seeing things

Things to Do in Portland This Week

Brian Libby on Portland architecture, Larry Crane on making music, Min Jin Lee with Mitchell Jackson, and a Treevia Night.

By Rebecca Jacobson and Margaret Seiler October 8, 2026

White Bird brings Australian troupe Circa to town October 14.

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.


theater Pride & Prejudice

SEPT 27–OCT 25 | PORTLAND CENTER STAGE, From $25

Playwright Kate Hamill is known for screwball stage adaptations of classics, including Sense & Sensibility and Vanity Fair. In this madcap riff on Jane Austen's most famous novel, the playwright zeroes in on the question of how anyone can know if they've met "the one." Marissa Wolf, artistic director of Portland Center Stage, helms the production.

FILM In Search of Portland

7PM THU, Oct 8 | Tomorrow Theater, $15

Local architecture writer (and occasional Portland Monthly contributor) Brian Libby hosts a discussion of his new book, In Search of Portland: Exploring a Transforming City. He's also curated a series of short films and excerpts of longer ones, including some anonymous home movies from the 1930s, to help illuminate the city and its spaces. (A related photography show is up through October 30 at Weedman Design Partners.) 

Books Larry Crane

7PM Fri, OCT 9 | POWELL'S CITY OF BOOKS, FREE

Crane, the longtime Jackpot! Recording Studio owner and Tape Op magazine editor, comes to Powell's to talk with John McEntire (or Tortoise and the Sea and Cake) about Making Music: Conversations with Record Producers. Edited by Crane with John Baccigaluppi, the collection of interviews from Tape Op’s first 30 years, with the likes of RZA, T Bone Burnett, and Jennifer Decilveo, gets into the value of collaboration and details of what really happens in the booth. 

Books Min Jin Lee with Mitchell S. Jackson

7:30PM Fri, OCT 9 | Patricia Reser Center for the arts, $47–61

In a powerhouse lineup, Literary Arts brings Pachinko author Min Jin Lee to Beaverton's Reser to talk about her latest novel, American Hagwon, with Portland-raised Pulitzer-winning writer Mitchell S. Jackson. 

Ballet Swan Lake

VARIOUS TIMES SAT–SAT, OCT 10–17 | KELLER AUDITORIUM, $39–188

Oregon Ballet Theatre brings a version of the classic ballet choreographed by former OBT artistic director Christopher Stowell, complete with its Tchaikovsky score and evil sorcerer.

Botany Treevia Night

7:30PM TUE, OCT 13 | Garden Party Food Carts, Free

North Williams Avenue cart pod Garden Party hosts one of the City of Portland's neighborhood tree steward for "a night filled with laughs, fun facts, and a shared love for trees." Questions might touch on Portland history and nature as well as trees in movies or on album covers.

Circa performs Wolf at the Keller on October 14.

DANCE Circa

7:30PM WED, OCT 14 | ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL, $5–130

Founded as Rock n' Roll Circus in 1986, this Australian company blends acrobatics, dance, and theater in its internationally touring shows; the group comes to Portland thanks to dance presenter White Bird. This piece, Wolf, unfolds over two 40-minute acts, with 10 performers and a pulsing electronic score.

Ongoing

visual art The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art

THRU JAN 3, 2027 | PORTLAND ART MUSEUM, $27.50

Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria provided nearly 150 works for this special exhibition at PAM, which features pieces by Indigenous artists from across Australia, spanning from the late nineteenth century to the present. The work spans genres, too—ochre bark paintings, sound installations, photography, weavings, and more.

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