Our music critics have already chosen the 31 best concerts this week, but now it's our arts critics' turn. Here are their picks for the best events in every genre—from the 13th annual HUMP! Film Festival to Creating S-Town: A New Way to Tell a Story with Brian Reed, and from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with a live score to the closing week of Storme Webber: Casino: A Palimpsest. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar or our Halloween calendar.

Get all this and more on the free Stranger Things To Do mobile app—available now on the App Store and Google Play.


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

MONDAY

READINGS & TALKS

G. Willow Wilson
G. Willow Wilson used to describe herself as an "upper-middle-class American White girl with bland politics and polite beliefs." That changed when she converted to Islam in college, worked as a journalist in Egypt, and began writing the comic series Ms. Marvel, featuring a Pakistani American teenage girl from Jersey City. Hear Willow discuss the series, moderated by KUOW's Jamala Henderson.

MONDAY-TUESDAY

READINGS & TALKS

National Geographic Live: Into The Arctic Kingdom
Follow along with photographer Florian Schulz as he takes the audience and the Seattle Symphony on a story evolution of his global journeying across the mostly untracked wilds of the deep Arctic.

MONDAY-THURSDAY

ART

Maja Petrić: Lost Skies
Maja Petrić's high-concept, high-tech computer-generated art uses an algorithm (co-developed with Nebojša Jojić) to analyze internet images of the skies and transform the data into displays of color. In Lost Skies, the visuals take the form of two lightboxes, "one based on scientific data and another illustrating the perspective of a climate change skeptic."
Closing Thursday.

MONDAY-SATURDAY

ART

FLOATERS / A Painting Installation by Forrest Kahlil Perrine
This painting installation aims to "engage with the suspended feeling of this present moment." See new paintings that hang in the air by Forrest Kahlil Perrine, as well as found and objects, surfaces, and mixed materials.
Closing Saturday.

MONDAY-SUNDAY

ART

Terry Turrell
Northwest artist Terry Turrell makes highly textured multimedia work (with an emphasis on painting and sculpture), often using recycled materials.
Closing Sunday.

FOOD & DRINK

Seattle Restaurant Week
I think Seattle Restaurant Week benefits all parties involved. For one, it provides access to a host of the city's best restaurants at a price comparable to what you'd pay to Postmates for some mediocre pad thai. You can go out to all the places you've been meaning to go, try a wide swath of their menu, and leave with your financial well-being intact. It's only $33 for three courses, and only $18 at lunch! At places like Lark, Tilth, and Terra Plata! For two, restaurants win because it brings in all those people who have been meaning to go but have never gone, and potentially converts them to return customers. Regulars are, as any restauranteur will tell you, the real meat and bread of the business. Lastly, the actual restaurant staff wins because, if you're not a bad person, you listen to the sage advice my predecessor Bethany Jean Clement used to give every year, "Tip well, these things are hell for servers." TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE
Seattle Restaurant Week deals do not apply on Friday or Saturday.

MUSIC

Earshot Jazz Festival
If you have any love for jazz in the Pacific Northwest, clear your schedule right now for the Earshot Jazz Festival. The nonprofit Earshot began life in 1984 and has presented 2,500 concerts since then, and the festival marks the yearly culmination of their programming. This year, it will feature more than 50 events in venues across the city, including "the contemporary giants of the art" (Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, and Wycliffe Gordon), according to Charles Mudede, not to mention the avant-garde star Satoko Fuji and Greg Tate's Burnt Sugar Arkestra, which is "all about Miles Davis fusion period." What keeps Earshot so vital, year after year? "Jazz is an expanding universe," said festival executive director John Gilbreath to The Stranger's Dave Segal in 2014. "All directions. All of the time. In Seattle, as around the world. And that's the juice for this festival, presenting that momentum within the frame of this place, at this time."

TUESDAY

FILM

Damsels of Doom: Horror B-Movie Double Feature
Enjoy some retro scares (or perplexity) at this double feature presented by the Sprocket Society: Roger Corman's 1966 sexy space vampire thriller Queen of Blood and a special secret surprise. It'll all be on 16mm, so get your analog chills!

FOOD & DRINK

Altura-Gaja Wine Dinner Party
Join Gaia Gaja, the fifth generation of the Italian wine-making family, for a five-course dinner pairing Gaja wines with Chef Lockwood's seasonal Italian cuisine.

READINGS & TALKS

David Neiwert
Journalist David Neiwert wrote a book a few years ago about killer whales (Of Orcas and Men) that was so packed with illuminating facts, it practically changed my life. His latest book is Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump, about neo-Nazis, militias, conspiracy theorists, xenophobes, and the president of the United States. For more than two decades, Neiwert has been tracking homegrown extremists for the Southern Poverty Law Center, so who better to provide what is being billed as “a deeply researched and authoritative report on the growth of fascism and far-right terrorism.” CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

Jennifer Egan
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Jennifer Egan (best known for A Visit from the Goon Squad) will share her latest work, Manhattan Beach, the first novel she's released since her gigantic 2011 hit. Booklist calls her new book “propulsive, surprising, ravishing, and revelatory…a profound page-turner that will transport and transform every reader.”

Loud Mouth Lit: Political Nausea
At this election season installment of Loud Mouth Lit, hear readings from the series' creator, Paul Mullin, our very own Sydney Brownstone, poet and fiction writer Miranda Mellis, former Stranger reporter Anna Minard, writer Linda Shaw, and Brendan Kiley, who's curating this month's show.

Pie & Whiskey Anthology
Get your fill of food writing by "Writers Under the Influence of Butter & Booze," including prose, poetry, and real and fake recipes. To name just a few of the authors: Elissa Washuta, Ed Skoog, Jess Walter, Kim Addonizio, Tod Marshall, Anthony Doerr.

RESISTANCE & SOLIDARITY

Resist/Recharge
This installment of our Resist/Recharge series is focused on giving power to refugees and immigrants in the age of Trump. Hear from El Centro de la Raza's Hilda Magana and Carla Mendez, who will discuss their organization's work around Sensitive Locations and Family Emergency Planning. They'll be joined by Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network's Monserrat Padilla, who will present on the communities’ reactions to ongoing threats and WISN's efforts to resist. In addition, staff members from the Northwest immigrant Rights Project will share their perspectives on how Trump's immigration policies are impacting local communities.

TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY

PERFORMANCE

DEERS
What if Cheers were about a bunch of drunk animals instead of drunk humans? This play (written by Marcus Gorman and directed by Tootsie Spangles and Quiqui Dominguez) has all the answers.

TUESDAY-SATURDAY

ART

Chris Engman and Dan Webb
Greg Kucera is the gold standard for established Seattle galleries, and Chris Engman and Dan Webb are two of the most sophisticated artists currently working in the Pacific Northwest. Engman takes photographs that combine built environments with landscapes in ways that dare you to figure out how they were created. These spaces are illusory yet functional; mysterious yet matter-of-fact. Webb is a master woodcarver who creates figures so real they might seem to leap out of the block, if they weren't also tethered by forces outside their control. Together, these artists marry natural environments and forms with artifice in a way that transcends both. EMILY POTHAST
Closing Saturday.

Francisco Goya: Los Proverbios
Francisco Goya's amazing set of 18 etchings illustrates proverbs, but are so dark and witchily atmospheric that they've inspired many other interpretations. Don't miss your chance to see these fascinating 19th-century works.
Closing Saturday.

Marsha Burns: Look Again
This solo show features silver gelatin, Polaroid, and digital prints by acclaimed photographer Marsha Burns, known for her depictions of Seattle life and culture (especially her portraits from the 1980s).
Closing Saturday.

Ryan Molenkamp and Jed Dunkerley
Molenkamp continues his series of expressionistic, eruptive landscape paintings titled Fear of Volcanoes, while Linda Hodges welcomes a new member to the gallery: Jed Dunkerly. In 2010, Jen Graves wrote that Dunkerly's drawings of machines "made the fantastic more fantastic by making it ordinary and even flat" and "dissolved the nature/human binary and replaced it with a new mixture that did not separate human activity from other processes in nature."
Closing Saturday.

Tomiyuki Sakuta: Good Looks
Sakuta creates haunting intaglio portraits of "persons" of sinews, wood, pebbles, and strange organic matter.
Closing Saturday.

TUESDAY-SUNDAY

ART

Storme Webber: Casino: A Palimpsest
Storme Webber is a Two-Spirit First Nations (Alutiiq/Black/Choctaw) interdisciplinary artist, curator, writer, and performer who creates socially engaged texts and images at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, memory, and spirit. Through the exhibition of archival photographs, installation, and experimental storytelling, Webber uses the pre-Stonewall working-class LGBTQ history of the Pioneer Square neighborhood as a point of departure to shed light on the hidden stories of the marginalized people in Seattle's present and past. Expect to see the historical made timeless, and the timeless made tangible. EMILY POTHAST
Closing Sunday.

FILM

Seattle Polish Film Festival
This festival of Polish cinema is marking its 25th year, to which we (attempt to) say: Wszystkiego najlepszego! Some film highlights this year include the gorgeous-looking Loving Vincent, a film about Van Gogh told entirely in painted animation; the thriller Amok, based on a true story about a novelist whose book may harbor clues to a hideous cold case; a drama set in a Commmunist-run prison camp for Polish "traitors" after the Liberation called Reconciliation; and what will surely be an unmissable event, a 70-year retrospective of Polish animation.

PERFORMANCE

The Crucible
Arthur Miller's The Crucible is a powerful play that's also fun: the McCarthy-era communist witch hunts are communicated through the Salem witch trials, a device that enables Miller to combine themes of ideological and political paranoia with religious zealotry, teenage girl drama, and foreboding scenes of creepy witchery. Knowing ACT, they'll also manage to tie in relevant Trump-era mind games and intimidation.

Disney's Aladdin
Laugh if you must, but Disney's Aladdin is great. Any musical that has lyrics written by Howard Ashman is a masterpiece in my eyes. Granted, Ashman died (heartbreakingly, of complications related to AIDS, at the age of 40) before Disney produced Aladdin, so only a few of the songs in the final cut of the movie were his—specifically the linguistically dazzling tongue twisters “Prince Ali” and “Friend Like Me.” But as with The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, the stage version includes songs you may not know, and some of them have lyrics by Ashman, including “Proud of Your Boy.” CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

The Government Inspector
The richest tradition in Russian literature does not begin with Leo Tolstoy but with Nikolai Gogol. In the first half of the 19th century, Gogol formed the foundation of a tradition that includes Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Yury Olesha, Vladimir Nabokov, Sasha Sokolov, and Tatyana Tolstaya with only three major works: a novel (Dead Souls), a novella (The Overcoat), and a play (The Government Inspector). The first work is one of the greatest things ever written in the universe that is known. The second is a masterpiece of Russian literature, and the third is just plain fun. The play involves a young man who is mistaken for a secret inspector by the corrupt officials of a small town. These officials do everything they can to please the young man. Wives and daughters are offered to him, and he accepts all of these gifts. Like Dead Souls and Overcoat, the humor in The Government Inspector is not bright or totally dark. It’s a humor that’s mezhdu sokakoi i volkom—between the dog and the wolf. This is the time of day when the shepherd can’t tell who is the friend and who is the enemy of his flock. This is the twilight time. CHARLES MUDEDE

Pride And Prejudice
This high-energy new take on Pride and Prejudice, adapted by Kate Hamill and directed by Amanda Dehnert, blew me away. It takes a lot of risks, but it succeeds mightily, inventing a hundred new things to laugh at in the course of retelling Jane Austen’s comedy of manners. It includes slapstick humor (spit takes, pratfalls, men in drag, freestyle dancing), pop music (RuPaul’s “Supermodel,” Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke”), and perfectly calibrated acting that somehow never goes too far off the rails. The end is unexpectedly poignant. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

Ragtime
This musical is “rarely produced at the professional level due to the sheer size of it,” a source at 5th Avenue Theatre said. “It calls for a nearly 30-person cast and the orchestra is monstrous.” But after Theatre Latte Da in Minneapolis produced a stripped-down, streamlined version of Ragtime with very little in the way of a set, the 5th Avenue hired that same director, Peter Rothstein, to do a similar production for Seattle. The cast includes talented 5th Avenue all-stars like Joshua Carter, Louis Hobson, and Kendra Kassebaum. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

This is Halloween
Can Can's creepy yet cheery musical is back! Last year, Rich Smith wrote: "It's Tim Burton's classic The Nightmare Before Christmas repackaged as a semi-scandalous spectacle for the masses. The audience eats chicken skewers and knocks back $10 cocktails while they watch Tim Keller as Jack 'the Pumpkin King' Skellington sing and dance, cabaret-style, along with Luminous Pariah, Paris Original, Marissa Quimby, and Baby Kate, while a ghoulish orchestra pumps out the show's signature tunes. Despite the glitzy and consumerist exterior, the crew manages to smuggle a complicated cabaret about the horror of fixed identities into the unpretentious space of the Triple Door."

WEDNESDAY

FILM

Wyeth Film Sprint
This showcase invites local filmmakers to create a short film inspired by Andrew Wyeth's paintings in a weeklong "sprint." At the kickoff session on Wednesday, filmmakers will be given some basic details to be included in each film. After that, filmmakers will have one week to develop, create, and submit their short films. When they're all in, a panel of judges will review the submissions and award selected films with prizes for Jury’s Pick and Wyeth’s Pick, each worth $500.

FOOD & DRINK

Behind the Bottle Harvest Dinner
Join Sip Northwest Magazine for this year's Washington State Wine harvest, featuring local sommeliers from Savage Grace Wines, W.T. Vintners, Two Vintners Winery, and Kevin White Winery. They'll be pairing some carefully curated vino with a seasonal five-course, French-style tasting menu from RN74's head chef, Tom Griese.

Cook Book Signing with Andrea Nguyen
Join Andrea Nguyen for a discussion and signing of her new release, The Pho Cookbook, which focuses on the ingredients, techniques, and history of the delicious Vietnamese staple. There will also be a cooking demonstration, accompanied by a fish sauce and pho tasting.

PERFORMANCE

Dungeons and Drag Queens
Slay or be slain at this deadly improv adventure starring Fraya Love, Harlotte O'Scara, Arson Nicki, and Butylene O'Kipple, with Matt Baume as the Dungeon Master. DJ Robosex Homosex will be providing the D&D ambiance, and geeky drink specials will be abundant.

READINGS & TALKS

Amy Tan: Where the Past Begins
Amy Tan has written beautifully (and sometimes controversially) about Chinese-American culture, generational gaps, and familial relationships; her best-known books are The Joy Luck Club (which was made into a fairly groundbreaking movie, for Hollywood standards) and The Valley of Amazement. She's here to share her latest work, Where the Past Begins, a memoir about how she became a writer.

WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY

PERFORMANCE

The Barber of Seville
Gioachino Rossini's classically humorous and high-energy opera The Barber of Seville, known as the prequel to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, will be given a slightly modernized tweak by Seattle Opera. The sets and costumes have been created squarely under the influence of the worlds of Wes Anderson and Pedro AlmodĂłvar, and each performance will feature a special appearance by Juilliard-trained burlesque sensation Marc Kenison (as his alter ego Waxie Moon) in the role of Ambrogio. This production will of course still be in Italian with English subtitles.
There are no showings on Thursday or Friday.

Coriolanus: Fight Like a Bitch
The all-woman cast of this infrequently produced Shakespearian tragedy stars Z Nation’s Nike Imoru, who showed off her ability to play King Lear and Lady Macbeth in her solo show Ode earlier this year. When she bellowed Lear's famous line, "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow!" I felt a desperate urge to see her take on a kingly role of classical proportions, and the theater gods (who are taking the form of Rebel Kat Productions) have granted me this wish. Straight from the audition materials: “What happens when we smash our current political, gendered landscape onto the sacrosanct canvas of one of the greatest playwrights ever? If a man can destroy an entire city… can’t a woman do the same? We say they can.” RICH SMITH

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY

ART

Sofie Knijff: Tales
Based in Amsterdam, Dutch-Belgian photographer Sofie Knijff mixes documentary techniques with staged settings and costumes to create dreamlike images in which the real and fictional become difficult to distinguish. Drawing on her background as a theatrical peformer, Knijff crafts dramatized simulacra that reveal unseen truths behind what is seen—realities that can be felt or intuited are illustrated as though they are real. This fascination with identity, performance, and theatricality suggests questions as to the ultimate nature of self. Who are we, and how did we become that way? What aspects of identity are a mask, and what is the truth behind them? EMILY POTHAST
Closing Saturday.

PERFORMANCE

Zombie Cheerleaders From Hell!
The Heavenly Spies are back with their annual Halloween show featuring scary hot dancers—plus "terrifying masks and pretty pasties, black cats and twerking booties, sweet transvestites and dancing cuties."

THURSDAY

FILM

Here Comes the Night: 40th Film Noir Series
As Charles Mudede says, “If you love cinema, then you must love film noir”—a category he describes as full of “spiderlike women, lots of long knives, lots of rooms with dark curtains, lots of faces of the fallen, and lots of existential twists and turns.” This week, watch the infamous shocker Kiss of Death.

FOOD & DRINK

Nathan Myhrvold, Rachel Yang, and Jess Thompson
James Beard Award semifinalist Rachel Yang's cuisine has been hailed as "some of the most creative and boldly flavored stuff in town" by Angela Garbes, and you can test this assertion anytime at her restaurants Joule, Trove, and Revel. Or you can check out this presentation of her new cookbook, My Rice Bowl: Korean Cooking Outside the Lines, co-authored with food writer Jess Thompson. (Obviously, we encourage you to do both.) The second part of this event is Nathan Myhrvold's talk based on his book Modernist Bread: The Art and Science, which takes an empirical approach to revolutionizing bread making. Myhrvold is an ex-Microsoft scientist turned high-concept baker. Together, these folks will give you a good idea of Seattle's cooking vanguard.

HALLOWEEN

Capitol Hill Zombie Crawl
Skulk your way to Redhook in your best zombie costume and most decomposed state to get a map of the participating Capitol Hill bars and restaurants serving $5 food and drink specials, reserved especially for the undead.

PERFORMANCE

The Perpetual Insurrection of Claude Cahun
When the Nazis occupied Paris, the artist Claude Cahun and her partner, Suzanne Malherbe, fled to Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands. Eventually the Nazis took Jersey, too, and the two artists found themselves living across from the Gestapo HQ on the island. Did they cower? No. They engaged in what Cahun called “psychological and semiotic sabotage.” To combat propaganda, Cahun wrote up BBC reports of Nazi military failures on cigarette papers and slipped them into the briefcases of unsuspecting Nazis. Drawing on her innate understanding of the multiplicity of the self, the nonbinary artist also created posters featuring a “nameless soldier” who spoke of defecting from the führer’s army, which also created chaos. These stories—and many more I can’t list here—come to us courtesy of recent UW PhD grad Ryan Helterbrand, who devoted his entire dissertation to this little-known artist. In collaboration with Tim Smith-Stewart and Jeffrey Azevedo, that dissertation, as well as some brand-new translations of Cahun’s wartime work, will be presented in a wild performance that involves a karaoke program and a gestural score arranged by Alyza DelPan-Monley and Smith-Stewart. RICH SMITH

READINGS & TALKS

A Colorful Evening with Leatrice Eiseman
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone® Color Institute®, will discuss her new book, The Complete Color Harmony, Pantone® Edition.

Kevin Craft & Rebecca Aronson
Seattle poet and Poetry Northwest Editions editor Kevin Craft and New Mexico-based poet Rebecca Aronson will read from their latest work.

Svetlana Beggs, Paula Cisewski, Matthew Minicucci
Hear readings by three talented Northwest poets: Svetlana Beggs, Paula Cisewski, and Matthew Minicucci.

Tara Atkinson: 'Boyfriends' Book Release
The boy in the band, the paternalistic business major who thinks he’ll save you from your life in the humanities, the English major who thinks he’ll save you from yourself, and the “overwhelmingly kind and gentle” nurse. All these boys make an appearance in local fiction writer Tara Atkinson’s digital debut, Boyfriends, published by Instant Future, an e-book imprint of longtime Portland-based indie publishers Future Tense Books. The story follows a character (who’s referred to only as “she”) from adolescence and into womanhood as she navigates weird collegiate dates, long relationships, and joyful infidelities. The Midwestern backdrop is perfectly drawn, as is the fucked-up family dynamic—and Atkinson’s quiet but powerful humor keeps you reading. Disclosure: Atkinson is a friend of mine and a former colleague, but her keen eye and confident storytelling make it easy for me to risk my credibility in the service of drawing attention to her work. Bonus: At the launch party, ask Atkinson about that time she asked her old boyfriends to respond to some of the scenes they inspired in this book. RICH SMITH

Trans Writers Read
Genesis Ellis, Susan Brittain, and Calvin Gimpelevich—three trans and genderqueer first-generation/immigrant American writers—will read from memoirs and fiction.

Two Countries: US Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents
Editor Tina Schumann has collected an anthology featuring 65 flash memoir pieces, personal essays, and poems by writers in the United States who were raised by one or more immigrant parents. At this reading, hear from seven of the contributors: Jed Myers, Paul E. Nelson, Shin Yu Pai, Tammy Robacker, Mary Lou Sanelli, Michael Schmeltzer, and Kristy Webster.

THURSDAY-SATURDAY

ART

What We Treasure: Stories from Yesler Terrace
Rachel Brumer curated this community-driven artistic exploration of the historic Yesler Terrace, in collaboration with Yesler Terrace Artists in Residence Rachel Brumer, Devon Midori Hale, Pat Graney, Cheryl Delostrinos, Angel Langley, George Lee, Rachel Kessler and DK Pan. Their ambitious description: "In this exhibit, we feature both the old Yesler Terrace and visions of the new, enmeshed in the history that has and will continue to define this historic public housing development. Working with different generations of immigrant residents, the artists have gathered stories, documented place, created visual artworks, and taught movement to residents of the greater Yesler Terrace community."
Closing Saturday.

PERFORMANCE

Burn This
In Lanford Wilson's Burn This, a young dancer’s accidental death uproots the lives of four people who, through their shared grief, experience unexpected passions and desires. This performance directed by Corey McDaniel features original music composed by Michael Owcharuk, performed by Kate Olson.

It Can't Happen Here
It Can’t Happen Here, a "cautionary tale about the fragility of Democracy," explores the threat of racism in America. The play is based on Sinclair Lewis' classic novel, written during the Great Depression in 1935, which "juxtaposes sharp political satire with the chillingly realistic rise of a president who becomes a dictator to save the nation from welfare cheats, sex, and a liberal press."

THURSDAY-SUNDAY

FILM

13th Annual HUMP! Film Festival
Every year we put out the call to sex-havers everywhere to submit a homegrown amateur porn film depicting whatever they're into (barring poop, kids, and animals, of course). The result is an incredibly diverse representation of human sexuality in all its straight, gay, trans, queer, kinky, funny, pissy, painful, and pretty forms. (And then it goes away, allowing the filmmakers to go back to their normal lives, thanks to the festival's strict privacy and security policies.) That diversity is also reflected in HUMP!'s audiences, making for a unique theater experience. The person sitting next to you might be seeing your everyday kind of sex for the very first time. In a world where fear and ignorance breed hatred, HUMP!'s demystifying inclusivity is on the front line of deflecting destructive alienation. (You also might surprise yourself by getting turned on by something unexpected.) And, like the best film festivals, it's also fun, thought provoking, and often hilarious. MARJORIE SKINNER

PERFORMANCE

BenDeLaCreme: Beware the Terror of Gaylord Manor
Someone got wise and gave BenDeLaCreme a Halloween show. The fact that that someone is ACT Theatre, a company not exactly known for big drag blowouts, is suspicious, but for BenDeLaCreme I'm willing to suspend my disbelief. This horrific tale begins—where else—at Gaylord Manor, where a team of "paranormal researchers" have found themselves on this fateful night. Soon they're beset by "vampire vixens, well-built werewolves, mischievous mummies and witches that WERK," and it only gets more fabulously frightening from there. RICH SMITH

The World of Extreme Happiness
This production follows the life of a young girl abandoned in rural China as a baby and forced to scrabble her way out of poverty as a teenager.

FRIDAY

COMEDY

Sandra Valls Live
Out-and-proud Latina comic Sandra Valls (The Latin Divas of Comedy, PRIDE: Gay/Lesbian Comedy Slam) has made people laugh alongside Eva Longoria and toured with the Lezberados.

COMMUNITY

DĂ­a de los Muertos Community Night Out
Celebrate DĂ­a de los Muertos by checking out a tapete (sand painting) installation inspired by Oaxaca traditions. Also see a dance performance, enjoy art activities, listen to music, and more.

FOOD & DRINK

Guest Chef Dinner: Michael Solomonov
As a part of Canlis' Chef Series, join Michael Solomonov, the 2017 James Beard winner for Outstanding Chef whose Philadelphia restaurant, Zahav, is acclaimed for its authentic Israeli fare.

Harvest Dinner with Sous Sol Wine
It's a cruel world, but the Northwest is still abound with plentiful gifts of the harvest season. Celebrate at this annual fall dinner, featuring wine pairings (for an extra $15) from local winery Sous Sol. This year's menu features cured “Mojama” albacore tuna, grilled escarole salad, ricotta and duck confit agnolotti, roasted pheasant and turnip steak, and a rustic pear tart with salted caramel sauce and fresh whip for dessert.

HALLOWEEN

FreakNight 2017
Annual high-key wild-out throwdown FreakNight features two days of live music, dancing, a market, and a darkly neon environment of scary circus attractions, bizarre sideshow marvels, and carnival rides. Artists this year include Adventure Club, Bear Grillz, Benny Benassi, Borgore, Brodinski, Brohug, Bro Safari, Crankdat, Herobust, Infected Mushroom, Justice (DJ Set), Liquid Soul, Malaa, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (DJ Set), The Upbeats, Walker & Royce, and special guest Kaskade.

Seduction: A Fundraiser for the Seattle Erotic Art Festival
People sometimes object to the sexualization of Halloween, so why not get the pervy stuff out of the way before All Hallows'? The Foundation for Sex Positive Culture and the Seattle Erotic Art Festival present what they describe as "a carnival of delights!" From interactive installations to aerial and bondage shows to a VIP Oddities Emporium to sultry games, this event will be kinda artsy and definitely sensual.

READINGS & TALKS

Juan González
Former New York Daily News columnist and Democracy Now cohost Juan González reports on stuff weeks and sometimes months before it breaks into the mainstream. He was reporting on Puerto Rico’s debt crisis before anyone was talking about it. He’s won tons of prestigious journalism prizes based on his investigative reporting about crooked New York City politicians. But more importantly, he’s a lovable and smart uncle-dude with tons of amazing stories. His new book, Reclaiming Gotham: Bill de Blasio and the Movement to End America’s Tale of Two Cities, is all about the wave of progressive candidates that won seats in the country’s urban centers, and in particular about how de Blasio’s reforms in New York City (paid sick leave, universal pre-K, wage increases) benefit the Big Apple. RICH SMITH

PERFORMANCE

Into? 2017
Join Nark Magazine and a panel of judges for Into?: a combination of a drag pageant, freak show, runway walk-off, and look-fest soundtracked by DJ MikeQ. It’s up to the crowd and the judges to pick which battle contestant wins the $1,000 prize.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

HALLOWEEN

Carnevolar VIII: Phobia
As if it weren't nerve-wracking enough watching acrobats flip the bird to gravity, Emerald City's high-flyers will perform a variety show based on phobias and nightmares. Shake out your jitters afterwards during a dance party at this annual Halloween circus.

Halloween Hell Harvest (of Comedy) 2: The Reharvesting
You won't be able to throw a pumpkin at this macabre comedy fest without hitting a very funny local performer or other—not that you ought to. Stand-uppers like Nathalie Holt, Jim Stewart Allen, Maddie Downes, Andy Iwancio, and Matt Olsen, improv and sketch troupes Always Be Clothing, Death and Taxes, Fifty Percent Less Bear, and others will leaven the scares with hilarity, plus there'll be magic by Aaron Wheeler and music by Leaf Colors and Aaron J. Shay. If you're not tempted yet, there's also horror trivia with prizes. Matt Hatfield is your ghoulish host.

Un-Masc
Pony will host two nights of Halloween madness with performances, music, and plenty of tricks and treats. On Friday, see Jackie Hell perform to a punk and New Wave soundtrack from DJ Sugar and DJ King of Pants. On Saturday, see Strawberry Shartcake and Cucci Binaca perform to a live disco and classic house soundtrack from DJ Kirky and DJ Jack, plus a costume contest at midnight.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

ART

BorderLands
Pedro Lasch and other Pacific Northwest artists will use various media to delve into "nationalism and belonging." See works from the City of Seattle's collection by Anida Yoeu Ali, Ryan Feddersen, Satpreet Kahlon, Henry Luke, Ries Niemi, Crystal Schenk, C.A. del Rosario, and Inye Wokoma.
Closing Sunday.

HALLOWEEN

Fright Fest
Listen to the swooshing of the wind on rollercoasters in the dark, check out two haunted houses, walk down a creepy trail through the woods, and make scary arts and crafts at Fright Fest.

SATURDAY

ART

Elizabeth Mputu: LVLZ Healing Center: IRL Application of Digi-Manifestation
Elizabeth Mputu is a digital artist whose work has, up to this point, taken place exclusively in virtual space. Evolving from the use of selfies as a tactic of survival and anti-erasure, his/her current work involves the creation of tools for self-care and the ease of internet-related stress—for instance, a guided meditation for the release of grief created after a grand jury failed to indict anyone for Sandra Bland's death. For his/her first solo gallery exhibition, Mputu has divided the interior of Interstitial into four "portals of healing" that explore how digital and physical space can be combined to create new possibilities for the cultivation of well-being. EMILY POTHAST

Safe Thus Far: Storme Webber, Patrick Haggerty, and the Sacred Water Canoe Family
Storme Webber is a Two-Spirit First Nations (Alutiiq/Black/Choctaw) interdisciplinary artist, curator, writer, and performer who creates socially engaged texts and images at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, memory, and spirit," writes Emily Pothast about the artist behind the Frye Art Museum's Casino: A Palimpsest exhibit. "Through the exhibition of archival photographs, installation, and experimental storytelling, Webber uses the pre-Stonewall working-class LGBTQ history of the Pioneer Square neighborhood as a point of departure to shed light on the hidden stories of the marginalized people in Seattle's present and past." On the day before the show closes, Webber will appear at this song and poetry event alongside local musicians Patrick Haggerty—who's known for his role as lead singer and guitarist of Lavender Country, a band that put out the first gay-themed country album ever in 1973—and the Sacred Water Canoe Family (SWCF), a group of members of several tribal nations, known for the songs they sing during protests, rallies, and funerals. This performance is a great opportunity to see Casino: A Palimpsest, and Webber will even stick around afterwards to sign copies of her poetry book, Blues Divine.

Witch-Ikon: Witchcraft in Art and Artifact Book Release
Help launch this book, Witch-Ikon: Witchcraft in Art and Artifact, an illustrated volume of witchcraft imagery through the ages, from "the fetishistic charms of folk-sorcery to the magical inspired imagery of modern occultism."

COMMUNITY

KEXP Second Annual Record Fair
KEXP is holding its second-ever Record Fair at the radio station's Seattle Center gathering space. The free, all-ages fair is happening in partnership with Easy Street Records, and will feature four other music retailers (Sonic Boom, Silver Platters, Road Trip, and Bluebelle), four labels (Light in the Attic, Sub Pop, Rocket Heart, and Freakout), and 10 private dealers selling their goods. DJs will be spinning records all day, too.

FOOD & DRINK

Cascadia Cheese Festival
At this fromage-filled festival, Northwest cheesemakers showcase their wealth of handmade goods. Sample all the artisanal cheeses you can handle while hanging out with "adorable little goats" from Animal Encounters.

Hood Famous Bakeshop Anniversary Pop-Up
On a blessed day last October, the Hood Famous Bakeshop pop-up settled into a brick-and-mortar location. And since then, you can buy delicious Pinay treats every week. The Bakeshop will mark one year of contributing to Seattle's dessert scene by selling treats by local guest bakers. Try mini cupcakes in halo-halo (shaved ice, evaporated milk, and fruit or other ingredients), turon (fried banana and jackfruit spring roll), chocolate coconut caramel, and calamansi (a citrusy, kumquat-like fruit) flavors by AnnaLiza Valdez Ramos on October 28.

HALLOWEEN

8th Annual ER Costume Crawl
Get your chills and thrills at this evening of mystery, music, dancing, and libations at the Hideout, Vito's, and Hotel Sorrento. Start gluing some sequins, buying some fake teeth, and brewing some potions, because the winner of the costume contest will come away with a $500 cash prize.

Beauty Boiz Go BOO, Pt. 3
Join the witches of Forward Flux and Beautyboiz for a Halloween dance party that they've been planning all year. Dance to DJs, see video art and Halloween installations on multiple floors, and enjoy drag performances galore.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Removed as they are from the modern moviegoing experience, silent movies possess a special kind of hypnotic otherwordliness—and few are stranger than Robert Wiene's 1919 Expressionist masterwork The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Characters creep and scurry through an demented painted landscape In this tale of a malevolent fairground "doctor" and the unfortunate sleepwalker who murders at his command. Conrad Veidt's haunted eyes struggling open in his emaciated, heavily made-up face is one of the quintessential moments in horror cinema. Don't miss your chance to see this film with a score by Wayne Horvitz, performed live by the Wayne Horvitz Ensemble.

Fremonster Spectacular
The second annual Fremonster Spectacular promises wild DJ sets within a spooky nightclub atmosphere, a costume contest with a $500 cash prize, a full bar with specialty themed cocktails, festive chocolates, and aerial, shibari, and GoGo performances.

Halloween Fundraiser for Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief
The brewery will transform into a Blacklight Forest of Doom at this "Helloween" party, which promises a costume contest, kooky drink specials, and more. A portion of the spookiness will benefit hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

Halloween Release Party
In anticipation of Seattle's seventh annual Short Run Comix & Arts Festival, meet the Push/Pull crew and pick up Elk Paauw's long-form travelogue "Good Mahnin' Yankee," as well as various works by Seth Goodkind and Push/Pull members. Proceeds will benefit Hurricane Irma relief and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Haunt: The Ultimate Halloween Bash
Dance to sets from "party band" Brand X and DJ Funkdaddy, watch other spooky performances, and participate in a costume contest for "most elaborate," "most creative," "scariest," "best group," and other categories in this massive Halloween celebration that MoPOP has been throwing for 16 years now. Make sure to bring your A game—the prize for "best costume" is $1000.

READINGS & TALKS

Fred Korematsu Speaks Up
Those who listened to a recent episode of the More Perfect podcast would have been reminded that it’s still legal to throw American citizens into internment camps so long as the United States is at war with their ancestors’ country. That’s the 6–3 (!) decision the US Supreme Court reached in Korematsu v. United States, which affirmed the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066 (ordering Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II). This year, Heyday Books published Fred Korematsu Speaks Up by Laura Atkins and Stan Yogi, which is an illustrated biography of Korematsu, a regular guy who had the courage to call bullshit when he saw it, even in the face of an extremely hostile government, even in the middle of a war. At this event, Atkins and Yogi will discuss the story and sign books. Bring the children, as this one’s aimed at the younger crowd. RICH SMITH

Lambda Literary Fellows Reading
Six queer writers—each a recipient of a Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Fellowship—will read from their new work. Emceed by Hugo House writer-in-residence Amber Flame, the lineup includes Tennessee Jones, Natalia Vigil, Taylor Johnson, Molly Thornton, Kathleen Nacozy, and Elaina Ellis.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

HALLOWEEN

Halloween at Linda's
For Halloween, Linda's Tavern is flipping Upside Down, Stranger Things-style. DJ Hellbound will up the ambiance. Party all night, then return in costume for brunch to get 20% off your tab. Nota bene: "*Linda's Tavern reserves the right to tell you that a little smeared mascara from the night before doesn't constitute a 'Courtney Love' costume, although it probably looks pretty badass."

SUNDAY

ART

Iluna Flora
Spend an evening dancing in the dark surrounded by plants and light installations. Light artists include Brandon Eller, Liquid Light Wizard, MOKEDO, and Robin Mallory, with DJ sets provided by Nora Posch and Sharlese Metcalf of False Prophet.

FOOD & DRINK

Comadre PanaderĂ­a Pop-Up
The delicious genius behind Comadre PanaderĂ­a will host a pop-up in partnership with Amandine Bakeshop and Dorothea Coffee spread over two weekends. Proceeds from the pan dulce sales will go directly to the at-risk populations of Oaxaca, Mexico City, and Puerto Rico in the wake of recent events.

Lobster Hip Hop Night
They ask, "Has there ever been a more natural pairing than whole steamed lobster and hiphop?" I can think of a few, to be fair, but I also think that hiphop goes with pretty much everything, especially when chef Ethan Stowell is "guest not DJing." You're probably thinking it's best he sticks to the lobster, but you're wrong. "I'm old, so we'll be playing some Wu-Tang for sure," he promises. "N.W.A., Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Biggie, Public Enemy, Eric B. and Rakim, Afrika Bambaataa, Snoop, Run-D.M.C., Slick Rick, Father MC. Stuff like that." The man has taste! And he won't be manning the decks, just suggesting the picks, so you can rest assured that your $55 lobster feast (a steal!) will be as delicious as anything else you've come to expect when he's in the kitchen. He got troops and crazy (lobster) juice, as Rakim might have put it. TOBIAS COUGHLIN-BOGUE

Sahti: Finnish Beer Brewing
Celebrate 100 years of Finnish independence by learning how to brew a batch of Finnish Sahti in the traditional method, using a hollowed-out log.

HALLOWEEN

BadWill Market: Halloween / Day of the Dead Edition
BadWill Market's Halloween/Day of the Dead edition will feature vintage costumes and clothing, jewelry, home goods, house plants, tarot readings, and more. If you're feeling daring, there will also be flash tattoos.

CURSE FIRST 2: Dusk Disco & Drag Show
The Portland drag group Local Queen storms Seattle, presenting a scary show featuring local talent such as Abbey Roads, Fraya Love, Mercury Divine, Old Witch, and Strawberry Shartcake. DJs Robosex Homosex and Cookie Couture will drop the beats. A tea dance opens the proceedings, with pop-up performances to follow. Plus, enjoy photobooth and a "Best Look" contest with a big prize.

Witches' Tea
At this Halloween version of the hotel's High Tea service, gather your coven to master potions and spells while sipping tea and tasting assorted sweets like fresh-baked scones, cookies, tea sandwiches, and truffles. Witch and warlock regalia is very much encouraged.

PERFORMANCE

Creating S-Town: A New Way to Tell a Story with Brian Reed
Brian Reed, a producer for the public-radio show This American Life and the host and creator of the blockbuster podcast S-Town, brings his years of storytelling experience to Benaroya Hall. In his talk, Reed will walk you through the process of creating S-Town—a show that is part murder mystery, part Southern gothic, and all riveting. He'll detail how he and his co-creators brought the story of John B. McLemore—and the town he hated but could never seem to give up—to life. If it’s nearly as good live as it is in your headphones, this will be a night not to miss. KATIE HERZOG

READINGS & TALKS

David Biespiel and Wendy Willis
Join David Biespiel (winner of the 2016 Oregon Book Award for General Nonfiction) and Portland poet and essayist Wendy Willis (winner of the 2017 Dorothy Prize for her book of poems A Long Late Pledge) as they read from their recent work.

Nick DiMartino
Nick DiMartino is a local literary powerhouse—he's the author of more than 20 plays and 18 books, and he's quietly keeping literature alive on the UW campus through his work at the University Book Store. At this event, he'll read from and sign his latest work.

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