Arts
Hey Tacomans, do you know how fortunate you are to have two world-class art museums? Few cities the size of Tacoma have such treasures such as Tacoma Art Museum and Museum of Glass. These museums not only bring great art and great artists to town (and show the works of
Stage
Amy Herzog's 4000 Miles at Olympia Little Theatre has a you-are-there feel to it. It's a smart script with a naturalistic mix of drama and humor without bombast, and it is performed nicely by four young actors and one seasoned professional, Sharry O'Hare, who has been in more plays than
Arts
Artist Shirley Klinghoffer is a cancer survivor; she has used her own and others' experience with this deadly disease to create haunting and touching works of art now on display at the Museum of Glass. Her large-scale installation pieces are inspired by hospital armatures used as support for women's bodies during
Arts
The Southwest Washington Juried Exhibition at South Puget Sound Community College is better than your average juried exhibition. It's such a stellar collection of regional artists that I should be able to list the names and leave it at that, and readers would rush to see it. There are a lot
Stage
Strindberg's classic play Miss Julie was extremely controversial when first produced in France at the end of the 19th century. This newly adapted version by Niclas Olson's New Muses Theatre Company and performed in Tacoma's Dukesbay Theater in the Merlino Arts Center building, is dark and slightly confusing, but definitely
News Front
Pierce County Aids Foundation and Tacoma Pride have teamed up to sponsor a Military Appreciation Party at The Mix, with drink specials and karaoke, Wednesday, July 15 from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., after the Grand Cinema film series. Although this is a first for PCAF and Pride, it is not
Arts
The Roger Shimomura painting exhibition at Tacoma Art Museum mines the tradition of pop art and the history of Japanese-American relations to skewer prejudice and stereotype with painfully satirical paintings. Shimomura, an American artist living in Seattle, was born to a Japanese family shortly before the outbreak of World War II.
Arts
If you don't study them carefully, Jean Mandeberg's metal and mixed media assemblages at Salon Refu appear to be sweet wall decorations and little more, but if you make the effort to look carefully you'll see there's much more to them that meets the eye in a cursory glance. There is
Stage
The Mystery of Edwin Drood at Lakewood Playhouse is a deliciously funny romp through merrie olde England. Based on an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens, Drood is a musical comedy that asks the audience to vote on whodunit. What a fun and ingenious concept by Rupert Holmes, who wrote the
Arts
What better area of the country for photos about soldiers? The newest exhibition at the Washington State History Museum, opening June 20, is "The American Soldier," a comprehensive look at the best photographs from 150 years of Americans at war, beginning with the Civil War and continuing through the seemingly
Stage
Theater Artists Olympia brings a comedy by 17th century French writer Molière to the Midnight Sun, and it is as funny today as it must have been in Paris 48 years after the death of Shakespeare (whom I mention because lines from Shakespeare are quoted in Tartuffe, probably intended as
Arts
Lynn Di Nino comes up with more unique and often hilarious ideas than you can shake a stick at. Her latest - two shows in one - one curated by Di Nino and the other featuring her sculpture, is a delightful concept but more successful as an idea than in
Arts
I search my mind and my memory banks for clues as to the meanings of Nathan Orosco's installation, "Take It to the Bridge" and Sarah Casto's "We Part to Meet Again," but I can't imagine what must have been going through the artists' minds - what message, if any, they
Arts
It makes my heart happy to see that Laura Hanan has re-opened Brick & Mortar Gallery. The once funky little gallery on Pacific at 9th street is now elegant and welcoming and in business again after a hiatus of six years with a selection of Hanan's paintings plus porcelain wall
Stage
Watching Agamemnon at Dukesbay Theater opening night was a totally immersive theatrical experience. This is the way theater was in the beginning when many theatrical traditions still in common use were first invented, and it plays as well in 21st century Tacoma as it must have in Greece 2,400 years
Stage
Theater-goers accustomed to the intense drama of David Mamet plays such as Oleanna and Glengarry Glen Ross might be surprised at his A Life in the Theatre, a small play in which the less is said, the more is implied, a bittersweet comic drama that runs about an hour and
Arts
"Ahoy, A Maritime Exhibition" at B2 Gallery features paintings of ships and boats and people at work on the water by Mary Pacios, Susanna Rodriguez, James Cole and Austin Dwyer. In many ways, Dwyer dominates the show, due to his technical skill and the high drama of his work. But his
News Front
The rise in popularity of photography as both an art form and as a means of reporting on and archiving historical events coincided with the American Civil War, the first major war to be extensively photographed. Photographers such as Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner and Timothy O'Sullivan brought the gritty reality of
Arts
The featured art exhibition at Obsidian Café in Olympia is "Boycott! The Art of Economic Activism," a traveling poster exhibit of 58 posters highlighting diverse historical boycott movements from Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott that fired up the civil rights movement in the 1950s to today's Palestinian call
Arts
Eloquent Objects: Georgia O'Keeffe and Still-Life Art in New Mexico" is a major coup for Tacoma Art Museum. This major national touring exhibition featuring 22 of O'Keeffe's paintings and 42 paintings by her contemporaries who lived and worked in New Mexico for a while. Over a period of approximately 30
