2016-10-24

Lit Crawl, Hansel and Gretel, 9e2, And More Critics' Picks

by Stranger Things To Do Staff

Our music critics have already chosen the 38 best concerts in Seattle this week, but now it's our arts critics' turn. Here are their picks for the best events in every genre—from Lit Crawl to Mama Tits' new show, Sweet Like Candy, to the end of the 9e2 festival. See them all below, and find even more events—including plenty of Halloween activities—on our complete Things To Do calendar.

Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

MONDAY

FOOD & DRINK

Meet the Maker

Every fourth Monday of the month, the Sorrento Hotel has free booze tastings and nerdy discussions. This one is with Copperworks Distilling, who make "brown gin"—gin rested in new oak barrels to soak up some of that sweet, charred American oak flavor—among other boozes. Should be interesting. TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE

READINGS & TALKS

Jade Chang

Jade Chang will read from her highly anticipated debut novel, The Wangs Vs the World, about a Chinese immigrant businessman whose fortune is ruined by the financial crisis and subsequently tries to move his American family back to his ancestral lands in China. According to Kirkus Reviews, "Switching among the points of view of all the Wangs and several supporting players, racing back and forth in time and across the country and the world, dropping into Chinese, stuffing in stand-up routines and savvy details on finance, journalism, the beauty industry, and the art world, this debut novelist holds nothing back. Head-spinning fun.”

Jess Walter, Tim Egan and Sherman Alexie: The Other NBA

Celebrate the eve of the season opener for the NBA (National Basketball Association), with "The Other NBA"—i.e., the National Book Award. Three winners of the NBA will speak about "life, longing, basketball and the Northwest."

MONDAY-TUESDAY

READINGS & TALKS

National Geographic Live: A Photographer's Life of Love & War

Pulitzer Prize‐winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario (who has photographed conflict zones including Afghanistan, Darfur and Libya) will speak about her work and her memoir, It’s What I Do.

FILM

The Seattle Social Justice Film Festival

Celebrate progressive causes and learn more about pressing social issues at the Seattle Social Justice Film Festival. See the complete schedule here.

MONDAY-FRIDAY

ART

E.T. Russian: Casting Shadows

E.T. Russian’s new work is a multi-sensory video comic installation, and as far as I know, the first major solo exhibition by this artist, who’s already pretty much a queer and comics hero. Do you love Clyde Petersen the way I do? Then you love E.T. Russian, even if you don’t know it yet. JEN GRAVES
This exhibit will close on Friday with a reception co-presented by Jack Straw and the Short Run Comix & Arts Festival.

MONDAY-SATURDAY

FESTIVALS

9e2

This art, science, and technology festival will commemorate the 1966 exhibit 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering, a symposium that featured performances, speakers, and exhibits by prominent artists including Yvonne Rainier, Rauschenberg, and John Cage. Installations throughout the event include explorations of molecular structure in copper, virtual reality secrets, audio-enhanced drawings, ocean simulations, and more. See the complete 9e2 schedule.

MONDAY-SUNDAY

FESTIVALS

Earshot Jazz Festival

This is the season of Seattle's premier jazz event, the Earshot Jazz Festival, which includes more than 50 distinct concerts and events in venues across town. One of the big names at this year's festival is veteran pianist Freddy Cole, who will present with his trio a performance tied to the legacy of his late brother, Nat King Cole. There will also be a tribute to Charlie Parker, helmed by the award-winning saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. Local ubiquitous talent D'Vonne Lewis will curate a series of concerts with his groups Limited Edition and Industrial Revelation, the Roosevelt High School Jazz Band, and special jazz festival collaborators, as this year's Resident Artist.

See the complete Earshot Jazz Festival schedule.

TUESDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Arlie Russell Hochschild: Strangers in Their Own Land

Sociologist and author Arlie Russell Hochschild (The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home) will discuss her latest work, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, an investigative look at the Tea Party and members of the conservative right.

Brit Bennett

Brit Bennett will read from her highly anticipated debut novel, The Mothers. Angela Flournoy (The Turner House) wrote: "Brit Bennett is a brilliant and much-needed new voice in literature.”

#JournalismSoWhite

This panel of writers, editors, and media leaders will explore how the lack of minority journalists leads to less interesting, less nuanced coverage of ideas and events. Learn about the causes and consequences of a homogenous newsroom from Reagan Jackson, Tyrone Beason, Monica Guzman, Andrew Simon, Venice Buhain, and moderator Enrique Cerna.

FOOD & DRINK

Tarot Card Tuesdays

All October, you can get your tarot read on Tuesdays (alliteration!) while you drink in the Fireside room. Tarot is wonderful because it's basically someone rephrasing all the problems that exist in your life and making you feel like the things you know you should be doing but can't bring yourself to are really good, objective advice from a trained spiritual advisor. Plus, there's booze, so it'll make the realization that you should have gotten that divorce seven years ago a lot easier to swallow. TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE

TUESDAY-SUNDAY

THEATER & DANCE

Man of La Mancha

The 5th Avenue Theatre's fancy new state-of-the-art sound system will be ready and raring to push out lush tones for this season opener: Allison Narver's take on Dale Wasserman's Man of La Mancha. The show stars Tony-nominated actor Norm Lewis as the windmill-slaying Don Quixote, and I'm very much looking forward to his "Dulcinea," but I'm super-mega looking forward to any noise that Nova Payton makes during her portrayal of Aldonza. I heard/felt/was destroyed by Payton's voice during last year's production of Janis Joplin—her soprano is so clean the room sparkles every time she holds a note, and her control is insane—and I'm so glad she's back in town for this one. RICH SMITH

Roz and Ray

Local playwright Karen Hartman's medical thriller is about twin boys born with hemophilia. The disease puts the kids at a high risk for contracting AIDS, which in 1976 is starting to spread more widely in America. The boys' father, Ray, is a single parent who obviously wants to keep his boys alive, and Dr. Roz is the pediatrician with a miracle cure: Factor 8. Something goes wrong during the administration of the drug, forcing Dr. Roz and Ray to deal with an increasingly bleak future. In a recent interview, Hartman said she likes to write plays about the parts of life that are rarely dramatized, and this tangled-up bit of medical history fits that bill. Though the play's certainly going to be a bit of a downer, there's sure to be enough humor to balance it out. This world premiere will be directed by Chay Yew. RICH SMITH

This Is Halloween

It's Tim Burton's classic The Nightmare Before Christmas repackaged as a semi-scandalous spectacle for the masses. The audience eats chicken skewers and knocks back $10 cocktails while they watch Tim Keller as Jack "the Pumpkin King" Skellington sing and dance, cabaret-style, along with Luminous Pariah, Paris Original, Marissa Quimby, and Baby Kate, while a ghoulish orchestra pumps out the show's signature tunes. Despite the glitzy and consumerist exterior, the crew manages to smuggle a complicated cabaret about the horror of fixed identities into the unpretentious space of the Triple Door. RICH SMITH

WEDNESDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Robin DiAngelo: White Fragility

Academic and author Robin DiAngelo will speak about an idea she has written about extensively: white fragility. She'll illuminate the knee-jerk defensive reaction that many white people experience when confronted with uncomfortable racial issues, and speak about the way those patterns developed as well as some potential solutions.

Timothy Egan

Timothy Egan will be reppin' the home team for the 2016-2017 Seattle Arts & Lectures Literary Arts season. He's a former Seattle Times correspondent, current lefty columnist for The New York Times, and winner of the 2006 National Book Award for The Worst Hard Time, which was about the horrors of the Dust Bowl. His current book is The Immortal Irishman. RICH SMITH

THEATER & DANCE

Banned! Books in Drag—Halloween Edition

Nightlife gets all eloquent and stuff at R Place. Presented by the Seattle Public Library and hosted by Jeffrey Roberts of The Gay Uncle Time, Banned! Books in Drag features an ensemble of drag queens and comedians performing works inspired by their favorite titillating literature. Local crowd favorites like Arson Nicki, Mona Real, Cucci Binaca, Cherry Markos, Sparkle Leigh, and many more will stand up against censorship in their finest couture. Just like the library, the show is free. Unlike the library, it features a well-stocked bar. MATT BAUME

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY

COMEDY

John Cleese and Eric Idle

This evening of semi-improvised comedy and performance will feature hilarious duo John Cleese and Eric Idle. They promise "storytelling, musical numbers, exclusive footage and aquatic juggling," and that "no two shows will be quite the same."

READINGS & TALKS

Melissa Bangs: Playing Monopoly with God & Other True Stories

Melissa Bangs presents Playing Monopoly with God & Other True Stories, a live nonfiction storytelling performance about being a mom, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and embracing the humor in pain.

WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY

ART

Guest Curator: Tracy Rector

Tracy Rector calls herself an Urban Native of mixed-race heritage. She's also a filmmaker and Seattle Arts Commissioner, and with all those identities coming together, she's on a mission to give voice to the artists she knows won't necessarily be awarded space or time without her awareness and attention. She began with January 2016's group show YOU ARE ON INDIGENOUS LAND at Core Gallery, brought another outing to Vermillion, and this will be her third presentation. JEN GRAVES
This exhibit closes on Saturday.

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Hansel & Gretel

You might consider parting with hard-earned cash on this one, and not just because Engelbert Humperdinck’s adaptation of the Grimm tale hasn’t been performed at Seattle Opera in 23 years and who knows when it will come again. No, it’s because of this particular production, reviewed tantalizingly (and glowingly) by The Guardian: “In Laurent Pelly's witty 2008 production for Glyndebourne… the tale becomes a gleefully ghoulish satire on consumerism, in which the forest is a maze of dead trees… Hansel and Gretel's family are forced to live in a cardboard house following economic collapse; the Witch's gingerbread residence is a free-for-all supermarket; and the children who are freed at the end, after the Witch is thrown into her own ovens, are obese, having gorged themselves on the supermarket's high-sugar, high-fat goodies.” Plus! The Witch is played by a man—in Seattle, Peter Marsh and John Easterlin. At Glyndebourne it was Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, who “plays her as a murderous matriarch, sharpening her knife, stripping down to her underwear, revealing wisps of mouldy hair under her wig and a ladder of bodyhair rising up her abdomen.” I sincerely hope Seattle receives a ladder of bodyhair. JEN GRAVES

Medea

The story of Medea is devastating—after being spurned by Jason, her love, she exacts revenge and communicates her sense of loss by killing their children. Watch Seattle Shakespeare Company perform the chilling tale.

A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun is one of the earliest examples of black realism on the American stage. Housing discrimination, race, class, family, the complexities of right action in America, all of it wrapped up in one of the greatest plays ever written. RICH SMITH

THURSDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Lit Crawl

Lit Crawl is an obnoxious, overwhelming, FOMO-inducing literary nightmare that exploits the labor of writers who feel as if they have to say "yes" to all readings. But last year all the events were really well-attended! And it ran pretty smoothly! And the evening introduced Seattle to some new writers and revived interest in more established ones! And this year, the 35+ readings [see them all on our Lit Crawl calendar] will be spaced out over the course of five hours instead of three hours, so you'll get to see more readings and drink more booze and have more terrible conversations about Dylan's Nobel Prize. I highly recommend 17 of these events, but it's impossible to see them all. So I highly HIGHLY recommend the following itinerary. (1) Politics & Poetry to get your engine roaring. (2) Fuck Yo Couch to keep your engine roaring. (3) Cheap Beer & Prose to hear the latest gems from Jean Burnet and Jessica Mooney (or split yourself in half and go see the very funny/witchy/devilish poet James Gendron at APRIL in October). (4) VIDA Presents to swim in the minds of Sara Marie Ortiz and Elissa Washuta. (5) Party til midnight at Velocity Dance Center. (6) Call in to work. RICH SMITH

PERFORMANCE

Sweet Like Candy

You've seen her at brunch, you've seen her in Puerto Vallarta, and you've seen her shouting down homophobes at Pride. Now get ready to see the sweeter side of Mama Tits. In her new one-diva show, Seattle's tittiest drag heroine pays tribute to some of the great strong independent ladies of entertainment, from Nina Simone to Ella Fitzgerald to Dinah Washington and more. Nobody can command a room like Mama Tits, and with her intoxicating blend of comedy, storytelling, and live singing, you're sure to leave this show a better person than you went in. MATT BAUME

FOOD & DRINK

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 FareStart welcomes three impressive local chefs: Dre Neely (Vashon Island's Gravy), James Beard semi-finalist Brendan McGill (Hitchcock) and William Belickis, who has had chef stints at numerous renowned restaurants.

FRIDAY

ART

Dia de los Muertos Community Night Out

Celebrate Dia de los Muertos by viewing SAM's tapete (sand painting) installation inspired by Oaxaca—they'll also have a dance performance, art activities, music, and more.

READINGS & TALKS

Lol Tolhurst: Cured—The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys

Lol Tolhurst (co-founder of The Cure and maker of unquestionably timeless goth rock) will speak about the book Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys, which deals with the band's origins, successes, and hardships, including Tolhurt's struggle with alcoholism. Hear about the new book through a multimedia presentation and Q&A, and if you choose, leave with a freshly signed copy of Cured.

Nick Offerman

Nick Offerman—who you will probably recognize from his role as Ron on Parks & Recreation, or from making the NYT bestseller list with Paddle Your Own Canoe—will speak about his work and his latest work, Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers.

On Translation: Reading and Discussion

Translation is tough already—but how do accomplished translators tackle poetry, a form that is so rooted in its native language? Hear about the process from Alejandro de Acosta (co-translator of Micrograms by Jorge Carrera Andrade) and 2013 Stranger Genius Award winner Maged Zaher (translator of A Winged Horse in a Plane by Salah Faik).

FILM

Campout Cinema: Carrie
Carrie is a Brian De Palma classic about telekinesis, religious extremism, and the horrors of being a high school student. Watch it under the LED stars at this special 21+ screening, which will have trivia, giveaways, drink specials, and other surprises.

PERFORMANCE

Bullygirl
Bullygirl (written and performed by Jennifer Jasper, and directed by Shawn Belyea) features Jasper delving "into the darkness of adolescence to pick at the bones of her self-esteem."

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

FESTIVALS

FreakNight 2016

Annual high-key wild-out throwdown FreakNight raises the bar for their 20th anniversary celebration, with a two-day set of live music, dancing, and a darkly neon environment of circus surprises, bizarre sideshow wonders, and carnival rides. Enjoy unruly sets from headliners Zedd, Armin Van Buuren, and Martin Garrix, as well as from Getter, Tchami, Galantis, Paul Van Dyk, Flux Pavilion, 3LAU, Jamie Jones, and many more.

SATURDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Chat Room: Ownership and Property

Chat Room is a quarterly forum on art in the age of the internet, featuring lively, often lighthearted discussion, PowerPoint presentations, and games. This installment—featuring local(ish) smarties manuel arturo abreu, Emily Pothast, and Zahr Said—will focus on "Ownership and Property," and ask/answer questions about legal ownership of art, cultural appropriation, Creative Commons, and more.

Johannes Goebel: The Politics and Mechanics of Archiving

Johannes Goebel (Director of the Experimental Media and Performing Art Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) will speak about "documents, the volatility of bits, and a system to preserve them."

Mark Frost: The Secret History of Twin Peaks

Mark Frost—writer for Hill Street Blues, author of books about golf, novelist, and (most exciting for the Pacific Northwesterners) co-creator of strange and acclaimed TV series Twin Peaks—will speak about his latest book, The Secret History of Twin Peaks. Fans of the show will get a kick out of the elaborations on ambiguous plot lines, interwoven bits of local history, illustrations, and the promise that the new episodes are almost here.

FOOD & DRINK

First Hill Pub Crawl

Basically like that thing where people dress up as Santa and get shitfaced but with more costume variety and, it being Halloween, probably more shitfaced-ness people. The Sorrento's stop will hopefully be a little more sedate. Otherwise how else will you hear the tarot reader telling you that that the seven of swords means she's been embezzling from your home-based pottery business for God knows how many years? TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE

ART

Black Bodies in Propaganda Opening Day

This new exhibit at the Northwest African American Museum features 33 posters that highlight the use of black bodies in propaganda materials, most created in times of war.

Create Change: Youth & Family Homelessness and the Arts

This day-long event promises art activities, talks and discussions, and live performances that explore "civic engagement around youth and family homelessness."

SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Speakeasy Series: Mary Sheldon Scott

Watch Mary Sheldon Scott straddle the line between visual art and dance at this speakeasy and exhibition, presented in conjunction with their Made in Seattle production of The SOLO(S) Project.

FOOD & DRINK

A Witches High Tea

It's the Sorrento's usual fancy afternoon tea service, now with costumes! Victorian murder victim would definitely be a good choice. And there will, of course, be booze: "The more seasoned sorcerers should also expect some tea inspired libations." TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE

Show more