Mark Weil, a prominent Uzbek theater director and part-time Seattle resident was stabbed to death in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, presumably by "two young men in baseball caps waiting for the director in front of his building."

He was not robbed.

From the AP:

The Ilkhom Theater, which Weil founded in 1976, was the first independent theater in the Soviet Union. Long before perestroika was introduced in the late 1980s, Ilkhom gained popularity for staging uncensored productions that combined elements of Uzbek folk theater, Italian commedia dell'arte, absurdist plays and pantomime.

Some of Ilkhom's productions have discussed themes of homosexual love, a taboo topic in Uzbekistan, a predominantly Muslim country in Central Asia where gays still face ostracism and persecution. Homosexuality is punishable by up to two years in jail.

Weil was about to open to open a production of The Oresteia.

"I'm opening the season tomorrow, whatever happens," were Weil's last words, according to [spokeswoman Oksana] Khripun.

There's just too much.

This weekend: TBA in Portland. Who's performing: a new show by "Awesome," hiphop from Lifesavas, dancing by, um motherfucking Baryshnikov (who is working as "just another dancer" with Donna Uchizono Company), comedy by Reggie Watts, weird performance by Hand2Mouth, tEEth (pictured, amazing), Kommer, (a funny, surreal play about melancholy by a Dutch company), tons more.

Also this weekend: The Pataphysical New Year at Smoke Farm (two competing plays by Implied Violence, monologues by Joe Von Appen, dance by Jessica Jobaris, tons more).

Also also this weekend: SITE Specific, a new outdoor theater festival at Seattle University with new small plays by Ki Gottberg, Kristen Kosmas, more.

Then next weekend, there's the Bridge Motel project, more TBA in Portland, the Genius Awards...

I shall expire. Pleasantly.