Stage Review - Squeeze! (Seattle Public Theater / UMO Ensemble)
Stage Review - Squeeze!
Presented By: Seattle Public Theater / UMO Ensemble - Seattle, WA
Show Run: April 04 - April 13, 2025
Date Reviewed: Friday, April 04, 2025 (Opening Night)
Run Time: 75 Minutes (no intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
When the audience walks into the Batthouse Theatre on the shores of Green Lake just outside of downtown Seattle for Squeeze!, the co-production from Seattle Public Theater and UMO Ensemble that runs through April 13, the first thing they’ll notice is the stage area, and that it resembles something akin to a room that’s under construction or being remodeled, or maybe even that they’re in a painter’s studio with an industrial aesthetic. It was the first thing that I noticed, of course, but then, when some of the volunteers came out before the show on Friday to tell the folks in the front rows of the theatre that they’re in a sort of “splash zone”, it’s at that moment when I realized that I was in for something a little different. Thankfully, the “splash” isn’t what I thought it was, nothing that is going to require anyone to do any laundry after the show, but it is important to note that parts of this show do have the potential to come out into the audience, and that includes the actors who use the entirety of the theatre space during the production. It’s hard to describe Squeeze concisely, it’s that unique in its construction, but I suppose that’s part of my responsibility in this space. It’s avant-garde for sure, a mixture of dance, drama, and music that depicts a world in a post-apocalyptic time, a dystopian future that in the context of our present day political and social climate feels like something that, if we don’t make some drastic changes, , could become a reality.
My first thought after I walked out of Squeeze! was that it could have been a play that was written on election night in 2024, or at least in the last few months, as it encapsulates all of the anger, fear, and other emotions that many of us have been feeling about the future of our country and our planet, so when I Iearned that Squeeze! has been over two (plus) years in the making, an idea originally initialed by UMO member Janet McAlpin, who is part of the ensemble cast in this production and who teamed up with fellow UMO member, and the director of this show, Elizabeth Klob to bring in playwright Trista Baldwin, someone who was able to work with the UMO team to craft a play that is a healthy mix of music, movement and story, the result of which is something that, if I had to describe it in one short phrase, resembles what might happen if a person on an acid trip was asked to describe a Margaret Atwood novel set it in Jackson Pollock’s studio.
After its multi-year development process, this run at the Batthouse Theatre on Green Lake represents the premiere of the show, though according to director Elizabeth Klob, it’s still a bit of a work in process. For my money, if this play is not where the two co-producers want it to be, it has to be pretty close. The messaging in the piece is clear, bookended by the questions “How did we get here?”, and “How do we go forward?” (paraphrasing), and in between the first question is answered clearly, along with where, exactly they are. Where they are is in a future that is teetering on the edge, one in which their only possessions are memories and survival skills, and even those are in short supply. After a series of events that includes, but is not limited to, economic collapse, the impact of climate change, bombs, bullets, and the destruction of everything that the group in Squeeze! has known and loved, they’re left to scavenge for anything they can find, for shelter, for food, for companionship. They eventually find a little bit of each, and with the help of “squeezers”, a pair of would-be puppet masters who actively observe the group by watching and nudging them by providing certain things to see how they react, begin to rebuild a bit of their own society. But what of this society? How different is it than that which led to their current situation, or are we naturally inclined to build things that lead to our own destruction? And if we are, how do we break the cycle? These are all questions that Trista Baldwin, UMO Ensemble, and this cast present, and while they provide a simple suggestion, that in order to move forward we need to look to the past to change the future, answering the second bookend question by knowing the first, it’s in the examination of the events that the play presents between the bookends where the answer truly lies.
Squeeze! is a true ensemble piece, none of the characters have names, the closest being Terry Crane and Emma Curtis identified as the “squeezers”, and this group is made up of actors who need to be able to deliver in the three components of the storytelling, the ability to portray their characters’ personalities and motivations through acting and deliver the unique and poetic dialogue that Trista Baldwin has written into the play, the movement that is required to represent the action taking place within and between scenes and that needed to progress the story, and finally, the ability vocally to deliver the songs they sing together, which are used to portray their emotions or reactions to their current settings. The group, which includes Meghan Ames and Rhys Daly along with UMO Ensemble members David Godsey, Janet McAlpin, and Lyam White, superbly manage all of these components of the storytelling.
Musically, the group is exceptional, which is the most surprising part of the play for me, if only because there’s no mention of a music or vocal director, or songs within the program. I recall two songs, and I apologize if I get the titles wrong, but “Under the Bright Dotted Sky” and “Way Back Bad Back Then” are both perfectly placed on the play, and are also both great vehicles for switching up the trajectory of the story to provide insight into how the group is feeling at a particular time and place. Moreover, they are beautifully performed. Again, the program doesn’t list a music or vocal director specifically, but the harmonies and balance in these songs are both very good. The movement is also very well done, each actor brings a unique ability of a mix of modern dance, acrobatics, and gymnastics to their roles, and this includes the “squeezers”, Terry Crane and Emma Curtis, who portray the entirety of their characters solely through motion, as they don’t speak at all. Finally, on the acting front, to a person the group captures the despair, hopelessness, anger, sadness, and bitterness that a situation like this would understandably call for, but also all of those characteristics that lead to what causes them to begin to work together despite their fear of social interaction, and the hope to keep going. They’re each complicated portrayals, but then again, they’re ultimately human.
With the sheer amount of different elements used in the telling of the story in Squeeze!, especially with the type and amount of movement that the play employs, the scenic design, and specifically the set, needs to support all of it. What that means in this case is that first and foremost, there needs to be enough open space to represent the desolation of the area in which this cast finds themselves, and enough space to allow for the cast’s movement and acrobatics, including moves using larger props like ladders. Further, the set needs to be augmented with props that serve the storytelling in such a way that allow these characters to scavenge through and find the most random of objects. The splattered paint that I was referring to when I mentioned that the space looked like an artist studio, well that’s mostly just window dressing to make the entire set appear chaotic and unorganized, and the plastic covering, well, you’ll have to see the play to see what that’s used for. Max Sarkowsky, another UMO Ensemble member, is the set designer, sound designer, and technical director for Squeeze! It’s clear, as an UMO member, that Max has been involved in the collaborative process along with Elizabeth, Trista, and this cast, his design fits the storytelling like a glove, a glove that is custom made with different fabric and a different color for each finger, but a glove nonetheless. Madison Dillon’s lighting is also a crucial piece to the story, adding drama where a scene demands or creating a mood of despair through darker lighting, or cooperation with brighter. The entirety of the piece is such a unique way of building and presenting a story, but each of these components are crucial to making it work.
Squeeze!, a co-produced premiere event from Seattle Public Theater and UMO Ensemble, written by Trista Baldwin, is a play for our time. It’s a look into a future dystopia, a future that seems achievable in our current social and political climate, and one in which it seems we are destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over until we decide, together, to move the needle from the skip in the record. While the story isn’t altogether unique, it’s the telling of it that differentiates Squeeze! from other tales of a bleak future caused by the spoils of capitalism, isolationism, and a global ignorance of climate change. Told through a combination of music, movement, and drama, director Elizabeth Klob’s cast, masterful at all three, brings this story of helplessness and despair, topped with a thin layer of hope, to wonderful acrobatic life.
Squeeze, a co-production from Seattle Public Theater and UMO Ensemble, runs on stage at the Bathhouse Theatre on Green Lake in Seattle through April 13. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.seattlepublictheater.org/.
Photo credit: VITZ Photography
