Arts
There's a new visual arts venue in Olympia, and I hope this won't be a one-shot deal, but rather the first of many shows to come. Collage artist Evan Clayton Horback secured the use of the balcony area at Browsers Bookshop for an art exhibit space and curated a show featuring
Stage
Lakewood Playhouse opens its 2017-2018 season with the classic thriller Wait Until Dark, one of the most suspenseful plays ever mounted on stage. The play by Frederick Knott was first performed on Broadway in 1966. A film version starring Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkan was released the following year, and it has been
Arts
Art galleries by the dozens have come and gone while Childhood's End Gallery in Olympia just keeps rolling along. This venerable queen of South Sound art galleries has shown quality art since 1971 and shows no signs of growing weary. They have introduced many of the region's best artists to
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Since it first appeared on the Web in February 2014, and most especially since its first public event at B Sharp Coffee House the following month, Creative Colloquy (CC) has taken Tacoma and the South Sound's literary community by storm. Readers and writers from Olympia and Puyallup, and all around
Stage
From bright comedies such as Steve Martin's The Underpants and winner of the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT) New Play Fest Exit Laughing; to the horror of Dracula, with astonishing performances by Jacob Tice, Michael Christopher and Bryan Wane Jansen; to a gripping adaptation of John Steinbeck's Of Mice
Arts
A mile away from the Northwest Detention Center where immigrants are held while awaiting deportation, Spaceworks Gallery is holding their second exhibition focusing on immigration, "Immigration: Hopes Realized, Dreams Derailed." This follows "Scars and Stripes," this past spring's exhibition on Cambodian refugees and the U.S. involvement in Cambodia during the
Arts
Masahiro Sugano's installation at Feast Arts Center is as gutsy as anything you're likely to see, and I mean that both literally and metaphorically. It is gutsy in the sense of taking chances and - slightly more literally, as you will see - in the sense of the popular basketball-metaphor
Stage
Once again, Olympia Family Theater wows audiences with a totally local production. This time it is the ever-popular The Incredible Undersea Trial of Joseph P. Lawnboy, written by Bryan Willis, music by Bruce Whitney and lyrics by Scot Whitney, and produced for OFT by Open Road Productions. Willis, founder of Northwest
Arts
If your idea of basketry is mired in the 19th century, you need to visit "All Things Considered: Basketry in the 21st Century" at American Art Company for an eye-opening. This is not your grandma's basket weaving; this is contemporary sculptural art, free of all traditional restrictions as to what a
Arts
I hesitate to say this is the best juried exhibition yet at South Puget Sound Community College because I can't trust my memory of previous ones. But I can say this: all juried exhibitions have some great work, some mediocre work and a few pieces that make you wonder how
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Leaving Animal Fire Theatre's outdoor production of Much Ado About Nothing, my wife said she thought it might be the best Animal Fire show yet. In the moment, I tended to agree; but then I remembered their Hamlet from five years past and realized the obvious: you can't compare these
Arts
There is a small but interesting show of Northwest Native American art now on display at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma. The 12th annual "In the Spirit: Contemporary Native Art" juried exhibition includes 22 works by artists from Alaska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Washington and Canada, displayed in two
Stage
A hallmark of New Muses Theatre is adapting old plays for modern stages. The company's founder, Niclas Olson, writes the adaptations and usually both directs and stars in the shows - a heavy load for anyone to carry, but one he shoulders well. Written in 1753 by the Italian playwright Carlo
Arts
I must confess that I've never been a huge fan of sumi art. But I'm getting there. The more of it I see, the more I like it. There are 21 works of art in the show "Bamboo: The Summer Gentleman," and 19 of them are pictures of bamboo. One exception is
Stage
Harlequin Productions' First Date is a romantic comedy in the tradition of Tracy and Hepburn, Rock Hudson and Doris Day, Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, updated for the digital age. Updated how? For starters the search engine Google appears in the guise of a woman, and there's a decidedly 21st
Arts
Discovering the work of Serrah Russell, first through Feast Art Center and then through the Internet, was a pleasure for which I am grateful. Russell is a Seattle photographer, video artist and sculptor. As a way of not allowing shock, sadness, anger, fear, or confusion from trapping her in a standstill
Stage
Theater Artists Olympia's 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche might be one of the most difficult reviews I've ever written, because I don't want to give anything away, and this insanely funny romp is so full of surprises that I can hardly say anything without divulging something you should not know
Arts
Jeff Pasek is relatively new to Olympia. He moved here from Ohio in 2014. The first I heard of him was when I saw a post about this show on Facebook. I was excited by the vibrant color and exuberance of his paint application. So I Googled him and found
Stage
Love Letters by A. R. Gurney presents 50 years in the life of a loving couple, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III, as seen through letters they wrote to each other beginning in the second grade and continuing until maturity. Traditionally, the play has been presented with different actors
Arts
Tacoma's own Bruce Bickford, the legendary animator famous for his work on the Frank Zappa movie Baby Snakes, has his first Tacoma art exhibit at Spaceworks Gallery, and it's a doozie. The show includes two animated videos, still frames from many of his animated films, sculptures of clay and of
