Theater

posts about live theater, live performances, actors, acting, shows, and other theatrical things…

Preview: Anna Considers Mars, Theater Artists Olympia (TAO) Lands in a New Space

Theater Artists Olympia has a new home in downtown Olympia in what is now called The Jefferson Street Arts Center, at the former site of the Johansen Olympia Dance Center. In TAO’s first show there, Ruben Grijalva’s “Anna Considers Mars” (the very model of TAO’s trademarked “untamed theater” while speaking at the same time, to our fateful current condition) brings us to the not-so-distant future where the earth’s habitability is critically threatened by climate change, the human search for a new home is under serious consideration, and people are overwhelmed by having to live in a vividly augmented reality, in which they wear glasses that make them appear to others wearing the glasses to be better-looking than they really are.

House Fire at Dukesbay Theater

In House Fire at Dukesbay Theater in Tacoma through March 29, what we’re seeing isn’t technically the afterlife, but rather a kind of purgatorial weigh station where Laurie finds herself after dying at the too-young age of 29. When the titular house fire ends it all, she says she was this close to changing her life for the better. And so, in this purgatory, Laurie is assigned three deceased people to take care of her “orientation” before she can move on to whatever the afterlife has to offer.

The Normal Heart at Lakewood Playhouse

Lakewood Playhouse has, again, after their recent productions of The Laramie Project and For Colored Girls…, staged a show that remains infuriatingly relevant many decades after its debut. Whether you want to focus on the abandonment of vulnerable populations, or the labyrinthine madness of the health care system, or the distracting infighting amongst like-minded activists, or the callous politicians who value their image over their morals —The Normal Heart, through March 8, touches on problems that feel as modern as they are depressingly timeless.

SPSCC’s Single Black Female pokes fun at stereotypes

The South Puget Sound Community College Theatre Collective production of Single Black Female is not a stage version of the 2022 thriller about a woman trying to steal another’s life. Rather, this Female, a comedy by Lisa B. Thompson, centers on two close friends, both successful single Black women, dealing with society’s expectations — chiefly, that what each needs is a man.

“It’s funny,” said Raessa Patterson, the SPSCC alumna directing the show. “It’s bold. It gives us a chance to laugh at the stereotypes that surround us, but it also reminds us that those stereotypes don’t define us.”

Bryan Willis’s Special Valentine’s Love Note at Harlequin

‘How Much the Heart Can Hold’ (Saturday, Feb. 14 only) is a multi-faceted celebration of love featuring scenes, poetry, quotes and even love notes penned by audience members. “It’s such a fun piece,” said Bryan Willis, who created the show with the late Linda Kalkwarf and included pieces by other local writers. “This is not a play I could have written 30 years ago. The nature of love changes as we age. We have successes and failures. … In the course of the play, we follow this couple who meet as grade-school students, and we follow them until they are in their golden years.”

Series at the Washington Center

The Washington Center holds four series, the Silent Film Series, Black Box Jazz, an Adventure series, and Comedy Underground. Stepping into the majority of silent film experiences, audiences can expect house organist Dennis James plays scores alongside a historical silent film. Black Box Jazz showcases jazz performers who compose their own music in a truly intimate setting. The Adventure Series offers an immersive, in-person experience “Whether deep-sea diving or trekking across the Grand Canyon, and the Comedy Underground is more of a club-like feel than attending a theatre. “You can sit with your friends and enjoy your drink while you laugh together.”

DARK TIMES

Harlequin’s 2026 season begins with a classic thriller, Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher. To heighten the film noir fun, the production is presented in glorious monochrome, with black and white sets and costumes, and make-up and light trickery to mimic the look of a classic black-and-white thriller. To assist both actress Helen Harvester who plays Susan, and the production team, the company brought in a sight-impaired consultant, Chandra Scheschy, a theater professional recommended by the Washington State Department for the Blind. The play runs January 23 – February 8.

Wild Child’s New Year’s Menu: “Eat the Rich”

Olympia’s family friendly Wild Child Taproom’s openness to a wider swath of the community is evidenced by their involvement with Arts Walk and SafePlace, and by the range of their events programming, whether organized in-house, or, in the case of music, by CapCity Presents, or in New Year’s Eve’s “Eat the Rich” by Capital City Pride, or by the many other individuals and organizations, large and small, who’ve come to see Wild Child as a welcoming venue.

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.

Creative Theatre Experience Celebrates 45th Anniversary, New Leadership

In preparation for next year’s 45th anniversary season, the Creative Theatre Experience Board of Directors has announced the selection of Kristina Cummins as their new program director and Kyle Murphy as executive director. In addition to these staff leadership changes, the CTE Board of Directors has elected new officers to its executive team, with Nora Gant as president, Jerod Nace as vice president, and Louise Doran as treasurer/secretary. Together with Murphy’s new-fashioned thinking and old-fashioned commitment to community theatre arts, and Cummins’ long experience teaching and directing theatre with young people and actualizing in them her love for the craft, Creative Theatre Experience looks ready to go boldly into the future.

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