posts that contain mini-bios of our writers
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Nationally known pianist Scott Cossu, who recently received a lifetime-achievement award from One World Music Radio, was one of the original Windham Hill artists. He keeps a sense of humor about his place in the new-age canon, describing his music as “new-and-improved age” and “heavy mental.” His latest recording, …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Three Rivers, California at the entrance to the Sequoia National Park is a long way from New Orleans, but it’s home to The High Sierra Jazz Band. Listeners to the band can focus on the stage, close their eyes and be transported into Preservation Hall on Bourbon Street to …
WEEKEND PREVIEW is your weekly guide to events in Thurston County. This week, the theater community brings a stellar lineup of unique performances to the stage while Capital City Pride kicks off in downtown Olympia. OLY ARTS can’t wait to help you celebrate the arts in style. Click here to listen to our podcast version of …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS It’s no surprise bluegrass brought The Slocan Ramblers together. The Canadian quartet plays bluegrass and plays it well. The band won the 2015 Edmonton Folk Fest emerging-artist award, and its album Coffee Creek was nominated for traditional album of the year at the 2016 Canadian Folk Music Awards. No, …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS St. John’s Episcopal Church, long known for its classical-music series, is now a place for jazz. The church’s second jazz-cabaret dinner, set for Friday, features singer LaVon Hardison and flutist Nancy Curtis plus what the church is calling “a veritable jazz festival” of well-respected players from Olympia and beyond. …
by Nora Kovacs for OLY ARTS “Once upon a time, there was a young woman who knew exactly what she wanted out of life.” That woman is Elizabeth Lord, and thus begins her story as an Olympia-based actor, teacher, vaudeville performer and, above all, storyteller. Lord describes herself as a “professional talker” who turned her …
by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS Some theatrical musicals originate as great novels (Les Misérables), others (The Lion King) as beloved cinema. Some come to us by way of historical biographies (Hamilton) and some, believe it or not, are still written from scratch. But only one popular musical began as a story in the Weekly …
by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS The next production from Theater Artists Olympia is the product of a series of unexpected events. Last fall, the scrappy troupe announced it’d present a “season of sex,” typified by The Physician in Spite of Himself and Playhouse Creatures. Then TAO lost the rights to a few desired scripts, …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS This summer at the Hands On Children’s Museum, kids can fight fires, meet superheroes, climb a rock wall and explore the wonders of outer space. All this and more are part of the museum’s second-annual “Summer Splash,” a summer-long series of special events and activities that last year drew …
by Jonah Barrett for OLY ARTS The epistolary format (i.e., a story told through a series of letters) is usually reserved for novels, but it can sometimes spring up in other mediums, as in A.R. Gurney’s Pulitzer-Prize finalist Love Letters, coming to Olympia Little Theatre this summer. Co-directed by Toni Holm and James Patrick, the …