Our music critics have already chosen the 53 best music shows this week, but now it's our arts & culture critics' turn to recommend the best events in their areas of expertise. Here are their picks for this Leap Day week in every genreâfrom John Cameron Mitchell's Origin of Love Tour to the Nordic Lights Film Festival, and from August Wilson's Jitney to the Washington Beer Open House. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete EverOut Things To Do calendar.
Jump to: Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday
MONDAY
FOOD & DRINKSuds for Cinema: A Benefit for the Nordic Lights Film Festival
International film lovers will find food, beer, games, and a preview of this year's Nordic Lights Film Festival at this fundraiser.
12 Minutes Max at Base
This show features 12 minutes ("surprisingly quick or unfortunately long"âRich Smith) of brand-new work from Pacific Northwest performers, who this time were chosen by curators Mario Martinez and Kathy Moore. This edition will feature such diverse acts as Melissa Sanderson "Letting Go is an Acquired Taste," based on her "recent personal history as an object of study"; Ben Gale-Schreck's feedback-loop-based "Balloonacentipede"; Sebastian Arredondo's dance "Ceremonia del Flor"; and more.
Jenny Offill: Weather
If you are not already experiencing "climate dread," the feeling that you're living in a slow-mo ecological apocalypse that you're powerless to stop, then Jenny Offill's latest novel, Weather, will fill you to the brim with it. Offill places the reader in the mind of Lizzie, a librarian in the big city. When she takes a side gig answering e-mails for her former writing teacher's doomsday podcast, her focus on climate dread and prepping for the end-times begins to consume her. Though some of Offill's jokes and profundities can feel a bit pat, the overall structure of the book is greater than the sum of its parts, offering readers the pleasure of looking back through a diary and realizing that all our apparently disparate anxieties may fall under the umbrella of the larger one: fear of extinction. RICH SMITH
MONDAY-THURSDAY
VISUAL ARTMelinda Hurst Frye and Jenny Riffle: Picturing Trails
The King County Regional Trails System offers over 300 miles of terrain for public recreation. Inspired by photographs by Johsel Namkung, who documented area parks in the early 1980s, Melinda Hurst Frye and Jenny Riffle show images celebrating the Pacific Northwest's natural landscapes.
Closing Thursday
MONDAY-SATURDAY
VISUAL ARTCrystal Worl: On the Water
The Juneau-based mixed-media artist shows paintings and carvings created for the new trilingual children's book Cradle Songs of Southeast Alaska.
Closing Saturday
Warren Pope: Red Lines, Blood Lines
The artist continues to explore African heritage and systemic inequities in the West through minimalist lines, shapes, and color.
Closing Saturday
ALL WEEK
FOOD & DRINKLi'l Woody's Burger Month
As part of their yearly Burger Month collaboration, Li'l Woody's has assembled a crack lineup of four local chefs to each create their weekly burger specials for February. This week features the "Homersapien" with a lamb patty, chanterelle mushrooms, whipped garlic, zaatar-spiced Tim's potato chips, and date ketchup from chef Logan Cox of Homer (Mon); and the "Manolin Sandwich" with a breaded pork cutlet, onion, and a sweet bun from chef Liz Kenyon of Manolin and Rupee Bar (Tues-Sun).
Emily Gherard in Residence
Emily Gherardâs paintings have immense feeling. Using processes that inscribe and carve as well as paint, her abstract, moody paintings contain. A spirit, a feeling, a movement. Something not quite capturable, but certainly present beneath the buffed paint and etchings. During this residency at Oxbow, the 2014 Genius Award nominee will showing large-scale plaster sculptures. These pieces are composed of bricks made by pouring wet plaster into molds constructed of intaglio printing plates. A centerpiece in the show will be âPrecious and Vulnerableâ a boat-like structure made of 30 shaped and printed plaster blocks embedded in a wooden structure. These works incorporate Gherardâs interest in the delicate marks of etching with the weight of a hard material like plaster. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Opening Monday
TUESDAY
FILMsmARTfilms: Black Excellence
This series, curated by Sade McInnis, includes five films that showcase black brilliance. This week, it's Precious.
Author Talk: Start Simple by Lukas Volger
On his Instagram, food writer and editor Lukas Volger, who co-founded the James Beard Award-winning queer indie food mag Jarry, shares snaps of his sensible, healthy-ish, enviably effortless meals: steel-cut oats swirled with ricotta and tomato marmalade, six-minute eggs in soupy polenta. (A noted legume fanatic, he also started the hashtag #31DaysOfBeans and is a vocal proponent of the Rancho Gordo Bean Club, a quarterly heirloom bean subscription I can't stop gushing about.) Luckily, he's now divulging his secrets in his new book Start Simple, which demonstrates how readers can create everyday vegetarian meals when armed with an arsenal of 11 basic, versatile ingredients like sweet potatoes and tortillas. For its release, he'll be chatting with local author Sara Dickerman at Book Larder. If you're tired of complicated, expensive "meal plans" and "weeknight recipes" that seem to be designed for cooks with Gwyneth Paltrow's tax bracket and endless stores of free time, this is one to check out. JULIANNE BELL
Anna Tsing: Feral Atlas and the More-than-Human Anthropocene
Using studies from hundreds of researchers, University of California, Santa Cruz professor Anna Tsing explores how the Anthropocene (a series of "feral" ecosystems that have been encouraged by human infrastructures but expand independently, such as dams, drilling rigs, and industrial parks) has changed our ecosystem as a whole. She'll share insights from her book Feral Atlas and the More-than-Human Anthropocene in this Katz Distinguished Lecture.
Conor Dougherty with Alan Durning: The Fight for Housing in America
Want to know why the rent is too damn high, and what we can do to fix it? New York Times economics reporter Conor Dougherty offers many of the correct answers to that question in this new book on the housing crisis in San Francisco. Other reviewers have praised Dougherty for his "incisive, character-driven" analysis and his "eye-opening exploration" of the issue, which we're facing pretty acutely right here in Washington. I'd only add that Dougherty's strength in this book is his thorough and clear-eyed presentation of the conversation around housing, which can feel, at first, like an insanely technical and impenetrable issue to understand. If you feel so inclined after this reading, be sure to call your state representatives and tell them you support HB 2779, which would help prevent rent gouging, and SB 6536, which would legalize apartments statewide. These two bills will do more to fix the housing crisis in Washington than any other bills out there at the moment. Do it soonâsession ends mid-March. RICH SMITH
Susan Fowler: Fighting Sexual Harassment in Silicon Valley
As an entry-level engineer at Uber in 2017, 25-year-old Susan Fowler came forward about the sexual harassment and retaliation sheâd experienced at work. Her story went viral, which led to the ousting of Uber's then-CEO. She'll come to Seattle to read from her memoir Whistleblower: My Journey to Silicon Valley and Fight for Justice at Uber. Â
TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY
VISUAL ARTRed and Gold: A Lunar New Year Celebration
Relish the vivid colors emblematic of the Lunar New Year at this group show boasting the works of Asian American and Asian artists like lacquer painters Phong and Bui Cong Khanh, embroiderer Prince Tiao Nithakhong Somsanith of Laos, paper sculptor June Sekiguchi, sacred geometry painter Yuko Ishii, and sculptor/painter Jonathan Wakuda Fischer.
Closing Wednesday
TUESDAY-SATURDAY
VISUAL ARTAnnual Gallery Artist Group Exhibition
Traver Gallery is one of the best places in town to see innovative sculpture and glass art for free, as well as two-dimensional works, so you shouldn't miss their annual group exhibition if you have any interest in the medium. This year, you'll be able to admire pieces by Ling Chun, Clare Belfrage, Marita Dingus, Mel Douglas, Jun Kaneko, Tori Karpenko, Michael Peterson, Jane Rosen, Preston Singletary, Jane Traver, Lynn Whitford, and Chris Gustin.
Closing Saturday
Gabriel Fernandez and Lisa Golightly
It's a twofer of Oregonian painters: Beaverton resident Gabriel Fernandez paints photorealist scenes of unpopulated ordinary rooms and neighborhoods, taking as subjects sleek Airstream trailers, empty bathrooms, or unoccupied sofas. Portlander Lisa Golightly, who paints figurative and abstract works, makes excellent use of dapples of light, striving to capture "the unplanned and the in-between."
Closing Saturday
Heartbreak Science Fair
Valentine's Day got you down? See how your fellow melancholy Seattle residents are dealing with their feelings. Artists, performers, and sciency folks show art and experiments relating to heartbreak in this exhibition.
Closing Saturday
Jacob Lawrence
One of the most prominent artists to emerge from the Pacific Northwest, Jacob Lawrence is known for his epic prints and paintings depicting African American life and migration, sometimes through a Biblical lens. This exhibition offers a view of his prints, drawings, and paintings.
Closing Saturday
Kenneth Moore: Another Conversation in Black Surreality
Kenneth Moore, who was born in 1949, is a black Los Angeles-based surrealist artist who had never had a solo exhibition in Seattle until last year's show in this gallery. He's also the founder of the jazz club Howling Monk, and jazz sensibilities permeate his visual style.
Closing Saturday
Marisa Williamson: 'The Angel of History' and 'The Runaway'
The Jacob Lawrence Gallery and SOIL are coming together again to honor and exhibit the work of a resident Black artist. This year, the resident is Marisa Williamson, a New York-based artist who examines history, race, feminism, and technology through video, performance, and sculpture. Some of her most fascinating pieces involve Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman and mistress owned by Thomas Jefferson, and the connections she makes between Hemingâs experience and present-day conversations around race. Williamson will bring two different shows that will explore the past, not as it was, but, to quote Walter Benjamin âas it flashes up in a moment of dangerâ to the JLG and SOIL, respectively. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Saturday
West Coast Prints
West Coast artists explore the possibilities of printmaking, from photorealist aquatint to folk-art-inspired etching to high-contrast linocut, and the results are impressively diverse. Spend ample time with the work of Californians Marit Berg, Stephen McMillan, and Kevin Fletcher and Seattle-based Michèle Landsaat and Charles Spitzack.
Closing Saturday
TUESDAY-FRIDAY & SUNDAY
PERFORMANCELast Days of the Tsars
At the turn of the 20th century, a massive class struggle in Russia was reaching a boiling point. The old saying, âGod is in heaven and the Tsar is in St. Petersburgââmeaning royal rulers donât truly touch the lives of Russian citizensâwas quickly going out of fashion as the 300-year-old Romanov empire attempted to save itself by violently suppressing revolutions and carrying out horrific pogroms against Jews. Meanwhile, the empire was losing major battles and influence abroad. Any of this soundingâŚfamiliar? Witness, a NYC-based producer of immersive theater, has condensed the twilight of the Romanovs into a single performance set in the august environs of the Stimson-Green mansion on First Hill. The choose-your-own-adventure production allows you to observe this nauseatingly relevant story from the vantage of Rasputin, Anastacia, a servant tired of paying a billion rubles for eggs, or any other character you wish. Go with a group of friends, take notes, and come prepared for class the next day with suggestions on how to bring down an empire. RICH SMITH
TUESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEDisney's 'Frozen'
Iâve written in the past that I have a warm spot in my heart for Frozen, Disney's second-highest-grossing animated film, about a princess who sets out on a quest (with a group of helpful sidekicks, of course) to find her estranged older sister after said sister's icy magical powers accidentally bring eternal winter to their kingdom. Now the Tony-nominated Broadway show from Disney Theatrical Productions, directed by Michael Grandage, is coming to Seattle for an engagement that promises "sensational special effects, stunning sets and costumes, and powerhouse performances." Expect all those earwormy songs (including the relentlessly triumphant, hard-not-to-sing-along-and-make-dramatic-hand-gestures-to âLet It Goâ), plus an expanded score that features a dozen new numbers by the filmâs songwriters, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and EGOT winner Robert Lopez. LEILANI POLK
The Deported
The Danish Immigration Museum presents the stories of 13 people who were deported from Denmark about 100 years ago. Find out what happened to these unfortunate people who fell afoul of immigration laws in this sad but interesting snapshot of history.Â
Closing Sunday
WEDNESDAY
READINGS & TALKSBob Wodnik and Joni Earl: Sound Transitâs Fight to Save the Light Rail
Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl and former Sound Transit Senior Communications Specialist Bob Wodnik will hark back to 1996, a fraught era of Seattle public transit that led to Earl's successful effort to save it with a crucial $500 million federal grant and a revised budget.
E.J. Dionne: Uniting Progressives and Moderates to Save Our Country
Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne offers advice to voters on the left and in the center on overcoming their differences to band together for the common good.
An Evening with Karamo Brown
Queer Eye "culture expert" Karamo Brown will dish on pop culture, queerness, blackness, Christianity, and other aspects of his identity, as well as his career.
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCECharlie Parker's 'Yardbird'
Jazz icon Charlie Parker gets the operatic treatment in this Seattle Opera production of Daniel Schnyder's Yardbird, a journey through limbo by Parker, who struggles to complete his last masterpiece amidst a series of flashbacks that showcases the glorious heyday of iconic NYC jazz club Birdland, as well as the failures and victories of Parker's dynamic life.
WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY
VISUAL ART10th Annual Juried Exhibition: twixt cup and lip
Amanda Donnan of the Frye Art Museum has guest-curated this year's juried exhibition, featuring work by 21 artists from around the world.Â
Closing Saturday
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCEThe Angel in the House
During the Victorian era, Coventry Patmore wrote a poem describing the ideal wife as an "angel in the house" who lives to please her man, as it were. Nobody liked the poem at the time, but it became popular around the turn of the century, and its ideology was pervasive enough to spur Virginia Woolf to write a whole essay collection critiquing it. "Killing the Angel in the House was part of the occupation of a woman writer," she wrote. Quadruple-threat Sara Porkalob, who has built her career on a biographical trilogy about her cool family, said her love of Victorian-era literature and her passionate agreement with Woolf's takedown inspired her riff on this cursed character. Like her Dragon Cycle, The Angel in the House will serve as the first installment of a new play cycle based on "magic, the occult, revenge, blood, and sacrifice." Unlike the Dragon Cycle, the show is a thriller that looks like a murder mystery at first but ends up being something else entirely. Major reasons to be excited include local stars Ray Tagavilla and Ayo Tushinde, plus the joy of watching a writer/director exploring completely new territory. RICH SMITH
The Children
In this Tony Award-nominated play by Lucy Kirkwood, two retired nuclear scientists on the coast of an environmentally devastated England receive a disruptive visit from an old friend.
Peacock
An ambitious young man in 1920s Paris works his way up in a ritzy nightclub in Can Can's latest kitschy-glam, flesh-baring, plot-driven revue.
She Loves Me
You know the story: two people who hate each other in real life are unwittingly in love with each other in a different realm. It's based on the same 1937 play, Parfumerie, that Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail was based on. In She Loves Me, which is set in the 1930s, the romantic leads are Amalia Balash (Allison Standley) and Georg Nowack (Eric Ankrim). They spar in the perfume shop where they both work and while corresponding anonymously as pen pals connected through a Lonely Hearts Club. No one is as happy as they seem in She Loves Me and everyone seems to be hiding something. Maybe love could fix all this. Through the constant hum of music that serves as the heartbeat to She Loves Me, each character gets a breath of individuality. There are no showstoppers here. Some of the characters shine, and others fade into the background, all while telling us what they yearn for, or what they think they yearn for. Mostly, that's love. NATHALIE GRAHAM
The Turn of the Screw
Book-It will adapt Henry James's chilling and ambiguous Victorian ghost novel about a naive governess who discovers what she perceives as evil supernatural influences trying to possess her two charges. Carol Roscoe will direct an adaptation by Rachel Atkins.
E.T. Russian: Double Clear
In this interactive and accessible exhibition, Seattle artist E.T. Russian meditates on choosing what to live for. Russian is interested in making art that appeals to a broader audience than the one typically catered to, not limiting the experience of enjoying his art to just one sense, but multiple senses at once. Using animation, sculpture, and poetry, Double Clear follows gargoyles encountering surreal events as they fly over cemeteries, bridges, and water. During a special event held on January 9, local artists that work with sound and movement perform using Double Clear as the backdrop. The night will include ASL interpretation with live captioning. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Sunday
THURSDAY
COMEDYComedy Showcase with Ellen Acuario and Ricci Armani
Ellen Acuario will bring her "mom-com" (which is not a string of "yo mama" jokes but rather comedy about her life as a single mom) with bill support from Tacoma's Ricci Armani.
BE KIND, REWIND: Baz Luhrmannâs 'Romeo+Juliet'
From Leonardo DiCaprio crying big salty tears to Thom Yorke singing about sandwiches, Baz Luhrmann's 1996 adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy of two star-crossed lovers has it all. Join film fanatics and drag luminaries Uh Oh and SHE for a screening of Romeo + Juliet, interspersed with pop-up performances, commentary, and popcorn.
Chef Dinner with Nyesha Arrington
For the final event of Chef Eduardo Jordan's Black History Month series, LA's Nyesha Arringtonâfeatured on the ninth season of Top Chefâwill take the reins on a vibrant multi-course dinner.Â
Noodle Nite!
Good Day Donuts will pivot to noodles for one night only, promising "super tasty extra spiced up noodle dishes" to go or to eat there.Â
Taylor Shellfish Oysters & Bubbles Night
Your Thursdays just got classier thanks to fresh Shigoku oysters from Taylor Shellfish Farms and bubbly drink specials.
John Cameron Mitchell: The Origin of Love Tour
The guy who starred in Hedwig and the Angry Inchâthe original stage show and then the movieâis coming to town. Not only did he star in it, he wrote the damn thing (with musical collaborator Stephen Trask). This is not a drill. He is a certified genius. He will tell stories from the showâs 25-year history and sing songs from Hedwig, as well as some new music. He told me years ago he was writing a sequel. Maybe this is our sneak peek. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
Brian Greene: Until the End of Time
Join renowned physicist and Until the End of Time author Brian Greene as he harks back to the beginning of time to understand the mysterious cosmos.Â
Mitchell S. Jackson: Survival Math
In Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family, Portland-born author and University of Chicago writing professor Mitchell S. Jackson looks at the history of his own family and discovers within it the history of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest, employing the heavily footnoted, maximalist prose that was popular in the late 1990s and early aughts. In an interview with Hot 97's Ebro Darden, Mitchell describes survival math as "the calculations you have to make when you're faced with a mortal threat." Living in a region of the country founded explicitly on the promise of creating an all-white state, he and his family had to figure that math all too often. His mother's addiction to crack and his own drug dealing made the math that much harder. Throughout the book, Mitchell uses his personal stories as a jumping off point to discuss larger trends, tracing the roots of his troubles to ideas of blackness in Ancient Greece and misogyny in English literature. RICH SMITH
Word Lit Zine Presents: Beginning, Middle, and End
This three-part performance from the Bibliophilia Players is one part prose, one part theater, and one part poetry. Never having heard the work before, the improvisational acting group will continue the story before your eyes. Plus, World Lit Zine Editor-in-Chief Jeveka Phillips will read from a serial appearing in the next issue and local poet Naa Akua will "create" the final poem.Â
THURSDAY-SUNDAY
FILMChildren's Film Festival Seattle 2020
CFFSâs slate of international films feature visual storytelling centered on the experience of childhood, with organizers prioritizing stories that have been underrepresented in the mainstream media and inspire âempathy, understanding, and a nuanced view of the world.â Launched in 2005, curated by Northwest Film Forum, and dedicated to children ages 3-14, the fest presents animation, feature-length outings, and shorts from dozens of countries interspersed with kid-centric events. Last yearâs opening night party featured a sing-a-long presentation of 1979 Jim Henson staple The Muppet Movie, as well as a screening of the oldest existing animated feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, accompanied by a live performance of the film score with accordion, guitar, banjo, viola, glock, and percussion by Miles & Karina. In sum, a fun time for the whole family. LEILANI POLK
1984â
On the subject of George Orwellâs literary masterpiece, I stand with Kristen Stewart, who was unfairly maligned for calling the book, âa love story of epic, epic, epic proportion.â Though I, too, take issue with all three deployments of the word âepicâ in this context, Stewart is absolutely correct in her analysis. Sure, the book has retained its currency long after its titular date, but, for me, the intensity of its love story and the richness of its description of human sensation has always outshined the prescience of its politics. Radial Theater Project, the local troupe producing Tim Robbins's theatrical adaptation of the story, is well positioned to highlight those qualities with a fantastic cast in the cozy theater at 18th and Union. RICH SMITH
FRIDAY
COMEDYTim & Eric: Mandatory Attendance World Tour
Comedy duo Tim & Eric of Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Tim & Ericâs Billion Dollar Movie (plus about a million other strange things) will return with a live show full of squirm-inducing humor.
Red Light Night
The luxe, leather-clad Valtesse performers will pay homage to the working girls of Seattle at an underground Pioneer Square cabaret venue.Â
Climate Depression: Confronting Eco-Anxiety in the Age of Crisis
A lot of people are waking up to the idea that ecological apocalypse is upon us. Among other things, this revelation is bumming people out. A lifetime spent studying poetry, or frog gonads, or software doesn't seem so bad in a world with a steady, foreseeable future. But when you finally realize that your children are going to spend most of their lives trying to siphon crude oil from rusty barrels in the dead of night, a wave of apathy hits you, and life doesn't seem so good anymore. Researchers are calling this phenomenon "eco-grief" or "climate dread." Dr. Jennifer Atkinson, an instructor at UW Bothell, has been teaching a class on the subject for a few years now. In her lecture, she'll offer some strategies necessary to "build the resilience to stay engaged in climate solutions over the long run." Hopefully she'll also include a handout with instructions for building a dune buggy out of bones and grass. RICH SMITH
Hugo Literary Series: Behind Closed Doors
Charles DâAmbrosioâs writing is unforgettable. It stamps itself to your brain the way light stamps itself to your eyes. He is the best writer ever to come out of Seattleâhe writes better fiction than Raymond Carver did, he writes better nonfiction than Mary McCarthy didâbut we have not seen him in these parts for years. Since publishing the essay collection Loitering, heâs been busy teaching at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and working on a novel. On this night, he returns to the city where he was born with new writing commissioned by Hugo House under the theme "Behind Closed Doors," which is a great theme. Heâll be joined by the writers Anthony Swofford (Jarhead) and Mitchell S. Jackson (Survival Math) as well as R&B singer JusMoni. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE
John Sayles: Yellow Earth
The director of the cult classic Brother from Another Planet, John Sayles, has, sadly, not made a film since 2013. And his last masterpiece, Amigo, was completed a decade ago. But this does not mean Sayles, one of the greatest leftist filmmakers of the 20th century (he is to the US what Ken Loach is to the UK), was doing nothing during this time. This January, Haymarket Books, a socialist publishing house based in Chicago, released Sayles's Yellow Earth, a 400-page political fiction outing thatâs about Native American reservations in Missouri, activism, and petrocapitalism. It's his fifth novel overall. CHARLES MUDEDE
MLK Unity Day with Ijeoma Oluo
Seattle-based writer, speaker, and emerging social-media icon Ijeoma Oluo will honor Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy by leading a discussion on race in the United States.Â
FRIDAY-SATURDAY
COMEDYGeoffrey Asmus
Asmus has an actually pretty witty bio: "Geoffrey Asmus began performing stand-up in 2013 immediately after wasting $143,548 in college. Within a short time Geoffrey won Comedy on Stateâs 'Funniest Person in Madison 2015' and Penguin Comedy Clubâs 'Funniest Person in Iowa 2015,' both times beating out the guy who invented meth, Quentin [...] No matter where he performs Geoffrey never makes eye contact, which is a blessing for all." Experience the awkwardness.
Seattle International Dance Festival Winter Mini-fest
Once again, the Khambatta Dance Company will team up with international choreographers and dance troupes to produce two weekends of exciting performances. This weekend, KDC will reveal its reworked Begin. Again. from the previous festival, and Jaewoo Jung will dance his solo piece Uninhabited Island.
ACES: Artists of Color Expo & Symposium
This exposition of local talent, showcasing the wealth of work by 75 artists of color selected from an open call, promises 80 activities, talks by keynote speakers Nikkita Oliver and Paul Rucker, and more.
Kara Mia Fenoglietto: Hope all is well.
Recently, Iâve been confronted about my use of âBestâ when signing off e-mails. Where I thought the valediction exuded professionalism, competence, and friendliness, itâs apparently interpreted as hostile, insincere, and condescending to the recipient. Seattle-based artist Kara Mia Fenoglietto uses another sign-off, âHope all is well,â as a starting point for her conceptual soft-sculpture installation that âexamines the disconnect between anxieties and appearances.â Fenogliettoâs sculptures and garments will use bold digital patterns and shape-distorting silhouettes to bridge the divide between the public and private self. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Saturday
Peggy Murphy: The Still Life Question
In early 2019, Chase Burns wrote of Murphy's last exhibition (Uprising), "Peggy Murphyâs lush and scrawling works on paper, based on 'observations on an unruly garden,' are helpful things to meditate on as we straddle the line between winterâs darkness and springâs grayness." In The Still Life Question, her acrylic paintings convey ideas of "tenuous stability, slippery boundaries, and blurred identities."Â
Closing Saturday
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
FILMNordic Lights Film Festival 2020
This annual film festival, supported by SIFF, celebrates the richness of Nordic culture, featuring films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and even the Faroe Islands. This year, the festival will open with the Icelandic film The County, in which a single dairy farmer named Inga tries to break the stranglehold of a corrupt local cooperative.
August Wilsonâs 'Jitney'
It is not at all amazing to claim that August Wilson is one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th century. The more amazing thing to say about Wilson is this: He was the greatest black American economist of the 20th century. Indeed, Wilson's first play, Jitney, is not only a masterpiece of 1970s economics, but it also predicted the rideshare economy of our times. The play, which Seattle Rep is staging under the direction of the talented Ruben Santiago-Hudson, is about black cab drivers who informally serve Pittsburgh's black community because white-owned cabs will not. The business is owned by the play's key character, Jim Becker, a man in his 60s who retired after devoting decades of his life to a Pittsburgh steel plant. In Jitney, we see the capital-starved working conditions for black men who have pensions or served in the army. They do whatever they can to make ends meet. But no matter how much time and innovation they invest in their economy, the returns always fall short of settling real needs. CHARLES MUDEDE
Writhing Treasure Feast: A Song of the Western Hemisphere
Vanessa Skantze's Butoh piece, a "song of the Western Hemisphere" scored by 10 Seattle musicians like Pink Void, Masaaki Masao, and Uneasy Chairs, is divided into seven elemental movements: "Stone, Sea, Wind, Fire, Serpent, Muck, River." Skantze writes that it "invokes the beauty and pain of the Americas: working with the gods of Mexico, North America, and Haiti primarily [...] to face the dark energy in being white."
SATURDAY
COMEDYShot Prov
Well, this sounds a little dangerous: Improvisers violate secret rules (secret from them, that is) as they play and must take a shot every time they do so. Poor things! After they reach their limit, they're booted off the stage, presumably for their own safety.
Momentum 2020
Head out to Bainbridge Island for a month of dance, music, films, book talks, and more. Things kick off tonight with a Bainbridge Ballet showcase.
'The Church' with Mortiferum
Chaos ensues in Dario Argento's film The Church when the staff and visitors of a haunted cathedralâthe sight of a bloody medieval massacreâfall victim to an unsealed crypt crawling with unholy monsters. This screening will be preceded by a live set from Mortiferum, who promise to "spew forth anguished slabs of death-doom filth of the most wretched order."
The Art in Horror: Horror and the Director
"Prestige horror" isn't new; great directors have worked in the genre since the existence of the motion picture. Esteemed local critic Robert Horton will head this screening series of horror masterpieces, including this week's I Walked with a Zombie, Jacques Tourneur's Caribbean-set horror.
30th Annual PNA Wine Taste
Admission to the annual wine lover's festival gets you samples of 10 wines, plus live music and snacks. If you fall in love with a particular vintage, buy a bottle at the pop-up storeâproceeds go to the Phinney Neighborhood Association.
Pike Place Market Love Tasting Experience
Four Pike Place shops will offer food and wine pairings so you can find your perfect match.Â
Washington Beer Open House
More than 110 Washington breweries will open their doors for a simultaneous statewide open house, which gives beer lovers a unique opportunity to create their own adventure. Plot an itinerary for a personalized brewery crawl, travel to a few destination breweries youâve always wanted to try, or simply drop by the nearest participating craft brewer in your neighborhood. Each featured brewer will have their own lineup of surprises in store, which may include samples, tours, souvenirs, rare barrel tastings, savory food pairings, and more. JULIANNE BELL
Cherdonna's Hard Cash Cabaret: Leap Year Trivia Night Fundraiser!
Spend your precious extra time answering trivia questions with drag performer, dancer, choreographer, and "generally fun lunatic" (Chase Burns)Â Cherdonna Shinatra. This Leap Day fundraiser comes complete with specialty cocktails and fun prizes.
Clapped!
Local drag performer, musician, and nightlife icon Michete will throw a party in honor of her first public appearance after getting facial feminization surgery. The twist? Something may have gone horribly wrong under the knife. Find out for yourself and enjoy additional performances from Rowan Ruthless, Femme Daddy, and other locals for a night of drag, music from DJs Jane Don't and Joe Valley, and all the Tito's Vodka drink specials you can handle.
Youth Speaks Preliminary Round 2
Young slam poets will compete in the second preliminary round of the Youth Speaks competition, the finalists of which will go on to compete in the Grand Slam. Seattle great Troy Osaki will make an appearance.Â
It All Starts with Art
At this community arts celebration, artists from around the region will host demonstrations, perform live, and connect with art lovers, all to help fund arts programs and scholarships for youth and emerging artists in the Pacific Northwest.Â
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
PERFORMANCESnow White
Two actors will portray Snow White, the evil queen, seven dwarfs, the talking mirror, and the huntsman in this ambitious children's theater production written by Greg Banks and directed by Desdemona Chiang.
SUNDAY
FOOD & DRINKSeattle Cocktail Week
This spirited weeklong event puts a spotlight on the movers and (cocktail) shakers of the Seattle bar scene with special libations available at more than 60 participating venues, plus classes and seminars for industry pros, pop-up cocktail bars, bar takeovers, competitions, tastings, parties, and more. Saturdayâs Cocktail District event at Bell Harbor Conference Center, a "carnival of cocktails," will feature presentations and demonstrations, a retail store, and a food truck pier with Uzbek street food from Tabassum, Native American fry bread tacos from Off the Rez, Asian fusion eats from Crave by Suite J, and much more. JULIANNE BELL
