Summer 2023 M-TAC Writing and Performance Virtual Showcase

TeenTix works in collaboration with The Colorization Collective, a teen-led organization which promotes diversity in the arts, to present the M-TAC program.

The Spring 2023 M-TAC Cohort focused on visual art, performing arts, and writing. The performance cohort was taught by mentor, UJ Mangune and mentor Lila Bonow taught the writing cohort.

The visual art cohorts were taught by mentors Ric'Kisha Taylor, Lila Thomas, and Perri Rhoden. Mentor Isip Xin lead the virtual design cohort.

This was the first year M-TAC was able to offer both in person and virtual cohorts!

Performance Cohort Lead by mentor UJ Mangune

UJ Mangune is a teaching and performing artist whose vision focuses on vulnerability, honesty, and sharing his experience as an American of color in this country. Recently awarded best choreography for Head Over Heels at Seattle's ArtsWest and fresh off tour as Graffiti Pete in "In The Heights", UJ originally began learning hip hop and street styles through YouTube when he moved from the greater Seattle area to a very rural high school. In the ten years since, he has directed, choreographed, and performed musicals in nationally-acclaimed theatre houses across the country, as well as choreographed and performed within the commercial realm at Amazon Prime, Google, and Macklemore.

Maya Boswell

This video is meant to show how the process of progress and growth as an actor or singer can sometimes be very rocky, something that is not acknowledged nearly enough by the acting community. As someone with ADHD, I find that it can be very difficult sometimes to work and focus even with things I really enjoy, like theater.

I wanted to highlight this experience in a comedic way while showcasing theatrical skill and effort. Often times, complex ways of describing complicated subjects like these don’t get through to everyone, so I wanted to begin to address it in a format that is more accessible and potentially more stimulating for people, especially those my age.

Maya Boswell is a 16 year old mixed Filipino artist from Seattle. She enjoys many forms of the arts; including acting, singing, drawing, filming, and painting. Most of her art stems from personal experiences and how she sees the world. Outside of rehearsing and doodling, she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, as well as thrifting.

Kathie Li

Kathie Li is a Seattle-based actor who has been signed with Big Fish Northwest since February 2023. She has worked on performances with theatres such as Bellevue Youth Theatre, Youth Theatre Northwest, and Interlake High School Theatre. Her work ranges from short films to various local theatre performances in the Seattle area. Kathie currently studies the Uta Hagen method under Emmy award-winning director and teacher John Jacobsen.

Myra Pelote

Myra Pelote is a 14 year old singer and actress in South Carolina. She’s a Mezzo-Soprano that focuses on creating Pop and Indie vibe songs outside of her choral groups. This allows her to create a story-telling aspect to her songs by also using some of her real life aspects to balance it out. When she isn’t writing storytelling songs she’s performing them. She adores being on stage and building relationships with her castmates. She has had both schooling and work-related experiences as well. For schooling she has studied under Jaimie Hawkins; the choral director at Rollings Middle School of the Arts. The best arts middle school in the state of South Carolina, UJ Mangune; Colorization Collective and Teen Tix Performance mentor, who has countless experience in the industry, and Next Star Productions with Chris Brochu. Her schooling has been focused on the performance arts but she has also done professional work as well. She had sung the national anthem for the South Carolina Stingrays with Windsor Hill Elementary show hawks.

Rowan Santos

Rowan Santos is a nonbinary, Filipino (Filipinx) performing artist based in Seattle Washington. They are passionate about film, and acting. They are inspired by themes of social justice, pop culture, and cultural folklore. Their aim is to share their story and be seen while uplifting underrepresented youth. Rowan is currently pursuing film acting and voice acting. They were featured as Young Alysia Yeoh (the first transgender-nonbinary character to be played in a DC movie), in the canceled Warner Brothers movie, Batgirl. They have also been seen in plays at theaters in Seattle, as Zalmai in A Thousand Splendid Suns (Seattle Rep) and as Time in Everybody (12th Ave Arts). Rowan is thankful to have this opportunity, in the performing arts cohort, and grateful to learn from professionals!

Andrea Parada was also in this cohort.

Writing Cohort Lead by mentor Lila Bonow

Kalila Jimenez

View a collection of Kalila's stories here!

But before me stood stars, ones that twinkled and glittered, in shocking blue,
a smile soon growing much like the Cheshire Cat’s,
mischief running wild behind your eyes.

- Kalila Jimenez, Excerpt from "THE FLOWER WHO SPOKE TO THE STARS"

Kalila Jimenez Hello, my name is Kalila Jimenez and I’m an illustrator and creative writer. I specialize in poetry, narrative prose, and fan work through both personal interests and personal experiences. The inspiration that brought me back to life, and the community that surrounds these pieces, drive me to draw and write consistently. I know that at the end of the day, being happy with what I make gives me something to offer to the communities that helped me grow and evolve, which is always an aspiration to look up to. Within my writing, I feel at peace, for it is my way to get my words across, to let my pain become something beautiful and versatile. Something that can make people be seen in the way it makes me feel heard. I’m currently creating media pieces for an art account across Tumblr and Instagram, as well as writing out an outline for a book series/poetry collection.

Saniata Salva

View the poem titled, "The Green Box" that Saniata wrote as part of the M-TAC Program here!

So we sit on the carpet
My mother, my sister, and I
Only expressing feelings
Through our eyes
Because no photos
Could ever be enough to know
The unknown
Cameras depicting what he was before
Could never describe who he is now
Because he made us lose more than he could ever give back
- Saniata Salva, Excerpt from "The Green Box"

Saniata Salva (they/them) is a 15-year-old Filipino-American poet based in Seattle, Washington. They wrote their first poem, “Ode to Ilocano,” for their middle school poetry night and later performed it for their school’s gala event. Over two years, they have written about themes like race, family, and identity. Saniata strives to write poetry that will resonate with other young Asian Americans and show others what growing up as an Asian American feels like. For their most recent piece, “The Green Box,” they worked with Lila Bonow from the Colorization Collective’s Mentorship for Teen Artists of Color.

Ashley Catalan

Ashley Catalan Hi, my name is Ashley Catalan. I am a Hispanic creative writer and have been writing since I was twelve. Though I usually write short stories, I also do chapter books once in a while. It took me a bit to realize that writing is my passion but once I did I realized how powerful it is, having the power to have someone envision a scene just by words. My work is influenced by day to day life. I realized that we usually don’t pay attention to the little things in life so I thought that if I took those experiences and made them all into a more impactful experience that it could help us appreciate the little things in life. Right now I’m currently working on a collection of short stories about a demon learning how to become human by universal human experiences like falling in love, going to a concert, getting a dog and so on and so forth.

Simran Nagpal

Pages from the encyclopedia of thoughts Simran Nagpal

We have at least 30 thoughts in a minute which average out to 1 every 2 seconds. As the clock constantly ticks, our minds evolve with ever-flowing thoughts- pages of our unique encyclopedia rapidly filled.
I carry with me the knowledge about the history of civilization, the evolution of science, the rules of society and a thick bundle of the rest
- Simran Nagpal

Simran Nagpal is an 18-year-old India-based writer. The themes of her work are derived from her curiosity to understand humanity, society and her overall experience with the same. She is greatly inspired by various art forms and often tries to build a connection between the evolution of society and the progression of art periods. The source of Simran’s inspiration can also be traced back to her love for books and stories. Her poetic writing style captures the complex emotions of her subject matter in a rhythmic way. Nagpal is studying communication at NIFT, New Delhi and is an aspiring designer.

In the piece ‘Pages from the Encyclopedia of Thoughts’, Simran has made an attempt to record the experiences and emotions that we tend to lose as we grow old. Each subpiece has been written in a different format to reflect on the chaotic adventure our mind undergoes while having various thoughts. The writer is hoping to collect more pages and add them to the existing collection.