Edmonds Center for the Arts launches monthly film series

In the past 10 years, Edmonds Center for the Arts has made its mark as a concert venue.

Now you can attend a monthly film series at the center. Each showing will be preceded by a cabaret-style happy hour accompanied by live music.

The new Film Cabaret Series opens at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6 with a screening of “West Side Story.” Performing a jazz arrangement of the film’s original score will be the Jake Bergevin Quartet. A trumpet player, Bergevin is the Edmonds Woodway High School band director.

The film series marks the official launch of the center’s state-of-the-art digital cinema system, donated by Anne Gittinger, a long-time ECA supporter, said marketing director Tina Stryker.

The mostly first-Thursday films are classics, contemporary and cult favorites, all of which have cinemtatography and musical scores made to be experienced on a big screen.

“West Side Story” is based on the musical of the same name by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins and Arthur Laurents after Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Released 55 years ago, the film (by Robbins and Robert Wise) starred Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, George Chakiris and Rita Moreno.

Complementing the screening of the film is “An Evening with Rita Moreno” — coming up at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at Edmonds Center for the Arts.

Moreno, whose extensive accolades include those for her role as Anita in “West Side Story,” will present an evening of story and song, featuring favorites from the American songbook, Broadway classics, swing, jazz and selections from her new album “Una Vez Mas.” Moreno remains one of only nine performers ever to win all four major performing arts awards: the Oscar, the Emmy, the Grammy and the Tony.

And she is very good in “West Side Story” as the best friend of Maria.

Winner of 10 Academy Awards including best picture, “West Side Story” sets the ageless tragedy in the West Side slums of 1950s New York City, where gangs such as the Jets and the Sharks compete for territory.

The other films in the Film Cabaret Series include “Cabaret” (1972) on Nov. 3, “Pulp Fiction” (1994) on Dec. 1, “Butch Cassidy &The Sundance Kid” (1969) on Feb. 9, “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) on March 9 and “The Artist” (2011) on April 6.

Also upcoming at the Edmonds Center for the Arts is the return of its Dementia-Inclusive Series, a line-up of creative and social enrichment programs designed to engage people living with memory loss, as well as their care partners, families and friends.

The series includes three screenings of classic films and two workshops that involve dance and improvisational theater.

The series opens with a matinee screening of “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) on Oct. 15. In contrast to traditional film experiences, “dementia-inclusive” films are presented as relaxed, or informal events. Patrons are invited to talk or get up during the film – which is OK. Theatre house lights are left on low so the audience can see and move around if necessary.

Although film events are designed with accessibility for patrons with dementia as a priority, the general public — and an all-ages audience — is very welcome. In particular, the series presents an opportunity for younger family members, grandchildren and friends to spend time with elders in an intergenerational setting. Each film features a live opening act by Barclay Shelton Dance Centre.

Edmonds Center for the Arts is a non-profit performing arts facility, housed in the historic original Edmonds High School building. It was remodeled and opened in October 2006.

If you go

Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N., Edmonds, 425-275-9595, www.ec4arts.org.

Tickets to An Evening with Rita Moreno are $34-$69.

Tickets to ECA’s Film Cabaret Series are $15, and include admission to the pre-film cabaret ($10 for the movie only) or $5 for TeenTix at the door, pending availability. Packs are available to patrons buying tickets to three or more films in the series.