Carolyn Lamberson

More than a decade ago, New York filmmaker Michael Morrison took footage from old, decaying silent movies, edited them together, and added a new score by composer Michael Gordon. The resulting film, 2002’s “Decasia: The State of Decay” will be screened in Spokane this week as part of the Create Spokane arts celebration. The film contains images from at least two identifiable movies, “The Last Egyptian” (1914), based on an L. Frank Baum novel and directed by J. Farrell MacDonald, and “Truthful Tulliver” (1916), directed by and starring William S. Hart.

So, “Blue Man Group.” It is quite simply not a traditional night at the theater. This rock show-meets-performance art piece is still going strong after nearly 30 years, and still manages to keep the shtick fresh for audiences new and old. For the uninitiated, Blue Man Group is three guys dressed in black outfits, blue makeup and blue headpieces. They never speak, using body language and facial expressions to communicate. The show features no real plot – it’s a series of comedic set pieces. There’s a backing band that rocks the house, various visual gags, audience participation, oddball percussion instruments constructed from PVC pipe and assorted mischievousness. Oh, and toilet paper. Lots of it.

Ellen Travolta is once again cooking up some entertainment for the Coeur d’Alene Resort during the holiday season. This year, the holiday musical revue will feature family and friends. “I Remember Christmas” will feature Travolta, her sister Margaret, and her husband, Jack Bannon. Also on board are Patrick Treadway and Katherine Strohmaier. Troy Nickerson will direct.

Sam Hunter is creating his own private Idaho. Many of his plays – the Obie-winning “A Bright New Boise,” being staged in Moscow through Oct. 19, and “The Whale,” which won a Drama Desk award, among them – are set in his home state.

Epic is really the best word to describe “Les Misérables.” Its source material, the 1862 novel by Victor Hugo, runs about 1,500 pages and is praised widely as one of the best novels of the 19th century. The original Broadway run of the musical went for 6,680 performances, from 1987 to 2003. The London run hit 10,000 performances back in 2010.

Beginning next week, the Valley Voice is consolidating into one edition. This weekend will mark the final publication for the Saturday Valley Voice, as its content shifts over to the Thursday edition. The goal is to provide a fuller, more Valley-centric report one day a week. Steve Christilaw’s sports stories, Pat Munts’ gardening column, Jennifer LaRue’s arts report all will migrate to Thursday. Jill Barville, who has written for the Front Porch column for years, will move to the 7 section on Friday, where she’ll continue to write about family life.

Faced with the prospect of closing Spokane’s only professional theater company, the board of directors at Interplayers instead opted to merge operations with a community theater company, Lake City Playhouse of Coeur d’Alene. The merger, announced Monday, gives operational control of Interplayers to Lake City, which is assuming roughly $92,000 in Interplayers debt. Playhouse artistic director George Green will oversee both companies, along with LCP’s managing director, Hannah Paton.

Spokane’s Interplayers Theatre has merged with Coeur d’Alene’s Lake City Playhouse, a Monday news release announced. LCP’s executive artistic director George Green confirmed the merger, which will see him supervising both theaters simultaneously.

The University of Idaho in Moscow is set to unveil a new theater space on campus this week. The new Forge Theater will be celebrated during an open house 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The open house is free; refreshments will be served, and tours will be offered until 6:30 p.m.

Three Spokane authors, a Seattle author from Spokane, and a writer from Walla Walla are finalists for the Washington State Book Awards. Spokane’s Jess Walter is a finalist in the fiction category for his 2013 short story collection “We Live in Water.” This marks Walters’ fifth appearance on the Washington Book Award finalist list; he’s never won. Joining him in the fiction category is Gregory Spatz, a professor at Eastern Washington University, for his story collection, “Half as Happy.” Spatz won previously in 2003 for his collection, “Wonderful Tricks: Stories.”