Seattle Blog

ArtsWest’s production of Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers’ Matt & Ben is a playfully delightful time. Portraying Matt Damon and Ben Affleck before fame, Matt & Ben exaggerates the archetype that Matt is a tortured intellectual while Ben is just a silly, good-looking guy. In classic Kaling fashion, like in The Office or The Mindy Project, Matt & Ben has an ironic twist: both privileged, white, male characters are actually depicted by women and grapple with the script of Good Will Hunting literally falling into their laps. The play puts the audience through the trials and tribulations of friendship and creates a satire on the difficulties of pursuing a dream.

As soon as I walked into the venue, it was evident that Matt & Ben was a highly anticipated show– Kaling’s name was included in all advertising, and ArtsWest’s cozy waiting area was packed full during the play’s closing weekend. As a huge Kaling fan, the excitement was palpable, and only exacerbated by the incredible set design. The set captures a moment in time, grabbing at the essence of a post-college former frat boy’s apartment (immediately revealed to be Ben’s). Food wrappers and boxes are scattered around, shoes left astray, and laundry covers the floor. The mess feels perfectly intentional, which is almost paradoxical, and provided something to marvel at before the play started (even from the left wing, where I watched).

When you sit down in one of seventy seats in the Grand Illusion Cinema, you feel a sense of surreality, when the lights in that small theater dim and a film begins to play on that small screen, all while the Grand Illusion becomes larger than life. That surreality carries over to the screen when you watch a film as bizarre as Emily Mackenzie and Noah Collier’s documentary Carpet Cowboys. In the film, a collection of self-proclaimed cowboys and rugged entrepreneurs find disillusionment in the mystical world of carpet business, design, and production. Immediately, we are made aware that the film’s setting, northwest Georgia’s Dalton, is the “Carpet Capital of the World,” although, throughout the film’s runtime, the audience is never given a clue as to how it got to be that way or what such a title entails.

We do, however, learn about the life and times of one Roderick James, codename “The Scottish Cowboy.” When he isn’t writing jingles for Kid Cool’s patented glue or planning to relocate to the Philippines to be with his wife—a wife whose role is reduced to bystander because the film refuses to include any information that does not involve indulging James—he tells the audience about how he’s been in the Dalton carpet industry for some thirty-odd years.

The High Fashion High show at Seattle’s 2023 Bumbershoot was thoughtfully designed, curated, and inspired. Ellie Fein, the curator, gathered young people from around the greater Seattle area to share their love of fashion and teach like-minded peers about the design process. If you’re familiar with Project Runway, Fein played the role of Tim Gunn, helping to acquire material, talk through designs, and give feedback. Fein assisted her designers while reaching out to different studios and planning the logistics of the show itself.

Fein’s vision began with stained glass windows and puffer coats and gave a theme to each of the designs. The young designers, accompanied by Fein, went to a puffer coat manufacturer in SODO, Seattle, where they learned about the construction of puffer coats to further understand their inspiration. In our interview, Fein mentioned the puffer coat facility showed them past designs worn by Lady Gaga—and if Gaga doesn’t scream high fashion, I don’t know what does. Fein also organized for the designers to participate in a stained glass workshop to understand the physics and geometry of stained glass and how each piece must be thoughtfully shaped to fit the window. As there are limits piecing glass together, there are similar boundaries with how different fabrics can be joined. After learning more about their themes, the designers were ready to create and Fein ready to take on the role of the designer’s supporter.

This Labor Day weekend, Bumbershoot is back with a wide variety of unconventional arts, like a cat circus and roller skating. Among those peculiar programs is pole dancing, a nontraditional yet empowering art. As a pole dancer myself, I was ready to take a spin and talk to the curators and performers of the show. The Pole Pavillion was a collaborative program created by Aero Space Studios in Oregon and Ascendance Pole & Aerial Arts, right here in Washington.

On Day 1 of Bumbershoot, I got to talk to Ashley Madison, one of the curators of the Pole Pavillion, and co-owner of Aero Space Studios where they encourage the art of pole dancing in Portland. The theme of the program was, “What does pole dance mean to you?” After asking Madison about the theme of the program, she mentioned that, “One of the beautiful things about pole dance is that you can go so many directions with it, and everybody has their own unique style and everybody chooses their path on pole which can be all over the place so we tried to pick a diverse program that showed different styles of pole.” As I watched the performers I could clearly see the diversity of their dance styles.

Walking through Bumbershoot at the Seattle Center, different scents wafted into my nose. Smells of freshly ground coffee beans, juicy tacos with succulent meat from MexiCuban, smokey dough from Candela Pizza, and the sweet scent of popsicles drifted through the hot air. Though the food program at Bumbershoot was excellent, it lacked an international taste. The culinary options were predominantly seafood, Mexican, and Italian. While the seafood was deeply Seattle, giving more space to European, African, and Asian food vendors would have been greatly appreciated and could have better recognized the ethnic and cultural diversity within Seattle. Despite this, I found the food delicious! I tried all sorts of food at the Labor Day weekend festival and here is what really caught my eye.

As I found myself staring at all the beautiful outfits people wore and letting the loud music thrum through my body, Amazon employees handed out Seattle Pops. They had all kinds of flavors including Cookies and Cream as well as Lime. I chose a Cookies and Cream pop and it was the right call! The frozen treat melted in my mouth and the cream slowly trickled down my throat. When I asked the employees why they were out in the heat handing out their little miracles they said, “We’re trying to spread joy.” I smiled and walked on.

Fast fashion is an increasingly relevant issue in society today. The introduction of social media into mainstream pop culture has led to more world-connectedness making the newest fashion trends cycle faster and faster. The ever-changing popularity of outfits might not seem like such a big deal at first—after all, trying new styles is fun—but then, you start to wonder… How can companies produce new clothing so fast, yet sell it for so cheap?

The answer, unfortunately, is a complete disregard for ethics. The cheap and readily available clothing that fits the newest trends is so convenient, especially for teenagers, that there’s an astounding lack of awareness regarding the harm of fast fashion. From sweatshops to poorly made clothing that falls apart after five washes, fast fashion is extremely hurtful and wasteful. After the clothing is made, worn, and soon after, torn, the quality makes it unsalvageable, leading to a majority of clothing being thrown into the garbage. Fast fashion creates much larger harm to both humans and the environment than it seems on the surface.

If you, like me up until a month ago, have no idea what Bumbershoot is and your knowledge of music festivals is limited to Coachella, this is the perfect article for you. I went into Labor Day weekend at Bumbershoot having done minimal research and expecting a completely different experience than what I actually felt. So you don't fall into the trap that I did: Bumbershoot is an annual arts festival in Seattle, which has been occurring for over fifty years—with this being its first year back since quarantine. It attempts to highlight local creatives, which tend to be mainly indie, rock, and country-leaning when it comes to music. However, it also includes many other kinds of artists, including designers, nail artists, and even cat circus performers!

It seems that somewhere in this massive range, the festival has lost sight of who it is trying to draw in. In 2019, The Seattle Times reported that "Bumbershoot’s target audience has been trending younger and that was clear as ever [that] year, with a lineup boasting enough collective Instagram followers to alter an election." Looking at the lineup now, I recognize each and every single name and would be buzzing with excitement to have the chance to see even one of them. However, this year seems to have taken an abrupt turn with the artists seeming to cater more to an older audience while many festival goers are in their late teens or twenties.

With the first installment of articles from the TeenTix Newsroom coming out in the next few weeks, the Press Corps is writing about works that talk about the tensions between one’s dreams and one’s past as well as the different forms that one’s dreams may take.

At ArtsWest, we’ll be covering Matt & Ben, a look at Matt Damon and Ben Affleck before their fame, in their Good Will Hunting era, pursuing their dreams. Though being a comedic take on the two Hollywood headliners, Matt & Ben reminds us to not let our dreams be deferred but to take on the oncoming year in storm.

TeenTix is proud to announce the 2023/2024 Teen Arts Podcast Group. This year's TAP teens are Ashwari Shende, Blue Counts, Caden Nam, and Mickey FontaineThe TeenTix Arts Podcast (TAP) is a group of teens who produce a monthly podcast focused on arts and culture. The TAP program operates in line with the school-year schedule and runs continuously from September-June. TAP teens get to choose the focus for each episode, and work in partnership with Ground Zero Radio to produce a new episode each month - they also GET PAID FOR THEIR WORK!

Meet the 2023-2024 TAP Teens!

TeenTix is proud to announce the 2023/2024 Teen Editorial Staff. This year's Teen Editorial Staff (TEDS) is comprised of five teens: Aamina Mughal, Anna Melomed, Audrey Gray, Daphne Bunker, and Kyle Gerstel.

The TEDS are the leaders of the TeenTix Newsroom, and work to curate reviews and arts coverage for the TeenTix blog. Teen Editorial Staff members decide which TeenTix Arts Partners' events to cover each month, write an editorial about their curatorial choices, and assign Newsroom writers to review each event. TEDS members interface with TeenTix Arts Partners to set up press tickets for each review, and edit all Newsroom writing before it is published on the TeenTix blog. The Teen Editorial Staff is a group of skilled writers, editors, and leaders, who keep the pulse of the TeenTix Press Corps and the Seattle arts scene.

To kick off the 23/24 Newsroom Program, the TEDS each saw the Barbie movie. Check back every month to see art criticism for arts events they select and edit reviews of beginning in September! TAKE 1: Written by Anna Melomed, Edited by Tova Gaster, TED alumna

Barbie was a great in-theater experience and a delightful time.

Public Works, a program at Seattle Rep, is dedicated to bringing theatre to everyone. Through partnerships with community-based organizations, Public Works brings free theatre classes, productions, and performances to people in the greater Seattle area. This August 25-27, The Public Works Team will be putting on The Tempest, completely free of charge. I sat down for a conversation with Ally Poole, Public Works Manager, Talia Colten, Public Works Assistant, and Donovan Olsen, Public Works Associate, to speak with them about their work and the importance of the Public Works Program.

What is Public Works?

Ikat: A World of Compelling Cloth is an exhibit that is very easy to brush over, though it is located prominently on the top floor of the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). The grandeur of the traditional European classic pieces awaits just beyond the door to the left, as well as a ceramics exhibit that will take your breath away. Next to these galleries, Ikat seems to be very ordinary indeed. Of course, it does open with a majestic display of woven strands dropping down from the planks at the top, resembling an optical illusion. As you turn around this display, each angle presents you with a different view of the threads and their scale, leaving you feeling somewhat disoriented. Justifiably, the piece takes up much of the entirety of the main room, allowing you to soak in its splendor and intrigue. PONCHO (DETAIL), 20TH CENTURY, AMERICAS (BOLIVIA, CHARAZANI), Photo curtest of SAM

When you move on to much of the rest of the exhibit, though, you see a strikingly different approach being taken with the presentation of the pieces. The first thing you notice is the bright colors of the walls, surrounding and enveloping the pieces they surround. It's almost difficult to view the art on its own, seemingly messily done.

Resisters: A Legacy of Movement from the Japanese American Incarceration is an unintentionally misleading gallery. The impersonal nature from which history is often told is drastically subverted in this exhibit, featured at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience from October 14, 2022, to September 17, 2023. The gallery is a special exhibition designed by Scott Méxcal, written by Tamiko Nimura, and developed by Mikala Woodward. The exhibit is structured similarly to a maze, where you—placed into the shoes of Japanese Americans facing these aggressions—are led through the passage of time without being able to anticipate what will come up next.

Stories in history that are fraught with tragedy are often dulled down into easy, comprehensible individual values when they are retold. Retellings frequently pick and choose their facts simply by virtue of being a retelling. It would be impossible to cover every single event without meticulously recreating it step by step, as some parts are naturally lost over time. To only cover the certain pieces of the exhibit that remain would be an injustice to all the stories left untold—and to cover the entire exhibit as if it is a holistic record of internment camps would do the same. Instead of picking and choosing a few specific stories, this exhibit and review ask the viewer to put themselves through the experience of internment and view each possible story offered through their own lens. You can hear the recorded testimonies throughout the exhibits echoing through history, just as the exhibit is set up as a timeline that prevents you from seeing what's left to come.

Hello! I’m Iris, an intern at Teentix, a solo music producer for 5 years, and a transsexual woman. My eclectic taste greatly influences my personal work, and informed my choices of artists from the Bumbershoot roster. I’m really excited to see the great selection of extremely talented acts that will be performing this year. They put a lot of effort into showcasing a diverse array of genres and artists in their roster. My choices from the lineup will feature genres such as: shoegaze, jazz, and punk music. After I give you a run-down on the artists I chose, I’ll give some recommendations for related music to check out #1 DOMi and JD Beck

DOMi, a French keyboardist, and JD Beck, an American drummer, are a contemporary jazz duo signed to Blue Note records, a label synonymous with some of the greatest jazz artists of all time. Some of my favorite jazz CDs feature Blue Note on the spine.

The first time I saw Taylor Swift I was seven years old. I discovered Taylor through the song "You Belong With Me", and a week later, I knew the lyrics to all of her songs. In 2010, when Swift released Speak Now my mom took me and my best friend to see the Speak Now tour at the Tacoma Dome. Now, 13 years later, Taylor’s songs are still as appealing and perceptive as they were from the first listen. As I grew up, the lyrics captured new meanings and the new songs narrated my childhood through my early adulthood, where I knew what I was feeling because of how Swift wrote about it. I share this feeling with many Swifties who have all grown up with, through, and alongside Taylor’s music.

The Eras Tour brings me, and my fellow Swifties, right back through that journey, As Swift traverses through all of her albums, she takes us all on a journey through her past, which is inevitably tied to ours. The tour coincides with Swift's commitment to rerecording and releasing albums 1-6 in order to own her own masters, calling them “Taylor’s Version”s and adding in cut songs from the vault. This makes the show even more personal, as we know that she is actively reclaiming much of the songs she is singing- with "Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)" having been released just two weeks ago. As Taylor revisits each album, one at a time, we journey through high school hallways, remote cabins, soaring castles, and vast cityscapes that characterize the eras. Throughout the concert, Swift gives speeches and tells stories of how the albums came to be, and adds cheeky lead-ins to favorite songs. Swift invites her fans to feel everything with no shame. When she sings about heartbreak, we scream along, as the songs rip us apart and comfort us all at the same time. When she sings about love, we yearn to feel how she does, and when we do, we hold on tight to our partners. When she sings about youth and childhood, we relate to and remember those moments. Even non-fans who have found themselves at the concert with friends or family find themselves moved by the outpouring of emotion in Swift's lyrics, performance, and fanbase. As much as Taylor Swift is seen by her fans (72,000 a night), her fans are seen by her through her music, and the way she looks out into the crowd, as if she knows everyone else’s story like they know hers. Photo Courtesy of the Author

The opening of Romeo & Juliet takes on a special significance when performed at GreenStage’s outdoor Shakespeare in the Park. The play opens with a lovely little prologue summarizing the “two hours’ traffic of our stage” — the “star-crossed lovers,” their “misadventured piteous overthrows,” their “death-marked love.” It concludes:

“The which, if you with patient ears attend,

The stage is set for a night of glamour and rock at Arts West’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch. A sign in the corner reads “Black Trans Lives Matter”, inclusive pride flags sit on the desk, and the stage emanates Seattle’s Pioneer Square, setting up this modernized and localized interpretation of the show. The actors enter an exit as the audience finds their seats, checking on wigs, the soundboard, and whatever else Hedwig needs to start her show. When the show begins Hedwig (Nicholas Japaul Bernard) enters decked in pride flags and a contrasting American flag slung over her shoulders, but when she takes it off it reveals the confederate flag on the other side, immediately calling out the racist undercurrents of America. The opening speech, full of self-aware comments and Seattle-specific references, sets up a new vision for Hedwig: She exists in the modern day and the past, calling audience members to suspend their disbelief as she carries them through her story.

The modern-day aspects serve Hedwig well in addressing the issues that genderqueer and transgender people, especially those of color, face in America today. While staying true to the historical aspects of the show, Hedwig is timeless, referencing both old and new, reminding us that transgender people have been here and will continue to be here, and their stories deserve to be heard. The show's bones lend themselves to be manipulated and altered to fit the story that needs to be told at the time, and the actors and creative team do a fantastic job of sharing the story in a way that feels true to them and their artistry.

Going into Yellowface, I was immediately enthralled. R. F. Kuang’s hallmarks—suffocating tension, her unflinching eye for critique, and messy-yet-compelling characters that horrify us, yet keep us engrossed in a compulsive, almost shameful pull—were all put on gleaming display.

Masterfully maneuvering the challenges of cultural and linguistic differences, Director Christie Zhao is dedicated to shining light on “essential truths” about our social and political realms through theater. Stumbling upon theater classes whilst pursuing, and soon achieving, a degree in computer science, Zhao unexpectedly “fell deeper and deeper” into its activist potential and culture. In March of 2022, after working in a software engineer role, Zhao even founded Yun Theatre, a nonprofit dedicated to building a multilingual theater community and creating radical theater in the Pacific Northwest.

To Director Zhao, “Journalism is a form of theater.” And theater, she notes, is “a space to bring people together to embody a story… either far or close to us,” where everyone can “reflect and experience at the same time.” Theater is important because it forces proximity to heavy issues, calling the audience’s attention and care to them. It is a medium that “embraces the subjectivity of journalism,” reflecting the “essential truth” of life. For Zhao, her genre of theater is a way to “reclaim the agency of [her] own language,” truly speaking to the versatility of the art form.