by Kelli Samson for OLY ARTS If there’s one thing summertime loves, it’s a festival. It seems there’s one for everyone’s interests. There are beer festivals. There are barbecue festivals. There’s a mushroom festival. There are festivals celebrating farm-fresh food. There’s even a festival celebrating … sand. But don’t forget the garlic. Yes, there’s a …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS There’s an internationally known star in the cast of Harlequin Productions’ August: Osage County, but don’t feel out of the loop if you don’t recognize her. Seattle actor Ellen McLain is famous chiefly among video gamers. “Ellen has Broadway credits from a number of years back,” said Aaron Lamb, …
by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS “I don’t really remember a time when I didn’t play guitar.” — Vince Brown Olympians may well recognize Vince Brown as a guitarist who has thoroughly knitted himself into the fabric of the Pacific Northwest’s jazz scene. As a founding member of western-swing outfit Red Brown and the Tune …
by Jonah Barrett for OLY ARTS During the last days of summer, Olympia Film Society makes a special effort to appeal to younger viewers — especially budding cinema fans. On the calendar are three film experiences that will be sentimental for adults and enthralling for children of all ages. First is David Evans’ 1993 cult …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Featured artists for August and September at Art House Designs are painters Susie Englestad and C. J. Swanson. Both artists present work that is colorful and abstract but derived from nature. Englestad, the owner of Art House Designs, paints with flat squiggles and organic shapes that dance across the …
by Ned Hayes for OLY ARTS “Books by the Bay,” an annual music-and-literary party, will fill the Port Plaza on July 28. The event, which expands every year, is a fundraiser for the activities of the 16-year-old South Sound Reading Foundation. Three years ago, the Reading Foundation moved Books by the Bay to the plaza. …
by Jennifer Crain for OLY ARTS On August 10, the doors to the New Orleans-inspired Tipsy Piano Bar will open. The downtown venue will feature Southern and Southwest cuisine and a lounge-style dining room designed for easy conversation. In the newly renovated space, patrons will sit at candlelit tables and order drinks from a granite-topped …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Browsers Bookshop is going into the art-exhibition business. On August 12 it opens a show of works on paper by five local artists: Arrington De Dionyso, Aisha Harrison, Evan Horback, Nikki McClure and Madeline Waits. The show is called A Paper Narrative. De Dionyso is an artist and musician …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS In The Incredible Undersea Trial of Joseph P. Lawnboy, opening Saturday at Olympia Family Theater, boy meets fish — and loon, and other denizens of Puget Sound — and learns deep lessons about the importance of water. The Open Road Productions musical is educational but not dry (in any …
by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS StoryOly bills itself as Olympia’s premier storytelling event. On the third Tuesday evening of each month since November 2015, amateur storytellers have braved the stage to regale full houses at Rhythm & Rye with meaningful anecdotes from their own lives. Tales range from movingly confessional to outrageously frank. Each …