Doubt, A Parable, John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer and Tony Award winning play is a layered piece that asks a lot of questions, and in the brilliant way that only Shanley can, it provides no answers. Written in the tradition of the biblical parable, Doubt leaves a lot open to interpretation and is ultimately subjective, as opposed to a strict reality based story which is more akin to a belief that can have disastrous consequences when acted upon. The lack of answers comes down to the ambiguity that is written into the script, but in the SecondStory Rep production, it’s also a result of how the cast understands that to lean one way, whether Father Flynn is guilty of his supposed transgression or not, is to do a disservice to the messaging of the play, and under the direction of Doug Knoop, Cast A that performed on Thursday evening managed that balance perfectly. This production of Doubt, with a gloriously designed set as a backdrop to the story, is a thinker, it’s engaging, and it never strays from the message, leaving the audience to wonder what they will do the next time they suspect a transgression, based on nothing more than a gut feeling or an instinct.

After a number of misses with versions of The Wedding Singer, leave it up to Harry Turpin to restore my faith in the franchise. Under his direction, the Tacoma Musical Playhouse production equally balances the stylistic reminiscence of the 1980s, the humor of the film and a musical that pokes fun at the decade, its culture, and ultimately itself, and the heart of a story that makes its characters relatable and human. Wrapped in the trappings of a musical with songs that are fun, melodies that are catchy, and choreography that proves that Harry is at the top of his game, The Wedding Singer is a fun, nostalgic, and reinvigorating night out at the theatre, and you don’t even have to have grown up in the 80s to think that…..but it probably helps.

Sometimes the best things are found in the most out of the way places. The Port Gamble Theatre production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is one example of this. The story itself is extremely funny, self-deprecating and irreverent, and its songs are catchy and fun. The Port Gamble production, under the direction of Peggy Whelen, is excellent from top to bottom. From its big and beautiful costumes, to its inventively constructed set pieces, creatively everything works, but it’s the cast of this show that sets it apart. Superbly beautiful voices come together with clever choreography, and excellent acting to produce a magical musical theatre experience, the quality of which is normally seen on stages much larger than this, and it’s a show that is well worth the trip out to beautiful Port Gamble to see.

Trouble in Mind, the 1955 play from Alice Childress, presents a snapshot in time, one of change in the theatre community. The story of six actors, each trying to navigate their way through the shifting sands or race and sexism in mid-century America, who come together to shine a light on the improprieties of life in the South, is not just one that shows us what was, but also what could be, and in some unfortunate cases, what still is. The Centerstage Theatre production of Trouble in Mind is good, very good, and while it’s missing some of the intimacy and chemistry between its characters in the storytelling, its talented cast does a wonderful job of ringing a warning knell, given our current political and social climate.

You may be familiar with the story of Oliver Twist, from the Dickens novel, from the Lionel Bart musical, or even from the Disney animated classic Oliver and Company, but I’ll bet you’ve never seen a version quite like the one currently on stage at the Theatre Off Jackson, produced by Reboot Theatre and directed by Scot Charles Anderson. A healthy mix of the backstreets of 1830s London and the UK of the 1970s punk rock era, this version of Oliver!, the musical, feels like an underground show, like it’s something we’re not supposed to be seeing, or even allowed to, but we are, and thank goodness. It’s a rocking, rollicking, rambunctious good time of a show, and while the plot of the musical is more like the Cliffs Notes version of the novel, that is more than made up for in entertainment value, while still hitting all of the major points. Reboot’s mission is to perform works with non traditional casting and design, and while, yes, this fits exactly with that mission, when a show is performed by a group as talented as this one is, the quality of the art stands on its own.

Bloomsday, the locally developed play from Steven Dietz, is a story of love, regret, fate, free will, and time. It asks what we would do if we had the chance to go back and influence the actions of our past selves, would we change anything to relieve that regret, and if we did, what would the impact of those changes be? This is a uniquely crafted story that Dukesbay Productions and director Randy Clark have taken and developed a nice presentation of, with a cast of four that do a fine job in the service of the storytelling. There may not be one piece of the production that stands out above the others, but together, it makes for a pretty engaging piece of theatre.

David Lindsay-Abaire has made a name for himself through plays and musicals like Kimberly Akimbo, Shrek: The Musical, and High Fidelity. His shows have spent a fair amount of time both on and off Broadway, but it’s his play Ripcord, which is currently running on stage in Kenmore and being produced by As If Theatre. The play, about adversarial roommates in a retirement home who make a bet that starts out simply enough, but soon gets personal and crosses a number of lines, fits well into As If’s vision and catalogue of shows. Directed by Chris Shea, it’s intimately presented, superbly acted, well designed, and filled with the right balance of humor and emotion to make both work in a very human story, the kind of story that will make a lasting impression with audiences, a highly recommended play.

If you’re looking for a play that’s new and outside the realm of traditional narrative theatre, Blue to Blue might be just what you need. Annex’s current show is an experimental, emotional journey featuring an ensemble of talented actors and phenomenal production elements on par with theatres operating on larger budgets.

A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play about a family living in the South Side of Chicago and looking forward to an insurance check to help get them out of poverty, is not just a play for and of its time, but is one that is painfully relevant today. At the same time, it’s a piece that shows not only what we’ll do in times of desperation, but also what we’re capable of doing when we come together in love and forgiveness. The mainstage opener of the 2025 season at Taproot Theatre isn’t just another version of this classic play, it’s one that will be hard to match, setting the bar high for the rest of their season. Directed by Bretteney Beverly, this production of A Raisin in the Sun has everything that makes a successful Taproot production, superior acting, excellent design, and an intimate setting that is unique to this venue. With a newly remodeled Jewell Mainstage, including new seats and a new sound system, opening with A Raisin in the Sun just feels like the right decision.

The Edmonds Driftwood Players production of Clue: The Musical, based on the classic board game, manages to spin some straw into gold, and while the limitations of the script hold it back in some places, the musical, like the board game, though perhaps not the most sophisticated affair, is good fun all around. And given that the remainder of its run is nearly sold-out, audiences seem to agree.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a great example of mid-20th century corporate satire. The story of J. Pierrepont Finch and his unlikely but meteoric rise to the top of the World Wide Wicket organization and the woman who dreams of a life with him, together in New Rochelle, is a fun musical that never takes itself seriously, one that has maintained its popularity through revivals, regional, and community theatre performances. The Auburn Community Theatre production has some very good individual performances, and while it has the potential to be something superb, it falls victim to its length, its surroundings, and a venue that just isn’t made for a show and a cast of this size.

The How and the Why, Sarah Treem’s 2011 play about the meeting of two evolutionary biologists with a history and conflicting viewpoints of human adaptations in the field of women’s health, is a piece that is about so much more than that. Delving into themes of identity, personal biases and how they inform behavior, and building relationships, The How and the Why touches on all of this while teaching the audience about things they never would have thought they’d learn about from a play, and it does so in an extremely engaging fashion. Directed by Diana Trotter, and featuring a small, but mighty, cast consisting of Nikki Visel and Rebecca Gelzer, this first fully produced play from the Artemis Theatre Project is the absolute best possible debut that this group could have hoped for.

For fans of the film or stage musical Waitress, the 5th Avenue Theatre production of the latter is everything anyone could hope for, and perhaps a little more. The cast, led by Kerstin Anderson as Jenna, hits every note with all of the emotion Sara Bareilles wrote into her songs and their acting is top notch, funny and heartfelt, tender and strong, while the creative team has put together a solid design that complements the storytelling. As a tale of female independence and empowerment, Waitress is the perfect show for Women’s History Month, and this version is fun, emotional, entertaining, and just about perfect.

Is This a Room is unlike any play you’re going to see this season in the area. A presentation of the FBI transcript of the arrest and interrogation of Reality Lee Winner, accused of mishandling confidential documents in her role as a government contractor, it’s surprising not just in how interesting it is, but it’s even more surprising in how thrilling and exciting it is. This comes down to Aaron Lamb, the director of the Harlequin Productions version of Is This a Room, and the cast and creative team that he has put together, taking the words from the transcript and bringing them to life on the stage and bringing a humanity to a story that seems eerily timely and relatable in a time of political and social division in our country. I didn’t know what to expect when I sat down for Is This a Room, but I came away from it appreciating the skilled display of craftwork that Aaron and this group has put together and presented.

While other theaters may be leveraging more well-known plays and musicals as part of their post-Covid recovery strategy, the Seattle Rep and Dámaso Rodríguez continue their strategy of putting art first with their latest World Premiere, Lauren Yee’s Mother Russia. A wonderfully layered piece, it’s a comedy and a spy thriller, and yet it’s also a study in class distinction and social disparity, one of contrasting governmental and economic systems, and an interrogation of the impact of political change on a society set in post-Communist Russia. The Rep’s production is wonderfully presented, and the cast is fantastic at delivering the humor along with its underlying messaging, but more than anything, the choice of this play and the level of quality of the production solidifies my confidence in the future of the Rep as Seattle’s home for new and innovative theatre.

Michael Hollinger’s Ghost Writer tells the story of Myra Babbage, who vows to finish Franklin Woolsey’s novel after he passes away, after all, who knows more about him and his writing than his secretary/typist when it comes down to it? More than that, Ghost Writer is a story that contemplates the nature of an artists’ identity, a thought that is extremely valid and timely in a world where artificial intelligence is being used to create more and more art. The Jewel Box production is also a study in stage direction and casting, how Kristi Ann Jacobson and Ruth Ann Saunders have built two casts that tell the same story in two completely different ways, each providing the audience with different questions, different reactions, and surely different conclusions. It’s not possible for everyone to see plays with multiple casts twice, but if there ever was one for which the effort should be made, this is it.

If the best advertisement for any acting school is how well their students perform on stage, then Actorcraft P2S can ask for nothing better than what they put up on stage at the Penninsula High School theatre this past weekend. Theresa Rebeck’s debut play Mauritius, the story of two sisters bequeathed a stamp collection from their recently deceased mother and who have different intentions with what to do with said collection, is a play that requires a lot out of its actors from an emotional perspective and the cast that director Adrianne Alvarez-Jackson put up and consisting of Actorcraft founder Jeremy Kent Jackson and four of the studio’s students excelled in delivering this play and proved that there is a viable theatre option in Gig Harbor that deserves our attention.

Fools was written by Neil Simon to be specifically something that wouldn’t be successful on Broadway, as a way of sticking it to his wife in their divorce proceedings. And while he was successful there, the play has found a life of its own in the regional and community theatre circuit. It’s a show that’s funny, enjoyable, and fun time for the audience. The Olympic Theatre Arts production of Fools, under the direction of Steve Fisher, proves why it has been so successful at this level, it is well paced, hilariously performed, and overall a genuinely amusing and entertaining play, enjoyable for all.

Eurydice, playwright Sarah Ruhl’s adaptation of the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice and currently on stage at Bainbridge Performing Arts’ Buxton Center, is a three dimensional work of art. From a creative team, led by director Christen Muir, that has taken full advantage of the latitude given it within Ruhl’s script to construct a stunningly ethereal scenic design with unique set pieces, complemented with an original score composed by Andrew Joslyn, and a cast that gorgeously brings this story to life, Eurydice is a must-see, and is the best thing the theatre has put up on their main stage this season.

Lorca in a Green Dress, Nilo Cruz’s 2003 play that explores the poet Federico García Lorca coming to terms with his death at the hands of Nationalist militia at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, as well as his life, before his ascension to another plane of existence in the afterlife. Faced with other Lorcas, components of his consciousness, he relives moments of his life in order to make sense of where he is and how he got there. The play itself is a surreal exercise in self-reconciliation set in an ethereal reality, both a tribute to the artistry of Lorca as a poet and an artist as well as a warning to us all about the potential rise of facism and its impact on the artistic community. The Tacoma Little Theatre production, part of its ongoing partnership with the University of Washington Tacoma Theatre Program, is beautifully designed, diaphanous and delightful, and as much a part of the storytelling as the poetic delivery of the cast is. This poetically written, stunningly crafted, and beautifully performed play is exactly the right kind of bellwether we need right now.