REVIEW: 14/48 vs. The Armory (7/20/26)

I was looking forward to expanding my recent theatre viewing repertoire to the theatre sports production 14/48.

Some of you may know that 14/48 is a stunt somewhere between IMPROV — I FORGOT MY LINES — and WHAT LINES? A few playwrights are matched with actors, given a theme, and expected to stay up all night writing and rehearsing a short play, which goes up on caffeine and adrenaline the next two nights.

In experienced hands, it never palls, by the grace of the tricks of the trade. And that is fun.

I work Saturdays, so, just to be certain, I booked the late show, 10:00 p.m.

The company I produce with, DAMN (Dramatists and Actors Meeting Now), also secures space through Theatre Puget Sound at the Armory for our semi-annual productions, so I thought it would be a breeze.

Little did I know that 14/48 did not make any reasonable arrangements for the fact that the Armory building at Seattle Center closes at 9 p.m. Period.

Nobody shows up at 8:30 for a 10:00 show. It just isn’t done — what are you going to do for that hour and a half? Sit there and drink boxed wine?

I suspect the point of having the late show was to hark back to everyone’s days doing late night theatre on Capitol Hill. We all lived on the Hill, so we walked. The theatre was open if we said it was open. It was raucous and fun, with minimal production values in an old garage or something. Sadly, it is now developed and very expensive. The sites at the Armory are partly subsidized by the City, but the City has Rules, and one of them is, No Staying Out Late.

We are not on Capitol Hill. We are on Queen Anne Hill, and we are expected to pull into bourgeois norms.

I showed up at ten minutes to curtain time, a normal thing for anyone.

The Security Guard waiting at the locked door shook his head and told me to go around the building. I did, checking every entrance. They were all locked. On the third entrance, I found two other theatregoers who were looking for the Center Stage at 305 Harrison, the Armory, for the show. We all stood there wondering if everyone had forgotten about us.

Evidently they had.

One of my old friends, a director/producer, used to say, “Organization is the key to entertainment.”

I got no response from the company 14/48 about the three patrons who were locked out at 9:50 — and no refund for my ticket price. The company’s web site the next day had no mention of the Armory closing at 9, but did have tickets available at 10.

Mendacity!

Did they tell the new patrons about the Armory situation or did they just expect everyone to KNOW?

What was to be done but head over to the Pineapple Bar for tropical drinks?

UPDATE: Tuesday Megan Ahiers of14/48 contacted me to say that they would have better communication next time and that she would refund me my ticket price. I am content and will patronize the theatre again.