OTA’s lavender melodrama serves up a sequel

Published 3:30 am Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Five years later, 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,” said director Matt Forrest.

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 July 10-26 at 7 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays at OTA, 414 N. Sequim Ave. A special performance was added for 7 p.m. Thursday, July 16 for Sequim Lavender Weekend.

Find tickets online at olympictheatrearts.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” where damsel Rebecca Kay, played by Nikki Forrest, is now Sequim’s mayor, and she’s engaged to the hero Loddon Blue, played again 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 Rebecca 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.”

Through rehearsals, he said he’s proud of everyone, and they’ve all been wonderful to work with and dedicated themselves to their roles and the show.

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 attributes the sucess 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, with Forrest saying 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 has written 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: July 10-26

7 p.m. Thursday (July 16), and Fridays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays

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

Show written by David Herbelin; directed by Matt Forrest