Arts

  • Photos Performance art that’s a whole lot more than just entertainment

    When we think “variety show,” South Sound residents might well think of Lord Franzannian’s Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show — silly, funny and sometimes jaw dropping.

  • Photos Links Olympia Comics Festival expands its offerings

    The 13-year-old Olympia Comics Festival is getting into all kinds of new things.

  • Photos Links Elizabeth Lord takes on personal life choices in 'The Swimsuit Area'

    Elizabeth Lord admits she’s nervous about her new one-woman show. “The Swimsuit Area” is playing this weekend only at The Midnight Sun, and as the title suggests, it’s about a sensitive topic.

  • Photos Links Olympia playwright Nick McCord's 'Good Night, Good Doctor' explores our medicated society

    Although his first full-length play is a dramatic thriller, Nick McCord has spent a lot of his life making people laugh as a stand-up comedian. McCord — who is producing, co-directing and acting in the play he wrote, “Good Night, Good Doctor,” this weekend at The Midnight Sun — said, ““One of the reasons I quit stand-up comedy was that I felt limited on stage to expressing just one facet, just the funny haha stuff. ... I didn’t just want to make my audience laugh, I wanted to make them cry. I wanted to make them leave the theater talking about what they saw.”

  • Photos Links OLT's 'Same Time Next Year' follows couple through their once-a-year affair

    “Same Time, Next Year” is a romance about a couple who carries on a once-a-year affair, sharing joys, sorrows and changing times while remaining more-or-less happily married to other people. Behind the scenes of Olympia Little Theatre’s production, opening Friday, is another love story.

  • Photos Links Could 'Faust' be the last full-length opera for Claudia Simpson-Jones?

    How much does Claudia Simpson-Jones love opera? A decade ago, she founded Opera Pacifica with her husband, tenor Robert William Corl. “Olympia didn’t have an opera company, and it should have because we have some really great singers,” she said. But being the founder means Simpson-Jones doesn’t just conduct the operas, she produces them, which is a huge endeavor.

  • Photos Links Olympia Family Theater premieres 'Cinder Edna' as a spunky alternative view

    Nearly everyone knows the story of Cinderella, who is maltreated by her family until her fairy godmother helps her get to the ball, where she meets a handsome prince. Now you can meet "Cinder Edna," courtesy of writer Ted Ryle and the Olympia Family Theater. In Ryle's musical adaptation of the book by Ellen Jackson, the heroine turns her sad life around on her own.

  • Photos Links SideWalk's 'My Front Door' art auction to raise funds for those without homes

    With SideWalk’s new fundraiser, dubbed My Front Door, the homeless advocacy center aims to raise both awareness and money with a collection of doors transformed into art, including doors by Nikki McClure and China Star, the latest Arts Walk cover artist. The doors will move around town for the next two weeks and then be auctioned off May 31.

  • Photos Links Spectrum Dance Theater lets Olympia audience sample many dance styles

    The works in Spectrum Dance Theater’s Olympia performance have been shortened, but the theme is a mighty tall one. The Seattle company will dance Saturday at The Washington Center, presenting excerpts from an array of longer dances. “It’s an opportunity for people to think about American dance,” said Donald Byrd, the company’s artistic director.

  • Photos Links Harlequin's ‘Gloucester Blue’ takes wry look at the 1 percent

    “Gloucester Blue” — the latest Israel Horovitz play to find its way to Harlequin Productions’ stage — tells the story of a wealthy couple converting a former fish-packing plant into a vacation home.