by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS It’s easy for one’s ears to get comfortable listening to the sounds that regularly come drifting off the radio — background music, singalongs, crowd-pleasing jams that everyone with a head and heart can get on board with. This complacency can form a barrier in the head, a moat around …
by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS Few genres inspire more passion and reverence for tradition than jazz. A quintessentially American art form, jazz and its permutations have been around in one form or another since the late 19th century, with roots in New Orleans. In the ’40s, jazz found a vibrant resurgence in the form …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS This summer, Harlequin Productions is hoping audiences will fall in love with First Date. The musical, which premiered at Seattle’s A Contemporary Theatre in 2012 before heading to Broadway, opens June 22. The daters referred to in the title are Casey (Christie Murphy-Oldright) and Aaron (Bruce Haasl), and the …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Three floors of the Department of Ecology building in Lacey are now aglow with chrysalis forms assembled from hundreds of plastic bottles. This art installation, Metamorphosis, was created by Barbara De Pirro, who says the forms represent “a transformation from the humble and forgotten into the exceptional.” Artist Jeffree …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Looking for something to do this weekend — or any other weekend, for that matter? There’s a veritable festival happening year round at The Olympia Farmers Market, said Mary DiMatteo, the market’s community-outreach manager. “We have live music, food, ice cream, seven distinct restaurants and over 100 vendors from …
WEEKEND PREVIEW is your weekly guide to events in Thurston County. This week promises even more folk, bluegrass and fiddling fun than the last as Olympia gears up for Steamboat Stringband Jamboree. Let’s not forget the Olympia Comics Festival, either, which promises a weekend packed with a comics expo, stage show and author signings. We …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The entire art gallery at The Evergreen State College is filled with artwork in many media in such a way that ceiling, floor and walls become a single, colorful, walk-through installation. It’s the work of an “interdisciplinary research and creative inquiry” from an academic program called CultureLab. That program …
by Jennifer Crain for OLY ARTS Downtown choices for cold treats range from Olympia-made gelato to diner-style sundaes. —– Grandpa’s Soda Fountain Ice Cream Shop Drue and Larry Brown’s 1950s-style shop features a long bar where customers order banana splits, dipped cones, floats, milkshakes and sundaes. It typically has nine flavors of hard ice creams …
by Kelli Samson for OLY ARTS At the start of every summer, Olympia Family Theater’s production season ends, making way for the training of future thespians. The audiences and rhythms of the past nine months change. Rehearsal schedules give way for day camps, and guests switch from theater patrons to children aged 5 to 12. …
by Kelli Samson for OLY ARTS Meet Jen and Ted Ryle, the couple behind Olympia Family Theater. Theater is a touchstone for the Ryle family. Fittingly, the Ryles met each other at an audition at Shoreline College. “I nudged my friend when Ted walked in, and said ‘Who’s the straight guy? I want him!’” Jen …