about
The Feast
The feast is a nimble, artist-driven ensemble theatre that prizes virtuosic artists working in extremes; pays those artists really well; and builds maximalist, collectivist, welcoming events
Onstage and in the way we produce,
The Feast creates an aesthetically and
materially abundant American theatre.
Pictured: Grant Chapman. Production Design: An-Lin Dauber. Photo Credit: Truman Buffett
Our artists work in Extremes.
Our actors have worked to develop virtuosic voices and expressive bodies, and they use them fully. They bring not only individual characters but communities and ideas to life. Our designers create opulence from the every day—heightening trash, found spaces, or even the normalcy of a proscenium stage.
Pictured: Max Rosenak, Holiday, Chip Sherman. Production Design: An-Lin Dauber. Lighting Design: Geoff Korf. Photo credit: Joe Moore
We pay those artists really well.
At The Feast, there are no starving artists—literally. We fight the scarcity mindset wherever we find it and operate from the premise that there is enough for everyone. Our artists are working hard—doing special, intense labor that should be paid, well, in cash.
Pictured: Raphael Jordan, Ryan Williams French. Production Designer: Pete Rush.
Photo Credit: Bruce Clayton Tom.
We build events that are maximalist, collectivist, and wholeheartedly communal
We create rituals that make the collective visceral: through care and solidarity, through parties, through cathartic reckonings, and—through often-tragic stories—the violence and destruction that collectives can whip up. Our plays feature choruses, communities, and shared politics, never focused on the individual character or family without making explicit their relationship to broader society and systems. We use theatrical, spatial, sensory, and experiential techniques to interrupt the traditional relationship between audience and the art, allowing us to imagine and briefly participate in new forms of society. We invite audiences to participate in our radical economic model, prioritizing pay-what-you can tickets both as a method of making our shows accessible to all, allowing audiences at all places on the economic spectrum to participate in creating an abundant shared space.
our Economics
We pay better than theatres 50 times our size
The Feast is a small theatre that does big plays with big paychecks. We pay exceptionally well in comparison with other theatres—big and small.
THE FEAST vs MAJOR REGIONAL THEATRE
Weekly paychecks
The Feast
$739
Major Regional Theatre
Theatre budget
The Feast
$18
MILLION
Major Regional Theatre
THE FEAST vs Small Seattle Theatres
Weekly paychecks
The Feast
$650
$495
$190
$150
$56
Small Seattle Theatres
Theatre Budgets
The Feast
$3.6
$1.3
$1
Million
$585
$138
Thousand
Small Seattle Theatres
Facts and Receipts.
- We pay all actors, both union and non-union actors, the same union rate, in 2024 that will be $825 per week.
- In the 10 years of our existence, we’ve paid artists $1 Million dollars.
- Our staff all make the same hourly wage: $30.
- To see more details and the choices we’ve made to get here, take a look at our full budget.
our People
Staff
Ryan Guzzo Purcell
Founding Artistic Director
Ryan Guzzo Purcell
Founding Artistic Director
Ryan Guzzo Purcell is the Artistic Director of The Feast, for which he has directed Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending (with Intiman Theatre), The Glass Menagerie, and Small Craft Warnings, James Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie, Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding, Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day, Williams Saroyan’s The Time of Your Life, and José Rivera’s Marisol . From 2013 to 2015, he served as the Associate Artistic Director of Magic Theatre in San Francisco, where he directed Mfoniso Udofia’s Sojourners, Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews, and the world premiere of Christina Anderson’s pen/man/ship. Other directing work has been seen at Intiman Theatre, The Hangar Theater, LaMaMa ETC, Brown Playwrights Rep, The National New Play Network Showcase, The Village Gate, The Olney Theatre Center, FringeNYC, and the Kennedy Center as part of the American College Theatre Festival. He is a Fulbright Scholar, a Princess Grace Award winner, and a Drama League Directing Fellow. He holds an MFA in directing from Brown University/Trinity Rep and a BFA from Boston University in Theatre Studies.
Annie Liu
Director of Operations and Development
Annie Liu
Director of operations and development
Annie Liu (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist with a passion for live performance, and for bringing communities together through meaningful shared experiences.
Annie grew up in Houston, TX, spent a decade in the high desert of Santa Fe, and they have been thriving in Seattle since 2021. They are a queer, disabled, first generation Chinese American with a personal mission to carve out space in the world for marginalized and underrepresented artists, and to strengthen community bonds through the arts. With a background in lighting design and production management, Annie’s work has been shown in Seattle, New York, Houston, and Santa Fe.
They are currently pursuing an MFA in Arts Leadership from Seattle University, are the former Associate Producer of On the Boards, and were the Production Manager of the Santa Fe Playhouse before moving to the PNW. You may find Annie designing lights or providing producer support for theatre and dance around town, or snuggled up on the couch with their two dogs and one cat.
Jesse Roth
Communications Manager
Jesse Roth
Communications manager
Jesse (she/her), a writer, theatre artist, dramaturg, editor, and teacher. She is inspired by solidarity economies, breaking bread together, and great writing. Her writing has been published by The Stranger and Bitter Pill Press’ An Apple a Day. She came up in Chicago’s storefront theatre scene, where she directed plays at First Floor Theatre, The New Coordinates, and Chimera Ensemble, among others.
She is a white, cis, queer, thirty-something woman of German-Jewish and Western European descent. She grew up with a professional-class family with access to inherited wealth. She lives with chronic pain and identifies as disabled.
She has found home amongst a number of organizations, including Valley and Mountain Congregation (Pastoral Fellow), First Floor Theatre (Ensemble Member Emeritus), and South King County/Eastside Mutual Aid (Organizer), and Jewish Voice for Peace.
She writes the newsletter Art Gardening, about artistic, political and spiritual ecosystems. She lives on Capitol Hill.
Board
Reggie D. White
Board Member
Reggie D. White
Board Member
Season 4: Lorenzo Shannon, Joel Davis (Papa D), Ensemble (Blues for Mister Charlie)
Season 5: Moon, Mother-in-Law, Ensemble (Blood Wedding)
Season 6: Associate Director, The Bar Plays
Season 8: Director (The Amen Corner)
Reggie (he/him) is honored to return to The Feast to direct the Seattle Premiere of The Amen Corner. Reggie is a founding Artistic Ensemble Member of The Feastt whose credits include: Blues for Mister Charlie (Lorenzo/Papa D), Blood Wedding (Mother in Law/Moon), The Bar Plays [Small Craft Warnings & Time of Your Life] (Associate Director). Earlier this year, Reggie co-conceived Lessons in Survival: 1971 based on the iconic conversation between Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin at Vineyard Theatre (NYT Critic’s Pick). He also co-conceived and appeared in the digital anthology series of the same title (NYT Best Theatre of 2020). Other recent acting credits include The Inheritance (Winner of 4 Tony Awards, including Best Play), Bayard Rustin: Inside Ashland (People’s Light), and Macbeth in Stride (American Repertory Theatre). His play, In Case You Haven’t Heard premiered last spring at Bay Street Theatre, and is currently co-writing a play with Lauren Gunderson. Reggie is a recipient of the Colman Domingo Award and a Vineyard Theatre resident artist who also serves as the Artistic Director of the Atlantic Acting School and sits on the board of The Feast. www.reggiedwhite.com.
Albert Wang
Board Member
Albert Wang
Board Member
Albert is thrilled to join The Feast as a board member. Albert first attended Blues For Mister Charlie in 2016 and has been to every Feast production since.
As a lifelong theater lover, Albert believes in creating, supporting, and partaking in transformative theatrical experiences that prioritize access, equity, and stimulate conversation. Every Feast production checks these boxes.
When Albert isn’t at the theater, he works as a social worker at Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS). Prior to his current job he also worked with refugees and practiced using drama as a tool to process trauma.
Albert also serves on the Issaquah Highlands Council, Highlands Fiber Network, Issaquah Arts Commission, and chairs the Communications Committee of his neighborhood newsletter, Connections.
Chelsea Waite
Board Member
Chelsea Waite
Board Member
Chelsea (she/her) is an education researcher and writer, amateur poet, literature lover, and road trip adventurer based in the Pacific Northwest. She’s passionate about supporting three essential institutions—public schools, community churches, and nonprofit theaters—to evolve and thrive. As a Research Principal at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, she studies how K-12 schools are innovating to create more equitable, community-embedded, and student-centered learning environments; in the past she’s held research and leadership roles at the Christensen Institute and Digital Promise, and began her career as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Petrolina, Brazil. As a lifelong Unitarian Universalist, she volunteers as a youth advisor at University Unitarian Church in Seattle. And as a former theatre kid, arts lover, and board member of The Feast, she supports artists to do the essential and valuable work of provoking imaginative questions about the world we have, and the one we want. Chelsea holds a BA in history from Brown University and an MSt in social innovation from Cambridge University, and also serves as board chair for the education nonprofit Community Share.
Jen Brandon
Board Member
Jen Brandon
Board Member
Jenn (she/her) first encountered The Feast watching James Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie come alive in the auditorium of South Seattle’s Franklin High School. She’s been a leader in the non-profit and public sectors for over thirty years and currently serves as a strategic advisor at the City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods. As a kid, she was fortunate to grow up in a small town that always managed to support an active arts and culture scene. She attended Wesleyan University a million years ago and will forever be grateful for how it gave her access to the creative work of musicians and artists from around the world. She’s performed with a number of Seattle’s choirs and toured with composer Amy Denio in her folk opera, Non Lo So, Polo. She believes in The Feast and you should, too.
financial & Reports
Transparency
View our Tax Returns
Our mission and vision are made manifest in our artists, our paychecks, and our events.
