The Family House

A house can hold a lot, and Seattle Rep’s Appropriate knows that. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Tony-winning play, directed here by Timothy McCuen Piggee, drops the Lafayette siblings into their late father’s hoarded, falling-apart Arkansas plantation home for an estate sale, and lets the whole thing crack open from there.

Billy Finn, Jen Taylor, and Tim Gouran in Appropriate (2026). Scenic design by Carey Wong.

Photo by Bronwen Houck

The sibling dynamics are especially good, and Jen Taylor, as Toni Lafayette, is gripping. She is all edge and defense and always ready to go one step further than everyone else, but somehow still convinced she is the one telling the truth. I imagine at some point in our lives, we’ve all argued with someone like this. Angela DiMarco (who plays Rachel Kramer-Lafayette) is excellent, bringing a tight, brittle energy to the character who has married into the family. Carey Wong’s set does a lot too. It’s gorgeous and eerie, and the cicadas running throughout the play keep everything humming with dread.

What has stayed with me most, though, is how insightful the writing is about the stories families tell themselves and the lengths they go in order to keep the truth buried. This is a white family circling a deeply racist legacy it refuses to name. The history at its center is appalling, but what wrecks everyone is the silence around it, the denial, and the harm that passes from one generation to the next. By the end, the play leaves you questioning what any family is really preserving if it cannot speak honestly about its past, and what dark legacy remains after the house has decayed.

Appropriate runs through May 10 at Seattle Rep. Get tickets here.

Keke Palmer stars in I Love Boosters, Boots Riley’s new comedy and SIFF’s opening night film.

Image courtesy of Neon

Reel Life

I had a pinch-me moment at SIFF’s press reveal night last week. I am a film nerd, truly, and a romantic about movies. I worked as a projectionist in high school, back when there was still film to thread, and learning how to splice movies together and break them back down changed my life. But over the years, with kids and life (and a long stretch where my standards for entertainment were basically “can I stay awake for it?”), I had drifted out of watching movies regularly. Seattle’s film festival is still one of the coolest things this city does, and frankly, it has enough history to brag. Alien premiered here in 1979. What more do you want?

The 52nd festival runs May 7-17, and this year’s lineup is big: 203 films from 71 countries and regions, including 18 world premieres, 12 North American premieres, and 10 U.S. premieres. There are 13 program sections, including cINeDIGENOUS, Northwest Connections, New American Cinema, and WTF, which remains one of the great festival category names. Opening night brings I Love Boosters, Boots Riley’s new comedy starring Keke Palmer and Naomi Ackie, while closing night is The Invite, a dinner-party spiral from Olivia Wilde with Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton. SIFF says 67% of the films still do not have U.S. distribution.

A few titles already have me hooked. I’m especially excited for RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole, the new documentary about the KEXP legend Kevin Cole. I am also very curious about Black Burns Fast, a South African film set at an elite boarding school, where a scholarship student’s carefully managed life starts to unravel after the arrival of a free-spirited student. And then there’s Mārama, which is being billed as anti-colonial horror, a genre I’m unable to resist. More to come on all of this. I’m planning to screen a few and report back with a handy guide.

Find passess, showtimes, and the full lineup at siff.net.

Photo by Ross Eckert / Snow Peak

Design Camp

Earlier this week, it was announced that Snow Peak is opening in Fremont, and even without having been yet, it already feels like a natural fit for Seattle. The Japanese brand, known for its design-minded camping gear, apparel, and home goods, has built a following around the idea that outdoor stuff can be beautiful too.

The new shop will be Snow Peak’s third U.S. location, after Portland and Brooklyn. We are a city that loves being outside and loves good design, and we are absolutely the kind of people who will spend a little extra on a titanium mug if it looks good on the kitchen shelf.

Photo courtesy of LAYERED: Style in Motion

Photo courtesy of LAYERED: Style in Motion

The Way We Dress

I have always been into style and self expression, even though I have stayed out of the world of fashion with a capital F. So going to my first fashion show felt, at my age, embarrassingly overdue. I grew up on a farm in rural California, after all, but LAYERED: Style in Motion at W Seattle was a very good place to start.

The show, now in its second year, pulls previously owned clothes from Seattle closets and sends them out on the runway with new life. A cool feature of the show was how the models shared garments as they walked the runway, taking off a coat or scarf and reworking it into the next look. It kept up with the whole idea of the night and was such a smart way to show how versatile a single piece can be. What came across to me is that fashion truly is one of our most compelling art forms—something expressive, physical, and shaped by the confidence we have when we feel good in our clothes, which makes it an art we practice every day.

Also, people looked incredible. I may be late to the fashion show party, but wow, what a good time. Seattle really knows how to bring it.