Say O Yes at O Space
Open Space for Arts & Community will host a fundraising gala at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8. The theme is the golden age of Mardi Gras, and the night will come complete with decadent food, feathers and pearls. The Garfield Jazz trio will play alongside the Tudo Beleza dance company, and chef Shawn Niles — who has appeared on “Master Chef” and is known as the “The Fat Pastor” will cook southern cuisine. The menu includes shrimp jambalaya with andouille sausage, Boulanger potatoes, dirty rice, roasted chicken and Cajun-spiced roasted fish. Vegan and vegetarian options are available as well. Advance tickets are $75; tickets at the door are $100. The night will also include competitive spending, led by auctioneer Laura Michalek, aimed at raising funds to sustain and grow the programs of Open Space, including Teen Express, which provides a safe space for teens to gather and create events at Open Space.
^ Teen thespians tread the boards
Vashon High School theater students will perform two one-act plays at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8 and 9, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10, at the high school. The plays — “Out to Sea,” by Slawomir Mrozek, and “Picnic on the Battlefield,” by Fernando Arrabal — are both dark, absurdest comedies, written in the 1950s and 1960s. Mzozek, from Poland, created work in response to communism, while Arrabal, from Spain, had a life and career impacted by fascism. In “Out at Sea,” three men are stranded on a life raft and must decide which of them will be eaten so the other two can survive. The play, theater teacher Stephen Floyd said, is a thinly veiled allegory of how the wealthy take advantage of the poor and working class. The plot of “Picnic on the Battlefield” is about a mother and father who visit their soldier son in the midst of a battle and bring him a picnic lunch. Tickets to the show are $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.
Stop by the Sonnet Shoppe
Poets will be on duty to write custom love letters and poems for islanders and their loved ones from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday in February, at VALISE Gallery. The gallery’s offering is a chance for islanders to celebrate each other with special Valentines, a press release said.
Art history talk takes on Warhol
The latest lecture in Vashon Center for the Arts’ monthly Art History Talks series, set for 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, will cover Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup can. Art historian Rebecca Albiani, who leads the lecture series, will discuss how Warhol deliberately set out to create an icon, and why so many Pop artists borrowed from supermarket shelves and other traditionally feminine realms for some of their best-known imagery. Single tickets to the lecture are $16 to $24. For more information, visit vashoncenterforthearts.org.
Gotta dance
DANCE Flash! will hold an all-ages dance at 8:45 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, at Spoke, 9923 SW 178th St. The dance is shoeless and will take place in a kid-friendly and alcohol-free venue. A $5 to $15 entry fee will benefit The DOVE Project. The event will wrap up at 9:45 p.m.
Have a heart
An annual origami hearts giveaway will takes place at Island Paper Chase from noon to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Feb. 8 to 10. Each year, gallery owner Alice Larson makes 500 paper folded hearts, puts them in packets of 10, and hands them out to anyone who wants one. She asks that those receiving packets take one of the origami pieces for themselves and then, on Valentine’s Day, give the other nine to people who they feel need a heart. Everyone is encouraged to stop by.
Drama Dock does ‘Odd Couple’
Drama Dock will open its female-centric version of Neil Simon’s comic masterpiece, “The Odd Couple,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, at Vashon Center for the Arts, with subsequent 7:30 p.m. evening performances on Feb. 16, 21, 22 and 23. Sunday matinees, at 1 p.m., will be presented on Feb. 17 and 24. Tickets, on sale at vashoncenterforthearts.org, cost $18-$20, but on Thursday, Feb. 21, admittance is by donation at the door. In this version of the play, the famous characters of Oscar Madison and his roommate, Felix Unger, as well as most of the supporting cast, are cast as women. The character of the English-born Pigeon sisters are now the debonair Spanish-born Costazuela brothers. The cast of Drama Dock’s production, directed by Chaim Rosemarin, includes Cate O’Kane, Dedra Dakota, Bonny Moss, Thea Vernoy, Chai Ste. Marie, Sue DeNies, James Norton and Russell Baker.
Get a grant from 4Culture
From noon to 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, 4Culture staff will be at the Vashon Library to explain how artists can get support for their creative projects through the Project grant program. The event comes in advance of the agency’s March 6 submission deadline for Project grants applications. To learn more, visit 4culture.org.
