Bring on the Funk with Olympia Funk Festival — “Funk OFF!”

Homegrown Olympia music makers and nationally acclaimed headliners from Seattle and Portland and around the country will enliven downtown Olympia with a weekend of music and dance, February 2-4, when the inaugural Olympia Funk Festival known as “Funk OFF!” ignites the city with three days of non-stop dancing and exciting and innovative music.

OlyFilm Celebrates a Decade of Indie Filmmaking

On December 12, a special 10-year anniversary retrospective event will be held at the Capitol Theater to celebrate The Olympia Film Collective’s decade of indie filmmaking.

A New Season of Resilience for Live Theater in Olympia

Harlequin Productions calls its 2023 season a “Resilience Season.” That appellation could well apply to all local live theater after more than two years of Covid. Here’s a great season preview for all local theaters, including Harlequin, Olympia Family Theater, Olympia Little Theatre, Broadway Olympia, and SPSCC.

Valerie Veils

Strip Like the Mountain Is Out: the First-Ever PNW Burlesque Festival

Valerie Veils, the self-billed “Heroine of the Hoochi Coo,” has dazzled audiences up and down the Pacific Coast. Now she’s extended her talents to produce the first-ever Pacific Northwest Burlesque Festival, a two-day, ecdysiastic extravaganza that’ll twirl its tassels at the Capitol Theater the first full weekend in May.

Nonprofit Theaters Finding Ways to Navigate Through Closures

By Molly Gilmore Olympia theaters are dark these days — quite literally — yet those running them see light in the distance. Metaphorically speaking, “the show’s going to go on,” said Jill Barnes, executive director of The Washington Center for the Performing Arts. “It will.” Barnes and the leaders of other local nonprofit theaters have …

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Local Author Jim Lynch’s Work Comes Alive at Harlequin Productions

THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Harlequin Productions’ performance of “The Highest Tide” is a special gift to the people of Olympia. It is based on the popular book of the same name by local author Jim Lynch, and adapted for the stage by Jane Jones for Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle. The …

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CINE•FILES: The Secret of NIMH

By Ellis Boran The Secret of NIHM is an animated adventure movie based on Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (fun fact—the name was changed to Mrs. Brisby in the film due to trademark concerns with Frisbee) about a charming family of mice who try their hardest to relieve the sick little mouse, Timothy, …

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CINE•FILES: Shrek

By Ellis Boran Shrek is an animated adventure movie packed with action, drama, and lots of comedy. The movie is about how an ogre falls in love with a princess. The movie has a clear moral, to never judge a book by its cover. An ogre is considered a big, dumb, ugly beast, but this …

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