Golden @ ACT Contemporary Theatre

Local playwright Andrew Lee Creech has spent the past several years building the “Legacy Plays Project,” a nine-play cycle about Black Americans at pivotal historical moments. The first, “Last Drive to Dodge,” opened at Taproot Theatre in 2023. But what about his latest, “Golden,” which was workshopped at ACT’s New Works Northwest Festival and will be that company’s 49th world premiere?

“It’s a Great Recession drama,” Creech told The Ticket, “about a man fighting to hold onto everything he has and turning to a mysterious coin machine to change his fortune, while the larger community looks for ways to support themselves and each other. It’s set in and around a laundromat, which you don’t see on stage often. It’s August Wilson meets ‘Death of a Salesman’ meets a sitcom, with some magical realism sprinkled in.”

Creech, who’s also an actor and was most recently seen on the Seattle Rep stage in Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Primary Trust,” is ecstatic about this show’s cast. “If you know Tracy Michelle Hughes’ work, you know that you are to never miss a chance to see her perform. She’s an absolute powerhouse. Many people know the incredible Ty Willis in the musical theater world, so it’s gonna be dope for folks to get to see him putting in work in a straight drama.”

With director Tyrone Phillips at the helm, visiting from Chicago where he’s the artistic director and cofounder of Definition Theatre, Creech knows he’s in good hands. “Bringing it to life on stage is gonna be such a treat. I love that we get to tell a Great Recession story centered on Black people. There aren’t many plays or mainstream movies that investigate this particular period and there are even fewer that center non-white people.”

And when asked to describe the play in one sentence, who could blame him for going full emoji? That’s passion and dedication. 🔥 🪄 😂 😭 🪙 🙏🏿 🎭

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