By Alec Clayton Local comedian Sam Miller has teamed up with storyteller and StoryOly co-founder Elizabeth Lord to bring to Olympia “Choice Comedy,” an evening of all-female standup comedy to benefit reproductive rights in Alabama. The show will be hosted by Lord and will feature Amanda Biddle from Olympia plus Jill Silva from Tacoma, and Portland’s Tory …
By NOAH SHACHAR Some movies win Academy Awards, are nearly forgotten and hardly spoken about again. Some movies are simply boring, while others are entertaining or insightful. But a few movies ignite themselves in a blazing pyre to emerge as a phoenix from smoldering ashes ever livelier, more passionate and mesmerizingly intriguing — growing and …
By Billy Thomas and Lydia Boss, special contributor Artist Trust is a nonprofit dedicated to helping Washington State artists of all disciplines thrive. Its mission is to support and encourage artists working in all disciplines to enrich community life throughout Washington State. Founded in 1986, it was formed by a group of artists and arts lovers who …
By ADAM McKINNEY In 1974, Mel Brooks directed two of film’s all-time-great comedies, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. If the latter shines brighter in hindsight, it’s due to a giddily silly riff on Mary Shelley’s timeless story and a sense of humor much smarter than Brooks lets on. When he found massive, Broadway success with …
By CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL The Yiddish-American word klatch, which can rhyme with either batch or botch, means an informal gathering, usually one that facilitates conversation. Pizza Klatch is an Olympia-based organization that empowers LGBTQ+ youth in Thurston County by providing safe, supportive spaces — and yes, free pizza — in 15 area schools. It’s the result …
By Molly Gilmore Broadway Olympia’s production of The Rocky Horror Show — opening, oh so fittingly, on Halloween — was more than two decades in the making. That’s quite a feat considering the musical-theater company launched its first season just two months ago. It all began in 1995, when managing director Kyle Murphy first saw …
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 parody on just about everything, from Gypsy and Mame to The Bad Seed and all About Eve, and most of the female actors belt …
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 Broadway Olympia Productions, performing this weekend only in the historic Capitol Theatre. I attended the first full rehearsal three days before opening night. I won’t criticize technical aspects …
by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS When writer Joseph Kesselring commenced work on his most famous of a dozen plays, he intended it as serious drama. Its setup may even have been inspired by grisly murders in Connecticut. Now, over 75 years later, the Broadway draft of Arsenic and Old Lace is one of America’s …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS This Sunday, Olympia Improv Collective launches a new show — and a new form of improvisational theater. In its fall series of shows, called “The Midnight Zone,” the nine-member collective of seasoned improvisers take inspiration from the audience, but not by asking for suggestions. Rather, the group invites those …