It’s time to look at what our critics have selected as the best events happening this week. We’ve compiled them all below, ranging from Dina Martina’s Fine Avec Me and Bob the Drag Queen’s Legally Black to the 7th annual Plate of Nations and a pulutan pop-up featuring a Food Network Chopped champion, and from Legendary Children at the Seattle Art Museum to a reading featuring Alice Notley.
MONDAY
READINGS & TALKS
Hannah Tinti: The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
Hannah Tinti (editor of One Story magazine and author of novel The Good Thief and short story collection Animal Crackers) will read from her new literary thriller, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley.
ISB Panel: The Future of Health
This panel discussion is presented by Seattle’s Institute for Systems Biology as part of their “Future of Health” symposium, and will focus on scientific advances (especially those influenced by systems biology) that relate to human health. Panelists include KUOW’s Ross Reynolds, ISB President and Co-Founder Dr. Leroy Hood, Dr. Steven Kern from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Dr. Mike Snyder from Stanford’s Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine.
MONDAY-TUESDAY
READINGS & TALKS
National Geographic Live: The Mystery of Our Human Story
Paleoanthropologist Lee Berger is known for a number of discoveries and excavations (including Australopithecus sediba, effectively a transition between australopithecines and Homo habilis, and Homo naledi, which could potentially be a previously unknown Homo species) but he’s also known for his “celebrity anthropologist” status. He’s a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and a regular lecturer at a variety of venues, and he has used his scientific fame to push for open-access frameworks (upholding the standard himself, making many of his projects publicly available and encouraging collaboration).
MONDAY-SUNDAY
FOOD & DRINK
7th Annual Plate of Nations
Plate of Nations is the multicultural answer to Restaurant Week, which also happens to be happening this week. No disrespect to Restaurant Week, which remains both a wonderful way for regular folks to do some fine dining and a colossal pain in the ass for waitstaff. But while Restaurant Week isn’t exactly the epitome of whiteness, it’s predominantly French, Italian, and American fare. Plate of Nations, on the other hand, is more than predominantly not. For $15 or $25, you can sample many of Martin Luther King Jr. Way’s culinary delights, from Cafe Ibex’s delightful Ethiopian fare to Olympic Express’s halal Asian food (yes, you read that right: halal Asian food). Their list of participating restaurants is certainly much smaller than Restaurant Week’s, but it’s pretty jam-packed with all the places you maybe heard about from a friend once and said you’d check out and never did but really should. Now’s your chance. TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE
Seattle Restaurant Week
Seattle Restaurant Week is a twice-yearly event that is actually two half-weeks (Sunday through Thursday) during which 165-plus restaurants around Seattle—and Bellevue, Kirkland, Edmonds, Woodinville, Issaquah, Redmond, Tukwila, and Snoqualmie—offer set-menu, three-course dinners for $32. Many restaurants also offer three-course lunches for $18. How much do you save? It depends entirely on the restaurant, but Restaurant Week is a great chance to try restaurants that might normally be outside of your price range.
TUESDAY
FILM
1984
This movie adaptation of George Orwell’s iconic dystopian novel was (appropriately!) made in 1984 and is best known for containing Richard Burton’s last screen appearance and for featuring a controversial score created by rock/pop duo Eurythmics. The film’s reception was a bit lukewarm, but it is the best screen adaptation of the novel that currently exists. On April 4th, movie theaters around the country will screen the film to draw attention to our current, too-real dystopia. A portion of the proceeds will go towards local organizations that are working to fight Trump’s agenda (for example, SIFF will donate to the ACLU of Washington).
Championing Youth: The Amara Film Series
Amara (a nonprofit that offers support to foster children and their parents) will host this poignant and thought-provoking film series that will highlight a number of real stories from our city and state; every screening will be followed by a discussion. This week, they’ll show The Day I Age Out, a three-part KCTS series that follows the lives of two young people in Washington State facing the end of their time in foster care, and speakers will include Joe and Corey (featured in the film), Bryan Tucker (Filmmaker/Producer), Jennifer Strus (the Assistant Secretary of Children’s Administration at Washington’s DSHS), and speakers from A Way Home Washington, Accelerator YMCA, Treehouse, and College Success Foundation.
The Films of Douglas Sirk
The master of simmering melodrama and “women’s pictures,” Douglas Sirk (born Detlef Sierck in Germany) brought out the colorful beauty and underlying strife of small-town and big-city America in the 1950s. In films like Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955), Written on the Wind (1956), and Imitation of Life (1959)—a different one of which will show at SIFF every Tuesday in April, in consecutive order—Sirk elicited moving, atypical performances from the biggest Hollywood stars and subtly condemned racial and classist hypocrisy. His films are occasionally cheesy, yet still influential today, and have been admired by such diverse filmmakers as Jean-Luc Godard, Todd Haynes, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pedro Almodóvar, Wong Kar-wai, and others.
READINGS & TALKS
Faith Erin Hicks and G. Willow Wilson
You know Stranger Genius Nominee in Literature and journalist G. Willow Wilson for cocreating and writing Ms. Marvel, the first Muslim character that stars in her own comic series, and probably also for her memoir, The Butterfly Mosque, which chronicles Wilson’s conversion to Islam. She joins Eisner Award-winning comic Faith Erin Hicks, who’s coming in from Vancouver with The Stone Heart, the second installment of The Nameless City trilogy that’s drawn comparisons to Avatar: The Last Airbender. The books are set in ancient China and center on two friends who are trying to stay friends, despite the fact that they were born to warring political factions. I’ll let you work out all the relevant political themes swirling around this reading. RICH SMITH
Jenny Johnson and JM Miller
Two award-winning poets—Jenny Johnson, author of In Full Velvet, and JM Miller (who describes themselves as a “healer, poet, essayist, instructor, & trans-identified person”)—will read at the lovely Open Books. Great way to kick off April’s National Poetry Month!
TUESDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCE
The Fog Machine Play
Alternate title: “Experientia de Apparatus Producens Nebula.” (Actually, the same title, in a fancier language.) Copious Love Productions apparently felt really bad for their fog machine, purchased in 2013 and never given a starring role. So now, they’re putting on 18 short plays by Brendan Mack in which their dear, neglected machine will be an essential player. Take part in a fringe theater experiment that they promise will be “unfogettable” (sadly, we can’t take credit for that pun).
There will be no performance on Wednesday.
WEDNESDAY
FILM
Strike a Pose: First Wednesday Queer Film Series
Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan’s affecting documentary, Strike a Pose, revolves around six dancers—Carlton Wilborn, Oliver Crumes, Salim Gauwloos, Kevin Alexander Stea, Jose Gutierez, and Luis Camacho—from Madonna’s 1990 Blond Ambition tour (the seventh, Gabriel Trupin, succumbed to complications from AIDS). The dancers still receive letters from young gay men who took inspiration from their openness, but the years afterward have not been easy. If the first half of the film plays like a celebration, the second half touches on addiction, homelessness, lawsuits, and HIV, but these men are still standing—and dancing. It’s hard not to come away with mixed feelings about Madonna, who freely outed associates, but the impact of the tour on music, fashion, and LGBT acceptance is undeniable. KATHY FENNESSY
READINGS & TALKS
Alice Notley
Alice Notley is a legendary second-generation so-called New York School poet who writes conversational and yet intensely lyric poems that will last forever, such as this one: “All my life, / since I was ten, / I’ve been waiting / to be in / this hell here / with you; / all I’ve ever / wanted, and / still do.” She’s best known for At Night the States, a meditation on grief following the death of her husband, the great poet Ted Berrigan. No one knows how to talk about that book adequately because after you read it, you feel like you don’t have a mouth. RICH SMITH
Civic Cocktail: Regional Growth
This month’s edition of Civic Cocktail—a Seattle Channel production featuring pressing local issues over drinks and Tom Douglas appetizers, hosted by journalist Joni Balter—will tackle our city’s rapid growth, the future of the Affordable Care Act, and the way Seattle’s sanctuary city status (and other progressive ventures) can fight back against Trump. Special guests include John Schoettler (Amazon’s Director of Global Real Estate and Facilities), Mike Kreidler (Washington Insurance Commissioner), Leonard Sorrin (Premera Blue Cross VP of Congressional and Legislative Affairs), Brandi Kruse (Q13 FOX News), Enrique Cerna (KCTS 9), Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, and (wow!) New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Mike Monteiro: How To Fight Fascism
In 2011, Mule Design Studio created UnSuck It, a website that translates embarrassing and trendy business jargon into real words. Now, instead of fighting terms like “incentivize” and “change agent,” Mule’s design director Mike Monteiro is taking on fascism. Hear him talk
National Women’s and Girls’ HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
This conversation about HIV/AIDS will focus on the experiences of women of color, in honor of National Women’s and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (which was on March 10). Featured speakers include Leah Dodge (Seattle Indian Health Board), Julene Tripp Weaver (local author and poet who recently got baked and thoughtful with David Schmader), Dr. Michele Andrasik (HIV Vaccine Trials Network), and Jade Dynasty (local artist).
Silent Reading Party
Invented by our own Christopher Frizzelle, the reading party is every first Wednesday of the month at 6 p.m. That’s when the Fireside Room at the Sorrento Hotel goes quiet and fills with people with books tucked under their arms. (And, occasionally, a Kindle or two.) By 7 p.m., you often can’t get a seat. And there’s always free music from 6 to 8 p.m. Lately the resident musician is pianist Paul Matthew Moore. He’s amazing.
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCE
Dry Powder
Charles Isherwood’s review of Dry Powder for the New York Times begins, “Calling all Bernie Sanders fans,” so this was an appropriate choice by the Rep for Seattle audiences. Dry Powder, written by first-time playwright Sarah Burgess, skewers the world of high finance with humor and gusto. Directed by Marya Sea Kaminski.
Moisture Festival
The Moisture Festival unites a vast kaleidoscope of burlesque and variété performers at Hale’s Palladium and Broadway Performance Hall. Whomever you fancy—clowns, comedians, tightwire artists, aerialists, jugglers, singers—you can find someone who’s traveled from regions as far flung as Basque France or Wallingford to perform for you. The festival promises a variety of special performances and workshops, as well as performances of shows including their Varietè spectacular (with matinee as well as late-night editions) and the Libertease Cabaret.
Yellow Fish // Epic Durational Performance Festival
Witness art as an expression of endurance—and no, we’re not talking about sitting through The Hateful Eight or something. Yellow Fish sends performers to various parts of the city to say “fuck you!” to exhaustion, boredom, irritation, pain, and the grinding passage of time in pieces that last from one to 48 hours. Think Marina Abramović fasting and remaining mute for 12 days in front of an audience, or EJ Hill lying in wooden roller coaster for three months. While Yellow Fish’s artists won’t be holding poses for quite so long, they’ll still mount a challenge to the idea that performance art should be brief and digestible. If you’re curious about the idea, check out their workshop on Sunday.
THURSDAY
ART
First Thursday Art Walk
During the city’s oldest art walk, look forward to gallery openings, free booze, and the opportunity to mingle with other artsy folks in Pioneer Square. In April, don’t miss the opening receptions for All American at Davidson Galleries, Ayana V. Jackson’s Dear Sara at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Daniel Carrillo’s Studio Visit and Joe Rudko’s Basic Techniques of Photography at Greg Kucera Gallery, and Distant Light at METHOD.
FILM
Family Circle: The Films of Yasujiro Ozu
“The films in SAM’s tribute to one of the three masters of Japan’s Golden Age of film, Yasujiro Ozu, are all beautiful and have at their core the quiet spirit of their times and places—mid-century, post-war Japan,” wrote Charles Mudede. This week, watch Early Summer, a 1951 film about a 28-year-old single woman in postwar Tokyo whose family is concerned about her marriage prospects.
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, chef Breanna Beike of the Seattle Yacht Club will cook a menu including garlic and golden potato bisque, thyme-roasted lamb loin, and brown butter almond cake.
PERFORMANCE
Bob the Drag Queen in Legally Black
Don’t even THINK of missing the hilarious SHE-nanigans of this live stage show parody of the film Legally Blonde. San Francisco’s Peaches Christ has once again worked her demented magic on the original film, this time with the help of Bob the Drag Queen, and they’re taking their show on the road. The cast is chock full of local magic, including the fabulous Sparkle Leigh, Isabella Extynn, Abbey Roads and many more—it’s a dream cast with pitch-perfect chemistry, and we can thank our lucky stars that such giddy delights are available to us. Suitable for 16 years old and up. MATT BAUME
READINGS & TALKS
Migration Stories
In this series, local stars and community members will share stories of “immigration, migration, displacement, and community” and speak about their perspective on Jacob Lawrence’s 60-panel masterpiece The Migration Series.
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 “fresh,” so expect stories about new things—from haircuts to spouses to noses.
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCE
26 Miles
26 Miles is written by playwright and composer Quiara Aolegria Hudes, who wrote the book for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In the Heights and won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Water by the Spoonful. The plot centers on an estranged mother and daughter who take an impromptu road trip to Yellowstone, and deals with themes of Cuban-American identity, broken families, and the American landscape. Directed by Julie Beckman.
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCE
Grounded
There are plenty of plays about unexpected pregnancy—but this one, by George Brant (Elephant’s Graveyard) shows the unique consequences for a star fighter pilot. She can no longer take to the sky, so now she sits in a trailer and operates drones. Timely and inquisitive, Grounded is an empathetic play (with slightly less political punch than you might expect). This production will be directed by Kelly Kitchens.
FRIDAY
FILM
Surround Sound Laydown
Surround Sound Laydown is a live show and immersive experience that incorporates music by Terror Pigeon with accompanying projected visuals. This iteration will include a film screening by Linda Fenstermaker and a poetry reading by Lauren Moore, and you’re encouraged to BYOBlankets, sleeping bags, pillows, or whatever fits your comfort needs.
READINGS & TALKS
Hugo Literary Series: Anis Mojgani, Kaitlyn Greenidge & Rick Barot
This edition of Lit Series will feature prolific author, National Book Award nominee, and slam poet Anis Mojgani, novelist Kaitlyn Greenidge (whose debut We Love You, Charlie Freeman is about a family who lives with a chimpanzee for a scientific experiment—but is also a powerful, history-driven take on racism), and Tacoma-based poet and former Stegner fellow Rick Barot. In addition to the very promising readings, look forward to music by local electro-pop beauty Maiah Manser.
Invisible Men: Black and Brown Males in the Academy
By “invisible men,” associate professor Joe Lott is referring to the fact that black and brown men are more likely to feel lost and isolated in college or university. In this lecture, he’ll talk about how to boost low enrollment rates and help these students get more out of education by fostering communities of color on campus. This might include projects like the UW Brotherhood Initiative, a collaboration of various academic bodies striving to help “undergraduate males of color to thrive on campus and graduate prepared for a lifetime of leadership, service and success.”
Youth Speaks Seattle: 2017 Grand Slam
This edition of Youth Speaks’ Grand Slam, where 10 young poets will compete to move on to the International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in San Francisco, will be hosted by mayoral candidate and attorney Nikkita Oliver (known for her anti-racist activism and spoken word performances). Featuring a musical performance by Otieno Terry.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCE
Dina Martina: Fine Avec Me
Seattle’s most gifted malapropist presents delightfully deranged solutions for dealing with Trump, the environment, and other timely topics. This new show gives you more of the Dina Martina that the cool kids already know and love: She falls all over her Freudian slips, she orders hot Sprite at dinner, and she shows off back hair and camel toe in a mini dress. She talks about “fragrances” she’s producing and sings like a gay crow. And she tells long, meandering stories full of callbacks that are so perfectly timed, you can’t tell if she’s ad-libbing or if they’re delivered in every show. The performance includes brand-new, hilarious video pieces starring Dina and her friend Doreen, a person with a female penis who wears a latex people suit. If you don’t want to see any of that, good luck with your sad life. RICH SMITH
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCE
Here Lies Love
David Byrne’s critically adored disco musical about the life and times of Imelda Marcos, disco-obsessed wife to Ferdinand Marcos. She danced by his side (and by Richard Nixon’s—look it up on YouTube) while his dictatorial ass terrorized the country. 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
Seattle International Butoh Festival
Join DAIPANbutoh Collective to welcome resident Chilean butoh dance company Ruta de la Memoria for performances and workshops, along with work and teaching by Ken Mai, a Japanese artist living in Helsinki. Butoh, for those who don’t know, is a type of modernist Japanese dance theater inspired by Yukio Mishima and other literary taboo-breakers, that frequently explores the grotesque, the fluid, and the subversive. In this festival DAIPANbutoh will encourage participants to explore the feminine, the “body as politics,” and stories of acceptance.
Shen Yun
Already banned in China, Shen Yun is an absolute celebration of an entire region’s magic, splendor, and creative possibility. The production aims to bring China’s ancient wonders to life on stage with dance and music.
SATURDAY
ART
Georgetown Art Attack
Once a month, the art that resides in the tiny airport hamlet of Georgetown ATTACKS all passersby. In more literal terms, it’s the day of art openings and street wonderment. In April, don’t miss The Sugar Project and Nested Transmuter Cycle.
Ken Allan: The Pig Went Down to the Harbor at Sunrise and Wept
Learn more about Jim Woodring’s The Pig Went Down to the Harbor at Sunrise and Wept (a series of large ink drawings created using a comically oversized fountain pen that Woodring made himself) from Ken Allan, Seattle University Associate Professor of Art History.
Legendary Children
Experience the power of QTPOC voices in art at Legendary Children, an event presented in celebration of “the beautiful, the transgressive, and the unique.” Expect performances, DJ sets, and art by some of Seattle’s most talented queer artists—and enjoy free admission to Jacob Lawrence’s stunning 60-panel masterpiece, The Migration Series.
FOOD & DRINK
Eat With Love: Pulutan!
Eat with Love (created by DJ Illogicallogic, activist Donna Denina of Gabriela Seattle, and Kryse Martin-McGill of Nate’s Wings & Waffles, Central District Ice Cream, and Melt206) will host this celebration of Filipino cuisine featuring a menu created by Pinay chef Charleen (who you might recognize from her win on the Food Network’s Chopped). DJ Illogicalogic will perform while you nosh. Proceeds will go towards Gabriela Seattle: “a grassroots progressive Filipino women’s organization fighting for the national liberation of the Philippines.”
QUEER
Cabaret Gloria – Bowie!
Once upon a time, the Cabaret Gloria variety show was a component of the beloved Gay Uncle Time, and later of West Side Glory. Now, it’s being resurrected in its standalone drag/burlesque/gogo splendor. The first night will be a tribute to everyone’s favorite queerpop alien, David Bowie—who else could it be, really? Check out acts by Mercury Divine, Ian Schuelke, Mizz Honey Bucket, Maggie Bloodstone, some GoGo Bears, and plenty of others.
Rapture
“Oh sure, you’ve been to more than your share of drag shows with lip-synching and wigs and princess gloves. But where are the fringed monsters, the viscous fluids, and the couture that you initially mistake for a pile of abandoned construction equipment? Kick-start your weird Saturday with Rapture, hosted by unidentified frocking object Arson Nicki. Expect to see the avantest of the avant-garde creatures, peculiar performances, and a runway that may double as a portal to the Negaverse. You will be unable to forget any of what you see—or to make anyone believe that it happened,” says Matt Baume. Plus, stop by Cucci’s Critter Barn first and get a discount on your ticket.
SUNDAY
FOOD & DRINK
Food Truck Round-Up #13
You don’t need to go roaming the city in search of the best food trucks: Many of them will be smack dab in the middle of Fremont Sunday market this week. Try your pick of poke, tandoori, grits, doughnuts, coffee, tamales, seafood chowder, and more from about 30 different trucks.
READINGS & TALKS
Julene Tripp Weaver: Truth Be Bold—Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS
Celebrate the release of poet Julene Tripp Weaver’s new collection, truth be bold—Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS, and hear poets, writers, and educators (John Burgess, Julie Cabell, Paul Feldman, Paul Getzel, Kayt Hoch, Bruce Maeder, Pat Miglorie, and Tony Radovich) read Weaver’s work aloud. Weaver was also the subject of a recent “High Society” column in The Stranger, an interview for which she and writer David Schmader were both stoned.
