The SunBreak » On the Boards

A Dangerous World Viewed Best From Afar

StefanDW — Fri, 09 May 2014 23:10:49 +0000

Don’t try to grip Baron Samedi too tightly (through May 11 at On The Boards); close inspection will squeeze the pleasure out of it, and there’s a lot of pleasure here. The late Allain Buffard’s dance-theatre song cycle also features torture, enslavement, rape, child soldiers, and all the other social weapons of despotism and fanatical … Continue reading →

Winners and Losers Is A Bare Knuckled Knockout

StefanDW — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 03:44:15 +0000

A table, a chair, a notebook, a drink, and a script that feels like an evolving work: These elements suggest Spalding Gray, or his scion, Mike Daisey. They set us up for monologues of intensely personal self-revelation delving into the finest grain of culture and sociology through riveting storytelling. We get most of that at … Continue reading →

Singing Toward Consciousness Beyond The GPS

StefanDW — Sat, 12 Apr 2014 05:16:23 +0000

Arriving comfortably early for Wayfinders, the Holcombe Waller music performance currently playing at On The Boards (through April 12) the uninitiated might grow uneasy. The preshow soundtrack is a nauseatingly innocuous highlights parade of the worst of new age music. One can only hope that it is a set up for something better. Thankfully it … Continue reading →

A Twice-Baked Show in Shadow, Light, and Soil

StefanDW — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 17:02:31 +0000

Zoe | Juniper’s BeginAgain (at On The Boards through March 30) starts with a bang, or rather a clap, stamping, and slaps. The lights rise briefly to show dancers in close formation then dim to darkness and all we hear are their movements. It’s exciting and a bit scary as the sounds come with precision … Continue reading →

Talking About Intimacy From A Distance

StefanDW — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 16:48:04 +0000

Intimacy is front and center in And Lose the Name of Action, Miguel Gutierrez’s collaboration with The Powerful People at On The Boards through Sunday, but that front and center is skewed in both form and content. The intimacy found on this multifaceted stage is mostly a topic and less often the experience. In its … Continue reading →

Down in the Dirt with the 2013 Northwest New Works Festival

Michael van Baker — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:40:47 +0000

With the 2013 Northwest New Works Festival in the history blogs, it's time to explore its themes of blood, dirt, and death -- and going on too long. So many of the shows this year would have been greatly improved if they'd simply known when to stop.