Out and About: Visit Boo-Coda, read artist’s faces, catch cult classic
Boo is the word: Ready to celebrate pumpkins, candy and things that go bump in the night? You might want to head for Boo-Coda, the tiny town that so loves ghosts and ghouls that it changes its name each October and transforms into a Halloween haven. Boo-Coda’s free Spooktacular (http://www.boo-coda.com) includes a haunted house, daily trick-or-treating and different activities happening each weekend. Saturday, Oct. 16, options include a costume contest, a Zombie Dash, a tombstone-making class and Native American storytelling by Harvest Moon of the Quinault people.
The art of the face: Harlequin Productions’ State Theater is once again a destination for lovers of the arts, as a peek into the lobby reveals. Colorful and soulful faces painted by Sandra Bocas hang in the lobby, and the company’s fall repertory season kicks off Thursday, Oct. 21, with a preview of “Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical” (https://harlequinproductions.org/show/tenderly-the-rosemary-clooney-musical/). Before the preview, the company is hosting a reception for Bocas (https://harlequinproductions.org/meet-sandra-bocas-featured-artist-for-the-fall-repertory-season/), who sees her work as a conversation between the viewer and the viewed and whose aesthetic has been shaped by both her childhood in Trinidad and her 30-year career as a makeup artist. The soul, she says, shines through the eyes. The free reception begins at 6 p.m. in the theater, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, and the preview is at 7:30. Tickets are $20. Vaccination or a negative COVID test is required for both events. Bocas’ art can also be seen by appointment; to make one, email Lynette Charters (chartersart@gmail.com).
Campy “Vampire”: A vampire movie that also includes hippies, dune buggies and rattlesnakes? That’s the 1971 horror flick “The Velvet Vampire,” screening Saturday, Oct. 16, at the Capitol Theater. The Olympia Film Society (https://olympiafilmsociety.org/the-velvet-vampire/) describes the film as and “outrageous desert paean to bloodsucking and partner-swapping.” And that’s not all: The screening includes a new score composed and performed live by Corey J. Brewer of Seattle, whose previous projects include a live score for “The Shining” shown both forward and backward. The screening begins at 8 p.m. at the theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia. Tickets are $10, $7 for Olympia Film Society members.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore feared closed shower curtains for years after watching “The Shining,” but she sure got a kick out of the trailer for “The Velvet Vampire” (https://youtu.be/n14rbnUtE94). She talks about what’s happening in Olympia and beyond with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3-4 p.m. Fridays.
This story was originally published October 15, 2021 at 5:30 AM.