Arts & Events

By CASEY DEY   Tacoma’s theater district lit up the weekend of Oct. 25-27 with new renditions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Both were a spectacular reminder of why theater continues to dazzle audiences today. From its inception in 1879, Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedy operetta Pirates of Penzance has left audiences with happy ears and smiling hearts. Tacoma Opera’s rendition on Oct. 25 and 27 was no exception. Frederic is a young man mistakenly apprenticed to a band of pirates until his twenty-first birthday....

By OLIVIA PIERCE FREEMAN   Rabbi Patrick Aleph kicked off his Punk Torah tour during his recent Oct. 24 visit to the University of Puget Sound. He discussed the taboo against tattoos  within Jewish tradition, and offered his perspective on the controversial choice to have a tattoo as a follower of Judaism. Aleph thought he had life figured out as the singer for the post-punk band The Love Drunks; however, when he found himself living out of a converted Dodge van, making ramen noodles and only $8,000 a year, he...

Student produced. Student written. Student directed. Student acted. Student run. The Town Crier theatre festival gives Puget Sound students a wonderful opportunity to gain experience in every aspect of theatrical production. Months of careful preparation culminated in the Seventh Annual Town Crier Speaks Festival on Oct. 10-12, divided across three evenings of laughter, tears, thoughtful reflections and glimpses into the vast realm of the theatrical experience. Go was about a failing show told from the perspective of the back-stage crew. A production of King Lear-in-space goes horribly wrong when sound...

By SABINE GLOCKER   At age 14, Leon Ichaso was sent to an airport in Cuba where his father told him, “Look at me well, because you will never see me again. I believe in this revolution and this is where I am staying.” After leaving Cuba and Fidel Castro, he said he had two options: “to become a 14-year-old alcoholic” or to create healthier coping methods. This is what film became to him—a coping method and an escape. In his talk on Oct. 10, he discussed filming a movie...

By SABINE GLOCKER   The Oct. 11 Symphony Orchestra concert entitled “Romantic Smorgasbord” is a perfect example of the term smorgasbord. According to dictionary.com, the word means “an extensive array or variety.” Huw Edwards will conduct the group, who will play four pieces. Opening the evening of musical talent will be Samuel Barber’s “First Essay for Orchestra.” Finished in 1938 by the American composer, the piece “starts off slowly and quietly and then it gradually crescendos into a more dramatic brass heavy section,” Jenna Tatiyatrairong, a sophomore clarinet performance major,...

By OLIVIA PIERCE FREEMAN   The Kittredge Gallery opened two new exhibits by artists Randy Bolton and Holly Senn on Monday of this week. Randy Bolton has worked in many visiting artist positions across the country and currently works as the Head of the Print Media Department and the Artist in Residence at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. His artistic approach is one intended to lure the viewer in on a second glance. His art is inspired by illustrations from children’s books and science texts, as he recognizes the...