Reviews
The Mountaintop
"...it was a gamble that paid off for ArtsWest because this production of The Mountaintop is a fiercely directed, boldly acted and brilliantly designed tour de force for the theater company. It’s compelling, engaging and riveting theater from start to finish. Ms Curtis-Newton’s direction firmly navigates the complicated waters of the script. It’s the typical assured handling of material that Seattle theater goers have come to expect from the director."
-Michael Strangeways, Seattle Gay News I Read Full Review
Trouble In Mind
"Curtis-Newton and her entire ensemble have absorbed the writing with perfect pitch and pacing, never once dropping a cue....For the first time in years, I wept through a curtain call, brought to tears by the forceful, steady truth of this production. It’s the kind of experience that reminds me why theatre is necessary: to bring us face to face with our collective humanity."
- Leah Baltus, CityArts Online | Read Full Review
Broke-o-logy
"The show is in the capable hands of director Valerie Curtis-Newton who serves as both the artistic director of Hansberry Project and as head of performance at the U W’s School of Drama. She has been able to elicit some wonderfully thoughtful work from her cast."
- Alan Sydney, Drama in the Hood | Read Full Review
Mojo and the Say So
"... The Mojo and the Sayso" is rare in how it sucks you into the consciousness of a loving black, working-class family, trying to bond back together after a shattering trauma. And it ponders, by extension, a culture in which far too many young people are lost to violence."
- Misha Berson, The Seattle Times | Read Full Review
Wine in the Wilderness
"As the first mainstage production of the Hansberry Project, Wine in the Wilderness wastes no time bringing audiences straight into the fray, beyond textbook Black History and toward an infinitely more familiar firsthand vision of the struggle against prejudice inside the African-American community."
- Kat Ortland, Seattle Weekly | Read Full Review
"...it was a gamble that paid off for ArtsWest because this production of The Mountaintop is a fiercely directed, boldly acted and brilliantly designed tour de force for the theater company. It’s compelling, engaging and riveting theater from start to finish. Ms Curtis-Newton’s direction firmly navigates the complicated waters of the script. It’s the typical assured handling of material that Seattle theater goers have come to expect from the director."
-Michael Strangeways, Seattle Gay News I Read Full Review
Trouble In Mind
"Curtis-Newton and her entire ensemble have absorbed the writing with perfect pitch and pacing, never once dropping a cue....For the first time in years, I wept through a curtain call, brought to tears by the forceful, steady truth of this production. It’s the kind of experience that reminds me why theatre is necessary: to bring us face to face with our collective humanity."
- Leah Baltus, CityArts Online | Read Full Review
Broke-o-logy
"The show is in the capable hands of director Valerie Curtis-Newton who serves as both the artistic director of Hansberry Project and as head of performance at the U W’s School of Drama. She has been able to elicit some wonderfully thoughtful work from her cast."
- Alan Sydney, Drama in the Hood | Read Full Review
Mojo and the Say So
"... The Mojo and the Sayso" is rare in how it sucks you into the consciousness of a loving black, working-class family, trying to bond back together after a shattering trauma. And it ponders, by extension, a culture in which far too many young people are lost to violence."
- Misha Berson, The Seattle Times | Read Full Review
Wine in the Wilderness
"As the first mainstage production of the Hansberry Project, Wine in the Wilderness wastes no time bringing audiences straight into the fray, beyond textbook Black History and toward an infinitely more familiar firsthand vision of the struggle against prejudice inside the African-American community."
- Kat Ortland, Seattle Weekly | Read Full Review
Press
Seattle and Atlanta theaters team up to connect Black theaters, nurture Black playwrights IBy Dusty Somers
An interview with Artistic Director Valerie Curtis-Newton I By Brett Hamil
Hansberry Project's Valerie Curtis-Newton: 2014 Theatre Genius I By Brendan Kiley
Wine in the Wilderness' expands black theater | By Joe Adcock
Hansberry Project bring black theatre to new level | By Nicole, Kidder, Colors Northwest
Can black theater resurge in Seattle? | By Misha Berson, The Seattle Times
An interview with Artistic Director Valerie Curtis-Newton I By Brett Hamil
Hansberry Project's Valerie Curtis-Newton: 2014 Theatre Genius I By Brendan Kiley
Wine in the Wilderness' expands black theater | By Joe Adcock
Hansberry Project bring black theatre to new level | By Nicole, Kidder, Colors Northwest
Can black theater resurge in Seattle? | By Misha Berson, The Seattle Times
