The Stranger

Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra charts the sweeping, trans-Mediterranean lust between a Roman general and an Egyptian queen that became a personal and geopolitical tragedy. Four reasons to get excited: director John Langs (Hamlet, Crumbs Are Also Bread, The Adding Machine), whose imagination simultaneously sharpens and embellishes plays; ace actors (and real-life couple) Hans Altwies and Amy Thone in the title roles; Charles Leggett and Darragh Kennan in supporting roles; and set designer Jennifer Zeyl. (The Playhouse, 201 Mercer St, www.seattleshakespeare.org, 2 pm, $36, 2 pm) by Brendan Kiley

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Hysteria was essentially invented in late 19th-century Paris by a man who held “lectures” every Tuesday in which he “demonstrated” women having hysterical attacks by instigating them using hypnotism, electric shock, and genital manipulation, among other techniques—then photographed them, sometimes in front of the assembled crowd. Seattle artists Amanda Manitach and DK Pan are staging a “multimedia spectacle” updating the subject, involving ideas of “sexually transmitted genius.” And what’s more, “a male body will be compromised in the name of science and art.” They have a real chaperone/collaborator: Dr. Mari Kitahata, UW Center for AIDS Research director of clinical epidemiology. (Jacob Lawrence Gallery, UW Art Building, www.art.washington.edu, 7 pm, free) by Jen Graves

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You must vote. If you haven’t voted yet, you must vote today. This is an exciting, important election. Vote for Obama, Inslee, marriage equality, and pot legalization. Then come to the Showbox for The Stranger’s Election Night bash. We’ll have all the results on big-ass screens, tons of booze, and a bitchin’ sound system. If everything goes our way, you’ll be dancing, drinking, and getting engaged to be gay-married by the end of the night. If everything doesn’t go our way, did we mention that there’s booze? Because there’s totally tons of booze. (Showbox at the Market, 1426 First Ave, 628-3151, 4:30 pm, free) by Paul Constant

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Mashiko Sushi and Katsu Burger are owned by same person: Hajime Sato. Mashiko is in West Seattle; Katsu Burger is in Georgetown. Mashiko is fancy; Katsu Burger is not. Mashiko is rational; Katsu Burger is nuts. It is good to go to Mashiko most of the time, but it is also good to go to Katsu Burger now and then. The former is about the body, the latter is only about the soul, which sometimes needs to gorge on something as crazy, as nonsensical as the massive, towering Mt. Fuji, a burger with all the major farm animals in it. (Katsu Burger, 6538 Fourth Ave S, 762-0752, 10:30 am–8 pm) by Charles Mudede

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Don’t expect Daniel Higgs to rehash drone-rock band Lungfish’s glory days at this late date. The vocalist/guitarist/Jew’s harpist has gone off on an odder tangent since his legendary Dischord Records group went on hiatus in 2005. Now Higgs makes genuine freak folk—Sandy Bull as imagined by Flannery O’Connor on absinthe—that’s a conduit to spirit worlds of unfathomable beauty. Higgs’s rock past sometimes resurfaces, but it’s filtered into a gnarled backwoods surrealism that could scare the bejeezus out of Will Oldham. (Cairo, 507 E Mercer St, 453-4077, 8 pm, $7, all ages) by Dave Segal

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You know Ellen Forney’s cartoons—her stars adorn the You Are Here banners on Broadway, her sexy cartoons have appeared in The Stranger for decades—but you’ve never seen them like this. This year’s Stranger-certified Genius of Literature is celebrating the publication of Marbles, her masterful new comic-book memoir. Marbles is the highest point (so far) of a great career; it batters down the walls of comics as we know them to explore Forney’s bipolar disorder in vivid detail. This is the exact moment when Forney shifts into a new level of stardom. (Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, 386-4636, 7 pm, free) by Paul Constant

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