Arts
The first thing that strikes the eye upon walking into Larry Calkins' show "Something Happened Again Tomorrow" at the Feast Art Center, is a pair of rust-colored figures hanging in the windows. Hanging as in lynched. The overall impression, not just of these figures but of the entire show, is
Stage
What a wonderful play! Fishnapped at Olympia Family Theater is a wild and rocking, sweet and touching musical ostensibly for kids but a treat for all ages. And it is a world premiere locally written and produced. It was written by Amy Shephard and Andrew Gordon with music and lyrics
Arts
Artist, curator and gallery owner Lisa Kinoshita recently announced that local artist Nicholas Nyland has joined Matter co-owners Kinoshita and furniture maker Steve Lawler of rePly Furniture as a third partner. "And wait ‘til you see the changes he's wrought at the gallery," Kinoshita exclaimed in an email brimming with
Stage
Shakespeare in Hollywood by legendary playwright Ken Ludwig, author of such popular plays as Lend Me a Tenor, Moon Over Buffalo, and Twentieth Century, brings a bit of magic and a lot of mayhem to Olympia Little Theatre. The concept is brilliant, even as it asks audiences to forsake logic
Arts
"Cultural imPRINT: Northwest Coast Prints" is an exhibition of some 45 prints by artists from the many Northwest coastal tribes over a period of six decades. From the earliest works to the most recent, these prints demonstrate a melding of ancient traditions with the latest aesthetic practices from the times
News Front
Beginning May 20, Capital Mall in Olympia's West Side will display its annual Military Appreciation Exhibit honoring community members who have served in the U.S. military, or are currently serving. This will be the first annual such exhibit according to Capital Mall marketing director Christina Eudy. "Capital Mall is requesting photos
Arts
Salon Refu ends its brief but amazing history as the only gallery in South Puget Sound to rival major galleries in major cities with a two-person show of works by Jean Nagai and Peter Scherrer. The gallery will close its doors at the end of this month, but not necessarily
Stage
Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt is a monumentally ambitious play for a community theater to produce. The original was done completely in verse and was performed in five acts with more than 40 scenes in different locations and times, and it alternated between realism and fantasy. New Muses Theatre Company's version, adapted
Arts
"Joe Hedges: Empirical Evidence" is the latest exhibition in the gallery at South Puget Sound Community College. The exhibition blends traditional art with science, mechanics, science-fiction. The show includes still-life paintings in oil on canvas, digital prints of imaginative machine-like objects, and fantastical installations involving sculptural objects that appear to
Stage
What's wrong with these people? Why are they laughing so hysterically at stuff that's only slightly funny? Have they never heard a risqué joke, or am I just totally jaded? Those are the thoughts that often go through my head when attending comedic plays that rely on titillation humor. Not so
Arts
Talented artists all, members of the art faculty at Tacoma Community College are showing some of their latest works. Exhibiting artists are: Kyle Dillehay; Alice Di Certo; Jenny Roholt; Melinda Liebers Cox; Anthony Culanag; Frank Dippolito; Karen Doten; Rick Mahaffey; Reid Ozaki; and Marit Berg. Probably the most engaging piece in
Arts
Lucy Gentry Meltzer's "Biophilia Collection" at Salon Refu is a selection of small voodoo dolls and sculptural figures on dress mannequins standing on the floor and floating from a natural wood frame just below the gallery ceiling. Figuratively, they are wood sprites, fairies, Medieval warriors and goddesses, and a sleek,
Stage
My first reaction when I saw that Tacoma Little Theatre was doing Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington was "What a great title" - a switcheroo on the famous Jimmy Stewart film of the same title, but with "Mrs." Instead of "Mr." I had never heard of the play, but assumed
Arts
All the way from Berlin, Germany, comes multi-dimensional artist Isabelle Gresser with a multi-media installation on the theme of pine trees, humanity, and international cultures. There are multiple videos with found footage and brilliant editing, drawings, photographs, and one wall featuring student work from a project called "Nocturn Encounters: Utopian
Stage
Randy Clark, co-founder of Dukesbay Theater and director of the French farce The Waltz of the Toreadors, said he saw this play years ago at The Seattle Repertory Theatre and loved it, and that he has never seen it performed anywhere since. He said he does not understand why it
Arts
Little is known about the United States' involvement in Cambodia during the Vietnam War or about the aftermath - the refugees, the deportees, the Americans in exile. The exhibition "Scars and Stripes" at Spaceworks Gallery examines all of that through photographs, paintings, video and performance art (readers may recall the
Arts
I have been following Sherry Buckner's art, mostly in shows at Childhood's End, for well over 20 years. Her latest serigraphs and pastels might be her best yet. There are two groups of these works in the current show. On the first group of panels as you enter the gallery
Stage
Come out of the rain to kick off spring with Olympia Family Theater's production of Alice in Wonderland - a lot of fun for kids from 3 to 73. Adapted from the book by Lewis Carroll by the multi-talented writer/director/actor Kate Ayers and directed by OFT co-founder and artistic director
Arts
Once again, Susan Christian is showing her painted stick constructions at her own gallery, Salon Refu. The paintings are assemblages of various kinds of sticks, mostly lathe, which she puts together in rectangular shapes and paints as if they were stretched canvases. The last time I reviewed an exhibition of these
Stage
The musical Gypsy with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents and starring Ethel Merman as the iconic stage mother, Rose, opened on Broadway in 1959. Three years later came the film version with Rosalind Russell as Rose. I saw the film when I was
