Hello there, 

Time has been moving strangely lately, it either feels to move incredible slowly, and you begin to notice every detail, or it moves extremely fast and I forget what month we are in. Now that we are in May, I can say with more confidence that we have pivoted to new forms of programming, and are thinking about how we are engaging with artists and audiences in these times.   

We have a few offerings this week, including a conversation with Tina Satter & her collaborators on Friday at 4pm PST / 7pm EST. The conversation will discuss the process of making Seagull (Thinking of you), which can be found on OntheBoards.tv. This performance takes Chekhov’s letters, translations, and perverse sense of comedy and considers anew the darkness, beauty, and history of this iconic Chekhov’s play, The Seagull. Tina’s creates a personal look at performance, failure, and attempted love — ultimately an unexpected meditation on why we ever try to say something out loud. I think Tina’s gift as an artist and maker is being able to take a historical text or piece of writing and personalize it through the theater form.   

This week would have been the West Coast premiere of Tina Satter’s latest work, IS THIS A ROOM: Reality Winner Verbatim Transcription. Tina is an incredible artist and her team of collaborators are equally as spectacular. In this new performance Tina takes the true story of Reality Leigh Winner, a 25-year-old former Air Force linguist, who on June 3, 2017 was surprised at her home by the FBI, interrogated, and then charged with leaking evidence of Russian interference in the U.S. voting system one week before the 2016 Presidential election. She’s in jail now. Is This A Room stages the verbatim FBI transcript of what happened at Reality's house on that day. This performance is eerie and gets under your skin in a certain way that many other theatrical works don’t have that same capacity. 

Even though her work has been on OntheBoards.tv for a number of years she has never been presented in Seattle at On the Boards. In addition to the conversation this week Tina is also hosting an Artist Workshop on May 16 at 11am PST / 2pm EST. I was so looking forward to sharing her work with you all in Seattle and looking forward to seeing this particular work in our space. There are some works that after I first experience them, I am certain of their artistic power and how they crystalize a moment that we are living in. Tina Satter/Half Straddle are these artists! Tina’s work focuses on feminist and queer dynamics and truly feels more necessary than ever. 

We miss seeing and hearing from you! Wishing you and your loved ones the best,

Rachel Cook
Artistic Director

PS. Also today is GIVE BIG! These online fundraisers are exceedingly crucial to us at On the Boards, so please donate. No amount is too small and it all makes a difference to us.