While you’re (mostly) in: Child’s play, Spike Lee’s new film or a piano-cat duet
Go to Hands On Museum, or get hands on at home
Olympia’s Hands On Children’s Museum reopens to the public Saturday, but before you grab the kids and run out the door, read on. Reservations are a must, and the museum is letting in just 30-35 families at a time. The museum, at 414 Jefferson St. NE, has made many changes aimed at keeping visitors safe and added some new fun features, too, including the Colorful Plate Pizzeria, a Shadow Room and a beach-themed obstacle course. Find out more online, or call 360-956-0818. Also kicking off Saturday is the Child Care Action Council’s Building Through Play, a month of activities for parents and caregivers to share with youngsters. These aren’t activities to do on the computer or phone but rather ideas for offline fun. Families can take pictures of what they’re doing and submit them to the council for a chance to win prizes.
Waiting on the block
“Pass Over,” streaming on Amazon, is a “Waiting for Godot” about Black lives, police violence and white supremacy. Director Spike Lee’s film of Antoinette Nwandu’s 2017 play debuted at Sundance, earning critical raves before going under most people’s radar. (In fact, although Amazon produced the film, it’s not easily found there. The site’s search engine is determined instead to direct viewers to films about Passover, so add Lee’s name to the search field.) Like Samuel Beckett’s “Godot,” “Pass Over” is a tragicomedy — but it’s much more tragedy than comedy. It’s poetic, metaphorical, allegorical, dark and disturbing. It makes its point in a visceral way that the playwright hopes will inspire action. In June, Los Angeles Times writer Makeda Easter asked Nwandu whether she’d recommend that people watch the film in the wake of George Floyd’s death. “If you’re coming to watch the play so that you can feel good or check off some sort of passive, activist action thing, then no,” Nwandu said. “But if you’re coming to the play as part of a larger conversation and part of the larger work of dismantling racism and white supremacy, then yes, I invite everyone to that large and growing table.”
Cat video gets a classical makeover
The need to spend more time at home has led many people to find new pastimes, some kookier than others. Irish classical pianist Conor Broderick, perhaps going stir crazy at a time when both performing and playing with other musicians are generally off limits, decided to collaborate with a cat — and an angry one at that. Broderick came across a video in which a cat, apparently unhappy at having been exiled to the yard, yells and hisses with indignation. He decided to literally play along with the furious feline, labeling the result his magnum opus. As if that weren’t enough, the clearly suffering pianist — who admits at the end of the video that he has too much time on his hands — whiled away a few more minutes making really bad puns. “This cat is not kitten around,” he wrote in a Facebook post about the video. “Purr-haps we will play together in the future. Claw-ful jokes, I know.” Yes.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore is unfortunately something of an expert on bad cat puns, given that she lives with a seemingly inexhaustible source of them. She discusses local arts, entertainment and more with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.