In the midst of wrapping up another season here at OtB and preparing for our annual fundraiser dinner, our amazing intern/ house manager/ development assistant Jess found she could rely on Jim to help her through the mountains of work to be done.
Hello! You've probably arrived here by way of the Omnibus, and hopefully you've had some time to explore the shows of the 06/07 Season, watch some videos and read about our various projects. Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts. We'd love to know what you think!
Scroll down to read the blog posts associated with this season's performances.
If you're reading this and you haven't had a moment to check out the Omnibus, you can find it here.
Welcome to our blog for the NW New Works Festival. For the festival we've asked participating artists and patrons give us their thoughts on what they see. Read the reviews below or click on the Comments button to read the comments of others and post your own thoughts.
Jen Graves writes on the Stranger SLOG:
"I can’t decide who was more of a letdown: SuttonBeresCuller, or the audience that laughed at and cheered their shallow, dull, adolescent, clichéd, dim-witted, feeble new work at the Northwest New Works Festival last night." Read More
liminal performance group
so poetical
this thing that we call love
it's pretty, i guess
paige barnes and the grizzlies
it's stunning to watch
the body animated
i want a beard now
hand2mouth
this american
stands up for karaoke
anytime, for real
david schmader
great storytelling
is like a kite in midair
that floats back to earth
selfick
nightmare of my dreams
like tiny forest creatures
rattling in my head
kerry parker
she's got legs / she knows
how to use them - simple
but strong elegance
suttonberesculler
an old man's dreamlife
can be a little bit slow (lol
Weekend 2 has been an extravaganza of words, dance and delight. I've been experiencing my own kind of performance art every night, right before 'Main Event' by pressing my ear up against the wall to listen to Hand 2 Mouth's 'Repeat After Me' and occasionally peeking through the tiny square window in the backstage door to see snippets of their show, from a backwards and unappealing angle. I hope I am not ruining the show for myself when I can see it from the front.
David Schmader's Litter is the most straightforward piece of the evening, though it is only the beginning of a longer piece. This autobiographical monologue starts with allusions to some horrible humiliation, takes a moment to analyze Allison Janney's ability to fall, then settles into a storytelling groove as David describes his early adolescence in El Paso, where he suppressed everything about himself that could reveal that he's gay, until he reaches a truly sad state.
mainstage weekend 1
erin jorgensen's cool, haunting, luminous almost apocalyptic lullaby takes the edges off and strikes a pure note in a personal yet shared landscape of memory...
maika misumi movement troupe's vivid, poetic formalism invokes ancient ritual through the bodies of beautiful, painted dancers accompanied by bold, thundering percussion...
deborah wolf's arc angle. ah. seriously hot dancing. a virtuosic kinetic volcano.
Two very different groups made the trip up from the Rose city for the second weekend of the festival. Liminal Performance Group presented a shortened version of The Theory of Love, a multi-media lecture opera which premiered in Portland last month. Two performers standing at lecterns speak and sometimes sing a text which draws on classic and romantic poetry. Two other mysterious performers illustrate mathematical equations of love on a giant notepad, while adding vocalizations.
Do you feel that? It's my sweaty, clammy, glittery hand. Sweaty, clammy, and glittery with anticipation for Northwest New Works this weekend! I've been thanking On the Boards over and over again, and here I will thank them once more. It's been a fantastic experience to be a part of this festival; to have the physical and artistic space to present original and daring new work, and to see the most exciting performances from friends and new friends in the region.
Well, I wanted to blog with MP, but he told me “I have my own voice. ” Then he totally showed me up by blogging in a timely manner and with some amazing haikus. But it’s not a competition. I have my own voice. And here it is.
Dear Ginger Moloko,
I love the idea of apocalyptic cabaret, making lists and changing outfits with every number, but all these fabulous details did not add up to much.
Sandra Kurtz writes about the festival:
"Northwest New Works is On the Boards' annual crapshoot, and this year's edition pays off big—both with groups working beyond the conventional edge and others wringing changes on more familiar territory." Read More
First, I must say that the entire NWNW experience is a rather amazing opportunity for artists in the NW. The fact that OtB offers 18 artists 20 min., a free theater, tech and publicity and a ready made audience is so great and kind of unreal. I just have to recognize the amazing opportunity that NWNW's presents to all of us.
Okay- this was the first time that I saw both shows on the same night. Maybe I have a bit of ADD or really can't sit for three hours through any kind of theater experience, but I was having a hard time paying attention towards the end of the night.
The NW New Works Festival serves as a joyous reminder that not only does talent abound in the NW, but our community in the form of the incredible On the Boards supports it. This blog concerns Saturday’s Main stage event. I was privileged to help curate the fest, and seeing the artists perform reminded me what a challenge it was to choose from such an embarrassment of riches.
The evening began with a personal favorite of mine: Erin Jorgensen. Her lithe marimba playing never fails to penetrate.
A review on the Seattle P-I's Sound Off blog:
Thanks to Alice Kaderlan for her insightful review of the first week of Northwest New Works at On the Boards. I concur with her opinion that the works by Heather Raikes and Deborah Wolf were among the most successful; the performances by tEEth and Erin Jorgensen, which Kaderlan did not mention, were also rewarding. Read More
erin jorgensen-
quiet melodies
a sweet, powerful soundstorm
i want a tattoo
maika misumi movement troupe-
slick like molasses
can't take my eyes off maika
like a tiger in the sky
deborah wolf-
agressively sweaty
bodies in a red forest
ever so dance-y
implied violence-
like a sugary
confection, pink with sprinkles
but melts fast, like snow
ginger moloko-
an endless monsoon
is best with a bottled beer
not coffee, for real
joe von appen-
things i think sometimes
joe has thought three times over
people are people
tikka sears-
an iceberg floats, though
still li
Seattlest blogs about the festival:
"As we said on Friday, this past weekend marked the opening of the 24th annual Northwest New Works Festival at On the Boards, which also runs next weekend and features 18 new performances from local artists.
Today a couple of dancers were doing some improv stuff in a garden in Capitol Hill.
Wow!, I thought. And I just saw dance at On the Boards last night.
One of today's improv dancers--a kind-faced girl with long brown hair backlit by the setting sun--came up to me with a homemade business card. She said her name was Monica.
“Come to another one of our performances sometime, ” she said. "We're QuartetDance, and we like to do our own works outside around the city."
I was curious.
She went on.
In weekend one, NWNW Studio Theater showcases four different worlds, and most of them refer to the end of it. After an off the cuff repartee and a distribution of mints to the audience, Ginger Moloko, accompanying herself (himself) on the electric piano, sings her way through the end of the world, with images of Tammy Wynette, Eddie Izzard, and others flashing across a screen. Generally speaking the world sucks and rocks, no matter what outfit she wears. Loved her list of things to do today.
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