Seattle Theater+Dance

Robert Koon’s latest play takes the audience to the far North, where a writer meets a tree-sitter. The play references one of the great world myths, where the father of the gods, Odin, hung himself on the World Tree to gain knowledge.

Mirror Stage presents "Odin’s Horse" as their first fully staged production in more than a decade. In keeping with the theater’s mission to inspire dialogue about important issues, they will hold post-play discussions and Community Forums following the Sunday matinees from now through Nov. 11. Among the themes to be explored are storytelling, Nordic mythology and the challenges of sustainable forestry. Learn more at the company’s website.

We contacted playwright Koon to ask how fairy tales can spark conversations about modern day issues.

You were inspired by environmentalism and Norse mythology when writing "Odin’s Horse" — what is the dominant theme in the play for you?
That there is a cost to the way we live our lives, and that w…

This fall, Village Theatre sent its audiences floating down the Mississippi the fall in its charming revival of "Big River," a musical retelling of Mark Twain’s "Huckleberry Finn." After a successful outing at the company’s Issaquah theater, the production moved north to Everett, where it continues through Nov. 18.

Anchoring the action with sass and style, Randy Scholz plays Huckleberry, a poor boy who objects to being “civilized” after his adventures with Tom Sawyer and escapes on a raft with a runaway slave named Jim.

From its publication in 1884, the book has managed to rile multitudes—as the hero is a cheeky boy as well as a highly reluctant abolitionist—and become an American classic, one of the greatest tales ever told about running away.  Scholz, who has trained in opera as well as musical theater, lives in Seattle but hails originally from Texas. We asked him how he was finding life in the Northwest as well as his own view of Huckleberry’s charm.

How did …