One of the best sounds you can hear on a Sunday night in downtown Tacoma is the soothing voice of Pete Kirkland.

A versatile, formidable performer, Pete Kirkland says his grandeur is due to his genuine nature. The leader of the six piece R&B band, In the Pocket is currently enjoying the best of many worlds; counseling empowerment, spiritual connections, artistic endeavors and life after cancer.

For about a year, Pete stepped in where Darren Motamedy left off and created a band he named In the Pocket Band. With four original members and two ‘borrowed’ members, together they have attracted a steady loyal group of supporters at the Tacoma Comedy Club where they perform every Sunday Night.

Pete’s career started at the age of 13 when he frequently played the drums and even earned $50 for his efforts. During the Vietnam era he sang for funerals of some of his friends returning home from the war. It was around this time that he discovered the power of music and his strength as a leader.

The pressure is on for 10 local high-school actors, who will be competing April 3 at Seattle Rep for a shot at up to $500 and a trip to New York City to perform on Broadway.

The 10 students – whittled down from 40 students from Lakeside, Tacoma School of the Arts, Timberline, the Northwest School, Liberty, Kentlake, Roosevelt, South Kitsap and Garfield  over the weekend – are finalists in the second annual Seattle August Wilson Monologue Competition hosted by Seattle Rep.

The students will be performing three-minute monologues from works by August Wilson, who wrote about the African American experience in the United States and called Seattle home.

The three winners will head to New York City in May to compete in the national event against students from New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

Compassion is the focus in Pacific Lutheran University's School of Arts and Communication this year, and this week you're invited to be a part of it.

Each year the school selects a new focus and brings students and faculty together to focus on that theme. Four events this year showcase the work students and staff have done along the theme of compassion, and now the third event, a play, opens this weekend at PLU's Studio Theater.

"Rabbit Hole" opens Friday, and is a 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about "loss, heartbreak and forgiveness as a family attempts to move on after a life-shattering accident."