Seattle Repertory Theatre Explores 40 Years of Cuban History in Eduardo Machado's The Cook

Seattle, WA – Seattle Repertory Theatre explores Cuba over forty years with Eduardo Machado’s drama The Cook, directed by Juliette Carrillo. The Cook plays in the Bagley Wright Theatre from November 1 through December 1. Previews begin November, with opening night set for December 1. Tickets are available through the Seattle Repertory Theatre box office seven days a week at (206) 443-2222, toll-free at (877) 900-9285, as well as online at www.seattlerep.org.

The Play: In 1958, on the eve of the Cuban revolution, Gladys, a young cook, makes a solemn promise to her mistress. Before the wealthy family flees in the night, she vows to protect and care for the beautiful home that she worked in all her adult life. As the reality of Castro’s revolution settles in, and despite the personal consequences, Gladys fights to keep her promise for over four decades. In Machado’s rich, engaging, and deeply personal play, Gladys emerges as a woman with great spirit who lives by her heart against a backdrop of a troubled Cuba. The New Yorker called The Cook “first rate…a shining theatrical experience,” and the Miami Herald described it as “Powerful….the writing is political and unflinching.”

The Playwright: Eduardo Machado is the author of over forty plays including Kissing Fidel, Havana is Waiting, and A Burning Beach. His plays have been produced at theatres across the country and across the world. He is currently the artistic director of INTAR Theatre in New York, and is a playwriting teacher at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. “Tastes like Cuba: an Exile’s Hunger for Home,” a food memoir by Eduardo Machado and Michael Domitrovich, will be released by Gotham Press on October 18th.

The Director: Juliette Carrillo was an artistic associate at South Coast Repertory Theatre for seven years, where she directed regularly in their season and ran the Hispanic Playwright's Project, collaborating with Latino writers across the country. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, she has directed theatre extensively throughout the U.S. Some of her favorite collaborations have been directing the West Coast premiere of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winner, Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz, the world premiere of References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot by José Rivera at South Coast Repertory, and the West Coast premiere of Sam Shepard's Eyes For Consuela at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Ms. Carrillo is a recipient of several awards, including the prestigious National Endowment of the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Directing Fellowship. She is currently writing a full-length screenplay and developing theatre projects in the Los Angeles and Bay areas.


Performance Details: Performances of The Cook are at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday with 2:00 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sundays. There will be no performance on Thursday, November 8 or Thursday November 22. Pay-What-You-Can performance November 5 at 7:30 p.m. Post-play discussions will be held after performances on Sunday, November 18 at 2:00 p.m., Monday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, November 25 at 2:00 p.m. There is an audio-described performance on Saturday, November 24 at 2:00 p.m. and an American Sign Language (ASL)-interpreted performance on Sunday, November 25 at 2:00 p.m.

Previews begin November, with opening night set for December 1. Tickets are available through the Seattle Repertory Theatre box office seven days a week at (206) 443-2222, toll-free at (877) 900-9285, as well as online at www.seattlerep.org.