Olympic Theatre Arts’ lavender melodrama highlights Sequim

Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 16, 2026

SEQUIM — Olympic Theatre Arts continues its over-the-top melodrama during the heart of lavender season, encouraging booing, cheering and plenty of laughing.

“Locals will catch the deep cuts, tourists will be happy to catch more surface references, but ultimately it’s just stupid and funny, and even if you don’t know anything about the town, it’ll be hard not to laugh,” director Matt Forrest said.

The melodrama was originally envisioned as a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” event by former Executive Director Dave Herbelin to be performed every lavender season. This year’s show is the fourth original script for the show in five years, adding new songs, jokes and observations about Sequim and the Olympic Peninsula.

This year’s show, “Lavender Liberty,” runs through July 26 at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. on Sundays at OTA, 414 N. Sequim Ave. A special performance was added for 7 p.m. tonight for Sequim Lavender Weekend.

Tickets can be purchased online at olympic theatrearts.org or by calling the box office at 360-683-7326.

In a first for OTA’s melodrama, this year’s show is a sequel to last year’s “Lavender Legacies,” in which damsel Rebecca Kay, played by Nikki Forrest, is Sequim’s mayor, and she’s engaged to the hero Loddon Blue, played by Mario Arruda.

Lavender has been making everything better in Sequim, Matt Forrest said, but not everyone is happy with change, and Pioneer Pete, played by Ben Heintz, seeks to undo the community Kay has built to go back to the way things had been.

“The humor of the melodrama revolves around a self-awareness and willingness to laugh at our own peculiarities,” Matt Forrest said. “I think the outlandishness and ridiculous nature of the jokes makes it hard to take anything too seriously or personally.”

Other cast members include Chelsea Doyle as Little Lottie, and Alivia Halverson, Amber Tjemsland, Mike Hochstatter and Joodie Klinke.

For five years now, Nikki, Matt Forrest’s wife, has portrayed the damsel, he said, and she’s defined the role entirely.

“She’s the quintessential damsel, and I can’t imagine the show without her,” he said. “It’s fun because, after the first couple years, (Herbelin) began to write the damsel part in her voice, so there’s this kind of feedback loop of humor that just hits so well.”

Herbelin asked Matt Forrest to direct this year. Matt attributed the success behind this year’s show to the OTA team.

“There are a ton of quick changes and props this year, and Diane Smith and Joodie Klinke have done an amazing job pulling everything together,” Matt Forrest said. “They’ve really gone above and beyond from what I could have imagined.”

Herbelin provided many notes, and Forrest said he tried to stick to his original vision as best as he could.

“There are a lot of complexities at points, but fortunately, the melodrama has the ability to break the fourth wall whenever we want and lean into the ‘low budget’ aspect of humor,” Matt Forrest said.

Once again, Herbelin wrote original songs for the show, with Morgan Bartholick helping at rehearsals and Ken Young returning on the piano for the fifth year.

“It’s always a lot of fun to act along with live underscoring,” Forrest said. “I’d say that’s my favorite musical aspect; it’s a unique experience and the music influences your performance.”

‘Lavender Liberty: A Melodrama’

• Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave.

• Shows through July 26

• 7 p.m. tonight, Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays

• Tickets can be purchased online at olympictheatrearts.org or by calling the box office at 360-683-7326.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.