Things to Do in Portland This Week
You’re reading Seeing Things, our regular column about the concerts, art shows, comedy sets, movies, readings, plays, and other events we’re attending. Sign up to receive it in your inbox each week.
Music PDX Live
7pm THU, AUG 20 | PIONEER COURTHOUSE SQUARE, FROM $50+
Held at Pioneer Courthouse Square over the stretch of two weeks, this concert extravaganza wraps up with Vince Staples. Portland phenom Wynne opens. —RJ
theater A Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear
Thu–Sat, AUG 20–22 | ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE, FROM $25
Salt and Sage stages two Shakespeare heavy-hitters in repertory. Voyage to a magical, fairy-filled forest one night and to a fracturing kingdom the next—or visit them both on the same day. Lear plays at 7:30pm Friday and Saturday, while Dream is on at 7:30pm Thursday and 2pm Saturday. —RJ
Bikes Made Bike Show
9aM–5PM FRI & SAT, 9AM–4PM SUN, AUG 21–23 | ZIDELL YARDS, $30–45, KIDS FREE
This trade show/handmade bicycle showcase in the South Waterfront is both a start and endpoint for many a Pedalpalooza ride this weekend. —MS
LEGEND Tobin Heath Retirement
5:30pm SAT, AUG 22 | PROVIDENCE PARK, FROM $24+
Raise your hand if you have ever been personally nutmegged by Tobin Heath. The Jersey girl turned Tarheel turned longtime Portland and US national team star announced her retirement from the game last year. Portland fans have been feeling her absence for a lot longer than that: No one knew her seventh season with the team, in 2019, would be her last at Providence Park. After the 2020 season was scuttled in the pandemic, she played in England and saw her rights transferred to other NWSL teams, but she's signing a one-day contract so she can officially retire as a Thorn. Heath cemented legend status in the first-ever NWSL championship game, rocketing a free kick practically from outer space (36 yards out) into the back of the net. She's only added to the legacy since, and remains the team's all-time assist leader. The Thorns (no. 4 in the standings at press time) are holding an on-field ceremony in Heath's honor before their 5:45pm game against the Denver Summit (no. 11). —MS
Image: Margaret Seiler
Concert Silkworm
9pm Sat, Aug 22 | MIssissippi Studios, 21+, from $25+
The most critically acclaimed band you never heard of, Silkworm toured incessantly in the ’90s and early 2000s and released a dozen albums before drummer Michael Dahlquist was killed in a car crash caused by an allegedly suicidal driver. Following a one-off set at a memorial for producer Steve Albini in 2024, last fall founding members Tim Midyett, Andy Cohen, and Joel R. L. Phelps reunited for a smattering of dates beginning in their most recent home base of Chicago and now spreading westward, with drummer Jeff Panall. Sometimes poppy, sometimes dirgy, but always loud, Silkworm is a post-punk by way of prog-rock powerhouse that defies comparison or categorization. To be missed only at your everlasting regret. —DE
ICON Log Lady Day
10am–4pm Sun, Aug 23 | World Forestry Center, $10 adults, $9 seniors, $5 kids
The World Forestry Center once again hosts a very famous piece of wood: the log used in Twin Peaks, held by actor Catherine Coulson in her role as Margaret Lanterman, a.k.a. the Log Lady. I Know Catherine, a documentary about the David Lynch regular and Oregon Shakespeare Fest vet, will screen through the day, and there's also a Log Lady lookalike contest and a pie-eating challenge. While you're there, learn about trees, forest dwellers, fire risks, and more. —MS
Animation Bill Plympton
7:15pm Sun, Aug 23 | Living Room Theaters, 21+, $13.75+
The Portland-born animator and Oscar nominee, now 80, brings his Barkin’ Dog Collection of shorts to downtown's Living Room Theaters. A Q&A follows the screening, and all attendees will get a free drawing. Keeping up the canine theme, a portion of ticket sales goes to the Oregon Humane Society. —MS
Books Jamie Fisher
7pm TUE, AUG 25 | POWELL’S CITY OF BOOKS, FREE
Plumbing the archives and interviewing friends, family, and collaborators, Fisher follows the late musician from his Texas childhood through his Portland adolescence and artistic rise (and on to New York, Los Angeles, and tragedy) in Nobody Broke Your Heart: An Intimate Biography of Elliott Smith. The author appears at Powell's in conversation with Tape Op’s Larry Crane. —MS
Ongoing
Burlesque Dolly!
thru Sept 20 | Paris Theatre, $39+
