Jonathan Shue

Cesar Abella, prize-winning San Francisco playwright and my friend from UCLA days, has written a new four-person play called Mate. As part of my cohort’s Emerging Stages Play Reading Series here at University of Washington, we will be doing a reading of it this Sunday, March 4 at 7PM in the Penthouse Theatre. Come check it out and help a) to raise money for our showcase and b) more importantly – to foster the development of a new play!

Cesar first started developing this play while in residence at the renowned Old Vic in London, where the term “mate” is used between males the same way “bro” is used here in the U.S. Mate opens when the relationship between two best friends, Leo and Marty, begins to unravel as Marty prepares to move to France. They meet two dynamic women at a bar, Kathleen and Lisa, who challenge what their relationship is really about. Is it just friendship, or more than that? Mate wrestles head-on with the curious nature of male friendships and bonds, transcending the labels of “gay,” “bi” or “straight,” and investigating the experiences that nonetheless define us. I am very honored to be directing and acting in this piece and can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

 2012 is has started with a bang! First up, I’ll be in 2 play readings with Book-It Repertory Theatre, a Seattle company known for its trademarked style of adapting novels into plays now celebrating its 20th anniversary. The roles I’m playing are Hindley, jealous brother of Cathy in Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte’s gothic tour-de-force of a tight-knight dysfunctional family living in the Moors of England in the 19th century; and uptight heir John Cavendish in Agatha Christie’s Mysterious Affair at Styles. I’m very excited to be working on these adaptations as they are workshopped for possible performance in the coming seasons at Book-It. Details below…

Next I’ll be playing Mr. Weston in Jane Austen’s Emma here at the University of Washington. I love this role—I’m a cheerful, compassionate man who has recently remarried and helps to bring several families together at the Highbury estate in England. Once again it is set in the Victorian era so I’ve been practicing period styles and my British RP accent

Book-It Repertory Theatre’s 3rd Annual Novel Workshop Series

Wuthering Heights directed by Co-Artistic Director Jane Jones

Agatha Christie’s Mysterious Affair at Styles directed by Education Associate Josh Aaseng

January 12-15 | Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theatre at the University of Washington, Seattle

Emma

By Jane Austen

Adapted by Michael Bloom

Directed by Victor Pappas

February 8-26 | Floyd and Dolores Jones Playhouse at the University of Washington, Seattle