Top Picks for theater and film this fall in and around Seattle — Get Off the Big Bottom and Get Into the Big Dark Light
By S.E. Barcus
9-16-25
Ahhh…! Fall in Seattle! The season that laughs at you if you forget your latitude. (We’re north of friggin’ Maine, here; as close to Sitka as we are to San Fran….) When one lives closer to the poles, one has those nice, long summer days – but also those dark, long winter nights. And that swing between the two is a LOOOOT more dramatic around the fall equinox than in the more moderate equatorial parts of the globe. Steeper curve, and all. The descent into the “Big Dark,” the incessant cold drizzle-spittle comes at you FAST, like someone slamming a door shut. It can be VERY depressing. (If you’re new here and not on SSRI/SNRIs yet for S.A.D. – then please do watch out for it.)
ANYHOO. That said, while we cannot right the Earth’s tilt, there are some consolation prizes for contending with the dark. With most everyone hunkering down, packing up the SUPs and tents for the winter, the dramatic arts kick into high gear again, and really thrive, starting in the fall. Telling stories. Funny or sad, righteous or carefree, meaningful or absurd, stories. We cannot get enough of them, and they are a soothing balm to the existential moroseness we would live through, otherwise.
Ah, sure, you have your 100 various streaming channels. So … you aren’t gonna leave the house? What’s wrong with you!? Haven’t you read the literature!? You’ve got to socialize, man! However tempting it might be to snuggle away indoors – you gotta force yourself! Look out for the good stuff and get out there and experience it! Isolation increases your risk for depression and dementia. Don’t do it! LIVE! (They don’t call it “LIVE” theater for nothing! 🙂
THEATER
These theatrical productions sound like the sort you don’t want to miss. Theater, you know, is ephemeral. A play goes up for several weeks, and then — like a colorful sand mandala of a Buddhist Monk – it’s blown away and gone forever. These plays won’t ‘come to streaming’ in a few months. So, if they sound interesting – I recommend making them a PRIORITY over film, which is mediated and will survive theoretically for centuries…. So, with film … no rush. Don’t let its manipulative marketing, or peer pressure from others, or the aura of buttery popcorn, fool you. Theater trumps Film in terms of priority! With theater … RUSH!
I know I know – half the time you have hauled your ass to a play, it sucks. Been there. Painful. It is hard to compete with the tens of millions of dollars that films get, and the centralized, cream-of-the-crop talent. But the other half of the time – theater WORKS. And it is LIVE. These actors and writers and producers are real people and often your NEIGHBORS. Worst case scenario — you are supporting local culture and art. Best case – you are amazed and have a wonderful, unique experience, shared by only you and your local artists, for that one moment in time, reinvigorating that sense of place and belonging and community. Joy. Reviewing the main stages and the “off-Seattle Center” productions, and the “off-off-Seattle Center” productions, these are the most interesting productions that might get my own ass off the couch and out the door. Maybe I’ll see you there!
Hell’s Canyon, by Keiko Green, September 5 – 21
WA Ensemble (12th Ave Arts)
This one’s already going strong (technically, “late summer”). Premise: “Ariel Lim, seven months pregnant, arrives at a remote cabin with a handful of old friends. Resentments surface and buried histories claw their way into the light, when the group hears something outside—trying to get in… or out? In this horror-thriller, there are some decisions you cannot outrun.”
Taking on the old, tired white men’s narratives about Asian bodies, from Madama Butterfly, to Miss Saigon, to South Pacific, Ms. Green promises she will turn the tables in Hell’s Canyon? Yes, please. I read one of my favorite brutally negative reviews, ever, while I was at NYU for theater: written by Michael Feingold (also my professor at the time) of the Village Voice, when he destroyed Miss Saigon. And South Pacific?! Ugh. I don’t think I have ever cringed as hard as I do than whenever I hear, “you sexy, GI!” in its movie preview. But all that said, with all due respect, Ms. Green — geez, lady – aren’t you also having Exotic Deadly and The Bed Trick produced in September?! Save some playwriting for the rest of us!
SUFFS, by Shaina Taub, September 13 – 27
Fifth Avenue Theater
I mean, honestly, to me, SUFFS looks kind of like the sort of typical cheesy Broadway musical I personally don’t really get into, but it’s about the suffragists. And won awards (writer/composer Shaina Taub is the first woman to ever independently win Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score in the same season – pretty awesome). And misogyny has been on the offense over the past … 40 friggin years, especially lately with the fall of Roe and the election of President MCP. So, yeah, I support this one. And hey — if you like big, gawdy Broadway touring musicals (and I know a hell of a lot of people do…), then the time is NOW for this one. (Get it? “N.O.W.?” 🙂 For example, for me, with Union Arts Center’s Shrew, given the everlasting — if perhaps not completely accurate ‘controversy,’ about the ‘battle of the sexes’ whenever that play is produced — even if they pull off a feminist-interpretation masterpiece, their choice seems poorly timed for this season/administration/era, to me…. (But hey, at least someone’s doing something besides friggin Macbeth!)
Fancy Dancer, by Larissa FastHorse, September 18 through November 2, 2025
Seattle Rep and Seattle Children’s Theatre
Well, I was gonna go with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom for a Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT) recommendation, cuz what adult or child doesn’t wanna see THAT?! I loved that book! Sounds awesome!
But then I noticed SCT’s co-production with the Seattle Rep, Fancy Dancer, and have to give it the nod. (I also have to give kudos to the Rep for producing so many contemporary plays never produced in Seattle before this season.) Premise of our fancy dancer? “Growing up half Lakota and half white, Lara lives as an outsider until she discovers the story of Osage prima ballerina Maria Tallchief and is compelled to become a dancer. But with a body that doesn’t quite conform, can she make her dream come true?”
It’s billed as a play that has “humor, resilience, and hope,” and will “celebrate perseverance and finding your community.” To me that sounds like the right kind of feminism (or really, humanism), at the right time. Written by (and at times performed by herself, like a performance artist! Check the performance calendar) Larissa FastHorse — who had her play, The Thanksgiving Party produced on Broadway, winning a Theater World Awards award — I am hoping for an empowering experience. And this is a world premiere (which just gives me a frisson! “First!”). PLUS — given it is co-produced with SCT – you can bring the whole fam, for a fun, sophisticated night out with the kiddos!
Enemy of the People, by Henrik Ibsen, September 20 through October 5
ACT + Seattle Shakespeare = Union Arts Center
Ok, sorry, I kinda dissed Shrew. My bad. Well, the union of ACT and Seattle Shakespeare is complete, now called … the Union. Or rather, the Union Arts Center, right around the corner from that terrifying exit curve off of I-5 South onto … Union. … OK, ok, we get it! 🙂
I also recently dissed Modernist drama, in general (my Ghosts review), for being just close enough to the present (as opposed to something decidedly “in the past” like Shakespeare or the ancient Greeks), to make the works feel like, not great ‘historical’ works, and yet obviously not contemporary works, either, but something that right now in the early 21st century just feels … old-fashioned. Not to mention, in our oppressive leftist culture of being divided and conquered by identity politics — who wants to see something by a dead old white guy, huh!? Am I right!?
However, Ibsen, as a master craftsman of naturalistic theater, cannot be denied. And, again, given the larger oppressive cultural reality of our day (which makes us short-sighted fools for being divided and conquered), a play about someone taking a stand for what is right, for what will create a healthier world, even when it goes against those in power and short-term profits, sounds pretty apropos. (MAHA, anyone?) So yeah, this is recommended. Hopefully we’ll get an exciting and fresh production (hard to do with these old dead white guys! Make us proud, Union!)
Improvised Slasher, by Jet City Improv, October 2 through November 1
West of Lenin / Jet City Improv
October. Now we come to all the inevitable Halloween schtick. I don’t know anything about this Jet City Improv show except that it will be an improvised slasher flick for the stage.
Which sounds absolutely amazing.
I will definitely be there. (Hopefully Fremont’s freaking traffic hell-world is nearly done? At least we got our beaks wet on some of that Infrastructure Bill before the rescission of it all….)
Mr. P.P.’s Clubhouse, October 3 through April 2026
Teatro ZinZanni
I love contemporary circus! Cirque de Soleil introduced it to the mainstream, and it is now seeping into most traditional theaters around the country, as well, often giving their tired old seasons a much-needed ‘lift.’ When you realize Teatro ZinZanni is one of the oldest such companies in the world, one of the O.G.s of contemporary circus, and you know that they were born out of Seattle – you gotta support that!
Yes, our lovable circus hobo Teatro ZinZanni continues to wander the streets of Seattle, looking for a place to rest and call home. They are back. Again. They have moved once more, this time back to Seattle’s School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA) in the SODO neighborhood. While I LOVED that big tent next to the Seattle Center, this is probably their best-suited home, being associated with one of the largest circus schools in the country.
Per the marketing, their newest show, Mr. P.P.’s Clubhouse is “inspired by the Technicolor chaos of childhood TV and reimagined through an adult lens, this culinary-cabaret fever dream is bursting with zany antics, snacky theatrics, and five-star absurdity. It’s weird. It’s wacky. It’s wonderful. It’s fine dining meets Saturday morning mayhem—and everyone’s invited to the mess.”
Hmmm…. “P.P.’s Clubhouse” sounds a looooooot like “Pee-wee’s Playhouse”…. So, if this is what I think it is – I AM SUPER-EXCITED!!!
This sounds like a loving homage to the recently deceased, Paul Reubens. I cannot tell you how much I loved Pee-wee Herman, and what he meant to me. If this is that – a continuation of the kitschy lovable and subversive nods to the ’50’s and ’60’s innocent but weird children’s TV shows, then I cannot WAIT! (Although – note that this one might start in the fall, but goes on for some time. So, in that sand-mandala-spirit, prioritize the shows that are ending sooner….)
Stereophonic, Play by David Adjmi, (Story by Ken Caillat?), October 7 – 12
Paramount Theater
“Broadway Across America,” with its Paramount Theatre mainstage, blows another Great White Way production through our town with Stereophonic, the most Tony Award-winning Show of the year. It’s about a ’70’s rock band on the verge of making it big, with all the psychological stressors to the mind and to relationships that that entails. Plus bell-bottoms. Looks and feels basically like a Fleetwood Mac story. Sounds fun.
… Wait a minute — it sounds like it might ABSOLUTELY be the Fleetwood Mac story! The New Yorker detailed the possible rip off of sound engineer (and one of the producer’s of Fleetwood Mac’s, Rumours) Ken Caillat’s autobiography. Playwright Adjmi denied it. There was a lawsuit. It has been settled. No details as to the settlement, but I hope Caillat gets a cut of the sure-to-be upcoming film. Cuz if not — then make a competing film, Ken! (No offense, but I’d rather listen to Fleetwood Mac songs rather than something by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, anyway.)
What is War, October 9 – 11
On the Boards
When it comes to performance, On the Boards remains, perhaps, Seattle’s best and most quality-controlled venue. You simply have a higher probability of hitting something amazing, and avoiding something that sucks, here, more than anywhere else in the city. With What Is War, “Dance luminaries Wen Hui and Eiko Otake create a complex tapestry of language, movement, and video to share their personal memories related to war.” Both artists are performers, choreographers, and filmmakers. One brings with her her experiences from China’s Cultural Revolution. The other, from post-war Japan. The fact that artists from China and Japan — nations that are not historically friendly, shall we say — are coming together in a piece about war is, all by itself, very moving and important. At this time, whatever their own experiences, I imagine it will be hard not to associate the work from the horrors we’ve seen on a daily basis coming out of Ukraine and Gaza. And the horrific Cultural Revolution perspective might give us a feeling of terrifying foreboding, given where we are, currently, in America? Based on the marketing, this looks like it could be the best performance art piece for the whole year. Here for only three days. (As usual for OtB, just not enough time!) Don’t miss it!
The Rocky Horror Picture Show with shadow cast, film by Richard O’Brien, October 14 – 31
Red Curtain Foundation
Now we’re really “off-off-Seattle-Center.” Every Halloween, someone somewhere is doing Rocky Horror. This might still, to this day, be one of the best and most fun introductions to theater and queer culture you could possibly take your teens to – but I, too, still love the experience decades later, whenever I happen to find myself doing the Time Warp again. (Which at my age – is, sadly, getting past ironic. But … who gives a shit!? I’m doing it … again!) Paramount Theatre is also doing it again — with a big, gaudy version. But come on – give it up for our Marysville players! Support local artists! (Maybe the dudes from their crazy wacko ambitious, Klingon M’aQ’betH, will be in the show!)
This Is Halloween, burlesque by Can Can Club based on Nightmare Before Christmas, October 16 through November 1
Can Can Club at Triple Door
Burlesque has gotten increasingly popular. I think there’s a new Star Wars strip tease on my social media feed every friggin’ month now…. But the Can Can cabaret club is Seattle’s original place for burlesquey artistry, and the best. If you want that feeling that the Moulin Rouge windmill might be churning away just outside, this is the company for you. And their, This is Halloween, is becoming a Halloween staple! Great date night, folks, hint-hint. It is super fun, and the food at Triple Door, who is presenting the show, is super yummy. Loves me some sexy, silly monsters! And all of that wonderful, Threepenny-Operaish-music of Danny Elfman, from the film, is included! If you haven’t seen this show yet, then — as Jack O’Connell’s character Jimmy, in 28 Years Later, might say — “feckin’ goooo!”
Pirates of Penzance, October 18 through November 1
Seattle Opera
Fun! I’m sorry, but I’m a sucker for this one. It’ll be hard not to compare Seattle Opera‘s October offering to the amazing film with Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kiline. But when an OPERA company does something, you know it’s gonna be big and phat, just like I like it! (That’s what they do!) So I’m looking forward to this!
I’m not sure where I stand in the debate over whether or not this is a musical or opera (up there in the Porgy and Bess and Threepenny theater-with-music fight club…), but I love the music and songs of Pirates of Penzance. PLUS – one of our nation’s greatest humorist-song-writers just passed away this year, Tom Leher — so go in his memory, and when they start singing “Modern Major General” — you know what to do, you chemistry nerds, you!
The Humans, by Stephen Karam, October 30 through November 22
Sound Theater Company
If all of the Halloween zaniness and Ho-ho-ho stuff in the fall season is just a little much for you, and you want just a nice, human, drama, then perhaps check out our local production of the Tony-award play, The Humans. Last produced here in 2017 at the Rep, the play deals with the Blake family at Thanksgiving. The play promises to be, “a profound exploration of love, resilience, and the ties that bind us,” reflecting on “the beauty and fragility of being human.” Sounds like a deep-dive by … Sound Theater … of Puget Sound. … Get yer psyche-scuba-gear on.
A Very Die Hard Christmas, by Jeff Schell and The Habit, November 14 through December 21
Seattle Public Theater / The Habit
Then comes December, when it looks like Santa Claus barfed all over the live performance community. (For me, Christmas is “winter” – but really, with winter not starting until December 22, the Christmas culture is really mostly “fall.”) Kind of weird, culturally, that in the world of mediated drama (a.k.a., film), December brings mostly the heaviest and most serious of dramas, packed in under the wire for awards season. But in the world of live drama (a.k.a., theater), December is rife with kids’ shows and comedies and holiday themed “magic.” And those shows are often the bread winners for the company’s whole season. Those are the shows that for some inexplicable reason finally get people out to see a live performance. Likely due to the holidays’ subconsciously creating that need for “community,” which — a-ha! got you, people, admit it! — live performance fulfills better than some movie or TV or phone screen. Live performance should be pointing this out and leveraging it, over and over and over…. (I have a pipe dream that as we increasingly come to understand how much social media, and TV before that, have adversely affected out mental health and culture, we will one day see a major renaissance of live theater!!)
All this said — Bah Humbug! I say, skip the usual holiday suspects! Skip Lion King, Elf, yet another Nutcracker. Forgo Sound of Music and A Sherlock Carol (a rip-off of our own John Longenbaugh’s idea, by the way – how could you, Taproot!?), and, instead, check out A Very Die Hard Christmas, where Seattle Public Theater and The Habit bring it back again, and have obviously made the executive decision — in the ongoing, very serious, very erudite, national cultural debate — that Die Hard IS, indeed, a Christmas holiday movie. What a silly cash-cow!
9 to 5, November 18 through Feb 1
Village Theater (Issaquah/Everett)
Another pick for the “off-off” circuit – times two (with Village Theater’s weird and unique system of having one production built up in two separate physical spaces around Puget Sound). And so, here comes 9 to 5! More pop-feminism? I’ll take it. Keep it coming. And this time, along with it – pro-labor, to boot, as we saw Dabney Coleman suffer in the film. So, watch it, y’all CEOs and administrators, Dolly Parton is coming for you! Dolly … friggin … Parton — who can say no to Dolly Parton!? I can’t! But, aw man! Village Theater!? You couldn’t have made opening night on Sept 5th!? Or maybe you could’ve had it run from November 9 through February 5? Get it? Get it?! (Insert Fozzy Bear laugh, here.)
FILM
Mediated Drama
After scouring the calendar for a play, if you don’t see one that is enticing – and, you know, don’t want to support local artists who are your very neighbors (that’s fine, that’s fine — shame on you!) – then below are the most interesting and anticipated films to still get your butt out of the home, into the streets, to BE with other people — good for you! You got out there! You experienced something with strangers, all around you. You interacted with rowdy kids in line, ticket sellers and ticket takers, concessionists, maybe even went out to dinner and had a nice intimate moment with friends and family for the only time that month….
I am not going to go into too much detail, or give you pics, about what these movies are about, because you likely already know, and if you don’t, you will. You are probably going to see thousands of commercials and posters for them, because film has a much larger marketing budget than theater. So I’ll let the bots do their work and just mention which films look interesting to me. In the land of the Big Dumper, let’s get our Big Bottoms off the couch and into the theaters…. I’ll just advocate for live drama one last time. Films will come to streaming if you miss them. Live theater will not. Please choose live theater, and support local artists, when you can. Thank you!
Spinal Tap 2, The End Continues, Opens September 12
(I wonder if Cal Raleigh likes, Big Bottom?) I saw the first Spinal Tap — which was also the first Christopher Guest ensemble-created “mockumentary” — in theaters as a tween, WAY back in the day. We had no idea what we were in for. Thought it was serious for the first several minutes, then gradually realized I was watching one of the funniest things I’d ever experienced apart from Holy Grail and The Mr. Bill Show.
Dreams (Sex Love), Opens September 12
The last of the “Oslo Trilogy,” by Dag Johan Haugerud. The New York Times’ review intrigued me.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Opens September 19
This film is described as an “American romantic fantasy film,” starring two actors who are … not American, Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell. Great casting. But, well, they are great, so I’m still interested.
Him, Opens September 19
A Jordan Peele production. Looks like some weird mashup where the NFL meets The Wicker Man. I have this feeling that Marlon Wayans is about to pull a Denzel Washington in Training Day with this one.
One Battle After Another, Opens September 26
Based on a book by Thomas Pynchon, this one stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio del Toro. I hear it’s the most exciting-looking film of Paul Thomas Anderson since There Will Be Blood.
Tron Ares, Opens October 10
I’m a sucker for Tron. Sorry.
Frankenstein, Opens October 17
Oh boy oh boy oh boy…. Guillermo del Toro promises to do for Mary Shelley’s monster what Robert Eggers did for Nosferatu. Making the classic horror stories truly horrifying again.
Good Fortune, Opens October 17
After the whole Bill Murray thing, Aziz Ansari finally gets a film made. Looks kind of like an updated version of Trading Places. Seems silly — but I was sold with Keanu Reeve’s line about wealth not solving all of Seth Rogen’s problems — or wait, Aziz Ansari’s problems.
Nuremberg, Opens November 7
Wow. A film about the Nuremberg trials. With Rami Malek and Russell Crowe. Humanity’s understanding of Ethics, and the implementation of international laws and organizations that would enforce them, made one of its greatest strides because of and after these trials. This sounds like it could be really, really meaningful.
Predator: Badlands, Opens November 7
Dan Trachtenberg, the guy who has rebooted the Predator franchise in an amazing way, with his Prey, and Killer of Killers, is back with another enticing horror flick. Starring Elle Fanning, who I am still sore never got enough credit for her great, The Great.
Dust Bunny, Opens December 5
A creepy looking, fun horror flick. As I’ve said before, I loves me some Mads Mikkelsen! And I love and trust Sigourney Weaver’s choices. I’ll see it.
Wake Up Dead Man, Opens December 12
Another Rian Johnson Knives Out sequel. I loved Knives Out. I love Daniel Craig’s “CSI: KFC.” (Too bad Mikkelsen can’t be his villain again!) Here’s hoping for another good, fun mystery.
Father Mother Sister Brother, Opens December 24
And now, the best for last! While I push theater over film, I have such a soft spot for Jim Jarmusch (I have a big Cleveland connection, after all!), that this might be THE dramatic piece I am most looking forward to, theater or film. (You got a problem with December 24 but not all the early September “fall” crap!? Huh!? … Huh!?) Jarmusch said he might quit directing and focus on music — but you can’t keep an artist down. He has said this is a “very subtle film; it’s very quiet…. Funny and sad.” Quite a change of pace from his last flick, the over-the-top silly, The Dead Don’t Die. This film just won the 82nd Venice International Film Festival’s highest award last month at its world premiere, the Golden Lion. With actors like Adam Driver, Kate Blanchett, and Tom Waits, I cannot miss this — IN the theaters.
Then, alas, it is winter. Full-on “Big Dark” hits December 22. The nadir of that opening graph, above, when our daylight hours have dropped from 17 down to the low point at 7.5. The “bright side”? Here comes the sun. Let’s try to remember that, which is easier said than done in January and February, I know, I know…. (Why can’t we keep our friggin’ holiday lights up until March, anyway? In Seattle, it seems stupid not to…. Let’s change the meme! In the PNW – we call it, the “Big Light!” We keep holiday lights going until March! Now that’s a smart mental health culture I can get behind.)
(Oh — and get out of the house!)
Copyright 9-16-25
S.E. Barcus 
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