Every community theater faces the same issue year after year. Ask any one of them across the country, \u201cWhat\u2019s the most challenging thing about selecting a season of plays?\u201d There\u2019s no question that their answer will be \u201cBalance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balance between tried and true \u201cold chestnuts\u201d drawing audiences by name alone and new plays that will be crowd pleasers if only the crowd will attend; balance between straight plays and musicals; balance between shows that stretch actors and those that stretch audiences; balance between shows for adults and those that are kid friendly; balance between comedies that gives patrons a chance to laugh without having to think too much and dramas that can act as a forum for thought provoking dialogue. Finding something for everyone is the goal every time.<\/p>\n
Over the next 30 days, the Warehouse Theatre Company will offer Yakima audiences a chance to take in works on either end of the theatrical spectrum.<\/p>\n
On one end is the current show, \u201cBoeing Boeing\u201d by Marc Camoletti. Running now through Feb. 28, this play is farce at its best. Set in the \u201cswingin\u2019 1960s,\u201d it\u2019s the story of Bernard Lawrence, an architect who is dating three airline hostesses at once, each of whom believes she is his one and only fianc\u00e9. What could possibly go wrong, right? When they all show up at the same time, there is much ado about dating and the laughs are non-stop.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Cait Towry (Berthe), Matt Kincannon (Robert) and Dan Richmond (Bernard) prove that desperation is a funny thing in this scene from “Boeing Boeing.”<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n In her program notes, \u201cBoeing Boeing\u201d director Ryan Clinkenbeard sums it up best: \u201cThere is something timeless about a well-crafted farce. When it works, it feels effortless\u2014doors slam, identities tangle, misunderstandings multiply\u2014and laughter becomes inevitable. But beneath that whirlwind is a piece of theatre that demands precision, trust, and a deep respect for the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n That respect means that patrons are carried along on a two-hours journey where the minutes fly by. They\u2019re immersed in a Parisian apartment the moment they enter the theater and in true farcical fashion, they\u2019re always one step ahead of the characters in anticipating the shenanigans to come. Audiences know from the jump that Bernard\u2019s clever plan to keep three women on the hook is never going to work and that they will have a front row seat to the crash of his high-flying plans.<\/p>\n Clinkenbeard says this play \u201c… invites us all to laugh together, to delight in chaos and to enjoy the kind of storytelling that reminds us why live theatre is so much fun.\u201d It \u201cunderstands exactly what it is: joyful, unapologetic escapism, built on impeccable timing and human folly. It doesn\u2019t ask to be taken seriously\u2014but it does ask to be taken seriously as comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n The second play to grace the WTC stage in the coming month is David Auburn\u2019s drama \u201cProof.\u201d On the flip side of a theatrical coin from the farce of \u201cBoeing Boeing\u201d this is a serious play that asks to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cProof\u201d is directed by a Warehouse Theatre veteran making her directorial debut, Megan Hawkins. She proposed this play to the selection committee as a candidate to fill the position of \u201csixth show\u201d in the WTC season. Since the 1970\u2019s, the company has offered five shows per season. As a rule, the plays were chosen to remain cleanly in the lane of family friendly theater. While that plan continues to work, it isn\u2019t as friendly to a fully balanced series of theater offerings. Balance requires weight on both ends of the scale.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Carlee Richard plays Claire, Catherine\u2019s practical, controlling and business-minded older sister\u00a0in an early rehearsal of the Warehouse Theatre’s production of “Proof.”<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \n Sign up for our Daily Headlines<\/strong> newsletter \u2014 delivered to your inbox every morning at 7 a.m.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Thanks!<\/strong> You\u2019re all set.<\/p>\n Watch your inbox for Daily Headlines.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n To explore audience reaction to more weighty drama, the Warehouse slid an additional show \u2013 a \u201csixth show\u201d – into the 2024\/2025 season. That first foray into plays with adult language and more challenging content was the November 2024 production of \u201cThe Quality of Life\u201d by Jane Anderson. A moving play focusing on end-of-life questions and the deeply personal reaction to loss, it, too, was a serious play that was taken seriously. It received only glowing praise from patrons in attendance. So, the \u201csixth show\u201d is now the norm.<\/p>\n Hawkins is a fan of \u201cProof\u201d because it is serious. \u201cIt explores adult themes including mental health, misogyny in academic spaces and complicated family dynamics.\u201d Audiences will hear adult language inspired by reaction to real world frustrations. \u201cIt does contain some adult language,\u201d says Hawkins. But she adds that \u201cit\u2019s powerful because it\u2019s a thoughtful, realistic and sometimes quietly intense piece.\u201d<\/p>\n Scene 1 of \u201cProof\u201d opens on the eve of Catherine\u2019s (T\u2019liia Franklin) 25th birthday. After years of caring for her failing father, Robert (Michael Meeks) \u2013 a brilliant mathematician troubled by the ogre of mental instability \u2013 Catherine is wrestling with her emotions as she seeks a purpose in her life. The arrival of her estranged sister, Claire (Carlee Richard), presents one kind of challenge, while Hal (Aaron Cohen), a former student of her father, poses another. When Hal\u2019s search of the professor\u2019s 103 notebooks leads to a mysterious find, Catherine has an even more challenging problem: Will she inherit her father\u2019s genius… or his madness?<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019Proof\u2019 is an intimate, emotionally layered show,\u201d says Hawkins. \u201cThe cast has jumped in with a level of honesty and care that has made the early rehearsal process feel both exciting and meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n Newcomer to the Warehouse stage Aaron Cohen agrees. \u201cBeing my first show at WTC, it is great to go to such welcoming and supportive rehearsals to tackle the intricate themes of grief and intelligence in this show,\u201d he says. \u201cI’m excited to see what elements of the story audience members are drawn to.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Warehouse Theatre newcomer Aaron Cohen watches a scene from “Proof” during a recent rehearsal.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n
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