Books & Talks

Brooke Barker
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Powell's Books on Hawthorne, FREE
Portland illustrator Brook Barker’s humorous new book, Sad Animal Facts, is sure to make you look at the animal kingdom—from mayflies to cats to jellyfish—with a little extra sympathy.

Aaron Gilbreath
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Powell's City of Books, FREE
In his new essay collection, Everything We Don't Know, the Portland writer muses on growing up in the modern U.S., from quitting smoking to the detritus of the Fukushima disaster.

Comedy

Margaret Cho
8 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday, and 9:15 p.m. Saturday, Helium Comedy Club (some shows sold out)
The indomitable comedian, actress, and singer-songwriter—she recently released her second music album, American Myth—returns to town, likely armed with politically outspoken jokes and sweet stories about her Korean mother.

Comedy Night at the Zoo
6 p.m. Saturday, Oregon Zoo
The always amazing Poison Waters pulls out all the stops to emcee this third annual Oregon Zoo comedy event, headlined by Portland comic and Lez Stand Up member Caitlin Weierhauser. All funds raised from the event and auction will help support the Amur Leopard & Tiger Alliance.

Late Night Action
7 p.m. Saturday, Mississippi Studios
After a successful seven-year run, local live talk show Late Night Action show closes up shop this month. Over the years, host Alex Falcone and sidekick Bri Pruett have invited on some of Stumptown’s most interesting personalities, from chef Naomi Pomeroy to artist Wendy Red Star to comic book author Matt Fraction.

Dance

CLOSING Polaris Dance: Reclaimed
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Sunday and 2 p.m. Saturday, Polaris Dance Theatre
Polaris kicks off the season with Reclaimed, a retrospective of artistic director Robert Guitron’s work with the dance company over the last 10 years, including pieces from Too Blue, Repo, and Tangled.

Epoch
7:30 p.m. Friday–Sunday, BodyVox Dance Center
This weekend, BodyVox hosts a double bill of new works by Portland choreographers. In a trio titled The Kitchen Sink, Jamuna Chiarini considers the effects of her recent hip surgery, while Samuel Hobbs of push/FOLD describes his work, November, as “a quartet of women in the expression of power and exhaustion.”

OPENING The Last Bell Rings for You
8 p.m. Saturday–Sunday, Shaking the Tree
Iconoclastic Portland choreographer Linda Austin assembles more than a dozen performers, ranging from ordinary folks to professionals, for some singing, bell-ringing, and other group behaviors (and probably even some dancing).

Film

Northwest Filmmakers' Festival
Various times through Tuesday, Nov. 15, Whitsell Auditorium
Filmmakers from across the region—Alaska to British Columbia to Montana to Southern Oregon—step into the limelight at this showcase, now in its 43rd year. Expect screenings and an expo of cinematic gadgets, and don’t miss Portland filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky’s Beware the Slenderman, which explores the titular Internet spook—find our story here.

CLOSING Hump Film Festival
Various times Friday–Saturday, Revolution Hall
For more than a decade, Dan Savage’s Hump Film Festival has delivered us a carefully curated selection of amateur adult films. With more than 20 films to choose from, you’re sure to find something that gets your rocks off.

Music

Raiders of the Lost Ark
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Break out the popcorn. The Oregon Symphony bangs out John Williams’s epic score as Harrison Ford—on the big screen, in HD!—saves the world from Nazis.

Calidore String Quartet
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Winningstad Theatre
Formed in 2010, the fast-rising chamber music group has attracted international acclaim and a bevy of prizes for its spirited, nuanced playing.

Lauryn Hill
8 p.m. Thursday, Keller Auditorium
The former Fugees star swings through Portland on her nationwide tour, a series of concerts featuring guest spots by artists from across the African diaspora.

Iris DeMent
8 p.m. Friday, Aladdin Theater
The Arkansas-born country-folk musician sings with a plaintive voice and emotional oomph. (In 1995 Merle Haggard called DeMent “one of the greatest singers I have ever heard in my life.”) On latest album The Trackless Woods, she sets the work of 20th-century poet Anna Akhmatova to music.

Sturgill Simpson
8 p.m. Saturday, Keller Auditorium, SOLD OUT
Whether wading into nihilistic darkness or crafting a song cycle about fatherhood, the Kentucky native is one of the boldest voices in the strange world that is alt-country. 

The Beach Boys
7:30 p.m. Sunday, Keller Auditorium
God only knows where we’d be without the original California rock kings. They still get around (round, round, get around), so bring someone to squeeze all through the night (we hear East Coast girls are hip) and you’ll have, uh, fun, fun, fun.

Theater

CLOSING Assistance
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, Shoe Box Theater
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 Bright Half Life
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Artists Repertory Theatre
Profile closes out its Tanya Barfield season with the Portland-raised playwright’s two-hander chronicling a decades-long lesbian relationship.

CLOSING Hir
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, Back Door Theater
Fresh off the New York Times′ top-10 list of 2015 plays, Hir makes its Northwest premiere with Defunkt—the latest last stop in a cross-country march through American theaters. This darkly funny comedy follows the heart-wrenching transitions of a family confronted with PTSD, life-changing illness, and shifting gender identities.

CLOSING Hold These Truths
7:30 p.m. Thursday–Friday and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday–Sunday, Gerding Theatre
In the early 1940s, a Japanese American college student in Seattle named Gordon Hirabayashi fought back against the unconstitutionality of mass internment—he landed in jail and spent years fighting to get his convictions overturned. Hirabayashi is at the center of Jeanne Sakata’s one-man play, part of Portland Center Stage’s Northwest Stories series.

Visual Art

CLOSING Freedom
10 a.m.–8 p.m. Thursday–Friday and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturday–Sunday, Portland Art Museum
Josh Kline’s multipart installation, hailed by the New Yorker as “galvanic,” takes on corporate greed and the erosion of civil rights via riot gear–clad Teletubbies and reimagined Obama speeches. For more, check out our Q&A with Kline.

Jamila Clarke
1–5 p.m. Friday–Saturday, Wolff Gallery, FREE
Portlander Clarke says the fantasy-specked photos in her new exhibit, The Stories People Tell, “serve as visual interpretations of folktales.”

Special Events

CLOSING Siren Nation Festival
Various times and locations Thursday–Monday
The annual Siren Nation Festival—showcasing original art by women—returns for its tenth year with comedy, burlesque, storytelling, and shows from Jenny Hval and Natasha Kmeto among the offerings. Heed the call! (For full schedule and venue info, check the festival website.)