Dry Powder, a High Comedy/Drama in the World of High Finance
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Dry Powder is billed as a comedy, and yes there is a lot of humor in this tale of high-finance shenanigans. But there’s a...
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Billy ThomasOct 11, 20180
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Dry Powder is billed as a comedy, and yes there is a lot of humor in this tale of high-finance shenanigans. But there’s a...
Read MoreBilly ThomasOct 07, 20180
By Christian Carvajal “Across an immense ethereal gulf,” a voice intoned, “intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly...
Read MoreBilly ThomasSep 27, 20180
By Christian Carvajal In a surprise August move, Harlequin Productions cancelled its original play choice for October, the Chicago crime drama A Steady Rain. In an...
Read MoreBilly ThomasSep 26, 20180
By Alec Clayton Barlow Palminteri, featured artist for Arts Walk at Art House Design, is well-known for his realistic, sharply focused paintings of interiors, often...
Read MoreBilly ThomasSep 26, 20180
By Karen Lunde Ever bought a musician at auction? On October 20, The Olympia Peace Choir will auction off some of its finest musical talent at its gala benefit, Tune in...
Read MoreBilly ThomasSep 26, 20180
By Lucy Volker Family-friendly comedy Corduroy opens this month at Olympia Family Theater. The original book, written and illustrated by Don Freeman in 1968, was...
Read MoreBilly ThomasSep 24, 20180
ART REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS John Logan’s dramatic two-man show Red at Olympia Little Theatre is engaging, intelligent and highly intense. It is a tour de...
Read MoreBilly ThomasSep 06, 20180
Note to readers — the restaurant named Shirro’s appears to have closed as of September 16, 2018. Our best wishes to the restauranteurs and our apologies to...
Read MoreBilly ThomasSep 06, 20180
By Christian Carvajal As StoryOly completes its third season of raconteurial entertainment, host (and professional storyteller) Elizabeth Lord is busily making plans for...
Read MoreBilly ThomasAug 27, 20180
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The subtitle “the stage mother of all musicals” only begins to hint at what this campy musical is all about. It is a...
Read MoreBilly ThomasAug 19, 20180
By ADAM McKINNEY En Canto, a seven-piece, Brazilian-dance band, is infused with an undercurrent of unbridled joy. This is a band that creates music solely for the...
Read MoreBilly ThomasAug 16, 20180
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Musical theater has returned to Olympia with the staging of Legally Blonde by the capital city’s new theater company...
Read Moreby Adam McKinney If you saw a band list a collection of absurdly disparate influences, including System of a Down, Tower of Power, Modest Mouse, James Brown, and many...
Read MoreBilly ThomasAug 12, 20180
By ADAM McKINNEY If there’s any wonder why cover bands have played a consistent part in nightlife scenes over the years, one needn’t look any further than...
Read MoreBilly ThomasAug 05, 20180
By TOM SIMPSON If you are under age 15, and you like to rock, Lacey in Tune and Timberland Regional Library’s Summer Reading program has you covered. The Not-Its, a...
Read MoreBilly ThomasAug 01, 20180
by Tom Simpson On August 16, Harlequin Productions opens the musical Ruthless! – The Stage Mother of all Musicals. Ruthless! is a unique all female musical. The story...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 29, 20180
By TOM SIMPSON Country singer and songwriter Kaitie Wade spent the last five years in Nashville, performing and recording to international acclaim. Her single “Don’t...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 29, 20180
By ADAM McKINNEY Comprising a murderers’ row of blues veterans, the five-piece ensemble Joe Blue and the Roof Shakers brings a wild energy to performances. It’s...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 29, 20180
By TOM SIMPSON Lacey in Tune goes into August with SWAY, a Northwest cover band that features contemporary hits by artists like, Bruno Mars, Usher, Rihanna, David...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 29, 20180
By ADAM McKINNEY Anyone who ever trashed disco has been proven wrong by decades of cultural reappraisal. What is true – and what many always knew to be true – is...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 29, 20180
By TOM SIMPSON Instead of music or acting, this evening focuses on creatures of all sizes and types – including the most creepy-crawly of all, snakes and spiders....
Read MoreBy JONAH BARRETT for OLY ARTS Get dressed up and get fancy for the third-annual Center Stage Awards and Gala at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts this...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 22, 20180
By ADAM McKINNEY Blessed with a clear, strong and achingly vulnerable singing voice, Mikaiah Sawyer is one of the brightest spots in the Olympia music scene. Drawing...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 22, 20180
By TOM SIMPSON For the past 15 years, the Jimmy Vegas Band cover group has entertained audiences at special events and festivals. The band’s repertoire is enormous,...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 19, 20180
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Animal Fire Theatre’s The Winter’s Tale is the way Shakespeare in the Park should be done. The outdoor setting is a...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 15, 20180
By TOM SIMPSON Las Vegas performer Justin James comes to Lacey in Tune for a Saturday evening family-friendly performance. James combines a sharp comedic wit with the...
Read MoreVisual Arts Review by SUSAN CHRISTIAN (special to Oly Arts) Marilyn Bedford is showing her paintings at the small home gallery — Allsorts in Olympia — for...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 13, 2018 1
By ADAM McKINNEY Washington is no slouch when it comes to quality and quantity of jazz bands, but some lack a sense of self-awareness and infectious fun. It’s a fate...
Read MoreCapital Lakefair celebrates 61 years of service to our community in 2018. It was created as an event to celebrate waterfront activities and bring people to the downtown...
Read MoreCapital Lakefair celebrates 61 years of service to our community in 2018. It was created as an event to celebrate waterfront activities and bring people to the downtown...
Read MoreBy TOM SIMPSON Many music fans hear echoes of alt-rock and grunge when they listen to the musical landscape of the Pacific Northwest. However, this region has quietly...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 12, 20180
By TOM SIMPSON Since the age of five, Vikki Gasko Green has been entertaining live audiences with singing, dancing, and acting. An award winning ventriloquist and...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 12, 20180
By TOM SIMPSON Jazz artist Darren Motamedy has played with Ray Charles, Kenny G, Steve Oliver, Paul Taylor, Grover Washington Jr. and many other notable musicians. This...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 11, 20180
ART REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Jacci Lynn Butler’s Holy Trinity and Other Tales in Abstract at Browsers Book Shop is this artist’s first solo exhibition in...
Read MoreBy ALEC CLAYTON Every year, Capital Lakefair gives the South Sound its own royal court, chosen in the spring from among junior girls at local high schools. Here’s a...
Read Moreby JONAH BARRETT All the park’s a stage, but remember to bring bug spray. Animal Fire Theatre returns for its eighth summer production, The Winter’s Tale. Hipster...
Read Moreby LUCIA VOLKER Swimming Holes of Washington authors Anna Katz and Shane Robinson will be in Olympia next week to talk about their new book. The two of them spent time...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJul 05, 20180
By MELISSA AVRIL HARRIS Loss of Mt. Rainer is the latest production from the Olympia Film Collective, a non-profit organization of talented local filmmakers...
Read MoreTheater Review by NED HAYES Harlequin’s summer revue — The Magical Mystery Midsummer Musical — has more depth to it than may first appear. The overarching...
Read MoreBBQ, Bands, and Family Fun at Rainier Vista Park by TOM SIMPSON On Tuesday, July 3, the City of Lacey hosts a pre-Fourth-of-July family event at Rainier Vista Park. The...
Read MoreBy ALEC CLAYTON This summer Harlequin Productions celebrates 30 years of music by Bruce Whitney, who started as a rock musician and has arranged, conducted and performed...
Read MoreBy NED HAYES This summer, Pacific Northwest Theater will host summer-theater camps and workshops at a new venue. The camps and the two summer productions, Sleeping...
Read MoreBy TOM SIMPSON Late in June, Lacey in Tune hosts the 133rd Army Band’s rock group, Full Metal Racket, which performs Top 40 hits, classic rock, country, grunge, pop,...
Read MoreBy CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL for OLY ARTS Every Fourth of July the city of Tumwater pulls out all the stops. Start with the obvious: The Thunder Valley Fireworks Show is,...
Read MoreBy TOM SIMPSON Musical Family Adventure The Harmonica Pocket is a family-friendly band from Port Townsend, Washington, that comes to Lacey in Tune as part of the...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJun 21, 20180
by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS The name Shawn Colvin is familiar to anyone who owned a radio in the summer of 1997, when her song “Sunny Came Home” was a top-10...
Read Moreby Ned Hayes for OLY ARTS OLY ARTS reported in June that The Evergreen State College was cutting heavily into staff and facilities that made theater possible at...
Read MoreThe following recommended reading list was provided by Orca Books in Olympia for Pride Week coverage in OLY ARTS. Orca Books is the largest independent bookstore in...
Read MoreBy Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS In June, Lakewood Playhouse will host a staged reading of a play based on the best-selling novel The Eagle Tree by Olympia novelist Ned...
Read MoreBilly ThomasJun 11, 20180
By BILLY THOMAS for OLY ARTS As summer begins, master storyteller Elizabeth Lord invites you to join her on a journey into Camp Galilee, a (fictious) Christian summer...
Read MoreBy ALEC CLAYTON for OLY ARTS Singer, actor and all-around funny lady Lauren O’Neill is half of the team hosting Capital City Pride this year. This is her second Pride...
Read MoreBy ALEC CLAYTON for OLY ARTS Olympia’s master of storytelling, the one and only Elizabeth Lord, will cohost this year’s Capital City Pride with Lauren O’Neill....
Read MoreBy ALEC CLAYTON for OLY ARTS Headlining on this year’s Capital City Pride entertainment stage will be drag-dance sensation The Caravan of GLAM. This Portland,...
Read MoreBy ALEC CLAYTON for OLY ARTS Olympia counselor and LGBTQ activist Teresa Guajardo has been selected as this year’s recipient of the prestigious Pride Day Award, given...
Read MoreBy JONAH BARRETT for OLY ARTS Pride is here again, a celebration that includes all the different LGBT groups that march in the parade. But what is a drag queen, what is...
Read MoreBy Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Leslie Cushman is the 2018 Pride Activist of the year. Leslie, an attorney and community organizer, is being recognized for her work to...
Read MoreCOMPLETE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS OVERVIEW Capital City Pride hosts the largest small-town pride festival in the Pacific Northwest. Pride brings together the gay, lesbian,...
Read MoreBy ALEC CLAYTON Jakes on 4th is, as it has been, “Pride Party Central” in Olympia. “Jakes has been in business since August 2004, and we’ve been a Pride...
Read MoreBy OLY ARTS STAFF History shows that in every society and culture, human beings have refused to fit into a narrow sex-and-gender box, yet for decades the United States...
Read MoreBy Yvonne Joyce for OLY ARTS “My name is Emma González. I’m 18 years old, Cuban and bisexual.” In the February 2018 issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine, a young...
Read MoreBy OLY ARTS STAFF Capital City Pride hosts the largest small-town pride festival in the Pacific Northwest. Pride brings together the gay, lesbian, bisexual,...
Read Moreby Kelli Samson and Yvonne Joyce for OLY ARTS The 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle is staging a new rendition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the month of June, loosely...
Read MoreBy BRYAN WILLIS for OLY ARTS Olympia audiences have one more chance to catch free, aerial performances as The Brotherhood Takes Flight celebrates the end of its ninth...
Read Moreby Billy Thomas for OLY ARTS On Saturday, June 2, 2018, comic book creators, readers, and collectors will once again gather in downtown Olympia to celebrate the Olympia...
Read Moreby Tom Simpson for OLY ARTS In early June, the Capitol Theater in Olympia will see notable Pacific Northwest bands join forces in a benefit concern entitled “Rock...
Read Moreby Bryan Willis for OLY ARTS How does a stay-at-home dad get bitten by the video bug and wind up with an invitation to the famous Sundance Native Lab? “It was my...
Read Moreby Jonah Barrett for OLY ARTS The island archipelago of Haida Gwaii lies 585 miles from Olympia, WA. These islands serve as the heartland of the Haida Nation, and the...
Read MoreTHEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Harlequin Productions’ latest offering is Three Days of Rain, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama by Richard Greenberg,...
Read Moreby Bryan Willis for OLY ARTS Washington State’s new Poet Laureate, Claudia Castro Luna, will be featured at the Lacey Library Monday, May 7 at 7:00 p.m. at a free...
Read Moreby MELISSA AVRIL HARRIS for OLY ARTS In search of an escape this spring season? Take a trip down the rabbit hole with Studio West Dance Academy’s production of Alice...
Read Moreby MOLLY GILMORE for OLY ARTS Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake didn’t earn much acclaim when it debuted in 1877 in Moscow, but once it took wing, the ballet continued to...
Read MoreOLY ARTS is excited to partner again with Shanna Paxton Photography for the complete photo essay of Procession of the Species 2018! ((Also see our LUMINARY PROCESSION...
Read MoreOLY ARTS is excited to partner again with Shanna Paxton for complete photographic coverage of Procession of the Species 2018! ((See also our PROCESSION OF THE SPECIES...
Read Moreby Jonah Barrett for OLY ARTS The work of two visual artists will collide in a single show at Arts Walk this weekend. Local multimedia virtuosos Katherine Smith and...
Read Moreby Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Harlequin Productions’ “Three Days of Rain,” opening May 3, is a subtle mystery — not a whodunit, but rather a “what happened...
Read MoreArts Walk Pick 2018 by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The Evergreen Arts Walk Tour describes China Star as “a conceptually-minded process artist working across disciplines...
Read Moreby Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS The subtler sibling to the many-splendored Procession of the Species, the Luminary Procession shines brightly, filling the streets of...
Read MoreArts Walk Pick 2018 by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Chris Maynard’s unique and unforgettable feather art has often been seen at Childhood’s End Gallery in Olympia, and...
Read MoreArts Walk Pick 2018 by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Debra Van Tuinen’s latest paintings in oil over acrylic are the culmination and apotheosis of a long and ongoing...
Read Moreby Bryan Willis for OLY ARTS Artesian Rumble Arkestra is teaming up with Radical Acts of Dance Company (RADCo) to create a movable meadow for the Procession. Mary...
Read MoreArts Walk Pick 2018 by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Daniel G. Bernstein’s photography covers the land, animals, people, and important events in and around Olympia and the...
Read Moreby Karen Lunde for OLY ARTS Although few people welcome ants parading across their kitchen counter, the students in Julia Abrams’ first and second grade class at...
Read MoreArts Walk Pick 2018 by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Art lovers should have little trouble finding Diana Fairbanks’ paintings, as she is showing in multiple venues in this...
Read Moreby Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS Jerry Berebitsky is the technical director for performing and media arts at The Evergreen State College. He’s also filled...
Read MoreArts Walk Pick 2018 by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Mia Schulte creates brightly colored abstract paintings inspired by landscapes — many of which call to mind the...
Read Moreby Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS The annual return of two Olympia institutions is approaching — the Luminary Procession and the Procession of the Species. Started in...
Read Moreby Kate Hayes for OLY ARTS Frankie Cosmos is on her way to Olympia! Next Wednesday night (April 18), Frankie will headline a collaborative show at the Olympia Film...
Read Moreby Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS One would be hard-pressed to find a band more intimately ingrained in the Los Angeles scene than Las Cafeteras. Their sound is an eclectic...
Read Moreby Karen Lunde for OLY ARTS In June of 1947, the Olympia Symphony Orchestra (OSO) performed its first ever work — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Overture to Don...
Read Moreby Jonah Barrett for OLY ARTS FRANKIE COSMOS April 18 “Frankie Cosmos is the best band to listen to while you’re hugging a small dog or getting splashed with...
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To add an event or edit the OLY ARTS listing, contact our team at calendar @ olyarts.com