Tagged: community theater

Twenty years ago, a group of like-minded theater folk felt there was something missing in Seattle. There wasn't a lab where actors could take classes and try out new things.

"In New York, people work all the time," says Robin Lynn Smith. "In Los Angeles, you study when you’re not working. Here we wanted to have an opportunity for people to have that option to keep challenging themselves to go further. And then for creating work, we needed a place for experimentation."

We know that how information is being communicated and paid for is quickly changing and that because of this the field of journalism is in a state of flux. But what does this exactly mean for today’s reporters and a public that wants to be informed?

A new play in the Seattle area explores how “instant information” through texting and tweeting is affecting the way news is covered and consumed here in the Northwest. It’s called “The New, New News…a Living Newspaper."

Right from the beginning, the Lakewood Playhouse made an impression on Minnesota-transplant Jeffrey Alan Smith.

"When I auditioned for the show, I was kind of taken aback because I’d never seen a theater in a mall."

Yes, a mall, with an Old Navy and a Bed, Bath and Beyond.  But the Lakewood Towne Center also has a 160-seat theater called the Lakewood Playhouse.  And this is where 23-year-old Smith has gotten his theatrical break.