Film

Portland Horror Film Festival

Various times Thu–Sat, Hollywood Theatre, $20–70
Brought to you by the same folks who organize Portland’s long-running H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, this four-day horror extravaganza boasts an array of chilling independent flicks from around the world—almost all of which will be enjoying their Portland premieres.

Dance

The Americans

7:30 p.m. Fri–Sat, 2 p.m. Sun, Newmark Theatre, $29–105
This new annual repertory program from Oregon Ballet Theatre was launched with the intent of highlighting unique voices in American choreography. The inaugural showcase features the work of legendary choreographer Alvin Ailey set to Duke Ellington, a piece by Trey McIntyre set to Fleet Foxes, and the world premiere of Big Shoes, choreographed by BodyVox cofounders Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland.

Music

50 Years of Keepin' It Country

7 p.m. Fri, Ponderosa Lounge, $15–25
North Portland’s favorite boot-scootin’ country bar and truck stop turns 50 this year, and it’s throwing down with a celebration featuring a two-step dance lesson, performances by three local bands, a costume contest, and plenty of prizes and swag.

Luluc

8 p.m. Fri, Polaris Hall, $13–15
This Australian duo has been making achingly beautiful modern folk since 1999, but only in 2014 did they break onto the international scene with the gentle but resonant Passerby. Their latest LP, last summer’s self-produced Sculptor, continued in that vein, with just a touch of added tension.

Amanda Palmer

7 p.m. Sat–Sun, Crystal Ballroom, SOLD OUT
The former lead singer of punk-cabaret band the Dresden Dolls stops in Portland to perform songs from her recent solo album There Will Be No Intermission. The new record places an emphasis on Palmer’s piano skills and songwriting, but the lyrical content is as incisive as ever as she reckons with a world that seems to be growing darker every day.

Theater

OPENING The Barber of Seville

7 p.m. Fri, 2 p.m. Sun, Keller Auditorium, $35+
Rossini’s famed 19th-century opera revolves around scheming barber Figaro as he attempts to help a young count vie for the hand of the lovely Rosina. Metropolitan Opera baritone John Moore stars as Figaro, and Christopher Mattaliano directs this Portland Opera production of the comic masterpiece.

CLOSING Going Down in Flames

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, 2 p.m. Sun, Headwaters Theatre, $20–28
Danny Mankin’s play, based on the life of his late sister, the renowned clown Joan Mankin (clown persona: Queenie Moon), makes its world premiere at the Headwaters Theatre. Angela Van Epps directs this blend of tragedy and comedy, with Joan Schirle in the lead role.

Let Me Down Easy/Well

7:30 p.m. Thu–Sat, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sun, Portland Playhouse, $20–36
Profile has devoted the last 18 months to playwrights Anna Deavere Smith and Lisa Kron, and the company now closes this double season with two shows in rotating repertory. In Let Me Down Easy, Smith brings her signature form of documentary-style theater to the health care debate, piecing together interviews with subjects ranging from former Texas governor Ann Richards to cyclist Lance Armstrong to a doctor who was in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Kron’s Tony-nominated Well, meanwhile, is an autobiographical play about a mother-daughter relationship, illness, and community—evidently with plenty of humor. The shows feature the same six-person casts.

Visual Art

OPENING This Place

11 a.m.–8 p.m. Thu, 11 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Fri–Sat, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Sun, Waterstone Gallery, FREE
Waterstone Gallery’s June exhibition features the work of two artists. The featured artist is painter Shawn Demarest, who brings a touch of magical realism to her vibrant, whimsical renderings of Portland’s streets, while guest artist Careen Stoll’s elegant ceramic pieces act as a balance, their gentle curves producing a more soothing effect on the viewer.

OPENING Something Nameless

All day Thu–Sun, various locations, FREE
A new citywide installation from artist Alyson Provax promises to spice up your morning commute through the month of June. Provax’s temporary project displays letterpress images in places usually reserved for advertisements—billboards and bus benches—in an effort to invite viewers to “reconsider their own experience with the city’s landscape.” Paper maps to Something Nameless are available at Wolff Gallery.

OPENING Paris 1900

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat–Sun, Portland Art Museum, $17–20
It’s a Parisian time-travel vacay at the Portland Art Museum, with a sweeping exhibit that luxuriates in the opulence of the Belle Époque via paintings (including by Camille Pissarro and Berthe Morisot), posters, jewelry, art nouveau furniture, early film clips, and more, all on loan from museums in the French capital. Très magnifique!

OPENING Tess Rubinstein

1–6 p.m. Sat, Stephanie Chefas Projects, FREE
In the solo show A Jug of Wine, a Table in the Sun, the Bay Area illustrator and painter—who favors organic, interlocking shapes in warm colors—depicts the simple, sensual pleasures of everyday life, from ripe fruit to beams of sunlight.