Olympia Gears Up for Arts Month This April

By Molly Gilmore Remember when Arts Walk, Olympia’s twice-yearly celebration of creations and community, filled the downtown shops and streets with performances, paintings and people? For the second year in a row, Arts Walk as it used to be is on hold. Even with the state poised to enter Phase 3 of the recovery plan, …

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Reptiles, Fairies and Gremlins, Oh My! Local Author Releases PNW Horror Collection

By Molly Gilmore Jonah Barrett wouldn’t be insulted if anyone said their first book was monstrous. That’s because Barrett’s short-story collection “Moss Covered Claws,” dropping March 18, is all about monsters. Barrett of Olympia, a filmmaker, fantasy writer and OLY ARTS contributor, is launching the book with an online reading and talk at 7 p.m. …

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Date Set for Olympia YWCA’s Womxn of Achievement

By Molly Gilmore The Olympia YWCA’s 2021 Womxn of Achievement awards honor three women working for racial justice. The awards ceremony and celebration, happening online Feb. 19, will also spotlight a national leader in the fight for racial equality: activist/author Patrisse Cullors, a founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has been nominated for …

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Lacey’s Goldfinch Productions Announces 2021 Season

By Molly Gilmore At a time when the pandemic has made many theater companies hesitant even to make plans, South Sound’s Goldfinch Productions is ready for takeoff on its 2021 season. The plucky nonprofit, founded in 2018 with the goal of opening a theater and studio in Lacey, will produce a half-dozen audio plays, with …

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Harlequin Offers Two Streaming Productions of A Christmas Carol

By Molly Gilmore When Harlequin Productions announced its 2020 season, “A Christmas Carol” was slated to be the holiday show. Since then, of course, virtually every plan — in the theatrical world and in the world at the large — has changed. But Harlequin is, despite it all, mounting a production of “A Christmas Carol.” …

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Olympia Gets Ready for the Holidays

By Molly Gilmore Though plans for in-person film screenings have been postponed, The Washington Center for the Performing Arts is still getting into the spirit of the season. It’s what Jill Barnes, the center’s indefatigable executive director, calls “Operation Holiday Cheer.” The center had planned to reopen Thanksgiving weekend as a movie theater, showing Christmastime …

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Ballet Northwest Updates Classic Nutcracker for the Age of Coronavirus

By Molly Gilmore Update Nov. 24: “The Nutcracker” dates, times and locations have changed since the original release of this story. Updated information is below the article. Despite COVID-19, Ballet Northwest’s “Nutcracker,” a South Sound holiday tradition for 35 years, is on for the holidays, but the company’s 2020 edition of the Tchaikovsky classic — …

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YWCA to Present the 26th Annual Womxn of Achievement

By Molly Gilmore The Olympia YWCA’s 2020 Womxn of Achievement awards honor three women working for racial justice. The awards ceremony and celebration will also spotlight a national leader in the fight for racial equality: activist/author Patrisse Cullors, a founder of the Black Lives Matter movement and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People …

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City of Olympia Announces Arts Month Innovation Awardees

By Molly Gilmore Literary walks, a livestreamed concert and a show of work by Black artists are among the winners of Olympia’s Arts Month Innovation awards. The city began giving the awards last year to honor projects that stood out in their efforts to encourage community connection and involvement with the arts.  “We wanted to …

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Fall Shows Offer Light on the Horizon for Harlequin, Washington Center

By Molly Gilmore While live theaters in Washington State remain closed, both Harlequin Productions and The Washington Center for the Performing Arts have shows on the way. Beginning Sept. 20, Harlequin will present radio-style productions of most of the shows it had to cancel during its 2020 season — plus a new thriller for the …

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