Verbalists Presents: A Seattle Star Audio Recording

If you haven’t heard of Verbalists–now is your chance. This audio recording, co-sponsored by The Seattle Star, will introduce you to one of Seattle’s premier storytelling events.


Short Run Small Press Fest Returns This Weekend

In spite of Seattle’s legendary status as a haven for alternative comix and cartoonists, the city has lacked a book fair or arts event to pull together all its talented people. Finally, the Short Run Small Press Fest has come along to fill that gap, and fill it well.


West of Lenin’s Demon Dreams: Folklore and Forgetfulness

Mr. Smith’s handling of the circular narrative is quite refreshing and refuses to become yet another simple story that gives easy answers. The ending even calls into question the entire evening’s storytelling itself. It is a substantial and enjoyable script, aided by six extremely good actors. Matthew Aguayo, Carter Rodriquez, Heather Persinger, Susanna Burney, Chris MacDonald and Sara Peterson give the production their all.


Seattle Art Museum Hosts “Elles” from the Centre Pompidou

As one may suspect, Elles: Pompidou speaks from a potently French perspective on modernism, at least through the first several decades of work on display. The exhibition boasts a breadth of perspectives in later decades that is refreshingly international in scope. As a whole, the exhibition serves to flesh out a traditionally male dominated art-historical canon.


October 31, 1979: Launching The Rocket

The year 1979 was a very good year for rock music, both internationally and in Seattle. In the wake of the punk explosion a few years before, much innovative and inspiring original rock music was then being created, performed, and recorded. Evidence of that renaissance can be found on the many now-classic LPs released that year, such as Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures,” Gang of Four’s “Entertainment!” and Talking Heads’ “Fear of Music.” In Seattle, many young rock musicians were greatly inspired by all this new musical activity coming from other, more prominent cities, and as a result, several new groups emerged in our city that year dedicated to playing original, cutting-edge music.


The Ghastly Impermanence: Learning a Hard Lesson–The BBC Audio Drama Awards

At first glance it would appear the BBC have made progress after the failure of the Giles Cooper Awards. Award-winning material, especially of such high caliber, should be made available to the public so that they can revisit it. The Beeb have at least re-broadcast most of the plays, and they have made a couple available for purchase. However, the issue of access to all the plays remains inelegantly unresolved.


The Other Son (2012, FRA, dir. Lorraine Levy): Platitudes and Family Drama

Director Lorraine Levy tells the story of two teenagers, one Israeli, and one Palestinian, who discover they were switched at birth. We follow the two young men as they and their families absorb the shock, re-assess their relationships, and forge new ones.


The Ghastly Impermanence: Autumn Horrors

As my colleague Fred Greenhalgh at Radio Drama Revival notes, “October is huge in audio drama.” Why? Halloween, of course. Halloween means horror stories. Radio drama has a long and rich tradition of horror tales. Here is a beginner’s guide to some favorites.


The Argument for On The Boards, Part One

For those who value On the Boards, the title of this essay is redundant; and yet, it is with increasing alarm that I find that the majority of my fellow artists are not attending their productions.


Kidd Pivot’s The Tempest Replica at On the Boards

Kidd Pivot’s founder Crystal Pite has seized the opportunity to put her stamp on Shakespeare’s The Tempest and has crafted a work of jaw-dropping physical intensity and emotional vulnerability.