Theaters-in-Residence
Hugo Theaters-in-Residence
Since we opened our doors in 1997, Richard Hugo House has made residencies one of its programmatic linchpins. Our writers-in-residence program has grown from supporting one writer in 1997 to supporting five writers 10 years later. The philosophy behind the residency program is firmly rooted in the mission of our organization: to provide writers of all ages and backgrounds with the resources they need, connect audiences with the world of writing, foster the creation of new work and promote the literary arts as a vital part of our culture.
Over the past 10 years, Hugo House has supported writers of many persuasions: poets, journalists, prose writers, storytellers, spoken word artists, zine makers, graphic novelists, bloggers and more through our classes, events and residencies. And among the many types of writing and writers we have taught or presented, there has always been a healthy smattering of plays and playwrights, as well.
At the same time, Hugo House possesses one of the few mid-sized theatrical venues available in Seattle—a 88-seat black box theater. As we consider our broader mission to support writers, we realize that a play begins as words on a page long before it is realized on a stage. Unlike a novel or a short story or poem, however, a play requires more than just the paper it's printed on to reach its audience. It needs a physical place to house it; and an array of people—actors, directors, stage managers, set builders, costumers and sound and light technicians, to name a few—to breathe life into it. In other words, it takes a whole company to support a play.
For this reason, Hugo House has expanded our current residency program beyond writers-in-residence to include two theaters-in-residence for local companies. The 2008-2009 theaters-in-residence are Next Stage and SIS Productions. Our purpose in offering these residencies is to help build strong, viable theater companies committed to presenting innovative new work that is interesting, thought-provoking and contributes to the civic discourse of our community. Our hope for the theater companies that receive residencies is that they will use their time at Hugo House to develop and implement plans for future sustainability.
