Seattle Repertory's Bagley Wright Theater

The Seattle Repertory Theater Company ("the Rep") was established in 1963 at the Seattle Playhouse, a theater venue built one year earlier for the 1962 World's Fair. Hal Holbrook, a renowned theater artist, and Bagley Wright, a local patron of the arts, led the effort to establish the non-profit theater company, which became the first Equity Theater in Seattle. In 1983, a new venue, the Bagley Wright Theater, was constructed at the Seattle Center to serve as the main stage for the Rep. The 842-seat performance venue was named in Wright's honor, as he not only provided guidance and financial support during the Rep's formative years, but he also served as the company's first president from 1963 to 1970. Notably, in 1990, the Seattle Repertory Theater won a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater. This is the highest award that a theater company can receive.

The Seattle Repertory Theater Company was founded in 1963 through the efforts of the theater artist, Hal Holbrook, in conjunction with local philanthropists, including Bagley Wright. Holbrook recommended the theater director and actor Stuart Vaughan to lead the company as its first Artistic Director. Embracing a progressive vision for the future of the company, Vaughan’s motto was: “The only reason to be in the American Theater is to change it.” His leadership of the Rep came on the heels of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair (Century 21 Exposition), with its futuristic theme. The Rep was initially housed at the Seattle Playhouse, also known as the World’s Fair Playhouse, as it was built at the Seattle Center for the World’s Fair.

The Rep’s first production, King Lear, was performed on September 13, 1963. Since then, the company has presented a mixture of musicals as well as dramatic productions, classical plays and traditional works, along with a variety of contemporary, experimental, and avant-garde theatrical performances. Playwrights such as August Wilson and Neil Simon have debuted new plays at the Seattle Rep, and actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Gere, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Liev Schreiber have all performed with the company during their early careers. Richard Gere got his start at the Rep at age nineteen in a production of Anton Chekov’s play, The Three Sisters, during the Rep’s 1969-1970 season. Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Liev Schreiber appeared together in a 1996 workshop performance of An American Daughter, written by Wendy Wasserstein.

Samuel L. Jackson, who went on to a renowned theater and film career, performed in the Rep’s production of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Fences, during the 1986-1987 season. August Wilson was an African American playwright whose plays were critically acclaimed for their portrayal of Black America. Hailed as “The American Shakespeare,” he was known his cycle of plays titled American Century, all ten parts of which were performed by the Rep. The Rep has long served as a showcase for both established and emerging playwrights. Established as a non-profit theater, it was also founded as the city's only Equity Theater, employing members of the Actors' Equity Union, a labor union for professional actors and theater artists.

In 1983, the Bagley Wright Theater at the Seattle Center replaced the earlier Seattle Playhouse as the Rep's home stage. The theater was named after Wright, the local patron of the arts who also served as The Rep's first president from its establishment in 1963 until 1970. With a total of 842 seats, it is said that the distance from the stage to the last row in the Bagley Wright Theater measures approximately five feet longer than the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate on a standard baseball diamond. The Rep also performs at a smaller adjacent venue, the 282-seat Leo Kreielsheimer Theater (the "Leo K”). In 1990, the Rep won a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater, which is the highest honor that a regional theater company can receive.

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