Kennedy & Coulter
Éilís Kennedy, an acclaimed performer of Sean-nós singing of traditional Irish music, and William Coulter, a master of finger-style DADGAD (Celtic-tuned) guitar, will join together in concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7, at the Vashon Havurah, at 15401 Westside Hwy.
Kennedy is a fluent native Gaelic singer and speaker from West Kerry, whose beautiful voice has been heard onstage at the Kennedy Center with another West Kerry singer in the renowned duo Lumiere, Pauline Scanlon. She was raised in Baile an Mhuraigh, in West Kerry, by parents who passed on a lifelong and committed interest in the poetry and songs of that region.
Kennedy recorded her first solo CD entitled “Time to Sail” in 2000, with Coulter, followed by another solo collection, “One Sweet Kiss.” Her newest album is “So Ends This Day,” a critically acclaimed collection of songs she has composed about lives involved in the whaling industry. In 2020, she also released “Gan Tionlacan,” an album of unaccompanied Irish language songs that she learned in childhood.
Coulter is an internationally acclaimed, Grammy award-winning master of the steel-string guitar. His recent recording, “The Rolling Waves,” was released in December 2021 on the Gourd Music label. This solo project is a collection of original arrangements of folk and original music from the Celtic lands and beyond. Coulter has been Music Director for Tomaseen Foley’s “A Celtic Christmas” since 1998 and has performed with the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, Apollo’s Fire and many other ensembles.
Tickets to the concert have a suggested price of $20, payable at the door. For more information, email bevanstewart@msn.com.
Karla Bonoff
Singer and songwriter Karla Bonoff will perform an intimate concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7, at Vashon Center for the Arts.
Bonoff has enjoyed critical acclaim, commercial success, enduring popularity, and the unwavering respect of her peers. Her songs include “Home,” covered by Bonnie Raitt, “Tell Me Why” by Wynonna Judd, and “All My Love,” which won a Grammy for its performance by Linda Rondstadt and Aaron Neville.
Get tickets to the show at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
Max Gomez
Singer/songwriter Max Gomez will appear with islander Steve Itterly in a concert presented by Debra Heesch at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 7, at Snapdragon Bakery & Café.
Gomez is a touring and recording artist who has shared billing on hundreds of stages with stalwarts of the Americana genre including Shawn Mullins, James McMurtry, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Patty Griffin, and John Hiatt.
Find out more at maxgomezmusic.com and purchase tickets for the show at maxgomezvashon.brownpapertickets.com.
Open House
Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA) will welcome the community to an open house from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, March 10.
Visitors can grab a VCA Passport and explore the VCA campus to collect stamps — go backstage, up and over the catwalk, down into the orchestra pit inside the Kay performance hall, explore the historic Blue Heron Education Center, VCA’s gallery and Heron Meadow.
It’s a chance for islanders to meet VCA’s staff and board, tour the campus, share ideas, ask questions, give reviews of shows, classes, and exhibits, preview upcoming shows and classes, learn about volunteering, participate in a family-friendly art project, enjoy tasty treats, and win door prizes. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
As You Like It
A multigenerational cast of more than 40 islanders will appear in a coproduction of Drama Dock and Vashon High School Theater — a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” to be performed March 22, 23, 24, 29 and 30, at Vashon High School.
The musical will be directed by Christopher Kehoe, an accomplished regional actor who has appeared in several local productions. He has directed works presented by Guthrie Theater, Ferndale Repertory Theatre, and the Classical Actors Ensemble’s Complete Sonnets Festival.
Andy James, who has reinvigorated Vashon High School’s theater program in recent years, building an enthusiastic new community of theater-makers at the school, has taken charge of directing the portions of the show featuring VHS actors.
The huge cast includes such well-known adult performers as Maria Glanz, Maya Krah, Chaim Rosemarin, Gabe Dawson, Hailey Quackenbush, Delilah Spence, and many more. A choir accompanying portions of the show will boast the voices of Joe Allison, Jean Berolzheimer, Kim Brown, Rebecca Graves, Catherine MacNeal, Pascal Py, and Sierra Tinhof.
The timeless story of “As You Like It” revolves around two teenagers, Orlando and Rosalind, who yearn for something new, only to wind up exiled in a strangely familiar, island-like forest.
Find out more about the show, and get tickets at dramadock.org/as-you-like-it. Showtimes are 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, March 22, 23, 29 and 30, and 2 p.m. on March 24 and 30.
Original Works
“Original Works,” a much-anticipated annual showcase of new choreography and contemporary dance performed by students and professionals from Vashon, will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, March 15, and 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at Vashon Center for the Arts. Find out more and get tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
Allessandra Rose
Allessandra Rose, a Bremerton-based chanteuse who frequently performs on Vashon, will appear with a full band at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at Snapdragon Bakery & Café. Islander Debra Heesch is presenting the show.
Find out more at alessandrarose.com, and buy tickets to the show at alessandrarosevashon.brownpapertickets.com.
Irish Fest
Snapdragon Bakery & Café’s Irish Fest will kick off on March 17 at 3:30 p.m., with jigs and reels played by local Irish musicians. A beginner’s ceili dance, called by Doug Dolstad, will take place at 4 p.m.
At 5:30 p.m., champion Irish button box accordion player John Whelan will take the stage with local harmonica legend Mark Graham. Local trio Triskelion (Karen Dale, Mark Wells, and Lawson Cannon) will bring jigs, reels, and songs to the stage around 7 p.m. Long-standing island favorite, Geordie’s Byre, will close out the night with Celtic songs and tunes, starting around 8 p.m.
Art Talk
Art historian Rebecca Albiani will speak on the topic of “Female Artists Over 80,” disussing important women artists, such as Alma Thomas, Louise Bourgeois, and Carmen Herrera, whose careers bloomed late in life. The talk takes place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 17. Purchase tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org. Youth ages 18 and younger are free.
Joseph Keckler and Lydia Lunch
Joseph Keckler, who made a memorable Vashon debut in 2022, will return to Vashon Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, to present another evening of his vivid stories and stirring songs. He will be joined by the legendary New York musician and writer, Lydia Lunch.
Keckler is a singer, writer, and multifaceted artist whose work has recently been presented by Lincoln Center, Yale University, and NPR Tiny Desk. He has created numerous songs, short films, and evening-length performance pieces and is the author of the essay and story collection, “Dragon at the Edge of a Flat World,” published in 2018 by Turtle Point Press.
Lunch was an iconic part of the No Wave movement of the 1970s in New York City; the muse of The Cinema of Transgression in the mid-80s; and continues to be a prolific writer, musician, poet, spoken word artist, and photographer.
Since 2019, she has hosted The Lydian Spin, a weekly podcast. Her decades-long career is the subject of “The War is Never Over,” a feature-length documentary film.
