The recent review of An Enemy of the People by Seattle Times theater critic Misha Berson proved this: The century that made the world she now lives in is also the century she knows nothing about. But the great social transformations of that century informed Ibsen’s imagination and so they must inform any direction of his plays. Strawberry Theatre Workshop‘s adaptation has this understanding as its ground. Go and see for yourself. It’s really good. (Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030. 7:30 pm, $20.)

Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory...