Jennifer Zeyl
Director
She/her
Jennifer is thrilled to direct HIR in collaboration with Arts West. A Seattle-based scenic designer, director and producer, she designs locally at ACT Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, On the Boards, Intiman, Seattle Shakespeare and Seattle Children’s Theatre and nationally at The Guthrie, The Public, The Rose and Two River Theatre Company. She is the Artistic Director of Intiman Theatre, Founding Co-Artistic Director of Washington Ensemble Theatre, winner of the Stranger Genius Award in Theatre and two-time Gregory Falls Best Scenic Designer, Jennifer is the grateful recipient of funding for her own generative work from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Artist Trust, 4Culture, and The NEA. Jennifer works for CityArts Magazine as the Creative Director of Genre Bender and is the Proprietress of Canoe Social Club, a salon for civic-minded artists. BFA Directing, BFA Theatre Design – University of Rhode Island 1996, MFA Scenic Design – University of Washington, 2003.
Hatlo
Assistant Director
They/them
HATLO is a collaborative queer theater artist who creates and facilitates new performance. collaborators include: Rosa Vissers (as PE|Mo), Alice Gosti, Shontina Vernon, Markeith Wiley, New Century Theater Company, Birthday Girl performance series, MKNZ, the Satori Group, Intiman, Erin Pike & Courtney Meaker, Peter Dee, Kyle Loven, Jessica Jobaris, Washington Ensemble Theatre, & Implied Violence. presenters include: On the Boards, Genre Bender/City Arts, YellowFish durational performance festival, Velocity, Lo Fi Arts Festival at Smoke Farm, Risk/Reward & Seattle International Dance Festival. residencies include: The Orchard Project, Cornish Arts Incubator, Open Flight, and Project: Space Available. Hatlo has a BFA in Original Works/Theater from Cornish and was part of the 2016 Stranger Genius nominated creative team of Thatswhatshesaid. upcoming: writer/dramaturge/vocal coach on Alice Gosti’s Material Deviance in Contemporary American Culture March 29 – April 1 at On the Boards and directing the Sophomore Ensemble Generative Capstone at Cornish opening April 6.
Nina Williams
Stage Manager
She/her/they/them
Nina is an actor and stage manager who recently stage-managed the world premiere of Mario and the Comet directed by Courtney Sale at Seattle Children’s Theatre and was on the stage management team at Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Public Works The Odyssey. Nina was last seen onstage at Seattle Public Theatre’s The World of Extreme Happiness and in Washington Ensemble Theatre’s Straight White Men. Nina also works as a teaching artist, working with students from Shakespeare to Musical Theatre. Nina is a graduate of the Intiman Emerging Artist Program and of the Seattle Children’s Theatre internship.
Robert Aguilar
Lighting Designer
He/him
Recent designs: Pride and Prejudice, The Odyssey (Seattle Rep), Dragon Lady, BBQ (Intiman), The Legend of Georgia McBride, Alex and Aris (ACT). Other credits: Lizard Boy, I Am My Own Wife, Of Mice and Men (Seattle Rep); Wedding Band and Angels in America (Intiman); The Pajama Game, How to Succeed in Business… and Jasper in Deadland (5th Avenue); Trails (Village); Next to Normal (Contemporary Classics). Regional Credits: Full Gallop (Old Globe); Seven Spots on the Sun (Cincinnati Playhouse). Robert is the managing director of Contemporary Classics. He is the lighting design associate for Seattle Repertory Theatre.
Pete Rush
Costume Designer
He/him
Pete Rush previously designed Mothers and Sons, Wonderful Life, and Bad Apples for ArtsWest. Select credits include: The Legend of Georgia McBride, Little Shop of Horrors, Rapture, Blister, Burn (ACT Theatre), RENT, Jasper in Deadland, Spamalot (5th Avenue Theatre), Government Inspector, Hamlet, Electra (Seattle Shakespeare Company), Cider House Rules, Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Slaughterhouse 5 (Book-It Repertory Theatre), The Adding Machine, The Big Meal (New Century Theatre Company), as well as productions at Washington Ensemble Theatre, Strawberry Theatre Workshop, West of Lenin and Seattle Public Theater. Regional credits include: Hangar Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble.
Julia Welch
Co-Scenic Designer
She/her
Recent credits include Howl’s Moving Castle (Book-It Repertory Theatre); Coriolanus (Rebel Kat Production); Government Inspector (Seattle Shakespeare Company); Alex and Aris, Bad Apples (ACT Theatre); The Three Feathers, An American Dream (Seattle Opera); Grounded (Seattle Public Theatre); Barbecue, Bootycandy (Intiman Theatre); The Things Are Against Us (Washington Ensemble Theatre – Footlight Award, Gypsy Rose Lee Award); Peter and the Starcatcher, Really Really (ArtsWest); Free Boy (5th Avenue Educational Tour); Twister Beach (Café Nordo); The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes (Village Theatre); Trojan Women (Civic Rep); Pride and Prejudice (Theatreworks UCCS); Land of the Sweets (House of Verlaine); Twelfth Night, Cold Empty Terrible, Cowboy Mouth, The Real Inspector Hound, Stop Kiss (UW Drama). Upcoming work includes An Octoroon (ArtsWest) and Big Rock (Onward Ho! Productions). Welch holds an MFA from the University of Washington and a BA from the University of Puget Sound. Much love to W. www.jhwelchdesigns.com
Timothy White Eagle
Co-Scenic Designer
He/him
Timothy White Eagle graduated University of Utah with a BFA in Theater, he is a Seattle–based visual and performance artist. In the late 1990s he created and curated Seattle‘s landmark performance art coffee house, the Coffee Messiah. In 2016 he was part of the cast of Taylor Mac’s 24 Decade History of Popular Music. In 2017 he joined Taylor Mac‘s creative team as Dandy Minion Artistic Director for the touring company of the 24 Decade History….
Matt Starritt
Sound Designer
He/him
Matt Starritt is a Seattle-based, freelance sound designer for theatre and dance. In Seattle, he has designed for ACT, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Strawberry Theatre Workshop, Book-It Repertory Theatre, ArtsWest, New Century Theatre Company, BenDeLaCreme, Waxie Moon, zoe | juniper, and Washington Ensemble Theatre. Nationally, he has designed for Alley Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company, The Old Globe, and South Coast Repertory. He is a part-time lecturer for the University of Washington’s School of Drama and was a founding member of Washington Ensemble Theatre.
Eddie DeHais
Lead Dramaturg
They/them
Eddie DeHais is a Seattle-based director-choreographer, designer, and arts activist. Recent work includes movement direction for Swallow (Theater Schmeater) and Howl’s Moving Castle (Book-it), direction/choreography/set design for Sundown at the Devil’s House (Café Nordo), Into the Deeps (DangerSwitch!), and Scary Mary and the Nightmares Nine (Annex). Upcoming work includes directing Silhouette this April (Annex Theatre), and (Re)Shape, an immersive installation this May (Slate Theatre). More info at eddiedehais.com
Andrea Spraycar
Properties Master
She/her
Andrea’s credits include Santa Fe Opera, the Denver Center Theatre Company, Ocean State Theater Company, as well as numerous productions at ArtsWest and Taproot Theatre Company in Seattle. She would like to thank her parents, friends, and cohorts for their love, support, and thrift store adventures.
Silas James
Assistant Scenic Designer
He/him
Silas James is a graduate of Cornish College of the Arts with a BFA in Scenic and Costume Design in December of 2016. Recently he has been designing scenery for No Strings Attached with Parley at the 18th and Union Art Space, and assisting Matt Smucker with scenery for Into the Woods. Silas has also designed burlesque, props, puppetry, and masks. He identifies by he/him/his pronouns and as a transgender man.
Cultural Advisory Council
Eddie DeHais
Crystal Yingling
Chase Anderson
Kim Bogucki
Constance Wilkinson
Kyra BeckerNew play in Seattle takes apart the American dream / Crosscut
Taylor Mac’s Hir a Knockout in Seattle ArtsWest Theatre / Drama in the Hood
Review: ArtsWest, Intiman join to present Taylor Mac’s “Hir” / Westside Seattle
Whatever you think of Taylor Mac’s “Hir” at ArtsWest, the play provokes / Seattle Times
ArtsWest’s “Hir” a darkly comic shocker that’s magnificently captivating / Seattle Gay News
If You Go See Hir, Don’t Make the Same Mistake I Did / The Stranger