TeenTix Blog

which will also be, I just noticed, our 301st post. Blogging is fun! And so is this:Pomplamoose does "All the Single Ladies", and it is very very good.Thank you to TeenTixTipper Matthew

"Tibet Passport Control" by gruntso on flickr(search results is an art project. Everyday we search for and post a random flickr photo using the search term "passport".)The Teen Tix Passport to the Arts contest is still on!Here's how it works: - Download the passport - Take it with you and ask for a stamp at the box office every time you use your Teen Tix pass - Once you have 6 stamps, return your passport to us to be entered to win fabulous prizes like a $200 gift card to a retailer of your choosing (choose from Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, GAP, iTunes, Pagliacci, Starbucks, Target, or a pre-paid Visa card). The contest runs through December 29th, 2009, so you still have plenty of time to see art and win! Download your passport and all of the contest details here.

Last Sunday night Teen Tix members had a chance to enter the frightening suburbian zombie gaming underworld (via the frightening urban underworld of fringe theatre) at Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom at Washington Ensemble Theatre. Teen Tix members attended a pre-show costume demo with N3 Costume Designer Pete Rush, and a post-show Q&A with the cast and crew. WET is known for producing edgy, challenging, visually arresting theatre at their teensy tiny space (The Little Theatre) on Capitol Hill. Teen Tixer Stefania H. was there and tells us that Neighborhood 3 is no exception:"Neighborhood 3 was a thought provoking, entertaining, and spooky show that was thoroughly enjoyable. The clash of the video game world and reality was fun especially for a teen who likes video games, but was performed in a way that left a great deal of thought for the audience which made this show especially appropriate for the talk back after the show. It was also really neat to see how some of the costumes were put together and all of the thought and time put into costume designing. It was a great learning experience and definitely interesting. The WET did an awesome job with this show. It's a show to see and will be especially interesting to teens!"Neighborhood 3 Costume Designer Pete Rush ropes a Teen Tix volunteer into trying on the video game zombie suit. Sweeeeet. Neighborhood 3: Requisition of DoomWashington Ensemble TheatreThrough October 26thFor more info, visit the N3 facebook.

Review of Remember Being Born? at Taproot Theatre by Tucker Cholvin Taproot Theatre, it seems, is a busy place these days. Currently in the middle of their production of Enchanted April, Taproot is also offering audiences a hidden late-night gem. Remember Being Born?, a one-man show performed by Solomon Davis, is a quirky and deeply personal story that refuses to be pinned down into just one category. Neither here nor there in its unique combination of stand-up routine, memoir, and coming-of-age story, Remember Being Born? makes full use of its adaptability to delve deep into Davis’ childhood and persona. Solomon Davis in Remember Being Born? at Taproot Theatre Photo by Liz Ragland On stage, Davis begins as the funnyman—Steve Martin comparisons are inevitable, as his effusive, physical energy fills the house as well as when he whips out his harmonica for a doleful few notes at the end of a monologue. Other parts of his act seem improvised and unexpected, only adding to the fervor. His charm as a storyteller and his affection for screwball comedy succeed in winning audiences over immediately, laughing at one self-effacing story after another. The mood shifts a little as Davis recalls his father dating, but the screwball comedy is never far off. With each new story, we see Davis a little bit older—one moment being told by his father to use his middle name, Mark, rather than Solomon, and the next moment auditioning for the high school play. Awkward by their subject matter, his stories are also powerfully endearing, and in Taproot’s small theatre the stand-up comedy of the beginning evolves into a story more deeply and intimately personal. Recounting being raised by his father after his mother’s death in a car crash, Davis yet again transforms the show, this time into a search for identity and where he comes from. Davis dwells most poignantly on the latter, seeking the mother he never knew out through memories, and hoping that she is the answer to who he is maturing into. At its end, Remember Being Born?’s wit and humor does not degrade its intimacy and meaning, and its occasional seriousness does not obstruct the humor. Instead, Davis leaves his audience both with a smile on their face and a profound sense of who he is as a human being. Such a balance is hard-struck, and it is to Davis’ great credit that he can find it. Done well, theatre is the opportunity to delve deeper into the world of others than we can in daily life. In his incisive and magnificent performance, Davis’ Remember Being Born? succeeds marvelously. - Tucker C October 2nd, 2009 Remember Being Born? Every Friday night at 10:15 through October 23rd Taproot Theatre

"When Passport Photos Go Bad..." by ibeamee on flickr(search results is an art project. Everyday we search for and post a random flickr photo using the search term "passport".)The Teen Tix Passport to the Arts contest is still on!Here's how it works: - Download the passport - Take it with you and ask for a stamp at the box office every time you use your Teen Tix pass - Once you have 6 stamps, return your passport to us to be entered to win fabulous prizes like a $200 gift card to a retailer of your choosing (choose from Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, GAP, iTunes, Pagliacci, Starbucks, Target, or a pre-paid Visa card). The contest runs through December 29th, 2009, so you still have plenty of time to see art and win! Download your passport and all of the contest details here.

"Passport Photo Photoshopped (Alliterations " by intanchly on flickr(search results is an art project. Everyday we search for and post a random flickr photo using the search term "passport".)The Teen Tix Passport to the Arts contest is still on!Here's how it works: - Download the passport - Take it with you and ask for a stamp at the box office every time you use your Teen Tix pass - Once you have 6 stamps, return your passport to us to be entered to win fabulous prizes like a $200 gift card to a retailer of your choosing (choose from Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, GAP, iTunes, Pagliacci, Starbucks, Target, or a pre-paid Visa card). The contest runs through December 29th, 2009, so you still have plenty of time to see art and win! Download your passport and all of the contest details here.

Ever been sitting at your computer with nothing to do? (AFTER your homework is already finished, we assume.)Rest assured, your weekly cure for boredom is here!This week we're bringing you a website that allows you to watch bits of television and movies all in one place. It's called Neave Television.They call it television without context, we call it hours of visual entertainment! Watch clips from sources all around the world, let your mind explore and be inspired!Explore Neave Television!

Review of The Shipment at On the Boards by Marissa B-TThe atmosphere is one of light joviality; the patrons of On the Boards anticipate something great. Most seats are full, the theater is humming with conversation-- then silence pervades, and The Shipment begins with a burst of light and movement. In the opening few minutes, the joviality remains, but alongside it arises an air of surprise and pensiveness registering in the faces of some viewers.Aundré Chin and Douglas Scott Streater in The Shipment at On the Boards.The Shipment, written and directed by Young Jean Lee, is currently playing in Seattle at On the Boards. The show consists of various theatre formats designed to address and reevaluate black stereotypes in contemporary culture. The opening dance routine, choreographed by Faye Discroll, energetically lights up the stage and breaks the so-called mold of black choreography. This performance sets the audience up for emotional polarization that is a key component throughout. In its entirety, The Shipment is a mere ninety minutes, yet its purposefully haphazard sequence of performances delivers a range of feelings and experiences. It should be mentioned that there is also wide range of profanity, as well (especially in Douglas Scott Streater's Standup Guy monologue); and anyone uncomfortable with hearing vulgarity every few minutes need not attend. The point of the play is not to soothe or solely entertain the audience. The language is intended to rile listeners; it is part of an attempt by Young Jean Lee's Theater Company to provide a new window onto their subject. Lee and the diverse, complementary cast of five blend a series of widely varying monologues, dances, and scenarios portraying common representations of the black identity in media. This first startling portion gives way to silence, into which, beautiful three-part harmony suddenly sounds. An innovative a cappella song divides the sections of the play. While blending seamlessly with the rest, its introspection tones down the intense stylization and drama of the first segment. Here, removal of the fourth wall serves to movingly connect actors with reality and the people sitting before them. Act II (if one can place that label on it), is distinct in style and content from preceding episodes. It would be unfair to reveal much; simply know that Act II is rooted in characters that each actor wanted to and had never had the opportunity to play. Therefore, as might be expected of so talented a cast, the roles are infused with an extra vibrancy. The last scene, as noted during an interview session afterward, is not about anything in particular. It is more the theme and potent conclusion that matter here.The Shipment was a more than usually collaborative effort between playwright/director, actors, and other members of the design team. Costume designer Roxana Ramseur's work is marvelous in conveying the several contrasting personalities each actor takes on. Suits, party dresses, colorful vests, evening gowns-- each costume perfectly aided in fleshing out each character and the role they had in a given scene. Lee succeeds brilliantly in realizing her concept. The process itself of formulating The Shipment is intriguing, with more material contributed by the actors than by the unconventional playwright/director/editor/creative stylist.- Marissa B-TThursday, October 1st, 2009The ShipmentThrough Sunday, October 4thOn The Boards

"Passport photos through the ages" by kh1234567890 on flickr(search results is an art project. Everyday we search for and post a random flickr photo using the search term "passport".)The Teen Tix Passport to the Arts contest is still on!Here's how it works: - Download the passport - Take it with you and ask for a stamp at the box office every time you use your Teen Tix pass - Once you have 6 stamps, return your passport to us to be entered to win fabulous prizes like a $200 gift card to a retailer of your choosing (choose from Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, GAP, iTunes, Pagliacci, Starbucks, Target, or a pre-paid Visa card). The contest runs through December 29th, 2009, so you still have plenty of time to see art and win! Download your passport and all of the contest details here.

“Not only did this workshop improve my writing and my confidence in it, YCW led me to explore Seattle's rich culture; I saw plays and exhibits I never would have on my own.” - YCW graduate Elsa W.The Young Critics Workshop is a writing seminar for 11th & 12th graders and college freshmen who are interested in arts criticism and critical journalism, taught by The Stranger's Arts Editor Brendan Kiley.Professor KileyThe Young Critics Workshop gives young writers the opportunity to explore critical journalism, meet and learn from professional critics and artists, and hone their critical writing skills in the company of peers. The YCW is a challenging and rigorous writing course. Classes will be held twice a month for five months. Approximately three quarters of the class periods will be devoted to writing instruction, with the other quarter dedicated to guest speakers and field trips to see art. Students will be asked to attend and review at least three shows over the course of the five-month workshop in addition to completing writing assignments both in and out of class. The class will be conducted in a seminar style, and students will be expected to participate in class discussions and to read and respond to one another’s work.YCW graduate Paulina P.• The Young Critics Workshop is free of charge and open to all 11th & 12th graders and college/university freshmen.• All classes will be held at the Center House at Seattle Center.• Classes will be held approximately twice a month for five months. All classes will be held from 5 – 7 p.m. on Thursdays.In the words of previous participants:"Nitty-gritty discussions about writing in the first few classes fried my brain in the best way, while keeping things funny and casual.""When you know what you are supposed to do you can write ok, when you know why you are supposed to do it you can write better, but when you understand that you are the middle man, the mediator, between the artist and the audience, then that's when you can write a piece of excellent criticism."Stranger Day at YCW, with Stranger writers Brendan Kiley, Charles Mudede, David Schmader, Matthew Richter, Paul Constant, and Lindy WestHere's a blog post by YCW grad Bianca G about Stranger Day.". . .when [Brendan] was just talking about working at The Stranger or telling stories about being a theatre critic, it was the most entertaining, memorable, and engaging part of the class.""At the end of the short five-month run, I can proudly say that not only have my critical writing techniques improved exponentially, but my way of looking at, and reacting to, art has evolved into a more cognizant and analytical brand."More more information about this year's YCW, click here.To download an application, click here. Applications for the 2009-2010 Young Critics Workshop are due October 15th, 2009.Questions? Email teentix@seattle.gov

"Photo on the Passport" by *Kassiopey on flickr(search results is an art project. Everyday we search for and post a random flickr photo using the search term "passport".)The Teen Tix Passport to the Arts contest is still on!Here's how it works: - Download the passport - Take it with you and ask for a stamp at the box office every time you use your Teen Tix pass - Once you have 6 stamps, return your passport to us to be entered to win fabulous prizes like a $200 gift card to a retailer of your choosing (choose from Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, GAP, iTunes, Pagliacci, Starbucks, Target, or a pre-paid Visa card). The contest runs through December 29th, 2009, so you still have plenty of time to see art and win! Download your passport and all of the contest details here.

Where Are They Now proflies former Teen Steering Committee superstar, Ms. Jasmin Kwan. What's your name? Jasmin KwanHow old are you? 18Where did you go to high school? Ballard High SchoolWhere are you now? I'm currently a sophomore at Cornish College of the Arts studying artsy fartsy things that cost a lot of money. I'm a barista at the Blue Saucer cafe and I'm on two soccer teams. I still live at home and I haven't changed much from when I was doing Teen Tix. :]What's one thing you know now that you wish you'd known when you were in high school? I wish I knew that I was never going to see my classmates after graduation. I would have dressed more obnoxiously, made more art, auditioned for a play, and taken music classes. Peers in high school are tough to deal with, but they don't matter.What's one thing you want to do that you haven't yet? I really want to be a roller derby girl.What's your favorite art form and why? My favorite art form.... You're asking someone who goes to an art school! I really like going to the free first Thursdays in Pioneer square, there's lots of multimedia work and painting and photography, anything with lots of detail and complexity and simplicity. I also like accordians, classical guitar, improv and circus. All of which I think more people should expose themselves to [the art, music and performance part...]. There are so many artists out there, just waiting for you to see that they can do, so GO! Get watching and learning and teaching!Why should people join the Teen Steering Committee? Join the TeenTix Steering Committee! I got to go to some free plays [like $5 wasn't good enough] I got free food. I got to decided which venues we should to contact to broaden the TeenTix usage. Adults don't know what we want, they're still stuck thinking we want Backstreet Boys and Chia pets. No, we want improv and intense dramas and controversy and authoritive testing! Plus, Holly and Pete are really cool, and it would be really awesome to have some kids cooler and more clever than I to be on that committee.Anything else? I RUV TEEN TIX! There should be a TeenTix fan club for all the grown up people, and they do marshmallow eating contests to get a lifetime membership card.Ooooo yeah!Thanks Jasmin. And you are SO cool and clever. We'll totally take that marshmallow-eating contest thing under advisement. You want to join the Teen Steering Committee now, don't you? I knew it. Guess what? We're recruiting! We want YOU! Just have an adult (who's not your parent) or another teen send us an email nominating you. It can be one sentence long. Just make sure they include your contact info, too. More info on TSC and what it does can be found here. Don't delay! The first meeting of the year is October 26th!

Carla Korbes as Juliette. Photo by Angela Sterling.The Winger, written by PNB Principal Dancer Carla Korbes (currently starring as Juliette in PNB's Roméo et Juliette), is an interesting glimpse into the world of a young professional dancer.For me the opening of the season was emotional in many levels. First, it was my premiere in the role of Juliet. Second, this version is so dramatic and intense that by the end I felt like I had merged with the character and I couldn’t help but feel upset, angry, sad and at the same time wired and happy; it was the most disoriented I’ve ever been after a performance.

Okay, over on Slog, David Schmader has been posting one of these PS22 Chorus videos every morning, and every morning they have been making my day. But I think today's, of the chorus doing Lady Gaga's Just Dance, is my favorite. These kids have received a crazy amount of press for children (or anyone) and yet they don't display an ounce of the ego or competitiveness that I remember from my choir days. (And we had a lot less to be snooty about than these kids do.) They just look like they having tons of fun, supporting each other, and dancing up a storm. I think their choir director is a genius. Enjoy.

Congratulations to Teddy M, winner of two free tickets to STAR WARS: In Concert October 13th at Key Arena. And thanks to everyone who took our survey and entered to win tickets. Keep your eyes peeled for answers to some of the questions you asked in the survey, and changes based on your suggestions. Thanks Teen Tixers! We're nothing without cha. And congratulations Teddy. Have a great time!Love,Teen TixNOTE: STAR WARS: In Concert is NOT a Teen Tix-eligible event.

Review of The 39 Steps at Seattle Repertory Theatre by Emma M.When you think Alfred Hitchcock you probably think of his movies like “Rear Window” “Strangers on a Train” “Dial M for Murder” “Psycho” “The Man Who Knew Too Much”. Scary stuff. Nail biting stuff. Keep-looking-over-your-shoulder-for-the-murders stuff. Not comedy. Not slapstick. Not knee-slapping-laugh-so-hard-your-belly-hurts-jolly-old-fun-old-bean stuff. The 39 Steps is most definitely a comedy. A parody really.But “What are the 39 steps?” asks Richard Hannay, the main character. Well the original Hitchcock film is a classic spy thriller full of murder and suspense: Hannay meets a beautiful woman called Annabella. She tells him she’s a spy trying to prevent a secret from leaving the country. Later Annabella is murdered in his apartment, leaving Hannay alone and fearing for his life. He decides to try to figure out the mystery Annabella has left and becomes a fugitive on the run trying to find out whom or what are the 39 steps, and clear his name from the murder charge, of which he is completely innocent.Ted Deasy, Scott Parkinson, Eric Hissom and Claire Brownell in The 39 Stepsphoto by Craig Schwartz.This version of The 39 Steps follows the same plot line, but it is as different from the Hitchcock film as night is from day. Full of amazing physical comedy, clever writing, and a perfect sense of timing, this play is hilarious. The characters are larger than life caricatures which the whole cast does a really excellent job of playing. So why is it advertized as Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps if they are so different? Because this play spoofs almost every Hitchcock film ever made. Actors climb out the “Rear Window”, do the aerial chase scene from “North by Northwest” (perfectly I might add), and they refer to one of the characters as “The Man Who Knew Too Much”. Constant Hitchcock puns aren’t the only thing that makes this play a total Hitchcock spoof. This play captures the physical style that is so very Hitchcock.The actors in this play have an enormous task. There are four actors and dozens of characters. All of the actors are fantastic. Ted Deasy plays Richard Hannay, Claire Brownell plays Annabella/Pamela/Margret, Eric Hissom plays Man #1, and Scott Parkinson plays Man #2. Hissom and Parkinson play dozens of characters each and are simply brilliant! There is a marvelous scene where they change characters at lightning speed using hats as a guideline.Alfred Hitchcock once said, “A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it.” The 39 Steps, whether you have Teen Tix or not, is most definitely worth it.- Emma M.September 30th, 2009The 39 StepsSeattle Repertory TheatreThrough October 24th

Seriously? This is not a lame attempt to pander to you via ham-fisted teen lingo throwdown. (That's what we usually do, it's just not what we're doing right now.) This is an earnest, mature, sober, adult expression of enthusiasm of the unrestrainable variety: ZOMG we got OtB!!!!!!!!!On the Boards presents shows that "light up parts of your brain you forgot were there" (David Schmader, the Stranger)If you've never heard of On the Boards there's a reason. You're not cool enough. Just kidding sorta. You're totally cool. Your mom told me.Okay, I'm sorry. It's the end of the day. Describe the venue:In the valley between the verdant, blooming fields of dance, theatre, music, and film, there is a fecund marsh where art forms mingle and merge and cross-polinate. It grows impossibly riveting 7-hour-long staged readings of classic American literature and singers singing songs while hanging upside-down and sword-wielding Italian dancers covered in paint and art-history lectures disguised as dinner. It is On the Boards.

Review of Enchanted April at Taproot Theatre by Paulina PIf I had only looked at the title and synopsis of Enchanted April, running now through October 23rd at the Taproot Theater, I would probably have thought that it was a bit too predictable to be worth my time. The story of two English housewives, one too vivacious for sullen England and the other who resembles a “tragic Madonna", who one rainy (literally) day decide to rent a castle in Italy and find two more women to share the expenses, an aging matron and a young flapper, can really only have a few endings. The story sounds perfect for a movie or candy novel. Which of course it is.Charity Parenzini and Nikki Visel in Enchanted April. Photo by Erik Stuhaug.Enchanted April is based upon Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel was adapted for the stage in 1925 and inspired not one but two movies. This adaptation interestingly enough though written before the movies runs a bit like one. The beginning and ending are both monologues of Lotty Wilson, played by Charity Parenzini. The two lacked effective presentation and feel like they should be said over the loudspeaker. They fit not to introduce a continuous narrator but as mild philosophy and succinct epilogue. Mrs. Wilson stood in the middle of the stage and sort of windmilled her arms about while telling the story. It gave the audience something that sounded good but wasn’t much to look at.However, these were truly minor sections of the play and though an ill-fitting frame the picture inside was fantastic. Italy works as a panacea for the women turning ill emotions into love and orneriness into peace while capturing quite the laughs. The changes in the characters occur because it takes people to change a person. Each character had some sort of serious background that made the audience care and relate to them since their tragedies were not absurd. In many works self-realization focuses on how alone one finds self but Enchanted April does the opposite. It shows how one can rely on others and that it is sometimes the only way to discover one’s self.This point was excellently delivered by the cast, which included strong male and female characters. The performance allowed couples and widows to be paralleled but not identical once by literally placing both on stage in parallel scenes. This worked well except for the fact that the more interesting scene was in the back and one had to listen very hard to get even half of the words spoken. However, the snippets that one does hear allow intrigue to build for the second act. Which of course contains a no-nonsense Italian maid who subtly steals the show with her quick incomprehensible wit.As a whole Enchanted April was a fresh though classic flower. The ending is in fact predictable but it is, though moderately cliché to say, more about the journey than the ending. It explores less solemn ways to discover or re-discover one’s happiness giving the audience equal measure to cry and laugh which makes the laughing just that much better.- Paulina P.September 25th, 2009Enchanted AprilTaproot Theatre CompanyThrough October 23rd

Today is Sheetcake Day! That's the day when Stranger staffers ambush local artists with sheetcakes that say "You're a Frickin' Genius". Why? Because this is how they inform these artists that they are each the recipient of a Stranger Genius Award, an annual $5,000 award given to four artists and one organization that the Stranger judges to be deserving of, y'know...cake (and money and glory). So far today cakes have been delivered to Film Genius Zia Mohajerjasbi (who you may know as the auteur of numerous Blue Scholars videos), Literary Genius Stacey Levine, and Organization Genius(es?) Pacific Northwest Ballet.Here's a picture of PNB's adorable Artistic Director Peter Boal receiving his cake:Of course, here at Teen Tix, we didn't need the Stranger to tell us what we already knew in our hearts. You guys have been giving PNB the love from the very beginning, and this year, they took top honors in our first annual Teeny Awards. So congratulations, PNB, on a stellar awards season, enjoy your cake, and keep up the good work.Love,Teen TixUPDATE: The lovely and talented Jeffry Mitchell is the Visual Art Genius. Jeffry once gave me the best compliment I've ever received, but, alas, I cannot repeat it here. Anyway, Jeffry's show just closed at the Henry, but you can bask a bit in his genius by watching this video of him talking about his art on SAM's website. Congratulations Jeffry! Now, WHO will be the Theatre Genius? I'm bursting with anticipation!