Scatterbrains

An Evening of Alternative Facts: An Improv Comedy Show

by Ned Hayes for OLY ARTS An improv resurrection is happening in Olympia. One of the Puget Sound region’s leading improvisational groups, the Scatterbrains Improv Comedy Troupe, disbanded years ago after being featured at Seattle’s Bumbershoot, Olympia’s Capital City Pride, Tacoma’s First Night and leading theatrical venues all around Puget Sound. The group didn’t disband because members …

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Weekend Preview: March 31, 2017

WEEKEND PREVIEW is your weekly guide to events in Thurston County. This week, there are plenty of multicultural events around town to help you step out of your comfort zone, plus hard-hitting theater performances by some of Olympia’s best acting troupes. This week’s shows promise to be unforgettable! Click here to listen to our podcast …

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Tumwater Timberland Library

The Battle of Tumwater Library

by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS What happens in the library after the lights go out? Friday night at Tumwater Timberland Library, the answer sounds like something out of a fantasy novel: The library will become a battlefield, with intrepid teens forming teams to play capture the flag—or in this case, capture the glow wand—and …

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Amy Solomon-Minarchi

Writing in the Rain With Olympia’s Poet Laureate

by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Olympia’s first poet laureate, Amy Solomon-Minarchi, is already hard at work promoting poetry within the community with her call for Writing in the Rain poems. Solomon-Minarchi is accepting short-poetry submissions until April 10, when she’ll select short poems of three to six lines to be “painted” onto city sidewalks …

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Thomas Lockhart, Deya Ozburn, Jeff Hirschberg and Anita Pirkle in The Trip to Bountiful

REVIEW: The Trip to Bountiful

THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS I watched a preview performance of The Trip to Bountiful at Olympia Little Theatre. This is a finely polished production. Written by Horton Foote and directed by James T. Patrick, Bountiful is a quiet, intimate, little play. There’s nothing bombastic or showy about the story or the …

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"Shells," sculpture by Lucy Gentry Meltzer

Lucy Gentry Meltzer: Biophilia Collection at Salon Refu

by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Artist and costume designer Lucy Gentry Meltzer is the next artist whose works will grace the interior of Salon Refu Galley. Described as couture or as sculptural dresses, Meltzer’s art is unlike anything commonly seen in galleries. People who frequent Salon Refu will recognize her as one of the …

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Elizabeth Alexander and Simon Tran in Alice in Wonderland

REVIEW: Alice in Wonderland at OFT

THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Come out of the rain to kick off spring with Olympia Family Theater’s production of Alice in Wonderland—a lot of fun for kids from 3 to 73. Adapted from the book by Lewis Carroll by the multitalented writer, actor and director Kate Ayers and directed by OFT …

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Weekend Preview: March 24 2017

WEEKEND PREVIEW is your weekly guide to events in Thurston County. This week, there’s more than enough show-stopping theater and music to keep you out of the house and skipping from one venue to the next!   Click here to listen to our podcast version of Weekend Preview, sponsored by Alan Fuller of Windermere Real Estate Olympia. …

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1984

REVIEW: 1984 at TAO

THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The setting is bleak, harsh, cold. Everything is gray. When the lights come up we see a figure in a fetal position on a square riser. Four men and one woman come in, all wearing black suits and white shirts, with a skirt on the woman, the …

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Black Violin

Chops and Hip-Hop With Black Violin

by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Contrary to the old saying, sometimes it’s Mother who knows best. Just ask Kevin “Kev Marcus” Sylvester, violinist for Black Violin. Sylvester and violist Wilner “Wil B” Baptiste bring their mixture of classical chops and hip-hop beats to Olympia this Tuesday. Sylvester took up violin in elementary school, and …

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