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 genreâfrom the closing of Andrew Wyeth: In Retrospect to the Nordic Lights Film Festival, and from Washington Ensemble Theatre's Straight White Men to Robert Burns Nights. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.
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MONDAY
READINGS & TALKSSasha Senderovich
Hear from Sasha Senderovich, translator of the 1929 Yiddish-language novel Judgment by David Bergelson. This is the first time Bergelson's book, set in a Jewish shtetl during the Russian Revolution, has been rendered into English. Gary Shteyngart called it "A brilliant, nightmarish look at a world without boundaries set alight by madmen." Bergelson, author of The End of Everything and Descent, was murdered by Stalin in 1952.
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY
 ARTAmanda Manitach: Dirty
From afar, Stranger Genius Award nominee Amanda Manitach's block prints look like inner thoughts (or perturbing greeting cards) punched into colorful stains. Get closer, and you'll realize that these stains are elaborate patterns that may evoke Victorian wallpaper. Manitach's artistic process is demonstratively physical: She rubs patterns into splashes of color, getting herself "dirty" in the process. She says: "I see my work as a task of both consciously and subliminally sorting out the experience of a female trying to make expressive marksâa task that has found uncanny resonance for me with the history of female hysteria." Like her sexualized, meme-y T Shirt Girls series or Nothing Left to Say, which took material from Frances Farmer's autobiography, Dirty interrogates popular and private verbal expressions of femininity.
Closing Wednesday
Dirk Staschke: Perfection of Happenstance
Dirk Staschke's take on the Dutch "Vanitas" paintings, reminders of death painted by 16th- and 17th-century artists, uses ceramic and wood sculpture to explore images of decay.
Closing Wednesday
MONDAY-THURSDAY
 READINGS & TALKSDavid Sedaris "Workshop" Readings
The witty, self-deprecating, hilariously judgmental David Sedaris will return to Seattle to workshop his new manuscript, Calypso. His work will probably be polished and beautifully performed, with perfect timing and absurdly funny material. Feel lucky that he chose our town for the second year in a row, and help him out by being a responsive, honest audience.
MONDAY-SATURDAY
 ARTChristopher David White: Against the Grain
Christopher David White's meticulous clay sculptures explore textures of wood, metal, and fleshâoften in unexpected ways, such as human hearts and torsos apparently carved from trees.
Closing Saturday
MONDAY-SUNDAY
ARTJun Ahn: On the Verge
There is nothing really original about Jun Ahnâs self-portraits. They are easily understandable. A slim-looking woman, usually in a purple or blue dress, sits or stands on the edge of a skyscraper in a massive city of skyscrapers (New York City, Hong Kong, Seoul). Yet, they are still amazing. Why? Because they capture the same sublime we find in Caspar David Friedrichâs 1818 painting Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. But Jun Ahnâs is the urban sublime. And this sublime is far more strange than the one that impressed the romantics of the 18th and 19th centuries. This sublime is not the radical other. It is radically us. Jun Ahnâs self-portraits are portraits of the human condition in the 21st century. CHARLES MUDEDE
Opening Monday
No viewing on Friday
Shellfish Showcase
Shellfish Showcase is the seafood counterpart to Restaurant Week, organized by Dine Around Seattle. The organization has rounded up a host of restaurants to devise exclusive menus with four items highlighting fresh local shellfish, at least two of them entrĂ©es. Some notable participants include underground Pike Place trattoria Il Bistro, cozy Belltown wood-fired kitchen Orfeo, Fremont sushi bar Chiso, Sodo Korean steak house Girin Ssam Bar, Wallingford Japanese yakitori joint Yoroshiku, and Frankâs Oyster House in Ravenna, just to name a few. Itâs a great opportunity to slurp some briny bivalves and scope out some hidden gems you wouldnât otherwise try.
Specials don't apply on Friday and Saturday
TUESDAY
ARTIntervention: Tension as Creative Material
Thea Q. Tagle will moderate a discussion with contemporary artist Indira Allegra and UW faculty member/artist Anida Yoeu Ali.
Lunch Club: Food Lover's Cleanse
Add some New Year's resolution-friendly recipes to your arsenal with this lunch break cooking class. Chef Eric Stover will demonstrate how to make a few dishes from Bon Appetit food writer Sarah Dickerman's The Food Lover's Cleanse, which are health-conscious without sacrificing deliciousness. For your health!
Daniel Ellsberg with Daniel Bessner
Daniel Ellsberg is best known as the defense department analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, thus exposing the depth and duration of our governmentâs duplicity and culpability in all matters related to the Vietnam War. In facing massive criminal charges (espionage, treason, theft) for having released the highly classified study, he also enacted the now unimaginable scenario of a Republican performing an unselfish act for the good of the country. His new book, The Doomsday Machine, is full of similarly damningâand way more terrifyingâinformation about Americaâs secret playbook for nuclear war. SEAN NELSON
Return: At The Inkwell Seattle
The At the Inkwell reading series welcomes three authors, Anca L. SzilĂĄgyi (the excellent, just-published Daughters of the Air), Laura W. Allen (the chapbook "The Quiet Year"), and Gold Solas-award winner Kathy Harding, to present works on returning to places of our past and present. Bring your own pieces on the theme to share at the open mic afterwards.
Simeon Marsalis
Simeon Marsalis's novel As Lie Is to Grinâshortlisted for the 2017 Center for Fiction First Novel Prizeâcenters on a young black student from Long Island enrolled in the mostly white University of Vermont, where a mysterious figure connects him to his white-passing grandmother, who attended UVM while hiding her true identity.
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEThe Book of Mormon
As human civilization rapidly approaches the end times, some of us need entertainment that skewers religion just to keep from going crazy. One deceptive, brilliant thing about The Book of Mormon is that the show unexpectedly ends up being okay with religion in the endâso long as youâre using your religious beliefs to make the world better. Plus, there are unbelievably funny tap numbers (âTurn It Offâ), parodies of pop-culture juggernauts like Star Wars and The Lion King, and lines like âI canât believe Jesus just called me a dick!â CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
WEDNESDAY
FILMAvengers, Wonder Wom[e]n, and Predators: Sharing Experiences and Strategies for Women Working in the Film Industry
Now that the #MeToo movement has rendered the sexism and harassment rife in Hollywood undeniable, what are womenâin all departments of the film industry, not only actorsâto do? Learn about where we go from here with TV journalist, director, and producer Sirin Aysan, Reel Grrls exec Nancy Chang, producers Anne Rosellini (Winter's Bone) and Jennifer Roth (The Wrestler, Black Swan, Mudbound), and Northwest Film Forum's Courtney Sheehan.
Backdoor Spirits Sessions: Rum 101
At this remedial class, seasoned spirits specialist and mixologist Matt Harvey from Youngâs Market will teach you everything you need to know about rumâwhat it is, the history behind it, how itâs made, distinctions between different types of rum, and how different regions affect the flavor profile. Youâll get to taste appetizers as well as six different rumsâall for the sake of education, of course.
Achy Obejas, Robert Arellano, Nelson George
Three authors from Brooklyn's Akashic Books, which strives for "Reverse-Gentrification of the Literary World," to quote their motto, will present their works. See Achy Obejas (the author of The Tower of the Antilles and editor of Havana Noir), Robert Arellano (who wrote Curse the Names, Fast Eddie, and King of the Bees), and mystery novelist Nelson George.
Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Khalil Gibran Muhammad, a professor of history, race, and public policy at Harvard, will speak on "How Racial Criminalization Underwrote Americaâs New Deal" as part of a year-long series on Capitalism and Comparative Racialization.
The Science of 'Breaking Bad'
Arguably, one of the reasons Breaking Bad became a howling success was the way its villain-hero transformed a high school science teacher's expertise into a badass superpower. Professor Donna J. Nelson, the show's science adviser and the 2016 President of the American Chemical Society, will speak about her contributions to the hit show. We think that means she is the danger.
WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY
FOOD & DRINKRobert Burns Night
Sing along to drinking ditties honoring the Scottish bard and down a few drams of "Scotch Wha Hae," a Scotch ale from Naked City Brewing Company.
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
ARTGala Bent and Justin Gibbens
Gala Bent's paintings and objects combine organic shapes, cell-like structures, geometric planes, and gradients of earth colors. The Michigan-born artist's new show, Particle Playlist, should continue her dual fascination with biological sculptural detail and abstract geometry. Alongside her show, Justin Gibbens's Sea Change depicts figural, macroscopic fauna: His whales and dolphins seem realistic at first glance, but human iconography, symbol, and expression intrude upon their bodies. A sperm whale sports a cartoon of an angry fanged face on its snout; an orca flops on its back as if it's playing dead. Both float in a white, contextless void like illustrations in a science textbook. Gibbens, with sad wit, reveals marine mammals as we humans are transforming them.
Artist talk on Saturday
Crime + Punishment: A Psychological Account of a Certain Crime
The Akropolis Performance Lab will bring theatrical muscle and live a cappella music to Dostoyevsky's intense 19th-century moral parable about a dropout student who decides that he has the right to commit murder if it benefits humanity at large.
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
ARTAndrew Wyeth: In Retrospect
Born in Pennsylvania 100 years ago, Andrew Wyeth is an American realist painter associated with regionalism. His paintings and drawings generally include figuresâsometimes in a landscape, sometimes in contemplatively lit interiorsâthat simultaneously present drama and stillness. In the 1970s and â80s, he painted more than 247 studies of a German-born woman named Helga Testorf, resulting in some of the most intimate and compelling examples of 20th-century portraiture. Organized in partnership with the Brandywine River Museum, Andrew Wyeth: In Retrospect presents more than 100 works by this quintessential American artist. EMILY POTHAST
Closing January 15
Wonderland
Wonderland returns! Can Can will transform its venue into a snowy chalet and populate it with teasing beauties. VIP tickets get you champagne and a meal as well. There's also a brunch show that's safe for kids.
THURSDAY
ARTCapitol Hill Art Walk
Every second Thursday, rain or shine (or wintry mix), the streets of Capitol Hill are filled with tipsy art lovers checking out galleries and special events. In January, don't miss the Ghost Gallery Celebratory Group Show, A Conversation with Indira Allegra and Rezina Habtemariam, and Redhook Brewlab's My Oh My Release Party.
The Seattle Times Presents 2017 Pictures of the Year
This retrospective offers a look at the "photographs that made headlines" in the Northwest in 2017. Seattle Times staff will present a slideshow, answer questions, and raffle off a free print to an audience member.
Solomon Georgio
Once a star on Seattleâs comedy circuit, Solomon Georgio moved to Los Angeles, as most aspiring comics must do to go supernova (itâs on page 3 of the manual), and the proud gay immigrant from Ethiopia has become a favorite of Conan OâBrien and other humor connoisseurs. Spinning countless threads of hilarity out of his unusual identity and circumstances, Georgio converts what couldâve been tiresome narcissism into reservoirs of deep laughter. For this show, heâll be riding the irreverent high of his outstanding new album, Homonegro Superior. (Sample line: âDonald Trump looks like lactose intolerance turned into a person.â) DAVE SEGAL
Puget Soundtrack: Postcard from the Badlands presents Moon
For obvious reasons, the live-music experiments of Puget Soundtrack work best when the movie has very little dialogue. Duncan Jonesâs sci-fi masterpiece Moon is such a film. You can turn off the movieâs sound and watch in silence the strange moon-work of its one character, as he moves up and down the surface of the moon in a rover, or chills in the moonbase. Tonight, this silence will be filled by the ghostly music of the local band Postcard from the Badlands. The success of a Puget Soundtrack is entirely determined by the skill with which the musicians capture and infuse the silent images on a screen with new and unexpected feelings. CHARLES MUDEDE
Winter Light: The Films of Ingmar Bergman: Summer With Monika
I know. Itâs Ingmar Bergman. I know, most of his films are very slow. I know, you want to see lots of action and explosions and all of that sort of thing. I know, I know, I know. But you must still watch Bergman's films. Look at it this way: A film like The Commuter, which must not be missed, is your fat-rich steak, and a movie like Bergmanâs Through the Glass Darkly or Silence or Persona is your broccoli. You just canât eat steak all of the time. You will die from just eating steak. You need your veggies. You can almost live forever on a diet of just films of the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. CHARLES MUDEDE
Around the Artifact: Inside the B-25 Bomber
The United States made almost 10,000 of these two-engine bombers over four decades. They were introduced in 1941 and made their mark in the Asian arena of World War II. The plane, which has guns sticking out the front and the back, the top and the sides, was considered to be very effective at sinking ships. Its sound and sight certainly terrified many sailors and also villagers. The gunner in the nose of a B-25 could turn whole boats or villages into cheese during a strafer attack. America made this plane. Violence and destruction are certainly a part of the nationâs history. This is something we liberals must never forget. The Flying Heritage Collection has a restoration of this plane, and this is your chance to tour it and learn about it. CHARLES MUDEDE
Chloe Benjamin: The Immortalists
Benjamin's new book is about four teens in 1969 New York who seek to know their fortunes from a mysterious mystic and proceed to live out their existences in accordance with prophecy. Will they die on the dates predicted? Or are they subconsciously fulfilling the destinies they've been given? This family epic has garnered praise from prominent authors Richard Russo, Karen Joy Fowler, and Nathan Hill.
Constitutional Stress Test: Can the Democracy Survive the Current President?
Stranger crush WA Attorney General Bob Ferguson and former US Deputy Attorney General Bill Ruckelshaus will talk about the prospects for the American Constitution at this Seattle University of Public Service forum. Larry Hubbell and Joni Balter from SU will moderate. Maybe fill your Xanax prescription beforehand, or plan for some nice chamomile tea afterwards.
THURSDAY-FRIDAY
COMEDYBechdel Test
In a better world than this, female characters in films would talk about whatever the fuck they pleaseâsay, horses, cramps, or ongoing global disasters at the hands of a small-fingered megalomaniac. But all too often in this world, female characters, when they talk to each other at all, discuss one thing and one thing only: men. Thereâs even a term for itâthe Bechdel Test, named for the cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who, in a 1985 comic strip, featured a character explaining that she goes to a movie only if it has at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Inspired by the Bechdel Test, Jet City Improv re-creates films that fail the test, but with a Bechdel-approved twist. You name the movie; they make it pass. Woody Allen, take note. KATIE HERZOG
Krip Resistance: To Exist Is To Resist
See queer artists with disabilities honor pioneers in their movement for civil rights in a show created by billie rain and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha.
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
ARTJessica Rycheal and Zorn B. Taylor: Everyday Black
Jessica Rycheal is a portrait photographer whose work documents subjects drawn from Seattle's multigenerational activist community with a sensuous, effervescent joie de vivre. Also a portrait photographer, Zorn B.Taylor often spotlights the idea of intentionally chosen family, capturing his subjects with simultaneous attention toward the monumental and the quotidian. In this two-person exhibition, curated by C. Davida Ingram and Leilani Lewis, Rycheal and Taylor present a series of intimate, honest, and lovingly created photographs celebrating many prominent members of Seattle's Black creative community. EMILY POTHAST
Opening Thursday
Nordic Lights Film Festival
The Nordic Heritage Museum will take you on a cinematic tour of Scandinavia with films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and even the Faroe Islands. The lineup includes Borg vs. McEnroe (starring Shia Labeouf, about the famous tennis match), The Day Will Come (about two brothers rebelling against the cruel headmaster of a boys' home), ReykjavĂk (a "bittersweet romantic drama"), the Sami rap doc Arctic Superstar, and the Golden Globe-nominated The Square.
The Most Dangerous Woman in America
David Christie's one-woman play, with Therese Diekhans in the title role (and 14 other characters), dramatizes the life of the fearless activist Mother Jones, a dressmaker who co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World. This show won the LA Solo Fringe award at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.
FRIDAY
FOOD & DRINKWinter Scotch Dinner
At this multi-course dinner, the âScotch Guyâ Stuart Ramsay will guide guests through tasting a variety of Scotches, including Glenlivet Founder's Reserve, the Balvenie 14 year Caribbean Cask, Highland Park 15 year, Laphroaig Cask Strength, and Talisker 12 year Distillers Edition.
Seattle Colleges MLK Celebration
Ijeoma Oluo, author of So You Want to Talk About Race, is the keynote speaker at this year's MLK celebration presented by Seattle Colleges. DaNell Daymoon and Greater Works will also play live music.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
COMEDYCotton Gin: An Improvised Puppet Show For Grown-Ups
Rowdy, bawdy puppets, worn out from entertaining children, hang out at the Cotton Gin bar and entertain you with songs and jokes in this improv show.
La Colonial
When Joe Bayley won an episode of Chopped in 2009, his first order of business was to jet overseas with his prize winnings to study Spanish cooking for six months. Now he plans to combine the knowledge he gleaned there with his flair for Filipino food to open La Colonial, a Central District restaurant serving a mix of Filipino favorites and Spanish tapas, in mid-2018. In the meantime, you can sneak a preview at his pop-up dinner series. Past dishes have included buko meatballs (turkey albondigas braised in creamy coconut sauce with toasted flaked coconut sesame âbaconâ bits) and pork sinigang (cured pork belly, squash, long bean, and okra in a savory-sour stew over rice).
14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival
True to its name, the 14/48 Festival turns around 14 brand-new, theme-based, 10-minute plays in two days. The high-pressure nature of the event produces an evening of surprising theater for the audience, who arrive in their seats charged with expectation and anxiety for the performers. Though there are always a few experiments that don't quite come together, it's endlessly fascinating to see the way one theme filters through the minds of several very different theater artists. Expect shit to get weird. RICH SMITH
Giselle Deconstruct
Veronica Lee-Baik and her dance company, the Three Yells, are back with a remount of Giselle Deconstruct, a choreographic deconstruction and retelling of the renowned (and famously weird) ballet Giselle. The company chucks most of the first act and focuses on the lives of the Willies, which are the sylvan fairies who dance men to death in the second act. The show combines rib-cage-shattering industrial music with striking visuals and expressive, modern movement to tell a story about women who grow up in an environment where they have to fight everything all the time and rely on each other for strength and guidance. Sounds about right. Lee-Baik recently won a James W. Ray Venture Project Award for "A Crack in the Noise," so look for that in the future, too. RICH SMITH
Winterreise
Experience Franz Schubert's 24-song "Winterreise," a dark piece about unrequited love, winter wandering, and existential angst, presented through creepy shadow puppet abstraction. David Hoffman (baritone) and Peter Nelson-King (pianist) perform.
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
ARTWalter McConnell: Itinerant Edens
Artist and ceramic art professor Walter McConnell is known for doing something unusual with his clay pieces: not firing them. His wet ceramic pieces are often intricate, complicated, and enormous, and anyone looking at them would never question how "finished" they are. His latest exhibit, Itinerant Edens: A Measure of Disorder, looks terrifying. McConnell took full-body scans of live models, made 3D plaster molds based on their bodies, and cast terracotta clay models from the molds. He then created nature-inspired pedestals, put the human figures on top, and sealed the scenes in tall, thin terrariums. The end result looks like a dystopian version of the Natural History Museum. To maximize uneasiness, visit at the end of the show's runâbecause the pieces are unfired, they will change and morph over the course of the exhibit.
Artist talk on Friday
James Davis: Hood Adjacent Comedy Tour
"Hood Adjacent" comic James Davis made comedy out of his attempts to get a "hood pass" despite being a Pomona College English major. Now, hear his verbal wit, perhaps about being a "professional token black friend."
Two Trains Running
Everyone should be well aware of Fences, August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece about black family life in the 1950s. But everyoneâespecially Seattleites concerned with issues of gentrification, activism, rising racial tensions, and economic inequalityâwould also do well to spend as much time thinking about Two Trains Running, the next in Wilson's 10-play cycle. Set in a Pittsburgh diner, Wilson reckons with the revolutionary decade of the 1960s, when expectations for the future of the civil rights movement were as high as they were uncertain. Everyone should also know that Wilson's a hometown hero, having spent the latter years of his life writing in the Victrola on 15th or the (old) Canterbury on 19th. Seeing his plays at the Rep, where his cycle of plays was produced in full, carries a special resonance. Juliette Carrillo will direct. RICH SMITH
SATURDAY
ARTGeorgetown 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 January, check out the opening reception for Dakota Gearhart: Everyday Possibilities of Feeling Like A Totally Different Person and Somewhere Nearby, as well as a special performance as part of Indira Allegra: BODYWARP.
Panel Talk: Searching for Home in the Pacific Northwest
Join Searching for Home curator Jennifer-Navva Milliken and a panel of local arts activism leaders in discussing how the refugee crisis and immigration have influenced the cultural landscape of the region.
Filth, Zine Scene, Bobby
Improviser Amanda and Yolanda promise the seamy underside of Improv Month. Zine Scene, aka Katy Nuttman and Ian Schempp, is a more complicated process: each audience member contributes a small, spontaneous piece of art or poetry in response to a prompt, and the duo takes off from there. The final improv troupe is Bobby: "Bobby is funny. Bobby is dramatic. Bobby can get stupid. Bobby can be serious." And that's all we know about Bobby.
Ryan Hamilton
Idahoan Ryan Hamilton, his enormous smile, and his gentle burring voice are coming to charm Seattle. Check out why Rolling Stone named this Great American Comedy Festival winner one of five comics to watch.
Saturday Secret Matinees
Grand Illusion and the Sprocket Society will continue their tradition of pairing an adventure serial with a different secret matinee movie every week. This year, the serial is Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, and the theme of the feature film will change every fortnight (maybe they stole the idea from the Stranger's new printing schedule. Though probably not). These themes include "Alien Invasion!," "Swashbuckling Heroes!," "Very Bad Deals," "Twisted Intrigues," "Atomic Monsters," and "Widescreen Thrills." The coolest part, from a film buff point of view? Everything will be presented on 16mm.
Irish Play Series: Trad
Mark Doherty's Trad, first performed in 2004, is another entry in the great Irish tradition of winning absurdity and deep conscience of myth and tragedy. One-armedThomas is 100 years old and is keeping secrets from his one-legged father, Da. The two set off on a road trip, revealing Ireland's sad and rich history along the way.
Open Studio
Witness works in progress by performers Liz Houlton, Marissa Niederhauser, and Vanessa Goodman/Action at a Distance. Meet the artists and give them your most constructive feedback.
Satanic Panic Theater
Let nightmare drag queen Jackie Hell escort you to the underworld, where Strap on Halo will perform devilish music and unconventional performers will seduce you with dark underground burlesque.
Jane Elliott
You may know Jane Elliott as the first person to conduct the horrifying Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes experiment, which, on the day after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s murder, showed how easily children can be induced to self-segregate and discriminate. Elliott has continued her educational activities as a feminist, LGBTQ, and anti-racist activist. She'll host a screening of I Am Not Your Negro, then moderate a discussion on institutionalized prejudice.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
COMMUNITYTlingit Language Workshop
At this two-day workshop, get an introduction to Tlingit, an endangered language spoken throughout Southeast Alaska and parts of British Columbia. Paul Marks and Paul Marks II will lead participants through pronunciation, phrases, and storytelling.
Chuck's CD Fourth Anniversary
Chuck's Hop Shop will celebrate turning four with a special anniversary IPA from Great Notion Brewing on draft and lots of other brews.
CosĂŹ fan tutte
Seattle Opera will perform Mozart's CosĂŹ fan tutte, an Italian-language opera about fiancĂ©e swappingâroughly translated, the opera's title is "Women are like that." This production about the nature of faith and trust in relationships has regaled audiences for over two centuries with its bawdy, quirky style of comedy.
Straight White Men
In Washington Ensemble Theatre's Northwest debut of this family drama about three brothers mulling over their varying degrees of success during a Christmas vacation, Young Jean Lee holds whiteness and straightness and maleness up to the light for a proper examination that's long overdue. Something tells me that director Sara Porkalob, who has written extensively on the issue, is going to have a lot of fun with this one. Though there's plenty of fodder for her, theater critic Charles Isherwood says the play "goes far beyond cheap satire, ultimately becoming a compassionate and stimulating exploration of one manâs existential crisis." RICH SMITH
SUNDAY
COMEDYConspiracy! and Gloomwhisper Entrancement
In this improv double feature, the performers will first recreate the paranoid atmosphere of a 1970s political thriller. In the second part, Ian Schempp and Elicia Wickstead (both exceedingly talented performers from Jet City Improv) play two spiritualists who'll unveil secrets of the paranormal.
SHRIEK! It + Happy Hour
It's time again for SHRIEK!, the class on women and minorities in horror films, which includes a screening and discussion led by Clarion West alum and author Evan J. Peterson, "Seattle's Film Maven" Heather Marie Bartels, and "strident intersectional feminist" Megan Peck. This time, watch the recent hit It and analyze its depiction of Beverly and Mike, among other things. (Plus, take advantage of Naked City's happy hour.)
Robert Burns Supper
Raise a glass of Scotch to Scotland's national poet Robert Burns, toast the haggis, and join fellow guests in traditional drinking songs at this dinner presented by vocal group whateverandeveramen. James Beard award-winning chef John Sundstrom will prepare an exclusive menu with haggis, and a special Scotch ale brewed by Naked City Brewing will be provided.
