What's up, South End?
We've made it to the end of summer, and my favorite season, fall, is just around the corner. But before I pull out my warm sweaters, spiced lattes, and books by the fire, there's one more Seattle summer event that we have to highlight: Teen Summer Musical.
This event has been a staple for as long as I can remember. I've shared plenty of personal memories I have with the event, including the fun fact that my first date (technically a double date) was attending the teen musical at the Paramount in the early 2000s.
This new crop of teens are in for a real treat. This year, for the first time ever, the teen musical will be at McCaw Hall. This venue is home to the Seattle Opera, the Seattle Symphony, and the Pacific Northwest Ballet — all world-class organizations. These teens will grace a stage that some professional performers work their whole lives to make it to. That's pretty cool.
We've had a lot of rough news for teens this year. From shootings in our neighborhood, to the recent shootings at the Bite of Seattle. One thing we do know: There's plenty of data and research that shows teens get into less trouble when they have structured programs and a place to hang out and just be … teens.
This week, I spoke with Michelle Lang-Raymond, co-founder and executive director of Acts on Stage, the company producing the musical, as well as the show's music director. We talked about the legacy of the program, how it supports teens, and what to expect from this year's production, Peter Pan Ready to Rise.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
MD: Theater isn't the easiest space to operate in these days. Y'all have been at this for over 25 years. How have you been able to have this longevity?
MLR: I think we've actually been doing it for over 30 years now. The current version of the teen musical started in '95. And even three years before that it had a smaller version of what it became.
But it is kind of crazy to think this program has been around this long. The thing that's even crazier is to know that there are people who have been in Seattle, some born and raised in Seattle, who have still never heard of this program and never have seen a show, which is crazy to us. A couple years ago, somebody came up to us and very excitedly said, "The Teen Summer Musical is the best-kept secret in Seattle," and we were like, "But why is it a secret?" Everybody should already have it on their calendar that this is how they bridge the summer back to school. This is the last thing that happens in the city of Seattle before we all go back to school.
But why do I think it has lasted so long? A couple reasons. One is Isiah Anderson Jr. Period, point blank, full stop. The only person who has been with this program for 30 years is Isiah, and it is because of him that it has the legs that it has and has had the longevity that it has had. And then he would agree that the next part of the answer is because he always assembles a team of people who are not only great artists and creatives, but they are people who understand youth work. They are people who understand what it means to put on a show, and they are people who want the community to be proud.
MD: For as long as I can remember, this program rehearsed at Langston Hughes and was a part of Black Seattle. But the numbers of Black people in the Central District have dwindled over the years. Has that impacted how y'all keep this going?
MLR: I think it's the legacy of the program. It has been around so long that it doesn't matter where people live at this point, people still find the program as a centering part of Black culture in Seattle. This is still a part of Black expression in Seattle — so no matter where people live, they still want to be tethered to that Black experience.
Now, mind you, the program is not just for Black kids. We have quite a few kids in the program, especially this year, that are not Black and not biracial either. We have all races. But we do not make any apologies for the fact that the shows are produced with Black culture as the centerpiece.
It doesn't matter where people live now and how gentrification has affected them. The Teen Summer Musical is a part of the way we do Black culture in Seattle.
MD: I've been having conversations all year about our teens and, quite frankly, violence. Can you talk about the importance of having programs like yours that give our teens not just a place to be, but a place to find themselves, which is unique to theater?
MLR: They are signing up to be part of a society of youth who are learning together. And not just learning how to sing, dance, and act, but learning how to be a community, learning how to care, learning how to communicate, learning how to hold each other responsible, and also learning how to give each other grace. That's the value of Teen Summer Musical being a program and not just a production. We have 80 kids this year. You don't need 80 youth to make a musical. But we're committed to a program that does all the things I just said. This is about cultivating and nurturing our children. We're committed to that just as much as we are committed to producing a great show.
MD: Speaking of the show, y'all always put a twist on a story we think we already know. What can you tell us about your Peter Pan?
MLR: We all know that Peter Pan is a boy who refuses to grow up, he lives in Neverland, and he flies. And we know his nemesis is Captain Hook. In our show, our Peter Pan is a young Black boy, and he doesn't want to grow up because he's seen the statistics about what happens to many Black boys when they grow up, and those statistics are often not great. Some of them don't make it out of their teens. So Isiah did an amazing job tethering the reason why Peter doesn't want to grow up in our story to something that's true to life.
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These talented teens are headed to McCaw Hall. This weekend only. Tickets in the link.
This is an abbreviated version of The Roundup newsletter. To get the entire newsletter, including a weekly list of events to check out and my shout-out to South End Gems, subscribe here. See you next week!
Mike Davis is the newsletter editor and Voices editor at the South Seattle Emerald. Born and raised in Seattle's South End, Mike is a longtime journalist who's covered everything from arts and culture to sports to politics.
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