The Lord Franzannian Royal Olympia Spectacular Vaudeville show is seeking new original acts for its 20th anniversary show! NOW is the time to GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER in preparation for the September auditions. We are seeking dancers, singers, clowns, puppeteers, comics, sketch artists, strongmen/women, freaks, burlesque performers, acrobats, and ___________ plus anything else you can think …
Molly Gilmore “Arts Aficionado” #4 — July 22, 2026
— ‘Liberty’ on Percival Landing
— Puppet ‘Opera’
— Concerts and films al fresco
Olympia’s own Elizabeth Lord directed “Crazy Dinner,” a new musical by the performance collaborative Nightmayor. Based in both Olympia and Seattle, Nightmayor started life as a punk rock band that morphed into a theatre collective known for its original, eccentric musicals, of which “Crazy Dinner” is the latest. In late August, TAO will be bringing back one of their signature productions, “An Improbable Peck of Plays, Volume VI.” which they have been staging in collaboration with The Northwest Playwrights Alliance since 2012.
A visit to the Kitsap Forest Theater, an hour from Olympia, is as much about the place as the plays. The productions, often old-fashioned musicals on a grand scale, boast strong production values, winning performers and well-played live music. But the theater itself is arguably the star of every show. “The space is magical,” said Gala Lindvall, a producer for the theater, owned by the Mountaineers. “As you walk down to it, it’s like it was 100 years ago. We take audiences on a journey away from regular life.” Next up at the outdoor theater, on a 466-acre nature preserve near Bremerton, is Oliver, opening July 25.
The Washington Center for the Performing Arts’ 2026-27 season, announced Tuesday, June 17, features the center’s traditional mix of Broadway shows, comedy, music, dance and family — plus two leading lights of literature.
“We’re very excited to have Amy Tan and Tim Egan coming in this season.” said Jill Barnes, the center’s executive director. Also among the season’s big names are satirical singing sensation Randy Rainbow (Oct. 15), comedy icon Tig Notaro (Nov. 13) and gospel giants The Blind Boys of Alabama (April 1).
The original “it’s complicated.” Centerstage Presents She Loves Me! By JOE MASTEROFF, JERRY BOCK, AND SHELDON HARNICK Directed by Michelle Blackmon May 22 – June 14, 2026 Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm FEDERAL WAY, WA—Anonymous letters and mistaken identities entwine with a gorgeous score and wonderful characters in this delightful, …
Pipeline — now playing through May 10 at Lakewood Playhouse — revolves around Omari, a high school student played by Isaiah Myers, who himself is a junior in high school. Omari shoved a teacher, which is his third offense, and is now in a situation where he can either run away or face the potential consequence of jail time. As a young actor playing his own age, wrestling with the fury and shame of his circumstances, Myers is a magnetic presence onstage. He’s able to play a character who is smarter than he’s willing to let on, but too stubborn to back down from an impossible position.
“In the play, Love/Sick by John Cariani, now playing at Olympia Little Theater, you’ll meet a bunch of what I call desperate optimists — people who believe in love but are terrified that it won’t last,” Cariani said in a 2013 interview with The Public Theatre of Lewiston, Maine, then producing the show. Love/Sick is a series of nine vignettes about love and relationships, adds fantastical details to relatable situations, said Kathryn Dorgan, who’s directing the OLT production which opened on April 24.
You may have seen the hugely popular Lord Franziannian’s annual Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show, featuring offbeat artists from in and around the Olympia area — hosted by Lord Franziannian, a character developed by polymath writer, actor, and storyteller Elizabeth Lord. In true vaudeville style, Franziannian’s showcases various local creative and quirky oddball acts, no two are the same, and they’re none like anything you’ve seen before. It was from this pool of peculiar unconventionality that Lord (Elizabeth) discovered the band nightmayor (lowercase ‘n’ intentional). Wild Child performance space, May 21 – 31, and June 6, 7.
Similar to a vibrant garden, our arts scene in Thurston County is filled with a variety of artistic companies and artists who are consistently adding color, beauty, joy, and their own lovely fragrance to our lives. Let Oly Arts be your “florist” this spring and give ideas of what you can add to the bouquet of your lives: TAO’s Anna Considers Mars — Harlequin’s Where the Summit Meets the Stars — OFT’s The Hobbit — and SPSCC’s Anastasia the Musical.