"Awesome," Amelia Reeber, and the Return of The A.W.A.R.D. Show

"Awesome's" "West," directed by Matthew Richter, opening at On the Boards Thurs., April 21. Photo by Victoria Lahti.

First off, tonight is the opening night of "Awesome"'s West at On the Boards. Directed by Matt Richter, in West the seven art rock/cabaret/musical theatre artists that are "Awesome" plunge deep into an exploration of the themes of American westward expansion. Beyond that, I really don't know much about the show, but if you've never seen "Awesome," these are some crazy-talented musicians who aren't making your standard musical theatre-fare. For more information, the kids at Teen Tix speed-dated most of the company in the guise of "interviewing" them (I'll admit, Basil Harris is kind of dreamy...), so feel free to check that out for more info.

Speaking of On the Boards, tonight is also the opening night of Amelia Reeber's this is a forgeryat the Erickson Theatre off Broadway, which originally debuted at OtB last year at the Northwest New Works Festival. It's a quirky solo dance work that, as Reeber told me in an interview last fall, ironically came out of her exasperation with dance incorporating large amounts of video. "Ironically" because this is a forgery features a lot of video components, including giant cats and birds, but Reeber has a very unique approach to interacting with video that blew me away when I saw the piece at NWNW. Reeber went on to become the winner of the first Seattle edition of The A.W.A.R.D. Show in December, which came with a $10,000 first-prize grant that she's used to fund turning this is a forgery into an evening-length work, and this is something that I can't recommend highly enough. You've got two weekends, tickets are only $15, go see it.

And finally, speaking of The A.W.A.R.D. Show...and On the Boards...well, The A.W.A.R.D. Show is returning to On the Boards this fall. Started at NYC's Joyce Theatre in 2006, the show is an attempt to encourage new audiences to engage with dance by putting a series of artists in competition with one another for an audience vote that carries some serious bank. The concept has been controversial amongst artists pretty much everywhere it's gone (it's since expanded to several cities throughout the U.S.), but with that said, a $10,000 kitty is a whopping opportunity for almost any artist (two runners-up get $1,000 a piece), and probably worth the effort considering the tenuous state of arts funding in Seattle next year. So if you're a dancer/choreographer who's looking to compete, follow this link to the OtB site and fill out your application by May 11.