Concerts and stage productions are set to take the stage across the Peninsula this weekend, along with photography, puzzles and poetry.
• A concert to benefit Toni Boutilier is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Grace Lutheran Church, 1120 Walker St., Port Townsend.
The concert is free with donations to benefit Toni Boutilier accepted at the door.
Boutilier was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 31 which has now metastasized to her brain.
There will be a short reception after the concert.
The concert will feature the premiere of Philip Hirischi’s cello solo, “Sunny Day on Portage Bay.”
The piece will be performed by Pamela Roberts, the principal cellist for the Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra.
Roberts will be joined by pianist Helen Lauritzen on the Allegretto poco mosso from Cesar Franck’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in A major, FWV 8.
The remainder of the program will be performed by pianist Sung-Ling Hsu performing “Spiegel Im Spiegel” by Arvo Part, “The Swan” by Camille Saint-Saens, “Lush Life” by Billy Strayhorn, “Arpeggione Sonata” by Franz Schubert, “Summertime” by George Gershwin and “Guitarre” by Moritz Moszkowski.
For more information, email Roberts at pamela roberts1@gmail.com.
• “Nunsense” continues its run with performances at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and matinee performances at 2 p.m. Sundays through June 15 at Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim.
The theatre will host a Champagne reception after the opening night performance.
Tickets are $18 to $25 per person at www.olympic theatrearts.org or at the box office from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.
“Nunsense,” written by Dan Goggin, is a musical farce about a fundraiser by the Little Sisters of Hoboken to help bury 52 nuns who were accidentally poisoned by the convent cook, Sister Julia (Child of God).
• Ling Hui will present “Fairies and Dragons,” her 29th dance performance, with shows at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium at Port Townsend High School, 1500 Van Ness St., Port Townsend.
Tickets are $22 per person, $15 for students at www.linghuisdance.com or $25 for adult tickets at the door.
The music for the show ranges from Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns to Elvis Presley and Birdy.
Some of this year’s pieces include “Tutu Fairies” performed by the beginning ballet dancers; “Between Dreams” performed by three of the studios advanced dancers; and “Not bout Angels” performed by the intermediate and advanced contemporary dancers.
This will be Ling Hui’s final performance after nearly three decades in Port Townsend’s performing arts scene.
• Schola Galante will open the third season of Early Music at the Grange with “Elegance and Intimacy – Music of the French Baroque” at 2 p.m. Saturday at Quimper Grange, 1219 Corona Ave., Port Townsend.
Tickets are $20 per person at the door.
Schola Galante consists of Lee Inman, viola da gamba; Miguel Rode, flute; Dahti Blanchard, harpsichord; and Douglass Hjelm, flute.
The program is centered on works by Marin Marais, Jacques Hotteterre and Pierre Danican Philidor, composers who worked under the patronage of Louis XIV and Louis XV.
It also includes works by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier and Louis-Antoine Dornel, composers who achieved fame outside of the Versailles court.
For this concert, the ensemble will tune its instruments to a pitch level commonly in use in France when the music was composed, this pitch level which is lower and more mellow than what is familiar to modern audiences.
• “Something Like Shakespeare,” presented by Anna Johnson Andersen and Friends Together, will finish its run at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 31, at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse, 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles.
Shakespeare’s notorious bad guys will compete for the title of Most Evil Villain during the short play.
Entrance is free, with donations accepted at the door.
“Our cast is an ensemble of charming actors with various levels of developmental disabilities,” Andersen said. “They’ve been practicing for months and the results really show. The play is a great introduction to Shakespeare’s most famous works, but more importantly, it is guaranteed to make you laugh and dance in your seat.”
Andersen is the former artistic director for the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center’s Shakespeare in the Woods program.
For more information, email Marla Garr at snap sister@hotmail.com or visit www.friendstogether.info.
• The Richard Russell Group will present “One World Music” at 4 p.m. Saturday at Unity Center of Port Townsend, 3918 San Juan Ave.
Tickets are $28 online at https://bit.ly/3GCeNir or $33 at the door by cash, check or PayPal or Zelle.
The Seattle-based ensemble is composed of Richard Russell, Nancy Rumbel, Matt Weiss, Anil Prasad and Port Townsend-based Celtic harpist David Michael.
The ensemble formed in 2018 to explore what they call One World Music, a fusion of Eastern and Western music played on acoustic instruments.
The group draws from Indian raga, jazz, ambient and western classical musical styles played in an improvisational style.
• The Port Townsend Urban Sketchers will sketch near the old pier at Fort Worden State Park at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The group will meet at the beach end of the pier, near 501 Harbor Defense Way.
After sketching at locations around the fort, the group will reconvene at noon to share their work and take a photo.
The event is free and open to sketchers of all skill levels.
A Discover Pass is required to park on the state park.
For more information, visit www.urbansketchers porttownsend.wordpress.com.
• Nellie Bridge, the Clallam County poet laureate, will lead “Silent Hike at the Spit” at 10:30 a.m. Saturday on the Dungeness Spit Trail, 715 Holgerson Road, Sequim.
Amos Almy, the visitor services manager for the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, will provide a brief talk at the entrance to the trail before the hike.
The group will compose poetry as they walk, without talking or interacting.
After about 30 minutes, participants may share aloud the lines they composed or just listen to others.
For more information, call the library at 360-417-8500, email poetlaureate@nols.org or visit www.nols.org.
• David Conklin will shoot the Port Townsend Main Street Family Portrait Town Photo at 2 p.m. Saturday in front of the Port Townsend Post Office, 1322 Washington St., Port Townsend.
Attendees are encouraged to wear bright colors and begin gathering at 1:45 p.m.
Cookies will be provided by Safeway and coffee by Sunrise Coffee.
Posters of the Family Portrait will be designed by Eryn Smith and printed on demand by the Printery, 631 Tyler St., Port Townsend.
For more information, visit www.ptmainstreet.org.
• The North Olympic Library System will host a jigsaw puzzle seed exchange from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Forks Branch Library, 171 S. Forks Ave., Forks
Participants can bring gently used jigsaw puzzles as small as eight pieces up to 1,000-pieces.
For more information, call the library at 360-374-6402, email discover@nols.org or visit www.nols.org.
• Kate Reavey and Ann Spiers will read from their poetry collections at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Port Townsend Friends Meetinghouse, 1841 Sheridan St.
Kate Reavey, the author of “Curve” as well as several chapbooks of poetry, coordinates the Studium Generale speaker series at Peninsula College in Port Angeles.
Ann Spiers, the author of “Wild Cucumber,” was the inaugural poet laureate of Vashon Island and has published eight poetry chapbooks as well as co-authoring “Walks, Trails and Parks on Vashon Island.”
This free reading will be followed by refreshments and a book signing with the works of both authors available for purchase.
