This article appears in print in the November 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Eirik Johnson: Pine
Through 12/1
Before there were selfies or social media—centuries before—carving words, or even just your initials, into a tree was one way to assert your presence in a medium that would presumably outlast you. It’s still a popular act, as Johnson shows in his shots of these enigmatic memorabilia—collected first in a book, Pine, and now in this exhibit. Free. Times vary. G. Gibson Gallery, Lower Queen Anne, 104 W Roy St.; 206.587.4033

FILM
Northwest Film Forum: Hep Cats
11/3, 11/10, 11/17, 11/24
Felis silvestris catus has inspired a number of films over the decades, and NWFF has gathered an eclectic group of them in this four-Saturday mini festival—only one of which, Paul Mazursky’s Harry and Tonto (1974), uses the usual image of the cat as domestic companion. Two shorts by French avant-garde moviemaker Chris Marker and two creep fests, Kuroneko (Japan, 1968) and Cat People (1982), show a different side of the creature. Times vary. $12. Northwest Film Forum, Capitol Hill, 1515 12th Ave.; 206.329.2629

THEATER
A Bright Room Called Day
10/25–11/18
In Tony Kushner’s play, presented by The Williams Project—a local theater ensemble producing work by Tennessee Williams and works akin to it—the dangerous rhetoric of a newly elected president and the dismantling of democratic institutions he spearheads spur a group of artists to consider their consciences and how to resist. It’s set in Berlin in 1932. Why, when did you think it was set? Times and prices vary. Hillman City Collaboratory, South Seattle, 5623 Rainier Ave. S

Photo courtesy of Neko Case

MUSIC
Neko Case
11/29
Influences on Hell-On, this onetime Seattleite’s most recent album (released in June), include a destructive house fire that heavily damaged her home (hence the title) and a 2016 collaboration with k.d. lang and Laura Veirs that inspired her to take the reins as the album’s producer. One critic calls the album one of her strongest records to date, which, he adds, “given her catalog, says a great deal.” 8 p.m. Prices vary. Paramount Theatre, downtown, 911 Pine St.; 206.682.1414

DANCE
Paul Lazar: Cage Shuffle
11/16–11/17
John Cage’s piece Indeterminacy, from 1963, is a collection of anecdotes, all of them wry, some laugh-out-loud funny, like one story about Merce Cunningham’s mother and a Seattle police officer. Each takes one minute to recite, and NYC dancer Lazar will tell 50 of them in this solo dance piece. Not even he knows how the stories and the movement will interact; prepare for moments of inadvertent beauty and surprise. 8 p.m. Prices vary. Base: Experimental Arts + Space, Georgetown, 6520 Fifth Ave. S

VISUAL ART
SAM Remix
11/9
This edition of the Seattle Art Museum’s periodic art parties—in which it throws the museum open for live music, performance, dancing and hobnobbing—will focus on the recently opened exhibit Peacock in the Desert: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India, an opulent feast of paintings, textile arts, jewelry, weapons and furnishings (which closes January 21). 8 p.m. Prices vary. Seattle Art Museum, downtown, 1300 First Ave.; 206 625.8900

WORDS
Abbi Jacobson
11/2
Though she and collaborator Ilana Glazer have promised only one more season of their dryly brilliant Comedy Central sitcom Broad City, Jacobson is continuing to bring together her comic voice and her art background in a series of books. If you are lucky enough to have scored a ticket to this sold-out appearance, she’ll recount her adventures during a solo cross-country road trip she documented in her new self-illustrated book, I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and Other Stuff. (Even if you don’t have a ticket, you can still buy the book.) 7 p.m. Sold out. Third Place Books, Lake Forest Park, 17171 Bothell Way NE; 206.366.3333

THEATER
Arms and the Man
Through 11/18
George Bernard Shaw wrapped an antiwar message in this fluffy romantic comedy from 1894. A hero-worshipping young woman has to choose between two soldiers: her pompous fiancé and an inflammatorily cynical interloper who convinces her that the military life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Times and prices vary. Center Theatre, Seattle Center, 305 Harrison St.; 206.684.7200

WORDS
David Sedaris
11/19
Since climate change is making Seattle’s fabled rainfall more sporadic, perhaps now the only thing the city can still count on is that Sedaris’ annual appearance will sell out. This year he’s bringing his memoir-in-essays Calypso, suffused with reflections on family tragedy and mortality, which Alan Cumming—an equally sparkling raconteur—says evokes “some nerdy netherworld where real life becomes weirder and funnier and darker and bleaker than, well, real life.” 7:30 p.m. Prices vary. Benaroya Hall, downtown, 200 University St.; 206.215.4747

DANCE
Pacific Northwest Ballet: All Premiere
11/2–11/11
PNB entrusted a big chunk of this annual showcase of new-to-PNB works to company soloist Kyle Davis: His “A Dark and Lonely Space” is a 40-minute piece with a cast of 24, set to music by film composer Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles, Up and Coco, among many others). New works by Alejandro Cerrudo (creator of the beloved “Little Mortal Jump”) and Sweden’s Alexander Ekman fill out the bill. Times and prices vary. McCaw Hall, Seattle Center, 321 Mercer St.; 206.733.9725

Photo by Erin Baiano/Meany Center

MUSIC
Brooklyn Rider
11/13
Based out of—yes—Brooklyn, this string quartet shouldn’t be unusual for its energetic commitment to contemporary music, but in the conservative world of chamber music, it is. For its Meany Hall visit, the ensemble is combining four new works by female composers (one of them, Caroline Shaw, is also writing a new piano concerto for the Seattle Symphony, which we’ll hear next January) with Beethoven’s transcendent String Quartet No. 15. 7:30 p.m. Prices vary. Meany Center, University of Washington, 4140 George Washington Lane NE; 206.543.4880

MUSIC
Mateo Messina
11/2
This West Seattle native, now a busy film and TV composer, returns yearly with an evening of original orchestral music, plus surprises, to raise money for Seattle Children’s Hospital—$2 million to date. “The Feast” is this year’s concert theme, and Tom Douglas is just one of the food-industry guests. 8 p.m. Prices vary. Benaroya Hall, downtown, 200 University St.; 206.215.4747; lumaguild.org

THEATER
A People’s History
Through 11/25
The new solo show by Mike Daisey, muckraking enemy of conventional wisdom, is actually 18 shows—a series of evening-length monologues, based on Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, examining the reality behind what your high school textbooks told you. Times and prices vary. Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Center, 155 Mercer St.; 206.443.2222

WORDS
Short Run Comix and Arts Fest
11/3
Though there’s “comix” in the title, this fest’s focus is very different from the superheroes and TV stars whom the immense Emerald City Comic Con celebrates each spring. More Fantagraphics than Fantastic Four, Short Run devotes itself to DIY: zines, illustrators, handmade books and anything artisanal and out of the mainstream. 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Free. Fisher Pavilion and The Vera Project, Seattle Center, 305 Harrison St.; 206.684.7200

DANCE
Bitter Suites
11/8–11/11
Cheerleader skirts and gym clothes? It must be your teen years. Pastel colors? It must be the ’80s. This work, created by Seattle dancer and choreographer Rainbow Fletcher for Hypernova Contemporary Dance Company, the troupe she founded in 2014, evokes “the inevitable transition from childhood innocence to self-aware adulthood.” Premiered in 2017, it’s being revived as part of Velocity Dance Center’s season. 7:30 p.m. Prices vary. Velocity Dance Center, Capitol Hill, 1621 12th Ave.; 206.325.8773