PORT ANGELES — More than 90 local ballet students, theater performers and guest dancers will appear in the Ballet Workshop’s two performances of “The Nutcracker” this weekend.
The venue is the Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave., where the curtain will rise at 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
The Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts (JFFA) is the presenter, requiring proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for attendees 12 and older. No home tests are accepted. Masks are required inside the building. For more information, see www.jffa.org/health-and-safety-covid.
Tickets, at $10 for children 14 and younger, $18 for economy seating, $28 for standard and $38 for premium seating, are available at www.jffa.org and at Port Book and News in Port Angeles.
Tickets will be available at the door, for an additional $5, if any unsold seats are left before curtain time.
This year’s “Nutcracker,” staged by Ballet Workshop artistic director Kate M. Robbins, features two Oregon Ballet Theatre guests: Brian Simcoe as the Nutcracker Prince and Xuan Cheng as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Set in 1895 Port Angeles, the production is an all-original staging of the ballet. The performances are dedicated to the Ballet Workshop’s late founder, Sylvia Wanner, who died Nov. 6 at age 80. Wanner, who opened the ballet school in 1970, first staged “The Nutcracker” in the 1980s, following the traditional German storyline with Clara and Drosselmeyer.
The Ballet Workshop’s current version premiered in 2015 after Robbins became the school’s new owner. In it, she and the dancers pay tribute to life in 19th century Clallam County.
