Need Labor Day fun? Head to Budd Inlet for Harbor Days, or check out cheeky take on Jane Austen
It’s not just the water
Harbor Days, Olympia’s annual celebration of maritime history and culture, is all about the boats — particularly tugboats, tall ships and other working vessels. But the Labor Day weekend festival, happening Friday through Sunday, Aug. 30-Sept. 1, also will have a highlight in flight, and that’s the drone show, first seen in 2023. The drones will take flight at 9:30 p.m. Friday, and provide a light show over Budd Inlet. (There’s a test run at 9:30 p.m. Thursday, if you want a preview.) The rest of the fest, which stretches from Percival Landing to the Port of Olympia, features vintage tugboat races on Sunday afternoon, plus boat rides, children’s activities, live music, sand sculpture carving, and multitudes of vendors selling art, crafts and an array of edibles including the Chehalis Tribe’s traditional smoked salmon. The festival happens from 5 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1.
Absurd Austen
Kate Hamill’s “Pride and Prejudice” might shock purists: The play, opening Friday, Aug. 30, at Harlequin Productions’ State Theater, turns Jane Austen’s novel of manners into a screwball comedy with pop music, a disco ball and casting that plays fast and loose with gender. (Most actors play more than one part, and many play both male and female roles.) The show stars the ubiquitous Xander Layden as Mr. Darcy and Kate Anders (“The Women,” “A Christmas Carol”) as Lizzy. Also in the cast: David Breyman, Marianna de Fazio, Rebecca Gelzer, Brandon Riel, Ariel Rose and Jana Tyrrell. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 30-Sept. 1 and Sept. 5-7, 12-14 and 19-21, and 2 p.m. Sept. 2, 8, 15, 18 and 22 at the State Theater, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia. Tickets are $28-$43. And the show is rated PG, according to the company’s recently updated website, which now includes movie-style ratings.
‘Uncle Vanya’ at Lord Mansion
Animal Fire Theatre’s “Uncle Vanya” invites theatergoers to enter the world of the Anton Chekhov classic about an elderly professor who returns with his wife to the country estate he’d left long before. The 1923 Lord Mansion will be the setting for an immersive production of the play, opening Tuesday, Sept. 3, and continuing Sept. 4, 5 and 10-13. (Yes, weeknight theater is unusual, but since the mansion is a popular wedding venue, those were the nights available.) Actors and audience will move in and around the mansion as the action progresses. The production, directed by Marla Beth Elliott, who retired in 2022 from her longtime position as theater professor at The Evergreen State College, stars Animal Fire stalwart Scott Douglas, an Evergreen alum, in the title role. “Almost everyone in the cast is an Evergreen grad,” Elliott told The Olympian. The script was adapted by Stepan S. Simek of Portland, who briefly taught at the college. Performances are at 6:30 p.m. at the mansion at 211 21st Ave. SW, Olympia. Tickets are $30, except for the Sept. 10 show, which offers pay-what-you-choose pricing. Each performance can accommodate just 30 people, and tickets have been selling briskly, so don’t hesitate if you’re interested.
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 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Fridays.
This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Need Labor Day fun? Head to Budd Inlet for Harbor Days, or check out cheeky take on Jane Austen."