There really couldn’t be a more perfect play for Drama Dock to share with Islanders than its current production of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Islanders who have been watching the ancient Mayan calendar wind down and shivering in anticipation that it might mean the end of the world won’t want to miss a big event coming up on Friday.
For many, it’s a holiday tradition — to gather the family in front of the tube and fall into the flickering, black-and-white magic spell that is Frank Capra’s great American film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
For many on Vashon, it’s a holiday ritual, on par with trimming a tree or heading out on a frosty evening to carol — if it’s December, it means it’s time for Vashon Allied Arts’ Center for Dance’s production of “The Nutcracker.”
Fans of cinema-as-art shouldn’t miss an upcoming 3D film “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” to be shown at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Vashon Theatre.
To step inside glass artist Brian Brenno’s studio — a red metal barn tucked off of Vashon Highway — is to enter a colorful, creative world, a space unlike any other on an Island teeming with artists.
Vashon musicians will line up on Saturday to perform in a fundraiser for the Backbone Campaign, a local grassroots group that has made a national name for itself by creatively agitating for progressive causes.
Last July, Islanders Geoff Johns and his wife Carol Lutra-Johns did what they have done for years: They led a raucous brigade of drummers and samba dancers down Vashon Highway during the Strawberry Festival parade. Many of those lining the street broke into applause, and some danced in place along to the beat — a brief, wild moment of exuberance and joy on Vashon.
The irresistible aromas of fresh-baked bread, tarts and pies might soon waft through more Island kitchens than usual — now that one of Seattle’s celebrated pastry chefs has issued her second cookbook.
A sign in the parking lot of Vashon’s Mormon church reads “Visitors are welcome,” and sure enough, the Islanders standing in the foyer of the church on a recent Sunday morning offered firm handshakes, big smiles and hearty greetings to everyone who entered.
This weekend, Islanders can take a trip back in time to a bygone era of sock-hops, poodle skirts and the nascent days of rock and roll, with a rollicking, all-youth production of the blockbuster musical “Grease.”
Janet McAlpin, a well-known local performer and a founder of both UMO Ensemble and the Open Space for Arts & Community, will bring another installment of her burlesque show back to the Island this weekend.
Some of Vashon’s most well-known performers will come together at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Blue Heron to stage what organizers are calling “an improv night about living and surviving with outrageous levity and depth.”
