Our music critics have already chosen the 34 best music shows 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 a Winter Write-In with Write Our Democracy to Safe & Legal: Celebrating 45 Years of Abortion Access, and from the beginning of the Seattle Celebrates Shakespeare festival to Strawberry Theatre Workshop's Frost/Nixon. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.
Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile appâavailable now on the App Store and Google Play.
Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
MONDAY
FOOD & DRINKAuthor Talk: Making Chocolate with Molly Gore & Lisa Vega of Dandelion Chocolate
Thereâs pleasure in the process of making something completely from scratch, but chocolate from the ground up hasnât always exactly seemed accessible. Enter Making Chocolate: From Bean to Bar to Sâmore by Molly Gore and Lisa Vega, founders of San Francisco chocolate factory Dandelion Chocolate and champions of amateur home chocolatiering. The book is the first of its kind, detailing the process all the way from sourcing beans, to incorporating the final product into a really good chocolate-chip cookie, to scaling up your operation if you want to break into the business yourself. Far from being stingy or secretive with their wealth of arcane know-how, Vega and Gore delight in sharing âeverything weâve learned about making chocolate since the day we first cracked open a cocoa bean,â including ingenious MacGyver-ish hacks like using a blow dryer for winnowing. Theyâll be at the Book Larder to give a talk, sign copies, and answer any burning questions.
Schmaltzy's Delicatessen Pop Up
At this pop-up precursor to the much-anticipated Jewish deli from Jonathan Silverberg of Napkin Friends opening in Ballard next year, you can pile your plate high at the buffet. Your ticket comes with one beer from Stoup Brewing or a nonalcoholic beverage.
MONDAY-SUNDAY
FOOD & DRINKShellfish 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 Thursday or Friday
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
No performance on Tuesday or Wednesday
TUESDAY
FOOD & DRINKJester King & El Jolgorio Mezcal & Tacos
Wash down "a whole mess of tacos" and other Mexican dishes from The Masonry with farmhouse ales from Jester King and mezcals from El Jolgorio.
Chain Letter S2 V1: A New Chain
The Capitol Hill-based reading series, Chain Letter, returns for the new year. C.C. Hannett, Ray Stoeve, Brilligh, and others will read, followed by an open mic.
Frances McCue in Conversation with Cary Moon: Timber Curtain
There used to be a big gray-and-green house where a six-story, multiuse apartment complex now (nearly) stands. That house was Hugo House's home. And while the literary organization will move into the lower space of the new building, there are still lots of memories to catalog and work through. Poet and Hugo House cofounder Frances McCue carries many of them with her. She and her family lived in the place for a while as she managed the business downstairs. Her husband died there. She watched a demo crew chew through the roof and knock the house down. She wrote about it all in a new book called Timber Curtain. Recent mayoral candidate and urban planner Cary Moon will join her onstage for a discussion about the glass corpse flowers blooming from our old beloved buildings. RICH SMITH
Shawn Wen
Shawn Wen has mastered numerous media trades: You may have read her work in The New Inquiry, Seneca Review, Iowa Review, White Review, or City by City: Dispatches from the American Metropolis or heard her on This American Life, Freakonomics Radio or Marketplace. She's also a media artist who has shown work at the Museum of Modern Art, among other institutions. She'll speak about her book Twenty Minutes of Silence Followed By Applause, all about the famous mime Marcel Marceau. From the Washington Post's review: "Wen offers an invigorating and memorable paean to Marceauâs talent and tragedies, wrapped in a melodic critique that is unafraid to show the pain of an artist who sometimes felt trapped in a box" (get it?).
Sherman Alexie Loves: Nikki Giovanni
One of the most distinctive voices in the Black Power movement, poet/activist Nikki Giovanni transferred her linguistic potency and charisma to several soul-/gospel-oriented recordings as well as to stages and demonstrations. A precursor to rap, the Knoxville-born writerâs galvanizing, self-mythologizing funk classic âEgo Trippingâ appeared on Soul Jazzâs stunning Fly Girls! compilation. Giovanniâs Afrocentric perspectives on race, gender, social justice, and sexuality continue to resonate today, and her smooth, mesmerizing delivery makes her performances riveting. Her new book, A Good Cry, is described as an autobiography in verse, detailing how Giovanni persevered through her parentsâ violent marriage and exploring the pros and cons of aging. DAVE SEGAL
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCETrojan Women: A Love Story
Dido is a tarot-reader, Cassandra's a domme, and the world lies in ruins in this visceral adaptation of Euripides's The Trojan Women by Charles L. Mee.
No performance on Wednesday
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
No performance on Thursday
WEDNESDAY
FOOD & DRINKExecutive Speaker Series: Seattleâs Conscious Food Scene
This talk concerning Seattle's booming restaurant scene and how employers are giving back to the community features "representatives of some of our most quintessentially Seattle institutions," including Dick's Drive-In EVP and CEO Jasmine Donovan, FareStart Executive Chef Wayne Johnson, Ethan Stowell Restaurants owner and CEO Angela Stowell, and more. The conversation will be moderated by John Lane, Director of Local Government Affairs at Washington Hospitality Association.
Jesmyn Ward
Jesmyn Ward won the National Book Award in 2011 for Salvage the Bones, and then she won it again this year for her latest work, Sing, Unburied, Sing. On top of that, this year the MacArthur Foundation called her a genius and gave her a bunch of money to keep writing more award-winning books. They describe her prose as "simultaneously luminous and achingly honest," capable of capturing "moments of beauty, tenderness, and resilience against a bleak landscape of crushing poverty, racism, addiction, and incarceration." RICH SMITH
John Boylan's Conversations: Mixed Realities, Immersive Realities
John Boylan, who runs the new media/tech/arts festival 9e2 (started in 2016 and returning in February), will host a conversation about virtual, mixed, augmented, and other realities with Gretchen Burger, founder of fearless360Âș, artist and software developer Benjamin Van Citters, CEO of museum VR firm Zengalt Ivan Evdokimov, and possibly another. Boylan's talks are always stimulating, and this evening promises to be valuable for anyone interested in new possibilities for virtual art.
Leni Zumas
Leni Zumas's third book of fiction, a dystopian, feminist fiction titled Red Clocks, comes with many recommendations from reviewersâPloughshares called it "Nothing short of a miracle," and local writer Lidia Yuknavitch wrote: "The bodies of women in Red Clocks are each the site of resistance and revolution. I screamed out loud. I pumped my first in the air. And I remembered how hope is forged from the ground up, through the bodies of women who won't be buried."
Nick Harkaway in Conversation with Ramez Naam
Nick Harkaway's Gnomon follows a policewoman in a dystopian future Britain wherein every action is recorded. While she tries to solve the killing of an off-the-grid novelist, she discovers some weird and incomprehensible secrets. Meanwhile, Saint Augustine's mistress "reshapes the world with miracles" and a sociopath time-travels. Harkaway will discuss the book with author Ramez Naam.
Why We Stayed Here
Seattle is expensive, wracked with construction, and increasingly cold. So why are you still here? Performers and community members are here to give their own perspectives on why they haven't cleared off to a city with sane rental prices. This is a co-production of KUOW and Theatre Off Jackson.
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.
Closing Saturday
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.
No performances on Thursday or Friday
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCELove, Chaos, and Dinner
Beloved circus/cabaret/comedy institution Teatro ZinZanni will return to Seattle for a dinner theater production of Love, Chaos, and Dinner. They promise "the same stunning, velvet-laden, and iconic Belgian spiegeltent Seattleites will remember from Teatro ZinZanniâs former location on lower Queen Anne." The cast is led by first-time "Madame ZinZanni" Ariana Savalas, and will feature a duo on aerial trapeze, a magician, a "contortionist-puppet," a yodeling dominatrix, a hoop aerialist, and a Parisian acrobat.
Peerless
In Jiehae Park's take on Macbeth, two competitive Asian American twin sisters hatch deadly plans for a white male who claims a fraction of Native American heritage when he wins an affirmative action spot at "The College." This production marks the official beginning of the Seattle Celebrates Shakespeare festival.
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
FILMWinter Light: The Films of Ingmar Bergman
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
This week's screening is Smiles of a Summer Night.
Strong Ale Fest
The Pine Box will tap some beers with some serious muscle, including the Fremont Coffee Coconut B-Bomb, the Epic Brewing Company Big Bad Baptista, and the Lost Abbey Dead Man's Game OA Blended Ale.
Port Wines & Chocolate Pairing Workshop
Learn how to pair sweet wines like port or sauternes with delicious chocolates from around the world. Wines and chocolate bars tried in the class will be available for sale.
Black Jaw Literary Series
Join grad students of the University of Washington's Creative Writing MFA program for the inaugural reading of the Black Jaw Literary Series.
Carmen Maria Machado: Her Body and Other Parties
Every year, without exception, the book world agrees to like one book and to get all buzzy about it on social media and in the newspapers. This year, that book was Carmen Maria Machado's debut collection of magical realist short fiction, Her Body and Other Parties (Graywolf Press), which is composed of eight fables about "women on the verge," according to Parul Sehgal in the New York Times. Ellie Robins at the LA Times says the book is "an example of almost preposterous talent that also encapsulates something vital but previously diffuse about the moment." Annalisa Quinn at NPR says " Machado's stories describe "familiar, unspoken truths about being women in the world that more straightforward or realist writing wouldn't." Sounds like this book is the perfect mix of political allegory and escapist lit for our post-Weinstein, post-Hillary (maybe?) world. RICH SMITH
Sustainable Cities Roundtable: Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions
Discover how we can survive the next energy crisis by shifting from the "utility monopoly model" to something more democratic, locally owned, and favorable to social justice. Denise Fairchild, CEO of Emerald Cities Collaborative, will present her work on this urgent subject in Energy Democracy: Advancing Equity in Clean Energy Solutions. She'll be joined by Steve Gelb, head of the Seattle chapter of the organization.
What They Signed Up For
While it may be impossible for American civilians to understand what war in Iraq and Afghanistan is like, What They Signed Up For, edited by Jeb Wyman, may give you some measure of insight. The book has gathered the stories of 18 US vets. Learn about their lives during conflict and the struggle to reintegrate into civil society.
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
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
ARTKlara Glosova: Life on the Sidelines: Singles
Czech-born artist Klara Glosova, a 2015 Stranger Genius Award nominee and winner of numerous other laurels, will depict the tension of parents on the sidelines as their children play sports. Her paintings emphasize individuality, slight movements, and isolation.
Closing Saturday
Chasm
This country (not to mention this city) has always been divided, but the recent polarization of politics combined with the popularization of punditry makes the task of even splitting a sandwich with someone who doesn't think like you do feel impossible. The newly formed GRIEF GIRLSâa diverse dance outfit that includes Markeith Wiley, Chelsey Weber-Smith, Julia Sloane, Lillian Orrey, Erin McCarthy, Hanna Hofmann, and Matt Aguayoâwill explore the increasingly wide chasm that divides us with this fresh modern-dance piece inspired by James Baldwin's inimitable play Blues for Mister Charlie, which was itself inspired by the tragic death of Emmett Till. Laura Aschoff directs, and the dancers will lead a dialogue with the audience following the performance. RICH SMITH
Forced Entertainment: Real Magic
This experimental theater company based in the UK has been in operation since 1984, and their shit looks ~extremely~ British. Lots of dry, dark humor about the inability to change. Strange durational pieces. Lots of anti-climaxes. Oddly deployed nudity. "Weâre interested in confusion as well as laughter," they say. Real Magic seems to fit their moldless mold. It's structured like a weird game show wherein participants "endlessly revisit moments of defeat, hope and anticipation." RICH SMITH
Frost/Nixon
There are about 27 reasons to see Strawberry Theatre Workshop's all-female production of Peter Morgan's classic play about the disgraced president reflecting on the Watergate scandal for the first time on television, and Stranger Genius Award winner Amy Thone playing Nixon is like 14 of those reasons. Alexandra Tavares grilling Thone/Nixon as the ever-intrepid Sir David Frost is about 10 of those reasons. The other three have to do with the fact that Trump would never be, in any kind of hell, least of all this one, as forthcoming, as deviously charming, and as disarmingly honest as Nixon was in this absorbing and infinitely fascinating interview. RICH SMITH
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
ARTExistential Horror
Jon-Michael Frank, Brandon Vosika, Helen America, and Elaine Lin will anticipate the awful events of the year to come in their respective artistic media.
Opening Thursday
Jun 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. Her self-portraits are portraits of the human condition in the 21st century. CHARLES MUDEDE
Opening reception on Thursday
No viewing on Friday
FRIDAY
ARTThe Year: 12 artists / 12 acts
Check out this "love letter/warning/wish/incantation" for the coming year as 12 artists perform individual acts in their various genres and media, each dedicated to a future month. The super lineup includes Civic Poet Anastacia Reneé, writer Bo Gilliland, the Stranger's own Christopher Frizzelle, dancer Diana Cardiff, drag performer Londyn Bradshaw, musicians Ken Jarvey and Sarah Paul Ocampo, poet/performer Sierra Nelson, Stranger contributor Rachel Kessler, and others.
FEELINGS and Zine Scene
Natasha Ransom and Kinzie Shaw, two talented improvisers, promise thoroughly intersectional improv wherein they "eat dessert and dismantle the white-cis-hetero patriarchy." Zine Scene, aka Katy Nuttman and Ian Schempp, invite each audience member to contribute a small, spontaneous piece of art or poetry in response to a prompt, and the duo will take off from there.
Violet Films/SJ Chiro Short Films Retrospective
If you're into the local film scene (or just good contemporary movies in general), check out these short films by SJ Chiro, who won acclaim last year for her debut feature Lane 1974. (The Stranger loved it, and so did FIPRESCI, which awarded the film the New American Cinema award.) The event will benefit two people who lost everything in the Sonoma County fires.
January Ice Cream Social
The Cookie Counter makes a case for abandoning resolutions rooted in self-hatred at this body-positive, ice-cream-centric celebration, which features an Anti-Diet sundae with a Mighty-O donut, a scoop of ice cream, caramel sauce, cookie dough, whipped cream, a maraschino cherry, and sprinkles; new rotating ice cream flavors; tarot readings; a body positivity/body image Q&A station; body love worksheets and coloring sheets; raffle prizes; and more.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
ARTZohra Opoku: Harmattan Tales
German Ghanaian artist Zohra Opoku's multimedia and photography give a glimpse into Muslim women's lives in Accra through their dressâespecially their veiling and unveilingâand their movement through public and private space. Opoku, an internationally exhibited artist whose work has been shown at the New York Armory Show, explores femininity, tradition, and creativity through dreamy, narrative imagery.
Opening Friday
Cotton 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.
Configurate
Whim W'him will please your eyes with three world premieres by New York choreographer and Princess Grace Award-winner Gabrielle Lamb, the Switzerland-based Sadler's Wells Global Dance Contest laureate Ihsan Rustem, and Whim WâHim's own founder Olivier Wevers.
Ghost Quartet
Though the phrase "a song cycle about love, death, and whiskeyâ might not inspire you to sprint to the box office, this particular song cycle comes from the mind of Dave Malloy, who also created one of the most original and musically experimental Broadway musicals of recent (or, indeed, distant) memory, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812âa show that, by the way, began its life in a similar fashion to this one. Ghost Quartet draws on musical sources as diverse as murder ballads, doo-wop, jazz, and campfire drinking songs, with a narrative inspired by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, James Joyce, Thelonious Monk, and Stanley Kubrick. In other words, if you have an affinity for any of the dark undercurrents rushing through the past two centuries of American, British, or Irish culture, thereâs an excellent chance youâll find something to embrace in Ghost Quartet. SEAN NELSON
Wit
Margaret Edson's brainy and deeply moving play is a piercing study of a successful English professor diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. The professor intertwines the story of her experimental chemotherapy with her intellectual quest to understand her own mortality. SecondStory Repertory will stage this Pulitzer-winning play.
SATURDAY
ARTARTifACTs: We Almost Didn't Make It
Jump forward 150 years: What do you see? Environmental chaos? Or a civilization celebrating the last-minute choices that let it escape doom? We Almost Didnât Make It by the ARTifACTs collective, led by UW Tacoma's Beverly Naidus, invites visitors to transform their dread and pessimism into inspired action. Follow their "recipes" and combine "ingredients" to make artifacts emblematic of today's world, for the benefit of a future society that may be radically different. If having an environmental conscience means living in a constant state of terror these days, here's a chance to transport yourself to a more utopian futureâand act on behalf of your children's children.
Opening Saturday
Lusio Lights
Take in the rare tropical plant life of the Volunteer Park Conservatory surrounded by light installations by Lusio light artists at this series of after-hours fundraising events. Stop into the Bromeliad House bar to grab a drink to take with you while you wander, or head to the Seasonal House to dance among the ferns.
bigTINY and Street Trash
the bigTINY improv trio delves deep into character in a monoscene. Street Trash performs funny, silly, yet rather intellectual and inventive scenes. See them together during Improv Month.
Empty Orchestra
Improv comedy show Empty Orchestra is a celebration of the ever-enjoyable art form of karaoke. The theater is temporarily transformed into "the worldâs best karaoke bar," complete with drinks, fog machines, and lasers.
Lewis Black
The old, white, alpha-male ranter is a familiar figure in comedy, stated Captain Obvious. But Lewis Black might be the paragon of this tradition, perhaps the last such ĂŒber-curmudgeon weâll ever need (although probably not, seeing as how the worldâs going). Looking like a more brutish Al Franken, Black bellows in a baritone a litany of insults and outrages to his sensibilities. From the most minuscule mundanities to the horror show of politics to the most cosmic injustices, Black pinpoints their infuriating truthsâlaced with a powerful arsenal of profanity. Incredible catharsis ensues. DAVE SEGAL
Steven Wright
To keep audience members gripping their sides with laughter merely by deadpanning terse absurdities and dispensing hilariously improbable scenarios in one or two lines is genius. Poker-faced and bearing a ridiculous hairline, Steven Wright is the master of succinct surrealism and once-in-a-millennium ideas. Even the way he says âthanksâ will kill you. I remember bits like âThe ice-cream truck in my neighborhood plays âHelter Skelterââ and âI was cesarean born, but you canât tell. Although, whenever I leave the house, I go out the window,â as if it they were hit singles from my misspent youth. Wright is a hero for monotone-voiced wise guys worldwide. DAVE SEGAL
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.
Devin Briski: Beeronomics: How Beer Explains the World
In their book Beeronomics: How Beer Explains the World, Belgian economist Johan Swinnen and food and tech journalist Devin Briski contend that beer has had far more of an impact on civilization as we know it than anyone would expect. From sparking the shift to agriculture in Mesopotamia to providing an industry to finance Britainâs colonialism, the seemingly humble beverage has irrevocably shaped history. Briski will give a talk and, of course, guests will get the chance to quaff some brews from Haleâs Brewery.
Optimism is the Big Two
Optimism marks their second trip around the sun with a new beer release (The Big Two, "a bigger, bolder take on our classic One beer served on cask and on Nitro"), brewery tours every half an hour, bands, a charity raffle, and free swag. The first 200 guests to arrive will receive a free keepsake Optimism glass, and a portion of all proceeds will benefit the Seattle Times Fund for the Needy.
Oysters + Bubbly No. 3
In the third and final installment of Bottlehouse's Oysters + Bubbly series, sip sparkling wine and slurp Hama Hama oysters while listening to live music from acoustic duo Bob + Sheldon.
WinterHop BrewFest
At this annual festival, join hundreds of other beer lovers to try Pacific Northwest brews and take in local music in various downtown Ellensburg businesses and venues.
Safe & Legal: Celebrating 45 Years of Abortion Access
The loud and rowdy feminists at #ShoutYourAbortion are teaming up with Planned Parenthood to throw a party in celebration of Roe v. Wade, the US Supreme Court decision that gave women the right to choose what to do with their bodies. To celebrate the hard-won (and ongoing) battle, they've gathered a tremendous group of entertainers. Your host will be comedian El Sanchez (the very funny MC of "QTPOC-centered comedy/variety show" Fist & Shout!). The Shanghai Pearl will dazzle with humorous burlesque, Taqueet$ will pop and lock, Poppy Liu (founder of the storytelling group Collective Sex) will read poems about abortion, DJ J-Nasty will spin, Kelly O is running the photo booth, and Abigail Echo-Hawk, chief research officer for the Seattle Indian Health Board, will speak on the issue of women's health. RICH SMITH
Claudia Castro Luna: Killing MarĂas
Washington State's incoming poet laureate (and former Seattle civic poet) Claudia Castro Luna launches her brand-new collection of poems from Two Sylvias Press, Killing MarĂas. According to press materials, Luna addresses each poem to a person named MarĂa who was killed in Juarez, the border city in Mexico where hundreds of women have been found raped and murdered. Instead of attempting to reproduce the experience of those horrors on the page, as Roberto Bolaño did so movingly in 2666, Luna's lyrics champion feminine strength, challenge masculine violence, and offer some succor in a rough desert. RICH SMITH
Winter Write-In with Write Our Democracy
Writers of all kinds will gather for this quarterly Hugo House/Write Our Democracy event focusing on the power of the word to fight against cynicism and for liberty and justice. Hear readings from Washington State authors and an onstage conversation with Shawn Vestal, Ramon Isao, Becky Mandlebaum, and Seattle Civic Poet Anastacia-Reneé about the events of the past year.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEKrip 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.
SUNDAY
ARTGinny Ruffner: Reforestation of the Imagination
Ginny Ruffner, with help from new media artist Grant Kirkpatrick, will create a glass and bronze sculpture forest depicting natural and creative regeneration, including "unusually evolved flowers." Ruffner has been called "the most irrepressible spirit in Seattle art" by former Stranger art critic Jen Graves; you can also see one of her pieces in the Olympic Sculpture Park.
Opening Sunday
Forced Entertainment: Tomorrow's Parties
The six artists of Forced Entertainment from Sheffield, UK are visiting Seattle to perform Tomorrowâs Parties, a fairground kaleidoscope of many possible scenarios of the future of civilization. See sci-fi fancies, absurdist skits, doomy predications, and more.
Bushwick Book Club: Evan Peterson's The PrEP Diaries
Local artists and musicians will perform original music inspired by and based on Seattle author, journalist, and horror critic Evan Peterson's critically acclaimed memoir The PrEP Diaries.
Sunday After SAL: Discussion on Nikki Giovanni
If you missed Nikki Giovanni on Tuesday (or if you did make it and want to debrief), here's your chance to discuss the recent work of the esteemed poet.
