Wine in the Wilderness

Wednesday, I was introduced to A Contemporary Theater. The name has been familiar to me for quite some time in it’s acronym form: ACT. I had often driven by and made note of their sign on that handsome old building that one passes directly after taking the Union Exit off of I-5 and into the heart of downtown. Finally, Wednesday became the day to stop the car, jump out and go and see a play there. And boy did we luck out with the production we found playing: Wine in the Wilderness.

Wine is a part of the ACT Theater’s Hansberry Project through which the folks at ACT are making a commitment to provide Seattle with a productions series in collaboration with African American playwrights, actors and directors. The ACT Theater is a delightful old theater (Hendrix used to play there) that was renovated and now offers four theater spaces within its walls. Wine finds its home in the Allen Theater space, which offers a wonderful example of theater-in-the-round. This style is especially appropriate for this intimate and inviting play set in the Harlem in during the 1964 riots. The audience are introduced to a small cast of 6 as they work through, with wonderful lilting humor, the assumptions they have made about one another as well as the larger stereotypes that are playing out all around them. I would highly recommend this play and the ACT Theater. Should you like to step out on the town and take a deep drink of this full-bodied production, Wine in the Wilderness is playing through July 9th.