On the second Wednesday of the month, the South Sound Story Guild gathers at Olympia’s Harbor House, where attendees preserve and celebrate the art of oral storytelling. Whether a funny yarn passed down through the generations, a spooky legend or the tale of a great mythological hero, the South Sound Story Guild holds space for members of the guild and the greater community to be entertained, learn something new, and share their own stories.
It’s autumn, and time for a classic whodunnit — and you don’t get more classic than Agatha Christie. What most people enjoy about her mysteries are the ingenious plots, the wickedly complicated alibis and ruses, and of course the eccentric detectives — brittle but brilliant Mrs. Marple, delightfully dippy Tommy and Tuppence, and the “little grey cells’ of that Belgian prodigy, Monsieur Hercule Poirot.
Starring John Serembe as Hercule Poirot, and Russ Holm as Monsieur Bouc, and directed by Scott Nolte, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express plays Oct. 3-Nov. 2 at Harlequin Productions.
Nobody does it like David Mollari Sederberg, an artist whose work is simultaneously otherworldly and grounded in reality. You have certainly seen his otherworldly Glowhenge (2020-2021), nine brilliantly painted monoliths standing upright on the mound by the shore of Capital Lake, each lit with black light at night and each painted by a different artist. During fall Arts Walk this year, Sederberg’s work will be featured in a retrospective exhibition of artworks in various media assembled by the artist: painting, sculpture, lighted installations, and video created from 1981 to the present at the Olympia Ballroom.
Oly Arts is now offering classes! Hone your writing skills and learn more about the art and craft of writing. Our first two classes, which take place in November 2025 and have limited space, are: John Longenbaugh teaching “The 10-Minute Play,” and Alec Clayton teaching “Writing for Newspapers & Magazines.”
There’s a sense of spaciousness and silence in the art of the Southwest Washington Regional Juried Exhibition at South Puget Sound Community College in such works as Danny Schreiber’s graphite-on-paper Lost Between the Stars and Foam and Jeanette Jones’ Fire Hazard, a still life that illuminates, as gallery manager Sean Barnes put it, “a quiet moment of rest.”
The Sunday, August 10 art show celebrating Spidermonkey’s 25th anniversary features artists that have become part of the Olympia tattoo circle over the past few decades, some stretching as far back as Bryan Childs’ early days over 30 years ago. As Childs says, these pieces will not be physical tattoos, but rather “a gallery of paintings that dream of being tattoos tailored for the back.”
Bear’s Souper Sunday Cookbook: Recipes for Hungry Animals is a charming cookbook for the whole family with recipes and stories by Olympia author Chris Hyde and illustrations by Olympia artist Roxanna Groves. The Souper Sunday movement began with an idea that came to Hyde to foster community togetherness and feed his neighbors in a world isolated after the Covid pandemic. What started out as a Facebook group that offered free soup to community members flourished into something bigger including this book.
In his New York Times review, critic Ben Brantley compared The Book of Mormon, coming to Olympia’s Washington Center, favorably to The King and I and The Sound of Music, adding “… “but rather than confronting tyrannical charismatic men with way too many children, our heroes must confront a one-eyed genocidal warlord… and a defeated, defensive group of villagers, riddled with AIDS… In setting these dark themes to sunny melodies, The Book of Mormon achieves something like a miracle.”
Tacoma’s TRIPOD began more than five years ago, where Lynn Di Nino brings artists of all stripes around to show off what they’ve done, what they’re working on, and where they’re going. Artists will come up on stage, readied with a projector, and show off 50 images over 15 minutes, guiding the audience through a story, or just giving them an inside look at their creative processes. The effect is somewhere between a TED Talk, show-and-tell, and a friend sharing their vacation slides.
Our House, written and directed by John Longenbaugh, is inspired by Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town. This unique immersive experience is back for a limited run beginning on July 17. The 2024 production received rave reviews: “Nothing short of a triumph. By all means find yourself to Our House,” Margie Deck, Ineffable Twaddle; “enlarges what theatre can be,” James O’Barr, Oly Arts; “there’s also magic…a liveliness that theatre strives for” Gemma Wilson, Seattle Times — as well as a Critic’s Choice from Oly Arts.
On the second Wednesday of the month, the South Sound Story Guild gathers at Olympia’s Harbor House, where attendees preserve and celebrate the art of oral storytelling. Whether a funny yarn passed down through the generations, a spooky legend or the tale of a great mythological hero, the South Sound Story Guild holds space for members of the guild and the greater community to be entertained, learn something new, and share their own stories.
It’s autumn, and time for a classic whodunnit — and you don’t get more classic than Agatha Christie. What most people enjoy about her mysteries are the ingenious plots, the wickedly complicated alibis and ruses, and of course the eccentric detectives — brittle but brilliant Mrs. Marple, delightfully dippy Tommy and Tuppence, and the “little grey cells’ of that Belgian prodigy, Monsieur Hercule Poirot. Starring John Serembe as Hercule Poirot, and Russ Holm as Monsieur Bouc, and directed by Scott Nolte, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express plays Oct. 3-Nov. 2 at Harlequin Productions.
Nobody does it like David Mollari Sederberg, an artist whose work is simultaneously otherworldly and grounded in reality. You have certainly seen his otherworldly Glowhenge (2020-2021), nine brilliantly painted monoliths standing upright on the mound by the shore of Capital Lake, each lit with black light at night and each painted by a different artist. During fall Arts Walk this year, Sederberg’s work will be featured in a retrospective exhibition of artworks in various media assembled by the artist: painting, sculpture, lighted installations, and video created from 1981 to the present at the Olympia Ballroom.
Oly Arts is now offering classes! Hone your writing skills and learn more about the art and craft of writing. Our first two classes, which take place in November 2025 and have limited space, are: John Longenbaugh teaching “The 10-Minute Play,” and Alec Clayton teaching “Writing for Newspapers & Magazines.”
There’s a sense of spaciousness and silence in the art of the Southwest Washington Regional Juried Exhibition at South Puget Sound Community College in such works as Danny Schreiber’s graphite-on-paper Lost Between the Stars and Foam and Jeanette Jones’ Fire Hazard, a still life that illuminates, as gallery manager Sean Barnes put it, “a quiet moment of rest.”
The Sunday, August 10 art show celebrating Spidermonkey’s 25th anniversary features artists that have become part of the Olympia tattoo circle over the past few decades, some stretching as far back as Bryan Childs’ early days over 30 years ago. As Childs says, these pieces will not be physical tattoos, but rather “a gallery of paintings that dream of being tattoos tailored for the back.”
Bear’s Souper Sunday Cookbook: Recipes for Hungry Animals is a charming cookbook for the whole family with recipes and stories by Olympia author Chris Hyde and illustrations by Olympia artist Roxanna Groves. The Souper Sunday movement began with an idea that came to Hyde to foster community togetherness and feed his neighbors in a world isolated after the Covid pandemic. What started out as a Facebook group that offered free soup to community members flourished into something bigger including this book.
In his New York Times review, critic Ben Brantley compared The Book of Mormon, coming to Olympia’s Washington Center, favorably to The King and I and The Sound of Music, adding “… “but rather than confronting tyrannical charismatic men with way too many children, our heroes must confront a one-eyed genocidal warlord… and a defeated, defensive group of villagers, riddled with AIDS… In setting these dark themes to sunny melodies, The Book of Mormon achieves something like a miracle.”
Tacoma’s TRIPOD began more than five years ago, where Lynn Di Nino brings artists of all stripes around to show off what they’ve done, what they’re working on, and where they’re going. Artists will come up on stage, readied with a projector, and show off 50 images over 15 minutes, guiding the audience through a story, or just giving them an inside look at their creative processes. The effect is somewhere between a TED Talk, show-and-tell, and a friend sharing their vacation slides.
Our House, written and directed by John Longenbaugh, is inspired by Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town. This unique immersive experience is back for a limited run beginning on July 17. The 2024 production received rave reviews: “Nothing short of a triumph. By all means find yourself to Our House,” Margie Deck, Ineffable Twaddle; “enlarges what theatre can be,” James O’Barr, Oly Arts; “there’s also magic…a liveliness that theatre strives for” Gemma Wilson, Seattle Times — as well as a Critic’s Choice from Oly Arts.