Theater

Our Town
Nov 14–Dec 1, The Headwaters 
If anyone can save Our Town from the doldrums of high school cafeteria theaters, it’s experimental performance troupe Liminal. The company will start out true to Thornton Wilder’s script, with a bare stage, but then layer on music, closed-circuit live video, and other multimedia magic until we’re immersed in Liminal’s trademark multisensory world. 

American Idiot
Nov 12–17, Keller Auditorium
In perhaps the most unlikely pop music/Broadway pairing yet, American Idiot tells the tale of three friends from suburbia, using the music from the Grammy-winning Green Day record of the same name. Portland is the first stop in the Tony-winning show’s US tour. “Wake us up when September [well, November] ends.” 

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Oct 25–Nov 23, Shoebox Theatre
Up to six actors play Mr. Hyde in this 2008 reimagining by noted playwright Jeffrey Hatcher of the classic story about the tension twixt social mores and primal instincts. It's Theatre Vertigo's first show in their new home, the tiny Shoebox Theatre. As we found, the proximity of the audience to the actors "became first comfortable, then exciting, with many audience members leaning in to see the actors’ shaking hands and smeared makeup, and to marvel at their complex blocking in this confined space." Read our full review.

Margaret Cho
Nov 15, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Bill Callahan
Nov 19, Aladdin Theater 
The cult singer-songwriter’s music has evolved from his lo-fi work as Smog in the ’90s to the fully orchestrated sound of 2009 critical success Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle. But his idiosyncratic vocal delivery, unemotional yet somehow stirring, has remained constant.

Books 

Kevin Sampsell
Nov 15, Powell's
In addition to running his own press, editing short-story collections, and writing a memoir, Kevin Sampsell has overseen Powell’s highly influential independent publishing section for 12 years and run many of the bookstore’s events, bringing authors in unknown and sending them out with a following. Now, he's releasing his first novel, This Is Between Us. Check out our profile of the local literary kingpin.

Carli Davidson
Nov 17, Powell's 
This local photographer has gone from blogs to book deal with her photos of dogs midshimmy, appropriately titled Shake. As she comes to Powell's to support the book, read our profile of Davidson from our November issue.

Art

Disjecta's Seventh Annual Art Auction
Nov 16, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center
The contemporary art center’s annual auction, hosted by auctioneer-adman A. C. Dickson, offers cash-strapped connoisseurs the chance to snap up quality art at cut rate—and support the nonprofit in the bargain.

Interrogating Ideas
Nov 16, The Lumber Room
New arts organization Zena Zezza's Interrogating Ideas series "brings together artists, curators, and writers who have a fascination for ideas and have been talking about a subject over a period of time,” founder Sandra Percival told us in our Fall Arts Preview profile of her. At this edition, artist Josiah McElheny will give a talk at 1 p.m. and then be in conversation with former Reina Sophia curator Lynne Cooke about how domestic spaces shape our perception of art at 2:30 p.m. These two are art-world pillars, people.

Film

British Arrow Awards
Nov 20–23, Whitsell Auditorium 
This British advertising award show celebrates the creative heights across the wide range of multimedia advertising in the UK, from traditional television to emerging online mediums. The eclectic mix of prizewinners offers everything from acerbic wit to effects wizardry. 

Northwest Filmmakers Festival
Nov 8–17, Various venues
NWFC’s annual showcase of our region’s best new cinematic work celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. More than 400 filmmakers asked to screen their films at the party (i.e. fest), but guest judge Mike Plante, Sundance’s senior shorts programmer, winnowed the invite list to just the finest 40 or so films. For more, check out his awards and our picks for the fest.