Mike's adventures in art: 'Hometown Boy,' SIFF, and 'Light Shines Through'

If you're looking for tips on how to experience art in the Seattle area, you're in the right place. In this weekly post, KUOW arts reporter Mike Davis has suggestions for what to do around Seattle over the weekend so you can have your own adventures in arts and culture.

Theater

"Hometown Boy" is showing at Seattle Public Theater. This is my pick of the week. The play is set at the home of Walter, an elderly Japanese American man, who appears to be a hoarder. It's cluttered with trinkets, and as his son James arrives with his girlfriend from New York, they are met with a repulsive smell from the kitchen sink. But this physical mess is no match for the metaphorical one. Secrets, lies, affairs, and a criminal act of love lurk beneath the surface and we soon learn that the true mess in this play resides in the lives of the characters.

Playwright Keiko Green wrote a dynamite script. There are so many layers, and the plot unfolds with a keen attention to pacing. As each layer is peeled away, and we learn more and more, we are often allowed moments to sit and simmer in the emotions faced by characters, which feel so real. Then, there are comedic moments, when the action speeds up and we zip through quick-witted dialogue and moments of absurdity. Those instances of relief make the heaviness of the play bearable, but the contrasting emotions are what carry the production's authenticity. People are complicated, and that fact is illustrated throughout this play.

At the heart of "Hometown Boy" lies an issue that I have been confronted with throughout this Seattle theater season: race. And not only in terms of how systemic racism oppresses people of color, but also the ways white privilege — in this case, arguably unintentional — directly affects people of color. Theater has a way of putting real issues in front of audiences, by using stories and characters that humanize these controversial topics.

In this play, the fates of two families become intertwined. And we see the stark contrast between the options and outcomes for an affluent white family and a Japanese American family. There is a criminal act that links these families. And while it appears to be a crime of passion, perhaps fueled by love, it is a crime nonetheless.

This single act rocks both families, and as an audience, we are confronted about who society allows to make mistakes, and how one moment can destroy one family yet leave another seemingly unscathed. But, because people are complicated, we see that all parties are wounded. This is a production where no one becomes "the winner;" we are forced to grapple with layers of trauma and the question of what it means to be American, and how important it is to have a home.

"Hometown Boy" is showing at Seattle Public Theater from May 4 to 28.

Film

The Seattle International Film Festival opens this weekend. The 49th annual event kicked off Thursday at the Paramount, with a reception that followed. There are so many movies to see, and I will do a full preview of what I'm looking forward to in the near future. But in the meantime, there are two films that have already caught my intention.

"Stephen Curry: Underrated" is documentary that follows the NBA superstar from his time of breaking scoring records at Davidson College into his NBA years playing for the Golden State Warriors. Using archived footage and on-camera interviews, this film gives us an inside look at the rise of a future hall-of-fame athlete.

"The Visitor from the Future" is listed in SIFF's Wild, Terrifying, and Fantastic (WTF) category, which is likely where a lot of my picks will reside! This film follows a teenage environmental activist who, along with her father, gets transported 500 years into the future. Together, they work to prevent mass radioactive destruction while being pursued by zombies.

The Seattle International Film Festival, May 11 to 21 at multiple locations and online.

Visual Art

"The Light Shines Through" by Terry Furchgott is showing at the Harris/Harvey Gallery downtown. If you find yourself at Pike Place Market enjoying the sunshine this weekend, you should absolutely step in and catch some of the exhibit's beauty. It features acrylic pieces painted by Furchgott, which use vibrant colors and patterns to bring light into portraits of life. Using scenes of a father and daughter, a woman cooking in a kitchen, or even a vase holding flowers, Furchgott infuses color and light into these images, transforming the mundane into magic, with intricate boarders that bring nature itself into these natural moments.

"The Light Shines Through" is showing at the Harris/Harvey Gallery from May 4 to 27.