Check them out: The Stranger: "High Wire: Northwest New Works vs Cirque du Soleil " Seattlest: "Northwest New Works, Week 1: The Studio Showcase" Crosscut: "Northwest New Works: campy, clever and unpredictable" ET

by Joe von Appen

Blogin. In most festival situations I find that after a certain density of work seen the pieces begin to speak to one another, they start to answer each other’s questions and echo each other’s sentiments. After the first weekend at the 2010 NWNW festival between the studio and the mainstage I saw three different solos of vastly different disciplines each have moments where the performer brandished a weapon. Now maybe I just like swords, knives and guns but it was a visual reminder of an effect I really appreciate, when art begins to overlap and expose a universality and connecting thread that bonds it all together. I don’t always like festivals but I like this effect and I fucking love the NWNW fest.

by Shango Los

Attending the On the Boards 2010 NWNW Festival weekend #1 was a real thrill for me last night.   This Festival can always be counted on for some exciting and surprising performances.   One new twist this year was that in the weeks approaching the Festival, I was able to overhear the chatting between performers on Facebook as they went though their final changes, dress rehearsals and, most fun of all, good lucks and  “go get’em girls" in the last 24 hours.   As someone who is a  “professional audience member" like myself, I felt warmly and happily somehow included. Let’s get one thing off the table at the outset.   I do not consider my role on this blog as a critic at all.   I’ll leave that to the misanthropy of the local papers.   I am an artist’s booster. I am there, yes, to watch with the experienced eye I have developed over 10 years of attending and being engaged by performance but the  “critical" part was already taken care of by the OTB selection committee.   I am merely writing today to give a glimpse into some of the shows, help you reminisce if you were there and encourage you to go if you have been silly enough to not go already.   Tonight is your last opportunity to see these performances and last night was a sell-out for both stages.   Next weekend is 8 all new performers. And so we begin.

We're getting close to kicking off yet another amazing NW New Works Festival. Our artists have been hard at work choreographing, costuming, composing, and crafting their pieces for this year's showcases. They took some time out to interview one another about their creative processes. Click on each pair of artists to hear them talking to each other about the work that's being made! [mp3s]

Julian Martlew, OtB's Sound Technician extraordinaire and musician (check him out), has started up a blog called Farfetcher in which he chronicles performances he sees around town and the shows he plays. Over the past weekend, Julian was there along with a few other OtBers for the NW New Works previews.