Our music critics have already chosen the 40 best concerts in Seattle this week, but now it's our arts critics' turn to pick the best events in their areas of expertise. Here are their picks in every genre—from Cherdonna's Doll's House to the Red May Festival and Independent Bookstore Day, and from food events (like the Bacon and Beer Classic and the Cheese and Meat Festival) to film festivals (NFFTY, the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, and the Anime Movie Festival). See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.
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MONDAY
READINGS & TALKSElisabeth Rosenthal
Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal worked for more than 20 years as a New York Times correspondent, writing about health, science, and the environment (and political implications for all three), and now she's editor-in-chief of nonprofit Kaiser Health News. At this event she will present her first book, An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back, a terrifying story about our country's perilous health-care system.
Poetry on Buses Launch Party
Explore the poetics of motion in a new way with Poetry on Buses 2017, during which poems about water will be printed on buses, trains and streetcars. For this relatively stationary launch party, more than 30 poets will read in various locally spoken languages: Amharic, Chinese, English, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tlingit, and Vietnamese. You'll also see dance by Kiana and Milvia and the classical Chinese dance school Hengda Dance Academy, and hear hiphop artist Gabriel Teodros, Native Jazz Trio, and the bilingual Latin group Revolver.
Rebekah Denn: Edible City
Come join exhibit curator and two-time James Beard Award winner Rebekah Denn as she unveils and signs her new book, Edible City. The book, created in tandem with MOHAI's exhibit under the same name, will feature photos and narratives detailing our city and its love affair with food. Denn will be in conversation with MOHAI's Executive Director, Leonard Garfield, and Chef Leslie Mackie of Macrina Bakery will have treats for everyone. Bonus: if you haven't already experienced the Edible City exhibit, you'll get a special admission discount with purchase of the book.
Stephan Pastis: Suit Your Selfie
Pearls Before Swine comic strip creator and New York Times best-selling author Stephan Pastis will share his latest release, Suit Your Selfie: A Pearls Before Swine Collection.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jake The Snake Roberts
This would be bizarre if it were anyone else, but it seems almost natural for savage prankster and WWE Hall of Famer Jake "The Snake" Roberts to go on the lecture circuit. Expect tales of blood, sweat, and loincloths, with a few pythons for good measure.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Filibuster: A Cabaret
Deal with the stresses of this brave new post-truth world with sanity-infusing comedy, theater, and dance featuring El Sanchez, Nancy Guppy, Angie Louise, and others, plus real talk from Pamela Eakes, Ruth Stender, and Ijeoma Oluo. Stay on to meet with local activist organizations such as Legal Voice, a women's advocacy group, and find ways to get involved.
MONDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCEWellesley Girl
After a massive environmental catastrophe, the United States has been reduced to fewer than 435 people living within a walled city that used to be the wealthy suburbs of Boston. When outsiders suddenly appear and set up camp outside the citadel walls, the miniature United States must decide whether to send a diplomat to welcome them, preemptively bomb them, or just hunker down and hope for the best. A few moments in playwright Brendan Pelsue's otherwise excellent script invite overly melodramatic readings. Overall, however, the scenes are tight, the dialogue is smart, and the story is thrilling. Even when the identity of the barbarians at the gate is revealed, I kept wondering, "WHAT NEXT?!" That doesn't happen very often in Seattle theater. RICH SMITH
There will be no performance on Tuesday.
MONDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCENadeshiko
In her new play Nadeshiko, Keiko Green confronts the stereotype of the perfect (and sexually available) Asian woman in two periods of history. The story of a "Nadeshiko"—a woman enlisted to cheer kamikaze pilots in World War II before their last mission—intersects with that of a present-day American, Risa, who answers a Craiglist ad for a "peculiar gig." Check out the Gregory Award-winning Sound Theatre Company's first production of 2017 in a season focused on women's experiences and voices.
There will be no performances on Tuesday or Wednesday.
TUESDAY
FILMChampioning Youth: The Amara Film Series
Every Tuesday this month, Amara (a nonprofit that offers support to foster children and their parents) has been hosting this poignant and thought-provoking film series that highlights a number of real stories from our city and state. For the final screening, they'll show James Redford's Paper Tigers, a documentary set in Walla Walla that explores the effects of a new trauma-sensitive program implemented at a high school where many of the students have had more than their fair share of pain. After the film, hear from Jim Sporleader (the principal who initiated the program), and speakers from YouthCare, Center for Children and Youth Justice, Treehouse, Odessa Brown Children's Clinic/Seattle Children's, and Wellspring Family Services.
The Films of Douglas Sirk
Every Tuesday of this month, SIFF has been paying tribute to the master of simmering melodrama and “women’s pictures,” Douglas Sirk, who brought out the colorful beauty and underlying strife of small-town and big-city America in the 1950s. For the final week in the series, they'll screen Imitation of Life, his final Hollywood film and, as SIFF says, a "provocative tale of race, class, and gender."
Food & Identity: A Taste of Puerto Rico with Eric Rivera
Eric Rivera (the executive chef at The Bookstore Bar & Café) will create a traditional Puerto Rican meal—including bacalao, tostones, mofongo, and arroz con leche—and share it with guests while discussing "how we can learn about ourselves and one another through food."
Designing the Amazon Spheres: Gardens Under Glass
What are those gigantic transparent balls on Amazon's campus in South Lake Union? They're going to be "Gardens Under Glass." David Sadinsky, a designer of the spheres who has also worked on Moscow, Tel Aviv, and New York skyscrapers, will have more detail on this new monument-in-progress.
Helen Oyeyemi
At 31, Helen Oyeyemi has already written five novels on major presses and two plays. Her latest book is a collection of short stories called What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, which is full of understated, surreal stories about stories. RICH SMITH
Lesley Stahl with Tony Ventrella
Lesley Stahl is a reporter for CBS's 60 Minutes (among many other endeavors, she conducted that infamous post-election interview with Trump) and she's coming to Seattle to share her highly personal new book, Becoming Grandma: The Joys and Science of the New Grandparenting.
Loud Mouth Lit
This series of "fresh, local, and organic" author readings, which thrives on face-to-face interaction, is curated by playwright and fiction Paul Mullin. At the April edition, look forward to readings by Stranger Genius Paul Mullin, author Dane Bahr (Dock Street Press), and actress Jamey Hood.
TUESDAY-SATURDAY
ARTAll American
See this ambitious show, which promises three centuries of printmaking by American immigrant artists, before it closes this weekend. The gallery writes, "Whether making a statement about race relations, exploring abstract expression or responding to industrialization, the artists in this exhibition, while distinct in their diversity, are nevertheless all American."
Charles Emerson: Color Meditations
If you look hard enough at Charles Emerson's colorful, abstract paintings, you might see part of a landscape—a few trees, the top of a mountain range. But mostly, they make the viewer feel unrooted and upside-down. See them at Harris Harvey Gallery before the show closes this weekend.
Lauren Iida: How to Trap a Memory
Lauren Iida's large papercut works are often dizzyingly intricate, with figures, scenes, trinkets, and patterns crammed side-by-side, sometimes overlapping. They're called "memory nets," and they wrap together aspects of her life, from time spent in Seattle to time spent in Cambodia. Other examples of her papercut works are more repetitive and/or focused, with the emphasis on a single scene or object. See her work before the show closes this weekend.
Robert Pruitt: Planetary Survey
Planetary Survey, which closes this weekend, features new drawings by Robert Pruitt: portraits on paper that explore science fiction, politics, pop culture, and the idea of "black escape": described as "a desire to be free from the literal and psychological constraints on the formation of black identity reaching back to slavery."
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
FILMAnime Movie Festival
Revisit the most dazzling anime classics from body-horror futurist postpunk like Akira and Ghost in the Shell to the exciting Cowboy Bebop to the richly saturated hallucinations of Paprika, as well as a special ten-film spotlight on Hayao Miyazaki. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle and My Neighbor Totoro are all definitely worth a rewatch—and if it's your first time, we're jealous of you. You can also see a new film, an Oscar nominee to boot: The Red Turtle, produced by Studio Ghibli and Wild Bunch.
Here Lies Love
David Byrne’s critically adored disco musical about the life and times of Imelda Marcos, disco-obsessed wife of Ferdinand Marcos. She danced by his side (and by Richard Nixon’s—look it up on YouTube) while his dictatorial ass terrorized the Philippines. Unlike other musicals, you don’t have to forgive this one for its melodramatic, sappy songs. The fast numbers are groovy disco bangers and the slow numbers are touching, tropically inflected twee rock/pop. Production-wise, this show will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen at the Rep. The installation of mobile dance floors will significantly change the theater’s seating situation, and the audience will be dancing (according to the demands of the dictator, of course) throughout the show. RICH SMITH
Orlando
Award-winning playwright Sarah Ruhl—whose best-known work is probably In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)—adapted this production from the gender-bending, time-fucking literary history novel by Virginia Woolf. L. Zane Jones will direct. Look forward to a satiric, endearing plot stretching over more than 300 years.
The Secret Garden
The quietly mesmerizing musical The Secret Garden (written by Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman with music by Lucy Simon) comes to 5th Avenue Theatre, directed by David Armstrong.
WEDNESDAY
FOOD & DRINKAstronomy on Tap
If discussing the possibility of aliens with like-minded folks sounds interesting to you, read on. If discussing it with a beer in your hand sounds even better, you'll probably enjoy this event. Astronomy on Tap events strive to be "accessible and engaging," and typically include non-boring science presentations on topics ranging from the beginning of the universe as we know it to black holes. This month, Dr. Bob Abel (professor of applied physics at Olympic College) will answer the question, "Where are the Martians?"—or at least try his best.
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCECirque du Soleil: Luzia
Cirque du Soleil's latest atmospheric, high-flying, fantastical production is called Luzia: A Waking Dream of Mexico, and will celebrate aspects of Mexican culture and climate from lively games of fútbol to glamorous butterflies. Christopher Frizzelle saw it and described it thus: "Highlights of the show include rain onstage (a first for a touring Cirque production) and a lifelike jaguar puppet (props to the producers and designers for proving long ago that no circus needs real animals). Acrobatic highlights include an act called 'Hoop Diving,' in which tumblers dressed as birds fly through rings, sometimes with their bodies folded in half; 'Adagio,' in which University of Washington–trained gymnast Kelly McDonald is used as a human jump rope; and 'Contortion,' in which Alexey Goloborodko does unbelievable things with his body."
French Kiss
French Kiss is a sexy production that features dancers performing original choreography by Fae Pink, elaborate sets and projections, and themed food and cocktails.
THURSDAY
ARTPentimento: A Scripted Play by Dawn Cerny
Dawn Cerny has invented an unusual way to take you behind the gallery walls of the exhibit Fun. No Fun., on which she collaborated with the collective Kraft Duntz. The Stranger Genius-nominated performance/visual artist compiled texts and emails sent among the artists and constructed a play depicting their eight-month collaboration process, complete with eureka moments and "soul-crushing conflict." This script will be performed by a mix of local professional and amateur actors.
Family Circle: The Films of Yasujiro Ozu
"The films in SAM's tribute to one of the three masters of Japan's Golden Age of film, Yasujiro Ozu, are all beautiful and have at their core the quiet spirit of their times and places—mid-century, post-war Japan," wrote Charles Mudede. For this week's screening, SAM will show the 1958 film Equinox Flower.
Guest Chef Night
FareStart is a fantastic organization that empowers disadvantaged and homeless men and women by training them for work in the restaurant industry. Every Thursday, they host a Guest Chef Night, featuring a three-course dinner from a notable Seattle chef for just $29.95. This week, chef Jeff Maxfield of SkyCity at the Needle will cook a menu including a hazlenut-crusted goat cheese fritter, Alaskan halibut, and a rhubarb-ginger tart.
Sexy Syrah
According to "the unpretentious wine club" Seattle Uncorked, Syrah "is seducing wine enthusiasts who have an affection for red wines with bold spices, rich fruit and silky texture." If you're also lusting over the wine or are curious about it, head to this 16th annual event featuring more than 30 Washington wineries, including, for the first time, some offering blends and rosés. Salty's Executive Chef Jeremy McLachlan will also provide an appetizer menu "designed to showcase Syrah’s outstanding affinity for food."
There's No Place Like Not Home: An On The Beards Cabaret
The "hirsute, harmonically inclined" Bearded Ladies Cabaret attacks pop culture, gender issues, and art through drag, experimental theater, song, and "virtuosic prop construction." Catch them as they fly in from Philly to perform their best hits.
Lynda Mapes: Witness Tree
Author and Seattle Times reporter Lynda Mapes spent an entire year learning about a single, 100-year-old red oak tree, and at this event she'll share her findings, compiled into the book Witness Tree.
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
ARTMichelle de la Vega: The Sugar Project
Multidisciplinary artist Michelle de la Vega has brought together two Pioneer Squares (one of art galleries, another of people living on the streets), converted a 250-square-foot garage into a tiny home, and felt the urgency of making art after Donald Trump's "pussy-grabbing" tape was released. This show, which closes this weekend, makes use of that urgency, exploring "the paradigm that for the majority of recorded human history women have been considered as property." The show's title, The Sugar Project, comes from the way that women have been treated as consumable objects, as well as the crushing pressure to be "sweet" no matter the circumstance.
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
ARTThe Water Project
Art installation meets hands-on science project at this short exhibit created by Dan Hawkins, who photographs industrial landscapes and then develops the photographs in water he finds on the site itself. The interactive demonstration on April 30 will offer visitors the chance to expose photo paper via a slide projector, and process those images in a tent onsite. In 2013, Jen Graves wrote the following about Dan Hawkins's series The Water Project: "Hawkins has tended to go into ruined environments to make pictures; he has a web site called Washingtonruins.org. He is aware of the problem of disaster porn and works to transcend it...The element he's letting into the pictures is not the same element as my sudden awareness of having pores all over my body when I jump into the waters this summer. But still, there are similarities between his division between the physical and the metaphysical, and my preoccupation with what feels like a very porous border between healthy and sick water...Some of the pieces are tinged with what feels like a nuclear blast of chemical color, and others are rainbowy and picturesque."
Langston Hughes African American Film Festival
This four-day film festival (now in its 14th year!) is packed with documentaries, dramas, shorts programs, and discussions that celebrate Black accomplishment, creativity, and brilliance in independent cinema.
NFFTY: National Film Festival for Talented Youth
The "young filmmaker's Cannes"—Charles Mudede called it "world-class"—this festival assembles the best films made by directors under 25. See works by promising cineastes who will make you feel very old.
Lost Falls
In May, Twin Peaks will return after more than 25 years off the air—celebrate with this food- and performance-based homage to David Lynch, with all the small-town charm and creepy suspense you'll find in his work. They'll investigate the question: "Who killed Chef Nordo Lefesczki?" Enjoy a score by Annastasia Workman, script by Terry Podgorski, direction and menu design by Erin Brindley, and performances by Devin Bannon (on lead vocals—fun fact: he's a performer, director, and Stranger sales rep), Matt Manges (drums), Dave Pascal (bass), Ryan Higgins, Ayo Tushinde, Opal Peachey, Carol Thompson, Ronnie Hill, and Laura Dux.
Ode
Nike Imoru's dance-theater work folds a moon landing, robot surgery, and other future-shock elements into a poetic "stage song."
Smash Putt
This is basically the zenith of fun in a dreary Seattle winter. You get wasted, you play bizarro-world mini golf (including a hole featuring a golf ball cannon), and you generally are reminded how fun works. Last time I went, they even had the Infernal Noise Brigade marching around the venue, sowing chaos. TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE
FRIDAY
FESTIVALSRed May
Charles Mudede writes: "Philip Wohlstetter, a local intellectual who has been a part of the Seattle art scene since the early 1980s, when he helped produce one of the first crowd-sourced anythings by means of a computer (a novel called Invisible City), has organized a world-class radical left festival that will run in the month May. This thing is big, ambitious, and timely—though Wohlstetter began putting it together long before anyone could believe that Trump would be our next president. The event is called Red May, it will include a bunch of brilliant and noted radical thinkers and artists (Michael Hardt, China Miéville, Joshua Clover, Nisi Shawl, Steven Shaviro, Kathi Weeks, Geoff Mann—to name a few), and occurs at a number of popular venues (Northwest Film Forum, Saint John's Bar and Eatery)." The festival begins on Friday with the opening of an art exhibition at INCA Institute featuring the work of Esther Planas Balduz, Felix Gmelin, Talena Lachelle Queen, Clark Wiegman, RabRab, and Kathleen Skeels.
Alchemy Grand Opening
Alchemy Bar & Lounge, a full-service restaurant with an emphasis on mixology and the art of the cocktail, is set to open in the heart of West Seattle. Chef Larkin Young (of RN74, Canlis, Tilth, and Willows Inn on Lummi Island) will supervise the chemistry-inspired menu at the brand-new restaurant. Alchemy's stated goal is to impress diners with "a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination." Guests can expect bites and tastes of the menu's sophisticated yet comforting dishes, and samples of equally innovative cocktails. (This event has been postponed to May 12.)
STEM: Science Uncorked
Which goes together better: Cheese and wine, or science and wine? You'll have to attend this after-hours Pacific Science Center tasting to find out. Sip unlimited samples of Washington wines and explore the exhibits.
Lush Us
Celebrate the artists behind Gay City Arts' Season 4: Uncontained (featuring shows including Sweet T: The Physical Album, How I Learned To Be a Particular Kind of Lady, Deep Space Lez, and Rising Up: A Queer Social Justice Musical) at this showcase featuring headliner Sonya Renee Taylor, founder of The Body is Not An Apology.
Ken Bugul
Ken Bugul is the pen name of Mariètou Mbaye Biléoma, a Senegalese Francophone author. Her autobiography, entitled The Abandoned Baobab: The Autobiography of a Senegalese Woman, is a black feminist personal history of diaspora and post-colonialism and one of the few pieces of her writing that has been translated from French. QBR Black Book Review called it one of the 100 finest African works of last century. Bugul will present her book with the help of Seattle University's Global Studies department and the SU African Student Association.
Kristiana Kahakauwila, Lauren K. Alleyne & Jamaica Baldwin
Three authors specially chosen by Hugo House poet-in-residence Anastacia Tolbert will read from their works. Kristiana Kahakauwila's This is Paradise: Stories concerns the people of contemporary Hawaii; Lauren K. Alleyne's Difficult Fruit is a collection of poems on reaching womanhood; and Jamaica Baldwin's poetry has been published in Rattle and the Seattle Review of Books.
Sarah Ladipo Manyika
Hear from Sarah Ladipo Manyika about her wildly popular novel Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun, a sweet-natured story of a cultured, elderly expat Nigerian woman in San Francisco whose independence is threatened by an accident. Karen Joy Fowler has said of the protagonist: "Dr. Morayo Da Silva is one of the most memorable characters you are likely to encounter on the page—intelligent, indomitable, author and survivor of a large life." Acquaint yourself not only with Manyika—herself a Nigerian-born woman living in San Francisco—but also with Cassava Republic, an Abuja-originated, now London-based press that is just starting to bring African books to the American market.
La Petite Mort’s Anthology of Erotic Esoterica
See "the darker side of performance art" at this eerie, secretive variety show with circus arts, burlesque, music, and more. Feel free to wear a mask if you'd rather not be seen.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
FOOD & DRINKMachine House Four-Year Anniversary Party
Georgetown brewery Machine House is turning four, and to celebrate, the team is throwing an anniversary bash over the course of two days with food, music, and beer, including two of the brewery's newest releases (the Double IPA and the Pale Mild), both available for the occasion.
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEChitrangada, The Warrior Princess
Dance drama Chitrangada follows the story of a warrior princess who decides to become less powerful, less useful, and more feminine in order to win the affections of a man. Thankfully, that's just the setup. The famous drama is based on the one-act play Chitra by renowned Bengali playwright Rabindranath Tagore, who is known for his contributions not just to theater but also to music, literature, and visual art. This production, co-presented by Seattle-based South Asian arts nonprofit Pratidhwani and directed by Moumita Bhattacharya, promises 11 forms of classical and contemporary Indian dance as well as original music. Plus, look forward to grand dance numbers performed by a cast of 40.
SATURDAY
ARTRobert Hardgrave: Pulp
If you've been following visual art in Seattle for any length of time, chances are you've come across the work of Robert Hardgrave, even if you didn't know it. He works in a variety of 2-D media—painting, drawing, toner transfers, the leftover "pulp" from those transfers—to create a body of work that is as colorful and effusive as it is distinctive. Visually, Hardgrave's style hovers somewhere between ancient petroglyphs and something you might see in a high-end skateboard shop, but like most images, these are things that are better seen than described. Pulp, an exhibition of new work at Studio E Gallery that opens this week, is your chance to see them for yourself. EMILY POTHAST
7th Annual Hama Hama Oyster Rama
Back again this year is the extravagant Oyster Rama, hosted by Hama Hama Oysters. Besides slurping down how-can-they-be-that-fresh oysters all day long, you can take part in an oyster shucking competition, a trivia contest, a silent auction, and raffle drawings for various prizes. New activities for 2017 include a cooking class with Los Angeles-based chef Luke Reyes, and a "mystery oyster" tasting contest. All-day activities include beach harvesting, painting projects for kids, a full-service beer garden, and a dizzying array of food booths (including paella, chowder, ramen, pork and oyster sliders) and beverages from vendors like Finnriver, Urraco, and Hayfork Winery, just to name a few. Dance the day away to the tunes of the appropriately-named Hamma Hamma Band, and also enjoy the Joy in Mudville and Cousin Ana.
Bacon and Beer Classic
The Seattle Bacon and Beer Classic is this weekend. Against their better judgment, they've made me a judge. I'm thrilled that they allowed me to use a photo of myself drinking Olympia after several hours of skateboarding for a bio image, but I'm more thrilled that out of six judges, I'm one of only two men. Women have fantastic taste in beer, and this event is acknowledging that instead of worshipping at the false altar of goofy beards and beer jocks. Plus it gives you, for the price of a ticket (which is 15 percent off with the code "YUM," BTW), an unlimited amount of bacon and beer. Trump may be waging a war on women nationwide, but here in the Northwest there is still gender equity and cured pork belly and fermented malt beverages and some indication that maybe everything isn't completely fucked. I'll drink to that! TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE
Cheese and Meat Festival
The cheese and meat festival brings all the best artisan producers of cheese and meat, the best parts of eating, together in one place. It began in Canada as a way to introduce small producers to consumers, and is bringing that noble mission southward. If eating well has ever seemed like a daunting task, that's fair, but this festival makes it stupid easy for you. Go get you some culture! And cure! TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE
Independent Bookstore Day
The only way Seattle can possibly keep enjoying a wide variety of excellent, engaged, helpful, lovely independent bookstores (including but not limited to Elliott Bay Book Company, University Book Store, Fantagraphics, Open Books, Queen Anne Book Company, Phinney Books, Seattle Mystery Bookshop, Secret Garden Bookshop, Twice Sold Tales on Capitol Hill and in Ballard, and Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Ravenna, and Seward Park) is to support them, love them, and buy as many books as we possibly can from them—not Jeff Bezos, even if his company offers convenient delivery. This event gives you a perfect excuse to visit your favorite shops, stock up on new releases and old classics, and maybe even meet some local authors/complete challenges. Generally, part of Independent Bookstore Day is a madcap race around the Sound to visit every (participating) independent bookstore, and the prize is discounted books at those retailers for an entire year.
Outsider Comics Presents An Evening with David Walker
Multi-talented writer and artist David F. Walker (best known for his work on the Shaft comic book series, his documentary Macked, Hammered, Slaughtered and Shafted, about Blaxploitation films, and his latest book Becoming Black: Personal Ramblings on Racial Identification, Racism and Popular Culture) will join That Girl with the Curls podcast host Samantha Cross for a recorded chat.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCECherdonna's Doll's House
The local powerhouse and "female impersonator impersonator" Cherdonna Shinatra (Jody Kuehner) deconstructs and reconstructs Henrik Ibsen’s arguably already feminist classic A Doll's House. Will Nora realize that her life doesn’t necessarily exist in relation to a man’s life, but for real this time? Will Cherdonna bust into the middle of scenes and sing surprisingly relevant pop songs in an operatic voice that make the play more intersectional? Kuehner's work defies divining of any kind. But if she’s doing a thing, you go and you see that thing. Those are the rules. Presented by Washington Ensemble Theatre, adapted by Ali Mohamed el-Gasseir and Jody Kuehner, and directed by Ali Mohamed el-Gasseir. RICH SMITH
SUNDAY
ARTOpen Studios
Check out the workspaces of 200 artists in the Inscape building (including painters, photographers, puppet makers, video artists, sculptors, knitters, jewelers, and print makers) at this biannual open studio event. In addition to the art featured throughout the studios and gallery, there will be video work projected on the wall of the second floor patio.
Czaplinski Sunday: A Hug and a Beer with Lane Czaplinski
Lane Czaplinski is quitting his leadership role at On the Boards, sad news for Seattle. Stranger theater critic Rich Smith reacted to the announcement thusly: "During his tenure at OtB, he produced some of the best performances I have ever seen in my short life as theater critic in this town." These works included Clear and Sweet, Riding on a Cloud, and Bridge Over Mud. Toast Czaplinski and his successful tenure with On the Boards' staff.
Flourish
The legendary french chef is coming to Seattle at the end of the month as part of a collaboration between his eponymous foundation and FareStart. Pepin’s foundation, says its website, “Promotes Jacques’ generosity and passion for cooking by supporting individuals that seek, and organizations that create pathways to success through culinary professionalism, skills and technique.” FareStart is the epitome of such organizations, so it makes a ton of sense that Pepin picked them out of all the other food-related charities in the nation for his first partnership. For this fundraiser, Pepin will be presiding over a multi-course melange of dishes from such local notables as Tom Douglas, Thierry Ratreau, and Holly Smith, and attendees will have the chance to bid on fancy food experiences like dinner at Eleven Madison Park with Pepin or a day on the set of his upcoming TV show. Tickets are currently sold out, but you can join the wait list—if tickets do become available, they will be $550. This is definitely for the city’s foodie elite, but for once none of us plebs will be grumbling at you for casually whipping out your black AmEx, as they money goes to an exceedingly good cause. TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE
Keep America Great: A Northwest Immigrant Rights Benefit
Drink for a good cause at this Northwest Immigrant Rights Project benefit night in conjunction with the Blue Moon. At Floating Bridge Brewing, $1 from each pour of the ten beers on tap goes to NWIRP. Even better news, the tasting room is both dog- and kid-friendly.
New Orleans Party!
The new Ballard deli Mean Sandwich hosted a New Jersey party a little while ago, and now they're inviting you to their backyard Louisiana po' boy bash. There will also be muffuletta, Zapp's chips, and a special brass band performance to drown out your lip-smacking. Will Mean Sandwich eventually fit all 50 states between two slices of bread? Only time will tell.
Keep America Great: A Northwest Immigrant Rights Benefit
Defend immigrant rights at this benefit show at Blue Moon for the NW Immigrant Rights Project featuring music from Argan, Catalino Underdog, and The Black Chevys. Next door, Floating Bridge Brewing will be donating $1 from every beer poured from 1pm-8pm, so go lush up for a good cause.
Carny Girl
This play interwoven with choral music, Carny Girl, follows Betsy from Kansas as she flees home to join a traveling carnival and risks falling prey to the lecherous Alligator Man. The Tattoo’d Lady and the Anatomical Wonder may be the friends she needs to help her out of a jam.
2017 Grand Slam
Seattle Poetry Slam's intrepid finalists will throw down at the culmination of weeks of competition, and the winner from amongst this diverse will represent Seattle in the Denver nationals.
African-American Writers’ Alliance Reading
Hear six poets from the Northwest's African American community in a reading organized by the NW African American Writers' Alliance, which promotes emerging and seasoned writers and publishes anthologies. The readers will be Santiago Vega, Gaylloyd SissĂłn, Georgia Stewart McDade, Nakeya Isabell, Minnie A. Collins, and Randee Eddins.
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