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MONDAY
COMEDYGreg Proops
Greg Proops of Whose Line Is It Anyway? fame also hosts the podcast The Smartest Man in the World, which records across the globe. He'll bring his fierce lefty wit to Seattle, where it will undoubtedly be most welcome.
Caela Bailey in âWho In The World Are You?"
Through music, storytelling, video, and comedy from her debut album The Gospel of the Gutter Queen, Caela Bailey explores her upbringing in the circus and cabaret world, her experience with the Seattle public school system, and more.
MONDAY-TUESDAY
READINGS & TALKSNational Geographic Live: A Wild Life
Young Bertie Gregory (Scientific Exploration Society Zenith Explorer of the year in 2015) takes photos of wild and urban animal photography, revealing the bond between humans and animals in cities around the world. See his work at this show, presented by the Seattle Symphony.
MONDAY-THURSDAY
FILMAnimation Show of Shows
Celebrate the art of animation at the 19th Annual Animation Show of Shows, a six-day-long event that will feature more than a dozen films from artists Quentin Baillieux, Lia Bertels, Pete Docter, and many others around the world.
MONDAY-SUNDAY
FILMSeattle Jewish Film Festival
This annual film festival explores and celebrates global Jewish and Israeli life, history, complexity, culture, and filmmaking. The festival showcases international, independent and award-winning Jewish-themed and Israeli cinema, and the audience votes on their favorites. This year, the theme is "isREEL Life" in celebration of Israel's 70th anniversary.
Oyster Madness
Basketball isn't the only March Madness: Bellevue restaurant Pearl will be hosting a four-week celebration of all things oyster, with special menus and different preparations (raw, baked, fried and grilled) and tips and education provided by Taylor Shellfish oyster expert Call Nichols. Plus, get gratis oysters while they last on their Free Oyster Fridays.
TUESDAY
PERFORMANCEBard in a Bar: Twelfth Night!
At this installment of Bard in a Bar, a Shakespearean "karaoke" night, flex your enunciation muscles by reading lines from Twelfth Night, a comedy rife with mistaken identities, love polygons, and debauchery. Scripts and beer will be provided.
Peaches Christ's 'Drag Becomes Her'
Demented drag legend Peaches Christ, the "Queen of Mean," will preside over a superstar cast of Jinkx Monsoon, BenDeLaCreme, and Major Scales in a drag parody of Death Becomes Her. Local queens Abbey Roads, Isabella Extynn, Mackenzie, Sparkle Leigh, Strawberry Shartcake, and Visage "Legs" LaRue will be along for the ride.
Ask the Oracle: Anca SzilĂĄgyi, Bill Carty, and Marie-Caroline Moir
Before the show, audience members will write down questions about their futures, and host Johnny Horton (in a velvet tuxedo) will pose them to the "writer-oracles," who will answer by reading a random passage from their own work. The readers this time are the novelist Anca SzilĂĄgyi (celebrated for her recent debut novel Daughters of the Air), Bill Carty (Huge Cloudy, forthcoming from Octopus Books), and Marie-Caroline Moir, who's been published in Golden Handcuffs Review, Salmagundi, and other magazines.
Brewing Up Other Worlds
Spend an evening drinking beer and hearing readings of speculative fiction by E. Lily Yu, Seanan McGuire, Evan Peterson, and Randy Henderson. Afterward, you'll have the opportunity to read your own work (for five minutes) at an open mic.
Lit Fix 21: Fifth Anniversary
The quarterly reading and music series Lit Fix, founded by Mia Lipman Irwin, the director of content at University of Washington Press, will mark its fifth anniversary with a night of readings with Megan Chance, Putsata Reang, Montreux Rotholtz, and Natalie Singer.
Segregated Seattle: From Redlining to Gentrification
Learn about Seattle's history of segregation and its ongoing impacts by joining a conversation with Arts Corps' James Miles, Centerstone's Andrea Caupain, UW history professor James Gregory, Seattle Theatre Group's Vivian Phillips, and Seattle Public School teacher Sean Riley.
Shakespeare's Shylock
A common question Shakespearean scholars have about The Merchant of Venice is how the playwright managed to have such a detailed knowledge of the city without having traveled there himself. Two scholars (Earl Showerman and Michael Delahoyde) believe that the Earl of Oxford, who did visit Venice, was the real writer. Join them as they discuss this, Venice's Jewish population, and Gaspar Ribiero, a man who they believe was the inspiration for the play's principal antagonist, Shylock.
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEHamilton
Lin-Manuel Miranda is responsible for Hamilton's book, music, and lyrics, and he has squashed a dizzying number of words and concepts into this stunning production. You don't like musicals? Fine. Try Hamiltonâits hiphop, jazz, and rap numbers have made people all over the country rethink their rigid anti-musical stance, and offered them juicy, controversial history about one of their Founding Fathers. The wildly popular show will be here for more than four glorious weeks. Joseph Morales and Nik Walker will star as Hamilton and Burr. If you're interested in a themed pre- or post-show dinner, check out the Hamilton menus at TavolĂ ta and the Carlile Room.
WEDNESDAY
FOOD & DRINKaddo Ballard: Richard's Burger Pop-Up
Seattle restaurateurs just canât get enough of Dickâs Drive-In: To the delight of guests at their 1950s-themed New Yearâs Eve shindig, Canlis simulated the experience of the beloved burger joint circa mid-century in a mini retro reproduction upstairs (approved by the Spady family for maximum historical authenticity). And at chef Eric Rivera of addoâs recurring fast-casual Richardâs (the proper name for Dick's) Burger pop-up, the Huxley Wallace alum and former food blogger gives the cityâs favorite special-sauce-soaked, iceberg-lettuce-laden, scrunchy-orange-foil-wrapped cheeseburger a cheeky highbrow makeover, all packaged in a to-go box with fries. Gimmicky? Maybe, but Rivera, whoâs previously engineered burgers for Bookstore Bar and Josh Hendersonâs Great State Burger chain, knows a thing or two about crafting the perfect cheese-smothered patty on a bun. JULIANNE BELL
Feathers of Fire
Hamid Rahmanian's cinematic shadow puppet/live actor show adapts a love story from a 10th-century Persian epic tale, Shahnameh, set to original music by Loga Ramin Torkian and Azam Ali. Its movie-like qualities have been praised by none other than Francis Ford Coppola.
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
ARTEtsuko Ichikawa: Vitrified
Seven years ago this spring, an earthquake off the coast of Japan led to the release of radioactive material from a nuclear power in Fukushima. Ever since, world renowned glass artist Etsuko Ichikawa has been thinking about the artifacts left by her Japanese ancestors in terms of the impact of contemporary human civilization on our environment. For her new video Vitrified, she has created a series of glass orbs that contain traces of uranium and give off a haunting green glow and placed them in lush and pristine natural environments. This exhibition also contains glass objects and some of Ichikawa's signature pyrographsâdrawings made by tracing hot glass along a piece of paper like scorched calligraphy. EMILY POTHAST
Opening Wednesday
Zohra 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.
Closing Saturday
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEThe Gin Game
One of the all-time chestnuts of the legitimate stage comes to Everett featuring two of Seattleâs all-time favorites, Kurt Beattie and Marianne Owen, as aging residents of a nursing home, who sublimate the dread of death by playing cards and tearing each other apart with words. However familiar the play might be from drama classes and monologue books, The Gin Game has a seemingly infinite capacity for renewal in the hands of the right actors, which is to say that the only way this show can go wrong is if the building floods. SEAN NELSON
Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin
Not very many songwriters have legitimate claim to being the actual greatest songwriter who ever lived, but Irving Berlin is oneâand not just because he successfully stripped Jesus clean out of the songs most closely associated with the two most Christian holidays (âWhite Christmasâ and âEaster Paradeâ). This solo performance chronicles the life and career of a man who escaped the pogroms of czarist Russia only to perfect the musical and verbal idiom that helped define the American century. (Bonus: This show promises to provide a welcome palate cleanser after Holiday Inn, the indescribably poor Berlin pastiche that recently befouled the Seattle stage, so thatâs good, too.) SEAN NELSON
Kells Saint Patrick's Day Irish Festival
Due to their location in Post Alley, Kells Irish Restaurant can be a little touristy, but they throw one heck of a St. Patrick's Day partyâthis year will mark their 35th annual Irish festival. They'll set up a tent outside to make more room for their three live music stages, which will play host to local and Irish bands including STOCIOUS (from Country Antrim and Offaly, Ireland), Buck's Mhad Boys (Country Antrim), the Stout Pounders (Seattle), Servants of the Rich (Seattle), and Liam Gallagher (Belfast/Seattle). On St. Patrick's Day proper, they'll open at 9 a.m. and serve a traditional Irish breakfast, including corned beef, stew, sausage rolls, and soda bread, while the rest of the days will have live music starting at 11:30 a.m. Round out the weekend with plenty of Kells Irish beer and, if you buy a ticket for Saturday, a free t-shirt to mark the occasion.
THURSDAY
ARTThe Male Nude
Stranger contributor Emily Pothast will give a lecture and lead a life-drawing workshop on the male nude.
Winter 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
The last film in the series is Persona.
Chocolate for Choice
Support NARAL Pro-Choice Washington's reproductive health programs by relishing in all manner of treats (most of them chocolatey) from local businesses like Macrina Bakery, Oddfellows Cafe + Bar, Amandine Bakeshop, Deep Sea Sugar & Salt, Coyleâs Bakeshop, Cupcake Royale, and many others.
Ivar's Gilbert Cellars Wine Dinner
Sit down to a five-course seafood feast from executive chef Chris Garr featuring Dungeness crab, seared fresh scallops with Meyer lemon scented mascarpone, filet mignon, grilled king salmon, and chocolate ganache cake. Charlie Gilbert of Gilbert Cellars will provide wine pairings for each course and educate guests about his true-to-varietal Washington wines.
Seattle's "Best Damn Happy Hour"
On third Thursdays for almost five years, "Seattle's Best Damn Happy Hourâ (their title) has brought live DJs, mini golf, board games, giant Jenga (TIMBERRRRR!), and deals on cocktails and food to the Armory. Their very last edition will feature the cavalcade of curated video delights that is Collide-O-Scope, plus prize drawings.
Yascha Mounk Discusses 'The People Vs. Democracy'
In his book The People vs. Democracy, political scholar Yascha Mounk argues that the core components of liberal democracyâindividual rights and the popular willâare increasingly at war with each other, rendering a system of "rights without democracy." Join the author for a discussion.
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
ARTCollapse: Recent Works by Dewey Crumpler
The global economy is a curious beast, by which financial systems understood and maneuvered by a few take human and environmental tolls. Dewey Crumpler's Collapse seeks out the "beauty and terror" of these systems, capturing their monolithic quality to help us feel their potential for vast destruction. Some of his paintings look like reading Jeff VanderMeer's environmental horror feels. His technical skills, suited to architectural precision as well as to more organic forms, render the dual nature of financial infrastructure as both abstract and manmade. Sampada Aranke of the Art Institute of Chicago, a specialist in performance studies and black cultural theory, has guest-curated this exhibition by the San Francisco artist. JOULE ZELMAN
Opening Thursday
Ms. Pak-Man: Out of Order!
Scott Shoemaker is âa powerhouse and an incredible performer,â says his frequent collaborator BenDeLaCreme. A few years back, Shoemaker started dressing up as a giant yellow dot and putting a bow in his hair and performing cabarets as Ms. Pak-Man, the video game character brought to life. Ms. Pak-Man: Out of Order! is the fourth installment of the acclaimed series. âWatch this world-renowned video game superstar of the 1980s pop power pills while she shares scandalous songs and stories about her life and loves,â the advance billing says, adding: âShe sings! She dances! She drinks! She might black out!â CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
ARTTelling Patient Stories: A Journalism Art Show
In October, a dozen Northwest comic artists visited Seattle/King County's four-day pop-up clinic (which provided free medical, dental, and vision care to nearly 4,500 people). Using stories from patients about their experiences with healthcare, the artists created a series of short comic strips. Check it out and enjoy a "weird food buffet."
Opening Thursday
Bebe Miller Company: In a Rhythm
Bebe Miller, who's garnered awards from some of the most prestigious arts organizations in the nation, will stage her new dance works inspired by modern and contemporary literary masters and interrogate "the syntax of movement."
The Bell & Battery Cabaret: Then and Now
Belltown has long been a hive of cultural production. Before the neighborhood became one of the major incubators of "grunge," it was a hub for film distribution centers going back to the early 20th century, independent theaters, and theater tech shops. For this show, a mélange of stellar local performers will pay tribute to that rich history. Look forward to a wry and potentially saucy performance from satirical songwriter Angie Louise, some multi-disciplinary dance from Markeith Wiley, powerful poems from Quenton Baker, skits from actors K. Brian Neel and Eric Ray Anderson, and transcendent drag from queer performer Ade Connere. RICH SMITH
Big Rock
In this show written by Sonya Schneider and directed by Laurel Pilar Garcia, an artist joins her father on an isolated Pacific Northwest island after her latest opening. There, she meets an aspiring poet who may restore her faith in the power of art.
Hir
Hir isn't like the rest of Taylor Mac's plays, but it's the play that made Mac famous. That's because it looks like the style of play repertory theaters jizz over, which is kitchen sink realism. Hir, making its Seattle debut at ArtsWest, seems familiar to contemporary theatergoers: two kids and their parents sitting around their kitchen fighting. That should be a snooze-fest, but it's not because Mac's writing is hilarious, and nothing in the play is as it first appears. It's ultimately a clever, innovative play about gender (and theater) that audiences will continue to unpack for decades. CHASE BURNS
The Illusionists
Five famous magiciansâJeff Hobson, Kevin James, Colin Cloud, An Ha Lim, and Jonathan Goodwinâwill make your hair stand on end with feats of deduction, illusion, and death-cheating.
Moisture Festival
Moisture Festival is devoted to the variety of performers Seattle has fostered over the years, from circus acts to comedians, burlesque dancers to musicians, and jugglers to tap dancers. It's been going for 15 years in Seattle, a testament to the popularity of cabaret-style entertainment in town. Variété is the main, recurring event, with a rotating lineup, and there are also matinée and rather racier late night versions. The bawdy Libertease Cabaret is for adults only and features burlesque and scantily-clothed aerial acts. There are also workshops, talks, and special opening and closing nights. If you love circus acrobatics, clowning, comedy, and/or sexy dance, you owe it to yourself to go.
FRIDAY
COMEDYRoxy Music Horror Show
Whether or not you've seen a million iterations of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this improvised parody will definitely involve the unexpected in every performance: new songs and a new take on the story of two straitlaced victims falling into the clutches of a sexy scientist.
Arson Explains It All
Drag alien Arson Nicki, a staple of Seattle's queer scene, will perform a one-person show about their personal life "behind the polyester curtain," punctuated by lip synchs.
Steven Pinker: Enlightenment Now
If you ask Steven Pinker, the state of the world is fine. Pinker, a famed evolutionary psychologist, argues in his new book Enlightenment Now that even though it might seem like the world is a toxic pile of sewage and waste (just turn on the news), weâre actually doing better than any other time in human history. And he has the data to back it up: Life expectancy is up across most of the world, as are literacy rates, access to food, clean drinking water, information, and work. Critics say Pinker is naive, arguing that heâs blinded by his experience living in the West, but Pinker has a way of batting down both his critics and their arguments, and you can see him do it personâand get a copy of his bookâwhen he comes to Seattle this month. KATIE HERZOG
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCEDirector's Choice
There's just something about watching dancers drag 20 industrial-sized tables across the stage during William Forsythe's One Flat Thing that delights me every time. Other highlights of Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal's always excellent showcase: the ultra-gorgeous athleticism of Forsythe's Slingerland Duet, the almost percussive rhythm of the solo violin in Ulysses Doveâs Red Angels, and the world premiere of PNB soloist Ezra Thompson's The Perpetual State. RICH SMITH
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
ST. PATRICK'S DAYIrish Week 2018
The Irish Heritage Club of Seattle (aka Cumann Oidhtreacht Gaelach Seattle) goes all out for St. Patrick's Day, hosting cultural events beginning at the end of February. Their actual "Irish Week" begins March 16, with a total of 10 events happening over St. Patrick's Day weekend. The biggest ones include the Landing of St. Patrick reenactment on Friday, the Irish Festival on both Saturday and Sunday at Seattle Center (featuring performances, food, Irish films, and Irish celebrities), and the St. Patrick's Day Dash and St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday. The parade attracts high-profile Seattleites: Washington State Attorney General (and Stranger crush) Bob Ferguson will serve as grand marshal, and Mayor Jenny Durkan will kick things off with the official Irish Flag-Raising ceremony. But Friday also holds a Mass for Peace, the Mayor's Irish Week Proclamation Luncheon with Jenny Durkan and King County Executive Dow Constantine, and the Green Stripe Laying mini-parade to mark the following day's parade route. There's also an Irish genealogy workshop all day Sunday at Seattle Center.
McMenamin's St. Patrick's Celebration
McMenamin's has a whole weekend of St. Patrick's Day happenings planned, including a menu with specials like Irish stout, Irish coffee, Irish reuben, corned beef and cabbage, shepherd's pie, and Irish stew, as well as exclusive holiday releases like 2018 Devils Bit Whiskey and Foggy Dew Irish Lager. There'll also be Irish dancers, bagpipers, and a "balloon guy."
SATURDAY
FILMSaturday 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.
Author Talk: How to Taste by Becky Selengut
Sure, tasting might sound easy enough, but truly honing your palate is actually a learned process that can help elevate your cooking to the next level. Luckily, local food writer Becky Selengut's new book How to Taste, based on her popular class of the same name at The Pantry, shows you how to do just that. The book explains the scientific principles of how salt, acid, sweet, fat, bitter, bite (heat), aromatics, and texture combine to create a flavor and teaches cooks of all levels on how to rely on their taste buds to tweak dishes, with kitchen experiments and recipes (sweet potato soup with chile and lemongrass, anyone?) to demonstrate the lessons of each chapter. At this event, Selengut will do a demonstration to illustrate some of the concepts from her book and sign copies purchased at the Book Larder. JULIANNE BELL
Cookie Pop-Up with Salt and Other Vices
Pop-up Salt & Other Vices will peddle fresh-baked cookies in flavors like Vanilla Bean Salted Chocolate Chip, Coconut Macaroon, Ode to My Youth, Olivia's Peppermint Patty, and their signature Everything Cookie.
Oysters + Bubbles No. 5
Sip bubbly, slurp bivalves, and enjoy live music.
Lamont 'U-God' Hawkins: Raw: My Journey into the Wu-Tang
U-God will be the first of the Staten Island hiphop titans to tell the group's story in his book Raw: My Journey into the Wu-Tang. Learn about his friendship with the other artistsâRZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Olâ Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah, and Masta Killaâand the music that brought them out of the ghetto and into the airwaves.
Matthew Dickman and Emily Strelow
Sit in on a joint reading with two Portland-rooted writers, Matthew Dickman (who will read from his new poetry collection, Wonderland) and Emily Strelow (who will read from her new novel, The Wild Birds). About Wonderland, Carrie Brownstein wrote, "Matthew Dickman captures the vicissitudes of childhood: the mess and wildness of it all, how we are both held and discarded, the way darkness subsumes the glow and vice versa. Dickmanâs poems are deft and sparkling and never cease to tear into you with their profound rawness and beauty.â
Conor Byrne St. Patrick's Day
For the holiday, Irish pub Conor Byrne has a full lineup of food truck eats planned. Dig into a savory homestyle breakfast and brunch from the Skillet truck, then enjoy gastropub grub and carnival-inspired sweets from the Bread and Circuses truck and hot dogs from Dante's Inferno Dogs later in the day. Evergreen Irish Dancers will "literally kick off" the festivities, and Irish music will continue into the wee hours.
Mulleady's Eighth Annual St. Patrick's Day Dinner
Mulleady's will serve a prix-fixe dinner menu with dishes like pork belly with wilted cabbage and pickled shallots and corned beef with parsnip-yukon potato mash, with toasted lemon meringue parfait for dessert.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
ARTCaptive Light: The Life and Photography of Ella E. McBride
Ella McBride, who was born in 1862 and died in 1965 at 102, was one of the most accomplished and widely exhibited Pictorialist photographers during the early 1900s. Pictorialism introduced a more painterly rather than documentary approach to photography by combining artistic composition with experimentation during the development process. In McBrideâs âShirley Poppy,â a single bloomed poppy with two budded stems stand tall in an overlarge Chinese vase while cherry blossoms cast shadows on the wall behind. Not sepia-toned nor black and white, the warm tan hues lend a soft elegance to the piece. When not producing her own work, McBride ran famed photographer Edward Curtisâs studio and was an accomplished mountaineer. KATIE KURTZ
Opening Saturday
Bacon Eggs & Kegs
This boozy brunch bacchanal features tastings of over 80 different beers and ciders, a 30-foot Bloody Mary bar with "deep fried, pickled, fresh, meaty and cheesy toppings," Irish coffee, mimosas, adult root beer floats, dueling pianos, lawn games (including "giant Jenga" and "life-size Yahtzee"), sweet and savory bacon-studded brunch dishes, and more.
Huge Book Sale
Invigorate your meager bookshelf without breaking the bank at this "HUGE" book sale. You'll find children's books for $1, audio materials (CDs, DVDs, audio books, and records) for $1, TV series DVDs for $2, paperback and hardback fiction and nonfiction for $2, and rare books for $3.
SUNDAY
ARTApricity
Scott Keva James of Lusio will conjure another immersive, reactive light/videoscape for people of all ages to explore.
Beef & Burgundy
Following the format of their popular Lamb & Rose dinner at the Whale Wins and their Normandy dinner at the Walrus & The Carpenter, Renee Erickson's Sea Creatures restaurant group presents Beef & Burgundy at Bateau, a celebration of red wines and red meat. They'll feature grass-fed beef, butchered and dry-aged in house, paired with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines "from the Cote dâOr to Macon."
Royal Shakespeare Company: Twelfth Night
See a Royal Shakespeare production of the topsy-turvy, gender-bendy comedy Twelfth Night in a recorded performance.
