From the 8th Annual Festival of Shorts and generous audition calls from The Driftwood Players (The Players/Players), to inclusion into the Seattle Fringe Festival 2017 for the Phoenix Theatre; and Ballyhoo Theatre on the move – there are acting and stage-hand openings galore for volunteers, young people, opportunities to join strong well-established companies, and a welcoming theatre community to grow into for high school and college-age understudies and those interested in taking up theatre arts.
But – there’s more! This week’s arts and events dispatches include cultural events, jazz news, a blues stand; and fresh news from the quilters in our area.
Plus, every venue extending invitations out to the crowds this week offers cozy warmth and a homey welcome.
Ready? Grab your car keys, coat and a scarf. . .Let’s see what’s happening!
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Friday, Jan. 13
8 p.m.
Professor Roth’s Will
By Joe Starzyk
Driftwood Players (Players) at
Wade James Theatre
950 Main St.
Spotlighting New Playwrights
For its 2017 inaugural production, the long-established Players troupe and crew are showcasing their innovative program; Theatre of Intriguing Possibilities (TIPS); which features the work of new or local playwrights.
The play centers on the interrelation dynamics of the adult children of infamous “Raymond H. Roth” as they gather to settle their father’s estate.
An east coast playwright, Starzyk’s work has caught the attention of the TIPS selection committee; which is led by executive director, Diane Jamieson. Professor Roth’s Will runs through January 22.
Tickets are available for all performances with a Sell Out Alert! for this Sunday’s matinee. Call 425-774-9600 or visit the Wade James Theatre box office online for tickets.
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Sunday, Jan. 15
7 p.m.
Free!
Driftwood After Dark
Wade James Theatre
950 Main St.
The Players are extending an invitation to Driftwood After Dark – a reading of fresh work. This Sunday’s reading is titled, J.D. Salinger Is My God written by Caitlin Gilman. Elizabeth Hershly directs the production.
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Script Submissions, Please!
8th Annual Festival of Shorts
The Driftwood Players
Unintended Consequences
Performance Schedule: July 7 – 9
The Players are making a call for scripts; which will be considered for inclusion into the company’s 8th Annual Festival of Shorts. This year’s festival will be presented in four performances – Friday and Saturday, July 7 and 8 at 8 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, July 8 and 9 at 2 p.m.
The company explains this year’s theme, Unintended Consequences, in this manner, “How many times have you never meant to do something but ended up doing the very thing you tried to avoid? Or perhaps you wanted to help someone and ended up creating a bigger mess? Maybe you didn’t want to help someone and ended up being the biggest blessing they ever received. So often, our actions produce consequences that we never thought, never foresaw, never believed could happen. For good, for bad, for ugly, for interesting, for hilarious…the details are up to you!”
Submission guidelines for playwrights are at this link.
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Places, Everyone!
Sunday/ Monday
Jan. 29/ 30
The Players are calling actors to auditions for the upcoming production, Leaving Iowa
Do you have any thespian-motivated neighbors who fit the description of four relatively sane character, plus “two eccentric crazies!” Direct them to this notice!
Leaving Iowa centers on Don Browning, a middle-aged writer who returns home and decides to finally take his father’s ashes to his deceased father’s childhood home, as requested. But when Don discovers Grandma’s house is now a grocery store, he begins traveling across Iowa in search of a proper resting place for his father’s remains.
As Browning drives those old familiar roads, the story shifts back and forth from the present to memories of the annual, torturous vacations of his youth. Ultimately, Don’s existential journey leads him to reconcile his past and present at an unpredictable and perfect final destination.
Needless to say, Artfully Edmonds is eager to learn who lands the parts for the “two eccentric crazies!”
The audition call sheet is found at this link.
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Auditions! Find your mark!
Monday-Saturday
Jan. 23-28
Audition by appointment
Ballyhoo Theatre is looking for cast and crew for their upcoming production, The Spitfire Grill, which plays May 4-7.
The Spitfire Grill is a small-cast musical by James Valcq and Fred Alley.
Synopsis
Percy Talbot has just been released from prison and is seeking a fresh start. Tearing a page from an old travel book, she makes her way to the small town of Gilead, Wisconsin. The local sheriff, Joe Sutter, finds her a job at the Spitfire Grill, and through her healing, she helps to transform the town from one of despair to one of hope and new beginnings. The music, based on the rural folk music of the Great Lakes and Southern Appalachia, imparts a simplicity that is truly beautiful.
Producer’s Note: The Spitfire Grill is rated PG. The rating is due to the revelation that one of the characters was abused as a child/teen, and that she killed her abuser. The script contains some swearing.
The performances venue is The Phoenix Theatre.
For more information and audition appointments call/text Shileah Corey at 425-345-0991
or email ballyhoo.theatre@gmail.com.
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The Phoenix Theatre
Seattle Fringe Festival
March 23–April 1
As the first to break with the news that company members of The Phoenix Theatre have been selected by festival organizers to perform in the Seattle Fringe Theatre 2017 with four short plays, Artfully Edmonds can now fill in additional exciting details.
The Phoenix Theatre plays selected by the festival come from the desk of playwright Debra Rich Gettleman, managing director of The Phoenix Theatre.
According to Gettleman, “Eric Lewis is directing; and she, along with Melanie Calderwood, Michael Gene McFadden, Asa Sholdez, David Bailey, and Shannon Bengston will be performing all four plays under the banner Askew.
In the meantime for The Phoenix Theatre. . .
Tuesday, Feb. 10
8 p.m.
Update!
The Last Romance
The Phoenix Theatre
Firdale Shopping Plaza – Upper level
9673 Firdale Ave.
One additional cast member has been added to The Last Romance, the poignant tale of an older gentleman who finds love late in life – and just in time for an Edmonds-Kind-Of Valentine’s Day.
Miss Sadie Calderwood (pictured to the left and enjoying the love throes of “Ralph”, played Michael Gene McFadden; and “Carol”, played by Melanie Calderwood) becomes the focal point of affection as Ralph and Carol discover that affection – with all its quirks, misunderstandings, and occasional rewards – can arrive at the most unexpected passages.
Tickets for this February production are available at https://www.tptedmonds.org/shows.html
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Happening This Week
Friday, Jan. 13
9 p.m.
Engel’s Pub
113 5th Ave. S.
You know how some information seems to just find its way into your psyche, like just appear? That describes my awareness of Scratchdaddy Blues. . . somehow this band that’s been around like forever, popped up in my own windshield of life.
And now that Artfully Edmonds has been following the gig sheet for Scratchdaddy and his band mates, we learn that he is bringing his mates to Edmonds.
Need your blues fix before Friday? Artfully Edmonds certainly does! So, here on YouTube, performing Aretha Franklin’s hot revenge song, Chain, Chain, Chain, is Scratchdaddy singer Donna Dupras of Kirkland.
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Tuesday, Jan. 17
6:45 – 8:45 p.m.
Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters Guild
Rosehill Community Center
304 Lincoln Ave. ~ Mukilteo
Artfully Edmonds would like to extend Happy Birthday salutations to “the friendliest little quilt guild in the Northwest” – the Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters Guild.
The guild is celebrating its 12th birthday on Jan. 17 and welcomes to the festivities all in the community who may have an interest in quilting and fabric arts.
The mission of the Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters Guild is to provide opportunities for guild members and the community to learn more about quilting.
Readers can learn more about the guild at https://www.MukilteoLighthouseQuilters.org. Public relations chair of the guild, Sydney Hoard, invites those interested in the activities of the guild to email her at sydney425@msn.com.
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Previews: Art Walk Edmonds
Local Artist Profile
Next week’s edition of Artfully Edmonds will lead with an exclusive My Edmonds News interview of local artist Doug Lofstrom. Bookmark this news source to find out what Edmonds is buzzing about each week!
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Cascadia Art Museum (CAM)
190 Sunset Ave. #E
Looking for a warm inviting environment, and a friendly arts atmosphere? Then you’re looking for Cascadia Art Museum, with its community volunteers, approachable curator and classic mid-century collections.
For this month’s Art Walk Edmonds CAM will be unveiling Northwest Social Realism and the American Scene: 1930-1950. This exhibition will be open through March 26.
The best admission desk pricing for CAM is through membership. Membership questions regarding the Pacific Northwest’s premier art museum are answered at this official link.
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Thursday, Jan. 19
5-8 p.m.
Author Reads!
Edmonds Bookshop
111 5th Ave. S.
Seattle Novelist Tracy Weber has chosen the Edmonds Bookshop at which to celebrate the fourth novel in her Downward Dog Mystery series, titled, A Fatal Twist:
Weber will appear at Edmonds Bookshop on January 19 to autograph and discuss A Fatal Twist
A Fatal Twist tells the story of Seattle yoga teacher Kate Davidson, and her beloved canine companion Bella, who get tangled up in a web of deceit, deadly secrets, and danger.
Do bad things really happen in threes? For yoga instructor Kate Davidson, it seems they do—and it also seems that no good deed goes unpunished. Kate’s life takes a chaotic turn when she agrees to be the doula for her pregnant best friend—and to play foster mother to two puppies. Things get exponentially worse when Kate finds the dead body of a philandering fertility doctor and sees Rachel, one of her yoga students, fleeing the scene.
Tracy is the author of Murder Strikes a Pose, A Killer Retreat, and Karma’s A Killer; all available at Edmonds Bookshop.
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Wednesday, Jan. 25
7:30 p.m.
Sell Out Alert!
The Peking Acrobats
Edmonds Center for the Arts
410 4th Ave. N.
There is just a smattering of tickets still available for The Peking Acrobats performance. Seats are still available both on the main floor and the balcony for those who want to see this once-in-a-lifetime performance of skill, athleticism; vivid color and brilliant moves!
Maybe you need a preview? Let’s stop over for a visit to the YouTube page of these world famous acrobats. Amazing, yes?
Tickets to see The Peking Acrobats are available by calling the ECA ticket line at 425.275.9595 or visiting the online box office.
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Limited Ticket Window!
Thursday, Jan. 26
10 a.m.
Celebrate the Lunar New Year
Friday, Feb. 3
Szechuan Garden Restaurant
4309-198th St. S.W., Lynnwood
In collaboration with Edmonds Community College Black Box Theatre: Make it an evening of celebration as neighbors, friends from out-of-town, and the community at-large celebrate the incoming lunar new year with live entertainment, an amazing 9-course meal and treats!
Choose from two seatings – 5:30 p.m. or 7 p.m.
Call 425-640-1448 to make reservations for a spectacular dining experience for your family and friends.
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Thursday, Jan. 26
8 p.m.
Sell Out Alert!
An Evening with Alexander Rosenbaum
Edmonds Center for the Arts
410 4th Ave. N.
Today, actually, would be the right time to grab tickets to hear Soviet and Russian singer/songwriter Alexander Rosenbaum who, we are told, “writes outside of Soviet establishment from Saint Petersburg, and is best known as an interpreter of songs written in the blatnaya pesnya genre (characterized by depictions of Russia’s urban underworld and criminal culture).
Rosenbaum’s most famous songs are about Leningrad, the Soviet-Afghan War, Cossacks, and the Jewish Mafia in Odessa.
Brisk ticket sales for An Evening with Alexander Rosenbaum are taking place at this ECA site.
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Saturday, Jan. 28
10 a.m.
Show Boat, Movie Screening
Stress-free cinema at the ECA
410 4th Ave. N.
Saturday Matinee Series
The ECA offers a relaxed movie viewing setting in this series, which is currently showing the Academy Award-nominated musical Show Boat.
This 1951 remake of the 1936 Hollywood release stars Ava Gardner, Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel in the telling of a classic story of a river boat captain’s daughter who falls in love with a charming gambler.
Show Boat is presented as part of ECA’s Dementia-Inclusive Series. Patrons with memory loss, the general public – and an all-ages audience are encouraged to attend this screening.
Plus, the Barclay Shelton Dance Centre will perform for movie patrons before the film begins.
Do the click! click! for movie tickets to see Show Boat.
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Saturday, Jan. 28
7:30 p.m.
Basie Bash: New York 1937
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra (SRJO)
Edmonds Center for the Arts
410 4th Ave. N.
Students!
Even before the downbeat strikes on the evening of January 28, SRJO will be offering students interested in jazz and jazz performance an exceptional opportunity.
According to SRJO Director of Operations, Emily Grosenick Pinkerton, orchestra members are offering a free student clinic before the show. Additionally, several student soloists from Edmonds-area high schools have been added to the Count Basie tribute and will perform with Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra on the ECA stage.
For information concerning the pre-performance student clinics contact Ms. Grosenick Pinkerton at e.grosenick@srjo.org.
Rich Cole
Adding his talents to the bandstand line-up for Basie Bash: New York 1937 is local musician Rich Cole who many of us have heard play around town and at Cole Gallery (107 5th Ave. S.) as his jazzy notes filter down from the gallery loft of to art enthusiasts out for a stroll on Art Walk Edmonds evenings.
–- By Emily Hill
Emily Hill is the author of two novels and a short story collection. 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 myedmondsnews@gmail.com.
Thanks for the update. This area has so many great chances to stretch our artsy muscles and learn more about music, theatre, visual arts and more.