ABOUT US
SHANA BESTOCK - ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND EDUCATION DIRECTOR
Live a three-dimensional life. Communicate slowly. Avoid screens.
This advice from poet Wendell Berry could not be timelier. In an age of twitter and txt msging, living a three dimensional
life is a choice and often a challenge. But theater – theater
offers us an opportunity to rediscover the world, to transform isolation
and communication breakdowns into stories that give our lives clarity,
confidence, and compassion.
Seattle Public Theater at the Bathhouse offers a season of breathtaking suspense, brilliant
wordplay, psychological complexity and sweet harmony. We are
proud to bring you new plays – plays you've never seen, playwrights
you haven't yet discovered. Within each of these striking different plays lies something deeply
familiar – a history of human loss and love.
If you are new to Seattle Public – welcome! We promise you a theater
experience like no other. Expect opportunities for private epiphanies and community conversation. Expect the quality of acting and
directing to be the best Seattle has to offer. Expect innovative stage
designs that maximize the intimacy of the Bathhouse and engage your
imagination, and fully support the story. Expect great theater.
KEITH DAHLGREN - MANAGING DIRECTOR
Why go to the theater? Because it’s about community, about shared experience, and we as human beings thrive on that. Why subscribe to a theater? Because it shows we believe in making the time to feed our souls, and we commit to it. Why subscribe to Seattle Public Theater? Because Seattle Public Theater shares your commitment to the community, to sharing the experience, and to feeding the soul. We’ve put together a season of plays that will challenge you, entertain you, and create the sort of stimulus that keeps you talking long after you’ve left the Bathhouse Theater. If you have encountered us before, you know the quality and depth of our work. If you’re new: welcome. Prepare yourself for a treat.
How We Started
Founded in 1988, Seattle Public Theater was originally a small company that primarily toured plays in local Seattle public schools and worked with adult and at-risk youth populations to create socially conscious theater. In 2000, Seattle Public was chosen by the City of Seattle in a competitive bidding process to be the resident theater company at the historic Bathhouse. Since then Seattle Public has had a remarkable rebirth to become one of Seattle's premiere mid-sized theaters, renowned for both an ambitious education program as well as high-quality professional productions.
Our Mission
Inspiring Community through intimate, powerful professional theater and dynamic youth education programs.
We act out of a belief that building a strong arts event, program, or organization is inextricably connected to building a strong neighborhood and city.
Seattle Public Theater is proud to steward the Bathhouse. The intimacy of the space combined with the immediacy of our presence in a public park is our mandate to involve audiences and provide ownership while maintaining a high quality of professional work.
Seattle Public seeks to be a place to showcase Seattle's vibrant artistic community, and to share these artists' energy, talent, and drive with audiences and students.
Seattle Public's Youth Drama Program challenges expectations of what kids are capable of by offering them professional resources, maximizing ownership and responsibility, and approaching each project with a spirit of inclusiveness, fun, and faith in their ability to succeed beyond their own imaginations.
Seattle Public is committed to: plays with strong rhythm, character, and juicy text; plays that tell stories that allow us to feel more deeply, to reflect on ourselves and community; plays that challenge our expectations and allow us to dream; plays that leave us talking in the parking lot.
