By Christian Carvajal “Across an immense ethereal gulf,” a voice intoned, “intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.” It was Sunday evening, October 30, 1938. The voice was that of 23-year-old wunderkind Orson Welles, already a radio and stage star on two …
By Molly Gilmore Masterworks Choral Ensemble begins its 38th season by celebrating nature’s glories. The singing group will wade in the water — and explore the elements of earth, air and fire, too — in Sacred Elements at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts. “I really resonate with the environment,” said Masterworks artistic director …
By Adam McKinney Legend has it – and legends have everything – that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroad at midnight. In exchange for his soul, the devil granted him the ability of a master guitarist. Regardless of whether this event actually took place, what we know from the …
By Christian Carvajal In a surprise August move, Harlequin Productions cancelled its original play choice for October, the Chicago crime drama A Steady Rain. In an interview with Molly Gilmore for The Olympian, Harlequin’s associate artistic director, Aaron Lamb, characterized Rain as “not the story we wanted to be telling at this moment.” Instead, actor-director …
By Lucy Volker Family-friendly comedy Corduroy opens this month at Olympia Family Theater. The original book, written and illustrated by Don Freeman in 1968, was recently adapted for the stage by Barry Kornhauser. After seeing the play’s world premiere this spring in Minneapolis at the Children’s Theater Company, artistic director Jen Ryle knew it would …
ART REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS John Logan’s dramatic two-man show Red at Olympia Little Theatre is engaging, intelligent and highly intense. It is a tour de force for actors Christopher Valcho as the painter Mark Rothko and John Tuttle-Gates as his studio assistant, Ken, and for director Jim Patrick. At an hour …
By Karen Lunde and Billy Thomas Imagine a 20-pound rodent that looks like a weird cross between a beaver and a rat. It has enormous orange teeth and a skinny tail. It lives in swampy, tidal areas and dines mostly on aquatic plants. It procreates prolifically. You’ve got yourself a nutria, and it’s the subject …
By Alec Clayton The angst, artistic sensibility and intelligence of the great abstract-expressionist painter Mark Rothko will be on display — raw nerve ends and all — when Olympia Little Theatre brings to the stage John Logan’s dramatic two-man show Red, directed by Jim Patrick and starring Christopher Valcho as Rothko and John Tuttle as …
By Adam McKinney One of Olympia’s most consistent deliverers of fascinating movies and enriching, live events is Olympia Film Society, housed in the historic Capitol Theater. While not all of OFS’ fall events have been announced, more than a few attention-worthy screenings are already on the docket. “We’re having the 30th anniversary of All Freakin’ …
By Adam McKinney As fall approaches, we see also the arrival of Emerald City Music’s third season, which runs through May of 2019. Continuing the company’s mission of staging classical and chamber-music performances that appeal to both aficionados and newcomers to the genres, ECM programmed a season brimming with bold and approachable shows. In keeping …