John Pratt in OLT's Educating Rita

Chaucer Comes to Life on Stage

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS In mid-January 2017, Olympia Little Theatre will produce a staged reading of A Lollard in the Wind: Chaucer’s Dilemma by local actor-turned-playwright John Pratt. Pratt was most recently seen in the leading role, Arthur Putnam, in OLT’s An Act of the Imagination. Based in part on Chaucer’s stories from …

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Jess Allan and Robert McConkey in The Physician in Spite of Himself

REVIEW: The Physician in Spite of Himself

THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Once again Theater Artists Olympia (TAO) has taken a classic and updated it to make it, if not better than the original, then at least more enjoyable and laughable for contemporary audiences. Philip Wickstrom, Pug Bujeaud and the TAO collective have updated Molière’s 17th-century farce The Physician …

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Paintings by Bill Collins

Bill Collins Paintings at Allsorts Gallery

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Here’s a match made in heaven: Bill Collins and Allsorts Gallery. Olympia native Bill Collins has been painting pictures for 38 years. Allsorts is the living and dining rooms of artist Lynette Charters’ Olympia home, which every few months is turned into an art gallery. Charters says of Collins, …

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Paintings by Bill Collins

Bill Collins Paintings at Allsorts Gallery

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Here’s a match made in heaven: Bill Collins and Allsorts Gallery. Olympia native Bill Collins has been painting pictures for 38 years. Allsorts is the living and dining rooms of artist Lynette Charters’ Olympia home, which every few months is turned into an art gallery. Charters says of Collins, …

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Kathy Gore-Fuss, Gabi Clayton, and Susan Christian at Salon Refu

Story Time at Salon Refu

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Olympia’s ever-surprising art gallery Salon Refu is instituting story time for the holiday season. Local poets, writers, storytellers and, as gallery owner Susan Christian puts it, “people of good will and excellent language skills” will read their work every Thursday through Sunday in December. During the month of December …

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Sister's Christmas Catechism

Sister’s Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS From the coauthor of Late Nite Catechism comes the holiday comedy Sister’s Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold for a one-night-only performance at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts. The Center calls the play “CSI: Bethlehem,” a holiday extravaganza. This comedy-mystery features “Sister,” a woman out …

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Jess Allan and Robert McConkey in The Physician in Spite of Himself

TAO Visits The Physician in Spite of Himself

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS In December, when most theaters are doing holiday shows, Theater Artists Olympia (TAO) presents Molière’s 17th-century farce The Physician in Spite of Himself. TAO’s version of the French comedy, as adapted by Philip Wickstrom and the TAO collective and directed by Pug Bujeaud, is set in Louisiana in the …

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Denise Emerson bag

Native American Art at South Puget Sound Community College

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The Native American Art Exhibition at South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) features a wide variety of works by regional Native American artists. Look for paintings, basketry, carved wood pieces, textiles and mixed-media art curated by Mandy McCullough. McCullough is an Ojibwa from White Earth, Minnesota, who has created …

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“Chromosome Painting Edition II 1-X” by Geraldine Ondrizek, dyed silk, photo by Lynette Charters

REVIEW: Tracing Genetic Inheritance at The Evergreen State College

VISUAL ARTS REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Works from three major installations come together in the show Tracing Genetic Inheritance: Recent Work by Geraldine Ondrizek at The Evergreen State College art gallery. This is a highly unusual, beautiful and intelligent exhibition that combines science and art in ways that should open the mind …

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Isaac McKenziesullivan as Gerald the Elephant and Joanna Gibson as Piggie

REVIEW: Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!”

THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Now showing at Olympia Family Theater (OFT), Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” is a small play that packs a big wallop for kids. I was not familiar with Mo Willems’ series of Elephant & Piggy children’s books before reading about them in the program. …

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