Rustle up your swankiest cocktail dress and shine your shoes—the biggest, funnest, most art-drenched party of the year is here. Tonight we narrow our field of 15 Genius nominees down to the year’s five winners, who’ll be announced live, feted onstage, and sent off with $5,000 each. Also on the bill are performances from the Seattle Rock Orchestra and four of the night’s Genius finalists: Erik Blood, Industrial Revelation, Hollow Earth Radio, and Jinkx Monsoon. And oh, yeah: It’s free. (Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave, strangertickets.com, 8:30 pm, free but RSVP required, all ages)

David Schmader—former weed columnist and Stranger associate editor—is the author of the solo plays Straight and Letter to Axl, which he’s performed in Seattle and across the US. His latest...