Arts Briefs | June 26, 2025 | Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

Studio Ghibli Festival

Friends of Mukai has opened its popular annual Studio Ghibli Festival, with 7 p.m. screenings on Tuesday evenings at Vashon Theatre.

This year, the slate of films includes works by beloved Studio Ghibli co-founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.

Pre-show karaoke — a popular offering in last year’s festival — will be on tap again this year, so show up early at the theater to grab the mic — and also to avoid long lines at the concession counter.

In past years, the Friends of Mukai were able to offer all screenings for free, but this year, organizers said that in order to secure licensing from Ghibli Studios, they were required to agree to minimum admission charge of $6. However, they also said, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The first film in the series, Miyazaki’s 1992 “Porco Rosso,” was shown on June 24.

Next up is “The Boy and the Heron,” Miyazaki’s 2023 film, with a screening on July 8. “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” made in 1989, will be shown on July 15, and “Ponyo,” Miyazaki’s 2009 classic, will light up the screen on July 22. The series will wrap on July 29 with “The Tale of Princess Kaguya,” a 2013 film directed by Takahata.

Miyazaki, who at age 84 is one of the world’s most revered filmmakers, has spoken eloquently about his life’s work and purpose.

“It is the fate of modern life that we repeatedly lose touch with nature, the environment, the planet,” Miyazaki said. “But we try to regain it again and again. It’s like a circle. In children’s hearts and souls when they’re born into the world, nature already exists deep inside them. So what I want to do in my work is tap into their souls.

Visit mukaifarmandgarden.org for additional information and donate to support the series.

Cowboy Junkies

Vashon Center for the Arts will welcome Cowboy Junkies to its stage for a career-spanning show celebrating 40 years of the band’s music at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 27.

The show is sold out; check for more information at vashoncenterforthearts.org.

Desdemona’s Dream

Open Space for Arts & Community will host a livestream of Desdemona’s Dream, a cutting edge jam band fronted by an experimental AI-powered robot, at 10:45 a.m. Friday, June 27, at Open Space, at 18870 103rd Ave SW.

Blending haunting electronic textures with alternative rock, the group explores existential themes powered by Desi’s AI-generated lyrics and vocals. Visit openspacevashon.com to RSVP to be part of the studio audience and find out more ways to watch.

Sugar Shack shows

Music will fill the air at upcoming concerts at the Sugar Shack.

At 7 p.m. Friday, June 27, Special Ryders, a super group from Seattle whose members have played with the likes of Brandi Carlile, Heart, Tracy Chapman and others, will take the outdoor stage behind the eatery.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, June 28, Goody Bagg, a band of talented musicians combining a danceable mix of jazz, blues, R&B, funk, rock, hip hop and reggae, will play.

Goodybagg has been recognized with the King County Executive’s Award for Excellence in Hip Hop, and the New England Urban Music Award for best jazz single for “Little Giants.”

At 7 p.m. Saturday, July 5, head back to Sugar Shack lawn to see the iconic island band Subconscious Population, fronted by Ron Hook, and dance the night away to the band’s masterful music spanning reggae, blues, funk and rock.

Sugar Shack shows have a $10 cover charge (cash if possible) and are for ages 21 and older only. Enter through the on the back lawn of Sugar Shack, at 17636 100th Ave SW, via the back alley.

Quilt Show

Vashon Island Quilt Guild will exhibit up to 100 quilts in “Color Our World With Quilts,” a show held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 28 and 29, in the cafeteria of the Sawbones building at 10221 SW 188th St.

The event will also feature quilting demonstrations and a raffle. Island Quilter will offer a pop-up sale, outside the building, if weather is permitting, and Precision Sharpening will also be on hand (on Sunday only) to sharpen blades.

There is a suggested donation of $5 to attend the show, with those 13 and younger admitted free.

This exhibit marks the first public showing of the Vashon quilters’ work since 2018, with works ranging from traditional bed covers to creative wall hangings. The guild has about 50 members.

New members are always welcome, and don’t have to be quilters — an interest in the form is all that is needed.

Alchemy Tap Project

The Alchemy Tap Project, a Seattle-based performance company for serious tap dancers ages 16 and older, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at Vashon Center for the Arts.

Past performances for the dancers have taken place at Icicle Creek Center for the Arts, Seattle Art Museum’s Remix, the Walla Walla Summer Dance Festival, Benaroya Hall, Town Hall Seattle, Global Party at The Moore Theatre, and Northwest Folklife festival, as well as many appearances at Capitol Hill’s iconic Century Ballroom.

Dancers from the group have gone on to perform with Stomp, Teatro Zinzanni, and Chicago Tap Theatre.

Get tickets and find out more at vashoncenterforthearts.org.

The Grown-Ups

Dacha Theatre will present “The Grown-Ups” at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 5, at Open Space for Arts & Community, at 18870 103rd Ave SW.

The intimate work of theater, described by The New York Times as “part satire, part scary story,” follows a group of counselors at Camp Indigo Woods, who are trying to mold the leaders of tomorrow — when tomorrow is looking bleaker and bleaker.

TimeOut New York raved about the play, saying it “approaches theater as an act of radical intimacy.”

Get tickets and find out more at openspacevashon.com.

Two nights of comic theater

“SeaMan,” billed as “a nautical revenge comedy,” will be performed at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 9, at Open Space for Arts & Community, at 18770 103rd Ave SW.

The show, conceived and performed by award-winning fringe festival veterans Amica Hunter and Bruce Ryan Costella, tells the life and adventures of a salty old sea captain, and is described as being like “the illegitimate love child of “Gilligan’s Island” and Robert Eggers’ “The Lighthouse.”

According to The Edmonton Journal, the 60-minute show, rated NC-17, is “campy, hilarious and horrifying — for adults with a silly side.”

The next night, Hunter and Constello will be back with “Cowbaret,” described as a “cultish gameshow-style ruminat revue” in celebration of “bovine brilliance.” The Orlando Sentinel called the show “a Monty Python-esque tribute to all things cow.”

“Cowbaret,” running 60 minutes with adult language and themes as well as audience interaction, will bow at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10, at Open Space.

Get tickets for both shows and find out more at openspacevashon.com.

PianoFete returns

A beloved Vashon Center for the Art festival, PianoFete, will take the stage each night from Wednesday, July 9 through Saturday July 12, in Kay White Hall.

The event features renowned concert pianists Vyacheslav Gryaznov, Rexa Han, Konstantin Soukhovetski and Daria Kiseleva.

Performances at 7:30 p.m. on both Wednesday, July 9, and Thursday, July 10, will feature all four pianists. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 11, Gryaznov and Han will join forces for an evening billed as “Pianos Dancing Cheek to Cheek.”

PianoFete’s finale, set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 12, is billed as a “Cinematic Farewell” and again will feature all four pianists, this time playing their own arrangements of acclaimed film scores, from “Titanic,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Schindler’s List,” and a medley of scores from James Bond films. That evening, the pianists will also joined by Vashon-Maury Chamber orchestra and G-Phil to play Alexander Tsfasman’s “Jazz Suite,” as arranged by Gryaznov.

Get tickets, which are free for youth, and find out more at vashoncenterforthearts.org.