New Work in the Pacific Northwest: Why this event? Why now? by Anthony Darnell

Last year, a small group of Satori members headed down to Portland to celebrate the Fourth of July. At the time, we were still relatively new to Seattle and most of us had never been.

Before moving to Seattle in 2008, we researched the Northwest theatre community and its players. We made a list of artists we had to meet and Hand2Mouth was near the top.

Hand2Mouth has been around for nearly 10 years.  They create and present their own original work and travel the country to share it with others. Plus, the production we caught was awesome. It’s inspirational to meet artists who work with such a collaborative spirit.

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of buzz from local press and artists about the creation of original work in Seattle and a Northwest touring network: a way to enliven the Seattle theatre community, bring our artists together, improve our work, and save the sinking ship that may be theatre.

The Satori Group has created original work in the past, but we are on the verge of presenting our first original composition in Seattle. It’s an adaptation of Winky, a short story by George Saunders. In this moment, we feel lucky to be in this community and we’re excited to join this conversation.

We work to inspire with what we are inspired by and this is why we present Undine, an original work by Faith Helma and Hand2Mouth Theatre. Please join us and be part of this conversation about New Work in the Pacific Northwest.

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Anthony Darnell
Managing Artistic Director
The Satori Group