That promotional video features quick clips from rehearsals for “The Rehearsal Room,” which opens May 11th for a three-show run at Chief Sealth International High School. The video is courtesy of CSIHS parent Laura Martin, as is this announcement:

Chief Sealth International High School Performing Arts is proudly staging our first musical drama since moving back to our beautifully remodeled performing arts auditorium! A cast of 21 student performers, 3 student musicians, (and several Sealth teachers in cameo roles) are in rehearsals for our musical “The Rehearsal Room.” Art imitates life in this original story about high school students trying to resurrect their school’s drama program. You’ll love the music, which features great hits from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’, 90’s and today.

Our enthusiastic cast includes a wonderfully diverse group of students from all grades, and we truly hope that all of our West Seattle neighbors will mark your calendars and attend one of our performances! Our showtimes are Fri 5-11 at 7:30 pm, Sat 5-12 at 7:30 pm, and a special Mother’s Day Matinee Sun 5-13 at 2:00 pm, with free flowers and chocolate for all moms attending this performance!

Reservations/advance tickets ($8 adults/$4 students) are available online by going here. Laura also invites supporters to “make a donation and be featured as a sponsor in our program”; you can reach her for details via sealthdramatix@gmail.com.

(From the WSB Flickr group pool, red flowering currant at Greg Davis Park, by “old desolate“)
From the WSB West Seattle Events Calendar:

DON’T GET RID OF IT, RECYCLE IT: As noted here earlier this morning, 1 Green Planet‘s trucks are at Fauntleroy Church‘s lot till 3 pm – here’s what you can and can’t drop off for FREE recycling.

WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm as always – with this week’s highlights listed as “Rhubarb! Green Garlic! Asparagus! Local Wheat! … CommuniTea Kombucha will be sampling in their booth this weekend only!” 44th/Alaska in The Junction.

SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH: Newly renamed La Romanza Bistro Italiano (WSB sponsor) in The Junction, 4521 California SW, will serenade you during brunch, which is served 10:30 am-4 pm on Sundays (menu here).

PLAYDATE FOR K-5 STEM AT BOREN FAMILIES (AND PROSPECTIVE FAMILIES): Noon today outside Fauntleroy Children’s Center (north side of the Schoolhouse at 9131 California SW) – even if you haven’t committed yet (enrollment is still open), come meet other families; here’s the calendar listing.

CATSINO! 2-6 pm today, West Seattle animal advocates invite you to join them at Beveridge Place Pub (6451 California SW) with a fun crowd gathered for a silent auction, hors d’oeuvres, and recreational Vegas-style games to help animals via these 4 organizations, as described in the event announcement:

Furry Faces Foundation (helping financially restricted folks with medical and basic care for their pets)
A.A.R.F. (rescues dogs, many of who are in dire straits)
Purrfect Pals (Cat rescue and sanctuary)
Regional Animal Services of King County (King County’s shelter, which takes in all species of animals)

$25 at the door also gets you a drink ticket and a chance at door prizes.

SEAL SITTERS BOOK: Brenda Peterson and Robin Lindsey from West Seattle-based Seal Sitters have co-authored a children’s book about two seals that visited WS, “Leopard and Silkie,” and will be at a 2 pm reading today at Elliott Bay Books (details and map here).

MUSIC AND THEATER: 3-5 pm, Bobby Woods performs at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor), 5612 California SW … 3 pm is also the start of today’s matinee of “Exit, Pursued by a Bear” at ArtsWest Playhouse, 4711 California SW (click their name to see their newly revamped website) … And 3 pm is also the start time for all-ages live music at Skylark Café and Club, 3803 Delridge Way SW, with Tuktu and Bobby Heinson.

Tonight we have details of the West Seattle Community Orchestras‘ upcoming concerts – first noted here in our coverage of the WSCO gala last month. Their official announcement, out of the WSB inbox tonight:

May 8: Stepping into Spring featuring the WSCO Debut and Intermediate Orchestras, 6:30 pm, Chief Sealth International High School.

A multifaceted show highlighting our youngest players just beginning to adults taking up instruments for the first time or after an extended absence. We are so proud of these musicians’ growth and improvement. The Debut Orchestra will show off their new skills in Sword Dance, a march and “Ode to Joy” featured in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The Intermediate Orchestra will shine through “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Together, both groups will add sparkle to the night with an enthusiastic rendition of the “Can Can.” Also on the program will be a very special performance of the WSCO Trombone Quartet, performing “A Song for Japan,” a gorgeous piece written to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the 2011 tsunami.

May 15: Classic to Contemporary with the Symphony Orchestra, 7:00 pm, Chief Sealth International High School

Classics, contemporary works and a world premiere – a full night of symphonic music awaits. Our Symphony Orchestra, with 50 + members, will play Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony’s gorgeous second movement, Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”, Copland’s “Hoe-Down” and Stravinsky’s “Danse Infernale” – the Firebird Suite. Two debut works will round out the program including “A Song for Japan” featuring the WSCO Trombone Quartet and “Fantasies and Fugues” composed by the Symphony’s conductor and West Seattle resident, Rob Duisberg, Ph.D.

Admission to both concerts is free, donations welcome at the door. West Seattle Community Orchestra’s vision is to inspire an enjoyment of music-making through instruction and mentoring in mixed age ensembles culminating in quality group performances. Participation in the West Seattle Community Orchestras is offered free of charge to all students K-12.

For more information on WSCO: www.wscorchestras.org

As part of its weeklong 3rd-anniversary celebration, Morgan Junction’s rock-n-roll Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) welcomed a band tonight that, well, wasn’t just another band – it’s led by The Feedback’s general manager, Bradi Jones. Just after 9 tonight, she and her fellow Black Bangs took the stage by storm:

Tomorrow (Saturday) night at 9, you’re invited to more live music at The Feedback – a daylong video shoot by Van Eps wraps with a live performance for which they’d love to have a live audience on camera, per the FL website. But live music is only a small part of what they’re about – they’re renowned for co-owner Matt Johnson‘s cocktail creations:

See the menu here (and join the Cocktail Club here). And then there’s the food … Just stop reading and go. Happy birthday week, Feedback!

(Photo by Brooke Freed)
Love the sun, but longing for warmer temperatures? Stop by Avalon Glassworks till 4 pm and again 11-4 tomorrow to watch Justin Bagley create glass plant globes – small hanging planters just right for, for example, air plants, as you can see in the photo on the AG website. They’re on Avalon Way just south of the West Seattle Bridge.

You can call it an announcement in two acts – last Friday, ArtsWest artistic director Christopher Zinovitch sent a news release with the 2012-2013 season lineup (we published it here), and then on Monday night, he and the ArtsWest team, including new managing director Line Sandsmark, invited fans and friends into the theater for a live hourlong preview with some drama, some music, some laughter and more. Which fit the mood, as Zinovitch reminded the packed house, “Our shows are not black and white, they are shades of gray – and full of color.” We captured the hour on video – meet the new managing director at 6 minutes in, and start hearing from Zinovitch at 12 minutes in. He admired the turnout and exclaimed, “We are on a roll here!” (Almost 300 actors auditioned for the season, he said, and you’ll see some of them in the video.)

Always a surprise in the theater world! This year, ArtsWest isn’t waiting till its big “new-season announcement” event to actually announce the lineup. Monday night is the event; the lineup just hit the inbox. Read on!Read More

Besides the shops participating in the Spring Fashion Fling, there’s somewhere else you can shop late in The Junction tonight – Twilight Artist Collective in The Junction. Cheryl Robinson sends word they’re staying open late through the end of the week because the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference is in town,and their current group ceramics show “Chimeras” – curated by Eva Funderburgh – is linked to the conference. You can stop by Twilight till 9 tonight and 10 am-9 pm tomorrow.

“Mor Yay” is the first video by Branden Daniel and The Chics, released in advance of their debut album “Keep ‘Em Flying,” which comes out in early May. And the video has lots of West Seattle flavor. First – if you watch it, you’ll see Alki backdrops and other West Seattle scenery (plus a few other Seattle spots). Second – five-year-old Hayes, who’s in almost every scene, is a student at Holy Rosary; his proud mom Kelly – who also happens to be married to the young star’s dad, lead singer/guitarist Brendan Daniel – e-mailed to let us know about the video. She says lifelong West Seattleite Matt Winter, The Chics’ drummer – produced and edited the video. In a news release about the video, Brendan explains, “When Hayes was 2 years old, some of his first words were ‘mor yay.’ This is what he called the music I played on my guitar, because people would clap and say ‘yay’ after a performance.” You can preorder the album online, by the way.

Just in from ArtsWest, which is two weeks away from announcing its lineup for next season – the Junction-based arts enterprise has chosen a new managing director. Here’s the announcement:

ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery announces the appointment of Line Sandsmark as its new Managing Director, effective March 22, 2012.

Ms. Sandsmark recently returned to the Northwest, after twenty years’ arts management and producing experience in Scandinavia and Europe. After acquiring an undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Washington, and studying Critical Theory and Film Analysis at the graduate level at the Sorbonne, Sandsmark turned to film in the late 1990s, producing award-winning short films through her own production company, Kaliber Filmproduksjon, continuing as a regional grantmaker for the Norwegian Ministry of Culture, and heading the Copenhagen-based European Documentary Network.

Read More