Since 2001, Mirror Stage has been a home for bold storytelling and civic dialogue, where art and community meet, and every voice matters. The heart of Mirror Stage’s mission has always been: representation matters, and story can bridge the divides that separate us. Mirror Stage’s distinctive artistic approach amplifies historically excluded stories, voices, and faces, centering those who have been most marginalized by our society’s inequitable systems and structures.
Mirror Stage has a history of inviting a larger population to see themselves and their stories represented onstage, affirming a broader range of experiences. After starting Looking Glass Theatre (LGT) in Los Angeles in 1991, Founding Artistic Director Suzanne M. Cohen moved to Seattle in 1992. LGT’s hit production of Mississippi Nude by John Reaves for the 1994 Seattle Fringe Theatre Festival was hailed as “one of the best the Festival has to offer.”
In 1998, she and Producing Director Mona Al-Haddad dissolved the corporation after a two year hiatus following the West Coast premiere of Moe’s Lucky Seven by Marlane Meyer in the 1996 Seattle Fringe Theatre Festival. In 2001, Looking Glass Theatre re-incorporated, and Cohen became the Managing Artistic Director, responsible for all artistic, administrative and business development activities. In June 2002, Looking Glass Theatre started doing business as Mirror Stage Company and officially changed the corporate name to Mirror Stage in March 2006.
In October 2002, Mirror Stage kicked off its highly regarded Season of Premieres with the West Coast premiere of The Knee Desires the Dirt by Julie Hébert. The Northwest Premiere of Far East by A.R. Gurney followed in February 2003, and the Season of Premieres concluded in November 2003 with the Northwest Premiere of Abstract Expression by Theresa Rebeck. Mirror Stage produced a fourth fully staged production in 2012 with the West Coast premiere of Odin’s Horse by Robert Koon.
Mirror Stage’s innovative staged reading series have been engaging the community in examining and discussing topical issues from different perspectives since 2004. Presented without costumes or sets, the emphasis on the text encourages audiences to create their own imagined world inhabited by the play’s characters, increasing empathy and engagement. Following every performance, a moderated discussion with the audience and artists explores the issues raised in more depth.
Mirror Stage started Feed Your Mind in May 2004, producing a total of 10 seasons, encompassing 54 presentations—more than 60 percent of which were written by women playwrights. For the Expand Upon series, initiated in 2017, the community selected a theme, and Mirror Stage commissioned two local playwrights to each develop a short play, using the same multi-generational, multi-racial cast. The two plays were presented in tandem as simply staged readings with free pre-show lectures and an Activism Brunch, with a panel of local experts discussing the featured issue and how to advocate for change. Expand Upon illuminated the complexities of topical issues by presenting two different perspectives as a way to initiate conversation while expanding knowledge and awareness.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirror Stage quickly pivoted and developed new virtual programming to stay connected with the community, moving planned events and performances online, most of which were live-streamed with captioning and free access on Mirror Stage’s YouTube channel. Launched in August 2020, The Mirror Stage Podcast was an arts and social justice podcast exploring the Pacific NW through the stories and experiences of its people and communities.
Over the summer of 2022, Mirror Stage presented the multi-disciplinary Contexpo series in partnership with Phinney Neighborhood Center, comprised of three weekends of spoken word, visual arts and lectures focusing on a single theme. In 2023, Mirror Stage inaugurated the Stories Of… series in February with Stories Of… Love, and returned to fully-staged productions in April with the US premiere of The Squirrel Plays by Mia McCullough. Ten-minute play festival Inspired By… premiered in October 2024, featuring newly-commissioned plays inspired by previous guests featured on The Mirror Stage Podcast.
In 2025, Mirror Stage commenced two new programs, embodying Mirror Stage’s core belief that storytelling is a tool for transformation. The Ripple Effect: Positive Change Around the Sound podcast launched in March, highlighting the important work of local changemakers telling their stories in their own words. In partnership with Humanities Washington, Mirror Stage introduced the Holding the Moment speakers series in July, designed to spark critical conversations on censorship, erasure, and resistance through storytelling—presented both in-person and live-streamed.
In 2026, Mirror Stage is celebrating 25 years of holding up the mirror, revealing truth, sparking conversation, and bringing our shared humanity into focus. Over the years, nearly 60 percent of collaborating artists have been members of historically excluded communities, including People of the Global Majority, trans people, non-binary people, disabled people, and immigrants. Mirror Stage continues to believe the power of storytelling holds the key to bringing people together in imagining and embodying a better future, and extends deep gratitude to the artists, audiences, partners, and supporters with whom we have built a community rooted in curiosity, courage, and the belief that stories can change us.
For a list of Past Productions, click here.