TeenTix Blog by TeenTix Newsroom

K-pop is famous for immersing its audience in bright colors, electric performances, singing, dancing, and endearing connections between artists and fans. One popular Korean boy group is Enhypen, a seven-member ensemble formed within the K-pop survival show I-Land. Enhypen consists of members Sunghoon, Heeseung, Sunoo, Jungwon, Jay, Jake, and Niki, who each contribute a distinct energy to the group. Whether elegant, grungy, or endearing, Enhypen pulls off an array of aesthetics. Since their iconic debut in 2020, Given Taken, Enhypen has experienced tremendous success, leading them to tour globally.

Love problems, and moral issues, Village Theatre’s The Fantasticks deals with it all. This interpretation delves into childhood naivety and the ways we can be misguided by the things we least suspect. Despite its well-trodden storyline, the production breathes new life into the classic tale, ensuring familiarity doesn't breed lethargy.

Set against a backdrop of two houses separated by a wall, the musical follows the story of two fathers who conspire to unite their children, Luisa and Matt. The show invites the audience to engage in the unfolding narrative, allowing for a more interactive and immersive experience. At times, the audience gets questioned by El Gallo, the narrator, and bandit in charge of uniting the children, or looked at directly by the cast, treated like the lesson is the audience’s to learn too. It is worth noting that while the production succeeds in revitalizing the script by taking out many controversial scenes, there are moments where it stumbles. A fleeting reference to rape felt out of place and unnecessary, detracting from the scene. As it was spoken so quickly, it solidified that the show could have easily gone on without it. Photo courtesy of Auston James

The first thing you hear at the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s performance of The Seasons' Canon at McCaw Hall, and the thing that sticks with you throughout the rest of the performance, is the sharp and dynamic choir that begins Twyla Tharp’s Sweet Fields, the first of three works. Constructed of eleven voices, the choir accompanies the ten-part operation with religious hymns from the 18th and 19th centuries. The songs are simple but elevated by crisp tenor voices, later joined by the winding sopranos and altos. Pacific Northwest Ballet company dancers in Twyla Tharp’s Sweet Fields™. Photo © Angela Sterling, 2024.

Due to the power and excellence of the music, the linked dances sometimes feel like they accompany the score, instead of the other way around. The choreography is creative, switching between blue-toned, lighthearted vignettes and brooding, funeral-march-inspired processions. Visually, most of the dances work quite well. Tharp’s fast-paced, complex actions are sometimes lost in their technicalities, but the overall, folksy theme and the duality of celebration and death make for a series of enticing pairings.

It’s a busy time of year at the TeenTix Newsroom. We’ve arrived at the last review cycle of the TeenTix program year, many of us are students and are submerged in final exams and AP tests, and, for some, graduation is on the horizon. We hope that, as the year wraps up and the days seep into summer, you can take some time to rest. To breathe, enjoy a steady moment of your day, and maybe – surely even – go see some art! Here’s what we’re covering this month at the Newsroom.

Seattle Chamber Music Society is bringing a unique classical music fix with Adam Neiman’s varied program featuring Rachmaninoff's 6 Moments Musicaux, Ravel’s Miroirs, and Neiman’s own Visions. Moments Musicaux are very well known in the piano world, with the famous No.4 in E minor held as one of the hardest piano pieces of all time due to its rolling left hand. This set of concert etudes features a combination of musical complexity from introspective reverie to inner turmoil making it a perfect concert piece. If you’re looking to explore classical and experimentalist music you can see Adam Neiman perform on May 10th.

Two spinster sisters sit in the parlor of their ancestral mansion. The mastiff, with his drooping jowls, pants rhythmically atop a brocaded carpet. The windows let in the weak light from the endless gray sky of the Moors; the maid Marjorie (or is it Mallory? Margret?) coughs and complains that their company is late. A governess, fresh-faced from London, arrives today.

Walking into Seattle Public Theater (known affectionately as “The Bathhouse”), the intimate, public-bathhouse-turned-blackbox-theater is filled with soft, slightly ominous piano music. On the stage is a dark sitting room, where antique, dark tones are counterbalanced by a millennial-pink velvet sofa. The moody set is a perfect, yet slightly quirky, canvas for a period piece—so long as you can ignore the paintings donning sunglasses and the converse-clad cast. Highlights in hair and pom-pom pens abound.

STEW at the ACT is a truly contemporary performance that explores the hefty concepts of family, guilt, and maturity. Centering on an intergenerational female household, the play relays the importance of breaking generational trauma through visual and aural cues. The narrative opens by introducing the family’s matriarch, Mama. Soon after, in a chaotic fashion, the rest of the family is introduced: Mama’s daughters Lillian, and teenage Nelly, and Lil’ Mama, Lillian’s daughter. At first, It was difficult to understand their relationships, but it became clear by the second act. The family is deeply interconnected, and each family member’s life parallels those from earlier generations. For example, Mama had Lillian at 17 and Lillian also had Lil’ Mama at 17. The other parallels are revealed at tense points throughout the performance, and the newer generations’ drive to break the often unfair norm created by their previous generation serves as a turning point for each character.

The story revolves around Mama making a large batch of stew. Stew brings the whole family together—even though Lillian and Lil’ Mama live elsewhere, they visit Mama to help her make and eat the stew. Stew serves as a symbol of hope and togetherness, and the progress of cooking the stew throughout the play reflects the mood of the story. Shaunyce Omar, Varinique “V” Davis, Shermona Mitchell, Kataka Corn in Stew, photo courtesy of Rosemary Dai Ross

MUSICAL THEATER IN THE HANDS OF TOMORROW'S LEADERS

This motto, displayed prominently at the top of The 5th Avenue Theatre’s Rising Star Project information page, is exemplified by the teen participants of the career and artistic program. Beyond the clear empowerment of future professionals, these leaders of tomorrow are also strengthening and motivating current theater professionals.

In the 21st century, the possibility of supernatural disasters constantly looms above us. Each year, we are subject to more and more unprecedentedly catastrophic events, an aspect of environmental collapse that threatens the livelihoods of thousands. It’s almost surreal, except for the fact that it isn’t: this is the new world we live in. These devastating occurrences, along with how people and the media react to them, are part of what’s examined by slowdanger’s SUPERCELL. An hourlong quintet performance that questions human attraction and passivity towards environmental events. I was lucky enough to partake in the self-reflection involved in watching the show, presented by Velocity Dance at 12th Avenue Arts from March 21 to 24, and the experience left me contemplative, to say the least.

My journey began in a crowded foyer filled with chattering Seattleites. As the sun set, we made our way into the theater, and the change was drastic. In an instant, we were transported from the brightly lit, corporeal world to a hazy realm of darkness. Two sheets of sheer cloth hung down from the ceiling and the yellow-tinged shine of a pale red cast mesmerizing shadows through them. On the stage, five performers lay together in the shape of a star, each bearing a large, see-through sack full of what seemed to be water, connected to those beside them by a complex entanglement of rope.

The devil himself orchestrates chaos in the heart of 1930s Moscow in Mike Lion’s adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita presented by Dacha Theatre. This adaptation, staged at 12th Avenue Arts, delves into the philosophical dichotomies of good and evil, exploring their coexistence against the tumultuous backdrop of the Soviet Union. This production shows the power of theater by bringing complex philosophical narratives to life, inviting both newcomers to the story and fans of the original novel to engage with its depth.

The Master and Margarita uses magical realism and gothic elements to challenge societal norms and present deep philosophical questions. Set in a time when atheism was state policy, the story starts with the arrival of Professor Woland, the devil in disguise, and his eclectic entourage, who set Moscow ablaze with events that peeled back the layers of hypocrisy and corruption embedded within society.

Aside from the ferry’s foghorn, there’s rarely a reason for things in Edmonds to be loud. It’s a quiet suburban town with overly nice drivers and a median age ten years above the national average—that is to say, it’s not the place you’d expect to find an experimental dance/theater/martial arts performance on a Saturday night. But there it was: a half-full house at Edmonds Center for the Arts and Radical System Art’s eight-person cast who brought more energy than this writer’s ever seen in her sleepy town.

The show, Momentum of Isolation began, even before the brief curtain speech and the extinguishing of the house lights, with a man typing at a desk. Unbeknownst to the audience at that point, he’d soon become the main focus of the show, the continuing plot that tied together other seemingly disparate stories. One scene included a depiction of online dating, followed by one dancer trying to woo another, providing brief comedic relief. Another featured the ensemble falling in and out of step with each other. Going into the show with no clue of the performance’s themes, it was at times difficult to parse the significance of scenes or moments. One had the sense that things were supposed to be profound, that the audience was supposed to feel something or react a certain way, but at times the jarring effects and mixture of movements seemed blended beyond coherency. Until checking the website and finding that this performance was “centered around the themes of loneliness and social isolation,” I struggled to describe the overall sense of the show. Photo Credit: Emilie Bland

The genre of the holiday movie is tried and true; from Home Alone to Elf, Frosty the Snowman to A Charlie Brown Christmas, Christmas movies have been done before, and they’ve been done well. As Thanksgiving rolls around, viewers observe the tradition of watching their favorite characters celebrating the festive time of the year. This makes 2023’s The Holdovers even more of a triumph as a worthy addition to the holiday canon for years to come.

Director Alexander Payne had the task of adding something new to the holiday genre and creating a film that could hold its own outside of the holiday season. Helped by the incredible talents of Payne’s Sideways collaborator Paul Giamatti, seasoned actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and rising star Dominic Sessa, The Holdovers is bound to become a modern classic.

For this month, TEDS Aamina and Kyle have a special treat for you. An April Editorial in the format of an NYT game of Connections (Learn about the game here)! See the key below to see what events the Newsroom is covering this month.

Youth

We have all heard the theater kid stereotypes. Loud, dramatic, proud. Students in the Rising Star Project at The 5th Avenue Theatre are no exception to this, but in the best ways possible! I had the pleasure of chatting with Rising Star Project participants Spencer Barber and Sebastian Borges, who joined this community of talented youth and professionals to nurture their love for the arts. The RSP program mentors students in all aspects of theater production, and puts on a show at the end.

Barber and Borges both play the role of Dr.Grayburn in the farcical comedy, Something’s Afoot. In our interview, they both showed me how empowering the arts could be. We talked about the magic of theater, what they’ve learned from the Rising Star Project, and how more arts programs are becoming accessible to youth—a trend that will hopefully continue in the future.

Actor, writer, and director-in-progress, Isaiah Hsu is taking on what might be his most important role yet: that of a young professional.

The start of Hsu’s acting passions began at Tacoma Little Theatre’s 2014 summer camp, when he played Shan Yu in Mulan. He also participated in Curtis Senior High School’s theater and choir, experiences that both helped him grow his voice as an artist, but it wasn’t until he joined Village Theatre for their production of Newsies that he felt he really “got his foot in the door” of the theatre world.

On February 27, Seattle Arts & Lectures hosted Joy Harjo, who performed a breathtaking blend of song, poem, and musing followed by a Q&A session with Arianne True, the current Washington State Poet Laureate.

The event began with a reading of “Dear Spanish” by Seattle’s Youth Poet Laureate Mateo Acuña. His poem reflected the frustrations and struggles of multicultural people like himself. The poem artfully moves from a bitter tone to an unending longing and desire to understand Spanish, to reconnect with what he loves and his Peruvian roots. His words and reading truly spoke to my experience as an American-born Chinese person, specifically with his reflections on accent, demonstrating a unique command of the poetic form. Acuña’s reading immediately set up a more intimate, almost conversational atmosphere, like he was sharing secrets that could either resonate with the audience or prime them with a mindset of understanding.

This year’s Teeny Awards were nothing short of spectacular, in no small part thanks to the partnership between foundry10 and TeenTix. foundry10 is an education research organization with a philanthropic focus on expanding ideas about learning and creating direct value for youth. This year, foundry10 came together with TeenTix to sponsor the 2024 Teeny Awards. I recently had the opportunity to connect with Rachel Gaudry, the Creativity, Design, and Play Team Lead at foundry10, and TeenTix’s own Deputy Director, Austin Sargent. We chatted about this year’s Teeny Awards, the partnership between their organizations, and their hopes for the future of teen arts opportunities in our communities.

During this magical event, Outstanding Teens were recognized by Arts and Culture organizations in a “20 Under 20” cohort. Guadry described the recognition of these dynamic youth as the biggest highlight of the event. She explained that “Too often, teens aren’t recognized for their contributions to the arts, and it felt meaningful to witness TeenTix’s partners honoring them on stage. And speaking of joy, it was uplifting to hear from the honorees themselves, see their short films, watch them dance, and listen to their songs. It was a privilege to attend on behalf of foundry10, and I can’t wait to see what these teens do next!” Teens from Three Dollar Bill Cinema's Reel Queer Youth program who created Light, screened at the 2024 Teeny Awards. Photo by Brenda Palma.

The arts are life-changing.

As children, we often experience them through the lens of obligation; from ballet classes as toddlers to the arbitrary violin or piano lessons in elementary school, our childhoods are riddled with the arts. Sometimes fun, but often not. And yet, art sticks with us. We branch out, perhaps leaving music for debate, or dance for film. We stick with them even if we have bad memories, because the arts are our opportunities to explore.

“We are a nation trapped inside a nation. We are a nation dying to be born,” Malcolm X sings, and thus begins a tale of freedom, hatred, and martyrdom, all performed by the talented and dynamic performers of Seattle Opera at McCaw Hall. X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X is a three-hour-long journey, taking audiences through the 1900s from the perspective of the marginalized Black community, facing crushing oppression and horrific violence. It stars Kenneth Kellogg in the titular role of a complex leader during the Civil Rights Movement. The opera tells an intricate story that everybody needs to hear.

Act one opens with the characters waiting for Reverend Earl Little, Malcolm’s father. While they wait under high stress, the characters inform us of their constant fears of violence and murder by white supremacist groups as the names of people who had to pay for this hatred and racism with their lives are projected on the ceiling, scrolling quickly to showcase the immense scale of this tragedy with a powerful impact. In this act, Leah Hawkins, who plays Malcolm’s mother, Louise, is featured in a stunning aria about the haunting attacks she fears. After this, it is revealed that Earl Little was killed, leading to the mental ruination of Louise. Malcolm is subsequently brought to Boston by his older sister, where he gets involved in a robbery and is arrested.

The sun’s coming up in Seattle. As the evenings grow lighter, cherry blossoms bloom, and March brings us closer and closer to the equinox, now is the perfect time to step out into the near-spring air and go see some art with your TeenTix pass. This month, the Newsroom’s slate of reviews covers gothic theater, pluralistic choreography, classic musicals, and local comedy: a plentiful and varied spring spread!

Over at Dacha Theatre, Mikhail Bulkakov’s “gothic Soviet fairytale” Master and the Margarita is coming to the stage. Opening on March 22 and running at 12th Avenue Arts on Capitol Hill, the play is perfect for audiences who want to be entranced by magical realism and pulled into hilarious satire. A perfect partner to Dacha’s production is The Moors at Seattle Public Theater. This play, running from March 22 to April 14, promises even more gothic goodness, this time entrenched in the mystery of the English moors. Between unexpected arrivals and the secrets of old houses, The Moors will bring a rush of intrigue into your month.

“Who are we to pity the dead? We don’t even pity the living.” The Seagull Project and Intiman’s production of Maxim Gorky’s The Lower Depths highlight the disregard for human life and the tendency to separate ourselves from struggle. Its' raw portrayal of poverty seeks to challenge the viewer to see beyond themselves to ignore issues in society.

This discomfort begins immediately. As the lights fade in, cramped bunk beds and trash are seen littering the stage as the flophouse inhabitants live in semi-darkness. Illness, death, and hopelessness call this basement a home more so than the characters. The play attempts to welcome the audience in, to fully immerse in this nightmarish housing, empathizing with those who have spent their entire lives in such poverty. The majority of the play is set in this one-room home. I quickly grew weary of the littered and cramped set, and I craved something to bring me out of the horrific storyline. For me, the despair it evoked demonstrated that the play was dedicated to sharing the life-long experiences of mistreatment and poverty.