Seattle Mag
2010 Spotlight Award: Cherie Priest
Time Bandit: Writer Cherie Priest is building a future on the past
In the 1880s, a brick wall encircled downtown Seattle. A safety measure, the wall was 15 to 20 feet thick, in places rising as high as 200 feet. Inside, zombies ran amok. Or, that’s what we’re told in Boneshaker (2009), local author Cherie Priest’s multiple-award-winning “alternate history” steampunk novel. At 35, Priest is at the…
2010 Spotlight Award: Debra Baxter
Rock Star: Sculptor Debra Baxter is carving her own niche
Remember that scene in Superman: The Movie when Clark Kent travels to the North Pole and ends up discovering his life’s purpose in the crystalline Fortress of Solitude? So does Debra Baxter. But the impact the film made on the local sculptor as a young girl lay dormant until adulthood—when she realized her own superpowers….
2010 Spotlight Award: Drew Christie
Old Soul: Animator/illustrator Drew Christie makes everything old new again
Popularly, the phrase “animated movie” usually translates to teams of Pixar employees working on bleeding-edge computers housed in climate-controlled studios. For Drew Christie, it means drawing flipbooks on the pages of old paperbacks in the front seat of a truck. But this local animator and illustrator prefers doing things the old-fashioned way—everything from making art…
2010 Spotlight Award: Jody Kuehner & Ricki Mason
Cringe Theater: Jody Kuehner and Ricki Mason blur the boundaries of gender, dance, comedy and comfor
An alien force landed in Capitol Hill’s Oddfellows Building last winter, when every Friday for seven weeks, a sparkly yet mysterious duo known as The Cherdonna & Lou Show performed an unclassifiable act—a series of skits involving lip syncing, tap syncing, piano syncing, modern dance and celebrity impressions. It was a cabaret as if performed…
2009 Spotlight Award Winners
In case you just emerged from 12 months of living “off the grid,” we’re sorry to be the first to tell you: It’s been a rough year for the arts. (Also: Michael Jackson is dead. Seriously!) Not surprisingly, when the economy takes a dive, so do theater and arts attendance numbers. But it’s not all…
2009 Spotlight Award: Ray Tagavilla
Actor Ray Tagavilla steals the show on small stages.
NAME: Ray TagavillaART FORM: TheaterWEB SITE: Look him up on Facebook.comNEXT UP: Tagavilla may perform at Capitol Hill’s Balagan Theatre in October; check balagantheatre.org Anyone who saw Washington Ensemble Theatre’s exquisite production of The Mistakes Madeline Made last February knows Ray Tagavilla—even if they don’t remember his name. The 31-year-old actor played Wilbur, the weird,…
2009 Spotlight Award: Karen Finneyfrock
Poet Karen Finneyfrock is queen of the spoken word.
NAME: Karen FinneyfrockART FORM: PoetryWEB SITE: finneyfrock.wordpress.comNEXT UP: Regular appearances with the Seattle Poetry Slam (seattlepoetryslam.org) at Spitfire downtown, 2219 Fourth Ave. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. $5 Anyone still unsure of exactly what spoken word poetry is should ask Karen Finneyfrock, the Seattle poet who, in 2006, was honored as a slam “Legend” at the National…
2009 Spotlight Award: Ellie Sandstrom
Dancer Ellie Sandstrom takes moving and shaking to the max.
NAME: Ellie SandstromART FORM: DanceWEB SITE: sandstrommovement.comNEXT UP: Performing with Locust and AMYO/Tiny Rage at Portland’s TBA Festival 9/3–9/13; see her Web site for additional appearances Watching Ellie Sandstrom dance is like watching a spider wrap a fresh kill in its web—it’s fascinating and a little frightening to witness something so precise, innate and powerful….
2009 Spotlight Award: Bao Tran
Filmmaker Bao Tran busts stereotypes on screen.
NAME: Bao tranART FORM: FilmWEB SITE: bookiethemovie.comNEXT UP: See Black Coffee on the big screen at Bumbershoot’s One Reel film festival 9/5–9/7; Also this month, watch Bookie online at bookiethemovie.com “I’m an old person in a young person’s body,” asserts local filmmaker Bao Tran. It’s a little hard to believe at first glance, given Tran’s…
2008 Spotlight Award: Zoe Scofield
Choreographer Zoe Scofield isn't afraid to dig in the dirt, creating imagery that connects with some
In the beginning, she was just in it for the tutu. As a young girl, choreographer Zoe Scofield coveted the scratchy pink skirt her older sister earned as a reward for completing a ballet class. She made it her mission to earn her own, and in the process learned she loved living in fantasy—even if…
2008 Spotlight Award: Lucia Neare
Lucia Neare’s theatrical wonders invite audiences into a beautiful, whimsical world.
If you were one of the estimated 10,000 people who happened to be near the Harbor Steps last May Day, you have already experienced one of artist Lucia Neare’s self-described “theatrical wonders.” The two-hour spectacle, Ooo-La-La, was inspired by the question, “What if we put love in the air in downtown Seattle, just for a few…
2008 Spotlight Award: Lynn Shelton
Seattle independent filmmaker Lynn Shelton finds that making a movie “in an upside-down way” lands h
“Do you consider yourself mumblecore?” The question was lobbed from the back of the Egyptian Theatre, over the heads of a full-house crowd, during the Q&A session at the 2008 Seattle International Film Festival premiere of Lynn Shelton’s feature film My Effortless Brilliance. From the stage, hand over her eyes to block the lights, the…