Author reading
Island author Lois Watkins will read from her new book, “What It Was Like … Short Stories of Childhood Memories of Segregation in America,” at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Vashon Bookshop. Watkins shines a powerful light on history from her personal experiences of segregation and prejudice in day-to-day life.
Art show and talk
Artist Barbara Wells will present a slide show of her artwork at 1 p.m. Friday at the Senior Center.
Wells works in cast glass, which involves pouring melted glass into a clay mould that is then fired in a kiln.
Chamber music
The Vashon Maury Chamber Orchestra will celebrate their inaugural performance in the Katherine L White Hall at Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA) with Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 11 a.m. Saturday in a VCA Concert for Kids program. Four violin soloists, Daniel Brandt, Danielle McCutcheon, Jory Noble and Karin Choo, will be featured along with graduating high school seniors.
Friday’s performance will feature seniors Ana and Camille de Guzman performing the first movement of Hofmann’s Double Concerto in G Major for Violin and Cello, and Alden Rogers performing the Rondo from Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.
Music Director Karin Choo will introduce islander Justin Cole, who will conduct the orchestra in Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in E minor.
Saturday’s performance is a concert for kids of all ages. Artwork by Chautauqua Elementary School children illustrating the Four Seasons’ characters and events will be on display as well.
Tickets are sold at VCA, vashoncenterforthearts.org, Heron’s Nest and at the door.
Seattle band and island youth opener
The band Llama will play a show at 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Red Bike. The youth opener for Llama, sponsored by Vashon Events, will be Vashon High School student Angelica Odom.
As with all the youth who open for bands, Vashon Events pays the young musicians to help encourage more youth performances for the community. Llama band members include Jim Hunnicutt, Scott Sutherland, Jonny Sangster and Rusty Willoughby. The show is open to all until 11 p.m., then only 21 and older.
Island rock ‘n’ roll band
Gregg Curry and Ragged Glory will bring their signature rock ‘n’ roll to the new stage at the Katherine L White Hall at Vashon Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Curry and his band members, Rick Dahms and Emory Miedema-Boyajian, deliver a spirited rock performance influenced by soul, blues, country and bluegrass. The band plans to follow its debut album, “With a Bullet,” with several more albums.
Curry’s band will be joined on stage by talented island musicians Jon Whalen, Dianne Krouse, Mike Nichols, Rebekah Bevilacqua and Barry Cooper.
Tickets are sold at VCA, vashoncenterforthearts.org, Heron’s Nest and at the door.
Shakespeare workshop
UMO ensemble and the Open Space for Arts & Community will present “Hamlet Migration,” a collaborative workshop, at 8 p.m. Saturday at Open Space.
Saturday’s event will be the second of three interactive workshops — including post-performance discussions with the audience — that will explore themes of the privileged class, the consequences of inaction and the current refugee crisis through the lens of Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet.”
The primary goal of the workshop is to build new partnerships. The first person to partner with UMO was islander Aimee van Roekel, a Shakespeare scholar. UMO worked with van Roekel to create the piece, with Elizabeth Klob directing. Performers will include Janet McAlpin, David Godsey, Lyam White, Maria Glanz and two European circus performers. Together, with the audience’s help, they will continue to explore the selected themes through “Hamlet” with songs of lament, imagery and intense physical movement. Jon Schroeder built a skeleton ship as the refugee boat, and Kevin Joyce composed the music.
Entrance to the show is by donation at the door.
