In 2023, I can be legally discriminated against in 19 U.S. Through recessions, the rise of mass shootings, 45, the pandemic, we are the walking wounded. Artists who should be flourishing are struggling to make ends meet. Overwhelmed as waves of cuts and pauses in the larger theatre field disrupt livelihoods and destabilize communities, we go quiet. In Peter Marks’ recent article, he paints a bleak picture of the causes of this turmoil, and Larissa Fasthorse points out in her article about her show being cancelled by the Mark Taper Forum that it’s also happening in a moment when artists who were historically marginalized are stepping into their power-only to be handed a mess. Jéhan was slated to direct Book-It’s fall production, Frankenstein, and their response mirrors those of other artists I reach out to. “I keep thinking about what to say and all I keep coming up with is, I’m just really sad,” Jéhan Òsanyìn writes me. While I now live in New York, due to the tight nature of the Seattle theatre community, almost everyone I know there is affected. I feel unmoored by the news of Book-It’s demise, and I’m not alone. Three weeks prior to this sudden closure announcement, we had a first read and began the process of casting an all trans/nonbinary and female team. I am a director, writer, and visual artist who spent the last year translating and adapting Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas into a new play for Book-It’s 2023-24 season, which I was slated to direct (and design puppets for) next spring. Information stumbles around the room as texts, emails, and hushed conversations confirm: After 34 years, the board of Book-It Repertory has decided to cease operations.

Condolences and messages of support flood my screen. Shortly before noon, my phone begins to buzz. We are in the bowels of tech for Hedwig at ArtsWest in Seattle.

This is one of two features inspired by the untimely end of Seattle’s Book-It Repertory, which closed suddenly in late June.

Paranormal witness new season 2018