Performance Critiques
What We Talk About When We Talk About Blood Quantum: Native American Identity in Jihae Park's Peerless
Lydia Heberling and the review team highlight Jihae Park's success at "capturing the complexity of claiming and expressing Indigeneity" in Peerless along with potential decolonial narratives, performing on unceded Duwamish territory.
Queer Performance in Unsafe Spaces: The Nance Looks Back at New York Theater's Censorious Past
Liz Janssen and the review team provide much-needed additional historical context for ArtsWest's thought-provoking and well-performed production of The Nance.
The Curse of Gender and Empty Promise of Urbanization in Modern-Day China
Kate Forster and the review team uncover the possibilities of the "unrealized potential" in Desdemona Chiang's "puzzling interpretation" of The World of Extreme Happiness.
Exploring the Politics of Fear: The Crucible and Eight Abigails
Laura Chrisman and the review team compare ACT Theatre's failings and Kaitlin McCarthy's successes with their contemporary and concurrent adaptations of Arthur Miller's The Crucible.
Claims to Queer Monstrosity in Beware the Terror of Gaylord Manor
Olivia Jean Hernández and Emily George find BenDeLaCreme’s campy production and all-drag cast of Beware the Terror of Gaylord Manor to “effectively destabilize the inherently gendered expectations of horror narratives.”
Barbecue: An Exploration of Believability, Race, and Drug Abuse
Anthony Reynolds and the review team examine Intiman's Barbecue, an engrossing discussion of what is reality and how it is manufactured.
Why Does Seattle's Regional and Fringe Theater Scene Ignore Trans/Gender Nonconforming People?
Nelle Tankus focuses on the presence (or lack therof) of performance in Seattle written and produced by transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people, especially Black and Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC).
Performing Immigration (sort of): Donald Byrd’s ‘The Immigrants’
Laura Chrisman and the review team question the in/visibility of immigrants and American citizens in Donald Byrd’s (Spectrum Dance Theater) ‘The Immigrants’.
Christmastown, A Holiday Noir: Sneaky Feminist Christmas
Sara Porkalob finds Seattle Public Theater’s seasonal offering, Christmastown: A Holiday Noir, a “nicely packaged Christmas story and a breath of fresh air with its sneaky feminist themes.”
It's Not Too Late: Take a Good, Hard, Long Look at Yourself
Andrea Iaroc and the review team highlight the sociopolitical commentary of Markeith Wiley’s experimental talk show It's Not Too Late at On the Boards.
The Untitled Play About Art School: Art Is The Symptom
Nelle Tankus's new work with Copious Love The Untitled Play About Art School leads by example with conscious, diverse, and deliberate representation of gender, sexual identity, and race.
The Lost Girls: Paying Debt to Monstrous Mothers, Murdered Bluestockings, and Sallie Mae
Emily George and the review team analyze Annex Theatre's production of Courtney Meaker's horror comedy The Lost Girls and its feminist queer energy.