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posts that contain mini-bios of our writers

Olympia Peace Choir Enters a New Era Under Matthew Melendez — AND — ‘I Was a Stranger’

Matthew Melendez has been named the incoming Artistic Director of Olympia’s Peace Choir, assuming the role in September when the new season begins. He follows Kerri Lynn Nichols, who founded the choir in 2010 and has shepherded it for 16 years into a distinctive South Sound community chorus. Earlier this spring, Melendez stepped into his audition for the role of the Peace Choir’s new artistic director with a mix of excitement and nerves, despite his decades of experience as a conductor, educator, and nonprofit arts leader. AND ‘I Was a Stranger’ at FUMCO June 7.

Abe Singer’s Grass Lake Park sculptures

Sculptor Abe Singer turned an old water tank as large as a boxcar into a series of sculptures for Olympia’s Grass Lake Park. The water tank was on the park property before the recent park renovation. It was to be removed as part of the renovation, but instead of sending the tank to a scrapyard, the city thought it would be cool if someone could repurpose it for art. The city said they would deliver the tank to the selected artist if the destination was within 60 miles of the park. Singer lives on a farm in rural Montesano, so when he was selected for this project, the city delivered the tank to his shop on the farm property where it now keeps company with his turkeys. He utilized pieces of the massive tank to create the two mushroom entryway sculptures as well as the bird blind sculpture on the bridge.

Pipeline at Lakewood Playhouse

Pipeline — now playing through May 10 at Lakewood Playhouse — revolves around Omari, a high school student played by Isaiah Myers, who himself is a junior in high school. Omari shoved a teacher, which is his third offense, and is now in a situation where he can either run away or face the potential consequence of jail time. As a young actor playing his own age, wrestling with the fury and shame of his circumstances, Myers is a magnetic presence onstage. He’s able to play a character who is smarter than he’s willing to let on, but too stubborn to back down from an impossible position.

Love/Sick at OFT — Nine Quirky Vignettes

“In the play, Love/Sick by John Cariani, now playing at Olympia Little Theater, you’ll meet a bunch of what I call desperate optimists — people who believe in love but are terrified that it won’t last,” Cariani said in a 2013 interview with The Public Theatre of Lewiston, Maine, then producing the show. Love/Sick is a series of nine vignettes about love and relationships, adds fantastical details to relatable situations, said Kathryn Dorgan, who’s directing the OLT production which opened on April 24.

Peek Into Artists’ Process on Studio Tour

“The point of the studio tour is to allow people to go behind the scenes and see how the work is made.” said Susan Aurand, acting president of the South Sound Studio Tour’s board of directors. Many artists are sharing their studio space with colleagues for the tour, happening the last weekend of May in Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater, so there’ll be about 80 artists involved, showing their work and offering insights into their methods.

CRAZY DINNER! by nightmayor

You may have seen the hugely popular Lord Franziannian’s annual Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show, featuring offbeat artists from in and around the Olympia area — hosted by Lord Franziannian, a character developed by polymath writer, actor, and storyteller Elizabeth Lord. In true vaudeville style, Franziannian’s showcases various local creative and quirky oddball acts, no two are the same, and they’re none like anything you’ve seen before. It was from this pool of peculiar unconventionality that Lord (Elizabeth) discovered the band nightmayor (lowercase ‘n’ intentional). Wild Child performance space, May 21 – 31, and June 6, 7.

Celebrate Mother’s Day Weekend at the Center Salon, a Creative Showcase for South Sound Audience

The 2026 Center Salon will take place Mothers Day weekend, Saturday, May 9, in the Washington Center Black Box Theater with cabaret-style seating to provide an immersive ambiance. In commemoration of Mother’s Day weekend, many pieces included in this year’s Center Salon will tie back to the themes of mothers and motherhood. This includes a slideshow that will be projected ahead of the salon, featuring family photos of performers and audience members.

Four Shows for the Spring

Similar to a vibrant garden, our arts scene in Thurston County is filled with a variety of artistic companies and artists who are consistently adding color, beauty, joy, and their own lovely fragrance to our lives. Let Oly Arts be your “florist” this spring and give ideas of what you can add to the bouquet of your lives: TAO’s Anna Considers Mars — Harlequin’s Where the Summit Meets the Stars — OFT’s The Hobbit — and SPSCC’s Anastasia the Musical.

The Oly Arts Origin Story

In May 2016, in the best possible way, Olympia writer Ned Hayes was struck by lightning. His third novel, The Eagle Tree, was scaling bestseller lists as speedily as its neurodivergent narrator climbed trees. Hayes demonstrated his Oly boosterism when he decided to spend some of that authorial windfall on a new publication to highlight the manifold arts presentations and opportunities in the South Sound. This new publication would put a spotlight on the arts in our region. Appropriately, we named it Oly Arts.

Roger McIntosh Recognized for 40 Years of Service to the Washington Center

In recognition of 40 years of dedicated service to the performing arts in Thurston County and the South Sound, Washington Center Production Manager Roger McIntosh has been selected as the 2026 Excellence in the Arts Commitment to the Arts Awardee. The Center’s Star Dressing Room has been officially named in his honor in recognition of the organization’s “deep appreciation for four decades of service, care, commitment, and the philosophy that guided his work,” according to a Center Marketing and Sales Director Tineke Raak.

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