Note: Unless otherwise specified, events that continue through the weekend will not occur on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.
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MONDAY-TUESDAY
FILMBlade Runner: The Final Cut
The three great science-fiction works of the first half of the 1980s are Blade Runner by Ridley Scott (1982), “Clear” by Cybotron (1983), and Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984). With these three we get the images of the urban future. Los Angeles is the city in the movie, Detroit is the city in the music, and Tokyo is the city at the center of the book. All of these works have withstood the test of time, and so reward frequent visits. We still have so much to learn from the sounds, words, and cinema of the post-humanist world. Blade Runner is also packed with amazing urban details: the sushi bar, the hotel room, the nightclub. I could live here forever. CHARLES MUDEDE
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY
FOOD & DRINKDine Around Seattle
During Dine Around Seattle (not to be confused with Seattle Restaurant Week), restaurants throughout the area are serving three-course dinner menus for just $33 or $44, with some also offering a three-course lunch for $22. Even better: When you make reservations online through dinearoundseattle.org, a donation is made to the Rainier Valley Food Bank, which serves roughly 12,000 people every month from its tiny 1,200-square-foot facility on Rainier Avenue. Making a reservation at restaurants such as Chiso, Lecosho, Poppy, and Mama's Cantina will help provide groceries to hungry families in Southeast Seattle. ANGELA GARBES
MONDAY-SATURDAY
ARTRoots That Connect Us All: A Mother & Son Collaboration
Isabel Rorick and her son Robin Rorick descend from Haida art royalty—her great-grandparents were Isabella and Charles Edenshaw. Charles was born in 1839 and worked as a master carver at a time of violent, intense hardship for his indigenous people in what we today refer to as British Columbia. Isabel is the most respected living spruce root weaver on the coast, and Robin a great carver. For this show, Robin will paint on his mother's weavings the way Charles did on Isabella's. JEN GRAVES
This show will close on Saturday.
TUESDAY
RESISTANCE & SOLIDARITYThe Next Conversation: "What Do We Do Next?"
On the subject of doing what's doable, let's sit down and talk to figure out our own particular roles as "organizers and cultural workers... in the struggles to come." JEN GRAVES
TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY
PERFORMANCECream with Violet Chachki
Kitten N' Lou present this "Spanksgiving" burlesque, drag, and cabaret event, starring Violet Chachki, the winner of season 7 of RuPaul's Drag Race, and hosted by local drag powerhouse BenDeLaCreme (who also competed on RuPaul's Drag Race in season 6).
TUESDAY-SATURDAY
ARTPick Your Poison: Politics in Print
This series of contemporary and historical prints will take on political issues—from renderings of war, unemployment, and workers rights, to newer tongue-in-cheek takes on gender and sexuality and even political satire from 19th-century England. Works range from personal to battle-crying, including Artemio Rodriguez’s expressive woodblocks, Jenny Schmid’s “freaks” defying prescribed femininity, Käthe Kollwitz’s heartrending portrait of a dead soldier’s family, Pop works by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, and a classic image by the French satirist Daumier, of two rivals putting up posters for their candidates, looking at each other, both appearing to be without a clue. JEN GRAVES
This show will close on Saturday.
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEKing Charles III
This 2014 play written by Mike Bartlett—and here, directed by David Muse—is a blank verse commentary on the accession and reign of King Charles III, the freedom of the press, and the British royal family.
Emancipating the Past: Kara Walker's Tales of Slavery and Power
This exhibit features large-scale print works, cut-steel sculptures, a mural, and a video installation by famously controversial artist Kara Walker, known for her often horrifying and cartoonish depictions of vintage racism.
This show will close on Sunday.
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
ARTmanuel arturo abreu: resilience
Manuel Arturo Abreu is a poet and artist from the Bronx, and part of the Dominican diaspora. "I find myself with one foot in both the 'displaced person' and 'privileged Westerner' categories," he told Rhizome. "The former denies me access to my provenance, while the latter affords me a certain level of protection." His multimedia work is oblique, reflective, and brilliant. JEN GRAVES
This show will close on Saturday.
MKNZ
On election night, I heard several people say they'd left their bodies and felt like they couldn't get back in. I've heard rape victims talk about leaving their bodies to shield themselves from the full impact of the attack. The association with a President Trump is natural and horrifying. What you might want now is art that is made from pain and unafraid to claim it and name it—each of the sculptures and installations in MKNZ's show is named after a real person from MKNZ's history—but that also offers safety to those who need it, centering for marginalized bodies, and the possibility of re-embodiment itself. The show is called Cumulative Deposits (Of You Inside Me). JEN GRAVES
This show will close on Saturday.
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEDisney's The Little Mermaid
5th Avenue Theatre's production of Disney's the Little Mermaid is like one giant fuck you to winter. And winter cometh. The air is colder. Don't you just want to be under the water where everything's hotter? You do. But there's more than just seasonal utility here. The music by Alan Menken is great, and lyricist Howard Ashman was a genius who did not enjoy nearly enough time on this planet. Seattle’s own Diana Huey will surely charm as Ariel, and I have every faith that the 5th Avenue will come through with some underwater dazzle. In the consumerist glare of the holiday season, this show reminds us of the power of the human voice, promotes the joys of fostering an active imagination over the ease of passive consumption (cf snarfblatts), and advocates for meaningful connections to others who are not like you. Not bad for a family friendly show. RICH SMITH
FRIDAY
QUEERBearracuda Seattle Black Friday Beef Ball
After loading up on turkey, spend an evening surrounded by beef. The international dance party for sturdy men is returning to Chop Suey just in time for you to give thanks for body hair and burly bodies. Paul Goodyear is flying in from Sydney to DJ, and naturally there will be a laser show because why not. It's the perfect opportunity to show off the new pounds you're packing on for the holidays, and to start growing out your winter coat. MATT BAUME
Black Friday Happy Hour
So you're braving the downtown hordes on Black Friday. That's definitely a decision you can make, if you want to. Why you would think it's a good one is beyond me, but you'll definitely need to drown your sorrows after witnessing that bleak orgy of consumer excess. Fortunately, Miller's Guild has decided to help you do that with an extended happy hour. It'll run from 2pm-midnight, so head on down to "the perfect spot for holiday shoppers to rest their weary feet and refuel" for some damn good specials. Like a half dozen Shigokus for $6, which is the oyster equivalent of a $100 Xbox One. Unlike the cheap Xbox, you won't have to physically fight a soccer mom to partake. TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
COMEDYThe Habit: The Final Cut
In 2014, Stranger Theater Editor Brendan Kiley wrote, "For many of us, indulging in the latest smart/silly sketch comedy from the five gentlemen of the Habit—John Osebold, David Swidler, Ryan Dobosh, Luke Thayer, Mark Siano, and sometimes others—has become an autumnal tradition." This year, for the troupe's final Seattle show, expect top sketches from the last 20 years, including Peter Pan trying to "explain to the police why he sprinkles powder on children," vending machines talking back, and the Founding Fathers discussing "how the Second Amendment doesn't really need clarification."
This show will close on Saturday.
Considering the Voluntary Absence of God
Robert Marx's etchings and letterpress reflect on the brutality of church and state, and the question this inhumanity raises about reality and our place in it: Â"Viewers are invited not to abandon their beliefs, but for a sober moment at least to consider the voluntary absence of God."
This show will close on Saturday.
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEA Christmas Carol
ACT Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol is a dependable, simple pleasure, with just enough variation to warrant returning year after year.
George Balanchine's The Nutcracker
Last year Pacific Northwest Ballet replaced Maurice Sendak's beloved pastel set with a brighter one by Ian Falconer, author of the Olivia the Pig children's book series and longtime set designer. The symmetry of Falconer's Nutcracker set would be obscene if it weren't for thick cartoonish lines and Dr. Seuss–like stage elements. It's hard not to see Wes Anderson's influence, but Falconer leaves his own distinctive marks all over the place. If you haven't seen this Christmas classic since you were a kid, you might give it a go this year. It is a deeply weird thing to see. I mean, the ballet goes into this little girl's dream, wherein there's a war with a many-headed rat king who ends up dying dramatically after the girl throws her handkerchief at him. But what's fucked up is that a nutcracker steals one of the rat king's crowns and then places it on the girl's head, which transforms her into a bunch of adult snowflake ballerinas with crowns on! And THEN it turns out that the nutcracker transforms into her childhood crush! The two walk hand-in-hand toward a giant exploding star, which ends up being a portal into a 45-minute Katy Perry video filled with dancing desserts and a glittery peacock that moves like a sexy broken river. Maybe bring a pot lozenge? RICH SMITH
Peter and the Starcatcher
Peter and the Starcatcher is a Tony Award-winning play about Peter Pan's backstory—written by Rick Elice, with music by Wayne Barker, and based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.
SATURDAY
ARTIt’s Not You, It's Me
Take a look at a year's worth of dating rejections, illustrated, by Dillon Lacey. Meet the artist, get his autograph, and be one of the first to take home a limited edition copy of his new calendar at this release party.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEMimosas Cabaret: A Boob Job for Christmas
This boozy brunch theater experience, hosted by Isabella Extynn and local drag legend Mama Tits, promises an "over-the-top raucous" holiday spectacular with a breakfast buffet, brunch menu, a full bar, Jell-O shots, and of course, plenty of drag queens. The show will star Tipsy Rose Lee, Ruby Bouche, Sparkle Leigh/Dan Davidson, and Abbey Roads, performing choreography created by Tipsy Rose Lee.
