Our music critics have already chosen the 40 best music shows this week, but now it's our arts critics' turn to recommend the best events in their areas of expertise. Here are their picks in every genre—from Independent Bookstore Day to the Dance Theatre of Harlem 50th Anniversary Celebration, and from the Fierce Ladies Beer Fest to the closing of Cherdonna Shinatra: DITCH. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar.

Found something you like and don't want to forget about it later? Click "Save Event" on any of the linked events below to add it to your own private list.


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MONDAY

COMEDY

Leslie Jordan's 'Exposed'
Playwright, actor, and comedian Leslie Jordan may be most familiar for his Emmy-winning turn in Will & Grace as well as his parts in The Help and American Horror Story. He'll perform live to support the AMP: AIDS Memorial Pathway in Cal Anderson Park.

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY

FILM

Anime Film Series
It's back! Time to treat your eyeballs to some of the most beautiful and otherworldly images ever projected on Cinerama's huge movie screen. Selections will wrap up this year with Studio Ghibli masterworks like Wolf Children, Tokyo Godfathers (Mon), Redline (Tues), and Summer Wars (Wed).

MONDAY & THURSDAY-SATURDAY

PERFORMANCE

Language Rooms
Before his ACT Theatre premiere of People of the Book this fall, Stranger Genius Award winner Yussef El Guindi will have another play—a very dark comedy—staged by Pony World Theatre. Ahmed is a regular, if rather awkward, American guy who works at "a secret military intelligence group that interrogates terrorism suspects." When he's forced to grill someone very close to him as a test of loyalty, Ahmed must confront his own roots and patriotism. Interesting fact: El Guindi became a citizen in the very room where this play is staged.

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons
Imagine being able to flirt with only 140 words a day. Honestly, it might solve a lot of problems. But in this dry, British rom-com from Sam Steiner, the government is imposing the rule, and government rules are always backed by the threat of state violence, which isn't good for flirting. Most of the time. Anyway, Sharif Ali and Mary Kate Moran star in the show from Theater Schmeater, and they're good, so this play about a love triangle in a time of totalitarian rule should resonate. RICH SMITH

Queer, Mama. Crossroads
Though Invisible Man was written more than 60 years ago, the politics of recognition are still with us today, as a new play, Queer, Mama. Crossroads (written by local poet and performer Anastacia-ReneĂ©, and codirected by her and Aviona Rodriguez Brown) makes abundantly clear. Though the subjects of the play—which is short, direct, poetic, and charged with powerful emotions—are black, they are also queer women. That second identification makes them even more invisible than the invisible man. They simply and painfully live in a society that cannot and refuses to see them either in life, or death. The three main characters in Queer, Mama. Crossroads are the ghosts of women whose lives ended violently. One is named Forgotten (Simone Dawson); another, No Hashtag (Kamari Bright); the third, Invisible 1 (Ebo Barton). They speak to us from the crossroads, the place where the numerous souls of dead black people, black women, black queers, journey to demand recognition. They want to be known, named, counted. CHARLES MUDEDE

MONDAY-THURSDAY

VISUAL ART

Leah Gerrard: Sentiment
Leah Gerrard’s wiry creations speak to the delicacy—and rigidity—of the material. Gerrard incorporates the natural (rocks, wood, organic forms) into the metallic sinew of the wire, which is often suspended from rusty iron chains. For her exhibition at 4Culture, the Washington-based artist’s sculptures will be “inspired by memories of full moons, walks through forests, and playgrounds.” JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Thursday

MONDAY-FRIDAY

VISUAL ART

Jane Richlovsky: Travel Brochures for a Past Future
Richlovsky's paintings remix images from old magazines—"feral children who are up to no good, beatific high-heeled homemakers, cigarette-smoking proto-hipsters, futuristic dream houses, gizmos tucked into tiny spot ads in the back pages"—to satirize capitalism, nostalgia, and the desire for upward mobility.
Closing Friday

MONDAY-SATURDAY

VISUAL ART

Preston Singletary: The Illuminated Forest
The work of Seattle artist Preston Singletary completely shifted my perception of what glass can look like and, most importantly, what glass can convey. His melding of his own Tlingit heritage to the European tradition of glass art brings the practice of glassblowing to an exciting new level. During the month of April, Singletary will debut new pieces in an exhibition called The Illuminated Forest. Most of the pieces in the show are made of blown glass forms, birthed in his glass studio (with the help of his team) down in South Lake Union. Many of the objects appear to be made of wood, and some of them originally were. I'm obsessed with the way his pieces seem to emanate light. There's a duality in these objects—they're both opaque and bright. They seem to glow from an inner light source, the way light emanates from a gummy candy. And yet because he's depicting living things—otters, whales, humans—the radiance takes on a kind of living dimension. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Saturday

MONDAY-SUNDAY

FESTIVALS

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
After the long, hard, and—this year—snow-filled-winter, the best way to shock you out of seasonal depression is to stick your face in a ton of fresh flowers. You’re in luck, because Skagit Valley’s annual Tulip Festival is really something to behold as, quite literally, millions of pink, yellow, purple, orange, and red tulips shoot up from the ground and announce that winter is finally over. (Or at least, it’s over in the rest of the world. It’ll be chilly here through June.) While you could fly to Holland to get your fill of tulips, the trip up I-5 is quicker, cheaper, and, with one mountain range to the east and another to your west, even more Instagrammable than Amsterdam. KATIE HERZOG

VISUAL ART

Drew Michael: Moonscapes
“Tranquility” was the first word to pop into my head when looking at mixed-media sculptor Drew Michael’s mask forms. Their streamlined shape, mix of both Western and indigenous iconography, and smoothness immediately bring a sense of calm to the viewer. In his fourth solo exhibition, the Inupiaq/Yup’ik artist draws on a variety of sources to explore, even more deeply than he has in the past, concepts of shadow selves, spirals, and journeys through mazes to reach understanding. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Sunday

TUESDAY

FILM

Celebrating French Cinema: Selections from Scarecrow's Wishlist Collection
Scarecrow Video is far from lacking in a diverse collection of titles from across the globe, but they still have a list of highly lauded but seldom-seen films they wish they had in stock. Thanks to their quarterly spotlight Wishlist Collection, you can see essential touchstones of cinema (in this case, French cinema) you may not have seen before, like tonight's Pattes Blanches (dir. Jean Grémillon, 1949). The screening will be followed by a discussion with the Alliance Française de Seattle.

READINGS & TALKS

April SFWA Pacific Northwest Reading
Three lauded science fiction writers will read: Nebula and Hugo Award winner Rebecca Roanhorse, Canadian writer and cartoonist Kari Maaren, and Shirley Jackson Award winner Sam J. Miller. 

Myla Goldberg: Feast Your Eyes
Former Stranger Arts Calendar Editor Julia Raban once wrote: "Myla Goldberg is awesomesauce. Bee Season was a wonderful debut and her second novel was a brave, brilliant failure of a book." Goldberg will be back with Feast Your Eyes, a high-concept novel in the form of catalog notes to a photography show at the Museum of Modern Art. In it, she follows the scandal-filled life of a photographer who becomes famous when she is charged with obscenity for a semi-nude double portrait of her and her daughter.

The Sacred-Profane Self in Late Capitalism: A Reading with Janaka Stucky and Sarah Galvin
An intriguing and very heterogeneous double bill: Janaka Stucky, the founding editor of indie publisher Black Ocean Press, will read from a collection he wrote while fasting, doing rites, and going into trances, called Ascend Ascend, while Stranger idol Sarah Galvin will read from Ugly Time, which Rich Smith called "incredible."

Tracy K. Smith, U.S. Poet Laureate
Housing Development Consortium's 11th annual benefit luncheon will feature a reading from U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. Elliott Bay booksellers will be on hand with copies of her books for sale, including Wade in the Water, Life on Mars (winner of the Pulitzer Prize), Duende, and The Body's Question.

UW Science Engage!
Co-hosted by Town Hall, this series will allow UW researchers to practice science communication skills and the audience to learn about cutting-edge research. Tonight's topics are nanoparticles, landslides, and oysters.

TUESDAY-SATURDAY

VISUAL ART

Cosmic Microscapes: An Exhibition of Unearthly Beauty
These gorgeous iridescent abstracts, resembling unearthly landscapes, are actually extreme macroscopic panoramic photographs of 30-microns-thick slices of meteorites. That's right, rocks from space! They're the result of a collaboration between UW geochemist and meteoricist Dr. Tony Irving and nerdy photographer Neil Buckland. Don't miss your chance to gaze on these miniature natural masterpieces.
Closing Saturday

Gaylen Hansen
Now 97 years old, Hansen has been making deceptively naive, neo-expressionist art for decades. At first glance, they may seem crudely childlike, yet they play with unstable compositions, complex lines, and deliciously earthy colors. Keep an eye out for his longtime alter ego, Kernal Bentleg.
Closing Saturday

Ginny Ruffner: Flauna and Fora
As the title might suggest, these sculptures by Ruffner (whom former Stranger art critic Jen Graves called "the most irrepressible spirit in Seattle art") combine animal and plant forms.
Closing Saturday

Wendy Orville: Above & Below
Orville makes exquisitely detailed, photo-like monotypes of Pacific Northwest landscapes, with wide skies, windblown trees, and morphing masses of clouds. They convey a sense of space, movement, and the interplay of ephemeral moments and geological time.
Closing Saturday

TUESDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Urinetown: The Musical
The themes of scarcity, greed, populism, and capitalism running amok make the triple Tony-winning post-apocalyptic musical Urinetown, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis, a perfect satire for our times. This is a co-production with the 5th Avenue Theater.

VISUAL ART

Cherdonna Shinatra: DITCH
Cherdonna Shinatra is a drag performer, dancer, choreographer, and generally fun lunatic. Her drag shtick is that she’s a woman playing a man playing a woman, which used to be a radical idea but has now become pretty run-of-the-mill. Which is great! That said, Cherdonna is more than a woman playing a man playing a woman, she’s a performance artist dedicated to interrogating how the female body is consumed by the male gaze/gays. Her new work at the Frye, DITCH, will create immersive DAILY performances that are COMMITTED to making the world happy in a time of Trump. If anyone can do that impossible task, Shinatra and company can. CHASE BURNS
Closing discussion Sunday

The Rain Doesn’t Know Friends from Foes: Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, Hesam Rahmanian
The Dubai-based Iranian artists—the Haerizadeh brothers and their friend Hesam Rahmanian—transform internet news images through painting and animation in an interrogation of mass media consumption, violence, and voyeurism. For this exhibition, they show two animations combining photographs of migrants striving to reach Europe with "painterly patterns, fablelike animal imagery, and surreal mirroring effects," among other animations and works on paper.
Closing Sunday

Tschabalala Self
In the first solo museum presentation of her work in this country, New Haven–based Tschabalala Self’s art resists the norms of traditional portraiture. Dealing with the “iconographic significance of the Black female body in contemporary culture,” the figures in Self’s work both accept and reject the stereotypes and fantasies surrounding the Black female body. They are not there to instruct or reprimand, but to simply be. At once garish, cheeky, and thought-provoking, Self’s use of collage gives the paintings a textured look that makes you want to reach out and touch them (don’t, though). JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Sunday

The Vikings Begin
The Vikings Begin grew out of findings by researchers at Gustavianum, the museum at Uppsala University—the oldest still-operating university in Sweden. Dating from the mid-seventh to late 11th century, these artifacts come from 15 grave boats found buried around the grounds of Uppsala. Seattle is the farthest west these objects have ever been. The exhibition space is moodier and more sense-stimulating than I thought possible in a museum. The Nordic Museum gallery is completely dark, set away from the outside world, as if it takes place at a point outside of linear time. The ominous drumbeat playing throughout the space and the two giant screens depicting animal sacrifices and Viking battle scenes only added to the sensual nature of the gallery. I actively fought feeling weirdly turned on by the glittering coins, animal bloodletting, and other finery surrounding me. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Sunday

WEDNESDAY

FOOD & DRINK

No Boat Brewing Dinner at Serious Pie
Located near the stunning Snoqualmie Falls, No Boat Brewing gets its name from an inside joke between head brewer David Skiba and his father, after the two quipped that they could sell their (nonexistent) boat to fund their dream brewery. This five-course dinner from Tom Douglas’s Serious Pie will pair No Boat’s offbeat brews with spring-centric dishes: a fava-bean tartlet will be matched with a Bia Hoi Vietnamese lager, a pizzette with asparagus and duck egg will be served with their Mozzie IPA, and a rhubarb meringue with rose-macerated strawberries will cap things off alongside the Ornithologist Double-Brown. JULIANNE BELL

PERFORMANCE

Performance Lab: pal·imp·sest
On the Boards is relaunching their Performance Lab series, a quarterly event co-curated by local artists and Charles Smith, Director of Program Management. Each installment includes facilitated artist feedback along with an opportunity for each artist to discuss their performance with the audience.

READINGS & TALKS

G. Willow Wilson: The Bird King
G. Willow Wilson, whose comic book series Ms. Marvel won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story, will read from her latest novel, The Bird King, about a concubine in the royal court of Granada and her friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker. 

Janaka Stucky: Ascend Ascend
Janaka Stucky, the founding editor of indie publisher Black Ocean Press, will read from a collection he wrote while fasting, doing rites, and going into trances, called Ascend Ascend.

Kim TallBear: Why is Sex a “Thing”? Making Good Relations for a Decolonial World
Kim TallBear will shed light on how colonial powers imposed notions of "natural" sex, control, and property and argue for what she calls more consensual, liberated practices from Indigenous societies.

VISUAL ART

Tetsunori Tawaraya: Fingerprints
This Japanese artist is touring with his new coil-bound risograph zine about a researcher encountering alien traces and inhabitants of space. For psych-out organic madness, you can't do better than this release by Canadian publishers Colour Code Printing.

WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY

VISUAL ART

Amber Chiozza: Crevice & Comb
Don't undervalue insects! There are 91,000 species in the US alone, says artist Amber Chiozza, and their diversity benefits nature. Many species, like wasps and ants, achieve awe-inspiring feats of architecture. Chiozza's prints, books, and drawings elaborate on these stunning structures and their makers.
Closing Saturday

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Bonbon
The slinky dancers of Pike Place's kitschy cabaret return with another tasty show. Ever wanted to ogle athletic dancers twirling from chandeliers inches from your face? Go. There's also a family-friendly brunch version that you can guiltlessly take your out-of-town relatives to.

Hollywood & Vine
Enjoy a vintage and magic-filled tribute to Tinseltown with the 20-year-old circus troupe Teatro ZinZanni as they perform in their new Woodinville space.

Trimpin: Hear & Now
Trimpin is a musical genius who builds room-sized art installations that are also instruments. Picture a Rube Goldberg machine exploded all over a room, but one you can play Beethoven on. This year, Trimpin is again partnering with students from Path with Art, a nonprofit that works with homeless people to create original works of art. Together they'll construct a new sound sculpture bursting with poetry, visual art, and, of course, music. Last year, they built a giant wagon that played music when you rolled it around, and I can't wait to see what strange little machine they come up with this year. RICH SMITH

VISUAL ART

Between Bodies
In February 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—an international body of climate scientists—issued a statement declaring that global warming is “unequivocal,” and the rise in global temperatures is “very likely” the result of human activity. At the time, this was the most strongly worded assessment the IPCC had ever issued. Since then, the warnings have continued to ratchet up, as has governmental complacency. We need to adopt new ways to address climate change before it really, truly, absolutely, unequivocally is too late. This exhibition includes queer, feminist, and indigenous perspectives that are absolutely critical to an expansive view. Participating artists include Caitlin Berrigan, Abraham Avnisan, Candice Lin with English artist Patrick Staff, micha cárdenas, Carolina Caycedo, Swiss artist Ursula Biemann, and German artist Susanne Winterling. KATIE KURTZ
Closing Sunday

Bruce Conner: Untitled Prints
Bruce Conner’s latest exhibition does not feature the music video he collaborated on with David Byrne and Brian Eno, or any of his other surreal experimental found-footage assemblages. Instead, it focuses on murky and moody prints Conner made in 1970–71 using a new-to-market felt-tip pen. Ink in these pens dried out quickly, resulting in Conner exploring ephemerality in his drawings, memorializing them forever by photographing and then transferring the results to print. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Sunday

Monyee Chau: Home Away from Home
In April, Seattle-based artist Monyee Chau’s Home Away from Home will be up at Vestibule in Ballard. She’ll create an immersive experience with sewing and sculpture that asks the question: “How have stories of home shaped you?” Chau, who is Taiwanese/Cantonese American, will use the exhibit to embark on a “journey of healing through decolonization by reconnecting with her roots and ancestors in a variety of mediums.” Visitors who stop by during the open studio—which happens during the first two weeks of the month—will have the opportunity to contribute stories about their own ancestry and home to the final piece. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Closing Sunday

THURSDAY

FILM

British Comedy Classics
The finest British comedies of the 1940s and ’50s—Green for Danger, The Man in the White Suit, The Lavender Hill Mob—have aged marvelously well, thanks to understated, funny scripts and endlessly watchable professionals like Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Audrey Hepburn, and Peter Sellers. Catch Kind Hearts and Coronets tonight.

FOOD & DRINK

Fierce Ladies Beer Fest
Though the landscape of craft beer as we know it is by and large a bro-fest, women have been active in brewing since ancient times. In fact, evidence shows that brewing was an overwhelmingly female-dominated craft all over the world, right up until the advent of industrialization in the 1800s, when women were banned from participating in alcohol production and sidelined to subsidiary roles like barmaids. Now women in craft beer are reclaiming the trade. At this event highlighting female brewers, you can taste beers that were brewed collaboratively by women on International Womxn’s Day using the YCH Pink Boots Society Hop Blend, featuring Loral, Mosaic, Simcoe, Sabro, and Glacier hops. All proceeds will benefit Pink Boots Society, an organization created to “assist, inspire, and encourage women beer industry professionals to advance their careers through education.” JULIANNE BELL

Latinx / Filipinx Late Night Eats
Pop-up restaurant Garzón and East Trading Co. will join forces to bring you a family-style Filipinx dinner.

READINGS & TALKS

Cadence Video Poetry Festival
Video poetry has been around since the late 1970s, but it's been enjoying a slight revival in a world where three-minute videos on the internet serve as our primary mode of media consumption. Local fiction writer Chelsea Werner-Jatzke is curating the second iteration of this festival, which will include video poems from Shaun Kardinal, Catherine Bresner, and Sierra Nelson. RICH SMITH
The final event will be Characteristic Cadence, which will showcase the films made in workshops during the month of April.

Gage Georgetown Calling: Art Lecture Series with Emily Pothast
Emily Pothast, artist, scholar, curator, and co-founder of the bands Hair and Space Museum and Midday Veil, will lecture on diverse, unusual topics in art history. The last session will go over the history of art in Seattle, with an emphasis on indigenous, women, POC, and other marginalized artists. 

HERE: Poems for the Planet
Join Francisco Aragón and Kimiko Hahn at this eco-poetics reading and book launch for​ Copper Canyon Press's HERE: Poems for the Planet, an anthology dedicated to the literary defense of nature.

Kundiman Showcase
Asian and Pacific Islander writers will be honored at this evening of readings. Hear poetry by Dujie Tahat (an editor of Moss Lit and Homology Lit) and Troy Osaki (three-time Seattle poetry grand slam champion) and fiction by Diana Xin (contributing editor of Moss Lit) and Daniel Tam-Claiborne (author of the novel What Never Leaves). All are or have been Kundiman Fellows, receiving support from an organization dedicated to foster AAPI writers.

Stacey Abrams: Lead from the Outside
In 2018, massive voter suppression in Georgia snatched the governor's mansion from Stacey Abrams and handed it over to Brian Kemp, who, as secretary of state, was overseeing the election in which he was running. (Does anyone remember when he accused Democrats of hacking the voter registration system two days before the election and provided no evidence to support that claim? I do!) Anyway, even though Abrams didn't become the first African American woman governor of a US state, she did found a GOTV group called Fair Fight Action, she did respond to Trump's 2019 State of the Union address, and she also wrote a book! It's called Minority Leader: How to Lead from the Outside and Make Real Change, and it's all about how awesome she was as the minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives. The event is sold out, but event organizers say there will be a limited number of standby tickets at the door. RICH SMITH

THURSDAY-SATURDAY

VISUAL ART

Alessandro Gallo: Most of the Time
Alessandro Gallo’s clay sculptures are strange. There’s no denying this. A normal human body—in all its roundness, leanness, imperfections, behavioral dispositions—attached to a realistic animal head is like something pulled from the deepest recesses of the imagination. It’s a bit disconcerting, but also so satisfying. You may find yourself gravitating toward the hybrid you feel most embodies you—for me, it’s the flamingo woman sitting with her tote on the subway. The Italian-born, Montana-based artist will be showing new work at Abmeyer + Wood. Prepare to be amazed. JASMYNE KEIMIG
Opening Thursday

Chanee Choi: Polaris
Born into a conservative South Korean family, DXARTS PhD student Choi melds traditional handiwork with new media—video, neon lights, games—in an installation examining gender roles.
Closing Saturday

Light Ways
First, a gripe: Seattle's art-speak is an epidemic. The copy that galleries give to grab an audience is often dripping in nonsensical academic gobbledygook. Take, for instance, the promo for Light Ways: “This exhibition explores light as a force unto itself, that transforms and activates objects and serves as a beacon of physicality.” LIGHT AS A BEACON OF PHYSICALITY!? WHAT? Zzzzzz. BUT! DON'T BE FOOLED! THIS SHOW LOOKS AMAZING! It features artists Emily Counts, Marisa Manso, Stephen Nachtigall, and Jessie Rose Vala, who all create trippy and bold pieces that encourage viewers to dream of other dimensions. Overcome the art-speak and let the pieces excite you. CHASE BURNS
Closing Saturday

THURSDAY-SUNDAY

COMEDY

Andy Haynes
In an interview with his pal (and former Stranger writer) Lindy West way back in 2011, Haynes described his comedy as "pompous, juvenile, offensive, and then insincerely apologetic." West called him "quick, insightful, personal, vulnerable, ha-ha funny." He has appeared on Conan and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and in Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival.

FILM

Langston Hughes African American Film Festival
I have yet to attend a Langston Hughes African American Film Festival that doesn’t have an important black-directed or black-themed film that’s somehow been missed by the wider film community or is unavailable in any format—web, disk, cable, theater. CHARLES MUDEDE

PERFORMANCE

The Master and Margarita: A Remix of Bulgakov
Last time this Theatre Simple production directed by Rachel Katz Carey came to town, in 1997, Stranger writer Bret Fetzer noted that it "deftly weaves together multiple story lines and metaphysical romance with vigorous hands-on theatrics." Now it's back, with the same director and a new score by Brent Arnold. If you haven't read Bulgakov's 1930s masterpiece, it's the story of the Devil and his entourage (including a scene-stealing talking, smoking cat) testing the residents of Stalinist Moscow to see if Communism has really changed their nature. But it's also about Pontius Pilate, love, and the immortality of art.

Singlet
Washington Ensemble Theatre will inaugurate a new series, called GUSH, which imports new theatrical pieces to Seattle. This opening production will be Singlet by Erin Markey, starring Markey and their longtime associate Emily Davis, a retake on Jean Genet's The Maids described by Theatermania as "like a wrestling match between titans."

Small Mouth Sounds
Thalia’s Umbrella will stage this "(mostly) silent comedy" about seven people trying to stay quiet at a forest retreat.

Strange Fruit
Tony-winning choreographer Donald Byrd's dance-theater hybrid responds to racial terrorism, in the brooding, tragic spirit of the song by Abel Meeropol (you may have heard Billie Holiday's haunting version of it).

Who Cares!: Sparkling Solo Explosion
Bawdy Storytelling star, stripper, and Libertinis member Woody Shticks promises a "bewildering trip through space and time—from the waterbeds of yore to the wastelands of tomorrow." He's already brought a special brand of madness to one-man productions like Maniac and The Schlong Song (the latter is touring the UK and Dublin in May 2019), so we expect weird and great things.

FRIDAY

READINGS & TALKS

Aaron Bobrow-Strain: The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez
Young Aida Hernandez was born in Mexico near the border; her mother took her and her siblings to Arizona when she was eight. Despite having a child in America at the age of 16, Aida was later deported to a country she barely knew. Aaron Bobrow-Strain fleshes out her story of trying to reunite with her son, revealing how unforgiving and indifferent the US immigration system can be.

Nathaniel Rich: Losing Earth: A Recent History
Want to hear something fucked up? The federal government has known about climate change and the effects of burning fossil fuels since the goddamn 1950s. Want to hear something even more fucked up? Scientists knew about it for decades before that. In a parallel universe, the powers that be actually addressed this looming crisis a century ago, but in this universe, government and industry coalesced to do jack shit. What the fuck happened? Nathaniel Rich’s new maddening but necessary book-length follow-up to his epic 30,000-word New York Times Magazine article explains the history of our colossal failure to act. KATIE HERZOG

A Night of Storytelling with Johnny Moses
Native storyteller Johnny Moses—who was raised in the Nuu-chah-nulth village of Ohiat in Vancouver, B.C.—will lead a night of Duwamish teachings through traditional songs and stories. 

The Shackles of Journalism with CĂŒneyt Özdemir
UW's Turkish and Ottoman Studies Program, Department of Communication, and Jackson School of International Studies will welcome Turkish journalist Özdemir, the prominent anchorman of the leading news show 5N1K on CNN Turk. Özdemir will speak about journalistic freedom, the business-media relationship, and public opinion.

VISUAL ART

Kitchen Sessions
Poet Imani Sims will explore the themes of Jeffrey Gibson: Like a Hammer (admission to which is included in the ticket price) at this edition of the femme/POC-focused art series Kitchen Sessions. 

Thriftease: Lisa Skank with Mr. Wacko
Ever wish you could buy the clothes right off the backs of runway models? You can do exactly that at Thriftease, the fabulously scrappy fashion show featuring vintage clothes in all shapes and sizes styled by Mona Real and Mr. Wacko. The theme this time is "Lisa Skank," which we can only imagine means many, many rainbows and unicorns.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

READINGS & TALKS

She Is Fierce: Secrets
This storytelling event will feature women and genderqueer people sharing personal stories through performance, dance, theatre, music, and/or visual art.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

FESTIVALS

Seattle Erotic Art Festival
For the past 17 years, the Foundation for Sex-Positive Culture has gathered enthusiasts of erotic art in all its forms. See the galleries of visual and interactive art, draw sensually posed models, hear sexy readings, compete in some contests, gasp at the contortions of pole dancers and other acrobats, watch a live figure sculpting demo, and more.

PERFORMANCE

MOMIX
This Connecticut-based modern dance company headed by Moses Pendleton (co-founder of Pilobolus) has been playing with light, movement, and props to create gorgeous illusions since 1981.

Nina Simone: Four Women
The play opens with a character based on Nina Simone, Peaches, playing “I Loves You, Porgy,” the signature tune of the jazz singer/pianist’s pre-protest-song era. The performance, however, is disrupted by the cries of the four girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, church bombing. In the second act, Nina meets another black woman, Sarah, in the ruins of the church. It soon becomes clear that Sarah, a committed member of the church, is opposed to Nina's radicalization. "I ain't into that radical business," Sarah says. The question at the core of the play becomes clear: Do we rebuild the church or destroy the current racist society? For Peaches/Simone, the answer is clear: Because there is nothing good about American society, it must be exploded and completely rebuilt from scratch. The ruins of the Alabama church should become the ruins of racism in America. CHARLES MUDEDE

Shakespeare Dice: As You Like It
Eight actors will learn the entire script—meaning all the roles—of Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It. You, the audience, get to determine who plays whom. 

SATURDAY

COMEDY

Bechdel Test
In a better world than this, female characters in films would talk about whatever the fuck they please—say, horses, cramps, or ongoing global disasters at the hands of a small-fingered megalomaniac. But all too often in this world, female characters, when they talk to each other at all, discuss one thing and one thing only: men. There’s even a term for it—the Bechdel Test, named for the cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who, in a 1985 comic strip, featured a character explaining that she goes to a movie only if it has at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Inspired by the Bechdel Test, Jet City Improv re-creates films that fail the test, but with a Bechdel-approved twist. You name the movie; they make it pass. KATIE HERZOG

FILM

Bike Movie Night in Seattle: 'Afghan Cycles'
The greatest form of protest is on display in Afghan Cycles: women daring to ride their bicycles even though it’s forbidden. The new documentary from Seattle-based filmmaker Sarah Menzies is powerful—it’s a feminist anthem for the ages propelled by two wheels and the drive for freedom. The subjects of Afghan Cycles range from the women on the National Cycling Team in Kabul to the women whose simple act of riding a bike to do errands is a valiant act of defiance.NATHALIE GRAHAM

First Person Plural: Movie, Meal, and Discussion
In First Person Plural, two filmmakers—one Muslim and one Christian—bridge gaps between their faiths when they fall in love and discover that their family lives are very similar. See a preview screening and discuss the film with some of its collaborators. 

Scarecrow Academy 1959: The Greatest Year in Film History
The video rental library's new series contends that 1959 was the best year in film history ever. It saw "a high point of Hollywood studio filmmaking, the rise of new independent cinema, the great flowering of international movies, and the beginning of the French New Wave." Film critic Robert Horton will delve into the highlights of this landmark year, including Hiroshima Mon Amour tonight.

What the Femme?
Turn a critical eye to the portrayals of women in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror in this "extension" (or tentacular offshoot) of SIFF's outré "WTF" programming. The final class, conducted with Colleen O'Holleran, will deal with "Female Cyberbodies in Science Fiction." It's recommended you watch The Fifth Element, The Stepford Wives, and Ex Machina beforehand.

READINGS & TALKS

Independent Bookstore Day
Independent Bookstore Day is Seattle's celebration of the city's plentiful and varied independent bookstores. This year, they're bringing back the Passport Challenge. If you visit all 21 participating stores and get a stamp at each one, you'll receive 25 percent off on books all year from those stores. Enjoy a good spring day of buying books in person from booksellers who love you and want you to be happy. Also: FUCK JEFF BEZOS. LONG LIVE INDIES. RICH SMITH

Trans Plants: Collecting, Gathering, and Globalizing Plants
This year, the Gardner Center lectures on art and culture are focusing on plants of Asia, with topics like wild mushrooms, Chinese gardens, the strange connection between eucalyptus and Portuguese fascism, and more.

VISUAL ART

Lehuauakea Fernandez: A Gift, A Breath
In conjunction with the yəhaw̓ Indigenous art show, mixed-heritage Native artist Fernandez presents an installation based on the principle of mutual exchange, or hoʻokupu. She incorporates found objects, ʻohe kāpala traditional craft, and paintings.
Closing Saturday

Spring for Zines!
This pop-up zine fair (organized by Kate Berwanger of Swerve Zine Library) will feature over 20 local zine and comic vendors.

SATURDAY-SUNDAY

PERFORMANCE

Balloonacy
I don’t have children, so I can’t say if babies will like Balloonacy, one of the cutest pieces of theater made for young children in recent years. But I once saw Balloonacy at Minneapolis’s Children’s Theatre Company stoned out of my mind, and WOW, is it one of the most magical things to ever be created for the stage. It’s a wordless, situational comedy about an old man who lives alone and is trying to celebrate his birthday when suddenly red balloons bust into his apartment to tease and tickle him. It’s basically an allegory for socialism, but for kids. CHASE BURNS

Dance Theatre of Harlem 50th Anniversary Celebration
Shortly after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., renowned dancer and choreographer Arthur Mitchell founded the first African American classical ballet company: Dance Theatre of Harlem. On their 50th anniversary, the troupe is touring with an interesting mix of works, touching on pieces infused with pop, classical, and modern music. The show kicks off with The Greatest, a tribute to Mitchell set to George Benson's hit "The Greatest Love of All." Then they roll through George Balanchine's strange, angular Agon and Marius Petipa's classic Le Corsaire. And the revival of Geoffrey Holder's Dougla, which the New York Times calls "a kaleidoscope of costume, color, and choreography" about a mixed Indian and African wedding, is not to be missed. RICH SMITH

VISUAL ART
Cecilia Vicuña: About to Happen
This is the first major US solo exhibition of the prolific Chilean-born artist Cecilia Vicuña. The show will encompass sculpture, installation, drawing, video, text-based work, and found-object sculpture that date back to Vicuña’s practice in the 1960s. Vicuña’s work is difficult to categorize, but it is resplendent and full of many possibilities—at once operating within conceptual art, land art, poetry, and feminist art practices.JASMYNE KEIMIG
Opening performance & conversation on Saturday

SUNDAY

FILM

Z-Sides
Jekeva Phillips has been all over the place. In the fall, she helped run Lit Crawl Seattle, which was well attended again this year. A few months before that, she ran Bibliophilia, a summer festival that pairs Seattle writers with improv performers to create a series of readings you actually want to attend. And now she's launching a new TV series, produced by Word Lit Zine (which she also runs) and Seattle Colleges Cable Television (which is maybe the only thing she doesn't run). At Northwest Film Forum, she'll be hosting a screening of the show. RICH SMITH

FOOD & DRINK

Brunch with Musang: Springtime Feast!
Melissa Miranda is a name you should know: She tirelessly runs the excellent Northwest-influenced Filipino pop-up Musang, a tribute to the food of her childhood. And now that she’s successfully raised the money, her brick-and-mortar restaurant will be opening on Beacon Hill. You’ll have to wait until fall to eat there, but in the meantime, you can get a taste at this springtime feast at Bar del Corso, where she’ll focus on seasonal flavors and ingredients alongside special cocktails and DJ tunes. JULIANNE BELL

Dogs of Peddler Party
Let your doggo roam free in an off-leash area while you sip some beer and hang out with other pups from Pasado's Safe Haven. Mud Bay and Tail Wag Treats will be onsite with treats.

Loxsmith Bagel Bar Mitzvah
The popular 48-hour-fermented, lye-boiled bagel pop-up returns, this time with an all-new menu.

Mobile Food Rodeo Festival
Thirty Seattle food trucks will cozy up curbside in Fremont for your noshing pleasure at this 10th annual roundup.

Sin Reglas: Seattle
“Sin reglas” means without rules, and this new pop-up dinner series from chef Kevin Bui, who cut his teeth apprenticing at the French Laundry, aims to part ways with culinary convention. To that end, he and his team, pastry chef Erica Abe and sommelier Erica Catubig, will draw from disparate elements to create everything from multicourse tasting menus, to movie viewings with food, to tiki nights. The theme for their inaugural dinner is Seattle, and they’ll impart morsels of the city’s history through food, with dishes like the Bee Hive (fermented honey with bee pollen and buttermilk), the Pinales Branch (chicken liver mousse and Douglas fir), and Flavors of Orange (prawn and escabeche complemented by citrus flavors). JULIANNE BELL

Three Sacks Full Restaurant Pop-Up
Driven by his curiosity to discover what a “real carrot” tasted like, chef Michael Tsai took a sabbatical to work on Green String Farm in California, and eventually moved to the Snoqualmie River Valley’s Goose and Gander Farm, where he works now. He brings that same farm-to-table sensibility to Three Sacks Full, his pop-up with sommelier Matthew Curtis, who favors wine pairings from smaller producers and family-run wineries. Naturally, their menus are locally sourced, ever-changing, and hyper-seasonal. Past dishes have included black-eyed-pea dumplings; a mushroom, wild ramp, and fiddlehead fern ragout; and rhubarb and poppy-seed buckle cake with whipped cream. This dinner promises to be just as seasonally inspired. JULIANNE BELL

READINGS & TALKS

Rochelle Riley: The Burden
Detroit-based journalist Rochelle Riley will visit Seattle with a book she edited and co-wrote, The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery, which features over 20 contributors reflecting on the effects of slavery in the US.

Surreal Storytelling with Strange Women #5
Author, zinester, and energetic literary event host Kate Berwanger presents this reading series, which has included extremely talented locals like Anastasia-Reneé, Kait Heacock, Kenya Ku$h, and many others. Readers this time will be the highly prolific author and teacher Carol Guess, Pakistani Mexican poet Jasmine Khaliq, Stranger arts calendar editor Joule Zelman, and UW MFA candidate and artist Jordyn Murray. Buy tickets early (these sell out fast) and bring cash for zines and merch.

VISUAL ART

Going Dutch
A host of artists—Carol Gouthro, Terry Siebert, Lois Harbaugh, Jennifer Zwick, Michael Doyle, John Rizzotto, and Rebecca Luncan—paint and sculpt works inspired by classical Dutch still life. The fanciful, alchemical-looking tulipiere (tulip vases) are not to be missed.

Julia Wald: Windows 2019
Julia Wald's large-scale pen-and-ink city murals aim to capture "the element of voyeurism you get walking through an urban environment as a casual observer while simultaneously being alone with your own thoughts." Look into strangers' windows with no fear of suspicious eyes as you peruse these flattened city streets.
Closing Sunday