Mike's adventures in art: Midsummer, Wizard of Oz, Black Film Festival

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.

Dance

"Midsummer Night's Dream," by Pacific Northwest Ballet is a classic. A George Balanchine production with music by Felix Mendelssohn. This ballet has remained frozen in time since 1962, and audiences are still in awe by the beauty, especially in the second act, when the story ends and we are captivated by dancing.

This was my first time seeing this ballet. I'm familiar with the theater version, but seeing the story through the lens of dance was a new and refreshing experience. Puck was fun, the play within the play was funny, and the dancing donkey was delightful.

"Midsummer Night's Dream," showing April 14–23 at McCaw Hall

Theater

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," is showing at the Seattle Children's Theater. And the most important thing to mention about my experience seeing the show with two kids — we were in and out in about an hour. And that is not to say we didn't enjoy our experience. We loved it. But holding my 6-year-old's attention span is not easy, and this play did a wonderful job of keeping her captivated.

As someone who absolutely loves "The Wiz," I was a little disappointed that "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" does not include the songs I felt so tempted to sing. But this is for the kids, and they didn't notice, or know, that music wasn't there. The acting was near perfect, and the production was clearly aimed at ensuring young children would understand what was happening. So, even though my kid asked a million questions, as did many kids in the audience, overall she followed the story and was intrigued by Dorothy's journey. This was a great introduction to a classic play and once again, the Children's Theater provided an enjoyable and age-appropriate theatrical experience for my family.

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," showing April 4 – May 21 at Seattle Children's Theater

Film

The Seattle Black Film Festival, opens this weekend at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. This is the 20th year of this annual festival and this year's opening night features "Seattle Black Panther: Fight for Justice and Freedom." This documentary tells the story of the Seattle Black Panthers through the voices of members, some of whom are still in our community today. Filmmakers will host a panel after the showing.

This year's festival features 50 films over nine days, so there will be films for everyone.

The Seattle Black Film Festival, April 22–30 at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute

Visual Art

"Pearl Jam: Home and Way," at MoPOP will close forever on April 23. This is a bonus pick. I interviewed Jacob McMurray, director of curatorial collections and exhibits for MoPop, on Soundside earlier this month. But my experience seeing this collection of artifacts, and my understanding of the impact Pearl Jam has had in Seattle, led me to once again remind folks that this is their last chance to see the largest collection of Pearl Jam artifacts on Earth. You will likely never get an opportunity like this again, and it is definitely worth seeing.

"Pearl Jam: Home and Away," showing until April 23 at MoPOP