The Week Ahead
February 23, 2026
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As February moves toward its final weeks, Bainbridge Island settles into a familiar winter rhythm—quieter than the peak tourist season, but still active with opportunities to gather and participate in community life. This time of year often brings people indoors, where shared experiences take place in small halls, local venues, and familiar neighborhood spaces. Rather than large festivals or outdoor events, winter on the island is marked by smaller gatherings that emphasize creativity, conversation, and connection.
These events reflect the many ways Bainbridge Island sustains its cultural life throughout the year. Community spaces such as Rolling Bay Hall, Island Center Hall, and local wineries serve as important gathering points, hosting performances, fundraisers, and social events. These venues are not just places where events happen—they are part of the island’s shared infrastructure, supporting artists, nonprofit organizations, and community groups. Their smaller scale allows for a different kind of experience, where audiences are close to the action and participation feels more immediate.
This week’s events highlight three distinct forms of creative expression: performance, music, and interactive entertainment. Each offers a different way of bringing people together. A theater production invites audiences to observe characters navigating personal challenges and relationships. A live music performance offers a chance to listen closely and experience the nuances of instrumental sound in an intimate setting. A bingo night combines games, performance, and fundraising, encouraging active participation while supporting a regional nonprofit organization. While these events differ in format and tone, they share a common purpose—creating opportunities for people to come together.
The arts play an important role in maintaining community life during the winter months. For performers, local events provide space to share their work and connect with audiences outside of larger urban venues. For audiences, they offer access to live performance without leaving the island. These experiences can be both personal and collective, allowing individuals to reflect, laugh, or simply enjoy being present in a shared space. The winter season, with its shorter days and cooler weather, often makes these indoor gatherings feel especially meaningful.
Community participation is also central to many of these events. Local productions rely on volunteer actors, directors, designers, and organizers, while nonprofit fundraisers depend on community support. Attending an event becomes a way not only to observe but also to contribute to the island’s ongoing cultural and civic life. These gatherings help sustain local organizations and ensure that creative programming continues throughout the year.
Together, the events taking place this week offer a snapshot of Bainbridge Island’s winter season—one shaped by creativity, collaboration, and community presence. They demonstrate how local spaces continue to serve as places for expression and connection, even during the quieter months, and how shared experiences remain an important part of life on the island.
Featured Events:
Drag Bingo Night
On Thursday, February 26, Eleven Winery will host a Drag Bingo Night from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at its winery space on Northeast Day Road West. This two-hour evening gathering combines bingo, live drag entertainment, and community fundraising in a relaxed winery setting. The event is open to anyone interested in spending time with neighbors, enjoying local wine, and supporting a regional animal welfare organization.
One of the central features of the evening is bingo itself, a familiar and easy-to-follow game that allows participants of all experience levels to join in. Bingo cards will be available for purchase at $10 for a set of nine cards, and players can choose to play as many cards as they like in each round. Organizers expect to fit approximately six to eight rounds into the evening, depending on timing. Prizes will be awarded to winners throughout the event, adding a sense of anticipation and shared excitement as each round unfolds.
All proceeds from bingo card sales will be donated to the Kitsap Humane Society, a nonprofit organization that provides shelter, medical care, and adoption services for animals throughout Kitsap County. By participating, attendees will contribute directly to these ongoing efforts. Fundraising events like this help support daily animal care, veterinary services, and programs that connect pets with new homes.
The evening will be hosted by Shay Fox, a Seattle-based drag performer known for combining performance, humor, and audience interaction. Drag bingo events typically blend traditional bingo gameplay with live entertainment, including comedic commentary, performance segments, and engagement with the audience between rounds. This format creates a lively and inclusive atmosphere, where both the game and the performance are equally important parts of the experience.
Eleven Winery provides an intimate and welcoming venue for the event. Located on Bainbridge Island, the winery is known for its small-batch wines and relaxed tasting room environment. During the evening, guests will be able to purchase wine to enjoy while participating in bingo and watching the performances. The setting encourages conversation, making it easy for both friends and newcomers to share the experience together.
Drag Bingo Night offers Bainbridge Island residents and visitors an opportunity to gather midweek for entertainment and community connection. With its combination of games, live performance, and charitable giving, the event reflects the island’s tradition of supporting local organizations while creating spaces for people to come together in a welcoming and informal environment.
Cost, tickets and logistics:
Thursday, February 26, 6-8pm
Eleven Winery 7671 Northeast Day Road West Bainbridge Island, WA, 98110
Full details here
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Sounds of Winter: Sue Jane & Steve Bryant
Winter evenings on Bainbridge Island often invite quieter forms of gathering, and the Sounds of Winter concert series offers one way for the community to come together during this season. On Thursday, February 26, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM, Island Center Hall will welcome audiences for a performance by violist Sue Jane Bryant and violinist Stephen “Steve” Bryant. This event is part of a new four-part series organized by the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District, designed to highlight regional musicians in an intimate and approachable setting.
Island Center Hall itself plays an important role in shaping the experience. The historic building, located near the geographic center of the island, has long served as a gathering place for community events, performances, and meetings. Its modest size allows audiences to sit close to the performers, where subtle musical details—bow movement, dynamic shifts, and moments of musical conversation—are easier to notice. In contrast to larger concert venues, the space encourages focused listening while still feeling informal and welcoming.
Sue Jane Bryant and Steve Bryant bring decades of combined experience to this performance. Both musicians have performed with major orchestras and ensembles across North America and internationally, including the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and Malaysian Philharmonic. Their individual careers have included orchestral leadership, touring, and chamber music collaboration. When performing together as a duo, their work centers on shared interpretation and close musical communication between violin and viola.
The violin and viola complement one another naturally, with the violin often carrying higher melodic lines and the viola contributing deeper, warmer tones. In a chamber setting, these instruments create layered textures that can feel both expressive and conversational. Performances like this often include a mix of classical repertoire, contemporary works, and original or adapted pieces, offering audiences a varied listening experience shaped by the performers’ artistic choices.
The Sounds of Winter series was created to provide opportunities for residents to experience live music locally during the quieter months of the year. With affordable ticket pricing and an early evening schedule, the concert is accessible to a wide range of community members. Events like this help sustain Bainbridge Island’s tradition of supporting the arts while also providing a place for people to gather, listen, and share in a collective cultural experience during the winter season.
Thursday, February 26, 6:30-8pm
Island Center Hall 8395 Fletcher Bay Rd NE, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Full details here
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Mother and Daughter Share the Stage in inD Theatre’s Circle Mirror Transformation
Late winter on Bainbridge Island also marks the opening of a new theatrical production at Rolling Bay Hall. Beginning February 27 and running through March 14, with evening performances at 7:00 PM and a closing matinee on March 15 at 3:00 PM, inD Theatre will present Circle Mirror Transformation, a contemporary play by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Annie Baker. Directed by Ken Michels, the production brings together local actors and designers to explore a story centered on personal discovery and human connection.
The play takes place in the fictional town of Shirley, Vermont, where five individuals enroll in a six-week creative drama class at a community center. Each character arrives with their own uncertainties and motivations: a carpenter navigating personal challenges, a quiet teenager, an actress in transition, and a couple seeking something new. Guided by their instructor, Marty, the group participates in a series of theater exercises that may seem simple at first but gradually encourage openness and vulnerability. Through these activities, the characters begin to reveal parts of themselves they had kept hidden, leading to moments of humor, discomfort, and emotional honesty.
Rather than relying on elaborate staging or fast-paced action, Circle Mirror Transformation focuses on small, everyday interactions. Much of the play unfolds through exercises like movement games, storytelling prompts, and moments of shared silence. These scenes reflect the awkwardness and unpredictability of real-life conversations, allowing the audience to observe how relationships evolve over time. The story examines themes of identity, loneliness, and the ways people seek meaning and connection in ordinary settings.
The Bainbridge Island production features a cast of local performers, including T. Ivan Winkler as Schultz, Amy Jo LaRubbio as Marty, Zoe LaRubbio as Lauren, Matt Eldridge as James, and Josi Twigt as Theresa. Behind the scenes, the production team includes stage manager Karly Crooks, costume designer Dawn Janow, and lighting designer Eli Backer. Their work helps create the visual and emotional atmosphere that supports the story.
Rolling Bay Hall provides an intimate environment for the performance, allowing the audience to sit close to the actors and experience the subtle shifts in emotion that define the play. Because the production includes mature themes and language, organizers recommend it for adult audiences or older teens.
This production offers Bainbridge Island residents an opportunity to experience contemporary theater in a local setting. By focusing on ordinary people navigating personal change, Circle Mirror Transformation reflects the complexities of human relationships and the unexpected ways people influence one another.
Cost, ticket, and logistics:
February 27-March 15
Rolling Bay Hall 10598 NE Valley Rd, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Full details here
Get tickets here
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