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Atmospheres at Childhood’s End Offers a Much-Needed Breathing Space

Each artist in Atmospheres at Childhood’s Eng Gallery offers not only a different environment, a different perspective, and a unique distance from their chosen subject matter, but also a different emotional response and interpretation. Albala’s Distance, suggesting meditation; Eshelman’s middle Distance, suggesting serenity; and Mathie’s close-up, suggesting awakened physical senses, are all encompassed in this show. Three very distinct individual viewpoints are able to live happily in the same gallery with unity in discourse – open through April 19.

The Normal Heart at Lakewood Playhouse

Lakewood Playhouse has, again, after their recent productions of The Laramie Project and For Colored Girls…, staged a show that remains infuriatingly relevant many decades after its debut. Whether you want to focus on the abandonment of vulnerable populations, or the labyrinthine madness of the health care system, or the distracting infighting amongst like-minded activists, or the callous politicians who value their image over their morals —The Normal Heart, through March 8, touches on problems that feel as modern as they are depressingly timeless.

Black Artists Exhibition at Tacoma Community College

There are so many pieces to get lost in at the Black Artists Exhibition, nestled, as it is in the modest space of The Gallery at Tacoma Community College. Repurposed art, sculptures, loving portraits (Charles Conner’s warm rendition of comedian and activist Dick Gregory was a pleasant surprise), clothes and quilt-making — all to be discovered at this show which is open through March 13.

SPSCC’s Single Black Female pokes fun at stereotypes

The South Puget Sound Community College Theatre Collective production of Single Black Female is not a stage version of the 2022 thriller about a woman trying to steal another’s life. Rather, this Female, a comedy by Lisa B. Thompson, centers on two close friends, both successful single Black women, dealing with society’s expectations — chiefly, that what each needs is a man.

“It’s funny,” said Raessa Patterson, the SPSCC alumna directing the show. “It’s bold. It gives us a chance to laugh at the stereotypes that surround us, but it also reminds us that those stereotypes don’t define us.”

Bryan Willis’s Special Valentine’s Love Note at Harlequin

‘How Much the Heart Can Hold’ (Saturday, Feb. 14 only) is a multi-faceted celebration of love featuring scenes, poetry, quotes and even love notes penned by audience members. “It’s such a fun piece,” said Bryan Willis, who created the show with the late Linda Kalkwarf and included pieces by other local writers. “This is not a play I could have written 30 years ago. The nature of love changes as we age. We have successes and failures. … In the course of the play, we follow this couple who meet as grade-school students, and we follow them until they are in their golden years.”

Series at the Washington Center

The Washington Center holds four series, the Silent Film Series, Black Box Jazz, an Adventure series, and Comedy Underground. Stepping into the majority of silent film experiences, audiences can expect house organist Dennis James plays scores alongside a historical silent film. Black Box Jazz showcases jazz performers who compose their own music in a truly intimate setting. The Adventure Series offers an immersive, in-person experience “Whether deep-sea diving or trekking across the Grand Canyon, and the Comedy Underground is more of a club-like feel than attending a theatre. “You can sit with your friends and enjoy your drink while you laugh together.”

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Lakewood Playhouse

In this rendition of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Lakewood Playhouse there’s an added meta structure where the actors we see on stage are playing actors in the ‘40s, who are then playing the characters we know from It’s a Wonderful Life. “You’re an audience within an audience in the play within a play, which I think some people will be surprised by,” says director Brittany D. Henderson.

Evergreen City Ballet Embraces a New and Innovative Curriculum

At Evergreen City Ballet, currently based in Renton, Artistic Director Maximiliano Guerra has plans to embrace an enhanced learning philosophy. During the school’s 2024-2025 season, Guerra and the team are establishing a unique curriculum that includes the study of broader topics, with art, history, and classical music to complement instruction in ballet. In December they will be performing Wade Walthall’s The Nutcracker.

Shadow Spins Sci-fi Fable

String and Or So It Would Seam: A Giant Puppet Voyage Into the Hidden Universe runs through July 21 in Olympia’s Decatur Woods Park and then tours the Northwest till Sept. 1. You really do want to make time for this confection, packed with visual puns and silly walks. String and Shadow’s worlds of fantasy and fable aim to pluck at the strings of universal wonder, innocence, and joy.

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