Zach @ ArtsWest

He’s trash 🚮

📸: Courtesy Artswest

Showtimes May 4th – 28th

After impressing West Seattle audiences last season with Monsters of the American Cinema, a two-hander set at a drive-in movie theater, San Diego-based playwright Christian St. Croix is back at ArtsWest with Zach. For fans of the YouTube channel, Zack Morris is Trash, which analyzes Mark Paul-Gosselaar’s character on Saved by the Bell and deems him sociopathic, this world premiere satire is right up your alley.

Tracking the goings-on of two POC students at a very recognizable majority-white SoCal high school, Zach shifts into high gear when the pair are invited into the inner circle of the titular white boy and find that acceptance comes with its own dangerous setbacks.

Directed by Sara Porkalob—creator of The Dragon Cycle, star of the recent Broadway revival of 1776, and at one point director of two local shows at once (WET’s Straight White Men and ArtsWest’s Peerless, which opened one week apart in 2018)—the show is a standout in an already high-quality season. Even better? It’s an ensemble show with only two actors at the helm—Michael Nevárez and Amber Walker.

“When ArtsWest sent me the script for Zach, I knew within two pages of reading it I wanted to direct it,” said Porkalob. “A 90-minute play inspired by our favorite 90s American high school sitcoms with two actors playing an ensemble of 10 plus characters? Sign me up! The play is funny, nostalgic, and biting.”

“We fell absolutely in love with Christian’s comic sensibilities and his moving, genre-based playwrighting last year,” said ArtsWest Artistic Director Mathew Wright. “[Porkalob] brings as much comedy and style to her work as she does mission-drive, and a play in which two people play many parts will benefit greatly from her years of experience as a solo performer.”

And remember… Zack Morris is traaaaaaaash.

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Author

Marcus Gorman

Marcus Gorman is a Seattle-based playwright and film programmer. He once raised money for a synagogue by marathoning 15 Adam Sandler movies in one weekend. You can find him on Instagram and Twitter @marcus_gorman.