The 52 Best Things To Do in Seattle This Week: Sept 10-16, 2018 Waitress, the 2018 Washington Artisan Cheesemakers Festival, and More Arts Critics' Picks

Waitress garnered four Tony nominations, has a score written by Sara Bareilles, and is about pie. It'll be good. Joan Mar garnered four Tony nominations, has a score written by Sara Bareilles, and is about pie. It'll be good.

Our music critics have already chosen the 38 best music shows this week , but now it's our arts critics' turn to pick the best events in their areas of expertise. Here are their picks in every genre—from an evening with Jane Fonda to the 2018 Washington Artisan Cheesemakers Festival , and from the opening of the Frye'sto the beginning of the upstart crow collective's all-female production of. See them all below, and find even more events on our complete Things To Do calendar

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MONDAY

TROVE's 4th Anniversary Party

On the occasion of Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi's Korean barbecue and noodle joint turning four years old, load up on gratis smoked meats at the complimentary BBQ buffet, quaff drinks from the cash bar, and play trivia for a chance to win prizes.

An Alliance of Trust: Shift Zero and the Collective Push for Real Climate Action

Shift Zero is "a zero net carbon building alliance"; the group will host a discussion on moving communities toward real action on climate change.

David Quammen: A Radical New History of Life

When it comes to examining DNA sequences, one of the most important scientific studies of the mid-1970s was horizontal gene transfer, which studied the movement of genes across species lines. Naturalist author and columnist David Quammen explores this and more in his book The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life.

Gary Shteyngart: Lake Success

Seattle novelist Maria Semple calls Gary Shteyngart’s latest novel, Lake Success, “the funniest book you’ll read all year.” She also says: “What begins as a rollicking and zinger-filled road trip sneakily deepens into a poignant tale of a man trying to outrace his problems. I was utterly floored.” Shteyngart’s appearances in Seattle are reliably as rollicking and zinger-filled as his books. CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

MONDAY-SUNDAY

Seattle Design Festival

Now in its eighth year, Design in Public's Seattle Design Festival explores how urbanism, architecture, and design can further justice, ecology, and community. 2018's theme, "Trust," will focus on bringing together diverse local communities with a lineup of arts events, panels, installations, discussions, and fun parties. This week, check out the opening celebration for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center’s Design with the 90% on Thursday, along with a Wearable EMF-Sensing Workshop and Interdisciplinary Activities to Build Trust + Collaborative Solutions on Sunday.

70mm Film Festival

Put down your phone and surrender to the splendor of actually-epic-scale cinema in the cathedral that is the Cinerama. Not much unites the films in this 13-day festival other than a commitment to MAGNITUDE, but several are essential viewing. I know you’ve heard it before, but I’ll say it again: Seeing a film in a darkened theater with strangers is a secular sacrament. The fact that you can't pause, talk, text, or tweet until it's over is a feature. Please enjoy it while it's still available. SEAN NELSON

This week's films include E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Top Gun, and Lawrence of Arabia.

Washington Cider Week

Freak out about cider at approximately a billion tastings, parties, etc. during a week so special, it lasts 11 days! See the full list of cider freakout opportunities here, including the Capitol Cider Heritage Dinner on Wednesday and Seattle Cider Company City Fruit Cider Release Party on Saturday.

TUESDAY

Craig Johnson: The Depth of Winter

Craig Johnson is the author of nearly 20 novels and story collections that feature one Walt Longmire, a well-educated but taciturn former college football star and Marine veteran who now works as the sheriff of a remote county in Wyoming. Longmire also inspired six seasons of a fantastic TV show that ran until last year. It’s rare to find a character/series/author in the western tradition that satisfies the twin requirements of feeling both contemporary and timeless, but Johnson’s work does, and his reading voice is pleasing, too. SEAN NELSON

An Evening with Jane Fonda

The film star and unflagging activist will appear along with GeekWire's Jonathan Sposato and Restaurant Opportunity Center President Saru Jayaraman in support of One Fair Wage, a campaign to set restaurant pay at standard minimum wage. The big-bux tickets get you into a small reception.

TUESDAY-SATURDAY

Claude Zervas: Starlings

“Conscious thought is so overrated,” Claude Zervas says while we’re discussing his recent body of work. Starlings is a series of thickly layered oil paintings that—if anything—are a meditation on the fickle, tricky, and long-drying medium. Zervas has always leaned more toward minimalism with 3D and video work stripping nature and science to their most essential components and presented in abstracted ways. Zervas returned to painting about five years ago starting with pen and ink drawings, continuing on to acrylic, then—encouraged in part by Joe Park—landing on oils which he described as “a revelation.” The months-long process of layering rich pigment and cutting it away allows Zervas to have new ideas about the work while stripping it of any overt meaning. KATIE KURTZ

Opening Tuesday

Eunice Kim: Nature Stories

This Seattle printmaker developed allergies to the chemicals generally used in the practice and so developed a more environmentally friendly and healthy process, which produces variation in prints. She creates images formed by spots in simple formations, perhaps reminding you of magnified microbes or of a more subdued Yayoi Kusama.

Artist talk on Saturday

TUESDAY-SUNDAY

Northern Exposure: Contemporary Nordic Arts Revealed

This exhibition brings together contemporary Scandinavian artists Olafur Eliasson, Jesper Just, Bjarne Melgaard, Kim Simonsson, Tori Wrånes, and others. Kim Simonsson’s nuclear green sculptures of dystopian woodland children, Cajsa Von Ziepel’s BDSM-ish, sexually explicit sculptures and Jesper Just’s mildly porno films usher in a new era for the newly opened Nordic Museum. KATIE KURTZ

Closing Sunday

Cirque du Soleil VOLTA

Every Cirque show I’ve experienced has abounded with breathtaking, eye-popping visuals as well as awe-inspiring feats of movement by Cirque’s cast of dancers, physical actors, athletes, acrobats, contortionists, aerialists, and other circus performers. The subject matter of Volta, Cirque’s 41st production, involves extreme sports, touching on (but not limited to) shape diving, BMX, and rope skipping. LEILANI POLK

Skylight

A young woman flees a long-term affair with a rich married restaurateur when his ailing wife finds them out. Having previously lived in splendid comfort virtually as a member of their happy extended family, she now lives in self-imposed exile, working with poor, violent kids who have even fewer resources than she does. Then late one night, her former lover’s son shows up to ask why she abandoned him. Shortly after he leaves, his father’s limo rolls up. David Hare’s drama, originally produced in 1995 and later revived in 2015 (with Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan, just to give you a sense of the age disparity), is a strange combination of trenchant and way out of step with the psycho-social and psycho-sexual temperature of 2018. But, like most of his major works, it’s funny and involving, and it serves as a cracking showcase for two actors who know what they’re doing. SEAN NELSON

Waitress

Remember that 2007 movie starring Keri Russell as the waitress who bakes her feelings? Vaguely, at least? That’s okay, you can refresh your memory by checking out the fresh-from-Broadway musical adaptation that’s stopping for a run at the Paramount Theatre. The reviews of Waitress were “mixed-to-positive,” but it garnered four Tony nominations, which is saying something. It didn’t win any of the Tonys it was nominated for, which is also saying something. Sara Bareilles—the singer-songwriter responsible for that ubiquitous 2007 hit “Love Song”—wrote the score. It’s about pie. It’ll be good. NATHALIE GRAHAM

WEDNESDAY

Arcade Launch Party

Enjoy snacks and flip through the pages of local architecture and design magazine ARCADE's latest issue, #36.2: Seattle's Ethos: Changes in Our Shared Space. Your donation gets you the issue, some snacks, and some drinks.

Artist Trust Pop-up Art Market

Browse art by highly talented locals like Juan Alonso-Rodriguez, Jessixa Bagley, Mary Anne Carter, Asia Tail, Native Works, Yakamade Earrings, SuttonBeresCuller, Brandon Vosika, Jennifer Zwick, and many others. Take part in arts activities led by Michelle Lassaline, Susan Robb, and Amazon Expressions, and see performances by composer/musician Wayne Horvitz and multidisciplinary artist Che Sehyun.

Bike-In Movie: Kiki's Delivery Service

Bike in to the Columbia City Farmers Market and stick around to see the absolutely wonderful Miyazaki classic. In an unnamed European country, ambitious young witch Kiki hops on her broomstick and sets up a freelance delivery business in the city, but must grapple with the tribulations of finicky magical powers, working, and growing up. A sincere and gentle parable about overcoming self-doubt and depression with the help of your friends, featuring the cute talking kitty Jiji and one of the subtlest, most bittersweet endings you'll ever see in animation.

WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY

Whim W’Him Choreographic Shindig IV

Whim W’Him kicks off their fall season the way they have for the last four years: with a sort of opposite day where dancers choose the choreographer with whom they want to work. This year, performers have selected award-winning choreographer Omar Román De Jesús, Hubbard Street’s 2017 Choreographic Fellow Alice Klock, and LoudHoundMovement’s Brendan Duggan. De Jesús’s recent work looks super-fluid and powered by inertia. The dancers look like gyroscopes spinning in space, occasionally bouncing off one another. Duggan’s stuff also feels pretty abstract, but ultimately it remains rooted in theatrics and storytelling. He’s also not afraid to use a little humor. Zachary Whittenburg of Dance Magazine rates Klock as one of their “25 to Watch 2018,” calling her work “densely dimensional, unpredictable, strangely graceful, and wild.” Couldn't agree more. Watching her dance, the laws of physics seem to change every 20 seconds. Don’t miss this one. RICH SMITH

WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY

Femme Fatale

A Prom Queen and Can Can collab!? Yes, please! The Can Can culinary cabaret, which serves up some of the best butts and beignets in town, is partnering with rising music star Prom Queen for their summer show, and it's a safe bet that it will be a hit. That said, the team could have chosen a better subject than Mata Hari, who catapulted to fame using an outsider's vision of Indonesia. Hopefully their adaptation will avoid Hari's pitfalls by doing more than just simply reproducing the Dutch dancer's problematic early-20th-century Orientalist style. Otherwise, this will be a spectacular shitshow. CHASE BURNS

Native Gardens

Though Latina playwright Karen Zacarías hails from Washington, DC, her well-received comedy Native Gardens sounds like the most Seattle shit ever. An impending barbecue party ignites a property-line dispute between two neighbors. One couple—a Chilean lawyer named Pablo and his Ph.D.-candidate wife Tania—likes their garden overgrown with native plants. The other couple—Republicans Frank and Virginia Butley—keeps a prim English garden. As the two couples battle over how their gardens grow, a bunch of economic and racial tensions rise to the surface and boil over. Arlene Martínez-Vázquez directs. RICH SMITH

Richard III

Last year, the crew of upstart crow collective produced an all-female adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry VI that was so good, it actually made people want to see a production of Henry VI. I reckon they'll have the same luck with this classic tale of throne-hungry villainy. Top-notch veteran actor Sarah Hartlett will take on the title role. RICH SMITH

THURSDAY

Capitol Hill Art Walk

Every second Thursday, rain or shine, the streets of Capitol Hill are filled with tipsy art lovers checking out galleries and special events.

KUOW Week In Review

Every Friday on KUOW, Bill Radke and a panel of guests unpack the week's top stories on the KUOW Week In Review podcast. This time, they'll celebrate the end of their tour with an extra special live taping with live music, some surprises, and, as always, great conversation. Guests include Ijeoma Oluo, C.R. Douglas, and Monica Nickelsburg.

THURSDAY-FRIDAY

Indie Month

I started taking improv classes at Jet City in January and in that time I’ve learned two things: 1) How to “Yes, And” and 2) Nobody has a neutral opinion about improv. So! This month is either absolutely for you or absolutely not. Either way, studies prove laughing with a bunch of other people IRL is good for you and this could be one remedy for when the SAD sets in. Featuring over 35 groups and 100 performers with four teams performing a night, the festival features highlights including this Friday's Yeah Okay (an amazingly quick-witted ensemble). KATIE KURTZ

THURSDAY-SATURDAY

Anthony White: Tier 2: Sold Out

If you haven't come across work by (or curated by) Anthony White at one of the city's art walks in the past year, you have been missing out on a very talented up-and-comer. The curator behind the local exhibition series While Supplies Last, White has also shown his own fused PLA (polylactic acid) portraits, which resemble plastic tapestries. His subjects are frequently selfie-taking youths framed by opulent mirrors or cast against intricate, space-flattening wallpaper patterns. This time, he’ll “investigate the intimate interiors of people’s private spaces all captured and catalogued with a digital device” through the juxtaposition of the everyday with the ornate and fantastical. Expect something soulful, sexy, impressive, and slightly (but unabashedly) kitsch. JOULE ZELMAN

Closing Saturday

Ling Chun and Ashley Norwood Cooper: Color Color

These two women artists are new to Seattle. Check out joyously messy and colorful porcelain sculpture (Chun) and imaginative, expressionistic domestic and woodland oil paintings on panel (Norwood Cooper).

Opening Thursday

Prelude to a Kiss

Strawberry Theatre Workshop last-minute swapped out Reckless for this play by Craig Lucas, about a woman who may or may not have switched bodies with a sick octogenarian during her honeymoon, and her husband who gradually comes to realize that his beautiful young wife is harboring the soul of an old man. Lucas's work has been seen as an allegory for AIDS; it was nominated for the 1990 Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The cast of Reckless—including MJ Sieber, Anastasia Higham, and Galen Joseph Osier—will appear in this play instead.



THURSDAY-SUNDAY

MEXAM Northwest Festival

Guys, despite what the President and Republicans say nearly every single day, Mexico is our friend! The U.S.'s longstanding, mutually beneficial, and rich relationship with our southern neighbors is so strong that it continues regardless of the current political climate. The monthlong MEX AM Festival, presented by the Consulate of Mexico, is here to celebrate all that. This week, check out a Mezcal Mixology Night and the opening reception for Adrían Gómez: NosotrUS on Thursday, the Ideas de México "high-impact talk" series on Friday, and an El Grito concert on Sunday. RICH SMITH

Rachel Mars: Our Carnal Hearts

What capitalists call "ambition," UK performer Rachel Mars and her female choir call a cocktail of envy, self-doubt, guilt, and regret. More than any virtue, it's these spiky sins that drive us to act. Or so the artists argue in this playful and extremely cathartic-sounding avant-garde production. The 60-minute explosion of a show premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year, and so far, everyone's been raving about it. Powder, fire, rubber chickens, and the strong smell of coffee figure heavily in the performance, so the show should find a happy home here in Seattle. RICH SMITH

FRIDAY

David Lasky: The Catalog of Exceptionally Rare Comic Books

Local artist David Lasky's latest release is both a collection of poems and a catalog of super-rare comic books, including listings for Canceled Comic Cavalcade, Viewmaster Dream Comic, and Little Orphan Annie Becomes a Woman. Be the first to pick up a copy and have it signed by Lasky.

Grilled Things and Chicken Wings Tour

At this Chinatown-International District neighborhood food tour, load up on a sundry of meats, from grilled to skewered to deep-fried, along with some refreshing dessert drinks, and discover "great additions of Asian Pacific flavors to put under the tradition of summer barbecue tastes."

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

Feelings

Very delightful improvisers-about-town and Jet City veterans Kinsey Shaw and Natasha Ransom talk about feelings, with the motto: "Destroy the patriarchy. There will be snacks." Eat dessert with them and advance intersectional feminist funniness.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

Bellwether Arts Week

As part of the SuttonBeresCuller-run arts festival Bellwether 2018, witness art events in Bellevue Downtown Park and Bellevue Arts Museum, including experimental painter Margie Livingston's "55 Laps" canvas run, durational performance in A Great Unbridgeable Distance, a workshop with artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and more.

Group Therapy

Group Therapy features a roster of international artists addressing themes of healing and self-care through a range of media. With its proximity to Harborview Medical Center (the region’s largest trauma care hospital) and several other hospitals, the museum will also function as a community “free clinic” with immersive installations and participatory projects. By including racism, sexism, and political tribalism as social pathologies, the show reframes what it means to be ill in the 21st century and offers community building as one possible curative. Artists include Wynne Greenwood, Maryam Jafri, Joachim Koester, Liz Magic Laser, Leigh Ledare, Marcos Lutyens, Cindy Mochizuki, Shana Moulton, Pedro Reyes, Ann Leda Shapiro, Kandis Williams, and Lauryn Youden. KATIE KURTZ

Opening Friday

SATURDAY

Lusio Lights Georgetown - CCL & DJ CZ

Take in luminous installations from artists like Brittan Drake and Jeremy Winters while DJs CZ and CCL spin tunes.

Second Use Fall Fest

Second Use's biggest event of the year offers a full day of food, beer, games, DIY screen printing, and shopping from local makers at the Handmade and Reclaimed Market.

Chain Lynx Fence

Five killer queer femme and non-binary comedy acts—improvisers Team Pynk and Taya Beattie with friends, sketch couple Mel and Lee, and stand-up comics Tara Curran and Tobi Hill-Meyer—will exorcise those cishet male demons from your comedy experience. Stranger arts calendar editor Joule Zelman will host.

Chris Allen's Last Show in Seattle

Who is Chris Allen? Only a member of some of the very finest indie improv groups in Seattle, plus a number of Jet City shows. See him one last time with his friends and collaborators in Death and Taxes, Price/Nixon, the Gloomwhisper Entrancement, Alex & Ben, and Book Club.

1968: Expressions of a Flame

It can be argued that the beginning of the end of the Golden Age of Capitalism in Europe and the United States happened in 1968. There was the rise of the black power movement, the feminist movement, and the anti-war movement. There were the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. There were the student protests in Paris. This was a globally synched revolution that, ultimately, instigated a class war that took the form of neoliberalism. By 1971, social democratic institutions were under attack. This NWFF series examines the moment when the world could have taken a completely different direction, when the New Deal could have gone international. Fifty years later, our president is giving the rich $100 billion, and the richest man on earth has more money than there are stars in our galaxy. CHARLES MUDEDE

2018 Washington Artisan Cheesemakers Festival

Fromage fanciers, rejoice: At this festival celebrating “the terroir of Washington,” 20 artisan and farmstead cheese makers from all over the state will gather to share their creamy wares, including washed-rind, mixed-milk, caved-aged, and raw varieties. The lineup features a coterie of choice cheesemongers and covetable creameries, like Beecher’s, Twin Sisters, Golden Glen, Mt. Townsend, and more, as well as accompaniments from artisans like preserves producer Girl Meets Dirt, plus local beer and wine. Additionally, take a deep dive into all things funky and odiferous in a seminar about washed-rind cheeses. Admission includes three beverage tastes and all the cheese your dairy-loving heart desires. Proceeds benefit the Washington State Cheesemakers Association. JULIANNE BELL

Bourbon Heritage Dinner

Enjoy a substantial dinner paired with fine bourbon, including Russell’s Reserve 10 Year, Willet Distillery Noah’s Mill, Booker’s Blue Knights Batch, Michter’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon, and Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection Cask.

East Ballard Oktoberfest

Traditional oompah band the Oompah Machine will lead a lederhosen-laden procession with stops at Reuben's Brews, Stoup Brewing, Lucky Envelope, and Populuxe. Each stop will feature commemorative steins, Oktoberfest beers, and food trucks.

Hops & Crops Music and Beer Festival

Head to Kent for live music and craft brews to support the farm's regionally focused environmental education programs. Bad Jimmy's, Dystopian State Brewing, Fish, Flying Lion, and Fremont are just a few participating breweries, with food for purchase from Bread and Circuses, Hot Revolution Donuts, and Tacos La Flaca.

Trucktoberfest

For their third annual festival, the Mobile Food Rodeo will boast over 25 local and regional breweries whose offerings you can sip in an outdoor beer garden. There will also be plenty of food trucks outside the tasting areas, which welcome guests of all ages.

Finnegans Wake

Seattle composer, musician, and substitute teacher Neal Kosaly-Meyer will continue his amazing feat of reciting Finnegan's Wake from memory, chapter by chapter—as if reading the modernist monster wasn't hard enough.

Interwoven: The Blended Heritage of Nordics and Native Peoples

The Interwoven project seeks to document the oral history of the mixed heritage of Native and Nordic peoples in the United States. Hear from four of the Interwoven team: videographer Alison DeRiemer, artist and contributor Susan Ringstad Emery, HistoryLink.org historian Jennifer Ott, and Hibulb Cultural Center Senior Curator Tessa Campbell. This fascinating blend of cultures is long overdue for appreciation.

Quenton Baker, Lily Baumgart, Claudia Castro Luna

Open Books' new Poet-in-Residence, Quenton Baker, will be joined by Seattle Youth Poet Laureate Lily Baumgart and Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna for a night of poetry you won't want to miss.

SUNDAY

SHRIEK! Lifeforce Heckle Night

Evan J. Peterson and Heather Bartels curate this film and community education series that examines the role of women and minorities in horror films. Once in awhile, they take a kinda dumb film and hold it up for enjoyment and ridicule—like Lifeforce, Tobe Hooper's "space-vampire-butthole-booby-bonanza" starring Mathilda May as a superhot energy-sucking alien.

TOO MUCH! with Lindy West, Ijeoma Oluo, and More!

The Stranger's own Charles Mudede, bestselling author and former Stranger writer Lindy West, and musician/comedian Ahamefule J. Oluo (whose music you can hear on The Stranger's Blabbermouth podcast every week) will gather to talk about their upcoming independent film Thin Skin, based on Oluo's stage show Now I'm Fine.

VOYEUR Presents: Bunny Lake Is Missing

The outré film series VOYEUR will show the bizarre 1965 Otto Preminger post-noir film Bunny Lake Is Missing, starring Keir Dullea and Carol Lynley, about a woman searching for her daughter whose existence everyone else denies. Here's VOYEUR-runner Samantha Lauren's description: "The cult classic features Noel Coward as a kinky landlord and even manages to fit in an appearance from English psych band the Zombies! Part film noir, part perverse fairy tale, Bunny Lake is Missing hardly passed the US production code standards of the time - which could be why the film was more beloved by British audiences."

A Lesson in Lacto-Fermentation

Fermentation is the key to many of the funky and complex flavors on the menu at Renee Erickson’s award-winning French-inflected steak house Bateau, which Eater named one of the best restaurants in America. At this lesson from Bateau chef and “fermentation enthusiast” Taylor Thornhill, you’ll learn everything you need to know to achieve crunchy, tangy vegetables and more using lacto-fermentation, then enjoy a repast with a glass of wine, and go home with a starter kit and recipes. JULIANNE BELL