by Jennifer Crain for OLY ARTS The Washington Center for the Performing Arts will throw its doors open during Fall Arts Walk. On Friday, see an hour-long performance by Random Acts of Dance Collective, led by Karen Kirsch. Or catch outdoor performances by Studio West Dance Academy students. They’ll treat the crowd to hip-hop and …
by Jonah Barrett for OLY ARTS A barrel of sock monkeys will take the POWER center by storm this Arts Walk. Each sock monkey, created by members of Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights, will be on display in the front gallery of POWER downtown. Each monkey comes with its own story. “This project …
by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Few bands can boast having over 3,000 live performances under their belt. Gaelic Storm, on the other hand, can do exactly that, and the multinational Celtic-rock band is adding to those numbers every day as it tours the U.S. this fall. The self-described “blue-collar band” will bring its unique …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Adapted from a press release dated September 27: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts regretfully announces that the Northwest tour of A Night with Janis Joplin has been canceled, including the performance scheduled at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, October 12. “We were so …
by Rosemary Ponnekanti for OLY ARTS Cymbeline is a romantic Shakespeare play with a ridiculously big cast and totally random plot devices, so why is Harlequin Productions’ Scot Whitney mounting a production this October? For the story. “It’s a handful,” Whitney admits. “People are terrified of this play, but at heart it has a gorgeous, …
by Ned Hayes for OLY ARTS Lonnie L. Spikes Jr. is the artist whose piece “Fly Away” graces the cover of this edition of OLY ARTS. “Fly Away” was created by Spikes after the death of a relative. During the funeral procession, Spikes noticed a monarch butterfly resting on a cross above the interment site. …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Whether as the lothario Vince in Brian Willis’s Seven Ways to Get There, the title character in Agamemnon, the purely evil Emperor Saturninus in Titus Andronicus or the insane Renfield in Tacoma Little Theatre’s Dracula, Brian Wayne Jansen is a larger-than-life presence on any stage. And he’s an exhibiting …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Olympia actor, teacher and writer Keith Eisner has won an O. Henry Award. His short story “Blue Dot” was one of 20 chosen for publication in the anthology The O. Henry Prize Stories 2017, published this month. Past winners of the prestigious award — named for the late O. …
by McKenzie Murray for OLY ARTS Beginning September 29, the iconic Cat in the Hat himself will appear on the Olympia Family Theater mainstage. OFT’s fall production, based on the Dr. Seuss story, follows a curious cat who comes to wreak imaginative havoc in the home of Sally and her (unnamed) brother. A cast of …
by Kelli Samson for OLY ARTS Let Olympia Family Theater take you on a fantastic voyage during its 2017-2018 season. “All good stories take us on a journey in some way,” says artistic director Jen Ryle. Each season, OFT strives to bring us something old, something new and something original to the theater, plus something …