The SiS Production of Cowboy Versus Samurai

October 24th, 2006General2 comments

SiS Productions is largely known for its long running Sex in Seattle romantic comedy stage series, which has had 13 episodes so far. This is an extremely popular series that I’m told has quite a following. So naturally Cowboy is a perfect fit for this company and this cast.

I’ve seen this play done a lot of times, read and performed by a lot of different people. And I gotta say, this is one on-the-nose production with some really tight timing and deeply dug moments. Director Miko Premo has really worked over the scenes and done her homework, and it shows. The role of the theatre director is often underappreciated — here she’s done a fine job.

Ray Tagavilla and Khanh Doan.

Okay, now here’s the thing — this cast is really great. I’m told that they’ve worked together for a very long time on Sex in Seattle, so the natural bond and chemistry that comes from that is readily apparent. “The chemistry is amazing,” I whispered to my friend Ann Marie during the first act. I get the feeling that this bond will be a major strength of the company as they continue to do both the Sex in Seattle series and other shows.

A few specifics I want to mention: Ray Tagavilla plays an excellent Travis. As the Cyrano character, Travis is the glue that holds the story together — he’s also its emotional center, and a straight man to the quirkiness of the other characters. It’s a hard role to play, but this guy does a really good job doing it. Khanh Doan also adds this pluckiness to Veronica that I hadn’t seen before, and it works really well in this show.

If you’re in Seattle, and I’m seeing a lot of hits on this site from you guys right now, I highly recommend checking out this production. It’s a lot of fun. Bring a crew and see what kind of discussion it illicits afterwards.

Or if you have seen it, please spread the word and tell your friends about it — word of mouth has always been this play’s best friend.

And if you have any questions or comments about the play, please feel free to email me!

Also, a couple of miscellaneous things:

I really like this Flickr photoset called “Game Boy Around the World”. It features a stone-faced kid playing GBA and not caring much about landmarks such as Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

Not giving a crap about Stonehenge…

My favorite pic is when the kid touches his GBA to the burial slab of Jesus in order to bless it.

I remember when, as a kid, my brother saved up all his nickles and dimes to buy a 1st generation Game Boy. So this kid’s facial expression is fairly familiar to me.

And while I was at the Hugo House in Seattle I bought some very nice Gumball Poetry from a machine for 50 cents.

The poem and the artwork that popped out were worth far more than the 50 cents. I would reproduce it here but that would be piracy.

It even came with some gum, which was not so good. But I was in it for the poetry anyway.