Stage Review - The Fantasticks (Dukesbay Productions)
What Dukesbay has achieved here is a strong, and beautiful, reminder of what live theatre can do when stripped of unnecessary layers. The Fantasticks is a fable about innocence, experience, and rediscovery, and in this production, those themes are reflected not only in the performances but in the very act of presentation—voices unamplified, music live and intimate, storytelling simple yet profound. It’s a musical that feels like it’s being sung directly into your heart, and Dukesbay’s talented ensemble makes sure every note lands exactly there.
Stage Review - Eulogy: Or How to Plan Your Own Funeral (and have fun doing it) - Pony World Theatre
Pony World Theatre’s Eulogy isn’t just a play about dying—it’s a play about living fully and deliberately. Brendan Healy’s performance, coupled with the sincerity of his collaborators, transforms what might have been a farewell into something closer to a celebration. It’s funny, honest, and disarmingly hopeful, reminding us that confronting mortality isn’t about giving up—it’s about finding meaning in every remaining moment. This production, under the keen direction of Sophia Franzella is a quiet triumph, and for audiences willing to face the big questions with open hearts, it’s a night worth celebrating.
Stage Review - The Humans (Sound Theatre Company)
Director Teresa Thuman handles the story and cast quite nimbly. She gives us themes that resonate in today’s American family and America as a whole. “The Humans" is funny and scary, while tough and relatable. It will keep you thinking long after the lights go out.
Stage Review - A Murder is Announced (Olympic Theatre Arts)
A Murder is Announced at Olympic Theatre Arts offers their own take on what fans of Agatha Christie come for, and they deliver it with a unique design and some solid performances, which give this production its own identity, proving that even in a genre built on formula, creativity can still surprise.
Stage Review - Leading Ladies (Bremerton Community Theatre)
This production is proof that Leading Ladies doesn’t need reinvention — just precision, trust in the material, and performers who understand that the best farce comes from absolute commitment. From staircase to skirt hem, this one commits completely. In the end, Bremerton Community Theatre’s Leading Ladies is a fast, funny, and fully realized romp that delivers on every promise of a Ken Ludwig comedy. It’s polished without losing its sense of play, bold without slipping into excess, and heartfelt enough to remind us that even the most ridiculous deceptions can lead to moments of genuine truth. Audiences looking for a night of sharp humor, strong performances, and impeccable stagecraft will find it all here.
Stage Review - Little Foxes (Intiman Theatre & The Feast)
This rendition of Little Foxes offers us an intimate look at the various guises that prejudice, cruelty, and love can take – and what happens when all those facades get ripped away. Intiman Theatre and The Feast immerse us in a world that demonstrates how expansive privilege can be while revealing how that same privilege can produce fear and claustrophobia, offering its beneficiaries few escapes despite the abundance of luxuries. Replete with a talented ensemble and a wonderful set design, this is a reimagining of an old play worth revisiting now.
Stage Review - Ted & Gary
(Ted & Gary) is about proximity—how close we can get to understanding darkness without falling into it. And in that dimly lit corner of Jules Maes, experiencing the hauntingly good performances of Seamus C. Smith and Ryan Higgins, the definition of immersive theatre is on full display, where the line between observer and participant grows terrifyingly thin.
Stage Review - Ms. Frankenstein’s Monster (Phoenix Theatre)
The thought that lingers after the show, having experienced a play that is extremely silly, though not altogether well constructed by its author—that the “monster” might not be in the lab at all, but in the choices we make and the systems we build. It’s both a clever and oddly touching reflection on power, identity, and the ways we define creation itself. With Ms. Frankenstein’s Monster, The Phoenix once again proves that comedy, no matter how silly, can be just as illuminating as tragedy.
Stage Review - The Da Vinci Code (Tacoma Little Theatre)
Tacoma Little Theatre’s The Da Vinci Code succeeds precisely because it doesn’t try to outdo its famous predecessors. Instead, it trusts its cast, its design, and its audience. By paring down the story’s global sprawl into something more personal and immediate, Trina Williamson and her team have created a production that’s less about cracking a code and more about decoding ourselves — our history, our beliefs, and the symbols we cling to. Through disciplined staging, thoughtful design, and a cast that balances intellect with heart, this Da Vinci Code is a mystery well worth solving.
Stage Review - Almonds Blossom in Deir Yassin (Dunya Productions)
Run, don't walk, to Cherry Street Village to watch Almonds Blossom in Deir Yassin. You have never seen anything like it and you never will again.
Stage Review - Stage of Fools (Seattle Public Theater)
This brilliant show is a context-specific love-letter to the Seattle Theatre Community and its audiences. It was made for us, by us, about us. Come on down and fill out those seats for the remaining performance. Your medicine awaits.
Stage Review - Jane Eyre, the Musical (Enoch City Arts)
Jane Eyre at Enoch City Arts succeeds because it understands the heart of the material. It doesn’t try to overwhelm with spectacle; it trusts the text, the music, and the sincerity of its performers. Through careful direction, thoughtful use of lighting and sound, and a cast that believes in the story they’re telling, this production manages to make Brontë’s world feel as immediate and human as ever. It’s a reminder that in theatre — as in life — intimacy often speaks louder than grandeur.
Stage Review - Shrew (Union Arts Center)
At its heart, this Shrew succeeds not by softening Shakespeare’s thorns but by leaning into them, wrestling with the discomfort rather than running from it. The result is a production that is messy, funny, provocative, and undeniably alive—everything theatre should be when it dares to reexamine the classics through a modern lens. Union Arts Center’s inaugural Shakespeare outing proves that risk and reinvention can coexist with reverence, and that there’s real power in holding a mirror up to a play that still unsettles us centuries later.
Stage Review - Dracula (Renton Civic Theatre)
The Renton Civic Theatre production of Dracula is an adaptation that relies more on character work than on shock or gore, and under Brad Lo Walker’s direction, the production finds a balance between human emotion and eerie suspense. It’s a strong interpretation—faithful yet fresh—a darkly elegant and well-paced retelling that leans into mood and atmosphere over spectacle, with performances that serve both the humanity and horror of the story. It’s intelligent, well-crafted theatre—a perfect tale for this time of year.
Stage Review - The Liar (Bremerton Community Theatre)
The Bremerton Community Theatre production of The Liar stands out, not just for the precision of its comic wordplay, but for the joy of it all. You can feel the ensemble’s energy feeding off the laughter in the Stewart Performance Hall, like an endless shared and delightful moment between performer and audience. That’s the hallmark of good comedy: the sense that everyone, on stage and off, knows they’re part of a grand, ridiculous dance, and The Liar is a very good comedy. Kristi Ann Jacobson has assembled a cast of actors that seem tailor made for their roles, and with a design that excels in its simplicity along with her direction, The Liar is a hilarious romp that deserves more than just a two week run.
Stage Review - The Play That Goes Wrong (Bainbridge Performing Arts)
This Play That Goes Wrong gets just about everything right. Bainbridge Performing Arts has crafted a gloriously unhinged production that celebrates the art of imperfection with exacting skill. It’s a love letter to the unpredictability of live theatre—a night of laughter, mishaps, and creative brilliance that only a director with the chops of Ken Michels and company as confident and capable as this one is could pull off.
Stage Review - Misery (Key City Public Theatre)
Misery at Key City Public Theatre is a triumph of tone, design, and performance—a perfectly tuned storm of technical excellence and human emotion. It’s a production that doesn’t just tell a story; it traps you inside one, daring you to look away. Director Brendan Chambers, his creative team led by Bry Kifolo and her stellar lighting and sound, and phenomenal performances from Krista Curry and Erik Gratton come together to take Stephen King’s psychological terror and make it deeply theatrical, reminding us that sometimes the scariest thing on stage is not what’s in the dark, but what’s standing in the light.
Stage Review - Miss Holmes Returns (Centerstage Theatre)
Miss Holmes Returns at Centerstage Theatre is that rare sequel that improves upon its source in every conceivable way. It’s more confident, more cohesive, and more emotionally resonant than its predecessor. It blends sharp intellect with compassion, humor with heart, and delivers a mystery that is as much about human connection as it is about crime-solving. In an age where the role of women in leadership and intellect is still contested, this production reaffirms the value of voices that think, feel, and lead. It’s a smart, engaging, and beautifully performed evening of theatre — one that proves the truth is never simple, but always worth chasing.
Stage Review - Godspell (inD Theatre)
InD Theatre’s Godspell may not convert every skeptic, but it doesn’t need to. It’s a production that embraces the dualities of belief and doubt, of faith and questioning, and it finds strength in that balance. What lingers is the sincerity of the effort — the raw, open-hearted performances, the creativity of its staging, and the palpable sense of community that builds between cast and audience by the final bow. Like the best interpretations of Godspell, Shannon Dowling’s version feels both familiar and immediate, reverent and restless. It’s theatre as parable, but also as protest — and in its imperfect, searching way, it invites us to listen, reflect, and maybe find a little faith in each other again.
Stage Review - Glengarry Glen Ross (SecondStory Rep)
This production understands the play’s emotional truth. The men in Glengarry Glen Ross are, at their core, tragic figures — desperate, flawed, and all too real. They are the casualties of an economic system that rewards ruthlessness and punishes vulnerability. Alicia and this cast embrace that tragedy without apology, refusing to soften the edges or sanitize the grit. It’s theatre that makes you uncomfortable in the best possible way, because it’s truthful. When the proverbial curtain drops, what lingers isn’t the profanity or the shouting (there is a lot of both), but the silence that follows — the heavy realization that what was just presented on stage was something unapologetically honest. SecondStory Rep’s Glengarry Glen Ross is as bold as it is brilliant, a masterclass in precision, performance, and purpose. It’s the kind of show that reminds us that great theatre doesn’t have to be pretty — it just has to be true.