posts about live theater, live performances, actors, acting, shows, and other theatrical things…
By CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL An audacious theatrical venture is about to debut at Olympia’s Capitol Theater. Under the guidance of impresario Kyle Murphy and artistic director Lexi Barnett, Broadway Olympia Productions plans a full season of five Broadway musicals derived from or popularized by cinema. The company’s mission statement promises “a sustainable program which operates on …
by Ned Hayes for OLY ARTS OLY ARTS reported in June that The Evergreen State College was cutting heavily into staff and facilities that made theater possible at Evergreen. The Experimental Theater (COM 124, a 200-seat, black-box venue) and its costume and scene shops will close at the end of the spring 2018 semester. Faculty and staff members …
By BILLY THOMAS for OLY ARTS As summer begins, master storyteller Elizabeth Lord invites you to join her on a journey into Camp Galilee, a (fictious) Christian summer camp on the shores of Lake Tahoe. Lord’s new one-woman show will be on stage at Olympia Family Theater in mid-June, and brings her audience with her …
by Kelli Samson and Yvonne Joyce for OLY ARTS The 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle is staging a new rendition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the month of June, loosely based on the Disney film, but with darker tones drawn from the original Victor Hugo novel. This new version of Hunchback has the notable distinction …
by Yvonne Joyce for OLY ARTS “All of the shows next year are based on books – we are excited to connect kids to literature!” This is the introduction Olympia Family Theater artistic director Jen Ryle provides for the theater’s just-announced 12th season. Six plays are planned in the 2018-2019 season, and these literary shows …
by Tom Simpson and Ned Hayes for OLY ARTS Early in 2018, the Harlequin Productions ship hit the shoals of the #MeToo movement. Alleged sexual harassment of actors and staff led to rapid changes in staff and policies. (Read more at OlyArts.com/harlequin) On June 1, at the company’s annual Season Announcement Gala, Eclectica!, Harlequin sets …
by Christian Carvajal for OLY ARTS The Evergreen State College is known for a liberal-arts environment that encourages free artistic expression. However, this spring Evergreen will cut heavily into the budget for staff and facilities that nurture theatrical expression. This year, the last seven shows at TESC will be especially fraught but meaningful, as they …
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Harlequin Productions’ latest offering is Three Days of Rain, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama by Richard Greenberg, author of Take Me Out. Without a clear picture of who’s who, this play can be confusing. Here’s a brief overview of the plot: In act one, 1995, Walker Janeway (Fox …
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Harlequin Productions’ “Three Days of Rain,” opening May 3, is a subtle mystery — not a whodunit, but rather a “what happened and why.” Richard Greenberg’s Pulitzer-nominated 1998 drama begins with a sister (Alyssa Kay) and brother (Fox Rain Matthews) and one of their childhood friends gathering to …
by Bryan Willis for OLY ARTS If Einstein were a costume designer, his shop would look like the interior of Olympia’s own costume shop downtown: Costume Atelier Masque & Pettycote. Owner and costumer Mishka Navarre enjoys watching the expression on the face of a first-time customer: “If they haven’t been here before, I can always …