Claudio Monteverdi was the first great opera composer, but
his works are small, unusual, and rarely staged. Pacific Operaworks’
Return of Ulysses (March 11–21 at the Moore) is a great
exception. Another one: the chance to peek in on rehearsals while
experiencing Mary Temple’s nearly invisible painting installations;
Dawn Clements’s painstaking charcoal drawing of an entrapping
apartment; Ed Ruscha’s photographic documentation of every building
on the Sunset Strip; and Claire Cowie’s lusciously painted ceramic
moths mounted on pins, lined up by the light. Just don’t disturb
the singers. (Western Bridge, 3412 Fourth Ave S, 838-7444.
Noon–6 pm, free.)

Jen Graves (The Stranger’s former arts critic) mostly writes about things you approach with your eyeballs. But she’s also a history nerd interested in anything that needs more talking about, from male...