Join us for a Wicked sing along! This is your chance to sing “Loathing” along with Glinda and Elphaba and belt out “Defying Gravity” with the rest of the audience! Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, stars Elphaba, a young woman misunderstood because of her green skin who has yet to discover …
Award-winning pianist and composer Marina Albero weaves a tapestry of sound that defies categorization, drawing from her rich multicultural background in Barcelona, Cuba, and Seattle. A musical polyglot fluent in jazz, flamenco, classical, and Latin traditions, Albero has captivated audiences worldwide with her innovative improvisational style and emotional depth. Her latest album “A Nomad of …
Join us for the Center Salon, an annual dynamic gathering that showcases many forms of artistic expression – from visual artists and writers to musicians, actors, comedians, and filmmakers. Each year brings a unique mix of performances and creative showcases where artists connect and audiences discover something extraordinary.
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.”
The Wailin’ Jennys are Nicky Mehta, Ruth Moody and Heather Masse — three distinct voices that together make an achingly perfect vocal sound. With their varying backgrounds, each of the Jennys is unique in their individual expression and together they have grown into one of today’s most beloved acts on the international folk-roots scene. The …
March 27 at the Washington Center – Adventure Series: The Power of Creativity: A Journey through Storytelling, Exploration, and Hope! Award-winning photographer, journalist, and author Kike Calvo explores how creativity can be a catalyst for connection, storytelling, and meaningful change.
These two films depict the Pacific Northwest in two radically different times. In Robert Altman’s classic revisionist Western, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Warren Beatty moves into a mining town in 1900s Washington, trying his best to become a big shot in the middle of a boom period. Michael Sarnoski’s new classic, Pig, explores the fringes of modern-day Portland, with Nicolas Cage starring as a reclusive former chef whose truffle pig gets stolen. The films – showing at Capitol Theater November 15 & 16 – showcase the Pacific Northwest’s natural wonders as an overwhelming force that has to be bent to, not conquered; and both films have an elegiac atmosphere that hangs over them.
Speaking of the Center Salon at The Washington Center, Jill Barnes, executive director of the center, said, “It’s really fun to see so many different genres of art in one night. It’s pretty special. The center hosts touring artists from all over the world, and this event showcases our homegrown talent. It complements the rest of our programming and who we are and what we do.” Co-curated by Olympia’s own, Bryan Willis, the Center Salon will fill the center’s black box on the evening of Saturday, March 22.
If you enjoy a good old-fashioned multi-disciplinary arts party, including more than a dozen zero-budget film productions by local artists, the Ground to Sound Arts Festival in Tacoma might be your lucky festival. Co-sponsored by Foster’s Creative and the City of Tacoma, the Ground to Sound Arts Festival began last year with local artists creating original short films highlighting the problem of untreated water and trash and its journey to the Sound in documentary form. This year there will be a Music Open Mic, film and art, a Literary Reading and Open Mic.
Many of the South Sound’s best theater and visual arts critics write for OLY ARTS. We asked six of them to highlight some of their favorite visual and performance art shows from 2024, and we congratulate and celebrate the Olympia and Tacoma-area artists selected. Due to the limitation we put on the critics of no more than two or three shows, we are aware of and acknowledge that many great shows and artists were not picked. We are lucky to live in such a vibrant creative community.