Books & Talks

Matthew Dickman

7:30 p.m. Fri, Powell's City of Books, FREE
The Portland poet’s third collection, Wonderland, paints an evocative portrait of growing up poor and white in Lents in the 1980s, a world of skateboards and violence. But Dickman’s verse remains lucid and lovely, suffused with love and longing for his home.

Daniel Mallory Ortberg

7:30 p.m. Sun, Powell's City of Books, FREE
Adapted from the Toast's “Children's Stories Made Horrific” series, Daniel Mallory Ortberg's The Merry Spinster is a collection of dark retellings of folk and fairy tales and Bible stories. Kirkus called it “a wholly satisfying blend of silliness, feminist critique, and deft prose.” Ortberg (who came out as trans earlier this month) will be joined in conversation by Andi Zeisler, cofounder of Bitch Media and author of We Were Feminists Once.

Dance

Hedda

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, Newmark Theatre, $35–58
Northwest Dance Project’s Sarah Slipper puts a modern choreographic spin on Henrik Ibsen’s 19th-century play about a bored and jealous newlywed bent on manipulation. Hedda shares the billing with new work from Cayetono Soto that promises "whimsy and pounds of pink."

Music

Antibalas

8 p.m. Thu, Wonder Ballroom, $20
The Brooklyn afrobeat band takes inspiration from both Fela Kuti and Eddie Palmieri, with live shows that are sweaty, exuberant affairs.

Darlingside

8 p.m. Thu, Mississippi Studios, $20
We’re calling everything “extra” now, and this Boston-based string quartet has a lexical innovation of their own: Extralife, the title of their new album. NPR called it “a sumptuous set of harmony-heavy songs,” adding that Darlingside is “eschewing the Americana-leaning folk-rock of their earlier work to explore experimental, complex chamber pop.”

Theater

CLOSING Macbeth

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, Shaking the Tree, $30
Shaking the Tree, one of Portland’s more innovative theater companies, tackles the Scottish play. Director Samantha Van Der Merwe says the company’s warehouse “will become a shifting landscape of light and shadow where imaginings seem real, and real events become worse than any imaginings.”

CLOSING Kodachrome

Noon and 7:30 p.m. Thu, 7:30 p.m. Fri, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sat, 2 p.m, Sun, Gerding Theater, $25–57
Adam Szymkowicz’s world-premiere play follows Suzanne, a small-town photographer, who allows us a glimpse into her neighbors’ love lives.

CLOSING The Pride

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, Back Door Theater, $20 suggested
In Alexi Kaye Campbell’s portrait of homosexuality during different eras, three actors play two sets of characters with identical names, 60 years apart. The Olivier Award-winning play is presented here by Defunkt, which often grapples with LGBTQ issues onstage.

OPENING The Three Sisters of Weehawken

8 p.m. Fri–Sat, 2 p.m. Sun, Siren Theater, $15–20
After several years of putting sketch comedy, improv, and stand-up onstage, the Siren Theater branches into the world of scripted theater. Up first: Deborah Zoe Laufer’s dark comedy about three sisters who long for Manhattan from their dull New Jersey home (paging Anton Chekhov).

Rebuilding Small Territories

7:30 p.m. Fri–Sat, 2 p.m. Sun, Headwaters Theatre, $20
Boom Arts brings Mexico City devised theater company Teatro Línea de Sombra to town for a documentary-style performance about a group of Colombian women who, after being displaced by violence, built a new village for themselves and their families. 

Visual Art

OPENING Sondra Perry

6–9 p.m. Sat, noon–5 p.m. Sun, Disjecta Contemporary Arts Center, FREE
A digital media artist interested in technology and black oppression, Perry brings Chromatic Saturation to Disjecta—a “more experimental” exhibit that riffs on sci-fi and horror.

Animating Life: The Art, Science, and Wonder of Laika

10 a.m.–8 p.m. Thu–Fri, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat–Sun, Portland Art Museum, $19.99 
The pioneers of stop-motion animation—responsible for Coraline, ParaNorman, and Kubo and the Two Strings—get a star turn in this major Portland Art Museum exhibit. Expect puppets and props, plus behind-the-scenes photos, film clips, and a slew of screenings. For more, check out our story on the miniature masterpieces created by costume designer Deborah Cook.