Public Access: BLACKBOX WEATHERMXN
Venue: IN PERSON at On the Boards, Merrill Theater
each evening of performances will run for approximately 60-70 minutes, without intermission
July 21 - 24
- 7/21, 8pm
- 7/22, 8pm
- 7/23, 8pm
- 7/24, 5pm
Note: each evening will present the same four performances
Content Consideration: Some of these pieces include use of flashing lights, sexual overtones, and nudity
Comes join our live studio audience for your favorite Public Access Television styled experience... that you've never heard of… Public Access: BLACKBOX WEATHERMXN. With 10 minute performances featuring Brendan Mack & Minna Lee, Saira Barbaric & Alistair Fyrn, Chari Glogovac-Smith & Gary Champi, and Moonyeka & Arabella Bautista, this four-part meteorological event is not to be missed!
On the Boards has brought together performers and animators to create a Digital Performance Cohort: Public Access: BLACKBOX WEATHERMXN. 4 teams of 1 performer and 1 animator apiece have devised 10-minute pieces that give windows into new worlds, explore deeper truths, and turn the audience around in a show that will leave you wondering what ‘real’ even means.
About BLACKBOX WEATHERMXN
Local Public Access TV station WMXN is hosting a live, primetime weather forecast special: 4 Weathermxn, 4 ten-minute forecasts...
We’ve grown accustomed to green screens and animated text. Sometimes we find them cheesy. But imagine what could happen when these tools are given to artists to play with: what worlds could be built, stories told, and ideas explored. Think Space Jam, Mary Poppins, and that scene in Jurassic Park where John Hammond talks to an on-screen version of himself.
TV studios don’t have a monopoly on this technology anymore, and at On the Boards, we have the software, equipment, and knowledge necessary to replicate and elevate the weather-forecast format with a high level of technical sophistication.
Weather forecasts are Magical.
About the Digital Performance Cohort
The Digital Performance Cohort is On the Boards’ latest effort to push the frontier of contemporary performance.
The program pays artists to create new work using tools that may be inaccessible to the average performer. OtB provides the necessary equipment, production support, digital expertise, and budget. The artist brings the rest.
Public Access: BLACKBOX WEATHERMXNwill launch the Digital Performance Cohort program, which will hold an open call annually.
Artist Teams
Team S + A
BETTER GARDENS BETTER HEARTS
Alistair Fyrn (They/He) is a mixed media creator whose work explores eroticism, trauma, and mythos. In 2017, they co-founded Scumtrust Productions, a queer porn film crew. The films they have helped to craft have shown nationally and internationally.
Team B + M
CLOUD HOUSE
Minna Lee (they/them/she/her) is a Hmong-Vietnamese American writer, animator, and performer making art on Lenape land and pursuing an MFA in Playwriting at Hunter College.
Team C + G
STRATUM
Gary Champi is a dance artist originally from San Diego, CA. He performs between New York and Seattle, drawing on experience with a variety of choreographers, touring nationally and abroad in theater spaces, museum installations, and site-specific work.
Team A + M
1 (800) SC4ND4L
ext. 3Y3Z
Moonyeka is a nonbinary Filipinx femme interdisciplinary artist with a specialty in dance and movement-based storytelling.
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Panelists
Adrienne Mackey
Adrienne Mackey is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the potential of performance and play.
- click for more about Adrienne
With her company, Swim Pony she’s created works including SURVIVE! - a 22,000 sq-ft interactive science installation; THE BALLAD OF JOE HILL at Eastern State Penitentiary; WAR OF THE WORLDS, with Drexel's Entrepreneurial Game Studio; and THE END – a month-long mixed reality game exploring fears about mortality. She’s the originator of CROSS POLLINATION, a residency program in which 32 artists took part in documented interdisciplinary collaborations and also writes about equity and sustainable art practices for Swim Pony’s blog, boasting 50,000 views. Most recently she developed TRAILOFF – a mobile app using GPS to embed stories on nature trails; AQUA MAROONED!, a wildlife card game with the Alliance for Watershed Education; and an ecological table-top role-play for Fairmount Waterworks. Mackey holds an MFA in interdisciplinary artmaking from Goddard College, and has received an Independence Fellowship as well as two Knight Arts Challenges. She is also a classically trained soprano, former chemist, and teaches acting, directing and devising for University of Washington’s School of Drama. www.swimpony.org
Emily Zimmerman
Emily Zimmerman is a curator and writer based in Seattle.
- click for more about Emily
In 2017 she became Director + Curator of the Jacob Lawrence Gallery at the University of Washington’s School of Art + Art History + Design, where she advocates for artists, uses an expansive intersectional lens to advance racial and gender equity, and works with students to become active participants in today’s arts ecology. In total, she has curated more than 50 exhibitions and commissions with artists such as Kerry Tribe, Clotilde Jiménez, Danny Giles, Ariel René Jackson, and Marisa Williamson. In 2018, she founded the art journal MONDAY, and has produced 300+ events, including lecture series, film series, performance festivals, and workshops. Prior to joining the Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Emily served as the Associate Curator of Programs at the Henry Art Gallery, where much of her work focused on building institutional partnerships and offering accessible off-site programming. She began her curatorial career as the Assistant Curator at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), organizing film and lecture series, and commissioning new work from artists such as Melvin Moti, Ryan & Trevor Oakes, and Gordon Hall. Emily’s writing has appeared in BOMB and Contemporary cid:2382270389*8BA167A5-898D-47E2-A254-61D70B5E6B79@Home Performance, and she has served on review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Capital, New York State Council on the Arts, Artist Trust, 4Culture, and the Herb Alpert Awards, among others. Emily earned her MA from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and her BA from New York University.
Vivian "Vee" Hua 華婷婷
Vivian "Vee" Hua 華婷婷 (they/she) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies
- click for more about Vivian
As the recent Executive Director of Northwest Film Forum in Seattle (Duwamish land) and Editor-in-Chief of the interdisciplinary arts publication, REDEFINE, much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society.
In 2017, Vivian released the narrative short film, Searching Skies — which touches on the controversial topic of Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States — and co-organized a national film screening and civil rights discussion series entitled The Seventh Art Stand. In 2022, they will release Reckless Spirits, a BIPOC metaphysical buddy comedy and short film proof-of-concept, in anticipation of a feature-length project in development.
Vivian is passionate about cultural space, the environment, and finding ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. They also regularly share observational human stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE!
Nabilah Ahmed
Nabilah (she/her) is an On the Boards Associate Producer, and Creative Producer of Public Access: BLACKBOX WEATHERMXN.
- click for more about Nabilah
Nabilah has been a theater actor since 2016, working with a myriad of companies across Seattle, including Forward Flux Productions, Book-It Repertory Theater, Seattle Shakespeare Company, and most recently MAP Theater. Nabilah was a Museum Educator at MoPOP before beginning at On the Boards as Associate Digital Producer in 2020. Nabilah’s artistic interests include experience design, creative technology, and movie practical effects.
About the Digital Performance Cohort
The DIGITAL PERFORMANCE COHORTis On the Boards’ latest effort to push the frontier of contemporary performance.
The program pays artists to create new work using tools that may be inaccessible to many performers. OtB provides the necessary equipment, production support, digital expertise, and budget. The artist brings the rest.
Public Access: BLACKBOX WEATHERMXNwill launch the Digital Performance Cohort program, which will hold an open call annually.
Proof of vaccination* or negative Covid test within 24 hours will be required for entry. Patrons are required to wear masks during the entire event.
*Photo of vaccination card is acceptable. If you do not have your card, you can access your vaccination record remotely by creating an account on the WA Dept of Health Immunization Information System, WA.MyIR.net.