Our music critics have already chosen the 32 best music shows this week, but now it's our arts critics' turn. Here are their picks for the best events in every genre—from the end of Seattle Restaurant Week to a talk featuring Obama photographer Pete Souza, and from the MST3K Live 30th Anniversary Tour to the opening of the BAM Biennial 2018: Glasstastic. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.

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Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

MONDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Katrina Carrasco: The Best Bad Things
A disgraced female detective expelled from the Pinkerton Detective Agency is employed by a drug-smuggling kingpin to track down a stolen shipment of opium in the 1880s in Katrina Carrasco's exciting historical thriller, which she'll discuss tonight in conversation with local writer Nicola Griffith.

MONDAY-THURSDAY

ART

Anita Arora: Morbid Anatomy Art Show
Anita Arora's mixed-media shadowboxes evoke creepy medical Victoriana and anatomical oddity.
Closing Thursday

FOOD & DRINK

Seattle Restaurant Week
Frugal gourmands everywhere rejoice over this twice-yearly event, which lets diners tuck into prix-fixe menus at more than 165 different restaurants hoping to lure new customers with singularly slashed prices: Three courses cost a mere $33, and many restaurants also offer two-course lunches for $18. It’s an excellent opportunity to feast like a high roller at an accessible price point and cross some otherwise spendy establishments off your food bucket list, including critically acclaimed restaurants like Tilth, Agrodolce, and Lark. JULIANNE BELL

MONDAY-FRIDAY

ART

Chun Shao: Silicone Love - Her Garden
The internet generates and absorbs our desires, giving scopophilia—the pleasure of watching—an almost infinite playground. If this virtualized realm of desire were condensed into a single form, what would it look like? DXARTS PhD candidate Chun Shao makes “video-mapped gestural sculptures” that may provide an unsettling response. You can find a previous riff on this idea, Silicone Love - Her Finger, on Vimeo: a pulsing, illuminated, jellyfish-like object made of a lampshade, motors, baubles, and gauze. Like the Web, as you look into it, it yields and responds to your imagination. JOULE ZELMAN
Closing Friday

MONDAY-SATURDAY

COMEDY

Seattle International Comedy Competition
For nearly all of November, a lengthy last-comic-standing battle rages. Thirty-two comedians (split into two batches, each of which performs every night for one week) start the contest, and one will finish a champion. Celebrity judges and audience reactions determine who passes the preliminaries and who becomes a finalist.

PERFORMANCE

Anansi and the Halfling
A black millennial navigates the classroom and the realm of the gods in this song-, puppetry-, and dance-filled take on African storytelling and the discovery of one's people's history, written by Madison Jade Jones.
No performance Tuesday or Wednesday

Parliament Square
James Fritz's play, critically admired in the UK, follows an unstable young mother who commits an extreme act of protest that, instead of igniting revolutionary fervor, is largely ignored and leaves her life ruined. Will she stick to her (unspecified) political principles? Pony World Theatre will stage the drama's US debut.
No performance Tuesday or Wednesday

MONDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Disney On Ice: Dare to Dream
Okay, this is a bullshit ice show for kids. But the world is—as this past August in Seattle showed us—literally on fire. You deserve to drop out and gawk at some glittery dresses floating around an ice rink for an afternoon. Eat some edibles beforehand and pretend you’re watching Fantasia IRL. CHASE BURNS
No performance Tuesday or Wednesday

Schoolhouse Rock Live
My guess is there are more people who get the fond nostalgic feels about Schoolhouse Rock than there are people who hate it or don’t even know about it at all. Granted, the animated, educational series of musical shorts touching on history, grammar, math, science and politics might have had its original run from 1973 to 1985, but it was revived for a while in the ’90s, and grade school teachers are likely still showing it to their students. A quick poll of millennial staffers finds that “I’m Just a Bill” (1976) and “Conjunction Junction” (1973) are the top two faves, which just goes to show you this shit is timeless. ReAct Theatre will present both of the aforementioned jams, along with various others (like “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly” and “Interplant Janet”) during their 90-minute stage production. LEILANI POLK
No performance Wednesday-Friday

TUESDAY

COMEDY

Kevin McVey | Kasia | Chelsea Blackwell
This Solo Performance Month showcase includes the hilarious Kevin McVey (of the groups Yeah Okay, Rock Bottom, Lowbrow, Doesn’t Even Rhyme), who promises "carefully researched, high effort nonsense;" Kasia; and Chelsea Blackwell. 

READINGS & TALKS

Ellen Forney: Marbles
All-around illustrative powerhouse and Stranger Genius Ellen Forney presents her graphic memoir of bipolar disorder, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me. Not to be missed.

TUESDAY-SATURDAY

ART

Apparitions
Just in time for the early-dark season, curator J. Gordon has gathered a set of international artists to depict "the ideas behind supernatural beings and creatures in both folklore and pop culture." Paranormal lovers, be aware.
Closing Saturday

Heike Brachlow
Munich-born Heike Brachlow, now working not far from London, carefully balances her highly varied, colorful, and ingenious glass objects—expect precarious pendulums, columns, tops, and wobbly cylinders.
Closing Saturday

PERFORMANCE

A Thousand Splendid Suns
Based on Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel, Ursula Rani Sarma's play A Thousand Splendid Suns shows what happens when two women, Laila and Mariam, join in unbreakable friendship in wartime Kabul.

TUESDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Oslo
Oslo won a Tony for its dramatization of the top-secret peace negotiations between Rabin and Arafat in the 1990s. The diplomatic talks were, weirdly, orchestrated by young Norwegian power-couple Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen. Expect lots of long gray coats, wary handshakes, dark humor, and fine acting from Christine Marie Brown and Avery Clark. RICH SMITH

WEDNESDAY

FOOD & DRINK

Author Lunch at Bar Melusine: Everyday Dorie with Dorie Greenspan
Dine with legendary cookbook author Dorie Greenspan, who's won three James Beard Awards and worked with the likes of Julia Child, Pierre HermĂŠ, and Daniel Boulud, at Renee Erickson's French-Atlantic-meets-Pacific-Northwest restaurant Bar Melusine, and take home a copy of her new book Everyday Dorie, which shares the recipes she cooks at her home kitchens in Paris and the U.S. Chef Bobby Palmquist will create a three-course menu inspired by Dorie and her French and American sensibilities.

READINGS & TALKS

Jevin West and Carl Bergstrom: Spotting and Refuting Bullshit
As the promotional copy begins so bluntly: "The world is awash in bullshit." UW assistant professor in the Information School West and UW professor of biology Bergstrom will tackle the "pandering politicians, winking advertisers, startup soothsayers, television 'experts,' and even some scientists" that populate the American media landscape.

Silent Reading Party
The silent-reading party turns nine years old in 2018. For almost a decade, people have been gathering in the Fireside Room of the Sorrento Hotel to escape the distractions of the city, and the distractions of their cell phones, to read silently to themselves in overstuffed chairs or couches in front of the fire while waiters bring them things and Paul Moore plays exquisite piano. It’s an odd phenomenon—nothing happens—but it’s as popular as ever. At last month’s party, there was a line out the door. Get there at least an hour early for prime seating. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

Susan Orlean: The Library Book
No matter what you think of dogs, or standing desks, or killer whales, or orchids, you have to admit that Susan Orlean can write. No matter what subject she tackles, she makes it interesting. Am I passionately interested in the fire that destroyed much of the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986? Not exactly. Will I read Orlean’s book about it? Absolutely. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY

COMEDY

The Capitol Steps
The Capitol Steps have kept up fresh and informed political satire since 1981, when Senator Charles Percy's staffers cooked up a sketch for their Christmas party. Though not all members are former staffers, the comedians boast "62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience." See contemporary politics get the skewering it deserves.

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY

FILM

14th Annual HUMP! Film Festival
The 14th Annual HUMP! Film Festival, the world's biggest and best porn short film festival, premiers in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco this November! After the opening festival concludes its run, HUMP! will hit the road in 2019 and screen in more than 50 cities across the U.S. and Canada. HUMP! invites filmmakers, animators, songwriters, porn-star wannabes, kinksters, vanilla folks, YOU, and other creative types to make short porn films—five minutes max—for HUMP! The HUMP! Film Festival screens in theaters and nothing is ever released online. HUMP! films can be hardcore, softcore, live action, animated, kinky, vanilla, straight, gay, lez, bi, trans, genderqueer—anything goes at HUMP! (Well, almost anything: No poop, no animals, no minors, no MAGA hats.) DAN SAVAGE

PERFORMANCE

Arms and the Man
George Bernard Shaw's romance comedy, set in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885, pits a Swiss mercenary on the run against a brave but boring Bulgarian officer as they war for the love of a romantic Bulgarian woman—who begins to prefer the sneaky Swiss. David Armstrong, formerly of the 5th Avenue Theater, will direct.

A People's History
Mike Daisey is back in town, as he often is, with a pretty simple but brilliant bit. He's going to read you some pages from Good Will Hunting's favorite history book—Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. Then he's going to read you some pages from his high-school history book. Then we're all going to sit there and have a little reflection session on the difference between history as told by the conquerors and history as told from the perspective of the dispossessed. RICH SMITH

Wonderland
Wonderland returns! Can Can will transform its venue into a snowy chalet and populate it with teasing beauties.

THURSDAY

ART

Betty Bowen Award Ceremony
Celebrate this year's Betty Bowen Award winner, mixed-media artist Natalie Ball (whose work Emily Pothast has called "enigmatic, potent, and visually stunning"), as well as Special Recognition Award winners Amy Bernstein and Deborah Faye Lawrence, by hearing the artists talk about their work.

Capitol Hill Art Walk
Every second Thursday, rain or shine, the streets of Capitol Hill are filled with tipsy art lovers checking out galleries and special events. In November, don't miss a pop-up market of work by queer local artists, Scream for Queer Art!, and the opening of commercial illustrator Isvald Klingels's exhibition Growth.

FILM

Night Heat: The 41st Film Noir Series
They proliferated in anxious postwar America and still occasionally return to brood and smolder onscreen: films noirs, born of the chiaroscuro influence of immigrant German directors and the pressure of unique American fears. Once again, the Seattle Art Museum will screen nine hard-boiled, moody crime classics like tonight's Wicked Woman.

FOOD & DRINK

Seattle Winter Ciderfest
Sink into the chilly season with tastes of spiced, pumpkin-y, and barrel-aged ciders.

READINGS & TALKS

Jason Lutes: Berlin
In the culmination of a long-awaited project, Drawn & Quarterly will release Jason Lutes's Berlin, a graphic chronicle of Berlin's fall to the onslaught of fascism. Berlin is 20 years in the making: Way back in 2001, Evan Sult wrote in The Stranger, "Where Art Spiegelman's Maus defined the comics version of World War II, and Joe Sacco's Palestine examined the postwar Jewish state, Berlin acts as a kind of fictional prequel." Lutes will be joined in conversation by fellow comic artist Megan Kelso. This is not one to skip.

Tera Hatfield, Jenny Kempson, and Natalie Ross: Seattleness
A new atlas of Seattle is born: Seattleness takes an unconventional look at our green and cloudy city, spotlighting everything "from UFO sightings to pinball legacies, gray skies to frontier psychology, strong women to strong coffee." The authors—artist/geographer Jenny Kempson, writer/designer Tera Hatfield, and landscape architect Natalie Ross—will introduce you to their work of creative history.

Vikings Were People Too: Growing Up in the Viking Age with UW Professor Emeritus Terje Leiren
For the museum's first entry in the Nordic Lecture Series, UW professor Terje Leiren will discuss Norse mythology and overturn some stereotypes about the warlike—but complex—people. A reception by City Catering will follow.

THURSDAY-SATURDAY

ART

Warren Dykeman: Attention Span
Do you remember learning about cuneiform—one of the earliest systems of writing from the Sumeria region? Wedges made with reeds that made language? I was obsessed. I started thinking about cuneiform, then went down a hobo code rabbit hole while trying to figure out the symbolism in Warren Dykeman’s work. Which led me to early computer language. I so badly want to decode the rows and rows of symbols. Does the mirror frame plus green square plus tree plus the letter ‘Z’ add up somehow? A painting emblazoned FRONT STAB seems easily interpretable, but the one declaring SAFE FAZ leads us back into the cryptic. KATIE KURTZ
Opening Thursday

Zack Bent: In Memoria
In the summer of 2014, Zack Bent began taking his three sons on regular pilgrimages to a plot of land just south of Cle Elem, Washington. When he began visiting this site, it had just been burned by a forest fire; today, the region is showing signs of regeneration and regrowth. Through a series of photographs of his children interacting with the land over the span of four years—as well as sculptures made from overwintered tarps—Bent has documented not only the transformation of the land, but also the growth of his children into adolescents. It's a way of experiencing the land that many of us aren't accustomed to, in which time is subordinate to space, rather than the other way around. EMILY POTHAST
Closing Saturday

FILM

Engauge Experimental Film Festival
This experimental film festival will screen "films that originated on film" from artists around the world, including Kerry Laitala's cosmic Astro Trilogy, a multimedia performance by Olympia's Crackpot Collective, and two live scores. 

PERFORMANCE

Compagnie Käfig: Pixel
Watch a fine-art, experimental blend of hiphop, circus acrobatics, and video art with this renowned dance company from Lyon, France, headed by Mourad Merzouki. See dancers move through a pulsing field of dots and matrices that appears to ripple in response to their bodies.

THURSDAY-SUNDAY

FILM

Cinema Italian Style
The Cinema Italian Style is a weeklong SIFF mini-festival featuring the best in contemporary Italian cinema. This year, check out The Guest, a comedy about a man who crashes on a series of friends' and families' couches after being dumped; Dogman, Italy's submission to the 2019 Oscars, about a docile dog groomer who embarks on the path of vengeance against a local bully; Ferrante Fever, a documentary about the elusive author's work; and The Story of a Love Affair, Michelangelo Antonioni's classic melodrama about two lovers on the path to murder.

PERFORMANCE

All Premiere
This is a set of one world premiere, Kyle Davis's solo work A Dark and Lonely Space, and two Pacific Northwest Ballet premieres: resident Hubbard Dance Company choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo's Silent Ghost and Alexander Ekman's acclaimed parody of contemporary dance, Cacti.
Check out Thursday's Beer & Ballet ticket special, which offers craft beer and seats on the main floor.

Hypernova: Bitter Suites
A heady dance piece about growing up in the late 1980s and early '90s with all the pastel pomp and airy synth vibes that define the era! Press materials indicate that choreographer Rainbow Fletcher and her dance company will offer a "bittersweet story" about 10 dancers "examining their own memories surrounding the inevitable transition from childhood innocence to self-aware adulthood." Don't say Velocity never gave you nothin', elderly millennials and youthful Gen Xers. RICH SMITH

Juan Palmieri
In the 1960s, Uruguay’s economy was in crisis. An urban guerrilla group called the Tupamaros rose up and began redistributing the wealth by robbing banks and giving food and money to the poor. A right wing military dictatorship took power in a coup d'etat and started putting the kibosh on all that. Shortly thereafter, the United States swooped in and trained local police to interrogate and torture dissidents, which led to hundreds of disappearances and thousands of incarcerations. Uruguayan playwright Antonio Larreta dramatizes this story of political upheaval and US intervention in Juan Palmieri, which ACT will present for the first time in English. Arlene Martínez-Vázquez translates and directs. RICH SMITH

FRIDAY

ART

Sam Finnegan
Irish cartoonist Sam Finnegan will show his "visual grotesqueries" for one night only. Feast your eyes on prints on "ugly, ugly people" and meet the artist. 

SAM Remix
SAM Remix is a recurring and ever-changing art party that includes performances, tours, and dancing, all inspired by their current special exhibit. This time, it'll revolve around the beautiful special exhibition, Peacock in the Desert: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India.

Seattle Chapter Black Panther Party Tribute Mural Unveiling
Franklin High School’s social and environmental justice-focused art club, Art of Resistance & Resilience, will unveil a 40-foot-long mural in honor of the Seattle Chapter Black Panther Party's legacy and accomplishments in the area. The event will also feature a photo essay by Unapologetic Artist and Creatives, a short film produced by Franklin students Veronique Harris and Miles Grant, Native American storytelling by Roger Fernandes, and live poetry and spoken word by Franklin students and alumni. Come out in support for Seattle students taking an active part in forging their community and paying tribute to the work done by the SCBPP. JASMYNE KEIMIG

FOOD & DRINK

The Whisky Extravaganza
Sip from a selection of over 100 whiskies, with craft cocktails, whisky-inspired bites, and classes led by industry pros.

PERFORMANCE

Global Party
A performance celebrating the diversity of the Seattle community with music and dancing from various cultures.

READINGS & TALKS

Commune Editions Poetry Reading: Wendy Trevino and Laura Martin
Wendy Trevino, who published the chapbook #YourHarveyWeinstein in 2017, will read work concerning "the politics of struggle" from her first full-length poetry collection, Cruel Fiction. Olympia-based poet Laura Martin will also read new work. 

Lisa Halliday: Asymmetry
During the early 2000s, a young editor begins an affair with a much older writer. In another thread of the story, an Iraqi American man is detained at a US airport by immigration officers. The two narrative threads come together in an unexpected climax. Lisa Halliday's first novel has garnered wild enthusiasm from many critics; Katy Waldman of the New Yorker called it a "literary phenomenon." Hear her read live.

Literary Series: Lauren Groff, R. O. Kwon, Kim Fu, and Shelby Earl
Lauren Groff is an amazingly talented fiction writer (author of Fates and Furies and lots of other books), and the Hugo House Literary Series is a must-see. The theme this time is “Diving Into the Wreck” (inspired by the Adrienne Rich poem). Groff, along with writers R. O. Kwon and Kim Fu, read works written specifically for this night, along with live music by Shelby Earl. It goes down at Hugo House’s new home, which you also must see. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

FOOD & DRINK

Magnus Nilsson's The Nordic Baking Book
Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson, who is the head chef at Fäviken and has been featured on Mind of a Chef and Chef's Table, will talk about traveling throughout his native Norway to research and curate over 450 recipes for his most recent book The Nordic Baking Book, a follow-up to his book The Nordic Cookbook. On Friday, James Beard Award-winning chef Matt Dillon will create drinks and a food menu inspired by Nilsson's new book.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

ART

BAM Biennial 2018: Glasstastic
Artists from Oregon and Washington will contribute their most innovative pieces in glass to this year's BAM Biennial.
Opening Friday

Clyde Petersen: Merch & Destroy
Animation filmmaker, musician, artist, and roadie Clyde Petersen presents a “heartfelt yet abject love letter” to touring life, drawn from his own two decades of experience with Laura Veirs, Earth, Aesop Rock, Little Wings, Kimya Dawson, and his own band, Your Heart Breaks. With a style that’s equal measures innocence and wry distance, he’s constructed a Ford Econoline and a green room out of cardboard that’s complemented by a set of guitars from the same humble materials, and co-created with Darius X for the show, Shredders: A Fantasy Guitar Store. Salute the punk/post-punk lifestyle and bathe in a gritty Northwest soundtrack as you explore the exhibition. JOULE ZELMAN
Opening Friday

FILM

Seattle Turkish Film Festival
The Turkish American Cultural Association of Washington will present the sixth annual edition of their community-driven, volunteer-led festival featuring a rich panorama of new Turkish films.

PERFORMANCE

A Bright Room Called Day
Because we're all such rugged American individuals, it's easy to dismiss the rising tide of fascism in this country and across the globe as a troublesome but ultimately passing fad doomed to be washed away by the incoming blue wave. A group of Berlin artists had a similar thought, too—in 1932. In Tony Kushner's 1985 classic, A Bright Room Called Day, those artists wrestle with all the same questions we're all wrestling with now—Do we stay or do we go? Do we stage a revolution? Or do we try to fight it from the inside? Like all of Kushner's plays, it's an intelligent and gripping story that will make you feel like you live in a vibrant, thriving city that matters. And if the play spurs you to get off your ass and actually do something for that city—or for the country at large—the show's producer, The Williams Project, says they'll put you in touch with local activists in order to facilitate civic action. RICH SMITH

SATURDAY

ART

Georgetown 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. If the westerly locations are too far, there's a free Art Ride!

COMEDY

The Nightmare Society
The Nightmare Society tells the story of a commune of artists who act out your nightmares at the sound of a grandfather clock. Explore your deepest fears while intermittently giggling at the revival of this hit improvised horror show, which always comes up with bizarre and compelling imagery.

Steven Tran | Riccardo Pieri | Michael Cercado | Cheerspeare! | Dandyland: Queering Motherhood One Day at a Time
Another weekend of Solo Performance Month includes a piece by Intiman Emerging Artist Laurie Lynch with a piece on being a queer dandy raising two boys; Cheerspeare!, in which Mandy Canales stars as a cheerleading coach who steps up to sub for a Shakespearean drama teacher; Michael Cercado; Riccardo Pieri; and Stevan Tran.

FILM

Hep Cats
Cats in movies have symbolized everything from elegance to curiosity to evil, but sometimes—like in the films of the French experimentalist Chris Marker—they are simply their wonderful selves. Hep Cats delivers a handful of these ailurophilic flicks, like Kaneto Shindo's shivery tale of ghostly vengeance, Kuroneko ("black cat").

FOOD & DRINK

Barrel-Aged Invitational
Gulp barrel-aged beers from 11 local breweries, and fill up on charcuterie snacks and pizza. 

South Sound Craft Beer Festival
Imbibe creations from South Sound brewers at this winter-focused beer festival.

READINGS & TALKS

Amelia Bonow, Lesley Hazleton, Miki Sodos, Alana Edmondson, S. Surface, Alayna Becker, Shawna Murphy
Shout Your Abortion, co-founded by Lindy West and edited by local activists Amelia Bonow and Emily Nokes, is a collection of photos, essays, and creative work that addresses the threat to reproductive rights posed by the current administration. This evening, hear some stories from contributors.

Eroyn Franklin
Playful and inventive comics artist Franklin (full disclosure: we've published her in The Stranger) will show off some recent self-publications.

Norse Myths: An Epic Event with Seattle Storytellers Guild
Fourteen storytellers from Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia will share their favorite Norse myths, some of which date back thousands of years.

R. O. Kwon: The Incendiaries
The world of literary fiction seems to be very excited about R.O. Kwon's debut novel, The Incendiaries, which is about a religious young man's quest to find a college woman who disappeared after being drawn into the midst of an extremist religious cult. Writing for the New Yorker, Laura Miller says the book is "the rare depiction of belief that doesn’t kill the thing it aspires to by trying too hard." NPR's Maureen Corrigan calls it an "angsty" novel about "the allure of a belief in God." Seija Rankin at Entertainment Weekly called it "perfectly Instagrammable." Authors Viet Thanh Nguyen and Lauren Groff stan for it. Go measure the hype against the reality at this reading. RICH SMITH

The Value of a Work of Art Can Be Measured By the Harm Spoken of It: Conversations with David Shields
Distinguished intellectual David Shields will appear to argue about "lived experience, art, and politics" surroundings Lynch: A History (a film about Marshawn Lynch) with Kurt Streeter.

SHOPPING

More Fats More Femmes Witch Market 7.0
Celebrate your babely bod while shopping for plus size vintage clothing and accessories at this stacked size-inclusive market hosted by Indian Summer owner Adria Garcia, ex-IS manager (and current Stranger music calendar editor) Kim Selling, and current IS shopgirl Abby Cooke. They'll have pieces from a wide variety of styles, from size 12 to 32.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

FOOD & DRINK

The Northwest Chocolate Festival
If your chocolate obsession borders on pathological à la the Cathy comic strip, look no further than this two-day all-out cacao bacchanal, which focuses on sustainability and will feature international chocolate exhibits, tastings, and a full lineup of educational seminars on all manner of chocolate geekery. Artisan chocolatiers from near (Theo Chocolate, Seattle Chocolate Co., Fran’s, Dilettante, Indi) and far (Valrhona, Guittard, Dandelion Chocolate) will bring their chocolatey wares so you can stuff yourself silly with all the samples your cocoa-craving heart desires. JULIANNE BELL

SUNDAY

ART

Fall Artist Showcase: 25 Years of Jack Straw Artists
The cultural center will look back on 25 years of fostering art, film, writing, audio recording, and music with a big bash full of music, readings, and dance by Jack Straw artists old and new.

COMEDY

Come Out Laughing
This comedy tour created by Jason Dudley (seen on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, LOGO's Wisecracks, and other networks) and Erin Foley (host of Lifetime's Mixologist And A Movie) brings together funny people across the LGBTQ+ spectrum and puts them on stage for an inclusive laugh fest.

Improvised Chekhov
Once again evincing impressive ambition, this improv company will act out scenes based on your suggestions and classic Russian plays like Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, or The Three Sisters. Since the drama of Anton Chekhov relies on deep character development, complex social mores, and lingering melancholy, these performances—if successful—will truly be coups de thèâtre.

Margaret Cho
Has any dirty-minded Asian woman ever gotten further in comedy than Margaret Cho? Or even a straitlaced Asian woman? With the possible exception of Ali Wong, it's doubtful. Besides her refreshingly brazen sex talk, Cho perceptively dissects Asian American stereotypes and finds endless fonts of funniness from her bisexuality, eating disorders, drinking and drugging to excess, her charming mother and her distinctively accented English, and the foibles of gay men (the latter of whom compose a large percentage of her fan base). There’s a great bit from her classic 2002 special, The Notorious C.H.O., about a trip to the colon-hydrotherapy clinic that deserves to be in heavy rotation even now. DAVE SEGAL

MST3K Live 30th Anniversary Tour
Take a nice Midwestern guy, two snarky robots, and some evil scientists on the jankiest spaceship in the galaxy and add a dreadful B-movie, and you've got Mystery Science Theater 3000, which has been providing schlocky amusement for an amazing 30 years. Each show is different, but both will feature Joel Hodgson and reboot star Jonah Ray. Show # 1 will be the Canadian sci-fi horror The Brain, and Show #2 will be the dreadful Deathstalker II.

FILM

MoPOP Matinee: Dave Chappelle's Block Party
In 2005, Dave Chapelle hosted a block party filled with stand-up and musical performances from big acts like the Roots, Kanye West, and Mos Def in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, and he made it into a little movie. See it at this special screening. 

READINGS & TALKS

Katie Ford: Reading and Conversation with Rae Armantrout
Katie Ford (Deposition, Colosseum, and Blood Lyrics) has come close to winning the LA Times Book Prize and the Rilke Prize, and has received a Lannan Literary Fellowship and the Larry Levis Prize. In her fourth book, If You Have to Go, she engages with the sonnet form. She'll be joined by Pulitzer winner Rae Armantrout.

Nick DiMartino: Dragonweed
Hear Seattle author and playwright Nick DiMartino, the author of 15 novels and 20 plays, read from the first book of his new fantasy trilogy, Dragonweed. 

Pete Souza
Pete Souza is the guy who took the picture of Barack Obama leaning over to let the little kid touch his hair, to see if it really was just like his. This is the guy who took the picture of Barack and Michelle Obama hugging on reelection night 2012 that became one of the most retweeted photos ever. This is the guy who took the photo of Obama’s cabinet watching Osama bin Laden’s lead-filled demise—the one with Hillary Clinton’s hand clamped over her mouth. How can you miss this? CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

Peter Sagal: The Incomplete Book of Running
Peter Sagal may be a star among the NPR set, but when he’s not hosting the public radio quiz show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, he’s often found running, a hobby this formerly indoorsy guy didn’t get serious about until he was 40. Since then, Sagal has logged tens of thousands of miles, and in his new book, he reflects on what running has given him, from life-changing experiences like crossing the finish line of the 2014 Boston Marathon just moments before the bombs went off, to your everyday, running-induced diarrhea. At once both witty and wise, The Incomplete Book of Running will appeal to both readers who run and to those of us who prefer to put up our feet, turn on the radio, and listen. KATIE HERZOG