ARTS COVERAGE TO END ALL ARTS COVERAGE >>>

At this point it goes without saying. If you're looking for coverage of local arts in Tacoma, Olympia, and all points in between, the Weekly Volcano is THE place to find it. While others cut back or bow out, the Volcano pushes on, continually providing the best in local arts coverage to our fantastic readers and always looking for ways to shine a light on all the awesome creativity we see around us.

Here's a look at the arts coverage waiting for you in print and online.

FEATURE: Toy Boat Theatre

"Who's to say that love needs to be soft and gentle?" That's a line from Secretary, a movie written by Erin Cressida Wilson. It could also be a fitting tag line for Dakota's Belly, Wyoming, a one-act dramedy by Wilson, in which Vern flees to his sister Dakota's ranch to escape the dissolution of his marriage. It isn't long before his wife, Trixie, shows up with a few surprises. The play is the first production by Toy Boat Theatre Company, an enterprise under the aegis of Tacoma Spaceworks. - Christian Carvajal

FEATURE: Steve Schalchlin's New World Waking!

It was a long and winding road that led songwriter, actor and pianist Steve Schalchlin from New York City to Olympia to perform a song cycle about a search for peace in a violent world.

Schalchlin will perform the song cycle, New World Waking! (along with selections from his musicals) this weekend, joined by students at South Puget Sound Community College and Olympia musical theater luminaries Josh Anderson, Christina Collins and Lauren O'Neill. It's a benefit for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). - Molly Gilmore

FILM: The Big Uneasy

Harry Shearer is best known for being funny. He voices Mr. Burns and a host of others on The Simpsons. He was a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live. He starred in This Is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind.

But there is nothing funny about The Big Uneasy, Shearer's documentary about why New Orleans flooded in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The film is showing Saturday in Olympia, along with a Q&A with Shearer via Skype. - Molly Gilmore

VISUAL EDGE: Safeco Collection at Tacoma Art Museum

Over the past four years, Tacoma Art Museum has acquired more than 400 new works. Many of them were gifts from the Safeco Insurance Company collection, and many of those are currently on exhibit.

Check it out. There's some good stuff here.

The first thing to catch the eye is a large oil painting by Pacific Northwest icon Guy Anderson called "Skimming the Sea." At 6 feet by 6 1/2 feet, with bold, oblong, white forms marching like an army of fish nets across the surface, this is a strong image to welcome viewers to the show. - Alec Clayton

PLUS: South Sound Arts & Entertainment Calendar