3 Pieces Stand out at New Works Fest
By ALICE KADERLAN, SPECIAL TO THE P-I
Published 10:00 p.m., Monday, June 11, 2007
For the past 24 years, On the Boards‘ NW New Works Festival has nurtured and showcased new and in-progress performance pieces by established and emerging Northwest artists. For some of the artists, this is their first major public appearance or the first time they are receiving attention from critics. Given this context, the best way to approach the 18 individual pieces is to determine if there is an interesting artistic concept at the core or one aspect of the production that is compelling.
Of the nine works performed during the first weekend, three were clear standouts, although, surprisingly, only one of them took place in the large, mainstage theater, with the strongest appearing on Friday night in the intimate downstairs studio space.
Tikka Sears’ “work created under compulsion” is a powerful exploration of the struggles of three women throughout history — Scheherazade, a Holocaust survivor who painted concentration camp scenes, and a Latina immigrant serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq.
Actor-director Sears has collaborated with a team of musicians, singers and designers, including Manuel Castro, Eyvind Kang, Jessika Kenney, Otong Durahim, April Mae Clifford and Chrissy Wai Ching Leung, to create a multimedia production that ties these three very different life stories together. Using a series of imaginative props, including two round projection screens, a wheel-like creation that becomes a third projection screen and hanging sheets of fabric, Sears and her talented collaborators enable us to see the challenges these women face as they try to make the best of very different, but equally difficult, life situations.
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/article/3-pieces-stand-out-at-New-Works-fest-1240202.php#ixzz1t1zss3Ad