Animal Fire Theatre has set its Uncle Vanya in and around Olympia’s Lord Mansion. It’s a setting that’s as enchanting as Anton Chekhov’s play is bleak. Theatergoers are part of the action, and moments of surprise and drama elicit jumps and gasps.
The setting of Our House, written by John Logenbaugh and co-directed by Logenbaugh and Bryan Willis, the stage, is an actual small house in which the story and the action take place. It’s located on the edge of a cemetery, in what was still country and farmland when the play begins in 1934 and Olympia had a population of just over 11,000 people. Produced in Olympia by Battleground Productions.
“One of the reasons that Olympia had such a great theater scene was due to the cross-pollination of companies, actors and theaters. With the loss of Capital Playhouse, and now Oly Theater, opportunities are dwindling.” – John Serembe
“Midsummer Night’s Dream Faire” at Schmidt House in Tumwater features live music by Tacoma-based Pearl Django, other performances, games, dinner and refreshments (21+). This one-night event on Thursday, August 8th is a fundraising event to benefit the Procession of the Species organization.
String and Or So It Would Seam: A Giant Puppet Voyage Into the Hidden Universe runs through July 21 in Olympia’s Decatur Woods Park and then tours the Northwest till Sept. 1. You really do want to make time for this confection, packed with visual puns and silly walks. String and Shadow’s worlds of fantasy and fable aim to pluck at the strings of universal wonder, innocence, and joy.
Before there was “RENT,” there was “Tick, Tick… Boom!”
From Jonathan Larson, the genius who created “RENT,” “Tick, Tick… Boom!” tells the story of Jon, a 29-year-old waiter and aspiring composer who is running out of time to make his mark in the theater world. Broadway Olympia’s production runs through July 14 at OlyTheater, with a pay-what-you-choose performance on July 8.
“I’ve wanted to stage this play for over 15 years because of the vibrant characters. …So, when you talk about them and create their journeys, you have all these different events to pull from.” Animal Fire co-founder, Austen Anderson, returns to the outdoor stage to direct a stellar cast in this new adaptation in Lacey’s Wonderwood Park he hopes will appeal to audiences unfamiliar with the Bard as well as Shakespearian aficionados.
“More than the well-known 1972 film with Liz Minnelli and Joel Grey, the stage musical digs deep into what the rise of the Third Reich meant in the lives of the German people. Cabaret, finally, is a warning,” said Aaron Lambe, Harlequin’s artistic director of their performance playing June 28 to July 28 in their remodeled theater.
Endesha Ida Mae Holland’s “From the Mississippi Delta” Tacoma Little Theatre through June 23 is punctuated by song and is drawn from the lives of African American people living in the Deep South during the Jim Crow era. Photo of Sonia Alexis & Whitney Crawford by Dennis K Photography.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at Olympia Family Theater comprises both young and not-so-young actors, smoothly stirred into a well-tuned ensemble; part of the fun of watching it is the speed and energy with which the story is rolled out, almost like street theater, or commedia, or circus.