Life in Seattle — blog — Danielle Mohlman

Hello, It's Bad

You do not need another person telling you how bad it is out there.

Though I have to say, it’s kind of comforting to see every single person around me buzzing with the same level of anxiety that I feel, oh, all the time. J had a hard time sleeping last night and instead of being a supportive partner I said, “Oh, remember my entire August?” Welcome to my brain, everyone.

Instead, I’m going to do a quick list of ten things that are inspiring me today. Because hello, it’s bad. But maybe we can all find a pocket of good.

Life in SeattleDanielle MohlmanMarch 9, 2020Comment

Making Time to Eat

Last year I wrote a big story for American Theatre magazine.

You can read it here. I’m pretty proud of it. To prepare, I interviewed seven playwrights who don’t have MFAs — artists who’ve made a career and a life for themselves without the three years in a university and the student loan debt that comes with it. I walked away from those phone calls with what is quite possibly the biggest lesson of my career so far: you have to keep challenging yourself, whether you have that degree or not.

Life in Seattle, My Own ArtDanielle MohlmanFebruary 26, 2020Test Kitchen, actors, dinner, new play, new pages, community, writing, playwritingComment

She Used to Be Mine, or How Sara Bareilles Became The Loudest Voice in my Life

The other day, I turned to my partner and said, “Maybe I should just start singing more.”

I don’t have a bad voice. (I don’t have a great one.) I can match pitch with some practice. (Emphasis on “some practice.”) And it’s not like I’ve never been in a choir (um, try elementary school through college church choirs) or been in a musical (Chicago in 2008 — the sexuality traumatized my uncle so much that he forgets he even saw that show) or sung at open mics (I needed an outlet from 2011-12). Maybe I should start singing more. Maybe I should start singing more, just at home.

An Audience Outreach Year in Review

When I moved to Seattle in 2015, I almost immediately started an audience engagement group called Let’s Go See a Play! What started as a way to get MBA students to leave the University of Washington campus quickly grew to include new friends, theatre professionals, and acquaintances interested in introducing theatre to their lives. My mission evolved to embrace what was already happening: we would only see plays and musicals written by traditionally marginalized artists, including but not limited to playwrights of color, LGBTQIA+ voices, and women.

Life in SeattleDanielle MohlmanDecember 16, 2019The PlaygroundComment

Driven to Anger

Last week I saw a play that got me so riled up and angry.

In fact, when I criticized the play on the way home, my friend said “I’m sorry you hated it.” I didn’t hate it. Hating something doesn’t bring out intense emotions and critique, at least not for me. When I tried to relay my same critique to J, who had not seen the play and didn’t know anything about it. In fact, he’d been at work when I was out galavanting around town, seeing free theatre. He was tired. I was tired. And he said, “I’m sorry it was a waste of your time.”

It wasn’t a waste of my time. It wasn’t.

Life in Seattle, Other People's ArtDanielle MohlmanJuly 22, 2019Comment

The Mountain is Out

The mountain is out today.

In Seattle, the mountain hides behind grey skies that we’ve come to think of as normal. The mountain stands in for the sun, because we’re complaining about the sun. It’s too bright or in the wrong place or angled in a weird way or we just don’t have sunglasses yet — we weren’t prepared. And you can always be prepared for a mountain.

Life in SeattleDanielle MohlmanMarch 18, 2019Mount RainierComment

Cooking as Collaboration

I’ve been on a bit of a food kick lately. I mean, who isn’t, right? Food sustains us, it keeps us going. And, when it’s done well, it surprises us, delights us, makes us want to eat way more than our bodies want us to. Really good food is exciting.

A few weeks ago, I took a cooking class with my husband.

Life in SeattleDanielle MohlmanMarch 4, 2019cooking, cooking togetherComment

These Seattle winters are making me soft

When I first moved here, I was miserable. I couldn’t stop telling people about my plans to move back to Washington, DC. I had no friends, my relationship was in shambles, and I was working retail in an incredibly toxic environment. And then there was the weather. (The weather, y’all.) It rained roughly 99.98% of the time and in the off chance that it wasn’t raining that day, the sky was too grey or the sun was setting too early or I was seasonally depressed and not willing to confront it.

Life in SeattleDanielle MohlmanFebruary 4, 2019weather, snow, SeattleComment