Film

Flicks on the Bricks

7 p.m. Fri, Pioneer Courthouse Square, FREE
Every summer, a mondo screen goes up in Portland’s living room, with free flicks on five Friday nights. Bring a pillow and snacks (but please, not your mammoth lawn chair). Up tonight: Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Music

Chamber Music Northwest Summer Festival

Various times and venues thru July 30, prices vary
With more than 60 concerts over the course of five weeks, the 47th annual festival aims to satisfy both chamber music purists—yes, there’s plenty of Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Schumann—and those looking for something spicier, whether jazz-inspired pieces or new work riffing on Twin Peaks. 

XDS/Genders/Máscaras

9 p.m. Fri, Mississippi Studios, $6–8
Portland experimental pop duo XDS play a hometown show with fellow locals Genders, which self-describes as a “fuzzed-out, dream pop band," and psych instrumental trio Máscaras.

Brandi Carlile

7 p.m. Sat–Sun, Oregon Zoo, $45–105
The Barack Obama-endorsed folk artist—the former president wrote a foreword for Carlile’s latest project, Cover Stories, on which Adele, Dolly, and others cover her songs—brings her surging voice to the zoo’s lawn.

Theater

JAW

8 p.m. Fri, 4 and 8 p.m. Sat–Sun, Gerding Theater, FREE
Catch free staged readings of new work by four playwrights from across the country, whittled down from nearly 200 submissions. This year’s plays riff on cricket (the sport, not Jiminy), a mission to Mars, and the aftermath of the 2014 Malaysia Airlines crash in eastern Ukraine.

The Difficulty of Crossing a Field & The Little Match Girl Passion

7:30 p.m. Fri and 2 p.m. Sun, Newmark Theatre, $28–250
Two operas by David Lang receive a West Coast premiere in a collaboration between Portland Opera and Jerry Mouawad, cofounder of venerable Portland theater company Imago (best known for the giant puppetry and comic acrobatics of shows like Frogz and ZooZoo). It’s some of the most stirring choral work from the 21st century from one of the most acclaimed composers of our time. For more, check out our event preview.

CLOSING Così Fan Tutte

7:30 p.m. Sat, Newmark Theatre, $35–110
Director Roy Rallo revamps Mozart’s couple-swapping comic opera for the relatively cozy confines of the Newmark.

Visual Art

CLOSING Mako Miyamoto

1–6 p.m. Thu–Sat, Stephanie Chefas Projects, FREE
Do you think fine art is missing something? Not enough Wookiees, for example? Mako Miyamoto agrees, which is why the Portland photographer stages portraits of people in Chewbacca masks, shot against lush, dreamy landscapes. In this series, Further West, Miyamoto for the first time also reveals (gasp!) human faces. 

CLOSING Monroe Hodder

11 a.m.–5 p.m. Thu–Sat, Butters Gallery, FREE
Hodder’s abstract oil paintings are boldly geometrical and color-saturated—a vibrant explosion of line and hue.

CLOSING Sage Sohier and Nakeya Brown

Noon–5 p.m. Thu–Sun, Blue Sky Gallery, FREE
In Witness to Beauty, Sohier photographs her mother—who was a fashion model in the late ’40s—performing beautification rituals, as well as in re-creations of tender family portraits. DC-based photographer Brown likewise explores womanhood and glamour in her work, chomping into the complexities of blackness and power in her series The Refutation of “Good” Hair, on show alongside other work. 

Special Events

Portlandia Mermaid Parade

Noon Sat, meet at Japanese American Historical Plaza, FREE
Break out the clamshell bra. This aquatic extravaganza is back for the second year with water nymphs of all stripes and persuasions conveyed down Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park in wheelchairs and wagons—because, umm, walking is hard without legs. Plus: Una the Mermaid tells all about life under the sea.