This Week in Seattle Shows: Raja Feather Kelly, Hollis Does Brunch, ‘Jitney,’ and More

Four shows you shouldn’t miss (unless you prefer to stay home right now, which is also OK)

By Gemma Wilson March 4, 2020

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Strange as it is to start a column about cool art events in Seattle with “I am not a medical professional,” here we are, and I am not. Art never stops, thankfully, and there are still plenty of outstanding events to check out this week, from a groundbreaking, of-the-moment choreographer, one of America’s greatest 20th century playwrights and more. Many juries are still out on the relative risk of gathering in public spaces, so stay informed, wash your hands and call aheadand if you decide against attending, maybe donate a li’l money to the company from whom you might have otherwise bought a ticket. Times are tough enough for arts organizations these days without missing out on ticket sales, so some extra support wouldn’t go amiss. 

Jitney 
This show officially opens tonight but it’s already got a lot going for it: It’s essentially a touring version of the Tony-winning 2017 Broadway production by Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by veteran August Wilson interpreter Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Jitney was the first play Wilson wrote in his incredible Century Cycle, 10 plays chronicling Black American life in the 20th century. It’s Pittsburgh in the late ‘70s, and licensed cabs refuse to service the city’s predominantly Black areas. So Jim Becker set up a business managing unlicensed cabs, called jitneys, to serve his community, and now the city wants to shut it down. Prescient ideas, unparalleled prose—get into it. 
Runs through 3/29, Seattle Repertory Theater

Ugly 
New York–based choreographer Raja Feather Kelly’s work has animated some of the most explosive off-Broadway shows of recent years. Now, thanks to Washington Ensemble Theatre’s GUSH Series, which presents work by exciting out-of-town artists, Seattle audiences have a chance to see his solo work live. Kelly’s work of dance theater/”pop-culture collage” Ugly addresses “the lack of black queer subjectivity in the mainstream” and promises to be thought-provoking in a visceral way. Don’t read too much about it, just go. 
3/5–3/16, 12th Avenue Arts

Hollis Does Brunch
Hollis Wong-Wear has been making music (and art of all kinds) in Seattle for ages: she’s a Grammy nominee for her work (songwriting and vocals) on the 2014 Macklemore and Ryan Lewis album The Heist, lead vocalist of electronic R&B trio The Flavr Blue, and now she’s celebrating the release of her new solo EP, Half-Life. Not only is this event an “intimate showcase” of Hollis’ new solo music, it’s a pop-up Filipino brunch by Hood Famous Bakeshop. Yes, OK, twist my arm.
3/7, Sugar Hill

The Magic Hat 
Every Monday, in the basement of The Rendezvous, local comedy jewel Emmett Montgomery hosts The Magic Hat, a variety show and “friendship machine” consisting of a lineup of performers, from newcomers to veterans, showcasing 10 minutes of…whatever it is they want to showcase that nightstand-up, storytelling, music, you name it. To add “unexpected wonderfulness,” there are also five-minute lottery spots for interested audience members, drawn from a hat throughout the night. You never know exactly what you’ll experience, but isn’t that the point of live performance, anyhow?  
3/9, The Rendezvous 

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