October 07, 2026 — Catch Two New Plays and Orchestra Season Opener
Harlequin’s ‘Sanctuary City’
Harlequin Productions’ “Sanctuary City,” opening Friday, Oct. 9, focuses on friends B (Kai Sale) and G (Karissa Chin), undocumented immigrants who support one another as they try to find a place in a country where they’re without status. The 2020 play, by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, is set in post-Sept. 11 Newark, N.J. — a sanctuary city at a time when immigration enforcement was comparatively lax, but still a place of tremendous stress and risk for the teens and their families. “I have rarely seen a play that so effectively embodies the way external forces — in this case, immigration policies in the United States — distort the inner lives of actual humans,” Jesse Green wrote in a 2021 New York Times review (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/theater/sanctuary-city-review.html). The play, directed by Harlequin managing artistic director Aaron Lamb, will run in repertory with Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” allowing audiences to experience both plays in a single weekend. “These are two plays about memory, about how we might learn from what we’ve seen, about how we live in the now, and about how we honor the time we have,” Lamb wrote in his director’s note. If you see both shows, he said, “It is my hope that you see two things: We’re all human, regardless of who we choose to include or exclude, and … recognizing how far we’ve come also shows us how far we have to go.” Performances of “Sanctuary City” are at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9, 10, 18 and 22-24 and 2 p.m. Oct. 11, 14, 17 and 25 at the State Theater, 202 4th Ave E., Olympia. Tickets are $35-$49, with rush tickets available for $5-$24.50 two hours before showtimes. For the Oct. 17 and 23 performances, pay what you choose. (https://harlequinproductions.org/show/sanctuary-city/)
World premiere at Lakewood Playhouse
Lakewood Playhouse’s “The Docent,” opening Friday, Oct. 9, opens with a tour of the trees of New York’s Central Park and becomes the tale of an unlikely and transformative friendship. The production is the world premiere of Donna Kaz’s play, which the theater included in its 2025 Festival of New Voices. The production marks an ending as well as a beginning: It’s the last playhouse production that producing artistic director Joseph C. Walsh is directing before his departure. “There is something especially meaningful about ending my time at Lakewood Playhouse by bringing a new story into the world,” Walsh said in a press release. “This production has … reminded me why I fell in love with theater in the first place.” The opening-night show will begin at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a celebration of Walsh and the playhouse’s growth during his tenure. Other performances are at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 10, 16-18, 23 and 24 and 2 p.m. Oct. 11, 18 and 25 at the playhouse, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd. SW, Lakewood. Tickets are $25-$32. For the 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18 performance, pay what you choose. https://www.lakewoodplayhouse.org/the-docent.html
From the blues to ‘Rhapsody in Blue’
TThe Olympia Symphony Orchestra’s “Lift,” happening Sunday, Oct. 11, incorporates several facets of American music. George Gershwin, whose work incorporated jazz, pop and classical, is at the heart of the concert, represented by “Rhapsody in Blue,” featuring guest artist Calder Failla on piano, and “Catfish Row” from “Porgy and Bess.” The performance opens with Jessie Montgomery’s 2014 “Banner,” which weaves together “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (the Black National Anthem) with fragments of other songs, including anthems from Mexico and Puerto Rico. Also on the program are “Victory Stride,” by James P. Johnson, known as the father of stride piano, and Wynton Marsalis’ Blues Symphony, which explores the history of American music and pays tribute to the contributions of Black performers and composers. The concert, the orchestra’s season opener, begins at 3 p.m. at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. S.E., Olympia. Tickets are $10-$72.(https://www.washingtoncenter.org/event/olympia-symphony-orchestra-presents-lift-2026-10-11/)
In addition to the events featured here, Molly Gilmore recommends that you see Lord Franzannian’s Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show (https://www.professionaltalker.com/vaudeville-show.html), opening Friday, Oct. 9. Read all about it in the print edition of Oly Arts (https://olyarts.org/oly-arts-fall-winter-2026-print-edition/).
To keep track of what is happening in the arts in the South Puget Sound region, be sure to read Molly Gilmore’s weekly “Arts Aficionado” column in Oly Arts magazine. Subscribe to Oly Arts to receive an email when we publish new articles and columns.