Recommended by Anna Tatelman

  • The Fifth Wave
    17 Apr. 2024
    I saw this at Macha winter 2022 and it was one of the best things I saw that season. Lisa Every and Jenn Ruzumna deftly tackles the subject of sexual assault with a nuanced gaze, one that poses no hard answers but many searing questions, that challenge the audience both during and outside of the play. The main characters are wonderfully human, practically breathing in the way they reflect all these complexities and conflicting ideas/views. It's two years later and I still think about this one a lot. I look forward to seeing where it goes next.
  • The Fifth Wave
    17 Apr. 2024
    I saw this at Macha winter 2022 and it was one of the best things I saw that season. Lisa Every and Jenn Ruzumna deftly tackles the subject of sexual assault with a nuanced gaze, one that poses no hard answers but many searing questions, that challenge the audience both during and outside of the play. The main characters are wonderfully human, practically breathing in the way they reflect all these complexities and conflicting ideas/views. It's two years later and I still think about this one a lot. I look forward to seeing where it goes next.
  • How to Break
    17 Apr. 2024
    I saw this at Village Theatre in spring 2023 and was riveted. I have never seen a work of art about racism within the healthcare industry. That this piece manages to not only tackle this complex subject, but does so with great nuance, individualized characters, and so many beautiful songs, is a huge achievement. I don't cry a lot at the theatre, but I did that evening. I look forward to seeing where this musical goes next.
  • Nicole and Ryan Try to Order an Uber
    17 Apr. 2024
    This piece raises a lot of tough questions in a surprisingly fun and light-hearted way. How do you extract revenge on inanimate objects? Is such a revenge even satisfying if the party receiving the revenge isn't "sentient" and aware of your vengeance? Technology is so ubiquitous that these characters can't escape it no matter what they try. A modern tragicomedy for sure!
  • The Suitcase (Short Play)
    17 Apr. 2024
    I saw this play at the 2023 Kenmore Quickies and loved it. Just like the father in this suitcase, this play is delightfully self-contained and complete while raising so many questions and themes to be discussed afterward, from the meaning of life to the complexities of grieving a living person. Smart, funny, concise, with rich opportunities for all three actors -- what more do you want from a ten-minute piece?
  • Cambodian Rock Band
    17 Apr. 2024
    I saw this last fall and it remains one of the best pieces I've seen this season. The past and present narratives intertangled in a beautiful, heartbreaking, and, ultimately, surprisingly hopeful way. The music not only established the tone of the piece, but helped display the strong connections, and eventual disconnections, between these humans caught up in forces beyond their control. And the dark humor was so sharp yet uncomfortable, inviting the audience into the narrative while highlighting our complicity in listening to this story. Amazing, amazing piece.
  • Last Drive to Dodge
    17 Apr. 2024
    I saw this at Taproot Theatre in fall 2023. The poetic language in this piece is stunning. I also love how Andrew both honored and critiqued the genre of the Western through this thoughtful piece.
  • Born With Teeth
    30 Mar. 2024
    I saw this play at Seattle's ArtsWest Theatre in February 2024. I thought I was in for a bitingly dark romantic comedy, but what I was really in for was a whirlwind of both theatrical genius and emotional punches. Adams does a wonderful job of both playing to and subverting our expectations of these two, larger-than-life historical figures, awing us with their literary and political brilliance while making us profoundly feel their, and our, humanity.
  • I and You
    30 Mar. 2024
    I saw this play at Seattle's Strawberry Theatre Festival in summer 2023. The script, at first, gives us a familiar premise: two characters stuck in a room together, despite neither fully wanting to be there. But Gunderson soon cleverly subverts our expectations in more ways than one, all while charming us with her characters' banter and tenderly, cleverly drawing us closer to a gut-punch of an ending.
  • Blood Countess
    30 Mar. 2024
    I saw this play via MAP Theatre in Seattle February 2024. As with many of her works, this Kelleen play is wickedly funny, despite taking up such a dark subject matter. You'll laugh even as you cringe and wish you hadn't. The script has guts (pun intended), too, in how it probes challenging subjects like the frighteningly human attraction to violence and the desperate measures we might take to be beautiful.

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