Vashon Center for the Arts launches blockbuster 60th season

Published 2:34 pm Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Vashon Center for the Arts has announced its 2025-26 season, marking the organization’s 60th anniversary.

Founded in 1966 at Vashon Allied Arts, VCA has now educated, entertained and inspired tens of thousands of islanders of all ages, and the upcoming season reflects both the history and the future of the arts center’s place in the community, said Allison Halstead Reid, VCA’s executive director.

In programming the season, Halstead Reid has included everything from local student musical theater and dance productions to renowned touring acts such as Pink Martini and Quartet Nuevo.

Best of all, for island families? Halstead Reid has announced that over 90% of VCA’s shows will be free to ages 18 and under, thanks to funding from King County’s 4Culture and other sponsors of the season.

“One of the hopes of this youth access program is that families will discover new artists they have not heard of before and expose their children to many diverse styles of music and performances,” she said.

VCA also currently provides tickets to Vashon Youth and Family Services (VYFS) to distribute to families experiencing economic hardship. Halstead-Reid is also working to expand VCA’s offerings of free field trips to Vashon Island School District students, whose classrooms are within walking distance to VCA.

“We cannot build a future with artists in it if we don’t nurture the youngest artists amongst us,” she said.

Here’s a small taste of what the season will include in the next few months.

Big-name acts

Isaac Slade, a Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum-selling singer and songwriter who now lives on Vashon, will play two nights of career-spanning solo sets at 7:30 Friday and Saturday, Sept. 5 and 6, featuring songs from his former band The Fray as well as new material.

Three-time Emmy winner Alex Borstein, known to national audiences for her work on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Family Guy” and “Corsets & Clown Suits,” will bring her latest solo show, “Alex Borstein is Thirsty,” to VCA’s stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26.

The renowned folksinger and songwriter Loudon Wainwright III will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1.

Three-time Grammy winner Shawn Colvin will perform in concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6. Days later, legendary rock troubador Alejandro Escovedo will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10.

Acclaimed Atlanta-based blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Tinsley Ellis will play music from his new solo album, “Naked Truth,” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17.

Later in the season, national acts will include Pink Martini and Storm Large, Dina Martini, Paula Poundstone and Mary Gauthier.

Local legends

VCA has long provided a home stage for local artists and presenters, and that won’t change in the 2025-26 season.

This week, VCA will bring up the curtain on Drama Dock’s production of “Sister Act,” with four performances scheduled Thursday-Sunday, Aug. 21-24.

Vashon Opera’s 2025-26 fairytale-themed season will include Massenet’s “Cinderella,” filled with lush melodies, sparkling orchestration and performances by regional opera stars. The opera will be performed on Friday and Sunday, Sept. 19 and 21.

Vashon Repertory Theatre’s “The Rocky Horror Show” will take the stage by storm in six performances between Friday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Nov. 1.

Singer, songwriter and performer Steffon Moody will debut a evening of song and storytelling, “From the Ashes We Will Rise,” on Saturday, Nov. 8, sharing the stage with island stalwarts Andre Sapp, Bill Moyer and Mark Graham.

In December, “The Nutcracker,” performed by students and guests of VCA’s well-established dance program, will leap to the stage. Holiday concerts by Vashon-Maury Island Chamber Orchestra and Vashon Island Chamber Orchestra are also on December’s docket.

Classical music

American virtuoso pianist Evren Ozel — the winner of the third-place prize in this year’s Van Cliburn Piano Competition, as well as other prestigious grants and awards — will play a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct 4, and the acclaimed Portland Cello Project will appear in concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18.

A holiday concert by Take3, a genre-defying trio founded by violinist/vocalist Lindsay Deutsch (Yanni’s featured violin soloist), will happen on Thursday, Dec. 18.

VCA’s season will also include more trios and quartets, said Halstead Reid, plus the return of PianoFête, a four-night festival curated by award-winning pianist, transcriber, and composer Vyacheslav Gryaznov. The Katherine L White Invitational Choral Festival, growing in recognition throughout the Pacific Northwst, will also return in the spring.

Talks and lectures

Rebecca Albiani’s Art History Talks will return, with the first of five talks to take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, detailing the work of one of Japan’s greatest printmakers, Utagawa (Ando) Hiroshige.

Join acclaimed director, producer, and historian David Armstrong for a free conversation and book signing celebrating the release of his book, “Broadway Nation — How Immigrant, Jewish, Queer, and Black Artists Invented the Broadway Musical,” at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27.

Another free author event, featuring a book reading and discussion with Dr. Joe-Joe McManus, the award-winning author of “A Brother’s Insight: Guidance on Defeating Racism and Advancing Freedom,” will take place from 4-6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3.

World music

Want to expand your cultural horizons?

Grammy-nominated Kiki Valera, one of the world’s foremost masters of Son Cubano music, will bring his band of talented musicians for a night of Cuban rthymns at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13.

Balkan Night, a cultural celebration featuring groups from around the Pacific Northwest, will include traditional music, folk dances, and food of the Balkan culture at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11. The event coincides with VCA’s October gallery exhibit of “Balkan Voices” by islander Martin Koenig.

Nobuntu, an acclaimed all-female Zimbabwean a cappella quartet, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16.

Find out more and get tickets at vashoncenterforthearts.org. Admission for free youth events requires booking advance tickets, and those 12 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.