New play is set for premiere
The world premiere performances of a new play, “My Mother, MySelf,” written and directed by islander Torena O’Rorke, with music by the band St. Ophelia, will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, at Vashon High School Theater. The play, said O’Rorke, tells the stories of four pairs of witty, resilient and courageous mothers and daughters who overcome their traumas through unconditional love and indelible devotion. The cast includes Angela Lewis, Dedra Dakota, Lucy Rogers, Emily Bruce, Chai Ste. Marie, Thea Vernoy, Jeremy Edmonds and Sarahfina Aldeane.
O’Rorke is a 30-year veteran mental health therapist, theater buff and activist from Eastern Washington who retired to Vashon last year in the hope of starting a non-profit to help island women. Encouraged by the #MeToo movement, she connected with Carolyn Shilling Gill, who helped her found Take a Stand Productions. The pair produced the most recent production of “The Vagina Monologues” on Vashon.
Music at Snapdragon
Borys Kossakowski, a Polish musician living in Seattle, will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24, at Snapdragon. Kossakowski recently released a song series, “Political Songs,” including a music video called “Not Enough is Enough,” shot on Vashon with the islanders Sharon Shaver and Eric Horsting. He’ll perform this song and others at Snapdragon as a one-man show, playing guitar, saxophone, clarinet and looper. Kossakoski said his music is for the fans of Leonard Cohen (early), Sufjan Stevens, Nick Cave, Low, Damien Jurado and Johnny Cash (late). His album is available at boryskossakowski.bandcamp.com
Poetry on tap
Vashon Brewing and Jawbone Puppet Theater will present Beer and Puppet Theater, Vashon Island’s first puppet slam, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, at Vashon Brewing Community Pub. Expect experimental, high-energy puppetry by both youth and seasoned adults. Tickets are $8 for kids or $5 for kids (age 5 and under free), but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Poets host a party
In connection with the Vashon Center for the Arts’ current art exhibit, Wordless Stories, a closing party and event called “Fantastic Ekphrasis: Poetry Inspired by the art of Wordless Stories,” will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. The night, curated by Vashon poets Cal Kinnear and Susan Lynch, will include food, beverages and performances of poems created in response to the exhibit. During the month-long show, Vashon poets were invited to compose verses in response to the work, a process referred to as “Ekphrasis,” from a Greek term meaning the description of a work of art produced as a rhetorical exercise, most often as a dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art.
“Ekphrastic poems are fantastic because they bounce the light off the art in perceptive, nuanced language, adding another layer of depth and emotion,” said Kinnear, a former Vashon poet laureate. “This show … is a natural fit for this style of writing. It gives island poets a chance to interact with island painters, adding words to wordless stories.”
CORRECTION: The printed and earlier online version of this story listed the wrong day of the week for the “Ekphrasis” poetry party at Vashon Center for the Arts. It is correct here: 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29.
