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 …
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 …
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, …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS In its 29th year, Providence Christmas Forest is a different kind of winter wonderland—a forest of trees and wreaths decorated in themes from traditional to surprising. One tree will have a NASCAR theme, while another was inspired by Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. The forest is the …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS From the coauthor of Late Nite Catechism comes the holiday comedy Sister’s Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold for a one-night-only performance at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts. The Center calls the play “CSI: Bethlehem,” a holiday extravaganza. This comedy-mystery features “Sister,” a woman out …
by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS Why is it such a common occurrence for comedians who talk politics to be met with the dismissive refrain, “Stick with the comedy?” For as long as comics have been making audiences laugh, they’ve also been ferrying us through tumultuous times of uprising and conflict. They comfort anxieties while …
by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Political activist and author Iyad Burnat is touring the Pacific Northwest this week to speak about his new book, Bil’in and the Nonviolent Resistance, which addresses peaceful protests in the West Bank and the author’s lifelong struggle for justice and freedom in Palestine. Burnat’s reading at Traditions Fair Trade …
by Kelli Samson for OLY ARTS Two of the most treasured traditions at Olympia Family Theater (OFT) are the annual holiday show and the multigenerational cast show. This year, the two are brilliantly rolled together for a play that will surely get even the biggest Scrooge into the holiday spirit. Today’s parents may recall from …
WEEKEND PREVIEW is your Friday guide to events in Thurston County. As always, there’s a diverse array of musical performances around Olympia this week, plus unique dances and readings on the stage. Don’t let any rain keep you from experiencing the best art and culture Olympia has to offer. (Listen to our Podcast version of Weekend …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS In December, when most theaters are doing holiday shows, Theater Artists Olympia (TAO) presents Molière’s 17th-century farce The Physician in Spite of Himself. TAO’s version of the French comedy, as adapted by Philip Wickstrom and the TAO collective and directed by Pug Bujeaud, is set in Louisiana in the …