Liz Janssen
Liz Janssen is a PhD candidate in English at UW, where she also teaches courses on topics such as 21st century immigrant literature and “politics of reading.”
She has long been involved in community-oriented spaces for art, discussion and critique; before moving to Seattle, she spent many years as a book group facilitator and an author/performance event host at independent bookstores in Los Angeles. Among other writing projects, she is currently at work on her dissertation—which looks at how audiences in the US consume and value representations of the foreign or “ethnic” in contemporary fiction.
Critiques
Steph Hankinson and the review team examine the wildness, wickedness, and wokeness of Intiman Theatre's production of Karen Zacarías's political comedy Native Gardens.
The DeConstruct team interviews Intersections Festival curators Natasha Ransom, Kinzie Shaw, Jekeva Philips to discuss opportunities to showcase the diversity of the Seattle performance scene.
Anthony Reynolds and the review team highlight how Juliette Carrillo’s production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running emphasizes the diverse and positive history of the shared Black experience “without the influence of white perspective to heavily mask their stories.”
Liz Janssen and the review team provide much-needed additional historical context for ArtsWest's thought-provoking and well-performed production of The Nance.
Lydia Heberling and review team highlight WET's commitment to bridging the gap between Ibsen's “progressive feminist plot” and the plurality of postmodern feminism in Cherdonna's A Doll's House.
Laura Chrisman and the review team question the in/visibility of immigrants and American citizens in Donald Byrd’s (Spectrum Dance Theater) ‘The Immigrants’.