Enter a time warp at ‘Rocky Horror’ or punk music fest, or poke fun at ‘POTUS’ play
Punk party at the port
Legendary punk bands Bratmobile and L7 are headlining the 2025 South Sound Block Party, happening Friday, Aug. 22, and Saturday, Aug. 23. The music festival at the Port of Olympia’s NorthPoint, 1022 Marine Drive NE, Olympia, will be rocking the town with a diverse lineup of bands beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday. There will be food trucks and a beer garden, too. Tickets are $60.55 per day or $98.25 for both, including fees, with children younger than 12 admitted free.
‘POTUS’ pokes fun
Some might find it hard to laugh at the state of politics these days, but there’s hope for humor in Harlequin Productions’ farcical “POTUS,” opening Friday, Aug. 22. Selina Fillinger’s 2022 play — subtitled “Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” — was a hit with both audiences and critics when it opened on Broadway. “The likelihood that you will laugh until your face hurts is one of near certainty,” Maureen Lee Lenker wrote in Entertainment Weekly. And the titular “POTUS” (who, according to New York Times critic Jesse Green, seems pretty darn similar to the country’s current leader) doesn’t make an appearance on stage. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 22-23, Aug. 28-30 and Sept. 3-6, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24, Aug. 31 and Sept. 7 at the State Theater, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia. Tickets are $33-$48; for the Aug. 30, Sept. 3 and Sept. 5 performances, pay what you choose.
‘Rocky Horror’ at 50
It might feel like a time warp, but it’s been a half century since “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” first hit theaters. (The first screening, in the U.K., happened on Aug. 14, 1975.) Both the Olympia Film Society and Shelton’s Skyline Drive-In are celebrating the cult classic with screenings this weekend.
• The film society’s screening happens at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia, with doors opening at 11 p.m. Riff Raff’s Street Rats, based in Bremerton, will perform along with the film. Tickets are $16.25, $13.25 for film-society members.
• In Shelton, the venerable Skyline Drive-In, 182 SE Brewer Road, is hosting an Aug. 22 screening. Gates open at 8 p.m. for the event, which will begin with a costume contest and pre-show at 9, followed by the main event. Tickets are $8 for adults, $3 for children 6-11 and free for those 5 and younger. (Note that the film is rated R.)
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore talks with DJ Kevin the Brit about what’s happening around town on KGY-FM’s “Oly in a Can,” airing at 2 p.m. Fridays.