ACT has been finding, creating and sharing contemporary theatre with audiences since 1965.
ACT made history as the first theatre in Seattle dedicated to producing contemporary plays, and we’re still making history as the most welcoming development house for new plays around. With our multiple stages and diversity of work, ACT keeps you intimately involved with new theatre.
Awards & Recognition
From its original base of 300 subscribers in its 400-seat facility in lower Queen Anne, to its present stature as a nationally recognized theatre serving nearly 8,000 subscribers, ACT has received many awards, including:
- Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays
- Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund
- AT&T OnStage Award
- American College Theatre Festival’s Award of Excellence
- Washington State Governor’s Arts Award
- New Play Grant from the Ford Foundation
- Three sizeable challenge grants from the NEA
- Annual Shubert Foundation grants since 1977
- Education Endowment from the Hearst Foundation
- Continuing support from PONCHO
- Continuing support from Seattle’s Corporate Council for the Arts
- Seattle’s Best Theatre – Seattle Weekly
ACT plays live beyond ACT
Since 1998, six of ACT’s world premiere plays have gone on to New York as ACT productions:
- Scent of the Roses by Lisette Lecat Ross (1998)
- Power Plays by Alan Arkin and Elaine May (1998)
- The Syringa Tree by Pamela Gien (1999)
- Temporary Help by David Wiltse (1999)
- In the Penal Colony by Philip Glass (2000)
- A Skull in Connemara by Martin McDonagh (2000)
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller (1999), was named one of the Wall Street Journal’s top five productions playing around the country.
Side Man, by Warren Leight (1999), won three Backstage West Garland Awards, including Best Production.
Click here to see ACT’s play history.