posts about shows at TAO
Theater Artists Olympia’s “The HEAD That Wouldn’t DIE!” at Lakewood Playhouse is a takeoff on one of the worst B movies ever, “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die,” with additional dialogue and lyrics by the TAO collective. It is two hours of camp and insanity, not recommended for children younger than 13 according to a warning posted in the theater and not recommended for people who don’t get satire according to this reviewer.
“One of the reasons that Olympia had such a great theater scene was due to the cross-pollination of companies, actors and theaters. With the loss of Capital Playhouse, and now Oly Theater, opportunities are dwindling.” – John Serembe
Theatre Artists Olympia’s The King in Yellow, a world premiere play by Olympia playwright and actor Xander Layden, runs through May 26 at OlyTheater in Capital Mall. The first act is an intelligent and funny comedy of manners with hints of something else beneath the surface. Act Two is an edge-of-your-seat horror show.
The King in Yellow, a world-premiere play running May 10-26, is penned by well-known Olympia actor Xander Layden. “It’s like nothing I’ve seen around here,” said director Pug Bujeaud, “It’s like nothing I’ve seen anywhere. It’s cosmic. It’s a progression from Victorian romantic comedy of manners to existential horror. It’s not an arc that you see very often in theater.”
Theater Artists Olympia’s production of “The Liar” by David Ives is at OlyTheater in Capital Mall, March 22 through April 7 with Aaron Gotzon as Dorante and Teresita Brimms as Clarice. The play is directed by Tom Sanders who said, “It’s not an absurdist play. It’s actually a straight farcical comedy.”
Theater Artists Olympia presents four dramatized tales of Edgar Allan Poe in “Poe Nocturne” at Oly Theater in the Capital Mall, January 12- 21, 2024.
“It’s a little bit of Halloween in the summer,” said Pug Bujeaud, the play’s director and a TAO mainstay. “It’s fun and quirky and dark. It’s very much an old-school TAO show. The basis of the show is ‘What is a forgivable sin? … What lines do you draw? How do you decide what behaviors are acceptable and what behaviors — or people — you have to cut out of your life?”
The Half-Life of Marie Curie, written by Lauren Gunderson and produced by Theater Artists Olympia, is a joyful exploration of a pair of turn-of-the-century women scientists, the celebrated Marie Curie and the less well-known Hertha Ayrton.
Broadway Olympia Productions is back — but not for long. The black box theater in Capital Mall will remain open. Theater Artists Olympia (TAO) will take over the lease for its own productions and as a space for other performing arts groups.
A classic reimagined. So yes, Marley is dead. To save himself from eternal damnation, he is told he must find a way to redeem Ebenezer Scrooge. “Impossible!” TAO’s Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol is a journey of laughter and terror, redemption and renewal.