Fall is a time for rebirth, for rejuvenation, especially
when coming in the wake of a scorching dry summer
and a pandemic that refuses to go away. And the biggest, most extravagant arts event of all, Olympia’s fall Arts Walk — October 6 and 7 — our semi-annual community event celebrating all of the arts, but with an emphasis on visual arts when a majority of downtown businesses turn parts of their stores into art galleries.
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is full of rock-tinged tunes and is based on the popular book, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Featuring a multigenerational cast, Olympia Family Theater’s production of The Lightning Thief [October 6 – 29] is set to be a show that dazzles the stage with singing, dancing, action and adventure.
With so much quality work set to take to the stage in Tacoma and Lakewood over the next few months, the choices can be a little daunting. In the interest of narrowing things down, here are a few productions we’ve got our eyes on.
Olympia Family Theater Artistic Director Lily Raabe has resigned to spend more time writing and traveling. The company has hired its first executive director, Olympia actor Mark Alford.
Artist Janice Arnold’s “Homage to Water” ~ a blue-and-white river of handmade felt swirling and eddying through a rock garden ~ is on view through September 30th along the atrium of Washington State Department of Ecology’s headquarters in Lacey.
This year’s winner of the Percival Plinth Project in Olympia, “A Song for Nurturing Peace” by Nancy Thorne-Chambers, is a bronze statue of a girl holding a bird’s nest with an egg in one hand while the mother bird, a white dove, perches on her other hand.
The SPSCC 2023 art faculty and staff exhibition is beautiful, well executed, well presented, and thought-provoking with a variety of disciplines on display. Being created by educators, the show has underlying messages. Open through September.
On Sept. 16 and 17, locals will get a chance to learn the rest of the story at Bryan Willis’ Hotel Olympian Gala Extravaganza, a play that re-creates the hotel’s grand opening.
Olympe de Gouges announces at the opening of Harlequin’s “The Revolutionists” that she has an idea for a new play, a comedy, and much of the play follows her attempts to right/write the wrongs of the Revolution in a play “about women showing the boys how revolutions are done.”
The lineup for Azucar at Cryptatropa Bar (The Crypt) in Olympia is expected to be top-notch with burlesque, drag and variety performers hosted by Azucar producer Latina K Turner D’Ho.