Two Mile Hollow Delivers a Worthwhile Message but is Muddled in Execution

Review of Two Mile Hollow presented by Intiman Theatre

Written by Teen Writer Yoon Lee and edited by Teen Editor Esha Potharaju

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My experience with Two Mile Hollow was not what I anticipated. This subversion of my expectations works both for and against it.

I came into it hoping it would lean into the irony of its premise–satirize a petty rich white family by casting Asian American Pacific Islander actors for each role. The promise of seeing something akin to The Mystery of Irma Vep, which used two actors in cross-gender roles to lampoon traditional Victorian gender roles, was what drew me to Two Mile Hollow in the first place. Its deficiency in this department was why it was a disappointment.

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The Time of Change with Double Dare Ya

Review of Double Dare Ya presented by the Henry Art Gallery

Written by Teen Writer and Editor Lucia McLaren and edited by Teen Editor Eleanor Cenname

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At the Henry Art Gallery, everyone wants to see the Skyspace, an oval-shaped building with an oval-shaped skylight. To get to this famous exhibit, you have to pass through a small, square room. Most people give a few seconds or minutes of a glance before moving on, either to the Skyspace or to another more popular exhibit at the Henry. Within this room is Viewpoints. It’s essentially a rotating display: works from various artists that center around a different theme each time it’s changed.

Double Dare Ya, the most recent iteration of Viewpoints, features works by Amanda Ross-Ho, Marsha Burns, and Justine Kurland. They center around the reality of teenage girls—facing vast change, transience, and the rigidity of femininity. Amanda Ross-Ho, Untitled (SIMPLE PLAN), 2013. Acrylic on dyed canvas. Photo Courtesy of the Henry Art Gallery.

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Saving Face

Review of Hatching presented by SIFF

Written by Teen Writer Elle Vonada and edited by Teen Editor Eleanor Cenname

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This coming of age meets horror film unnervingly unpacks Tinja’s (Siiri Solalinna) toxic relationship with her mother (Sophia Heikkilä) as well as her own repressed demons. Tinja’s mother is a family lifestyle vlogger, determined to encapsulate her family’s day to day life as perfect. Throughout the film, however, it becomes apparent that Tinja’s family is far from perfect. Director ​​Hanna Bergholm exposes the overbearingness of Tinja’s mother through costuming and set design. Tinja is thirteen years old and still wears frilly dresses and hair bows. Her bedroom is the epitome of a grandma who’s aesthetic never developed past the 1940s. With walls covered floor to ceiling in flowery wallpaper and sheer voile curtains, there is no doubt that Tinja has never rebelled against her mother.

To any outsider, this behavior would scream mommy issues, but to Tinja, she is simply upholding her mother’s desires and is happy to do so for her mother’s approval. Tinja lacks the freedom to be an unbothered teenage girl, so when she finds an egg in the woods, Tinja immediately bonds with it as this is the first thing that is truly hers. Still from Hatching (2022) directed by Hanna Bergholm. Distributed by IFC Films.

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Family Is Always the Most Important Thing In Our Heart

Review of This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, and This Girl Does Nothing presented by ArtsWest

Written by Gia Tran during an Arts Criticism workshop at Cascade Middle School

RM 2611

In the play, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, and This Girl Does Nothing by Finnegan Kruckemeyer, there are three sisters - triplets - who live together with their parents. Some big events made them separate from each other. Then, each of the girls goes through their own interesting experiences and grows up. The themes of this play are about family, identity, childhood and being alone, so if you are the person who loves stories about family and self-expression, this one is the perfect movie choice for you.

First, in the play, they show you about how the family is important to you. For example, the dad left the triplets in the forest but instead of getting mad, the first thing they think about is finding him. To me, this shows that as a family, we are never going to be mad at each other for a long time and that family is always the most important thing in our heart. Secondly, the experiences that each of the sisters go through made me really impressed and it showed me about how we find out our identity. For instance, Carmen, the girl who chooses to stay in the woods, has her own way to go and she is helping people and then has her own family. Or Albienne, another sister who chose to go, to fight for her love and protect the village. This shows how we have to deal with being alone in real life. This movie reflects the experiences that we will have to go through to grow up and become mature in our real life.

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Everything Happens for the Best

Review of This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, and This Girl Does Nothing presented by ArtsWest

Written by Natnael Ayele during an Arts Criticism workshop at Cascade Middle School

RM 2690

The play This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, and This Girl Does Nothing by Finnegan Kruckemeyer, is a story about three sisters who live with their dad. The three sisters are Albienne, Carmen and Beatrix, and each have a different idea/identity. The themes of this play are find your own way for your future, find yourself and family.

When the sisters get lost, they have to find their own way for the future and find themselves. After their dad abandoned them, Carmen, who was the one who did nothing and stayed in that place where their dad left them, was friends with the animals. It shows that Carmen doesn't want to go forward or backward. The second sister, Beatrix, went to the west where her dad left and where the sun set to find her dad. This shows she doesn't want to lose the things she has so she decides to go backward and find her dad. And the third sister Albienne goes to the east and she becomes a soldier and a woman who helps people around that area. This shows she doesn't want to go forward and she wants to try new things.

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Family Is So Important To Us Even If We Don’t Realize It

Review of This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, and This Girl Does Nothing presented by ArtsWest.

Written by Roshelyn Munoz Cu during an Arts Criticism workshop at Cascade Middle School

RM 2772

In the play, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, and This Girl Does Nothing by Finnegan Kruckemeyer, three sisters grow up with their father until they are thirteen years old. In a dark night, the three sisters got lost in the woods so each one decided to go a different way. As time passed the sisters had different lives that they did not imagine they would have. But as the years passed and they found their own way, they noticed that they missed their previous lives with their father and their sisters.

One theme of this play is about growing up alone. Growing up can be so difficult because sometimes you have no idea how to face situations on your own without help, without anyone else who can explain the things you don't understand. But also over time things may change the situation because we can find ourselves that we like, the different opportunities that we have and learn to be independent. For example, in the play when the father abandoned them in the forest, all of them took different paths. At the beginning it was not easy because they spent many years apart. But they found a way to do well in life. That is what the play also wants to show.

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Love Your Family When You’re Already With Them

Review of This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, and This Girl Does Nothing presented by ArtsWest

Written by Sina Tesfagabir during an Arts Criticism workshop at Cascade Middle School

RM 2705

In the play, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, and This Girl Does Nothing by Finnegan Kruckemeyer, there were three sisters who lived with their dad and mom. They were a family at first but then somehow they separated and they all wanted to get back together, so at the end they found each other again.

The theme of this play is that family is important.

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Pop, Rock and Folk, It’s All Shades of Gray

Review of Afterwords presented by the 5th Avenue Theatre

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Zoe Loughnane

The cast of Afterwords A New Musical at The 5th Avenue Theatre Photo Credit Mark Kitaoka

The 5th Avenue Theatre has historically been the first residence of many productions. The newest addition to its repertoire of world premieres is called Afterwords by Zoe Sarnak and Emily Kaczmarek. It follows sisters Kali and Simone as they struggle to piece their life back together following the death of their mother. With the new burden of ever-mounting bills and the house mortgage, they rent out their attic to news journalist Jo, who is similarly in the midst of wading through the churning sea of loss. As they get to know each other, a complex history of intersecting stories unravels and new relationships form. The show bounces between modern-day and the past as we meet our characters and explore their stories. This story is one of love and loss, grieving and healing, hardships and family.

Afterwords was very reminiscent of Rent. A newer, less rock, version of Rent, but Rent nonetheless. It has some of that raw and truthful emotion that Rent’s composer Jonathan Larson loved to utilize in his work. As I sat down in the theater, the first song “After” came on it immediately engaged me. The use of bold harmonies straight off the bat to build the music and draw the viewer in immediately gave me goosebumps and a sense of total encompassment. Now, as we evolve as a music loving society, Broadway evolves with us—Six embraces our pop side, Hadestown our love of folk and jazz and of course Hamilton the popularity of rap. So Afterwords’ pop/rock/folk score was not new per se, but still thrilling, and surprisingly cohesive throughout the show given the differing genres.

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Despite High Production Value, Afterwords, I Was Disappointed

Review of Afterwords at The 5th Avenue Theatre

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Daniela Mariz-Frankel

The cast of Afterwords at The 5th Avenue Theatre Photo Credit Tracy Martin

Despite being overwhelmingly enjoyable to view, Afterwords disappointed on more than one front. After having thoughtfully contemplated the story, I felt the characters lacked development around the mental health issues they faced, and the plot had a very disheartening resolution. The musical opens with a well-delivered monologue, from a character named Jo, then progresses into the story of two young sisters, arty Simone, and Kali, the older, Grammy-nominated sister. They live in their recently deceased mother’s home together. They both struggle with grief in a realistic way—Simone tries to push it down, and Kali is deeply bitter. When Simone brings up the fact that they really need another source of income and suggests they get a roommate, Kali is extremely defensive, but eventually relents when Jo, a war reporter, shows up on their doorstep to apply to be a tenant; she recently lost someone very important too.

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Letting Go of Grief with Afterwords

Review of Afterwords presented by The 5th Avenue Theatre

Written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Adrian Martin

Eliza Palasz Kali Understudy Kerstin Anderson Simone and Mari Nelson Lydia in Afterwords at The 5th Avenue Theatre Photo Credit Mark Kitaoka

The 5th Avenue Theatre’s Afterwords, a new musical about three women working through an unexpectedly intertwined grief, is a bone-shaking masterpiece.

The show follows sisters Kali and Simone six months after their mom has passed, living together in their childhood home. When finances get tight, they search for a roommate. Jo, a journalist mourning the loss of her mentor, moves in, hoping the change in scenery will help her write his eulogy. The show switches from past to present—it follows Kali and Simone’s mother as she falls in love and cares for her daughters in the months leading to her death, and how Jo’s mentor shapes who she will become—to the women trying to navigate the space they left. The final twist completed the tragedy of the relationship of these five.

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The Illusion of Ripples at CRASH

Review of Crash and Juxtapose by Jacob Jonas The Company at Edmonds Center for the Arts

Written by Ella Scholz-Bertram during TeenTix’s Dance Journalism Workshop at ECA

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CRASH

Once the lights dimmed, I was silent until confusion came over me; I had not recognized the dull hum of the ocean as the starting music for this piece. But soon I settled again once a faint spotlight outlined a body on stage: a man. The sound of waves rose as he moved his arm up and rolled, his legs up, and rolled. Maybe the movement of his body wasn’t to the music, but rather mimicking where the sounds derived from: crashing waves. Other dancers sprang out of the dark of the back of the stage and simultaneously swayed with him. They continuously worked as a whole to create the illusion of ripples. When performing with one another, the atypical collaboration of dancers flush against each other on the floor had them almost toppling over one another, though fortunately that was avoided. They flowed apart as my eyes adjusted to the light that was gradually brightening.

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The Dance of the Ocean

Review of Crash by Jacob Jonas The Company at Edmonds Center for the Arts

Written by Elizabeth Josiah during TeenTix’s Dance Journalism Workshop at ECA

22 Crashby Jacob Jonasl r Danielle Coleman Jill Wilson Joy Isabella Brown Lorrin Brubaker Nicolas Walton Emma Rosenzweig Bock Mike Tyus Photoby Matthew Brush

A shard of light in the darkness. The constant movement of the ocean, drifting in and out like the guitar’s melody. Swirling whitewater becomes the mesmerizing limbs of a dancer, their rolls across the stage becoming the crest of a wave. Two dancers entangle themselves in a complicated lift, like a whale fluke slipping beneath the surface. Large, sweeping movements echo down the line until the dancers fall and slap the ground loudly, suggesting not just the motion of waves, but also emotion connected with the powerful crash. Okaidja Afroso’s song reverberates, his low voice both emotional and nostalgic, fitting exactly with the background sound of the sea. There are no elaborate costumes, and one musician accompanies the dance. Yet, the elements come together to communicate a personal message that anyone could understand, and in a different way than reading a book or watching a movie. The story painted by Jacob Jonas The Company’s Crash is the ocean, both in its simplicity and its mystery.

Lead Photo: Image of dancers in Crash presented by Jacob Jonas The Company’s at ECA. Photo by Matthew Brush.

The TeenTix Press Corps promotes critical thinking, communication, and information literacy through criticism and journalism practice for teens. For more information about the Press Corps program see HERE.

This review was written as part of a Dance Journalism Workshop at Edmonds Center for the Arts which was held April 30-May 14, 2022. The workshop was taught by Press Corps teaching artist Omar Willey.

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Crash Displays the Seamless Spirit of the Ocean

Review of Crash by Jacob Jonas The Company at Edmonds Center for the Arts

Written by Audrey Gray during TeenTix’s Dance Journalism Workshop at ECA

22 Crashby Jacob Jonasl r Jill Wilson Nicolas Walton Photoby Matthew Brush

The moon pulls the tides to and fro on the shores. Just a few blocks away, flawless choreography pulls the dancers in Jacob Jonas The Company’s production of Crash back and forth across the stage at Edmonds Center for the Arts. The dancers’ movements are synchronized as they duck and bend with the fluid and seamless spirit of the ocean, never stopping for a moment’s rest. The stage is always taken up by the flourishing and spinning of dancers fanning out like a wave smashing on the sand, followed by the gentler movements of calmer moments in the sea. The restlessness of the ocean is the key inspiration behind the work, and indeed shines masterfully throughout the performance. It’s so invigorating, full of emotion and energy, that I could hardly take my eyes off it.

As soon as the audience members took their seats and the lights dimmed to near complete darkness, Crash began a transition into a completely different world from the theater lobby. Speakers started playing, gently and almost imperceptibly at first, the sounds of crashing waves and the calming ambience of the ocean. Then, the first dancers started making an appearance, joining the sounds of the ocean in gentle, rolling movements across the stage. The dim stage lighting illuminated just the sides of the stage, and seemed to simulate morning light. From the very beginning, the lighting and sound design gave the audience a keen sense of the passage of time and the sun’s cycle through the sky. The early show’s silence and emptiness represented perfectly the feel of the dark early morning, and as the show went on, it progressed into more emotive daytime scenes. In the otherwise silent hall, I was taken by just how overwhelming yet tranquil the combination of the dancers’ repetitive movements and the now loud crashing of the waves was. The entire scene started the night off with an unconventional type of bang, filling one’s senses and setting the mood of the whole piece.

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The Relaxing Trance of Crash

Review of Crash by Jacob Jonas The Company at Edmonds Center for the Arts

Written by Nastya Wilcox during TeenTix’s Dance Journalism Workshop at ECA

22 Crashby Jacob Jonasl r Lorrin Brubaker Emma Rosenzweig Bock Danielle Coleman Joy Isabella Brown Jill Wilson Nicolas Walton Mike Tyus Photoby Matthew Brush

I have known about Jacob Jonas The Company for a little bit. When I found out that they were coming to Seattle, I had to go and see their show called Crash. The waves off of the Santa Monica Pier inspired this show and it included the waves and their height/positions that were scientifically researched. For him, Jacob Jonas said that the ocean was a place of healing and relief. This show offered precisely that.

Crash began in the darkness and silence, and you could tell people were afraid to make even the slightest noise not to destroy the pre-show mood. The light slowly came on from the left of the stage, it was a soft white light. This was the sunrise; the dancer's bodies were covered with this one-sided light, and they looked so peaceful. A couple of solos started, then more and more joined in laying on the ground and making wave shapes with their body. It looked exactly like a wave shape you would see in the ocean. The waves were formed with their legs in their hands, moving in ½ second counts. Gradually, dancers got up one by one, with each performing a solo before they went back into the ocean formation. This reminded me of big waves hitting the beach and then going back in the water. The music was the kind you hear in morning meditations: slow, twinkly, and full of energy. The dancers' movements were soft, and they expressed the music perfectly. It was more like the music wasn't for them, but they were there for the music.

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Seattle Shakespeare Has Little to Say About Much Ado

Review of Much Ado About Nothing presented by Seattle Shakespeare Company

Written by Teen Writer Adrian Martin and edited by Teen Editor Disha Cattamanchi

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The Seattle Shakespeare Company took the title of Much Ado About Nothing very literally in a half-hearted, Bachelor-esque adaptation with very little to say. Arriving home from a vague war to a country club romance, Benedict and Claudio are looking for love. Beatrice is trying to get back at Benedict for breaking her heart, and Hero is looking for a husband. A reality TV-esque web of lies and rumors twist through this island summer setting.

The one thing that makes this adaptation worth watching is the acting. Unconventional casting asserted the dignity of the female characters with entirely non-male love interests. The adaptation had a new and holistic take on the sweet, sought after Hero (Joellen Sweeney), who is usually a helpless damsel type in the original source material. Her anti-heroic love interest, Claudio (Meme García), proves that regardless of gender, leaving someone at the altar is always a dick move. Sweeney preserves the grace and kindness of Hero throughout the second act without taking away her agency, which proves to be an impressive balancing act. Sweeney’s Hero did not shrink when upstaged by her more grandiose family. When her reputation is on the line in Act Two, you can feel the rage radiating off of Hero, who is so typically played as a submissive damsel-in-distress. She does not take Claudio back because she thinks she deserves his treatment; rather, she does so out of the kindness of her heart and her belief in redemption. Sweeney is a powerful force on stage, bringing a new life to this previously bland, shrinking violet.

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Water, Art, and Their Inseparable Histories

Review of Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water presented by Seattle Art Museum

Written by Teen Writer Stella Crouch and edited by Teen Editor Disha Cattamanchi

7 The Boat People

Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water is a temporary exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), chronicling the privileges and powers humanity has over water. The exhibit features works from a wide array of mediums including photography, film, painting, sculpture, and various textiles, analyzing the sustaining role water has played in the past, and what that can mean moving forward.

Pushing the boundaries of what a single exhibit can be, Our Blue Planet contains the works of 74 artists from numerous countries and Indigenous tribes. The exhibit is not limited by a certain medium, location, point of view, age, or history; rather, it embraces the duality of art forms to create an immersive experience. The multitude of forms the exhibit takes emphasizes the universal need for a healthy planet. Ultimately, the exhibit comments there is no place or person who will not be affected by climate change.

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Spin Me Round Leaves Me of Two Minds

Review of Spin Me Round presented during SIFF's 48th Seattle International Film Festival

Written by Teen Writer Roy Callahan and edited by Teen Editor Lucia McLaren

Spin Me Round SIFF no credit

Spin Me Round is a comedic fever dream that surprises the audience with its crazy twists, well-rounded cast, and addicting relationships. What seemed like a basic comedy turned out to be a unique film that delivered emotion, depth, and genuine disappointment.

Amber, played by Alison Brie of the popular show Community, works as a manager for a trashy Italian food chain in the small town of Bakersfield. While working there, she is invited on a corporate retreat to the company’s luxurious mansion in Italy. Amber heads off on her trip with hopes of finding love and a life-changing experience.

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What's So Special About Ballet?

Review of Kent Stowell's Swan Lake presented by Pacific Northwest Ballet

Written by Teen Editor Lucia McLaren and edited by TeenTix Mentor Melody Datz Hansen.

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Swan Lake is one of the most well-known ballets of all time. It is a classic, somber tale of love between Prince Seigfried and Odette, a young woman who transforms into a swan due to a sorcerer’s curse.

As a student of ballet since fourth grade, I was nervous about reviewing Pacific Northwest Ballet’s presentation of Swan Lake, as it was my first time seeing the piece. Would my level of experience do it justice in a review? Would my lofty expectations of it be fulfilled? Tchaikovsky’s music perpetuates just about every ballet class in America, and I was familiar with the performance’s format, but nonetheless, the nerves were there.

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Fall in Love With a Show Where Being Feared is the Only Option

Review of Teenage Dick presented by Seattle Repertory Theatre

Written by Teen Writer Adrian Martin and edited by Teen Editor Valentine Wulf

Mac Gregor Arney and Meredith Aleigha Wells in Teenage Dick at Seattle Rep Photo by Nate Watters

Immediately after the lights went down on Teenage Dick, there was complete and utter silence in the theater—silence that carried through the lobby and out the doors. Seattle Repertory Theatre has managed to make Richard III, one of Shakespeare’s many boring histories, worthy of stunned silence.

Shakespeare’s original tragedy features King Richard, a hunchback, who is determined to ascend to the throne by any murderous means necessary. He succeeds, but it comes at the cost of his allies, sanity, popularity, and his young wife Anne.

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