Our music critics have already chosen the 44 best music shows this week, but now it's our arts and culture critics' turn to recommend the best events in their areas of expertise. Here are their picks in every genreâfrom the Local Sightings Film Festival to an evening with Eric Andre, and from Paula Vogel's Tony Awardâwinning play Indecent to the Smoke Farm Symposium. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.
Heading to Portland or Tacoma? Check out EverOut to find things to do there and in Seattle, all in one place.
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MONDAY
READINGS & TALKSCaitlin Doughty: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?
No one might know what happens when you die (actually, I do: nothing), but funeral director, mortician, and YouTube star Caitlin Doughty can certainly answer less ethereal questions about death. For instance: Do people poop when they die? And how do I get a Viking funeral? And, of course, will my cat eat my eyeballs out when I die alone on my kitchen floor after choking on a cupcake? Doughtyâs new book answers these questions and many more, and like all her work, will help demystify the most inevitable and perhaps most mysterious part of being alive: dying. KATIE HERZOG
David B. Williams: Stories in Stone
David Williams's Stories in Stone: Travels Through Urban Geology takes readers on a tour of the city streets to discover underlying geology.
General Jim Mattis
General Jim Mattis, who served as the 26th U.S. Secretary of Defense until resigning in 2018, shares his account of three wars in which he was a top commander in his book Call Sign Chaos. As former Stranger Slog AM writer Michael Bell put it: "I want to just remind anyone who believes there ever was 'an adult in the room' that all of the people who joined Trumpâs administration knew exactly who Trump was before they got into it. That alone means there never was 'an adult in the room.'" We'll leave it up to you if you want to hear Mattis for yourself.
Samantha Power: The Education of an Idealist
Past Pulitzer winner, current Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School professor, and member of Obama's State Department Samantha Power will read from her memoir The Education of an Idealist, which spans her career from war correspondent to diplomat. John Koenig, former US Ambassador to Cyprus and currently a professor at the Jackson School at UW, will moderate.
MONDAY-TUESDAY
FILMNT Live: Fleabag
This stage show by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, about a mad and sexually hungry young woman trying to make sense of life, inspired the Emmy-nominated TV show of the same name. See it broadcast live.
Bastille Rooftop Dinner Series
Dine al fresco on Bastille's rooftop, with cocktails and dinner made with ingredients sourced directly from the rooftop garden.
MONDAY & THURSDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEIs God Is
All her life, Anaia had dreams about her mother burning in a fire. It was the same fire that burned up her family home, and that disfigured her face and the body of her twin sister, Racine. When the twins reconnect with their estranged mother, whom they call She (and also God), they learn Anaia's dreams are actually memories, and that the fire was no accident. Their father, whose name is Man, deliberately lit She and the children on fire. Now on her deathbed, She has one request of her daughters: Kill Man and everyone around him. The audience learns all of this information in the first 10 minutes of Is God Is, a new play by Aleshea Harris put on by Washington Ensemble Theatre. The next 80 minutes of the show are a funny, bloody, twisty revenge play that's tons of fun to watch. RICH SMITH
ALL WEEK
FESTIVALSBellwether 2019: Taking Root
This year's festival of arts and performance spreads from the Bellevue Arts Museum to various downtown Bellevue venues, including the Meydenbauer Center and City Hall. This week brings a pop-up market, a guided tour with Ben Beres of the SuttonBeresCuller artistic trio, a conversation about Bellevue with John Boylan, and more. See the full schedule here.
The Fall Kick-off 2019
Dance season is here, folks. During kick-off week, Velocity will conduct workshops for those in the dance community and throw a Friday night party for all with 10 pop-up performances. Other events will include an "all-arts mixer" and a screening of dance films in conjunction with Local Sightings Film Festival.
TUESDAY
READINGS & TALKSGabby Rivera: Juliet Takes a Breath
Gabby Rivera, editor of the queer women-focused website Autostraddle, is the first Latina to work for Marvel. The SyFy network anointed her one of the top comic creators of 2017, and NBC named her a #Pride30 Innovator in the same year. She's come out with a coming-of-age young adult novel about a "self-proclaimed closeted Puerto Rican baby dyke from the Bronx" who snags an internship with her favorite feminist writer. She's hoping for a mentor, but it turns out a white Portlander doesn't have all the answers for a young brown woman.
Salon of Shame
Writing that makes you cringe ("middle school diaries, high school poetry, unsent letters") is read aloud with unapologetic hilarity at the Salon of Shame.
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEPeople of the Book
When a soldier returns home from war and writes a memoir about his experiences, another friend of hisâa poetâfeels pangs of resentment. And also suspicion. Is the memoir about the soldierâs heroics factually accurate? And there are other jealousies swirling around. The poetâs wife is someone the soldier used to have a big crush on, and may still have a crush on. Does she have feelings for him, too? Truth, infidelity, artistic jealousy, and sexual tension come together in this powerful and concise new play by Yussef El Guindi, a phenomenal writer and the winner of a Stranger Genius Award. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
WEDNESDAY
FILMArt House Theater Day
Our arthouse cinemas are precious; this day of the year is an occasion to pay attention to the role they play in our cultural lives. Head to SIFF Cinema Uptown for Peter Strickland's jaw-dropping In Fabric ("Deliciously retro, nastily funny, but siding with those wrung out by the cycle of labor and consumption, In Fabric deserves a spot next to Sorry to Bother You in the hall of great anti-capitalist comedies"âJoule Zelman); Grand Illusion for Putney Swope (Robert Downey Sr.'s 1969 satire about a token black advertising executive who, thanks to white hubris, is accidentally elected chairman of the board); or Northwest Film Forum for a special Community Show & Tell.
Mini Ladd & BigJigglyPanda: Demonetized Tour
Northern Irish gamer and vlogger Mini Ladd will appear live with fellow YouTuber BigJigglyPanda to tell jokes and stories and maybe play some games. These YouTubers have 1.6 million subscribers, and I just watched them watching videos on Reddit for 30 minutes without even thinking about it. I enjoyed myself the whole time, if only because satisfying my internet addiction is less lonely and alienating when doing so with friends I've never met. RICH SMITH
The Body Lives Its Undoing
Town Hall Seattle and Benaroya Research Institute will present a program of art and poetry by people with autoimmune diseases (as well as scientists, physicians, caretakers, and others) such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, or Crohn's disease. Poet and educator Suzanne Edison will be the primary speaker.
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
PERFORMANCEChoreographic Shindig V
Whim WâHim kicks off their fall season the way they have for the last four yearsâwith a sort of opposite day where dancers choose the choreographer with whom they want to work. This year, we've got Montreal-based Kyra Jean Green, who directs Trip the Light Fantastic, a group that seeks to "uncover the truth beneath the surface of human perception" through dance. Sam Houston State University assistant professor of dance Joshua Manculich and Yoshito Sakuraba, who runs Abarukas dance company, will also work with Whim WâHim's dancers to create brand-new works of contemporary dance and structured improv. RICH SMITH
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEBlood Water Paint
Artemisia Gentileschi was a remarkable painter in 17th-century Italyâbut today she's known almost as much for her determination to bring her rapist to justice as for her artistic genius. She's a perfect subject for female-focused Macha Theater. Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough-Carranza recounts her career through her interactions with other women, including her models and her own daughter, as well as the trial for which she's famous.
The Legend of El Dorado
The actual legend of El Dorado is many things: a man, a myth, a kingdom pursued by the Spanish Empire. It isn't something that easily translates into an hour-and-a-half dinner cabaret. Thankfully, it turns out that Can Can's El Dorado is more concerned with booty shorts, high kicks, and stripteases than staying faithful to a narrative. Can Can describes The Legend of El Dorado as a "badass women-on-the-run story" that's "all-new, all-original, all-fishnets." Set in a "cinematic desert-scape" where a "women-led gang is kicking ass and taking names," El Dorado lets its cast and crew do what Can Can does best: wine and dine you, put on a little razzle-dazzle, and get (mostly) naked. I love it every time I go. CHASE BURNS
THURSDAY
PERFORMANCERisk!
Hosted by The State alum Kevin Allison, Risk! is a podcast and live storytelling event where, according to the tagline, people tell âtrue stories they never thought theyâd dare to share.â And, oh, the stories. A memorable episode featured a woman who found a fellow kinkster online and shared her elaborate fantasies of serving as a come dumpster on a cruise ship (her words, not mine), only to discover later (after many explicit chats) that her fantasy partner was actually her⊠father. The apple, as they say, fell quite close to the tree. You can hear stories just as touching as this at Risk! live. KATIE HERZOG
Amitav Ghosh: Gun IslandâA Novel
In acclaimed author Ghosh's new novel, a rare book dealer with a crisis of faith embarks on a global journey to research a mysterious legend. Reportedly, the novel is, in part, an investigation of the post-climate-change world, with all its vast migrations, economic upheavals, and extreme weather events. Ghosh is a Prix Médicis étranger winner for The Circle of Reason and has received two Lifetime Achievement awards and four honorary doctorates, plus the Padma Shri award from the president of India.
Naomi Shihab Nye
Prolific Palestinian American poet Nye recently won the Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement, and that's just one prize in a long line of laurels (including a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship). Don't miss her appearance with SAL, where she'll be promoting The Tiny Journalist. It's a collection inspired by a seven-year-old videographer of Palestinian protests, Janna Tamimi.
Poetry and Open Mic: Footbridge Above the Falls
Seattle's Rose Alley Press is coming out with a poetry anthology with work by some excellent locals you should know:Â Christopher J. Jarmick (owner of BookTree in Kirkland), Stranger favorite Robert Lashley, UK-born Ken Osborne, award-winning Bethany Reid, and Rose Alley founder David D. Horowitz. Bring some verses of your own to read.
Robin Layton: The Lake
Love Lake Washington? So does Pulitzer Prize nominee/Nikon ambassador Robin Layton, whose new art book, limited to 2,000 copies, captures the body of water over four seasons. Get a copy for yourself.
Tatiana Schlossberg: Inconspicuous Consumption
When the world is simultaneously drowning and burning, it's hard to imagine the impact a single human can have on combating (or, on the other hand, directly contributing to) climate change. But according to environmental reporter Tatiana Schlossberg, the small choices we make every day do have a big influence on the health of the planet. She'll come to Seattle to talk about the correlation between Netflix and coal, hamburgers and pollution, and more from her book Inconspicuous Consumption.
Tracy Chevalier: A Single Thread
From the author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, a bereaved woman after the Great War must fight for independence in her community of broderers (embroiderers) in Winchester, England.
THURSDAY-SATURDAY
VISUAL ARTGirlfriends of the Guerrilla Girls
This show at CoCA brings together Seattle artists who identify themselves as feminist and also do not have gallery representation. The lineup includes ceramicist Hanako OâLeary, who creates vagina vessels and Japanese Hannya-inspired masks that replace faces with labias. Itâs pretty metal. Ann Leda Shapiroâs sexually explicit Angerâwhich the Whitney Museum of Art refused to hang in her one-person show in 1973âwill also make an appearance. Stranger Genius Award winner C. Davida Ingram, as well as Sheila Klein, Alice Dubiel, Deborah Faye Lawrence, Cecilia ConcepciĂłn Alvarez, Dawn Cerny, E.T. Russian, and the Guerrilla Girls themselves, round out the show. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Saturday
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEIndy Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Temple of the Doomed Ark
Sketch writers from the Habit plus collaborators Jeff Schell and Ryan Dobosh take aim at all three Indiana Jones movies in this musical parody, smashing the second and third into a silly, song-filled version of the first. The producers say, "Indy Jones dutifully denies that the Crystal Skull ever even happened." The show is directed by Mark Siano, who had a big hit with local theater production Bohemia last year.
Ligia Lewis: Water Will (in Melody)
Witness the final act of a triptych from Ligia Lewis, a Dominican American choreographer based in Germany who earlier this year impressed the hell out of Seattle with the first two parts of that triptych, Sorrow Swag and minor matter. A reviewer for Bachtrack called Water Will (in Melody) "a gory fairy tale on human behaviors gone wild," and that's what all the press videos look like. Dancers, covered in black or clear vinyl, strewn across the floor like broken puppets and talking like records played backward, all while lighting tricks make them disappear and reappear. This is about as goth as contemporary dance gets. RICH SMITH
We Go Mad
Playwright Amy Escobar (Scary Mary and the Nightmares Nine) is back with a frightening haunted-house play incorporating bunraku, shadow play, and "object manipulation" into a story about a woman investigating the estate she's inherited.
&Now 2019: Points of Convergence
This biennial, which welcomes academics and independent scholars and writers, will present "fiction, poetry, and staged play readings; literary rituals, performance pieces (digital, sound, and otherwise), electronic and multimedia projects; and inter-genre literary work of all kinds." Keynote speakers will include LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Barbara Browning, and Nathaniel Mackey.
Hayden Stern: Trans Tarot
Stern asked for selfies from the trans community, then transformed these pictures into a tarot deck representing gender as "a mystical process of transformation." Come see these reverent expressions of self-confidence and self-love, and pick up a deck for your queer divination purposes.Â
Opening Thursday
Xenobia Bailey, Henry Jackson-Spieker, Marita Dingus, Nastassja Swift: Installations
Wa Na Wariâa collaborative project run by Inye Wokoma and other artists including Elisheba Johnson, Rachel Kessler, and Jill Freidbergâopened in April. The team curates group shows of three to four black artists per month. The current cycle includes excellent work by Xenobia Bailey, Henry Jackson-Spieker, and Marita Dingus, but it was artist Nastassja Swift's video piece in a hot room upstairs that struck a nerve with me. I think it was the masks. Larger than life-size, Swift's masks depict black female ancestors with half-closed eyes, hair neatly done in braids, Bantu knots, cornrows, and twists. In the video, Remembering Her Homecoming, black women dancers dressed in white, adorned with the giant wool masks, dance, walk, and sing freedom songs along the Richmond Slave Trail in Virginia. Swift's video, no more than 10 minutes long, grapples with the concept of home, being home, having a home, feeling at home in one's body and community. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Sunday
FRIDAY
COMEDYBrian Posehn
A giant nerd (heâs six foot seven), comedian Brian Posehn is obsessed with Star Warsâbut just the first three movies, bro. Nevertheless, heâs still worth checking out. Aside from wringing much humor from that pop-culture institution, Posehn is a master of the self-deprecating anecdote, using his huge body as a fertile source of gross, hilarious bits. âIâve taken care of myself like I thought I was gonna get a new body,â he confesses. âIâve treated my body like itâs a shitty motel room at spring break.â An accomplished character actor, Posehn can also extract quality comedy out of heavy metal, going so far as to record the Live In: Nerd Rage album, which includes âMetal by Numbers,â a witty demystification of this overly serious musical genre. At one point, Posehn grunts, âHereâs the part that sounds like the singer wants to fight,â which is LOL-worthy. DAVE SEGAL
Mastercreep Theater: Brainscan
The Mystery Drag Queen Theater artists ask: "How hilariously bad can a film get? Let's find out!" Old Witch and friends will mock Brainscan, in which a teenager's video game habits start killing people. Frank Langella's in it, for some reason.
Gina Rippon: The Myth of the Gendered Brain
Recognized cognitive neuroscientist Professor Gina Rippon will keep you up to date on the science of differences in men and women's brainsâor the lack thereof. Drawing on her book Gender and Our Brains, she promises to expose flaws and bias in research on the sexes. According to the event organizers, "Rippon presents the latest evidence which indicates that brains are like mosaics comprised of both male and female components, and that they remain plastic, adapting throughout the course of a personâs life."
Indelible in the Hippocampus: Writings from the #MeToo Movement
This new anthology from McSweeney's takes its title from one of the more powerful moments of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. "Indelible in the hippocampus is laughter," she said, recalling the time Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh and another boy allegedly sexually assaulted her, laughing as they did so. Local writers Kamari Bright, Jalayna Carter, Sasha LaPointe, and Kristen Millares Young, plus editor Shelly Oria, will celebrate this collection of writing on the #MeToo movement, which includes fiction, essays, and poetry. I've only read one of Young's essays on the topic, and I remember it knocking me flat. So bring a helmet to this one. RICH SMITH
Surreal Storytelling with Strange Women: One Year Anniversary
Celebrate one year of Kate Berwanger's excellent series, which for this special edition will feature speculative fiction writer Carol A. Petrie, artist/writer/death doula apprentice Carrie Redway, fantasy/sci-fi/horror author Ellen Meny, poet Emma Aylor, feminist fiction writer G.G. Silverman, "Fat Femme Jewish Word Witch, Tarot Reader & Creatrix from a lineage of Priestesses" Hazel Fern, young adult novelist Helen K. Thomas, and multigenre writer Kate Bernatche. Bring cash to shop from vendors Moon Milk Rituals and Nomihelene, and stay on to dance with Vox Sinistra!
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
COMEDYJordan Rock
Calling himself âthe Solange of my family,â Jordan Rock knows heâll never be as wealthy or as renowned as brother Chris (or maybe even Tony). But heâs working hard to overcome the innate disadvantage of always having his older siblingsâ accomplishments overshadow his. Some of the subjects Jordan tackles include female versus male Siri, awful Tinder dates, the twisted ways social media influences our minds (âEvery time I meet somebody not on Facebook, itâs creepy as shit.â), the n-word (âIâm addicted to it, like a cigarette; I need to say it when I wake up.â). He has Judd Apatowâs imprimatur, acting in the famed directorâs Netflix series Love. If that doesnât inspire you to investigate the youngest Rock, I donât know what to tell you. DAVE SEGAL
Randy Ford: Queen Street
I really liked the way Crystal Paul at the Seattle Times described Randy Ford's appeal onstage. "Everything about Randy Ford is strikingâthe sharp angles of her face, the largeness of her laughter, the grace and unpredictability of her movements when she dances," she wrote in a recent profile of black, queer artists. "Unpredictability" is exactly right. You have no idea what Ford will do next onstage, and so your eyes stay glued on her. Queen Street will show off Ford's dancing and choreographic skills in a new show that will give "audiences a peek inside the physical, mental, and spiritual transitions" of its trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming dancers. RICH SMITH
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
FESTIVALSFremont Oktoberfest
Hoist your heftiest steins in celebration of "Seattle's largest beer festival," where you can taste over 100 German and domestic craft beers (excuse us, "biers") and feast on Bavarian-style food like Bratwurst and soft pretzels.
Local Sightings Film Festival 2019
This year, the regional film festival will get even more local, partnering with homegrown nonprofits and media production companies like Indigenous Showcase, Sustainable Seattle, Langston, Pr0n 4 Freakz, NFFTY, and more. Once again, the city will become a hub for indie filmmakers who eschew New York or LA for the earnest and eccentric Northwest. Local Sightings acts as a showcase and watering hole for regional filmmakers, VR artists, and others who range from emotional storytellers to nature documentarists to political essayists. Many of them will attend, which makes for an opportunity for local professional and aspiring moviemakers to meet at the screenings, workshops, and parties. JOULE ZELMAN
Saint Demetrios Greek Festival
This hallmark early-fall tradition is your chance to get a taste of Greek food, music, and tradition. Stop by the tent to feast on classic fare like gyros, loukoumathes (sticky-sweet deep-fried pastries), and baklava, enjoy live music with Taki and the Mad Greeks, and see dancing from St. Demetrios dance groups. Plus, you can take a guided church tour, taste wine, and more.
Indecent
When Sholem Asch's searing critique of Orthodox Judaism, God of Vengeance, debuted on Broadway in 1923, the entire cast was arrested and tried for obscenity. They were tried not only because of the play's lesbian kissâwhich for some reason didn't disturb the delicate sensibilities of Europeans, who praised the piece for years before it was translated into Englishâbut also because of the rising anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant sentiment in America. Though it was the "roaring twenties," it was also a time when conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the world through theater and banking were peaking. Paula Vogel's Tony Awardâwinning play dramatizes the history of this show. In a recent interview, the playwright called it "a love letter to theater, a love letter to Yiddish culture, and a plea to every audience member who sees it: Please, please partake in the arts. The arts will see us through to our last days on earth." RICH SMITH
SATURDAY
COMEDYEric Andre: Legalize Everything Tour
The creator of The Eric Andre Show has described his Adult Swim series as "like poop and pee mixed together." While that undersells the programâa hyperbolic and absurdist parody of public-access talk showsâit underscores Andre's scatological sensibilities and knack for shocking and mocking decorum. Since 2012, Andre has hosted and cowritten The Eric Andre Show with fellow stand-up comedian Hannibal Buress. It's a mĂ©lange of pranks, physical humor, and celebrity interviews that veers 180 degrees from talk shows' ho-hum formulas. In his stand-up performances, Andre delivers similarly skewed observations with a gravel-voiced hysteria. Some subjects include his biracial status, the mentality behind homophobia, Wendy's Baconator, and the show MANswers, whose hyper-macho approach to television he hilariously dissects. DAVE SEGAL
Tragic School Bus
Taking off on the educational children's series, this cleverly conceived show follows a group of poor adults trapped in public school limbo and their increasingly insane teacher as they go on "magical" field trips to learn about topics of your choice. Directed by Jessica Dunstan and Jet City Artistic Director Mandy Price, this one should earn an A.
Smoke Farm Symposium
Every year since 2009, thinkers from across all disciplines, including scientists, scholars, artists, writers, activists, philosophers, and more, have come together for the Smoke Symposium, a day of lectures at Arlington-based Smoke Farmâaffectionately described as âTED talks in a barn.â The day of intellectual stimulation culminates in a communal feast prepared by local chef Monica Dimas of Little Neon Taco, Sunset Fried Chicken, and Westmanâs Bagel and Coffee, paired with plenty of lively discussion. This yearâs lineup of speakers includes Adrienne Fairhall, codirector of UW's Institute of Neuroengineering and Computational Neuroscience Center; author, editor, and Evergreen State College teacher Miranda Mellis; Fulbright fellow Mary Weir; retired clinical psychologist Clark Martin; and The Strangerâs own Charles Mudede. Guests have the option to camp out overnight and take a dip in the Stillaguamish River. JULIANNE BELL
The Simone Pin Takeover Show
Seattle-based, women of color-owned burlesque production company Simone Pin will take over Queer Bar for a night of sexy performances with Lucylips and other special guests. Be sure to stick around after for a party with Nark Magazine and Pigs Fly.Â
Museum Day
Get cultured for free at one of the museums participating in Smithsonian's Museum Day. All you need to do is download the ticket from the Smithsonian's website, grab a companion, and show your pass at the Museum of Pop Culture, the MOHAI, the Wing Luke, the Bellevue Arts Museum, the National Nordic Museum, the Museum of Flight, or other institutions out of town. Choose carefully, though, because you only get one.
TUF Art Collective Takeover
The Seattle art and electronic music collective TUF will provide a platform for Seattle artists and performers who are marginalized on account of their race or gender. Through visual work and performances, they'll pose questions like "How do we build the spaces that we want to live in? Why is space needed in a city for art? How do we hold space for each other?"
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
FESTIVALSSeattle Childrenâs Festival
I want to go somewhere where, instead of getting head-turns and raised eyebrows, no one even blinks when my daughter issues her piercing pterodactyl shriekâwhere it simply blends into the background of thousands of other tiny voices all raised to the sky in a chorus of noise. Seattle Childrenâs Fest seems like the place. Plus, thereâs plenty to keep her entertained, including five stages worth of performances (dance from around the world included), interactive music-driven workshops, arts and crafts, and âtactile learning activities.â Iâm sold. LEILANI POLK
Seattle Nourished Festival
For all you gluten-free, allergy-prone food lovers, this festival brings tons of tasty samples to suit your dietary needs.
Pierre Leguillon: Arbus Bonus
French artist Leguillon's medium is the exhibition itself. In this show, he uses 256 photographs by or inspired by the 20th-century photographer Diane Arbus, as well as appropriations of her eerie postwar Americana. In the words of the museum, "Arbus Bonus reveals the ways larger cultural histories are assembled and disseminated, and encourages us to form our own, more inclusive counter-narratives."
Opening Saturday
Unsettling Femininity: Selections from the Frye Art Museum Collection
Why does femininity "unsettle"? The Frye curates a selection of mostly 19th- and 20th-century German paintings of women that either challenge or reflect the traditional "female" traits of meekness and sexual submission. Many mysteriously suggest a narrative without overt indications of a story. This exhibition asks viewers to consider the act of looking and its relationship to power, gender, religion, and morality.
Opening Saturday SUNDAY
COMEDY
Vonnegut Unexpected: Kurt Vonnegut Improvised
The improvisers of Unexpected Productions will take some instinctual liberties (paired with audience suggestions) with Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, and other works by the late writer Kurt Vonnegut.
Ice Cream Social Pop-Up
You scream, I scream, we all scream for this curbside festival showcasing frozen treats from a variety of vendors.
An Incredible Feast - Farmers Market Fundraiser Party
At this fundraiser feast put on by Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Markets and benefiting the Good Farmer Fund (a grant and loan program that has granted over $255,000 of emergency relief funds to farmers since 2008), more than 15 acclaimed Seattle chefs will be matched up with local farms to create a locally sourced spread. This yearâs batch of culinary luminaries includes Shota Nakajima of Adana, Tamara Murphy of Terra Plata, Thomas Litrenta of Agrodolce, and more, and theyâll be whipping up dishes using fresh ingredients from Alvarez Organic Farm, Collins Family Orchards, and Hayton Farms, among others. Plus, thereâs local beer and wine, live music, carnival games, and a silent auction. JULIANNE BELL
Masonry and Tired Hands Oktoberfest
For Oktoberfest, the Fremont wood-fired pizza destination the Masonry and the cult-favorite Pennsylvania craft brewery Tired Hands will team up to showcase beers from a stacked lineup of breweries, including Aslan, Cellarmaker, E9, Green Cheek, Half Acre, Heater Allen, Highland Park, Holy Mountain, Mahr's, Monkish, Stoup, Tired Hands, and Wayfinder.
Clyde W. Ford: Think Black
This prizewinning author will read from his new book about his father, John Stanley Ford, who became the first black software engineer at IBM in 1947 and had to weather his white coworkers' harassment and cruelty. Ford (junior) reflects on the cost of enduring a racist environment for both John Stanley Ford and his family, and delves into "how his hiring was meant to distract from IBMâs dubious business practices including its involvement in the Holocaust, eugenics, and apartheid."
Leta Hong Fincher: China's Feminist Awakening
In her book Betraying Big Brother, Hong Fincher brings to light the suppressed history of feminism in China, using, among other resources, interviews with the "Feminist Five"âfive women activists who were jailed by the government in 2015âas well as lawyers, civil rights and labor advocates, performance artists, and others.
