Theater

Mistakes Were Made
Thru Oct 27, Artists Repertory Theatre 
Craig Wright's comedy presents us with a hot-head NYC theater producer as he unravels under the weight of negotiations with movie stars, playwrights, and agents, as well as some crisis in the Middle East involving sheep and militant rebels—all with no one but his overweight pet fish as a confidant. We caught up with Wright, who has also written episodes for Lost and Six Feet, as well as created Dirty Sexy Money, to talk about the difficulty of breathing new life into the hard-nosed producer trope, his cascade of absuridites, and the difference between writing for stage and scree. In addition to the Q&A, we also review the show in what we're dubbing the Review&A.

Detroit
Thru Nov 3, Portland Playhouse
This darkly funny play captures the zeitgeist of the recession through two sets of couples living side by side in Detroit. The New York Times hailed it as a “sharp X-ray of the embattled American psyche.” We found it to be an impressively designed and well-acted production that stumbled slightly in the second half, but didn't fall. Read our full review.

Film

Reel Music Festival
Oct 11–24, Whitsell Auditorium 
Reel Music is NWFC’s annual examination of sound-screen symbiosis, from theater organs to surround sound, with eclectic programming ranging from a documentary about Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna to a “stop motion–animated video opera” by Portland artist Alexis Gideon. 

Hitchcock 9
Oct 12–27, Whitsell Auditorium
The British Film Institute has restored the celluloid legend’s nine earliest surviving works. These rarely seen entries will be accompanied by live musical scores.  

Dance

Oregon Ballet Theatre: Dream
Oct 12–19, Keller Auditorium
Incoming artistic director Kevin Irving makes his presence known with Por Vos Muero, a contemporary ballet from the much-in-demand Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato. "Duato is one of the preeminent choreographers in the world today and a close personal friend, so introducing his work to Portland with this lovely ballet is a huge thrill for me,” Irving told us in our Fall Arts Preview profile of him. The Spanish Renaissance–inspired piece shares the program with former OBT director Christopher Stowell’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  

Compagnie Maguy Marin
Oct 10–12, Newmark Theatre 
The 2002 performance by this provocative European choreographer left Portland audiences deeply divided—some walked out, others thought it was brilliant. Now she returns for the only US performance on her tour, the premiere of Salves, a (far more accessible) roller-coaster ride of mystery, suspense, and humor.

Music

Bonnie Raitt with Marc Cohn
Oct 12, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 
This blues singer-songwriter and ace bottleneck guitarist has been striking a balance between relevance and reverence for more than four decades. Last year’s Slipstream shows Raitt’s still got it: the record was the top-selling blues album of 2012 and won the 2013 Grammy for Best Americana Album.

Ben Darwish: The Lonely Night 
Oct 11-13, Ethos at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center
Incredibly versatile and constantly evolving composer and keyboardist Ben Darwish, a Portland resident, debuts his new multi-media performance piece. Funded in part by a 2013 RACC project grant, the song cycle makes use of stage design, video, and lighting elements to complement Darwish’s assured compositions. 

Sports and Special Events

Portland Timbers vs. Seattle Sounders
Oct 13, Jeld-Wen Field
The Sounders come to Portland! Come cheer on your favorite FC Timbers and help send the Sounders packing at the second to last home season conference game for Portland. This is a game with crucial playoff implications, so you may want to cover the kids’ ears during some of the Seattle-related chants from the Timbers Army.

Design Week Portland
All weekend, Various venues 
This festival celebrates our design industries with interdisciplinary swagger—just about every genre of design shows up somewhere—and inclusivity that promise inspiration and threaten exhaustion. There are about 180 different events, so hydrate, and check out our preview guide. 

Zombie Apocalypse Run
Oct 12, Heiser Farms
Test your survival skills and prepare for the coming endtimes with this apocalyptically-themed 5K and 1.5 mile run through a course littered with obstacles and surprises. Participants get to choose whether to be a zombie or a survivor; the latter are given two minute head starts before their brain-hungry zombie pursuants are released after them. 

Books and Talks

Bright Lights Double Header
As part of Design Week, this month's installment of Portland Monthly's Bright Lights conversation series brings you a double dose of informed discussion about the future of the city, hosted by PoMo's editor-at-large, Randy Gragg. 

• What's the Vision? A Conversation with Mayor Charlie Hales
  Oct 10, Jimmy Mak's
  As he rounds the bend to completing his first year in office, Mayor Charlie Hales will share his views on what the next three years might yield for the future of the Portland Development Commission and the Office of Planning and Sustainability, along with districts like the Rose Quarter and East Portland—all in what is shaping up to be one of the hottest building periods in the city’s history. 
• City Club of Portland Friday Forum: A Conversation with Chris Riley
  Oct 11, Governor Hotel
  As a 22-year resident of Portland, global branding strategist Chris Riley has witnessed the city's evolution from a perceived second-tier American city to a global tastemaker. “Right here on our doorstep,” Riley says, “we have a vibrant culture of craft that represents a real generational change in attitudes to what we consume. It lies in the relationship between designers, the maker culture, and consumers, born into a local context of extremely sophisticated market thinking.” Riley will share his observations on how similar clusters of economic activity are evolving around the world, ranging from London to Dehli, and what Portland might learn from them.
  

Mark Morrisroe: Mark Dirt Book Signing and Release with Ramsey McPhillips 
Oct 10, Monograph Books
Mark Morrisroe was many things: a fast burning artistic meteorite whose Polaroids pushed the medium’s edges, a pioneer of Boston’s punk scene, a member of the “Boston School” along with the likes of Nan Goldin and David Armstrong, a chronicler of made-up celebrity gossip, the illegitimate son of the Boston Strangler (so he claimed), and a first rate provocateur. He also happened to be the boyfriend of fifth generation Oregonian Ramsey McPhillips, and his ashes are buried on the McPhillips farm—which figured prominently in our story about the battle against the Riverbend Landfill. In Mark Morrisroe: Mark Dirt, McPhillips publishes for the first time his collection of Morrisroe’s non-photographic works, including spreads from the only remaining copy of his seminal punk zine, Dirt, as well as drawings, collages, personal correspondence, and even his last will. Much of these items will be on display at the book release.

Paul Harding
Oct 13, Powell's
Harding’s debut, Tinkers, a hushed, lyrical novel told from the perspective of a clock repairman on his deathbed, was the dark-horse winner of the 2010 Pulitzer. His new book, Enon, focuses on the repairman’s grandson.

Art

Marina Rosenfeld
Oct 12, Disjecta Contemporary Arts Center
Avant garde composer Marina Rosenfeld is known as a guiding light in the effort to combine visual art and music. Dating back to her 1993 piece for 17 women on floorbound electric guitars, Sheer Frost Orchestra, her work has toed the line between installation and performance, and has been performed around the world, from the Museum of Modern Art to the Tate Modern. At Disjecta, she will respond to the concept of "fugue" as one of the themes of the exhibition subject, answer, countersubject.

Mr. Otis
Oct 12–Nov 24, Portland Museum of Modern Art 
Never heard of the great midcentury artist Mr. Otis? Label yourself a newcomer. His satirical riffs on modernism earned him infamy—at least among the wryer Portland cognoscenti who knew him as the alter ego of notorious journalist Stewart Holbrook. The opening reception for this show will be on Saturday, October 12th at 8 PM. To get the maximum tongue-in-cheek, consider pairing with a trip to Portland Art Museum’s modern galleries.

Portland Open Studios
Oct 12–13, 19–20, Various venues
Portland Open Studios offers attendees the unique opportunity to interact with artists in the places in which they make their art. The self-guided tour of studios throughout the Portland metro area is a chance to learn about materials and techniques and to experience firsthand some of the creative process across a variety of mediums. 

Classical 

Making Waves
Oct 12, Aladdin Theater
Portland Taiko has been a powerhouse member of the Portland musical and performing community since 1994. Their Making Waves 2013 performance sees them share the stage with L.A.’s ON Ensemble, a four-member taiko group that fuses the traditional Japanese drumming with hip-hop, rock, and electronica. 

Pacifica Quartet Featuring Menahem Pressler
Oct 14–15, Lincoln Hall
This Grammy winning quartet will be joined by Pressler, founding member and pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio, an equally noted piano trio that performed for over 50 years. The Pacifica Quartet’s two nights in town will each have different selections: Monday promises pieces by Mozart, Britten, and Dvorak, while Tuesday offers music by Haydn, Schnittke, and Schumann.