Monica Russell in The Nutcracker

Nutcracker, Nutcracker

by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS As the 124th anniversary of its first production approaches, The Nutcracker might be more popular than ever. There’s an entire website (NutcrackerBallet.com), in fact, devoted to listing productions of the holiday ballet about a little girl who gets a nutcracker for Christmas and finds herself transported to magical lands …

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PoetryMusic

PoetryMusic at Olympia Timberland Library

by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Library concerts, once startling, have become commonplace. But PoetryMusic—which fuses literary classics with wide-ranging music—is truly at home among the stacks. The Port-Angeles-based chamber-jazz duo, performing Where Words and Music Meet at the Olympia Timberland Library this Thursday, has played libraries from California to Massachusetts. “They’re the main venues …

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Masterworks Choral Ensemble

Jingle: A Christmas Celebration

by Jennifer Crain for OLY ARTS On December 3, the Masterworks Choral Ensemble’s annual Christmas concert kicks off the Yuletide season. Gary Witley, director of the community chorus since he helped found it in 1981, says listeners can expect a family friendly evening with traditional favorites, sing-alongs and tunes to make them laugh. “Every Christmas …

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Governor Inslee twitpic

Governor Inslee and the First Lady Celebrate the Holidays

by Ned Hayes for OLY ARTS The Inslee family has several traditions that revolve around family, and this year the first couple of Washington state was happy to share its traditions with OLY ARTS. According to first lady Trudi Inslee, Gov. Jay Inslee willingly transforms into an artist and storywriter over the holidays, as he’s …

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Olympia Toy Run, photo by Jimmi Davies

Get Your Motor Runnin’ for Olympia Toy Run

by Jonah Barrett for OLY ARTS Once a year, the streets of Olympia close for a few hours as thousands of motorcycles roar down Pacific Avenue onto State, Capitol, Fifth and Deschutes Parkway. This is the 39th-annual Olympia Toy Run. Toys and proceeds are donated to the Salvation Army. They get there by being strapped …

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Jill Carter's preparation for The Nutcracker

Jill Carter’s Land of the Sweets

READ COMPLETE JILL CARTER INTERVIEW HERE >> PRINT ARTICLE BELOW >> by Ned Hayes for OLY ARTS When the curtain first rose on Jill Carter’s original set design for Land of the Sweets 20 years ago, there was a gasp from the audience, followed by a round of applause. The audience cheered for the scenic design …

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Kathy Gore-Fuss, Gabi Clayton, and Susan Christian at Salon Refu

Story Time at Salon Refu

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Olympia’s ever-surprising art gallery Salon Refu is instituting story time for the holiday season. Local poets, writers, storytellers and, as gallery owner Susan Christian puts it, “people of good will and excellent language skills” will read their work every Thursday through Sunday in December. During the month of December …

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Amy Solomon-Minarchi

Olympia’s First Poet Laureate (UPDATED)

Writing in the Rain With Olympia’s Poet Laureate UPDATED Nov. 23, 2016: City Arts Program manager Stephanie Johnson announced that the Olympia City Council approved Amy Solomon-Minarchi as Olympia’s first poet laureate. Solomon-Minarchi is in her fourth year of teaching at North Thurston High School. She grew up on the Jersey Shore and moved to …

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One Starry Night at Living Water

One Starry Night at Living Water

by Jennifer Crain for OLY ARTS Kids take the stage at Church of Living Water on December 2. One Starry Night, an evening of crafts, carols, choir and band performances—even live donkeys—is an annual event that launches the holiday season. Its central element is a retelling of the Christmas story. “It’s a really creative avenue …

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a Christmas cactus

A Noir Christmas at Olympia Little Theatre

by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS “Jake Marley was dead,” says director Kendra Malm, adding with a wink, “to begin with.” It’s a measure of the familiarity of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas that Malm can drop that literary allusion so casually. In A Christmas Cactus, …

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