Edmonds kids take the lead!
During the month of February, Artfully Edmonds has put Edmonds kids in the lead paragraph of each column in celebration of our little Valentines.
It has been exciting to discover news of Edmonds’ art offerings for area children and young people. We’ve featured music lessons, stage opportunities and art classes; summer performance camps and art career successes of young people, like Casey Askew, who call Edmonds their home town and now traveling the globe as Edmonds’ ambassadors.
So congratulations to each of the young artists and troupes we’ve highlighted for February; and a community-wide “Thank You!” to the teachers, mentors, and parents who support these aspiring children.
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This week we heard from Rachel Dobbins, mom to one of Meadowdale High School’s students, that the Feb. 6 Meadowdale Auction and Variety Show held at the Edmonds Senior raised just over $11,000 for the Arts Booster Club and the Music Boosters. Imagine!
We were also told that 150 people attended the sparkling event, with over 30 last-minute tickets being sold at the door.
Let’s take a look at what we have in store this last week of February, brought to us by the young people of Edmonds.
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Friday, March 6 ~ 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 7~ 2 p.m. & 7 p.m.
Maplewood Parent Cooperative Commons
8500 200th St. S.W.
Maplewood Middle School is putting on the musical “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” and nearly half of the middle school students are involved!
Rachel Dobbins tells Artfully Edmonds that the kids and coaches have been working diligently on this production since October.
Dobbins invites the community; “Enjoy a tale as old as time: The classic story of Belle, a young woman living in a provincial town, and the Beast who is really a young prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress.”
We are reminded of the storyline: If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end and he will be transformed into his former self. But time is running out! If the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed for all eternity.
Step into the magical world of Disney’s “Beauty And The Beast Jr.” an Academy Award-winning animated feature. This stage version includes music by the late Howard Ashman, along with new songs by Alan Menken and Tim Rice.
Doors open 30 minutes before the show. Tickets are $5 at the door.
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Alley Bell Music
Alley Bell Music, owned by Sarah Richards, contacted My Edmonds News to let us now that registration for spring semester will open soon for parents and caregivers who want to introduce their little ones to the joy of music. Alley Bell Music offers classes that nurture a child’s interest in music.
Not sure if music discovery is right (yet) for your child? Richards will hold a free demonstration class for interested families on Friday, March 27 at 9:45 a.m. at the Barclay Shelton Dance Center. Registration for the free demo is required, as space is limited.
For more information on the Alley Bell Music program, to register for a free demonstration, or to register for upcoming classes or demos, Richards invites you to visit www.alleybellmusic.com.
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Edmonds Center for the Arts (ECA)
410 4th Ave. N.
Saturday, Feb. 28
7 p.m.
International Carnival ensues!
Edmonds Community College will present the 36th Annual International Night: International Carnival this Saturday at the ECA.
Celebrate international cultures represented by the Edmonds Community College student body. Students will showcase talents representing their cultures from around the world.
Tickets are available online at this Vendini website.
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Summer Arts Enrichment Camps Announced
Registration is now open for ECA’s 2015 Summer Arts Enrichment Camps. Designed for students from ages 7-15, Summer Arts Enrichment Camps create opportunities for young people to work directly with professional artists. Organized in partnership with local and regional arts organizations, camps are one-week long and meet daily from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on the ECA campus.
July 6-10 and
July 13-17
Shakespeare Company “Shakespeare As You Like It: Combat, Improv, & Acting” and
Book-It Repertory Theatre’s “Investigate, Adapt, Act”
In “Shakespeare As You Like It,” students ages 11-15 will hone their improvisation and acting skills as they explore William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Studying the play’s comedic scenes, participants will develop their stage fighting skills in a curriculum that includes training in unarmed combat and swordplay.
Book-It Repertory Theatre’s “Investigate, Adapt, Act!” will see youth ages 7-11 dig into the juicy parts of a story – characters, setting, sequence, point of view – then take it apart and put it together again as a script to act out on stage for family and friends.
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July 27-31
New in 2015, ECA will partner with Bailadores de Bronce to present Folklorico Dance Camp an intro to traditional ballet folklorico dance for students ages 7-11. Bailadores de Bronce is a Mexican folkloric dance group that has performed in the Pacific Northwest and around the country since 1972. Focusing on dance styles from the mining town of Mexicapan in Zacatecas, camp participants will explore the exciting convergence of cultures in this region. Activities will also include folklorico stage and costume decoration, craft and piñata making.
Aug. 3-7
Additionally, ECA is proud to organize its 2nd Annual Hawaiian & Polynesian Cultural Camp, in collaboration with Kumu Krista Moanikeʻalanālehua Espiritu of Hula O Lehualani and ukulele artist Elias Kauhane. In an expanded curriculum, students will take ukulele and hula lessons throughout the week, as well as explore Hawaii and its Polynesian “cousin” cultures through song, games and cultural arts to include Tahitian drumming and dance.
Thanks to a generous grant last year from the Harrington-Schiff Foundation, students participating in Hawaiian & Polynesian Cultural Camp will have free access to a ukulele for the camp and finale performance.
Summer Arts Enrichment Camps are $200 per student per week. To register for Summer Arts Enrichment Camps, visit www.ec4arts.org or contact the ECA Box Office by phone at 425-275-9595.
Scholarships available
New this year, ECA is proud to offer Nancy Bittner Summer Arts Enrichment Camp scholarships, based on students’ eligibility for Free and Reduced-Price Meal programs. For more information about scholarships and an application, contact Gillian Jones, ECA’s Education and Outreach Manager, directly at gillian@ec4arts.org or 425-275-9483.
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Edmonds Historical Museum
118 5th Ave. N.
“Washington Schoolhouses”
Through Tuesday, April 14
The Edmonds Historical Museum staff and volunteers invite the community to stop by and view their current exhibit, which tells a fascinating story of how the formal education system in Washington State developed.
The “Washington Schoolhouses” exhibit starts with the early settlers of the mid-19th century, highlights important landmarks like the Barefoot Schoolboy Law of 1895, and continues through the late 20th century, when every child in the state has an equal opportunity to attend school. The exhibit also features photographs, artifacts and history related to Edmonds schools.
The exhibit is a result of the generosity of the Washington State Historical Society and Edmonds Historical Museum.
You can find interesting details regarding the exhibit here.
Museum hours are Wednesdays through Sundays 1-4 p.m.
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Lynnwood Library Gallery
19200 44th Ave W.,
Lynnwood
Works by Photographer Laurie Richardson
Through March 5
The Lynnwood Arts Commission presents photographer Laurie Richardson at the Lynnwood Library Gallery.
In her statement explaining the exhibit, Richardson says that “the most interesting images come from ordinary everyday objects that are all around us”. The Arts Commission further observes: “Richardson uses her artistic ability to capture objects with her camera in a new perspective and spirit to bring this unseen beauty to life. She finds photography spiritually powerful and feels privileged to share her images with others.”
Free to the public, the Lynnwood Library Gallery showcases local and regional artists on both the amateur and professional level. Library hours are Monday-Thursday from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; and Sunday 1-5 p.m. The library and gallery are closed on national holidays.
For more information about Lynnwood Library Gallery exhibits, call 425-778-2148 or contact Arts Commissioner Kay Wood at lynnwoodarts@gmail.com.
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Phoenix Theatre
9673 Firdale Ave.
Self Help, by Norman Foster
This weekend: Last Three Performances!
Box office news regarding Norman Foster’s farce is that the House sold out for this past Saturday night’s performance. Remember . . . the production ends this Sunday with the matinee performance.
From the Playbill: Meet Hal and Cindy Savage, two struggling actors turned self-help gurus and world-renowned relationship experts. As their careers skyrocket, their marriage takes a nosedive.
“Self Help” has been described as “bawdy”, and an “uproarious comedy”. What more would you expect from Canada’s premier playwright and the theatre that prides itself on the tag line, “Comedy without all the drama.”
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Take a Seat!!
The ever-clever Phoenix Theatre Company is suggesting that Edmonds area theatre-goers “Take A Seat!” Not necessarily because it’s that moment when the stage lights go up – but because the theatre seats themselves are up for grabs!
Not to get too bawdy here at “Artfully Edmonds”, in spite of the theatre’s choice to produce the salacious Norman Foster play, “Self Help” but grabbing a seat at the Phoenix Theatre suggests that You! The Theatre-Going Public will put down your bottom dollar to memorialize (for life!) your ardor for this charming theatre. (That is, for the life of the theatre.)
Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
For either tickets for any of the Phoenix Theatre productions, or to “Grab a Seat!” call 206-533-2000, or visit the Phoenix Theatre website.
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Short run!
Friday/Saturday/Sunday
March 6/ 7 ~ 8 p.m., March 8 ~ 2 p.m.
Pop Up Productions
Phoenix Theatre space
9673 Firdale Ave.
Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling
Beth Mahmoud-Howell will pair her directorial talents with local actors Tiffany Brown-Lutack, Allyson Christianson, Dakota Jensen Leigh, Doreen Leigh, Dawna Levang, and Marni Wiebe fill out the cast of “Steel Magnolias” as Mahmoud-Howell brings the production to the Phoenix Theatre stage under the banner “Pop Up Theatre Productions”.
Great friends, most of the women in the cast have not been on a stage in years, having been busy raising families, working, continuing their educations. In the spirit of the show, all that was asked was a willingness to take risks and be as brave as the characters they would portray on stage.
“Pop Up productions” represent a global theatre-company movement that took the stage in 2010 in London. Similar in a lot of ways to the fringe theatre movement it offers inexpensive tickets to introduce break-out playwrights, and/or fresh casts using sets and scenes from the just-completed productions of colleague theatre companies. It’s cheap! It’s fresh! Sometimes it’s a bit experimental – and everyone has fun while creating theatre news!
In an exclusive interview with “Artfully Edmonds” Mahmoud-Howell explains the roots of her Pop Up Theatre Productions theatre company, “Edmonds has several established companies that bring live theatre to the community—this is simply another opportunity for people to see theatre. As different spaces are available in the area, we are open to using those spaces as well.”
We asked publicist for the company Anne Jennes about the affiliation between Pop Up Theatre Productions and the Phoenix Theatre, and she explained, “Our stage manager Molly Brusewitz has worked with The Phoenix and made the proposal for us to rent the Phoenix space. The idea was to bring new audiences into that theatre and try something new with minimal risk. We will be using their existing set from their last show, and we will essentially be in there for a quick modified tech week, after which our production of Steel Magnolias will go up.”
“Pop Up Productions” is currently rehearsing in a studio space at Mamoud-Howell’s home.
Jennes provides background for this fresh theatre: This little company was created to give women a chance to try something they may not have done in a long time—an opportunity to do something for themselves, stretch their wings. All of the women in “Steel Magnolias” are associated with Edmonds Heights K-12. “We are or have been homeschool parents, teachers or students, and all have also been a part of the wonderful theatre program there.
Mahmoud-Howell observes, “After this show, we will assess how it went, and we will then move on to another production if both the interest and space are available. We are learning as we go. Producing theatre on a shoestring is always a challenging task. Producer Anne Jenness will be looking at funding strategies for future productions and opportunities for great shows.”
“Steel Magnolias” was specifically selected because it is about how the lives of one particular group of women intersect at critical moments illustrating the support they give one another.
Director Mahmoud-Howell notes, “The rehearsal process has seen this particular group re-discovering parts of themselves and evolving right along with the characters in the show.”
Synopsis: The action is set in Truvy’s beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where all the women who are “anybody” come to have their hair done. Filled with hilarious repartee and plenty of acerbic, but humorously revealing, verbal collisions, the play moves toward tragedy when, in the second act, Shelby (who is a diabetic) risks her life for pregnancy, and dies.
The sudden realization of their mortality affects the others, but also draws on the underlying strength and love which give the play, and its characters, the special quality to make them truly touching, funny and marvelously amiable company in good times and bad.
Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1265748 or at the door. Box office opens 1 hour prior to performances.
For more information, email popuptheproductions@yahoo.com
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— By Emily Hill
Emily Hill is the author of two novels and a short story collection. She also writes the “Lynnwood Lifestyle” column for Lynnwood Today. Emily is retired from a career in public information and news media relations. If you would like your event listed, or featured, in Artfully Edmonds, Emily invites you to contact her at arts@myedmondsnews.com.
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