In this rendition of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Lakewood Playhouse there’s an added meta structure where the actors we see on stage are playing actors in the ‘40s, who are then playing the characters we know from It’s a Wonderful Life. “You’re an audience within an audience in the play within a play, which I think some people will be surprised by,” says director Brittany D. Henderson.
Knowing that art is a powerful language, OLY ARTS spoke with some local Olympia area artists on how they feel compelled to respond to the recent election. There will be much discussion, both words and in artworks. This is part one of a series “The Art of Resistance” which will feature the work of local artists.
“A Christmas Carol,” playing at Harlequin Productions Nov. 29 to Dec. 24, “is the greatest redemption story ever told, wrapped up in the trappings of a ghost story,” said Artistic Director Aaron Lamb. “A story of redemption is fundamentally a story about hope and forgiveness. If audiences leave a little more hopeful and a little more open to forgiveness after they see this production, we have succeeded.”
At Evergreen City Ballet, currently based in Renton, Artistic Director Maximiliano Guerra has plans to embrace an enhanced learning philosophy. During the school’s 2024-2025 season, Guerra and the team are establishing a unique curriculum that includes the study of broader topics, with art, history, and classical music to complement instruction in ballet. In December they will be performing Wade Walthall’s The Nutcracker.
The question was posed to Native artists, “How can we lovingly honor our ancestors, heal generational traumas, and preserve culture in the modern world?” Their many responses varied, vibrant and intriguing responses can be seen in this art exhibition at SPSCC’s Leonor R. Fuller Gallery at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts through Dec. 13.
‘The Oculist’ by the two-person punk band nightmayor (Percy Boyle and Stella R.S.) is an irreverent retelling of the true story of John Taylor, an itinerant eye surgeon who traveled through Europe in the 18th century. See it at Olympia’s Wild Child November 14 through 24.
The operatic scale of “The Phantom of the Paradise,” with that awful scarred hero-villain, his teeth metal and his eyes mad, screaming into the night as he watches the seduction of the woman he loved … if all of this is getting your midnight cult classics motor revving, there might not ever be a better time to see it than on November 8th at the Capitol Theatre, where for its 50th anniversary it will be accompanied with a live band and an actor-adjacent performance on the stage.
This story of “An Inspector Calls” at Dukesbay Theatre is entertaining as a character study and an exposé of moral hypocrisy, but then playwright Priestly subverts his own plot and introduces a whole new dimension. The sense of reality, for both the audience and the characters, seems to dissolve. It is as if a trap door opens and a whole new level of deconstruction begins.
Olympia Armory Creative Campus’s eight anchor partners are already plotting how to make best use of their space. A common thread that ties them is an aim to cultivate a welcoming environment for visitors and to be of service to the community. There is a built-in connection to the local art scene which can potentially help the organizations to even better identify and meet public demand.
The Art of Salish Peoples, showcasing Coastal and Interior Salish People’s art, is a group exhibition until Jan 10, 2025, curated by the staff of The House of Welcome at The Evergreen State College. It is an all-Salish project, with lead artist Ed Archie NoiseCat and invited artists at Evergreen Gallery.