Books & Talks

Lindy West

7:30 p.m. Thurs, Powell's City of Books, FREE
One of our reigning queens of cultural criticism, West follows Shrill—her dagger-sharp essay collection–turned–Hulu series—with The Witches Are Coming, which tackles patriarchy, the myth of reverse sexism, and the maddening ways our culture refuses to hold men accountable for objectively awful deeds.

Music

Sibelius' The Tempest

7:30 p.m. Fri & Sun, 2:30 p.m. Sat, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, $31–125
In 1926, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius wrote what many consider his finest work: incidental music for a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Now, with the help of the PSU chamber choir, the Symphony brings it to the Schnitz for a production directed by acclaimed opera director Mary Birnbaum.

Theater

La Ruta

7:30 p.m. Thurs–Sun, Portland Opera, $30–60
Fresh off its premiere at the Steppenwolf in Chicago, La Ruta comes to the Portland Opera’s intimate inner-Southeast space via Artists Rep. Based on real testimony, the play explores a series of disappearances in Juárez, Mexico, incorporating live music and a nonlinear structure

CLOSING: Macbeth

7:30 p.m. Thurs–Sat, 2 p.m. Sun, Portland Center Stage, $21–42
Former Profile artistic director Adriana Baer directs a reworked, all-female version of The Scottish Play, edited by buzzy New York Obie winner Lee Sunday Evans. Evans’s script has been produced before, and the New York Times called it an “irreducibe, transcendent” adaptation that “commands engagement.” 

Shakespeare in Love

7:30 p.m. Thurs–Sat, 2 p.m. Sun, Lakewood Center for the Arts, $20–34
Remember when Tom Stoppard and a pre-Goop Gwyneth Paltrow won Oscars for the same motion picture? Lakewood does! Their production of the Shakespeare in Love stage adaptation, which premiered in London in 2014, promises “mistaken identities, backstage antics, and onstage drama,” and while it does not promise Judi Dench in heart-stopping royal drag, you can’t always get what you want (to quote the Bard). 

Visual Art

Brenda Mallory

11 a.m.–6 p.m. Thurs–Sat, Upfor Gallery, FREE
The mixed-media artist and Cherokee Nation member transforms unremarkable, often discarded objects—linen firehoses, rubber drive belts, honeycomb packaging paper—into striking sculptures. In this solo exhibit, Mallory digs into “ideas of reclamation and reformation.”

CLOSING: Future Ancestors

1 p.m.–7 p.m. Thurs–Sat, Ori Gallery, FREE
A collaboration between Portland’s Lisa Jarrett, Chamori writer and artist Lehua M. Taitano, and artist Jocelyn Kapumealani Ng that examines cross-cultural histories with audio and large-scale photographs. Check out our preview here.

The Art of Reading

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Thurs–Sat, Portland Art Museum, $17–20
It was the end of the 19th century and posters were having a moment. Produced using color lithography, they advertised periodicals—Harper’s, Lippincotts, The Century—with illustrations from artists like art nouveau designer Will Bradley and painter Maxfield Parrish. Now PAM puts some of the brightest representatives of this design moment on display, many drawn from the collection of Portlanders Daniel Bergsvik and Donald Hastler.

Dance

CNDC-Angers/Robert Swinston

7:30 p.m. Thurs–Sat, Newmark Theatre, $30–75
To celebrate Centralia-born dance icon Merce Cunningham’s centennial, White Bird brings France’s National Center for Contemporary Dance to perform two of Cunningham’s best at the Newmark: Biped, which features towering streams of ghostly light developed using motion capture technology, and Beach Birds, which is a very funny joke.  

CLOSING: Death and Delight

7:30 p.m. Thurs–Sat, BodyVox Dance Center, $32–52
Violent delights, violent ends, and a few pas de bourrees for good measure. Contemporary dance group/school BodyVox marries selections from Profokiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for an evening of “hip hop fairies, misguided romance, and gender-bending role playing.” 

Comedy

Nicole Byer

8 p.m. Thurs, 7:30 & 10 p.m. Fri–Sat, Helium Comedy Club, $17–29
Aside from her tenure voicing virtually every supporting character on Tuca & Bertie, you might know Nicole Byer from one of her three incredible podcasts or for hosting Netflix’s baking show Nailed It!. She’s everywhere right now, and deservedly so—as fate would have it, “everywhere” includes five shows at Helium.