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Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. editor@thestranger.com (The Stranger Editor) webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Thu, 23 May 2013 22:15:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-interview-about-shoot http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-interview-about-shoot Brendan Kiley <p>For the curious, and for the haters, a long interview with Saint Genet director Ryan Mitchell (about <em><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/american-gothic/Content?oid=16834875">Paradisiacal Rites</a></em>, about <em>Shoot</em>, about the <em>Jackass</em> phenomenon, about whether pulling a performance stunt like <em>Shoot</em> is just a cheap exercise of white-guy privilege, about Captain Ahab, about how one can love Brecht but still think he didn't get it quite right, about whether <em>your</em> opinion about anything matters at all, and more) is <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/why-shoot/Content?oid=16849111">now up over here.</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26R9KFdt5aY">Here</a> is some video documentation of Chris Burden's <em>Shoot</em>, with some spare commentary from the artist.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/26R9KFdt5aY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-interview-about-shoot?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16853549&id=comments 0 Thu, 23 May 2013 09:40:35 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/22/theater-schmeater-losing-its-basement-home-after-21-years http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/22/theater-schmeater-losing-its-basement-home-after-21-years Brendan Kiley <p>This morning, Theater Schmeater artistic director Douglas Staley sent out a press release saying the company would start looking for a new place to make theater.</p> <p>Which means this run of <em><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Event?event=16624729">The Twilight Zone: Live!</a></em> will be <del>your last chance</del> one of your last chances to see a show in the subterranean venue that, in Seattle, has become synonymous with the term "basement fringe theater." (This summer's <em><a href="http://www.schmeater.org/plays/2013/gameshow">Game Show</a></em> will be the final production in Schmeater's current space.)</p> <p>The recent departure of the Brocklind's costume shop upstairs is the issue. In a subsequent email, Staley explained that the theater and the store had "a symbiotic relationship" because they had different business hours, so there were never noise problems. Now the upstairs space is going to house a restaurant and bar, and the theater ceiling is already so low, it can't build in sound muffling (which probably would only be marginally effective anyway).</p> <p>"We are already at about 8'2" at the bottom of the cross supports," Staley wrote. "Putting in a ceiling and bringing down all of our lights means some of them will be maybe less than 7' from the floor. That precludes using any risers for the audience, or <strong>casting anyone over 5'6".</strong> Our light designers make miracles but that really is more than I could ask for."</p> <p>But the future isn't all gloomy. He added:</p> <blockquote><p>We don&#8217;t have any debt, we have some cash, and, I think the good will of the theater community. Hunters Capital (the new owners of the building) is helping us out by letting us stay for awhile to give us time to determine our future, which is invaluable. They don't like seeing us go, as one of their goals is to restore buildings and keep the hill an active thriving part of the city. Next time you go by the place notice how good the building looks. There is no one to blame, unless you want to <strong>blame the pour guy who designed the building in the 1920s and didn't plan for a theater and restaurant to live in the same building at the same time in 2013.</strong> That, or the theater gods are telling us it's time to move on, to evolve into our next manifestation. I&#8217;m thinking it's a little of both.</p></blockquote> <p>I saw <em>The Twilight Zone: Live!</em> last weekend and it was a fun, light diversion full of folks who were clearly big <em>TZ:L!</em> fans, hooting and hollering and getting all boozed up throughout the three episodes. (One was about some astronauts whose ship crash-lands in a hostile environment, the second was about a small town living at the mercy of a psychic boy who can kill you with his mind if you think unhappy thoughts, and the third was about a drunken Santa Claus who experiences a Christmas miracle.) If you ever had a soft spot in your heart for "the Schmee," see the show and pay your respects.</p> <p>I'll be sorry to say goodbye to that basement stage and the two concrete support columns in its center that have bedeviled set designers for over 20 years. Like all theaters, it saw some successes and some failures, but we've had <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/chekhov-at-the-corner-store/Content?oid=10043003"><u>some</u></a> <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/suggests/8580165/american-buffalo"><u>good</u></a> <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/a-behanding-in-spokane-fun-dumb-and-entertaining/Content?oid=15935045"><u>times</u></a> <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/review-of-fallen-angels-at-theater-schmeater/Content?oid=15337378"><u>together</u>.</a></p> <p>Good luck in your search for a new home, Theater Schmeater.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/22/theater-schmeater-losing-its-basement-home-after-21-years#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16846055&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/22/theater-schmeater-losing-its-basement-home-after-21-years?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16846055&id=comments 12 Wed, 22 May 2013 16:04:35 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/the-reviews-are-in http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/the-reviews-are-in Brendan Kiley <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/american-gothic/Content?oid=16834875"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/3adf/1369173708-ryanwine.jpg" alt="ryanwine.jpg" title="" width="500" height="400" /></a></div></p> <p>At dawn last Sunday morning, in a remote and wooded area of Seattle, Saint Genet director Ryan Mitchell re-created Chris Burden's notorious 1971 artwork <em>Shoot</em>. In the original, Burden was shot in the arm with a .22 rifle inside a gallery and called it sculpture. Mitchell was shot in the arm with a .22 rifle beneath a tree, then walked approximately 10 miles to a theater and called it performance.</p> <p>The re-creation of <em>Shoot</em> was secret&#8212;I had to sign a nondisclosure agreement before I was even told what was happening&#8212;because the stakes were high. First, the action was probably a crime. Second, there were some serious liability issues. Third, the action happened the morning before Saint Genet's closing-night performance of <em>Paradisiacal Rites</em> at On the Boards, and if On the Boards artistic director Lane Czaplinski got wind of it, he might've pulled the plug on the whole show.</p> <p>The shooter, who has been hunting with guns and bows since he was 8 years old, stood in the dim forest with a few other people watching. He said there wasn't enough light for him to take the shot safely...</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/american-gothic/Content?oid=16834875"><u>Continue reading &#187;</u></a></p> <p>(A long interview with Ryan, in which he explains his rationale for all this, is coming soon. Also, apologies for forgetting to turn off the comments earlier. But if you want to talk about it, head on over to the story itself.)</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/the-reviews-are-in?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16835405&id=comments 2 The Reviews Are In! Tue, 21 May 2013 15:04:32 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/saint-genet-re-creates-chris-burdens-shoot http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/saint-genet-re-creates-chris-burdens-shoot Brendan Kiley <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/239c/1369076419-pre-shot.jpg" alt="Before the shot." title="Before the shot." width="500" height="334" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">SG</li><li class="imageCaption">Before the shot.</li></ul></div></p> <p>At dawn yesterday morning, in a remote and wooded area of Seattle, Saint Genet company director Ryan Mitchell re-created <a href="http://www.transpositions.co.uk/2012/10/risk-to-life-ethics-of-chris-burdens-shoot/">Chris Burden's notorious 1971 artwork <em>Shoot</em>.</a> In the original, Burden was shot in the arm with a .22 rifle in a gallery and called it sculpture. Ryan was shot in the arm with a .22 rifle, then walked approximately ten miles to the theater, and called it performance.</p> <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:207px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/20/1369077519-walkuse.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/20/thumb-1369077519-walkuse.jpg" alt="Walking." title="Walking." width="195" height="253" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Walking.</li></ul></div></p> <p>I walked with him. I was not exactly thrilled to be in the situation, but if it was going to happen anyway, I felt a duty to witness.</p> <p>That was the beginning of Saint Genet's closing-night performance of <a href="http://www.ontheboards.org/performances/paradisiacal-rites"><em>Paradisiacal Rites</em></a> at On the Boards. The top-two activities for Seattle just after dawn were jogging and homelessness.</p> <p>There's a photo of the wound&#8212;for your own verification purposes&#8212;below the jump. More coming in next week's paper.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/20/1369077645-shotuse.jpg" alt="Clean shot." title="Clean shot." width="500" height="667" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Clean shot.</li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/saint-genet-re-creates-chris-burdens-shoot#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16822780&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/20/saint-genet-re-creates-chris-burdens-shoot?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16822780&id=comments 46 Saint Genet Re-Creates "Shoot" Before the shot. SG Mon, 20 May 2013 12:11:39 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/19/you-have-an-hour-and-a-half-to-get-to-on-the-boards-to-see-saint-genet http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/19/you-have-an-hour-and-a-half-to-get-to-on-the-boards-to-see-saint-genet Christopher Frizzelle <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/suggests/16666899/saint-genet"><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:500px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/5af1/1369013724-saintgenet.jpg" alt="saintgenet.jpg" title="" width="488" height="275" /></div></a></p> <p>Gothic anguish, degeneracy, nakedness, wine, and a wheat field. Also, gold leaf, honey, tar, blood, wax, flowers, leeches, pheasants, and arrows. And Jessie Smith. And Jessie Smith choreography. And Jessie Smith wearing a weird cape thing with a very long tail with egg-carton-like shapes bulging from it. And music. And weird, beautiful acts of endurance. And gay shame and bullying. And the most perfect curtain call of all: None at all.</p> <p>It might be sold out. <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/suggests/16666899/saint-genet">Sneak in anyway. </a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/19/you-have-an-hour-and-a-half-to-get-to-on-the-boards-to-see-saint-genet#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16816108&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/19/you-have-an-hour-and-a-half-to-get-to-on-the-boards-to-see-saint-genet?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16816108&id=comments 7 You Have an Hour and a Half to Get to On the Boards to See Saint Genet Sun, 19 May 2013 18:37:46 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/the-passion-of-saint-genet-has-begun http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/the-passion-of-saint-genet-has-begun Brendan Kiley <p>And it has already included cops at dawn, with rifles drawn, trying to stop one of the performances.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/16/1368742970-nothing_is_beautiful.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/16/thumb-1368742970-nothing_is_beautiful.jpg" alt="Ryan Mitchell, two hours ago." title="Ryan Mitchell, two hours ago." width="500" height="375" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">bk</li><li class="imageCaption">Ryan Mitchell, two hours ago.</li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/16/1368742812-bloodandwineuse.jpg" alt="Blood and wine." title="Blood and wine." width="500" height="669" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">bk</li><li class="imageCaption">Blood and wine.</li></ul></div></p> <p>Quick primer: Starting tonight, Saint Genet will be performing its <a href="http://www.ontheboards.org/performances/paradisiacal-rites"><em>Paradisiacal Rites</em> at On the Boards.</a> Saint Genet is an extraordinarily polarizing company that creates exquisite, and sometimes painful, "actions and images" instead of plays.</p> <p>Some people adore them. Some people loathe them. But say what you will&#8212;they are insanely disciplined in their excesses, and deeply committed to their vision, as strange as it is.</p> <p>My Suggests about this weekend's show <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/suggests/16666899/saint-genet">is here:</a></p> <blockquote><p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:187px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/b3e3/1368741801-ss-sat.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/b3e3/1368741801-ss-sat.jpg" alt="ss-sat.jpg" title="" width="175" height="175" /></a></div>It&#8217;s put up or shut up time for Saint Genet, their detractors, and their defenders. For years, company member Ryan Mitchell has said he wants to make a work not in a theater but on a city. Now is the time. The company has been working for years on <em>Paradisiacal Rites</em>, an &#8220;opera&#8221; that just had its trial run in Austria and promises, Dante-like, to descend into seriously ugly shit in an attempt to find paradise. Their dramaturgy has included ballet, cults, gold leaf, leeches, shooting each other with BB guns, nitrous oxide, and a rigorous investigation of criminal-artist Jean Genet and his hagiographer Jean-Paul Sartre. Frankly, I&#8217;m a little worried.</p></blockquote> <p>But this weekend of Saint Genet is an ongoing thing, starting this morning with a dawn "ritual" performance at an undisclosed location several miles outside Seattle. Maybe five people and Saint Genet director Ryan Mitchell attended. I don't know the exact content of the performance&#8212;I wasn't there&#8212;but I'm guessing it involved wine and leeches, two of Saint Genet's favorite things.</p> <p>Since then, Mitchell has been walking slowly from the site to On the Boards. He made a pit stop at an alley in Pioneer Square where a few people stopped to watch. Some (such as Scott Lawrimore and Yoko Ott) are Saint Genet regulars. Others were random passers-by.</p> <p>Mitchell sat in a chair, in a circle of white dust, surrounded by lit candles, leeching himself and drinking wine. He looked exhausted and said he had been up all night in tech for tonight's opening.</p> <p>He said he had already drunk two bottles of red wine and would finish his third just before the performance began. He looked pretty steady for a man who'd drunk two bottles of wine that day. "How'd you train your liver to do that?" I asked. "I don't know," he said. "I must've done something bad."</p> <p>He also said that during the dawn performance, two cops&#8212;I don't know whether they were SPD or sheriffs or what&#8212;showed up with guns drawn, asking them what they were doing.</p> <p>Mitchell said he said they were simply sitting, doing a small performance. The officers told them they were trespassing and to leave. "We'll finish in a few minutes," Mitchell said. "No," the officers said, "you'll finish now." So the few observers began striking the set while Ryan sat. He said one of the officers yelled at him: "Stop what you're doing!" The officer wanted the performance to end, though it appears the performance involved just sitting there.</p> <p>Mitchell is currently on the road, walking alone through Seattle, making his way to On the Boards.</p> <p><em>Paradisiacal Rites</em> will begin at 8 pm tonight, but the larger Saint Genet performance began at dawn this morning, and will not end until Sunday.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/the-passion-of-saint-genet-has-begun#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16786565&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/16/the-passion-of-saint-genet-has-begun?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16786565&id=comments 4 The Passion of Saint Genet Has Begun Thu, 16 May 2013 15:25:34 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/the-reviews-are-in http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/the-reviews-are-in Brendan Kiley <p>Actually, this week we have a preview by Melody Datz, based on her interview with the associate ballet master at <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-full-monte/Content?oid=16765199">Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo:</a></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/3e8f/1368649875-trockadero570.jpg" alt="trockadero570.jpg" title="" width="500" height="363" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">SASCHA VAUGHN</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <blockquote><p>Raffaele Morra does not shave his chest, even though his professional wardrobe includes pointe shoes, a golden tiara, and yards of fluffy white tulle. For someone used to the traditional staging of classical ballets, it may be jolting to see a hairy, um, d&#233;colletage nestled into a frilly white <em>Swan Lake</em> costume, or to watch the uniquely defined musculature of male quadriceps peeking out from under a tutu while whipping through 32 fouett&#233;s. But the all-male company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo makes it work.</p></blockquote> <p>The Trocks have been around since the 1970s but Morra mentioned to Datz that in the past several years, as drag aesthetics have entered mainstream culture, the company's audience has diversified. But they are <em>not</em>, he emphasized, drag&#8212;they keep their male personality and technique while dancing roles traditionally reserved for women.</p> <p>Read <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-full-monte/Content?oid=16765199">the whole thing here.</a></p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/15/the-reviews-are-in?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16772597&id=comments 0 The Reviews Are In! SASCHA VAUGHN Wed, 15 May 2013 13:39:11 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/the-reviews-are-in http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/the-reviews-are-in Brendan Kiley <p>This week's <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Theater">theater section</a> is brought to you by the emotion Ambivalence. (Ambivalence: It is <em>and</em> it isn't&#8482;.)</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/mild-daisey-returns-to-seattle/Content?oid=16701304"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/a9d9/1368213648-theater-daisey-570.jpg" alt="theater-daisey-570.jpg" title="" width="500" height="263" /></a></div></p> <p>I have <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/mild-daisey-returns-to-seattle/Content?oid=16701304">mixed feelings about Mike Daisey</a> at this awkward moment in his career:</p> <blockquote><p>Daisey is recalibrating. His observations seemed stale and flat-footed: Disney World is a bizarrely detailed consumerist fantasyland, Burning Man is disorienting and anarchic, Occupy revealed that power fears democracy and will break laws with impunity to suppress it. That's old news. And between the staleness of the information and the wobbliness of its presentation, <em>American Utopias</em> seems like the work of a performer who was publicly neutered and is still trying to find another pair of balls. They're out there, Mike. We want you to find them. Just keep looking&#8212;America is, after all, the land of reinvention.</p></blockquote> <p>(His upcoming show in Portland is, apparently, about <a href="http://pica.org/event/mike-daisey-7/">how journalism works.</a>)</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/a-fistful-of-salt/Content?oid=16701320"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/126a/1368214288-theater-smoked-570.jpg" alt="theater-smoked-570.jpg" title="" width="500" height="263" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">John Cornicello</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>Chow contributor Kim Fu has mixed feelings about <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/a-fistful-of-salt/Content?oid=16701320">Cafe Nordo's latest, Western-themed show:</a></p> <blockquote><p>Better to aim high and fail spectacularly than shoot for mediocrity and succeed. Reviews and word of mouth had led me to believe that Cafe Nordo productions are made in this spirit&#8212;bizarre dinner/theater hybrids that inspire love, hate, and bewilderment. Sadly, their latest show is dinner theater as we already know it: <strong>half-baked on both fronts</strong>, without meaningful integration of the two.</p></blockquote> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/look-at-those-gams/Content?oid=16707013"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/10/1368214617-theater-coriolus-570.jpg" alt="theater-coriolus-570.jpg" title="" width="500" height="263" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Ernie Sapiro</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>Melody Datz likes <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/look-at-those-gams/Content?oid=16707013">Rainbow Fletcher and Zoe Scofield</a>, but has mixed feelings about the other choreographers at <em>Co-LAB 5</em>.</p> <blockquote><p><em>Deciduous Urge</em>, by Rainbow Fletcher of Can Can Castaways fame, is creepy, smart, and full of attitude. Dancers wearing tight black underwear, white button-up shirts, and <strong>black balaclavas</strong> move with such pointed deliberation that they seem to be thrusting limbs and gazes directly at the audience.</p></blockquote> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/all-the-single-ladies/Content?oid=16707019"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/10/1368215499-theater-opera-570.jpg" alt="theater-opera-570.jpg" title="" width="500" height="263" /></a></div></p> <p>Dominic Holden has mixed feelings about <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/all-the-single-ladies/Content?oid=16707019">all the single ladies at Seattle Opera:</a></p> <blockquote><p>As the audience hears only her end of the conversations, Focile conveys an invisible, silent cast: She haggles with the operator, scolds neighbors tying up the line, and, speaking to her lying lover, slips in details of her failed attempt to <strong>overdose on sleeping pills</strong>. Francis Poulenc&#8217;s violent score sounds like a Hitchcock movie, and Jean Cocteau&#8217;s libretto moves with the jumpy pace of an early-20th-century, avant-garde French play (it was based on one).</p></blockquote> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/10/the-reviews-are-in?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16731300&id=comments 0 The Reviews Are In! John Cornicello Fri, 10 May 2013 12:59:10 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/seattle-confidential http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/seattle-confidential Brendan Kiley <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:262px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/56c5/1368122440-ian_bell_and_horns.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/56c5/1368122440-ian_bell_and_horns.jpg" alt="Ian Bell and his horny posse." title="Ian Bell and his horny posse." width="250" height="194" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">Ian Bell and his horny posse.</li></ul></div></p> <p>Ian Bell&#8217;s crowdsourced carnival of anonymity will be going on hiatus for awhile, which is a shame, because it's one of the more regularly entertaining things at ACT Theater, and Seattle in general.</p> <p>For the newcomers: Every three months, Seattle Confidential collects anonymous stories and gives them to actors to read. (Sometimes they add bells and whistles&#8212;PowerPoint presentations, charts and graphs, instant polls that the audience contributes to via text.) The confessional mode gives the writers a cloak to air their dirtiest, most hilariously awkward laundry, and everybody has a blast. It's like sneaking a peek at Seattle's diary.</p> <p>And the event is also strangely comforting&#8212;we all have screwed-up stories and messed-up things we've done or had done to us. Laughing about them together feels therapeutic.</p> <p>Before Seattle Confidential takes its indefinite break, Bell put together a best-of show. It plays <a href="http://www.acttheatre.org/Tickets/OnStage/SeattleConfidential">tonight and tomorrow at ACT.</a> Go check it out. Who knows where or when it will reappear? (Though I am confident it will&#8212;either ACT or some other venue will want it. It's too good to die.)</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/seattle-confidential#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16720607&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/09/seattle-confidential?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16720607&id=comments 3 Seattle Confidential! Ian Bell and his horny posse. Thu, 09 May 2013 11:41:10 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/06/the-theater-of-king-street-station http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/06/the-theater-of-king-street-station Charles Mudede <p>Now that the remodeling of King Street Station is finally completed, we can dream a little...<br /><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/9968/1367857680-img_20130501_151618.jpg" alt="IMG_20130501_151618.jpg" title="" width="400" height="300" /></div><br />Do you see what I see? Yes, this would make an excellent venue for Elizabethan plays and readings. As we have <a href="http://www.greenstage.org/">Shakespeare in the park</a>, we should consider Shakespeare in the train station. It's just the place for people dressed in ruffs, cloaks, corsets, stockings, codpieces, breeches, and the like. And just the place to hear <a href="http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/euphues.htm">this sort of thing</a>...<br /><blockquote>As therefore the sweetest rose hath his prickle, the finest velvet his brack, the fairest flower his bran, so the sharpest wit hath his wanton will, and the holiest head his wicked way. And true it is that some men write and most men believe, that in all perfect shapes, a blemish bringeth rather a liking every way to the eyes, than a loathing any way to the mind.</blockquote> How I can see and hear all of this happening inside of the renewed King Street Station.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/06/the-theater-of-king-street-station#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16684772&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/06/the-theater-of-king-street-station?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16684772&id=comments 7 The Theater of King Street Station Mon, 06 May 2013 09:17:50 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/30/the-reviews-are-in http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/30/the-reviews-are-in Brendan Kiley <p>Welcome to a preview of this week's theater section! Christopher already posted about this one, a review of <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/black-watch/Content?oid=16635649"><em>Black Watch</em> by the National Theater of Scotland</a> at the Paramount:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/black-watch/Content?oid=16635649"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/35a5/1367363449-black-watch.jpg" alt="Black-Watch.jpg" title="" width="500" height="359" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">National Theater of Scotland</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <blockquote><p>It is an intimate show, and the cavernous Paramount Theater has reduced its seating capacity from 3,000 to 419 for the occasion. The audience sits on the stage, just feet away from 10 tightly wound actors who spring from a Scottish barroom to Iraqi battlefields and back again. During one transition, soldiers are <strong>birthed from the inside of a pool table</strong>, cutting its red felt open from below with a long blade and standing back-to-back on its top with long guns in hand, nervously scanning the audience.</p></blockquote> <p>There's also <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/live-fast-die-young-save-social-security/Content?oid=16635846"><em>Assisted Living</em> at ACT Theater:</a></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/live-fast-die-young-save-social-security/Content?oid=16635846"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/a567/1367363359-living__larae-lobdell.jpg" alt="Living__LaRae-Lobdell.jpg" title="" width="500" height="332" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Larae Lobdell</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <blockquote><p><em>Assisted Living</em>, a world-premiere play by Seattle writer Katie Forgette, opens in an assisted-living facility that is actually a lightly veneered prison: bars on the windows, linoleum trim, dull gray-blue tile, cheap office furniture, and a photo of a <strong>smiling President Dick Cheney</strong>. This is the near future, where the economy is on the verge of collapse, and senior citizens have to pay for any medical treatment that might be even obliquely related to their former lifestyles (such as eating). They also have to pay for &#8220;toiletries,&#8221; including colostomy bags.</p></blockquote> <p>And a trailer-park <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/taming-of-the-shrew/Content?oid=16635671"><em>Taming of the Shrew</em> at Seattle Shakespeare Company:</a></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/taming-of-the-shrew/Content?oid=16635671"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/04/30/1367363649-shrew-by-chris-bennion.jpg" alt="Shrew-by-Chris-Bennion.jpg" title="" width="500" height="333" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">CHRIS BENNION</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <blockquote><p>The only problem I had with the comedy&#8212;other than Kate's earnest "submit to your husbands" speech, which I guess can't be helped&#8212;came from its setting. I understand the allure of launching a redneck revamp of <em>Shrew</em>... Hey, it's a trailer park! People are wacky! But such a production has to be careful to avoid abjectly mocking the poor. There's no need to use poor people for comic relief, especially when the production is no longer launched in a park (i.e., free! Accessible!) but costs $40 a ticket in <strong>a rich city that gets the vapors at the very mention of affordable-housing aPodments</strong>, let alone trailer parks.</p></blockquote> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/30/the-reviews-are-in?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16636777&id=comments 0 The Reviews Are In! Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:19:04 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/30/more-feedback-for-melody-datzs-swan-lake-story http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/30/more-feedback-for-melody-datzs-swan-lake-story Brendan Kiley <p>A few weeks ago, we published a short essay by dance critic Melody Datz titled <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/swan-lake-is-so-goddamned-boring/Content?oid=16508792">"Swan Lake Is So Goddamned Boring."</a> Some local dance folks freaked out and enjoyed a sustained, satisfying whine. (Who knew that taking aim at a hoary, lucrative, sacred cow would be so provocative?) Angry blog comments, <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/17/guess-whos-pissed-off-at-our-story-about-swan-lake">responses to those comments</a>, a flurry of email from experts and amateurs, extended phone calls with dance people&#8212;including employees of Pacific Northwest Ballet&#8212;you name it. The <em>indignados</em> of Seattle dance never had it so good.</p> <p>Snail mail, of course, takes longer. This arrived yesterday:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/def9/1367357081-melenvelope.jpg" alt="melenvelope.JPG" title="" width="500" height="375" /></div></p> <p>Which contained this:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/7969/1367358293-swannutuse.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/7969/1367358293-swannutuse.jpg" alt="swannutUSE.jpg" title="" width="500" height="204" /></a></div></p> <p>You're on notice, Melody. An anonymous, snail-mail troll who calls you "Melody Ditzy Dame" says you have no class.</p> <p>You'd better scrape some up before your next story, young missy. And that's an order.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/30/more-feedback-for-melody-datzs-swan-lake-story#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16635283&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater Dance http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/30/more-feedback-for-melody-datzs-swan-lake-story?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16635283&id=comments 17 From the Mailbag The return address was whited out Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:42:20 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/29/the-paramount-just-announced-tickets-to-black-watch-tomorrow-night-and-wednesday-night-are-now-two-for-one http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/29/the-paramount-just-announced-tickets-to-black-watch-tomorrow-night-and-wednesday-night-are-now-two-for-one Christopher Frizzelle <p>Brendan Kiley's review of <em>Black Watch</em> won't be on Slog until tomorrow, and won't be in print until Wednesday, but <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/suggests/16537263/black-watch">here's the Stranger Suggest preview for <i>Black Watch</i></a>, and I just snuck a peek at Brendan's review, and this paragraph makes me very much want to see it: </p> <blockquote><p>It is an intimate show, and the cavernous Paramount Theater has reduced its seating capacity from 3,000 to 419 for the occasion. <strong>The audience sits on the stage,</strong> just feet away from 10 tightly wound actors who spring from a Scottish barroom to Iraqi battlefields and back again. During one transition, <strong>soldiers are birthed from the inside of a pool table,</strong> cutting its red felt open from below with a long blade and standing back-to-back on its top with long guns in hand, nervously scanning the audience.</p></blockquote> <p>The two-for-the-price-of-one <a href="http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?orgid=30247&group_id=420060&agency=STG_PRESENTS&schedule=list">tickets for Tuesday's and Wednesday's shows are available online</a> and at the box office up until showtime with <strong>no password needed,</strong> according to Seattle Theater Group public relations manager Antonio Hicks. </p> <p>I'm going tomorrow night.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/29/the-paramount-just-announced-tickets-to-black-watch-tomorrow-night-and-wednesday-night-are-now-two-for-one#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16628870&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/29/the-paramount-just-announced-tickets-to-black-watch-tomorrow-night-and-wednesday-night-are-now-two-for-one?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16628870&id=comments 6 Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:38:08 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/26/cancel-your-plans-tonight-or-tomorrow-night-and-go-see-august-osage-county http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/26/cancel-your-plans-tonight-or-tomorrow-night-and-go-see-august-osage-county Christopher Frizzelle <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/7df5/1367006745-terilazarrabalaganaugust.png" alt="TERI LAZZARA AS BARBARA One of those plays where characters with lurid secrets eat each other alive through dialogue." title="TERI LAZZARA AS BARBARA One of those plays where characters with lurid secrets eat each other alive through dialogue." width="500" height="463" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Truman Buffett Photography</li><li class="imageCaption"><strong>TERI LAZZARA AS BARBARA</strong> One of those plays where characters with lurid secrets eat each other alive through dialogue.</li></ul></div></p> <p>OK, guys. Real talk. Truth time. I love theater when it's good, but I'm also <strong>easily bored</strong>. And theater can be&#8230; you know, <em>boring</em>. As hell. And <em>long</em>. It can be so long. Someone says "three-and-a-half-hour play" and my interest in seeing that play starts to power down. Someone says "two intermissions" and my panic trigger triggers. For these reasons, I'd never gotten around to seeing <em>August: Osage County</em>, even though it won the Pulitzer Prize and it's been produced in Seattle before and everyone always says it's great. In my defense, <strong>everyone is often wrong about things.</strong> Balagan Theatre's right at the end of their run of of <em>August: Osage County</em>, <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=16460433">a production Goldy has raved about</a> already, a production we told you <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/CoverArt?oid=16455564&year=2013">on cover of <em>The Stranger</em> to go see</a>, and last night I took our own advice and went and saw it. And holy moly with a Stoli, <strong>it's amazeballs.</strong></p> <p>If <em>that's</em> three and a half hours, it's a magic trick&#8212;it <em>FLIES</em> by. If you don't know anything about the show, keep it that way. If you want a hint, it's one of those plays where <strong>vicious characters with lurid secrets eat each other alive</strong> through dialogue. In other words, the best kind of play&#8212;in the grand tradition of eating-each-other-alive plays like <em>Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?</em> and <em>Doubt</em>. There are like 20 actors in this thing, but the ones who deserve singling out for extra amazeballsness are <strong>John Q. Smith</strong> as Charlie Aiken, <strong>Teri Lazzara</strong> as Barbara Fordham (losing her shit in that photo above), and <strong>Shellie Shulkin</strong> as Violet (below, left, pointing at Lazzara while reaming her out). </p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/60d4/1367006908-shellieshulkinbalaganaugust.png" alt="SHELLIE SHUKLIN AS VIOLET WESTON Shes the pill-popping pointer on the left." title="SHELLIE SHUKLIN AS VIOLET WESTON Shes the pill-popping pointer on the left." width="500" height="307" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Truman Buffett Photography</li><li class="imageCaption"><strong>SHELLIE SHUKLIN AS VIOLET WESTON</strong> She's the pill-popping pointer on the left.</li></ul></div></p> <p>Word's gotten around: Balagan's production has sold out all of its online tickets for its last two shows, tonight and tomorrow night at 8 pm. HOWEVER! A source tells me <strong>there are still tickets available at the door.</strong> Here's <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Event?event=16336895">how to get to the theater.</a> Do it.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/26/cancel-your-plans-tonight-or-tomorrow-night-and-go-see-august-osage-county#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16598104&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/26/cancel-your-plans-tonight-or-tomorrow-night-and-go-see-august-osage-county?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16598104&id=comments 7 Cancel Your Plans Tonight or Tomorrow Night and Go See <i>August: Osage County</i> <strong>TERI LAZZARA AS BARBARA</strong> One of those plays where vicious characters with lurid secrets eat each other alive through dialogue. Truman Buffett Photography Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:15:51 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/stupid-title-damn-good-show http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/stupid-title-damn-good-show Paul Constant <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/8e27/1366852589-theater-570.jpg" alt="theater-570.jpg" title="" width="500" height="263" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">ALAN ALABASTRO</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>We have to start with the title of the show. <em>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Uncensored</em> is a flat-out stupid name, and, depending on the motivations of Book-It Theater, it could be considered aggressively stupid. In order of offensiveness from most to least, those motivations could be:</p> <p><strong>1</strong>. Book-It believes that the censored version of Mark Twain's <em>Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</em> is widely accepted as the "regular" version of Huckleberry Finn, which makes an uncensored version noteworthy.</p> <p><strong>2</strong>. Book-It felt like it had to alert people to the presence of the word "nigger" in this play by passive-aggressively labeling it "uncensored" in the hopes of preemptively scaring off anyone who might be offended.</p> <p><strong>3</strong>. Book-It wanted to arouse the prurient interests of potential theatergoers by giving their play a name worthy of a porno (what's next from Book-It&#8212;<em>This Ain't As I Lay Dying XXX</em>?).</p> <p>But here's the thing: When you label a book or a play "uncensored," you're actually scoring a point for the censors by normalizing censorship. You're making a lack of censorship into something extraordinary. And that's plain wrong: The uncensored text should always be considered the default position. Because <strong>fuck censorship</strong>. Fuck it right in its ugly fucking hemorrhoidal shithole.</p> <p>Once you get past the title, Book-It's staging of <em>Huckleberry Finn</em> is actually pretty damn good...</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/stupid-title-damn-good-show/Content?oid=16572846">Keep reading >></a></p> Books Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/25/stupid-title-damn-good-show?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16584983&id=comments 0 Stupid Title, Damn Good Show Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:13:14 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/23/attention-actorsyour-license-to-whine-has-been-revoked http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/23/attention-actorsyour-license-to-whine-has-been-revoked Brendan Kiley <p>Paul <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/23/is-your-job-better-than-mine-almost-definitely">just posted</a> about this new <em>Wall Street Journal</em> "ranking" of jobs by some metric of "best"-ness. But I would especially like to draw theater people's attention to the bottom job rankings:</p> <blockquote><p>196 Oil Rig Worker<br /><strong>197 Actor</strong><br />198 Enlisted Military Personnel<br />199 Lumberjack<br /><strong>200 Reporter (Newspaper)</strong></p></blockquote> <p>So you're on notice, actors! Your license to gloat (at me, anyway, but not oil rig workers) has just been issued. Your license to whine has just been revoked.</p> <p>Also, knowing that I am lowlier than a military grunt in the eyes of the <em>WSJ</em> gives me a strange glow of satisfaction.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/23/attention-actorsyour-license-to-whine-has-been-revoked#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16570541&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/23/attention-actorsyour-license-to-whine-has-been-revoked?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16570541&id=comments 16 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:37:46 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/23/pas-de-dudes http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/23/pas-de-dudes Brendan Kiley <p>Yesterday, I was having a conversation with our (<a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/swan-lake-is-so-goddamned-boring/Content?oid=16508792"><u>newly</u></a> <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/17/guess-whos-pissed-off-at-our-story-about-swan-lake"><u>infamous</u></a>) dance critic Melody Datz about the common notion that ballerinas get trained to do all kinds of nutty things while danseurs (aka, "boy ballerinas") mostly learn how to lift chicks and hold them in the air&#8212;that ballerinas are the branch, leaf, flower, and fruit of ballet, and danseurs are just the root.</p> <p>"Oh no, no," Melody said and talked about about male dancers she'd known who'd take the pointe shoes out of their friends' bags and go take class.</p> <p>A few hours later, she sent me evidence in this "pas de dudes" by her latest choreographer-crush <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/death-death-and-basques/Content?oid=16460133">Trey McIntyre.</a> Enjoy.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UFgvRg-wNyM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/23/pas-de-dudes#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16564979&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater Dance http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/23/pas-de-dudes?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16564979&id=comments 4 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:25:32 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/17/guess-whos-pissed-off-at-our-story-about-swan-lake http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/17/guess-whos-pissed-off-at-our-story-about-swan-lake Brendan Kiley <p>Why, it's wounded members of the dance community! They're strange birds, those certain&#8212;not <em>all</em>, just some&#8212;members of the dance community. When we don't write about dance, they complain. When we write glowing criticism, <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/bodies-can-shine/Content?oid=16173508"><u>they</u></a> <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/dancers-melting-in-and-out-of-the-crowd/Content?oid=16373217"><u>are</u></a> <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/death-death-and-basques/Content?oid=16460133"><u>silent</u></a>. When we write questioning or negative criticism, they come out of the woodwork to insist that we're idiots and criminals and incompetent monsters.</p> <p>You can't win. (I just mentioned this phenomenon to books editor Paul Constant, and he said: "Sounds like poetry! If I write something positive about poetry, nobody gives a shit. When I write something negative, <strong>suddenly I'm the Hitler of poetry</strong>.")</p> <p>But we're used to that. It's been that way <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/we-stink/Content?oid=3997027">for years.</a></p> <p>And it's that way again this week with <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/swan-lake-is-so-goddamned-boring/Content?oid=16508792">Melody Datz's lovely, funny, and intelligent piece on <em>Swan Lake</em></a> at Pacific Northwest Ballet, which she's seen many times over the years, and adores for its athleticism (she's a former bunhead and still impressed by fouett&#233;s and such), but recognizes that, to many people, it's dull as dirt and a potential turn-off from all dance forever.</p> <p>Though she talks about what she likes about this <em>Swan Lake</em>, and interviews a young man about how it was a gateway for him to other kinds of dance, commenters are (predictably) throwing fits.</p> <p>I'd like to single one out for special mention, however, only because I've seen this sneaky trick a thousand times:</p> <blockquote><p>Melody&#8212;Headline aside, your attempt at offering us an inflammatory piece does little to establish your credibility as a dance writer new on the scene. I expected better from you. You've relied on crass prose and slang to make tired, cliched points. Leave the sensationalist vocabulary behind, step out of your comfort zone, and start writing something worth reading.</p> <p>Doug Fullington<br />Education Programs Manager<br />Pacific Northwest Ballet</p></blockquote> <p>This is a classic&#8212;an employee of an arts institution suggesting that the critic isn't "credible" because she dared to write something negative about some hallowed work of art (and dared to use conversational, grown-up language while doing it).</p> <p>But this is totally disingenuous.</p> <p>When any journalist evaluates the credibility of a source, the first question to ask is: "What does this person have to gain? Does he or she have any incentive&#8212;especially a financial incentive&#8212;to spin this information?" Any employee of any arts palace has a financial incentive to be mad at a critic. As "education programs manager," Doug Fullington, by definition, has a professional stake in the public perception of <em>Swan Lake</em>. But <em>he's</em> the one questioning <em>her</em> credibility.</p> <p>So Doug: If there's anyone who is <em>less</em> credible in the conversation than the critic, it's the person who has a financial stake in what the critic says.</p> <p>And that's you.</p> <p>By all means, employees of arts institutions are encouraged to join any critical conversation we have at <em>The Stranger</em>. But we are all aware of where your packchecks come from and how that might influence what you say. So be careful about dubbing yourselves the arbiters of credibility.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/17/guess-whos-pissed-off-at-our-story-about-swan-lake#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16517272&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater Dance http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/17/guess-whos-pissed-off-at-our-story-about-swan-lake?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16517272&id=comments 17 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:36:17 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/12/death-death-and-basques-or-trey-mcintyre-tonight http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/12/death-death-and-basques-or-trey-mcintyre-tonight Brendan Kiley <p>Dance critic Melody Datz has a nice introduction to Boise-based choreographer Trey McIntyre in this week's paper. He's performing this weekend at UW Meany Hall:</p> <blockquote><p>Trey McIntyre is an intense dude, known for his first-class pedigree, notoriously fiery performances, and eyebrow-raising decision to leave the big cities behind and forge a successful company and career in his current home of Boise, Idaho. In Boise, his company has achieved a kind of celebrity status&#8212;Trey McIntyre Project dancers are recognized on the sidewalk, and the company receives money from local government and businesses. This enviable, mutual passion between an artist and his community reflects (and maybe inspires) an earthy quality in TMP's work&#8212;ballet roots easily meld with modern, and sometimes wild, movements. This weekend, Seattle gets in on a little of the action.</p> <p>Everything in McIntyre's work, from his choreography to his methods of delivery (including short surprise performances in public places) are deeply connected to his cultural and environmental context. One of the pieces TMP will perform this week, <em>Arrantza</em> (the Basque word for "fishing"), is partially inspired by Boise's large Basque American population.</p></blockquote> <p>Trey's people responded to Melody: "First, thank you for the article onTrey McIntyre Project. We will be using the quote 'Trey McIntyre is an intense dude...' (attributed, of course) for years to come." They also sent along this sweet little bit of dance-comedy starring McIntyre:</p> <p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6Qe47drlFAM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>Reggie Watts and Amy O'Neal did a similar thing several years ago as a <a href="http://vimeo.com/18476528">video intro to her show <em>Mockumentary</em></a> at On the Boards.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/12/death-death-and-basques-or-trey-mcintyre-tonight#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16483494&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater Dance http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/12/death-death-and-basques-or-trey-mcintyre-tonight?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16483494&id=comments 1 Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:10:55 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/11/putting-the-cleavage-bank-into-kafka http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/11/putting-the-cleavage-bank-into-kafka Brendan Kiley <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/9e2a/1365721071-trial23.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/9e2a/1365721071-trial23.jpg" alt="trial23.jpg" title="" width="500" height="417" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Chris Bennion</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>Roland Barthes once wrote that "Kafka is not Kafka-ism," and this kick-ass new adaptation of <em>The Trial</em>, directed by John Langs, knows it. There is bureaucratic horror, of course, and mystery men in suits, and implied violence. But this <em>Trial</em> is not the sterile, flat landscape popularly associated with "Kafka-ism"&#8212;flesh, sex, and actual violence are refreshingly (sometimes shockingly) present. As every criminal lawyer and defendant know, legal briefs can be a six-foot stack of bureaucratic jargon, but all those devilishly circuitous words determine the fates of real human bodies.</p> <p>The audience begins the play in seating that resembles a nightmare jury box&#8212;steep seats walled in with waist-high wooden barriers&#8212;looking down on a black square where Josef K. (Darragh Kennan) is standing in his underwear, answering to men in suits who have mysteriously appeared in his apartment. They tell him he's under arrest. For what? They don't know and they don't care.</p> <p>Soon, we hear ominous footsteps coming down the hall with the cadence of a goose step, and someone whistling "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work I go" in a sinister key. </p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/putting-the-cleavage-back-into-kafka/Content?oid=16456153">Continue reading >></a></p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/11/putting-the-cleavage-bank-into-kafka?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16476406&id=comments 0 Putting the Cleavage Bank into Kafka Chris Bennion Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:59:37 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/the-monday-morning-olds-frye-on-irony http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/the-monday-morning-olds-frye-on-irony Brendan Kiley <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/4111/1365449860-trialtint.jpg" alt="The Trial: Putting the cleavage back in Kafka." title="The Trial: Putting the cleavage back in Kafka." width="500" height="473" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Chris Bennion</li><li class="imageCaption">"The Trial": Putting the cleavage back in Kafka.</li></ul></div></p> <p>From <em>Anatomy of Criticism</em>, Northrop Frye, 1957:</p> <blockquote><p>The term irony, then, indicates a technique of appearing to be less than one is, which in literature becomes most commonly a technique of <strong>saying as little and meaning as much as possible</strong>, or, in a more general way, a pattern of words that turns away from direct statement or its own obvious meaning... Coleridge, noting an ironic comment in Defoe, points out how Defoe's subtlety could be made crude and obvious simply by over-punctuating the same words with italics, dashes, exclamation points, and other signs of being oneself aware of irony.</p></blockquote> <p>The ironist, in Frye's words, "takes life exactly as he finds it" and his power doesn't come from showing off how much he knows or being swoopy, dramatic, and obvious with his work. "Complete objectivity and suppression of all explicit moral judgements are essential to his method."</p> <p>So ironic-tragic figures are not like simple tragic figures&#8212;they do not have massive flaws (like Antony in <em>Antony and Cleopatra</em>) or consuming obsessions (like Captain Ahab). They're just folks.</p> <blockquote><p>Thus the central principle of tragic irony is that whatever exceptional happens to the hero should be causally out of line with his character... Thus the figure of a typical or random victim begins to crystallize in domestic tragedy as it deepens in ironic tone. We may call this typical victim the <em>pharmakos</em> or scapegoat. We meet a <em>pharmakos</em> figure in Hawthorne's Hester Prynne, in Melville's Billy Budd, in Hardy's Tess, in the Septimus of <em>Mrs. Dalloway</em>, in stories of persecuted Jews and Negroes, in stories of artists whose genius makes them Ishmaels of a bourgeois society. The <em>pharmakos</em> is neither innocent nor guilty. <strong>He is innocent in the sense that what happens to him is far greater than anything he has done provokes, like the mountaineer whose shout brings down an avalanche. He is guilty in the sense that he is a member of a guilty society, or living in a world where such injustices are an inescapable part of existence.</strong></p></blockquote> <p>In Frye's literary math, incongruous + inevitable = tragedy. But irony separates the incongruous and the inevitable into two separate poles.</p> <p>One is the inevitable irony of human life&#8212;as in Kafka's <em>Trial</em>. (Which I'm reviewing for this week's paper, which is why I'm reading Frye, which technically disqualifies this edition of the "Monday Morning Olds" since there's something vaguely current about this post. But whatever.) Adam is the archetype of inevitable irony. He is damned simply by being born, our forefather of, as Frye puts it, "human nature under sentence of death."</p> <p>Jesus Christ is the archetype of incongruous irony, "the perfectly innocent victim excluded from human society." Note the "perfectly," which separates Jesus from Adam, the incongruous from the inevitable. Joseph K. in <em>The Trial</em> is innocent of whatever his accusers are after&#8212;but he's not "perfectly" innocent. He's complicit in the society which is persecuting him. If his neighbor were being persecuted, for example, he'd say "oh, that's too bad" and then go back to work at the bank.</p> <p>Thus, Joseph K. is a figure of inevitable, but not entirely incongruous, irony. As we all are.</p> <p>The midpoint between the poles of inevitable and incongruous irony&#8212;or inevitable + incongruous&#8212;is the tragic. (Frye is beautiful that way, locating tragedy between two poles of irony&#8212;sometimes he re-imagines the literary universe with the same flair that Einstein re-imagined the physical universe.) The tragic archetype is...</p> <blockquote><p>Prometheus, the immortal titan rejected by the gods for befriending men. The Book of Job is not a tragedy of the Promethean type, but a tragic irony in which the dialectic of the divine and the human nature works itself out. By justifying himself as a victim of God, Job tries to make himself into a tragic Promethean figure, but he does not succeed.</p></blockquote> <p>And Frye's punch line (for my purposes, at least):</p> <blockquote><p>These references may help to explain something that might otherwise be a puzzling fact about modern literature. Irony descends from the low mimetic: it begins in realism and dispassionate observation. But as it does so, it moves steadily towards myth, and dim outlines of sacrificial rituals and dying gods begin to reappear in it... This reappearance of myth in the ironic is particularly clear in <strong>Kafka... whose work, from one point of view, may be said to form a series of commentaries on the Book of Job.</strong></p></blockquote> <p>The most startling thing about watching New Century Theater Company's production of <em>The Trial</em> last night (aside from all the cleavage&#8212;who knew there'd be so much cleavage in Kafka?) was realizing that what began for Kafka as myth or parable (faceless and unnamed bureaucrat enacts legal punishment against someone who has not committed a crime, and refuses to explain why) <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/freedom-is-frustrating/Content?oid=16403520">now seems documentary.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/the-monday-morning-olds-frye-on-irony#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16446815&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Books Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/the-monday-morning-olds-frye-on-irony?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16446815&id=comments 2 The Monday Morning Olds (Frye on Irony) Kafka's cleavage in "The Trial." Chris Bennion Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:26:03 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/05/young-jean-lees-sweetly-subversive-untitled-feminist-show http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/05/young-jean-lees-sweetly-subversive-untitled-feminist-show Brendan Kiley <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:262px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/4464/1365181689-pink_parasol.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/4464/1365181689-pink_parasol.jpg" alt="pink_parasol.jpg" title="" width="250" height="325" /></a></div></p> <p>To begin with, I'm a straight, white, middle-aged male with a full-time job that includes health benefits, so who gives a fuck what I think of <a href="http://www.ontheboards.org/performances/untitled-feminist-show"><em>Untitled Feminist Show</em>?</a> You shouldn't. I barely do, and am much more interested in other people's ideas about Young Jean Lee's latest creation, which kicks you in the gut while wearing nothing but a smile.</p> <p>It's a show about gendered bodies and their social context and I can hardly ignore my own. But I'm the only one at <em>The Stranger</em> who saw it last night, so I suppose it's up to me to dip my dong in the inkwell and give it a try.</p> <p>I stood by the steps outside On the Boards and eavesdropped on people as they left&#8212;there had been an extended standing ovation and the performers seemed surprised, then a little abashed as the applause went on and on and on. Some things people said to their theater-mates on their way out: "That was awesome." "Wow... just wow." "I loved it!" My favorite was an older lady who was being helped down the stairs by a middle-aged woman, perhaps her daughter: "Weren't they adorable?"</p> <p>"Adorable" isn't the word I would have chosen, though the well-loved Lady Rizo is in the cast. (<a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-homosexual-agenda/Content?oid=13385967">Confidential to Adrian Ryan</a>&#8212;she's definitely penis-free.) <em>Untitled Feminist Show</em> is one of the most <strong>sweetly subversive</strong> things I've seen in a long time.</p> <p>The five women and one trans person enter the theater from the back, naked and without any noticeable makeup&#8212;from a social masking point of view, completely unarmed. They are of various shapes and sizes and various shades of brown and pink.</p> <p>"Provocative" onstage nudity was done to death sometime around 1995. But, as in her previous shows&#8212;<em>Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven</em> (about Asian American identity politics) and <em>THE SHIPMENT</em> (ditto for African American identity politics)&#8212;Young Jean Lee <strong>grabs cliches, wrestles them into submission, then makes them tell jokes.</strong></p> <p>The performers walk down either side of the audience, making eye contact with each other and occasionally us, breathing with a slow, ritualistic tempo that felt like a quiet invasion&#8212;as if they, in their nakedness, are sanctifying and claiming the room as their own and we, the quiet and clothed onlookers, will be at <em>their</em> mercy.</p> <p>And we are. At times, their bareness and innocence is almost unbearable, as in a story-dance towards the beginning (the show explains itself with 99.5% movement and 0.5% text) where they frolic with parasols, enacting all kinds of archetypal fairy-tale relationships to a merrily baroque score. There are mean girls and nice girls, witches and heroines, conflicts and resolutions, all performed by grown, naked women and one grown, naked trans person.</p> <p><em>Untitled</em> keeps its audience in <strong>a constant tension of forgetting and re-remembering the performers' nudity, their bodies,</strong> which points to a fundamental tension of feminism itself&#8212;do you notice the content of ideas or the bodies those ideas are coming from? Which do you notice when? Does it matter when an idea comes from a pink body or a brown body, a round body or a linear body? Positing that question so starkly&#8212;and wordlessly&#8212;makes it sound almost absurd. Why should it matter? And yet, it does.</p> <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:262px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/67a7/1365181641-ladyrizo.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/67a7/1365181641-ladyrizo.jpg" alt="ladyrizo.jpg" title="" width="250" height="256" /></a></div></p> <p>In one bit, Lady Rizo (aka Amelia Zirin-Brown) walks alone onto the stage, picks out audience members, winks, and begins making playful sexual gestures for them. It begins with her doing the old fellatio-pantomime move&#8212;hand around invisible shaft, tongue in cheek, rolling around. (Irony-gesture noted.) She then progresses to playful <strong>pantomime castration, extreme fisting,</strong> and other acts that shove the audience into fits of laughter, some of it clearly nervous laughter.</p> <p>In another bit, Lee stages the inevitable "cat fight" (if you're going to play with cliched cultural images of women, that's gotta be in there) which is actually a blunt, dumb, slow-motion street brawl between two performers while the others stand around and cheering and cringing. Like much of <em>Untitled</em>, it's comedy. But there's nothing cute about it.</p> <p>The show has dance sequences from a kaleidoscope of eras and styles&#8212;at some points literally just jigging flesh, which takes another cliche for a run around the block&#8212;but it is ultimately a piece of movement theater.</p> <p>As Hilton Als pointed out in the <em><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/01/young-jean-lees-untitled-feminist-show.html">New Yorker</a></em>, "language could potentially tip the work over into ideology instead of the poetics of space&#8212;the body as space, and the theatre as a space to examine one&#8217;s physicality and mind&#8212;that Lee explores with such acuity." Lee's ability to take such politically charged material (feminism) and aesthetically charged delivery (nudity, wordlessness) and use it all so nimbly is a serious achievement.</p> <p>In the final moments of the show (after a punishingly psychedelic music-video sequence), the five women and one trans person reappear onstage, wearing their clothes, as if to say: "Everything you've seen so far is what prefigures any interaction you and I might have. Nobody, and no encounter with another body, is a tabula rasa."</p> <p>It points to the obvious but often-forgotten fact that any given conversation with a stranger is already well underway before you even get the chance to say "hello."</p> <p><em>Untitled Feminist Show</em> plays through Sunday. Tickets are $25 and <a href="http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=21712&event_val=A9AA">you can get them here.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/05/young-jean-lees-sweetly-subversive-untitled-feminist-show#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16420551&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/05/young-jean-lees-sweetly-subversive-untitled-feminist-show?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16420551&id=comments 8 Young Jean Lee's Sweetly Subversive "Untitled Feminist Show" Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:04:02 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/02/adrian-ryan-on-grey-gardens http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/02/adrian-ryan-on-grey-gardens Brendan Kiley <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/090a/1364937996-ggardens.jpg" alt="ggardens.jpg" title="" width="500" height="263" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">MARK KITAOKA</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>Here's the first paragraph of Adrian Ryan's review of <em>Grey Gardens</em>, a musical co-production by ACT Theater and the 5th Ave:</p> <blockquote><p>First of all: TOM SKERRITT'S NIECE! She plays Little Edie. That was cool. (I don't see a resemblance.) Second of all: Much of the first act of <em>Grey Gardens</em> could have been ruthlessly scrapped&#8212;straight into the bin!&#8212;to everyone's benefit.</p></blockquote> <p>And there's the last paragraph:</p> <blockquote><p>But then the show ends... kind of nowhere, with two carping codependents wallowing in resentment and cat shit. (But sometimes bursting into song!) We never see the documentary happen. Jackie O never swoops in to save the day, 11th-hour-style. And, worst of all, we never get to see the unlikely late-in-life realization of Little Edie's star-spangled dreams. We never see her go to NYC, and she never stars in her own show. Which is a pity. That is the part of this story that really touches the heart&#8212;that sad redemption. Without it, we are left wallowing, too.</p></blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/grey-gardens-is-missing-its-heart/Content?oid=16346288">Read the rest here.</a> <em>Grey Gardens</em> plays tonight and through June 2. (<a href="http://www.acttheatre.org/Tickets/OnStage/GreyGardens">Tickets here</a>, if you wanna.)</p> <p>And here's the "revolutionary costume" clip Adrian mentions in his review:</p> <p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6rlX1spyRmg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/02/adrian-ryan-on-grey-gardens?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16400419&id=comments 0 Adrian Ryan on the "Grey Gardens" Musical (Spoiler Alert: He Didn't Love It) MARK KITAOKA Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:10:26 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/there-are-two-images-from-satori-groups-microdramas-that-i-still-cant-get-out-of-my-head-two-weeks-later http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/there-are-two-images-from-satori-groups-microdramas-that-i-still-cant-get-out-of-my-head-two-weeks-later Christopher Frizzelle <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:312px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/f8f2/1364855287-quinnfranzenmicrodramas.png" alt="Quinn Franzen as the actor/narrator in the tent with you, during part one." title="Quinn Franzen as the actor/narrator in the tent with you, during part one." width="300" height="451" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Alex Garland</li><li class="imageCaption">Quinn Franzen as the actor/narrator in the tent with you, during part one.</li></ul></div>Two Saturdays ago, <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/a-theater-collective-that-would-rather-fail-than-do-what-everyone-else-is-doing/Content?oid=16162022">the Satori Group</a> performed a night of one-audience-member-at-a-time shows called <em>Microdramas</em>. Instead of walking into a theater, you walked into a homemade bar, the bar itself built by the Satori crew and stocked with affordable-for-artist-types options (cheap booze, cheap wine, cheap Hilliard's tall boys). There were a bunch of people sitting around the bar, either waiting for their turn to see <em>Microdramas</em> or having just finished seeing <em>Microdramas</em>, and the ones who had just seen it were inarticulate about it, kind of dazed, given to statements like, "You'll&#8212;you'll&#8212;you'll see. I can't describe it." </p> <p>My only other clue about what was coming: While waiting, <strong>I found a single marble on the ground,</strong> its iridescent insides glowing. Meanwhile, behind a wall of blackout curtains, there were crashing sounds like thunder. Over and over as audience members went through, the thunder thundered. This was almost as thrilling as the experience to come, the waiting-for-the-experience-to-come part. Making the whole experience of seeing a show <em>part</em> of the show is one of the most compelling things about Satori shows. (<a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=668965">Implied Violence used to do this too</a>&#8212;for example, the time they had that show that you could only get tickets to by going to a crepe stand on a certain day and saying a code word to the crepe-maker.)</p> <p>At long last, it was my turn to experience <em>Microdamas</em>&#8212;which wasn't one interactive mini-play, as I'd assumed, but three interactive mini-plays, one after the other. (I only realized this after I expressed confusion later about how the components fit together.) In the first room, the first of the three plays, an actor welcomed me into a beach recliner under a tent and asked me to close my eyes. While sitting on this beach recliner with my eyes shut, a warm light passed slowly in front of my face&#8212;the sun. There were oceanic sounds created by I know not what. Then the wind picked up&#8212;the tent started flapping and filling with air, getting louder and louder. <strong>It was a storm.</strong> By the time I was told to open my eyes, the sun was long gone and tragedy had struck. There was a dead woman pressed up against the translucent plastic of the tent. She looked a little Laura Palmer-ish. Beautiful, bluish, dead. The actor asked me to hold the post that kept the tent up so that he could flip on his flashlight (or was it a lighter?), and then we examined her body together through the plastic. </p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:434px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/6c54/1364855492-screen_shot_2013-04-01_at_3.30.25_pm.png" alt="One of the bodies pressed up against the plastic: Beautiful, bluish, dead." title="One of the bodies pressed up against the plastic: Beautiful, bluish, dead." width="422" height="518" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Alex Garland</li><li class="imageCaption">One of the bodies pressed up against the plastic: Beautiful, bluish, dead.</li></ul></div></p> <p>After more looking around it became clear there were other bodies pressed up against the tent too, half-decipherable through the plastic. Since the show was said to be interactive, I wanted to see what the actor/narrator (played by Adam Standley when I went through, Quinn Franzen when a friend went through) would say if I commented on what was happening. So I said, as we looked at the bodies: "Sucks." Standley improvised a response, saying he didn't think it was so bad; he said he thought the bodies looked peaceful.</p> <p>That was the first room, and the first of the two images from <em>Microdramas</em> that I have not been able to get out of my head. The second image I haven't been able to get out of my head came in the second room, during the second play&#8212;"the <strong>Batman</strong>-y part," as I thought of it later. In this room you had to get on your hands and knees and pull yourself along the ground while holding onto a rope. It sort of felt like climbing a rope through an elevator shaft, only sideways, the sideways tunnel delineated by that same translucent plastic that the tent in the first play was made out of. Then I was on my back on a piece of fabric, and people were pulling the sheet in various directions, my body at their mercy, my face toward the ceiling. Then the plastic flap overhead disappeared and Standley was <strong>directly overhead, suspended from the ceiling, like a bat, looking down at me.</strong> His getting up there so fast, when he'd just been right next to me, defied the logic of time/space. Plus it just looked so cool. Then I was back under a plastic sheet as it was pelted with marbles&#8212;yet more storminess.</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/04/01/1364856246-crawlingsideways.png" alt="An audience member, on the floor, crawling through a corridor of plastic sheets in part two of Microdramas." title="An audience member, on the floor, crawling through a corridor of plastic sheets in part two of Microdramas." width="500" height="204" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Clare Strasser</li><li class="imageCaption">An audience member, on the floor, crawling through a corridor of plastic sheets in part two of <i>Microdramas.</i></li></ul></div></p> <p>The third part of <em>Microdramas</em> (i.e., the third play) was... minimalist, you could say. It simply consisted of putting on some headphones (in which I couldn't hear anything&#8212;maybe they were just meant to block ambient noise?) and being directed to stand on a raised walkway, where I stood and stood, awaiting instructions that never came. Eventually I focused on a rope in the distance with the word "PULL" on it. So I approached the rope and pulled slowly, half-expecting for something to be flung into my head, or for something to come into my ears through the headphones, waiting for <em>something</em>, but all that happened was a curtain slowly parted on some people singing. The curtain call, I guess? It was an ending that seemed designed to make you feel <strong>nonplussed</strong>. What did I feel? Did I feel the right thing? Did I feel anything? Were the headphones broken? What about the dead bodies in part one? What happened to them? What about the two storms? What about the guy dangling from the ceiling like a bat? </p> <p>There was something abrupt and unsatisfying about the end, and yet the whole show was full of abruptness, full of vivid images unsatisfyingly explained, so maybe a certain lack of coherence was the point. Maybe leaving the audience confused rather than clear about what had happened was what they were going for. A friend who saw it before me said he wished there were a little more text to it, which I think is a way of saying he wished the point of it all had been clearer. <em>The Stranger</em>'s art critic, Jen Graves, had a different reaction. She told me <strong>it made her cry.</strong> When I asked what about it made her cry, she said, "What made me cry was that I have never felt so respected by a theater experience before. They actually involved me, I felt like. I guess what made me cry is how uninvolved I've been every single other time I've been in the theater. I was touched." And then she added, "It's not that I want all theater to be turned interactive. But it's amazing to feel the difference so starkly."</p> <p><small><em>The Satori Group will perform more</em> Microdramas<em>&#8212;or perhaps modified versions of these</em> Microdramas<em>&#8212;this summer.</em></small></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/there-are-two-images-from-satori-groups-microdramas-that-i-still-cant-get-out-of-my-head-two-weeks-later#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16391024&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/there-are-two-images-from-satori-groups-microdramas-that-i-still-cant-get-out-of-my-head-two-weeks-later?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16391024&id=comments 1 There Are Two Images from Satori Group's "Microdramas" That I Still Can't Get Out of My Head, Two Weeks Later Quinn Franzen as the actor/narrator in the tent with you, during part one. Courtesy of Satori Group Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:02:27 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/the-monday-morning-olds http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/the-monday-morning-olds Brendan Kiley <p>I don't know about you, but I woke up to this gray morning with an aggressive disinterest in anything happening now.</p> <p>That mood seems to strike more and more often, and it's a terrible one for someone who's supposed to care deeply about current issues, articles, blog posts, and tweets for a living. When that mood strikes I can't bring myself to care about the news or the latest tech or song or whatever nuisance is flitting around like an overvalued mayfly.</p> <p>Nothing could be more boring, when that mood strikes, than the present. Which must mean I'm getting old.</p> <p>If you woke up in a similar mood, please enjoy <a href="http://post.thestranger.com/seattle/Blogs/Admin/Post?mode=entry&blogid=21233">this transcribed (with mistakes!) issue of <em>7 Arts</em> from 1955.</a></p> <p>It has an article on Hollywood by Dorothy Parker:</p> <blockquote><p>The actors... they have an awfully good time. They keep giving one another prizes and they have all this. The writers I think have a fairly tough time, except I didn't... You used to get an awful lot of money. Ladies and gentlemen, there was one time I was so rich I thought that detective stories were wonderful.</p></blockquote> <p>And one by choreographer <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/remembering-merce/Content?oid=1974160">Merce Cunningham</a> in which he begins to articulate what will become his still-difficult-to-articulate legacy:</p> <blockquote><p>There has been a shift of emphasis in the practise of the arts of painting, music and dancing during the last few years. There are no labels yet but there are ideas. These ideas seem primarily concerned with something being exactly what it is in its time and place, and not in its having actual or symbolic reference to other things. A thing is just that thing.</p></blockquote> <p>And one by famously conservative genius Robert H. Hutchins of the University of Chicago about the dangers of our education and legal systems falling prey to anti-radical (communist, anarchist) hysteria:</p> <blockquote><p>The low point came in the demand of an Indiana textbook commissioner that Robin Hood and all books referring to Quakers be removed from the schools because both Robin Hood and the Quakers follow the Communist Party line. Or perhaps an even lower point was reached in the reference of a Senator of the United States to our oldest university as a "sanctuary for communists and a smelly mess. What the Senator was objecting to, by the way, was that Harvard had failed to fire a professor who had availed himself of rights guaranteed him by the Constitution the Senator had sworn to defend. </p></blockquote> <p>There are also items by Max Brod, Theodore Roetke, and an essay by Gilbert Highet on kitsch that I haven't read yet this morning, but a friend urgently recommends to me with this quote: "The kitsch writer is always sincere; he really means to say something important; he has a lofty spiritual message to bring to an unawakened world, or else he has had a powerful experience which he must communicate to others. And then, he chooses the wrong form."</p> <p>Perhaps this friend of mine is trying to tell me something.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/the-monday-morning-olds#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16389962&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Arts History Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/01/the-monday-morning-olds?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16389962&id=comments 7 Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:34:19 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/25/if-you-say-your-show-starts-at-7-your-show-should-at-least-try-to-start-at-7 http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/25/if-you-say-your-show-starts-at-7-your-show-should-at-least-try-to-start-at-7 Brendan Kiley <p>This weekend, I actually <em>bought</em> a ticket to a play&#8212;shocking, I know&#8212;at Washington Hall. It was a world premiere by a bunch of people I hadn't heard of, and I wanted the freedom of conscience to leave whenever and not review it.</p> <p>The poster said the show started at 7, so I got there a few minutes early. I was the only audience member, as far as I could tell. I paid my ticket and milled around. Seven pm came and went, with only a few people trickling in. Most of them seemed to know the artists, brought flowers, hung out with them in the lobby, etc. By 7:15, nobody was in the theater itself and <strong>nobody seemed much interested in starting the show</strong>.</p> <p>I kept checking the poster to see if I had the time wrong. But it said 7 pm. So I looked over the program, where I learned the play was "not just a story about loss and grief... Much of what you learn over the course of this show does not necessarily resolve in a concrete way, hopefully allowing you, the audience, to come up with your own conclusions... sometimes, the best way to affect other people is to put your life into art..."</p> <p>By 7:20 or so, I'd lost interest and went to the Kshama Sawant kickoff rally in the Central District, which I'm <strong>reviewing for this week's theater section instead</strong>. (I think I made the right decision.)</p> <p>Later, I emailed one of the show's two directors to ask what happened. She said the show actually started at 7:30, but they wanted people to come to their bar and mingle for half an hour beforehand. (There was no bar&#8212;the caterers fell through.)</p> <p>I understand why that might seem like a nice gesture to a small theater company. But if you tell people a show starts at 7, they will believe you and arrange their evening accordingly. At least most people will. "We planned to open the doors early," the co-director wrote, "because <strong>in the past our audiences tended to run late."</strong></p> <p>Some extra ink on the poster ("doors at 7, show at 7:30") and an extra email to your friends ("be on time, dammit") might do everyone a little good.</p> <p><strong>This isn't an isolated incident.</strong> I've heard other people complaining recently about performance events where they showed up and were expected to wait around (in one case, for over an hour) for something to happen.</p> <p>Seattle, please don't let this become a habit.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/25/if-you-say-your-show-starts-at-7-your-show-should-at-least-try-to-start-at-7#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16338335&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/25/if-you-say-your-show-starts-at-7-your-show-should-at-least-try-to-start-at-7?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16338335&id=comments 33 Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:51:13 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/23/a-light-and-charming-show-about-how-and-why-to-kill-your-mother http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/23/a-light-and-charming-show-about-how-and-why-to-kill-your-mother Brendan Kiley <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/a308/1364091400-disappear_0113.jpg" alt="How to Disappear Completely at On the Boards" title="How to Disappear Completely at On the Boards" width="500" height="333" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Emily Cooper</li><li class="imageCaption"><em>How to Disappear Completely</em> at On the Boards</li></ul></div></p> <p>Itai Erdal is an Jerusalem-born, once-aspiring documentary filmmaker who became a lighting designer and now lives in Vancouver, B.C. He's also a nimble, funny storyteller and on the opening night of his show, <a href="http://www.ontheboards.org/performances/how-disappear-completely"><em>How to Disappear Completely</em></a> at On the Boards, artistic director Lane Czaplinski said several times that Erdal was the kind of guy you wind up closing down a bar with&#8212;Erdal likes to talk, and people like to listen. I'm sure he's closed down bars on several continents with his story about swimming with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugong">sexually aggressive Australian dugong</a>.</p> <p><em>How to Disappear Completely</em> works on two levels. The first is lighting design. The second is <strong>his mother's lung cancer</strong>, how it changed the family (his mom, her second husband, Erdal, his sister), and the fact that Erdal helped her commit suicide.</p> <p>The first level is marvelous&#8212;I learned more about lighting design in one hour of this short show than I have in years as a theater critic. Erdal wanders around the stage with a small light board in his hand, activating cues and explaining how they work and what they're good for. In the early minutes of the show, <strong>he stands in a pitch-blackout</strong>, saying it's a common misperception amongst theatermakers that actors are only really heard by an audience when they are seen. But he proves that the words of the obscured, like the words of the dead&#8212;the words of anyone disappeared&#8212;can be haunting.</p> <p>Erdal talks about the emotional uses of different colors of lighting gels and his affection for the way "shinbusters" give unexpected dimensions to actors (which are so named because they're banks of lights that sit on the stage and will <strong>bust your shins if you run into them</strong> during a blackout). He delivers a paean to bright white can lights, which some designers dismiss as a crude rock 'n' roll/concert effect. But their light spills across a performer, creating a dichotomous illumination-silhouette effect&#8212;the presence of absence&#8212;and becomes warmer as it dims. He turns one on and dims it, percentage by percentage, looking increasingly human and sympathetic as he disappears.</p> <p>Which brings us to the second level&#8212;his mother's illness and death. This level is problematically manipulative. On its face, that's an odd criticism. Theater is <strong>manipulative by definition</strong>. But there's a whiff of disingenuousness when a middle-aged performer walks into a theater full of middle-aged people and starts toying with us by talking about parent death.</p> <p>Odds are that a significant percentage of people in the room have dealt with, are dealing with, or are becoming anxious about dealing with that <strong>viscerally painful experience</strong>, which is a kaleidoscope of conflicting emotions and an easy way to disturb people. (Full disclosure: <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/06/03/jack-kevorkian-assisted-suicide-advocate-dies-at-83&view=comments">I'm in that target audience.</a>)</p> <p>But simply invoking parent death and leaving it at that is <em>us</em> doing the work. If a performer is going to stab that raw nerve&#8212;the emotional equivalent of yelling "fire" in a crowded theater&#8212;he (in this case) has an obligation to tell us something we don't know, to show us something new. Otherwise, it's just <strong>picking at our scabs</strong>.</p> <p>That's where Erdal chickens out, or at least stretches for something he can't reach&#8212;ostensibly, the show is hung on the peg of him helping his mother commit suicide. But how he came to that decision, how he carried it out, and how he feels about it in retrospect gets only a few sparse, descriptive sentences. When it comes to the heart of the matter, his loquacious gifts begin to dim and almost (almost) disappear. Death is common, in life and art&#8212;so common that it's extraordinarily difficult to say anything meaningful about it.</p> <p>While it doesn't accomplish its deeper ethical/aesthetic mission, <em>How to Disappear Completely</em> is entertaining and its first level, the lighting design level, is a surprising and satisfying success. If you can induce enough insta-amnesia to forget what it's trying to do on that second level, the show is (paradoxically) a breezy and charming monologue about lighting design with some small footnotes about how and why to kill your mother.</p> <p><em>How to Disappear Completely</em> plays tonight and tomorrow at 8 pm. <a href="http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=21712&schedule=list">Get tickets here.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/23/a-light-and-charming-show-about-how-and-why-to-kill-your-mother#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16327393&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/23/a-light-and-charming-show-about-how-and-why-to-kill-your-mother?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16327393&id=comments 2 A Light and Charming Show About How and Why to Kill Your Mother "How to Disappear Completely" at On the Boards Emily Cooper Sat, 23 Mar 2013 19:31:15 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/do-satori-groups-microdramas-count-as-theater-does-it-matter http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/do-satori-groups-microdramas-count-as-theater-does-it-matter Brendan Kiley <p>Theater people can be as conservative and provincial as the Tea Party when it comes to defending the borders of what counts as "theater."</p> <p>I know a couple of playwrights who argue that solo shows, such as Mike Daisey's or Jennifer Jasper's or <a href="http://www.ontheboards.org/performances/how-disappear-completely">Itai Erdal's</a> don't count as theater. Perhaps they feel an existential threat&#8212;most solo shows make playwrights irrelevant.</p> <p>And I know several people who argue that Satori Group's <em><a href="http://www.satori-group.com/category/microdramas/">Microdramas</a></em> don't count as theater. <em>Microdramas</em> definitely push at the borders of theater&#8212;as Satori Group becomes more skilled, they're getting more confident about pushing&#8212;but shouldn't those borders be porous?</p> <p>From <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/a-theater-collective-that-would-rather-fail-than-do-what-everyone-else-is-doing/Content?oid=16162022">a profile of the Satori Group</a> in the most recent <em>A&P</em>:</p> <blockquote><p>Sitting at his kitchen table, in the apartment he shares with company members Quinn Franzen and Monty Taylor, Alex Matthews says if any other company asked him to be part of a project like <em>Winky</em> or <em>reWilding</em> or <em>Microdramas</em>, he would probably say no. "It would sound crazy," he says. "When Spike [Friedman] and Quinn explained <em>Microdramas</em>, it was like: Is there a story? 'No.' <strong>So what will happen? 'We'll drag people through plastic.' Holy shit!</strong> But I can get right behind them. We speak each other's language, and now we know how to help each other make a singular vision."</p></blockquote> <p>Tomorrow, on March 23, you can <a href="http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/356791">experience the "singular vision" firsthand.</a> In this year's regrets issue, Jen Graves regretted that you&#8212;yes, you&#8212;had not yet experienced a <em>Microdrama</em>. Remedy that this weekend.</p> <p>And more about <em>Microdramas</em> <a href="http://www.satori-group.com/category/microdramas/">from the Satori website:</a></p> <blockquote><p><strong>What is a Microdrama?</strong> A 5 minute experience for a single audience member. There are three of them. Sometimes they are set up to be consumed individually. Sometimes they are set up to be consumed as a whole.</p> <p><strong>Is a Microdrama a play?</strong> No.</p> <p><strong>What are Microdramas about?</strong> Unfortunately, there isn&#8217;t a satisfying way to answer this question.</p> <p><strong>Can I go in with another person?</strong> No. They are experiences for a single audience member.</p> <p><strong>But I came with a friend.</strong> Your friend can go in after you.</p> <p><strong>Is this safe?</strong> Yes. That said, one of the three Microdramas has a physical element to it, and is not recommended for those with serious health concerns.</p></blockquote> <p>Tickets are <a href="http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/356791">only nine clams.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/do-satori-groups-microdramas-count-as-theater-does-it-matter#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16317117&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/do-satori-groups-microdramas-count-as-theater-does-it-matter?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16317117&id=comments 0 Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:02:05 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/show-me-the-way-to-go-home-a-monologue-about-love-and-dying-with-dignity http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/show-me-the-way-to-go-home-a-monologue-about-love-and-dying-with-dignity Cienna Madrid <p>In <em>Show Me the Way to Go Home</em>, Lisa Koch makes her audience fall in love with her father and then she lets them watch him die.</p> <p>Through a combination of storytelling, songs, and emails, Koch pulls up an extra chair at the family dinner table and introduces us to the man who raised her&#8212;a man who spent 30 years as a sixth grade teacher and collected bad jokes with ardor.</p> <p><em>"How do you compliment a woman from Arkansas?"<br />"Nice tooth."</em></p> <p>A slideshow of family photos plays on a screen behind her as she recounts the email she got from her mother, breaking her father's diagnosis of <strong>stomach cancer</strong>, aka "The Bastard." She walks us through hospital visits, treatment schedules, conversations with Dr. God, her father's born-again physician, with the grace of a woman raised to process all news&#8212;both good and bad&#8212;with humor.</p> <p>Koch talks about her father's decision to use <strong>Death with Dignity</strong>, the Oregon and Washington law that allows terminal patients to access drugs to end their lives at their own pace&#8212;although accessing the drugs is nearly impossible when your attending physician is nicknamed "Dr. God." (Death with Dignity requires the cooperation of at least two doctors and a pharmacist.)</p> <p>She recounts standing in the family kitchen, breaking open 100 capsules of Seconal&#8212;the drug that will allow her father to slip into a coma and peacefully die&#8212;and mixing it with applesauce. She gives her audience permission to laugh, even as they cry: <strong>"Whatever you do, don't lick the spoon,"</strong> Koch recounts joking with her brother.</p> <p><em>Show Me the Way to Go Home</em> is a fitting eulogy for a great father and teacher. It will resonate with anyone who's checked a loved one into hospice care, but more than that, it's the kind of graceful, loving tribute we would all give to our dearly departed, if we had but the talent for storytelling.</p> <p>You can catch it tonight and tomorrow at the Theater Off-Jackson, in the International District.</p> <p><em>(Theatre Off-Jackson, 409 7th S, March 21-23, 7:30 pm, $15 adv/$18 door, all ages, <a href="http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/320369 ">tickets available here</a>)</em></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/show-me-the-way-to-go-home-a-monologue-about-love-and-dying-with-dignity#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16316465&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Death Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/show-me-the-way-to-go-home-a-monologue-about-love-and-dying-with-dignity?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16316465&id=comments 3 Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:15:03 -0700 The Stranger http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/21/across-a-little-red-marker-is-a-tight-little-thriller http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/21/across-a-little-red-marker-is-a-tight-little-thriller Brendan Kiley <p>Last weekend, I went to see <em>Across a Little Red Marker</em> at Eclectic Theater and there were only three people in the audience, including me. That's a shame. I've seen plenty of worse shows with bigger audiences. This one deserves more attention.</p> <p>Set along the Washington-Canada border in the 1980s, this taut little thriller by Jim Moran has a cinematic quality&#8212;tight lighting to illuminate one small corner of the stage at a time, sharp blackouts to punctuate a joke or a threat, and eccentric small-town characters that wouldn't be out of place in movies by the Coen brothers or David Lynch.</p> <p>Lisa Carswell plays an earnest and dutiful border patrol agent with a rebellious son and a drinking problem. Her soldier-husband disappeared during the Vietnam War and jumps into her consciousness at odd moments&#8212;like when she's drunkenly flirting with the immigrant bartender at the Suicide King, a bar along the border that lives in a liminal zone, legally speaking. People get away with stuff at the Suicide King.</p> <p><em>Across a Little Red Marker</em> opens with this border-patrol agent inspecting a wooden statuette that her new life-insurance agent (David Foubert) is bringing back from Canada. The insurance man's constant tic of a laugh is an immediate red flag, the keyhole through which we enter this whole murderous mystery. Directed by Jane Ryan, <em>Marker</em> has its amateurish elements (a few too many surrealistic monologues by a madwoman who carries around a cage of grasshoppers, some uncomfortable and hesitant acting in a few of the later scenes), but this world premiere is a frisky and entertaining piece of work. If there is justice in the theater world, it will be tinkered with and then picked up by bigger companies in other cities.</p> <p>You could go <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Event?event=16109329&tr">see it tonight.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/21/across-a-little-red-marker-is-a-tight-little-thriller#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16310990&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Theater http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/21/across-a-little-red-marker-is-a-tight-little-thriller?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16310990&id=comments 0 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:14:48 -0700 The Stranger