Fun things to do in Thurston County this week

Using buckets and non-traditional percussion, the Busted Bucket Brigade is a drumline of rhythms, visuals, dancing and vocals. The group will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. Friday at the Lacey Timberland Library, 500 College St. SE, as part of the Live @ The Library series. After the performance, join in a bucket drumming workshop for all ages. Call 360-491-3860 for more information.

Rooster Crow will celebrate the release of their new album, “Armadillo Tracks,” with a 9 p.m. Saturday performance at Rhythm & Rye, 311 Capitol Way N., Olympia. The EP is a live release that was recorded with Slow Motion Cowboys. Also joining the party will be Luna Melt and The Hinges. Go to tinyurl.com/Rooster-Crow-RNR to learn more.

Transplanted from San Francisco to the Pacific Northwest, Dmitri Matheny was voted Northwest Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year by the Seattle Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Awards and has been noted as an emotional, expressive improviser on the flugelhorn. As part of the Black Box Jazz concert series, the Dmitri Matheny Group will perform a program entirely of his original works, including the premier of his latest composition, “Cascadia.” Come out to see him at 8 p.m. Friday (Jan. 19) at the black box theater at the Washington Center for Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia. Admission is $27. Call or go online for more information; 360-753-8586, washingtoncenter.org

Billed as a time-traveling murder mystery farce, “Communicating Doors” opens Friday (Jan. 19) at the Olympia Little Theatre, 1925 Miller Ave. NE. The intricate comic thriller is written by Alan Ayckbourn, who is renown as a British master of farce. The play will continue through Feb. 4 with showtimes of 7:25 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 1:55 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $11-$15 and are available online at olympialittletheatre.org or at Yenney Music, 2703 Capitol Mall Drive SW, Suite 201.

“I Am My Own Wife,” based on the true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a German transvestite who managed to survive the Nazi onslaught and repressive East German communist regime, will be produced at the State Theater, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, through Feb. 10. Tickets are $20-$35; Jan. 24 is pay what you can. Call 360-786-0151 or go online to harlequinproductions.org to get yours.

Take a short road trip to explore the annual Elma Winter Wine Festival this weekend. Sponsored by the Elma Chamber of Commerce, the events from noon-9 p.m. Saturday will feature wine tasting, beer garden, wine sales, food booths, gifts and merchandise plus live entertainment throughout the day, including Six Pack Pretty, Ericka Corban and Fever 103. If you’re an RVer, the Elma RV Park is offering a discount, or stay at the Stay Beyond Inn & Suites — both will provide free shuttles to the festival at Grays Harbor Fair & Event Center in Elma. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Wine tasting script is $1 each. Call 360-482-3055 for advance tickets.

Irish jigs and reels meet fiddle tunes and songs when The Arbutus Folk School puts on “Ireland Meets Appalachia.” Olympia-based fiddler Randl Bays and his family, The Bays Family Band, will be joined by Erynn Marshall and Carl Jones from Virginia, for both a performance of acoustic music and workshops. The workshop is at 2 p.m. and the concert is at 7 p.m. Saturday at Nova Middle School, 2020 22nd Ave. SE, Olympia. Tickets to the performance are $20, $15 for youth younger than 18. The two-hour workshop is $30. For more information and tickets, go to arbutusfolkschool.org

Betrayed and tortured by Nazis, Stella Goldschlag agreed to work for the Gestapo who reveled in her treachery informing on hiding Jews. The one-woman play “Blonde Poison” is the story of a woman living in scorn decades after the war. The play will be at the Washington Center for Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia, for just two nights. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Jan. 26. Tickets are $37 plus a $3 service fee at washingtoncenter.org.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 6:30 AM with the headline "Fun things to do in Thurston County this week."