Producer picks: Seattle on the stage and in the toy box

The Soundside team is taking some time off this Thanksgiving week — some of us are working on future shows, and others are on vacation.

In the spirit of thankfulness, we are revisiting some of our favorite segments from over the last year, and the hardworking producers who make Soundside will be making the picks.

Up first: Producer Noel Gasca.

I picked out two stories that capture a central question and tension that I love to explore on Soundside — how do the artists and storytellers here in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest at-large want to represent this place?" Gasca said. "And do those choices have any consequences around how the rest of the world sees us?"

Taking the CHOP from 11th and Pine - to the stage

Back in the spring, KUOW arts and culture reporter Mike Davis told the team about a new show he was going to see called "11th and Pine." The intersection became the heart of Seattle's Black Lives Matter protests, following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

"This was a hard segment to put together, because when we started on the segment, we thought we knew exactly how we were going to approach the interview with the show’s playwright and cast members," Gasca said.

But then Davis saw the show, and it was clear his vision for the segment wasn't going to come to fruition.

"It opened up all these complicated, even sticky feelings around Mike’s responsibility as a journalist covering the arts, and the fact that he’s a human with life experiences, and emotions," Gasca said.

Read and listen to the original segment here

What does a doll have to do with who's seen as a Seattleite?

Back in February, the popular toy company American Girl Doll unveiled a couple of new dolls depicting characters living in Y2K era Seattle.

"It’s weird to say that a children’s toy had me spiraling, but these dolls did," Gasca said.

The characters American Girl created - Nicki and Isabel - are twin sisters living in Seattle in 1999. And depending on how you see it, they’re very Seattle. Their mom works in tech, and their dad runs a coffee shop after giving up his grunge band.

The unveiling of these characters led Gasca on a journey to examine who gets to be seen as a Seattleite.

Read and listen to the original segment here