Ask two curators for a definition of any art movement and you’ll get two different opinions. But in the just-opened show “A Concise History of Northwest Art” at Tacoma Art Museum, Rock Hushka and Margaret Bullock have teamed up to produce a sequential definition of Northwest art that’s easy to read and surprisingly homogenous in theme.

“Curtains” at Tacoma Musical Playhouse is a murder-mystery musical comedy that played to mixed reviews on Broadway as recently as 2007. It garnered major awards, but also was panned by a number of critics.

A protégé of Martha Graham and a mentor to Twyla Tharp, choreographer Paul Taylor has long spread the joys of modern dance. His Paul Taylor Dance Co., which performs in Olympia next week, was founded in 1954.

Claudia Riedener’s walls grow like a jungle. Tendrils curl up door frames, bamboo sprouts in the bathroom, fleas jump around the kitchen. What’s more, it’s all her own work. Riedener is one of Tacoma’s best-known tile artists, and her pistachio-and turquoise-painted house is a showcase for her nature-based art tiles, made in her garage studio and inspired by plants in her overflowing garden.

LARAMIE, Wyo. – Ten years after bringing the story of Matthew Shepard’s murder to the stage, creators of “The Laramie Project” have produced an epilogue about the lingering aftermath of the savage attack and its effect on a Western town.

“Carl Sagan’s Contact” at Centerstage is the world premiere of an exciting new musical based on Sagan’s novel, with book by Centerstage artistic director Alan Bryce, music by Peter Sipos, and lyrics by Amy Engelhardt. It is directed by Bryce.

Things are looking up for film in the Northwest, and it’s partly thanks to the Tacoma Film Festival. Now in its fourth year, the festival organized by the Grand Cinema has taken an intensely local turn, with nearly one-third of its 132 films made by Northwest filmmakers. It’s good exposure for them, good marketing for the Grand, and a unique experience for audiences who see local surroundings and lifestyles on the big screen.

On the cover of the Arts Walk program crouches a little boy in pajamas and a pair of bunny ears. He holds a candle and a candlestick. Next to him is a hare – not a pet, it seems clear, but an ally.

What: “Trojan Women” by Euripides

A crane, wings sweeping and thin legs swiftly stroked. A landscape, darkly brooding with watery clouds of gray. A poem, dancing over rice paper in joyful characters. At the Handforth Gallery at Tacoma Public Library this month, charcoal ink and brush strokes breathe with life in more than 60 works of calligraphy and sumi-e, the Asian art of ink painting. It’s the tri-annual exhibition by the Puget Sound Sumi Artist association, along with two guest Japanese artists, and it shows how this centuries-old art has developed into something intensely individual and full of possibilities.

Olympia Little Theatre has updated Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy of manners “The Importance of Being Earnest” to the swinging England of 1968, the era of such popular British films as “Georgy Girl” and “Alfie.” This play, performed in the round, has much of the flavor of those films. Other than a florid manner of speaking, which may have been the height of fashion among pretentious Brits in 1895 but which seems stilted today, the update seems perfectly fitted to the affectations and love of fashion in Wilde’s comedy.

Tacoma isn’t exactly the keyboard capitol of the U.S. But that’s going to change this weekend – and perhaps permanently – when Tacoma hosts an array of those instruments, thanks to a growing community of musicians here.

An Islamic-inspired graffiti art mural could soon appear on the back of Tacoma’s Rialto Theater. But the design is not without controversy.

Like a French Impressionist painting come to life, 16 dancers promenaded, twirled and leapt with unfurled umbrellas along the shore of Capitol Lake. Performing “Umbrella Delight” two weekends ago, the Random Acts of Dance Collective was part of “Here Today,” a project of temporary public outdoor art that’s becoming an annual tradition in Olympia.

You’re zooming along state Route 706 on the way to some unbeatable hiking, climbing or sledding on Pierce County’s most famous peak. You round the corner past Elbe, and then the sign pops up: “Chainsaw Art.” Whoops, missed it. Then comes another: “Ex-Nihilo Sculpture Park.” Well, looks good, but shouldn’t you really be hitting the slopes?