Kent Spotlight Series releases lineup for October-March

Tickets are on sale for the Kent Arts Commission’s 2022-2023 Spotlight Series, which brings seven performances to town from Oct. 13 through March 25, 2023.

Tickets may be purchased online at kentarts.com, by calling 253-856-5051 or in person at the Kent Commons, 525 Fourth Ave. N. Hours for phone and in-person sales are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Spotlight Series is presented by the Kent Arts Commission and Kent Parks, Recreation and Community Services and partially funded by 4Culture, Arts WA, Western States Arts Federation, National Endowment for the Arts and a variety of business and individual sponsors.

City staff recently released the lineup for the next six months. All performances are at the Kent-Meridian High School Performing Arts Center, 10020 SE 256th St.

Catapult “Magic Shadows”

• 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13

• Kent-Meridian Performing Arts Center

• Tickets: $30 general, $28 senior, $20 youth

Catapult is a shadow dance company that rose to fame on Season 8 of America’s Got Talent, earning their way to the finals of the NBC-TV hit show. The company’s imaginative and theatrical art form combines dance, storytelling, and sculpture to create family-friendly shows full of humor and emotion. Sponsored by Allegro Performing Arts Academy

Darlingside

• 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22

• Kent-Meridian PAC, 7:30 p.m.

• Tickets: $35 general, $30 senior, $25 youth

This four-person, indie folk band from Massachusetts is praised for their harmonies and intelligent songwriting. They are described by NPR as “exquisitely-arranged, literary-minded, baroque folk-pop,” Their dynamic presence onstage has made them a live-performance favorite. Sponsored by Curran Law Firm and The Haffner Family

Magical Strings Celtic Yuletide Concert

• 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4

• Kent-Meridian PAC

• Tickets: $26 general, $24 senior, $15 youth

The Boulding Family’s musical celebration of the holiday season is a festive and memorable tradition, with its 36th annual concert in Kent. Once again, Pam and Philip Boulding are joined by their children, grandchildren, and guests for an afternoon of Yuletide music, Irish step dancing, drumming, and storytelling.

Jazz at Lincoln Center “Songs We Love”

• 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20

• Kent-Meridian PAC

• Tickets: $35 general, $30 senior, $25 youth

“Songs We Love” is a journey through the first 50 years of jazz song. An all-star band made up of New York’s rising stars sings their way through four decades of music, beginning with the early blues and jazz of the 1920s and ending in the early 1950s. Iconic singers that will be explored include Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. Sponsored by Pete and Pat Curran through the Kent Community Foundation

International Guitar Night

• 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3

• Kent-Meridian PAC

• Tickets: $28 general, $26 senior $20 youth

International Guitar Night is North America’s premier traveling guitar festival, highlighting the virtuosity and diversity within the world of acoustic guitar. For International Guitar Night’s 23rd year, featured guitarists include Canadian jazz guitarist and vocalist, and recipient of the 2021 Juno (Canadian Grammy) for Jazz Album of the Year, Jocelyn Gould. She will be joined by Flamenco master Jesus Guerrero from Spain, contemporary classical guitarist Stephanie Jones, and Gypsy and Jazz guitarist Olli Soikkeli from Finland. Sponsored by Judy Woods and Pete and Pat Curran through the Kent Community Foundation

Matt Dusk Sings Sinatra

• 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 17

• Kent-Meridian PAC

• Tickets: $30 general, $28 senior, $20 youth

Multi-Platinum selling crooner Matt Dusk whisks audiences away to Las Vegas in 1966 where he pays homage to the Chairman of the Board himself, Frank Sinatra. An energetic show with all the production value of a Broadway musical, Sinatra, takes audiences on a musical journey through Frank’s incredible career, including its ups and downs, hilarity, and heartbreak. Sponsored by Pete and Pat Curran through the Kent Community Foundation

Ray on My Mind

• 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 25

• Kent-Meridian PAC

• Tickets: $30 general, $28 senior, $20 youth

Part concert, part theatrical production, Ray on My Mind brings the music and story of the great Ray Charles to vivid life. Portraying Charles, master pianist/vocalist, Kenny Brawner leads an 11-piece orchestra and three vocalists in performing this American legend’s most popular hits. Music is interwoven with monologues depicting how gospel, blues, jazz, and country-influenced Charles’ style, while also reflecting on American social history, his epic battle with drugs, and his triumphant return home to Georgia. Sponsored by The Pete and Pat Curran Family