BOOKS & TALKS

Alexander Weinstein
7:30 p.m. Friday, Powell's City of Books
In his debut collection of speculative short stories, praised by NPR as "harrowing," Weinstein transports readers to a near future even more tech-obsessed than the present.

Bryan Cranston
3 p.m. Saturday, Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
What is Walter White doing in Beaverton? Promoting his new memoir, A Life in Parts, of course.

COMEDY

Stellar
8 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, CoHo Theater
Bri Pruett, one of Portland’s funniest, gutsiest comedians, puts on a solo show that roves from body positivity to online dating to overcoming trauma to real talk about sex. Oh, and she’s programmed a Sade-loaded soundtrack, should you need further reason to attend.

DANCE

Camille A. Brown & Dancers
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, Newmark Theatre
Known for work that’s as muscular as it is socially aware, Brown returns to Portland with Black Girl: Linguistic Play, which delves into the black female experience via childhood games.

Bolero +
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, Lincoln Performance Hall
Northwest Dance Project, Portland’s premier contemporary dance company, unveils new work by three choreographers: British-born resident choreographer Ihsan Rustem, Lucas Crandall of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and the Hannover, Germany-based Felix Landerer.

CLOSING Giants
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, Keller Auditorium
Oregon Ballet Theatre opens its 27th season with a history-tracing bill: 1934’s Serenade, Russian-born George Balanchine’s first work choreographed in America; 1987’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, William Forsythe’s fiercely off-kilter ballet set to a thundering, electronic score by Thom Willems; and Giants Before Us, a world premiere by OBT resident choreographer Nicolo Fonte.

Portland Tango Festival
Various times Thursday–Monday, various locations
Five days of social dancing, classes, and events. Whether you lead or follow, all skill levels are welcome in this wild weekend of dancing, stocked with classes from exceptional international and local teachers.

FILM

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Hollywood Theatre
As part of the Hollywood's Fashion in Film series, come marvel at the trippy looks and weirdo shenanigans of David Lynch's 1992 movie (one of those rare beasts that can be called both a prequel and a sequel). Oh, and there's an FBI agent played by David Bowie. We've got a short preview, too—and an entire fall fashion feature inspired by Twin Peaks (damn fine!).

MUSIC

Glass Animals
8 p.m. Thursday, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
The British indie rockers—the Guardian has called them "Oxford Alt-J-alikes"—are a Spotify sensation, racking up plays like few other artists out there. 

James Blake
9 p.m. Thursday, Roseland Theater, SOLD OUT
Blake’s self-titled 2011 release was a revelation: a waterfall of heartache and synth. And his latest, The Colour In Anything, is no different. He’s like an English version of Bon Iver (who features on this album) who doesn’t seem quite so breakable.

Explode Into Colors
6 and 9 p.m. Sunday, Mississippi Studios
A half-decade or so ago, the three women of this Portland-based, musically unclassifiable outfit enjoyed a short but fiery run, melding dancy beats, post-punk, fuzzy reverb, arty funk, kicky drums, and a sludgy grunge streak. They broke up in 2010 but are now reuniting for back-to-back shows—the first benefits local music nonprofit Friends of Noise, and the latter will raise funds for Los Angeles all-ages space the Smell.

THEATER

OPENING El Muerto Vagabundo
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Milagro Theatre
What happens to the dead when they leave this world without friends or family to mourn them? Whom do they visit on Dia de los Muertos? Inspired by the obituaries of homeless veterans, writer and director Georgina H. Escobar explores this loss to the community in her newly conceived play, part of Milago's annual Day of the Dead celebrations.

OPENING From the Envelope of Suicides
7 p.m. Thursday, Shout House
Portland writer Ben Moorad has spent the last decade digging into the files of his grandfather, a doctor who studied and documented hundreds of suicides in the middle of the 20th century. Now, he's turned that research into a series of performative readings. For more, check out our preview.

The Intergalactic Nemesis
8 p.m. Friday–Saturday, Revolution Hall
Dubbed a “live-action graphic novel,” this touring show out of Austin collides retro-cool radio drama with big-screen comic-book panels to tell a story about a reporter, her sidekick, and a librarian who set out to stop an invasion of alien sludge monsters.

OPENING The Drowning Girls
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, The Venetian Theatre
Get your Halloween haunts at Hillsboro’s Bag & Baggage, as the “Brides in the Bath”—three women who met their waterlogged ends at the hands of an Edwardian-era serial killer—rise from their claw-foot tubs. The Chicago Tribune called the 2008 play “morbidly funny and sometimes wistful.”

OPENING The Wong Street Journal
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, The Headwaters
Craving respite from hashtags and clickbait, Kristina Wong jets off for some “voluntourism” in Uganda. There, the third-generation Chinese American quickly encounters confusing racial dynamics (she’s believed to be white), grapples with privilege and inequality, and winds up recording a rap album, all of which she recounts in this solo show.

OPENING Assistance
7:30 p.m. Friday–Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Shoebox Theatre
Humiliation and vulgarity abound for a small group of assistants attached to a powerful and often absent boss in Leslye Headland’s play. The cutting satire draws on Headland’s time as an assistant to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

CLOSING Little Shop of Horrors
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Gerding Theater
With this revival of the 1982 off-Broadway hit, Portland Center Stage more than delivers on the musical’s gleefully biting tone and earworm tunes. With great set design, sharp performances, and one mean mother of a plant, the local company perfects it. Need more convincing? Here’s our full review.

CLOSING Jekyll & Hyde
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Brunish Theatre
Stumptown Stages presents a pop-rock adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale of good versus evil.

VISUAL ART

Corita Kent: Spiritual Pop
10 a.m.–8 p.m. Thursday–Friday and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday–Sunday, Portland Art Museum
Countercultural expression doesn’t normally come out of the convent, but Kent was an unconventional nun, as evidenced in this career-spanning collection of screen prints.

CLOSING The Soul of Black Art
11 a.m.–6 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, Upfor Gallery, FREE
Upfor marks its third anniversary with an exhibition guest curated by collector John Goodwin. The work spans 100 years of black culture in the US, from an abstract expressionist collage of North Carolina to lushly colored paintings by Portlander Arvie Smith to photography by Pulitzer winner Damon Winter (you’ve certainly seen some of his images of Barack Obama).

Portland Open Studios
10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday–Sunday, various locations
More than 100 local artists offer a ground-level view of their work, inviting Portlanders into their studios to see them throw pottery, hammer metal into delicate jewelry, or brush paint onto canvas. For full list of locations, visit portlandopenstudios.com.

SPECIAL EVENTS

WeMake Design Conference
9 a.m.–6 p.m. Saturday and various times Sunday, Gerding Theater (and other venues)
The upstart art and design nonprofit puts on two days of panel discussions, hands-on demos, and workshops, with appearances by an impressive array of makers: graphic artist Jean Jullien (who created the Eiffel Tower peace symbol after the recent Paris terror attacks), photographer Andy Best, Portland Garment Factory founder Britt Howard, and many more.