Table Sugar

The Surprising Sounds of Table Sugar

by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS For some bands, messiness can be a virtue. Not everyone thrives on the airtight compositions of Robert Fripp or other leaders of compositional tidiness. A band like The National draws its strength from disciplined arrangements and an almost drum-machine-esque rhythm section, but that focus can result in music devoid …

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The Time Jumpers

Vince Gill and The Time Jumpers

by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Country superstar Vince Gill will perform Friday in Olympia, but he won’t, strictly speaking, be playing country music. Gill, who’s won 20 Grammys and 18 Country Music Association awards, is coming to town not on a solo tour but as one-tenth of Western swing supergroup The Time Jumpers. Western …

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Heartsparkle Players

A Different Challenge for Heartsparkle Players

by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Heartsparkle Players is best known for its Playback Theater performances, in which the players act out audience members’ stories. Away from the spotlight, though, the troupe helps train doctors and other medical professionals at Madigan Army Medical Center. Some players act the parts of patients for interns and others …

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Rachel Corrie

At Long Last, Her Name Is Rachel Corrie

by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS Even now, 13 years after her death at age 23, few names are more controversial in Thurston County than that of Olympia activist Rachel Corrie. Corrie died in a Gaza combat zone under the tread of an Israeli bulldozer. The driver of that vehicle insisted he never saw her. …

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John Pratt in OLT's Educating Rita

Chaucer Comes to Life on Stage

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS In mid-January 2017, Olympia Little Theatre will produce a staged reading of A Lollard in the Wind: Chaucer’s Dilemma by local actor-turned-playwright John Pratt. Pratt was most recently seen in the leading role, Arthur Putnam, in OLT’s An Act of the Imagination. Based in part on Chaucer’s stories from …

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David Maldonado, Molly Quinn, Tad Mettler, Heidi Fredericks, Daniel Fassnacht and Henry Meyer in ATP's Les Miz

Apple Tree Productions’ Les Misérables

by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Imagine you have five days to rehearse and perform the musical Les Misérables. Now add that you’re still a teenager and have little to no professional acting experience. It sounds overwhelming, but for 32 elementary, middle and high school students of the South Sound, it’s a welcome challenge. The …

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Papillon Marketplace

Handcrafted Haitian Goods at Papillon Marketplace

by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS When Olympia shoppers step from winter cold into the warmth of downtown’s new Papillon Marketplace, they’re met with colorful, Caribbean décor, Haitian music and artisanal goods including jewelry and other wearable items. The marketplace, Papillon Enterprise’s flagship storefront in the United States, sells handcrafted items from vendors in Haiti. …

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Solstice spiral walk at Unity of Olympia

Solstice Celebrations

by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS The earth rotates around its north-sound axis once each day, but that axis has a tilt of 23.5 degrees with respect to the sun. In other words, the earth leans about an eighth of a semicircle away from solar north at all times. Consequently, our Northern Hemisphere is aimed …

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Olympia Poetry Network

Seasons Readings From Olympia Poetry Network

by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS What would the holiday season be if it didn’t include a bit of winter poetry, read under the warm glow of a lamp in a cozy room? The Olympia Poetry Network (OPN), a nonprofit organization with 25 years of history in the South Sound, invites community members to join …

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Jess Allan and Robert McConkey in The Physician in Spite of Himself

REVIEW: The Physician in Spite of Himself

THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Once again Theater Artists Olympia (TAO) has taken a classic and updated it to make it, if not better than the original, then at least more enjoyable and laughable for contemporary audiences. Philip Wickstrom, Pug Bujeaud and the TAO collective have updated Molière’s 17th-century farce The Physician …

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