Our music critics have already chosen the 30 best concerts 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 the opening week of the Seattle International Film Festival to the opening of several museum exhibits (including Apollo at the Museum of Flight, Amie Seigel's Interiors at the Frye Art Museum, the Jim Henson Exhibition at MoPOP, and Denzil Hurley's Disclosures at SAM), and from Tesseract at On the Boards to stand-up sets from comedians W. Kamau Bell and Paula Poundstone. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.
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MONDAY
READINGS & TALKSJeffrey Toobin
Toobin, a CNN analyst, New Yorker staff writer, and author of The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court and other politics and history books, will speak on (groan) the Supreme Court in Trump's America. Courage!
Siddhartha Mukherjee with Steve Davis
Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee (author of the Pulitzer-winning The Emperor of All Maladies) has a new book combining science and a dramatic family story: The Gene: An Intimate History. How does genetics shape our lives and minds? How did we come to know about genes? What are the ethical opportunities and pitfalls of genetic mapping and technology, and what does the gene tell us about being human? Mukherjee with explore these questions in and out of the lab, sharing details of mental illness that runs in his family.
Cherdonna'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
This performance is sold out.
MONDAY-TUESDAY
READINGS & TALKSNational Geographic Live: Mankind to Mars
Science writer Andrew Fazekas (known as "The Night Sky Guy" and author of the book Star Trek, The Official Guide to Our Universe: The True Science Behind the Starship Voyages) will walk you through what the first manned mission to Mars might look like, in honor of National Geographic's new miniseries MARS.
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY
THEATER & DANCEResearch & Development Wing
Annex's James Weidman and Catherine Blake Smith have dreamed up this—what to call it?—meta-theatrical festival of plays. Over the course of seven nights, more than a dozen local theatermakers will come together and create drama from the inner workings of their theatermaking processes. You'll see a new production of Michael Robinson's play Robotics Anonymous, which will have been rewritten based on audience feedback from its world premiere the week before. Playwright Natalie Copeland and director Emily Harvey are presenting a series of pieces about the shared origins of science and religion, while experimental ensemble "Filament: A Collab Lab" create a theatrical experience that aims to "engage the senses in order to get minds out of asses {and} asses out of seats {and} onto their feets!" You can really only do risky stuff like this in places like Annex, and they typically pull it off. RICH SMITH
TUESDAY
FOOD & DRINKGuest Chef // Michal Gola & Luis Sanchez of Madres Kitchen
Join Coyote Central's youth culinary program and local chefs Michal Gola and Luis Sanchez (of Madres Kitchen) for the program's first Guest Chef event of the year. There is no set ticket fee, but $65 donations for the three-course dinner (with wine) are suggested.
James Forman Jr.: Locking Up Our Own
Lawyer, Yale law professor, and former public defender James Forman Jr. (son of civil rights leader and author James Forman) writes about topics including mass incarceration and race, and will visit Town Hall to share his first book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America.
Sheryl Sandberg In Conversation with Cheryl Strayed
Author and advice columnist Cheryl Strayed knows about grief; her husband died suddenly at the age of 45, leaving the family to cope with despair. Strayed will converse with Sheryl Sandberg, and Adam Grant, authors of Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy, of recovering from heartbreak and fostering strength in oneself and others. Your ticket includes a copy of this book.
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
THEATER & DANCEHere 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
WEDNESDAY
READINGS & TALKSDr. Charles W. Mills: Liberalism and Racial Justice
Caribbean social/political philosopher, CUNY professor, and author of such well-regarded books as The Racial Contract Charles W. Mills will introduce his newest volume through Oxford University Press, Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism. The book criticizes liberalism's false promise of equal rights, from its roots in the Enlightenment to today.
History Cafe
MOHAI, HistoryLink, and the Seattle Public Library present the monthly History Café, where you can hear stories about Seattle's history in a friendly, casual group. The theme on Wednesday is "Rosie the Riveter" Yesterday and Today.
The Moth Mainstage
Five storytellers will take the stage at Benaroya for a night of memoir-ish oral history, as part of radio sensation The Moth's Mainstage series.
WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY
ARTMinerva Cuevas
Mexican artist Minerva Cuevas has achieved international recognition by exploring class, capitalism, and consumption (among other politically relevant topics) through video, photography, sculpture, and site-specific installations. She might be best known for founding the "nonprofit corporation" Mejor Vida Corporation, a website that sends users free goods and services including cheap barcode stickers to apply to fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, student ID cards to be used for discounts, tear gas (available only to residents of Mexico City), and mysterious "magic seeds" and "safety pills." Her work is edgy, exciting, and asks viewers to reimagine their own principles and ethics by investigating the larger framework that holds up their worldview.
This exhibit closes this week.
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
ARTAyana V. Jackson: Dear Sara
Ayana V. Jackson's career has been focused on creating portraits from the African diaspora, from hiphop artists in Ghana to African descendants throughout the Americas. This latest project focuses on the story of a real person, Sara Forbes Bonetta, born as Aina in 1843 in an Egbado village (in what is now called Nigeria). She was an omoba (essentially: a princess) who became a slave after she was captured in a "slave hunt" in which her parents were killed. After that, the narrative goes, she became a gift to be sold or given, and later, after a fortuitous turn of events, she became a goddaughter of Queen Victoria. Like in Jackson's series including Poverty Pornography and Archival Impulse, the artist plays the role(s) herself, transforming her own appearance to match the exhibit's story and aesthetic. The portraits are stunningly dramatic, "throwing off the trope of Bonetta as property of monarchs," and depicting her instead as unassailable royalty basking in her own glow and influence.
This exhibit closes on Saturday.
Ballard Jazz Festival 2017
The 15th Annual Ballard Jazz Festival is happening again this year at various locations around the neighborhood, including New York Fashion Academy, Conor Byrne Pub, and the Nordic Heritage Museum. Enjoy live sets from local and national acts, like Chico Freeman, Marina Albero, and Evan Flory-Barnes, a jazz walk down Ballard Avenue, and more.
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
ARTSeeing Nature: Landscape Masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection
This survey exhibit of landscape paintings from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection spans continents and centuries, highlighting work by an eclectic group of artists including Jan Brueghel, Canaletto, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, J.M.W. Turner, Gustav Klimt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, and Ed Ruscha.
This exhibit closes May 23.
The Magic Flute
Unfairly considered to be a beginner's opera, The Magic Flute is truly a unique masterpiece of Mozart's, blending myth and fantasy to convey the message that love truly conquers all — a relevant message certainly for his time and ours. Follow along with the journey of a prince and his sidekick as they are tasked with rescuing the Queen of the Night’s daughter from a group of possibly dangerous priests, armed only with enchanted musical instruments (namely the magic flute). The opera is in German with English subtitles, but don't let that deter you from its language-surpassing beauty.
There will be no performance on Thursday.
Cirque 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."
Dreamgirls
Village Theatre presents Tony- and Grammy Award-winning musical Dreamgirls (not officially about the Supremes' rise to fame, but containing many parallels) which was made extremely popular by the 2006 film starring Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and the inimitable Queen B. Come for Motown tunes, commentary about celebrity, dramatic ultimatums, and flashy dance numbers.
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
ARTInternational Museum Day
This worldwide holiday, held in tandem with Art Museum Day, was designed to raise awareness about the importance of museums to the development of society. This year's theme is "Museums and contested histories: Saying the unspeakable in museums." Participating locations in Seattle include the Seattle Art Museum (which will offer $5 off admission) and, for Art Museum Day, the Henry Art Gallery and the Tacoma Art Museum (which will both have free admission).
Push/Pull Book Club Annual Show Opening Reception
After several months spent discussing Nisi Shawl's steampunk sci-fi novel Everfair (which imagines an alternative history of the Congo, wherein utopian land bought from King Leopold II attracts native populations of the Congo and escaped slaves from around the world) artists will present work inspired by the work's themes. Author Nisi Shawl will be in attendance at the opening reception.
Studio Supper: PK Kounpungchart of Little Uncle
Studio Suppers at On the Boards are Seattle civic treasures that manage to turn the dinner-and-a-show formula into something truly exciting. Before the opening performance of one of OtB’s provocative shows, you join 50 other people at a communal table for a family-style meal prepared by a local chef. There’s lots of wine and, because diners get to pay on a sliding scale ($25–$100), you’ll actually have interesting conversations with a diverse mix of people. This Studio Supper, on the opening night of Tesseract, features dinner by Little Uncle’s PK Frank, whose excellent Thai food is influenced by her own family, as well as the many family-run restaurants in Thailand that keep the country’s culinary traditions alive. ANGELA GARBES
Michael Ruhlman with Rebekah Denn
Now here's one of those books that sound almost laughably boring at first impression and then almost immediately reveal how fascinating their subject truly is. Ruhlman's Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America creates a sociological fresco of the country through the economy of food, from superstores to farmers markets. He'll discuss the book with James Beard Award winner for food writing Rebekah Denn.
Percy Allen and David Shields
Seattle Times sportswriter Percy Allen and argumentative author/intellectual David Shields will ask whether "illusions [are] better than nothing" in respect to other people, particularly in the context of sports. Shields and Allen may collaborate on a film adaptation of Shields' Black Planet, and Shields is already working on a movie about Marshawn Lynch, so this may be a significant discussion for their endeavors.
THURSDAY-FRIDAY
THEATER & DANCEreSET
Curated by Mark Haim, Babette Pendleton, Ali Mohamed el-Gasseir, and Alice Gosti, reSET is a sort of arts-share dance series put on by the Washington Ensemble Theatre. Choreographers perform new pieces using the set for whatever play the company happens to be producing at that time. They will reimagine the stage for Cherdonna's Doll's House to suit their artistic needs. RICH SMITH
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
THEATER & DANCEACME
ACME, a play about tech dystopia and belonging to a corporate machine, is perfect for the paranoid Seattleite. See what happens when an eager MIT dropout begins an internship at the famous and vaguely mysterious ACME Corporation ("manufacturer of all things necessary"). Written by Andrew Shanks and directed by Mary Hubert.
Chitrangada, 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.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
This troupe adapts ballet repertoire to a cast of professional male dancers who are as technically skilled as they are goofy. See delicate sylphs, fainting princesses, and sort of awkward fairies in ballet drag.
Ode
Nike Imoru's dance-theater work folds a moon landing, robot surgery, and other future-shock elements into a poetic "stage song."
Private Lives
The play's premise: Elyot (Kit Lascher) and Amanda (Isis Phoenix) were once in a toxic marriage. After their divorce, they each married normies: Sybil (Alysha Curry) and Victor (Jesse Calixto), respectively. On their honeymoon, Elyot and Amanda wind up booking neighboring hotel rooms. The two meet by chance on a moonlit balcony. High jinks ensue. Aside from enjoying the high-octane wit, the play ultimately offers a bleak, cynical take on the staying power of first loves. And Reboot Theatre's production of the play promised to, as they say in their mission statement, test "new interpretations of established works through nontraditional casting, design, and methods yet to be discovered." In this case, they "reimagined the male protagonist, Elyot, as a trans man" and cast Lascher, a genderqueer actor, to play him. But the show's main problem is the pacing in the second act is deadly slow, and the good performances only come from Phoenix and Calixto. RICH SMITH
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
FILMSeattle International Film Festival 2017
The 43rd annual Seattle International Film Festival is the largest film festival in the US, with more than 250 films (spread over 25 days) watched by around 150,000 people. It's impressively grand, and is one of the most exciting and widely-attended arts events Seattle has to offer. See the full schedule, buy tickets, watch trailers, and read Stranger reviews on our complete SIFF 2017 guide.
...And Starring Claire from Hollywood
Set in a little seaside town, Jim Moran's ...And Starring Claire from Hollywood presents a play-within-a-play premise about a D-List Hollywood star taking a role in a local production of Noël Coward's 1930 play Private Lives. In that play, a couple gets divorced, they each meet new partners, and they go on their honeymoons—only to discover they're staying at the same hotel. Presented by Macha Monkey Productions: "producers of fearless, funny, female theatre."
Cherdonna Shinatra: Clock That Construct
See queer feminist performance artist Cherdonna Sinatra (Jody Kuehner) dance to "confront and confuse the social and cultural tropes that constitute the feminine" in the galleries of the Henry. Her residency is part of her long-term project called one great, bright, brittle all togetherness.
Grand Concourse
Grand Concourse, written by Heidi Schreck and directed by Annie Lareau, is a play about the way the group dynamics in a Bronx soup kitchen change when a new hire arrives.
Lost Falls
This weekend, 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), Evan Mosher (trumpet, vocals, sound effects and more), Matt Manges (drums), Dave Pascal (bass), Ryan Higgins, Ayo Tushinde, Opal Peachey, Carol Thompson, Ronnie Hill, and Laura Dux.
Richard III
REBATEnsemble will stage Shakespeare's gory tale of a nihilistic pariah's merciless ambition—in 1930s Chinatown, Seattle. Richard seduces, tricks, and eventually murders his way to dominance as Prohibition, corruption, and culture clashes wreak pandemonium. Elizabeth Wu directs.
Rising Up: A Queer Social Justice Musical
Rising Up: A Queer Social Justice Musical is a rock opera by poet and performer Ebo Barton. When a trans woman of color moves into a queer co-op in the Central District, she and her housemates must cope with displacement but take solace in their tight community.
Tesseract
This will be a multidimensional, multimedia, queer space odyssey. In the first act, two former Merce Cunningham dancers (Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener) will do their modern-dance thing while a trippy 3-D animation that somehow moves along with the choreography plays in the background. In the second act, six dancers will run through some sharp, geometric choreography while Charles Atlas, the filmmaker who created the 3-D piece from before, projects live video of those dancers onto a giant screen. I predict a hold-on-to-your-butts spectacle of cosmic proportions. RICH SMITH
FRIDAY
ARTCelebrational Muppetational
Spend an entire evening celebrating Jim Henson's artistic imagination in the context of the magical, vaudevillian, and highly entertaining Muppets. The event lineup is packed, and includes live musical performances ("Rainbow Connection" included, obviously), appearances by a Muppet performer and a puppeteer, a costume parade, a dance party, a puppet-making workshop, a scavenger hunt, and screenings of Henson's TV and film work. This event is presented in conjunction with The Jim Henson Exhibition, which opens on Saturday.
Craft Talk: Ann Pancake
Former Stranger writer and Seattle Review of Books founder Paul Constant praised local author Ann Pancake's spare language and "Joycean lilt." Now, the superb West Virginia writer will deliver a talk, "Throb and Hum, A Story’s Song: Writing from Hearing Rather Than Thinking," about writing with "your ear and your body."
Kate Moore with Anne McTiernan: The Radium Girls
You can't just pick up Marie Curie's papers from the 1890s. They must be handled carefully, by people wearing protective clothing, and they're stored in lead-lined boxes because of their radioactivity. But in the early 1900s, people didn't realize how dangerous radium is, and workers in the radium-dial factories would cover their hair and faces in luminous, radioactive paint just for fun. This is the story of the "Radium Girls," factory workers who were known at first for their glamorous (and relatively high-paying) jobs, and later for the terrible infections and ailments that they suffered. Kate Moore (the director of the play These Shining Lives) is the author of a book about their lives, titled The Radium Girls: They Paid with Their Lives. Their Final Fight Was for Justice. She will discuss this new work with UW epidemiology research professor Anne McTiernan.
Seattle StorySLAM
A live amateur storytelling competition in which audience members who put their names in a hat are randomly chosen to tell stories on a theme. Local comedians tend to show up, but lots of nonperformers get in on the action as well. This week's theme is "Karma."
Tricked: A Mostly Male Burlesque Show
This series of drag, burlesque, and boylesque shows is not necessarily limited to men. The theme: those wily, alluring Tricksters, from Loki to Coyote to Bugs Bunny. With Bolt Action, Arson Nicki, Mercury Divine, Aaron Wheeler, Ewa Long, the Marquis Façade, and EmpeROAR Fabulous!!!
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
THEATER & DANCEThe Future Is 0
Expect extra-special guests in this weekend's editions of the DIY game show The Future Is 0: Rapper DoNormaal, Cold Cube Press founder Michael Heck, and La Luz guitarist Shauna Cleveland on Friday, and director SJ Chiro (Lane 1974, playing this year at SIFF), poet Shin Yu Pai, and freakin' Jeopardy! champion KEN JENNINGS on Saturday. The Future Is 0, filmed with a live studio audience right here in Seattle, is described as “equal parts Double Dare 2000, nihilist performance art, and sarcastic TV experiment.” In response to a question from the Stranger, founder Claire Buss affirmed that yes, the future truly is zero: "I think zero has a flexible meaning, though. Some days you wake up and read an article about our impending nuclear annihilation, and it's just so hard to get out of bed. The future: 0. But zero can also represent the unknown, the great possibility of not knowing what the hell you're doing or what lies ahead. There's a potency and a hunger in that."
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
ARTAmie Siegel: Interiors
Amie Siegel is mainly known as a filmmaker, but her work includes other elements (photography, performance, and installation) as well as a deliberately self-conscious, self-reflective philosophy that examines the nature of these media while, at the same time, taking full advantage of their form. For example, her 2013 work Provenance explores expensive and revered French modernist furniture—from its origins in Chandigarh, India, to its restoration, the way it's shipped, and the mounting prices depicted through scenes in auction houses. There will be an opening reception on Friday and a conversation with Siegel and curator Kathleen Forde on Saturday.
SATURDAY
COMEDYPaula Poundstone
Paula Poundstone is best known for her regular appearances on NPR's weekly quiz show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! for which she apparently holds the record for game losses—but that doesn't stop her from being one of the most beloved panelists on the show, thanks to her quick wit and endearing frankness. She's also a celebrated stand-up comedian, so come see her perform for one night at the Moore.
W. Kamau Bell
W. Kamau Bell is a political comedian known for his 2012 FX series Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, as well as CNN's new travel show The United Shades of America, and the two podcasts he co-hosts (Denzel Washington Is The Greatest Actor Of All Time Period with Kevin Avery and Politically Re-Active with the great Hari Kondabolu). Bell is truly funny and offers refreshingly honest (and well-informed) takes on race, politics, and society—in the age of Trump, his commentary is more necessary than ever.
Pop Up Art & Oysters
Chef and artist Robin Levanthal will serve some free Hump Island Alaskan oysters with Art of the Table Chef Dustin Ronspies's mignonette, alongside drinks to buy and oyster-based art for sale.
World Whisky Day at Canon
Sample six hitherto unreleased malt whiskies, debuting next month, from the UK-based Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Your whisky tastes will come from all around Scotland, "from Islay to Speyside," and range in age from nine to 21 years.
Apollo Opening Day
Get swept up in the political drama, scientific exhilaration, and cultural significance of the Space Race at this exhibit that will feature a number of fascinating and iconic artifacts: "an early Soviet space suit, a 1992 Russian Resurs 500 spacecraft, sections of NASA’s 1960s Houston Mission Control, a Boeing lunar rover, the first Apollo command module, and the only Viking Mars lander on Earth."
The Jim Henson Exhibition Opening Day
Paul Constant wrote the following about Jim Henson's craft: "To make the Muppets, first Jim Henson gilded puppetry with an unmistakable shimmer of stage magic: Any great Muppet sketch has a 'How'd-they-do-that?' element to it. You can't help but crane your neck to look in vain for the puppeteer hiding somewhere in the scenery or dedicate several minutes to wondering how Henson, say, got Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy to pedal around Central Park on bicycles without any human assistance. Second, Henson infused his felt-skinned creations with the manic timing of vaudeville, as perfected by early Warner Bros. cartoons. Every minute of a worthy Muppet endeavor manages to fire off three different jokes—one broad laugh for the kids, one sly nod to the adults while the kids are busy laughing, then a clever sight gag in the background to catch on repeated viewings." Celebrate Jim Henson's talent and dedication—in creating the Muppets, but also in his work on Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth—at this exhibit that will look behind the scenes to reveal puppets, sketches, storyboards, scripts, photographs, video clips, and costumes that exemplify Henson's creativity and imagination.
Marxathon 3: Capital on Capitol Hill
Leftist scholars will spend the day in Capitol Hill venues delivering lectures on Marxist topics like pre-capitalist modes of production, cooperation, and the working day.
Neoliberalism: Vampire or Zombie?
Shortly before an authoritarian protofascist ascended to the highest office of the United States, grad students and budding democratic socialists all over the country began decrying the horrid policies devised from neoliberal minds. But the idea that the free market can solve our social ills has been around much longer than the Clintons and other "establishment Dems" who perpetuated those policies. Let University of Southern Maine associate professor of philosophy Jason Read, University of Washington professor of English Eva Cherniavsky, University of California professor of film and media studies Catherine Liu, and Viewpoint coeditor Asad Haider tell you whether neoliberalism thrives on brains or blood, or whether it's a blood-sucking brain eater. RICH SMITH
Massive Monkees Day
Massive Monkees Day is a true Seattle institution that is both entertaining and drenched in positivity. The breakdancing holiday comes in the middle of a weekend packed with events and celebrations arranged by Seattle’s legendary B-boy/B-girl crew Massive Monkees. The focal point of the weekend is the Pro Breaking Tour–sanctioned battle royale, which this year has moved down to the larger Showbox Sodo. The world-class dancers (who will be traveling from all over North America, Asia, and Europe to compete) and the DJs who accompany them create an impressive musical/athletic spectacle, and the familial vibe that has helped to keep the breaking community intact runs strong throughout. TODD HAMM
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
ARTDenzil Hurley: Disclosures Opening Weekend
UW professor Denzil Hurley creates paintings that are almost sculptural—and perfect for a period in which committed citizens are taking to the streets with signs every other weekend. His monochrome canvases mounted on sticks and poles will challenge the way you think about communication, and how it relates to both artistic expression and the way we interact with the world at large. Look forward to a thoughtful take on signage and meaning conveyed through dark, layered blocks of color.
Xperience! Music & Technology Festival
King County Library System will be hosting its first-ever music fest this spring, namely the Xperience! Music Festival, a free and all-ages weekend that promises to feature local stand-out artists like SassyBlack, Wild Powwers, Nordra, and many more. In addition to live music, the festival, in an honest effort to foster creativity across barriers, will host tutorials for sound recording software and digital instruments, musical instrument building, stop animation workshops, ukulele lessons, and speaker panels of notables from our local music and art industries.
SUNDAY
FOOD & DRINKChef Dinner Series Vol. XXXI | Kim O'Donnel
#MeatlessMonday is officially a thing, as proven by thousands upon thousands of Instagram posts featuring balsamic glazed carrots or artfully arranged romanesco. However, hashtags are not born out of thin air; they are created and promoted by “influencers.” The first person to promote the concept of Meatless Mondays was food blogger, food journalist, and all around food thinker Kim O’Donnel. You might expect her to be an obnoxiously preachy vegetarian activist, but she's actually the author of The Meat Lover’s Meatless Celebrations. She's not forcing veggies down your throat so much as pointing out that they are really good for you and delicious. This week, she's putting on a dinner at Pioneer Square’s E. Smith Mercantile focused on the vegetarian bounty of the Pacific Northwest, and it’s only $55, which includes a cocktail to get you started. E. Smith is great, we should all strive to eat more veggies, and this is a great way to eat great veggies (like fiddleheads!) at a great price. There's also an optional cocktail pairing menu, which—it being E. Smith—really isn't optional. TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE
Match Game: Cher Wars
The magic of Match Game, you see, is the appalling inebriation of the participants and the gaudy drenching of 1970s nostalgia. And so it is entirely appropriate that this annual Match Game party is being held in the boozy environs of a bar and features drag-queen tributes to Cher and Star Wars. Come see local faves Honey Bucket, Mona Real, and Gams Galore jostling to portray their best Cher, and Jake Stratton, Miss Elaine-Yes, and Jamie Von Stratton evoking Star Wars-ian ephemera as they all scramble to answer trivia questions in a boozy fog. Yes, there is a door prize for the audience member in the best Cher/Star Wars costume. And yes, your attendance at the event means that you'll be missing Cher performing at the Billboard Music Awards. Totally worth it. MATT BAUME
Philanthropy Against Teachers
Prominent local Jesse Hagopian (Garfield High School teacher and education activist), professor of film and media at UC Irvine Catherine Liu, and author Wayne Au will expound upon what they see as the pernicious influence of philanthropists on education: "Whether they’re attacking teacher unions, peddling high-stakes testing, funding ballot initiatives for Charter schools, pushing to allow state-funded campus research to seed tech start-ups, or donating professorships in Ayn Rand Studies to cash-strapped universities, there’s one thing rich American philanthropists agree on: education should be run like a business."
Socialism and Feminism In (and Out of) the Workplace
Three women panelists will discuss the workplace as a setting for gender performativity in a discussion that questions how to integrate intersectionality with Marxism. Stay on afterwards for a reception.
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.
Music of Remembrance: Ceija
Music of Remembrance hosts regular concerts that pay tribute to those touched by the tragedies of the Holocaust. In this world premiere of a multimedia work by up and coming young composer Mary Kouyoumdjian, the narrative's protagonist, Roma artist Ceija Stojka, will bear testimony to what she witnessed as a prisoner in three concentration camps through her paintings and writings, with music by Osvaldo Golijov and choreography from Olivier Wevers of Whim W’Him Seattle Contemporary Dance.
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