Best man around town
MORGAN PICTON
I'd seen Picton perform as an actor several times, in shows for Animal Fire and Olympia Family Theater, then worked with him in June of 2012. That was the summer he cracked wise as the Gravedigger in Animal Fire's Hamlet. He had an easy, authoritative knack for comic timing, which made sense given his night job as a standup comedian. Over the years I've praised his work in shows from A Midsummer Night's Dream to American Roulette. Yet despite my lifelong fascination with standup comedy, I had never made the effort to see him perform in his own wheelhouse. That changed last December, when my wife and I caught one of his sets at Le Voyeur. He riffed on economics and ancient Rome for a dozen people, killing with insights that were probably too smart for most rooms, including that one. He's also the house manager for Harlequin Productions; soon he'll critique plays for a scrappy alt-zine in Olympia. I can't wait to read his cerebral, hilarious take on my theater neighborhood. - Christian Carvajal
Best rejected art
SALON REFU
Salon Refu emerged this year as the best visual art gallery in town thanks to two knock-‘em-dead shows and a few stimulating events with gallery talks, films and poetry. Named after the infamous Salon des Refusés of 1863 in Paris (literally exhibition of rejects), which kicked off the modernist movement, Salon Refu was founded and is solely operated by Olympia artist Susan Christian. (Technically she's from Shelton, but who cares.) The amazing shows that elevated this little gallery to star status were the Aisha Harrison sculpture show in October and the more recent Mary Randlett photography show featuring a large selection of works by Washington's most famous living photographer. Hobnobbing with the elite at the openings of these shows brought to mind openings I long ago attended in New York. 114 N. Capitol Way, 360.280.3540 - Alec Clayton
Best scrounged-up art
MATTER
Repeatedly selected as best gallery in our Best of Olympia series, Matter has enjoyed a great year showing works from their huge stable of more than 100 artists, all of whom work with reclaimed and sustainable materials. No revolving show, no sterile white walls, Matter is more like a junk shop or the treasure at the end of a scavenger hunt - an overload of visual stimulation with paintings, sculpture, furniture, jewelry, garden art. ... you name it. Owner Jo Gallaugher is moving to Seattle and the ownership is being taken over by the participating artists Mian Carvin, Cha Davis, Roxanna Groves, George Kurzman, Diane Kurzyna, Jude Manley, Steve Suski and Pat Tassoni. 422 Washington St. SE - AC
Best rollercoaster
CAPITAL PLAYHOUSE
Two years ago, all we could talk about was the inspiring resurgence of Olympia's foremost venue for musical theater. Now, following the arrival of a whopping tax bill, the embattled company's in a vegetative state. We hear there'll still be a summer program of youth shows. In the meantime, though, Theater Artists Olympia snapped up CP's cavernous Fourth Avenue space for American Roulette, its staff moved on to more lucrative pastures, and a planned production of The Last Five Years was rescheduled elsewhere. This hiatus opens doors for other companies, most notably Olympia Family Theater and Harlequin's summer Conservatory for Young Actors, but we're also catching wind of new outfits like Heidi Fredericks's Apple Tree Productions. Fredericks, one of CP's most reliable directors, now teaches drama at Tumwater High School. She'll be an interesting presence to watch in 2014. - CC
Best guerilla art
GUERILLA MAN
What a cool, cool man the Guerilla Man is. And mysterious to boot. Only a small cadre of close friends know who he is or where to find his art. The Guerilla Man makes huge outdoor sculptures and environmental artworks and installs them in secret locations, often in the dead of night and often with the help of those few friends who know his name. This ain't Cheers. The work is good. And did I mention that it is huge? The last of his work I saw was a group of steel sculptures installed underneath an overpass reached on foot via a walking path near Tumwater Park and the Deschutes River. They were abstract standing figures that reached from the ground almost to the girders of the overpass approximately 40 feet above. I don't know if it is still there or not. - AC
Best art made with a Subaru
MARILYN FRASCA
Marilyn Frasca makes fabulous monoprints by driving over printing plates with her Subaru, making monoprints from the marks made her car tires and then drawing into these abstract fields of texture. Like finding images in clouds or smoke, she finds images and brings them out by drawing and painting back into them and the amorphous forms take shape and tell stories. The finished products are prints of people and animals that skillfully combine realism and abstraction. It's downright magical if you think about it. Frasca is a retired art professor from The Evergreen State College and one of the best and most popular artists in Olympia. Her show "Like This" at Childhood's End Gallery this past October featured 71 of these drawings, and they were stupendous. It was a highly successful show in terms of popularity and sales, and from a critical point of view one of the best shows ever in Olympia. - AC
Best new art venue
OLYPHANT ART SUPPLY
The best new art venue in town is the little gallery at the back of Olyphant Art Supply on Washington Street between Fourth and State. I don't know whether or not they planned to specialize in realistic art with a surrealistic edge and/or contemporary art with a nod toward Renaissance traditions, but that's what seems to most often fill their space - the one exception being when they showed a collection of 1960s rock concert posters from the collection of local artist Tom Anderson. Among recent works seen there were: Romantic and darkly mysterious tributes of classical artists by Paris Reid, meticulous assemblages and collages in gilded frames by Hart James, and strikingly realistic portraits, figures and landscapes by Carla Paine (which I criticized rather harshly in the pages of this rag). I had never heard of any of these artists and thank Olyphant for introducing them to the community. - AC
Best place to eat real butter
YELM CINEMAS
Yelm Cinemas is one of the last remaining independently owned cinemas in the Puget Sound. Nestled in a quiet business district of Yelm, the theater offers eight screens flashing mainstream films and 3D action against a wall. They also show independent, locally-made films, which is awesome. And, you won't trip over crap as it's spotless. That's all cool, but my motivation behind nominating the YC for a Best of Olympia spot is its buttered popcorn. So good, and so 100 percent butter. Its butter is the real deal straight from Wisconsin. With free soda refills and a self-serve butter and topping station, your popcorn experience will be exactly how you want it. With renovation plans in the works, the Yelm Cinemas just might be your new home. - Heather Short
Best show you didn't see
NEXT TO NORMAL
Night after night, director Brian Tyrrell's presentation of Next to Normal played to half-empty houses or worse at Capital Playhouse, and that's a damn shame. Brian's wife, Jana, played Diana Goodman, a suburban housewife deep into a psychological breakdown. Her family, embodied by Kurt Raimer and Erin Snodgrass, struggled to cope as she downed one cocktail after another of antidepressants. I laughed, I cried, I thought, and I felt. And isn't that what we want out of live dramatic entertainment - everything? I know its synopsis makes it sound like a downer, but I adored it so much I named it my show of the year. It's funny: Movie studios tend to release their prestige pictures late in December, to capture the short attention spans and memories of Oscar voters. In theater, by contrast, it often happens that the best show of the year comes early. (Witness my love for To Kill a Mockingbird at TLT last month.) Next to Normal was just such a show. I know it was cold outside, but honest to God, Olympia shrugged off a chance to catch the future of American musical theater. Talk about a downer. - CC
Best show I didn't see ... and why
SHADOWLANDS
The story of C. S. Lewis' courtship with and marriage to poet Joy Gresham, Shadowlands began life as a teleplay by William Nicholson. From there it was adapted into a stage play and screenplay. I read it years ago, when I noted its intelligence, sincerity and heart. It's ideally suited to a company with relatively low budgets and older patron base - like, say, Olympia Little Theatre - and director Kendra Malm cast the show well. I've acted with Scott Douglas before, most notably his impatient Polonius in Animal Fire Theater's Hamlet, and felt he was the perfect choice for Lewis. Joann Varnell reviewed the show favorably, but still I was disappointed not to see it myself. So why didn't I? I was performing in Orson Welles's "radio drama" version of War of the Worlds at Lakewood Playhouse, followed closely by work on other projects. Sometimes, serving as a critic while actively involved in the production of theater is a practical impossibility. That's why Varnell was also assigned to critique 12 Angry Men at LP, a show in which I'm currently yelling my fool head off as Juror #3. - CC
LINK: Best of Olympia 2014
LINK: Best of Olympia 2013
LINK: Best of Olympia 2012
LINK: Best of Olympia 2011