Adam McKinney

posts by Adam McKinney

Matilda the Musical at Tacoma Little Theatre

Given the flights of fancy of both the Roald Dahl novel and the Danny DeVito film of Matilda, it seemed only a matter of time for Matilda to get the musical treatment, which it did in 2010 with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and book by Dennis Kelly. Now, Matilda the Musical is hitting Tacoma Little Theatre through December 28, directed by Jennifer York, with a sizable cast of child and adult actors, led by Hazel Barnett and Nell Edlund, trading off performances as Matilda.

Can you crack the case?

Tacoma Little Theatre’s Murder Mystery Dinners return with Knock ‘Em Dead.
If you fancy yourself a part-time gumshoe, you may be interested to know that the game is once again afoot. These evenings of interactive theatre began in 2017 as fundraisers for TLT before they broke out and became regular productions. TLT put on three of them a year until the COVID pandemic forced them to go on hiatus. 2024 saw their return, and November 20, 2025, marks the opening night of the first Murder Mystery Dinner of the season.

Patton Oswalt Presents Pig and McCabe & Mrs. Miller

These two films depict the Pacific Northwest in two radically different times. In Robert Altman’s classic revisionist Western, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Warren Beatty moves into a mining town in 1900s Washington, trying his best to become a big shot in the middle of a boom period. Michael Sarnoski’s new classic, Pig, explores the fringes of modern-day Portland, with Nicolas Cage starring as a reclusive former chef whose truffle pig gets stolen. The films – showing at Capitol Theater November 15 & 16 – showcase the Pacific Northwest’s natural wonders as an overwhelming force that has to be bent to, not conquered; and both films have an elegiac atmosphere that hangs over them.

Oly Arts Fall Winter 2025 Print Edition

The Fall/Winter print edition of OLY ARTS N0. 34 is published! Here is a list of the articles and where in the Olympia area you can pick up your FREE copy. Enjoy!

25 Years of Oly Ink

The Sunday, August 10 art show celebrating Spidermonkey’s 25th anniversary features artists that have become part of the Olympia tattoo circle over the past few decades, some stretching as far back as Bryan Childs’ early days over 30 years ago. As Childs says, these pieces will not be physical tattoos, but rather “a gallery of paintings that dream of being tattoos tailored for the back.”

Lynn Di Nino talks TRIPOD in Tacoma

Tacoma’s TRIPOD began more than five years ago, where Lynn Di Nino brings artists of all stripes around to show off what they’ve done, what they’re working on, and where they’re going. Artists will come up on stage, readied with a projector, and show off 50 images over 15 minutes, guiding the audience through a story, or just giving them an inside look at their creative processes. The effect is somewhere between a TED Talk, show-and-tell, and a friend sharing their vacation slides.

Oly Arts Summer 2025 Print Edition

The Summer print edition of OLY ARTS N0. 33 is published! Here is a list of where in the Olympia area you can pick up your FREE copy, and a link to the PDF file so you can read it online. Enjoy!

For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf

“For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf,” now being staged at Lakewood Playhouse, is a show that mainly consists of poetic monologues delivered by seven emphatically engaged performers, interspersed with wildly physical musical numbers. It’s a show that demands that you be as present as possible — a show of giddy highs and devastating lows.

Bug at Tacoma Little Theatre

In Tacoma Little Theatre’s production of Bug, Peter starts to see bugs in Agnes’ room, and soon enough, Agnes thinks she might see them, too. Bug, written by Tracy Letts, and directed for Tacoma Little Theatre by Blake R. York, has a reputation for its intensity, and it’s well-earned: once tensions begin to mount, they never let up, building to a manic crescendo as we helplessly watch two people spiral into madness. The play elicits plenty of nervous laughter from the audience, as they witness some truly horrifying events, but there are also audacious moments of humor.

Bloomsday at Dukesbay Theater

Past and present blend together in “Bloomsday” at Dukesbay Theater through April 6. If you could talk to your younger self, would you try to change the past? Should you? Is it possible to turn back the hands of time and make things right with the one that got away? “Bloomsday” is a melancholy play, but not without its world-weary laughs. As the older Robert and Caithleen, Gonzales and Lockett are suitably impatient with their younger selves, lamenting their tastes in clothes, literature and partners.

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