The Portland Mercury - Theater

TBA:20 Begins This Weekend to Make Note of a Time We'll Never Forget

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 17:20:00 GMT

by Suzette Smith

Complete Works, A Midsummer Night's DreamForced Entertainment, Courtesy of Portland Insitute for Contemporary Art

[UPDATE: Two in person, outdoor events from festival that the Mercury recommended have been postponed, due to hazardous wildfire air. Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.’s Grandmother(s)’s Kitchen Presents: Bring Your Own Blanket Free Community Picnic, scheduled for Sunday, September 13th, and Mobile Projection Unit's Against the Current, scheduled for Monday, September 14th, will both be rescheduled. We'll update with new dates when they are posted.]

If you didn’t know that Portland’s annual Time Based Arts Festival (TBA) is STILL ON, STILL HAPPENING, and STARTING THIS WEEKEND, don’t stress. The organization that puts it on—the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA)—didn’t know if it would be possible either, until this past June.

“We certainly didn’t know at the beginning of the pandemic,” Artistic Director and Curator of Public Engagement Roya Amirsoleymani said, via phone interview. “We didn’t know how [COVID-19] would impact the economy or the completely questionable status of nonprofits and arts organizations nationally. We didn't know what the future public health restrictions would be.”

But thanks to Beyond Now, a virtual fundraiser that PICA held in May, the nonprofit arts organization raised enough funds to throw this year's festival. They have what Amirsoleymani estimates to be "a quarter or even a fifth" of their usual budget and they paced the performances out over three weeks instead of one and a half. But it's happening.

TBA: 20 will be mostly online, but will include a number of events presented outdoors or in large enough spaces that audiences can safely distance. So if you’re a fan of challenging, prescient performance art or just interested in checking out a comic re-telling of a Shakespearean play cast with kitchen utensils, here are a few things to look for at this year’s festival.

Jaamil Olawale KosokoIMMA Asher, Courtesy of Portland Institute for Contemporary Art

One artist whose work expanded naturally into the online medium is Philidephia-based artist Jaamil Olawale Kosoko whose approach to contemporary dance intersects with his studies in Black critical theory, specifically Black queer theory. Kosoko's American Chameleon: The Living Installments will occur partly via PICA's stream, and also partly via the gaming platform Discord. Kosoko is unusual among this year's performers because he's one of the few artists PICA wanted to include from the very beginning who was able to adapt his work to fit the festival's new form.

He embraced the potential to view American Chameleon through multiple approaches and worked intentionally to center his installments around Monday, September 21st—the International Day of Peace. On that day, another group of TBA artists Mobile Projection Unit will assist him by projecting American Chameleon into a grand outdoor location. Like all the TBA:20 in person events, the location won't be revealed until the day before.

Mobile Projection Unit (MPU) may already be familiar to those who've attended protests or community events where MPU co-founders Sarah Turner and Fernanda D’Agostino displayed their video artworks onto highway underpasses or on the side of buildings. Another point of reference could be D’Agostino's jaw-dropping contribution to this map is not a territory, which swathed the museum’s foyer in massive, interwoven projections of dancers in flaming forests.

Mobile Projection Unit Kristan Kennedy, Courtesy of Portland Insitute for Contemporary Art

For their Monday September 14th performance, Against the Current, the MPU invites spectators to walk along the Willamette River and take in three video and sound installations that "map the wide-ranging moods of water as it flows and cascades."

In addition to providing projection assistance to Kosoko, MPU will also project a compilation of short video works—dubbed "samples of recent American history"—which were curated by Jibade-Khalil Huffman and titled IN LIEU OF AN OCEAN (SEND FLOWERS) on a large scale in an outdoor setting, next Monday September 28th. This noted helpfulness and desire to collaborate with other artists is something Amirsoleymani describes as part of MPU's artistic process.

"[MPU] supports other artists in taking advantage of the technologies they employ to make the whole sonic and visual experience of these place-based projects come to life. Nothing surprised me about their recent involvement with the uprisings and community events because they really understand that connection between activism and art. Many artists in Portland also identify as activists and vice versa. Or they see no difference, no distinction, especially now."

IN LIEU OF AN OCEAN (SEND FLOWERS) sits like a centerpiece within the greater banquet of TBA:20 and like Kosoo's American Chameleon, it too can be viewed a number of different ways. If you don't want to wait until the 28th, the installation can be viewed Thurs-Sun in PICA's 3,000-square-foot warehouse between the hours of 12-6 pm.

Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.Margaret Jacobsen, Courtesy of Portland Institute for Contemporary Art

Another promising outdoor event is local artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.'s Grandmother(s)’s Kitchen Presents: Bring Your Own Blanket Free Community Picnic and Discussion. It's as simple to explain as: A socially-distanced community picnic outdoors, complete with measuring sticks. Yet the action of attendees coming together carries a sincere potential to be profound. And Stevenson's collaboration with two Black-owned food vendors—Kee’s Loaded Kitchen and Plant Based Papi—sounds delicious.

It's worth noting that all the installations at this year's TBA:20 are free, with the exception of The Who Cares Clock (an essay you can request through the mail by sending in two forever stamps or $1.10 in postage) and the West Coast premiere of Charles Mudede's latest feature film Thin Skin (sliding-scale $5-15). Mudede directed and co-wrote Thin Skin with Ahamefule J. Oluo and Lindy West, basing it on Oluo's life and his award-winning stand-up memoir musical Now I'm Fine. (Conflict of interest note: Mudede is a longtime staff writer and critic for The Stranger, the Mercury's sister paper, and West is a former Stranger writer.)

Being that they are a nonprofit, PICA suggests donations from audience members attending this year's fest, but they're passing on half that pot to social justice and racial equity organizations like Don’t Shoot PDX, Pueblo Unido, and the MRG Foundation’s Since Time Immemorial Fund. At multiple points throughout our conversation Amirsoleymani described PICA as a conduit through which money flows to artists. "Fundamentally. Paying artists. It's what we do," she said. Even as Beyond Now was a fundraiser for PICA, they paid their artists. Now, this festival presents yet another opportunity for PICA to distribute funds to struggling artists on a local, national, and international scale. But that's not the only reason you should go to TBA:20. You should go because TBA is awesome.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I tell time by TBA, I can count the years. Every year I have some transformative experience in the care of PICA's extraordinary curation. So holding the festival this year feels especially important because TBA is a place where we mark time and right now is a time none of us will likely ever forget.

PICA's TBA:20 runs through Wed Sept 30. To view the complete schedule, visit pica.org/tba.

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The Best Things To Do While Staying Home and Staying Safe: Fri May 22

Fri, 22 May 2020 15:30:35 GMT

by Mercury Staff

Confinement Film Festival
Since we're all stuck inside anyway, we asked local amateur filmmakers, artists, and creative people to send us short homemade movies that demonstrate how we are living, surviving (and occasionally thriving) under quarantine and social distancing orders... and oh boy! DID YOU DELIVER! We received a poop-ton of fantastic, funny, poignant, and mind-bending submissions, and narrowed it down to the 25 best of the bunch to bring you the CoFF film fest. But it gets even better—because after watching CoFF, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO VOTE FOR THE WINNERS OF CASH PRIZES IN A VARIETY OF CATEGORIES! For even more info, go here and get your tickets, because the debut of CoFF happens this FRIDAY, MAY 22 at 8 pm and continues for the following three weekends. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY

A Streetcar Named Desire
One of the unexpected benefits to being sheltered-in-place is that access to great theater has become just a little bit easier. National Theatre Live is a big part of that, taking recorded performances they'd usually earmark for theatrical exhibition and putting them on YouTube for free. And this week's installment is a goddamn monster: The Young Vic's 2014 staging of Tennessee Williams' landmark play A Streetcar Named Desire, with Gillian Anderson (!) as Blanche DuBois, Vanessa Kirby as Stella, and Ben Foster as Stanley Kowalski. Jesus Christ that's one stacked cast, and you've got one week to set aside the three-and-a-half-hours needed to experience it. We'd suggest just dropping everything right now and hitting play as soon as you can.

The Lovebirds
Of all the movies that have been pulled out of theatrical release thanks to COVID, and relocated to streaming, The Lovebirds (Streaming May 22, Netflix) is maybe the most promising. Granted, that's not saying much when the comparison points are Trolls: World Tour and Scoob!, but seriously, check the stats: Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani, directed by Michael Showalter, in a screwball-romantic-comedy-action-murder-mystery (whew!) that takes place in one long, perilous, hilarious night? That's pretty much all the premise you need, really. Now it's just a matter of navigating to Netflix, hitting play, and seeing if that shakes out as entertainingly as it's almost guaranteed to... or maybe you'll wish you'd watched Scoob, who knows!

The Great
For those who fear that The Great—Hulu's original series about empress of Russia, Catherine the Great—is a stuffy, historical bore-fest that will have you clawing your eyes out... well, this definitely ain't that. Elle Fanning stars as Catherine in this historically inaccurate comedy about a forward thinking and wildly optimistic French girl who's sent to marry Emperor Peter III of Russia (a fantastic Nicholas Hoult) and finds her world turned upside down—and then turns the world rightside up in response. Written by The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara, The Great provides top notch performances, gorgeous costumes, and a whip-smart script filled with sex, violence, poop talk, and just a smidge of education—if that's okay with you. WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY

Your Sister's Sister
Jack (Mark Duplass) is a sad sack of a guy who commemorates the one-year anniversary of his brother's death by drunkenly shouting at the friends who insist on romanticizing his dead sibling. Afterward, he's cornered by his best friend Iris (Emily Blunt), who firmly instructs him that after a year of grieving, it's time to get his head together. She sends him off to enjoy some quiet time at her family cabin, but solitude isn't on the agenda: Jack arrives to find the house already occupied by Iris' half-sister, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), who's drowning her own breakup-related sorrows in tequila. Most of writer/director Lynn Shelton's Your Sister's Sister (Now available, multiple platforms, $3.99 to rent, $9.99 to buy) is about interpersonal relationships, about characters figuring out who they are in relationship to one another, even when things get weird. ALISON HALLETT

Rocketman
Usually, the whole point of Awards Season—aside from that whole "industry lovingly washing its own genitals for four hours on ABC" thing—is to provide deserving films a gentle boost in reputation and (most importantly) receipts. Rocketman (Streaming May 22, Amazon Prime) however, is a rare case of Oscar-bait being best served by distance from Awards Season. Now that it's not being relentlessly compared to the previous year's Bohemian Rhapsody, and built up as some sort of deeply-meaningful drama about the perils of stardom and celebrity, it gets to just be what it actually is: A fizzy, fun, visually-interesting gloss on the fabulous life of Elton John, with a pair of rock-solid performances (Taron Egerton as Elton, Jamie Bell as songwriter Bernie Taupin) making it go.

Summer Camp Retrospective
Normally, Memorial Day weekend plays host to a big ol' Summer Camp experience at Three Sisters Park in Illinois, and not the "catch poison oak, eat bad food in a tent, get neglected by teenage counselors" type of Summer Camp experience. But the "get lifted, listen to a lot of jam bands, learn about permaculture and sustainability" type of experience, which is now going online (Fri-Sun, $24.99)to celebrate 20 years of doing summer camp right, with live music, throwback performances, panels, and prizes to give away. Hosted by Andy Frasco and Jonathan Schwartz, with music sets from Moe., Umphrey's McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band, Keller Williams, Big Something, Sunsquabi, Twiddle, and many more.

Carly Rae Jepsen
Listening to Carly Rae Jepsen sounds like victory. It feels like experiencing the season finale of your own life. A life spent inside Lisa Frank's world, after making an offering to the great goddesses Belinda Carlisle and Cyndi Lauper, and our reward is a rapture away from this hellscape we call Earth, thanks to the blessed power of Carly Rae Jepsen's music. She just dropped her follow-up to Dedicated without warning on Thursday. Achieve pop nirvana by putting Dedicated Side B on loop for all of Memorial Day Weekend.

The Best Things to Do While Staying Home and Staying Safe: Mon May 18

Mon, 18 May 2020 09:23:00 GMT

by Mercury Staff

Community Table Read
The mantra for writer/creator Dan Harmon's sitcom masterpiece Community was always "Six seasons and a movie" but that mantra now has to make room for "oh and a live-streamed cast-reunion table-read of a season four episode with the actual Mandalorian as a guest star to support World Central Kitchen and Frontline Foods." It's kind of a mouthful, yeah, but it's accurate, because that's exactly what's happening on the Community YouTube channel Monday at 2pm. Extra bonus awesomeness: Chevy Chase is not going to be there at all! And, some are speculating the cherry on top of this show's special cast reunion will be an announcement that Netflix has greenlit a Community movie. Wouldn't you want to be there live if that happens?

A Night of Covenant House Stars
The week begins with this gala livestream event (5pm, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch.tv, Amazon Prime Video, Broadway on Demand) helping raise funds for Covenant House, whose mission to serve homeless and trafficked youth literally cannot be closed down by COVID-19. Special guests include Dolly Parton, Stephen Colbert, Meryl Streep, Dionne Warwick, Martin Short, Jon Bon Jovi and Charlie Day, who I'm assuming will not be showing up in his Green Man costume but you never know. Hosted by Broadway legend Audra McDonald and 60 Minutes correspondent John Dickerson.

Mount St. Helens 40th Eruption Anniversary Virtual Story Circle
Washington State Parks and the Washington State Historical Society present a collection of shared memories from The Mount St. Helens Visitors Center Oral History Project, comprising true stories of people who had a deep connection to the area both before and after its historic 1980 eruption. Visit their Facebook page at 6:30pm to hear firsthand just how world-shaking that eruption really was.

Reunited Apart: Back to the Future
Congratulations to Josh Gad, whose fledgling webseries, Reunited Apart, launched with a full cast reunion of '80s "classic"The Goonies and during its airing was presumptively canceled by its host because he figured he was never going to pull something like this off again. But never doubt the Gad, because not only is there now an episode two for you to devour, but it reunites (most of) the cast of Back to the Future, including Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Elisabeth Shue, Mary Steenburgen, Huey Lewis, writer Bob Gale, and writer/director Bob Zemeckis. Crispin Glover did not show up because Zemeckis did him pretty dirty on the sequels, and Tom F. Wilson also didn't show up... but a "mysterious fan caller"did have something to say about that later.

Sea Wall
While Phoebe Waller-Bridge was deservedly and rightfully showered with awards for Fleabag season two, it can be argued (and she's made this case herself) that if it wasn't for Andrew Scott as Hot Priest, the season would have never happened at all. But before he was Hot Priest (and before he was Moriarty in the BBC's Sherlock, before that show became flaming crap), he was the guy that playwright Simon Stephens wrote Sea Wall for in 2008. The 30-minute play was then recorded in 2012 after a theatrical run in 2012, and today is the last day you can stream for free on YouTube. And even if this play—and Scott's performance in it—weren't described by multiple critics as "a life-changing experience," the fact it's an opportunity to literally spend a half-hour in a locked room with Hot Priest should be enough to get you to click it.

Mondays with the Maestro
Artslandia presents this weekly hangout with Oregon Symphony Music Director Carlos Kalmar, who spends happy hour with you, every Monday at 5 pm, sharing stories and "exploring the connections between emotionality and music," using highlights from the Oregon Symphony's 2020/2021 season.

Pickathon's Concert a Day: Thao and the Get Down Stay Down
I first saw folk rockers Thao & the Get Down Stay Down at laidback hippie-fest Pickathon, and I was not prepared. There's verve and soul in Thao's music, but there's a twisting, vibrant energy, too—and that's why seeing her live is so goddamn fun. If you want to see, hear, and feel exactly what I saw, then tune into this episode of the ongoing Concert a Day series at 1 pm, where that Pickathon performance is being re-streamed to help raise money for MusiCares. And when you're done with that, maybe give their brand new LP a listen or three.

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The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Sat May 16

Sat, 16 May 2020 14:59:00 GMT

by Mercury Staff

Sea Wall
While Phoebe Waller-Bridge was deservedly and rightfully showered with awards for Fleabag season two, it can be argued (and she's made this case herself) that if it wasn't for Andrew Scott as Hot Priest, the season would have never happened at all. But before he was Hot Priest (and before he was Moriarty in the BBC's Sherlock, before that show became flaming crap), he was the guy that playwright Simon Stephens wrote Sea Wall for in 2008. The 30-minute play was then recorded in 2012 after a theatrical run in 2012, and is now being made available to stream, for free on YouTube, until May 18. And even if this play—and Scott's performance in it—weren't described by multiple critics as "a life-changing experience," the fact it's an opportunity to literally spend a half-hour in a locked room with Hot Priest should be enough to get you to click it.

The Mystery Box Show
The coronavirus has us all cooped up indoors, but good true-sex storytelling can set you free, and that's why The Mystery Box Show is taking their long-running, successful local storytelling show to YouTube tonight at 6:30 pm, with tales from Jason Rouse, Heather Marcus, James Cox, and Reba Sparrow. The stream isn't behind any paywalls either, but if you're feeling generous, there are donation and Patreon links to click while you watch.

Beyond Now: A Virtual Fundraiser for PICA
PICA is an absolute good for this community, and for anyone who values art in all its forms, and wants to make sure they're supporting creative acts and local arts. The "Beyond Now" fundraiser features over 30 artists sharing new performance, video, and visual works, as well as conversations with creators, dance parties, and more, and the three-day online gala that started on Thursday culminates in today's special livestream starting at 5pm, hosted by Carlos the Rollerblader, and featuring new performance works by artists including Allie Hankins and Ahamefule J. Oluo; video works by Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch and more; guest appearances by artistic luminaries such as Linda Austin, Miranda July, and Eiko Otake; and a silent auction featuring one-of-a-kind works. Pay the stream a visit, and if you can, literally pay the stream to help keep the arts alive in Portland.

Block by Blockwest
Who could have predicted that in 2020, a global pandemic would have closed down most of the economy and relegated most of the world's citizens into self-quarantine? And further, who would have predicted that festival concert season would not only not slow down, but would instead move online? And then, THEN: Who would have predicted the number one place to host these online mega-concerts would be the video game Minecraft? And yet, here we are. In 2020. Staying home, staying safe, and starting at noon, raising money for COVID relief by donating during performances from Pussy Riot, Sir Sly, Hunny, Cherry Glazerr, The Wrecks, The Polar Boys, and many, many more.

Tropitaal: A Desi-Latino Soundclash
For seven years now, DJ Anjali & The Kid have been commandeering the Tropitaal Desi-Latino Soundclash to the delight of knowing Portland audiences. The fact people can't go out to the club won't stop that seventh birthday party from going off in grand style, as they've been livestreaming DJ sets since the early days of the lockdown, and they're bringing all their formidable dance powers to this party on Twitch.tv, tonight at 8 pm.

Muppet Guys Talking: A Special Conversation to Honor Jim Henson
The stars of 2017's documentary/conversation/storytelling session Muppet Guys Talking (and by "stars," I mean Muppet legends like Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Fran Brill, and Bill Baretta) are reuniting today at 1pm for a livestream to pay tribute to Jim Henson and raise funds in his name to help frontline workers fighting the spread of COVID-19. Attendance is free, but everyone who pre-registers to attend the event will be asked to make a donation to a selected coronavirus-related cause. Also, if you haven't yet watched Muppet Guys Talking, why not rectify that oversight while you're waiting for the charity stream to start. These are the folks who brought Gonzo, Piggy, Snuffleupagus, Pepe the Prawn, Fozzie, Bobo, Boober Fraggle, and so many more to life. Don't you wanna be in that room when they start reminiscing?

Little Shop of Horrors: Director's Cut
Hey, speaking of Frank Oz; most people who were both Fozzie Bear and Yoda probably would have rested on those laurels, safe in knowing they'd altered the face of pop culture for all time. But Frank Oz got bit by the directing bug on The Dark Crystal, and thus began the second phase of his career, one marked by a string of successful big-screen comedies shot through with his satirical sense of humor. Near the top of his filmography is his first real step away from Muppetland, a musical remake of a Roger Corman schlockfest from the '60s called Little Shop of Horrors, starring Levi Stubbs as a carnivorous alien plant from outer space who completely upends the life of Rick Moranis. The Director's Cut (now streaming, HBO Now) restores the film's original, apocalyptic monster-movie-appropriate ending, one that gives the film the sort of mean-spirited bite felt in Oz's other successes (Bowfinger, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). Co-starring Ellen Greene, half the cast of Martin, struggling banjo player Steve Martin, and Bill Murray in what might be his best performance ever.

Roberta Flack: First Take 50th Anniversary Listening Party
One of soul's all-time finest vocalists and songwriters takes over the Rhino Records YouTube channel at noon for a listening party celebrating the 50th anniversary of her landmark LP First Take, which is one of those albums that even if you swear you've never heard it, you've heard it—either via basic cultural osmosis, or due to the fact damn near every song on both sides became a radio mainstay over the last five decades. Don't believe it? Refresh your memory by listening to the album below, and then hanging out with Roberta at noon today. Proceeds benefit Feed the Children.

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The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Mon May 11

Mon, 11 May 2020 16:00:00 GMT

by Mercury Staff

Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Movie Madness University ONLINE
One of the most feel-good film stories of the last 10 years didn't happen on a movie screen, but behind one—when the Hollywood Theatre successfully took over Movie Madness, the local video rental store that's more like a movie museum, a hallowed hall of learning for anyone seeking to up their cinephile status. Just before COVID shut everything down, Movie Madness had launched "Movie Madness University," a series of at-home screenings, lectures and discussions, all hosted by film experts. But with some behind-the-scenes adjustments made, the program is not only back, but more accessible and affordable! The courses begin later in May, but the program was announced today, and slots will likely fill up fast, so secure your seat and help support a pair of Portland institutions.

Antony & Cleopatra
National Theatre Home continues its stellar stay-at-home programming with another pair of powerhouse performances after last week's showing of Danny Boyle's Frankenstein (starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller). This week, the one-two punch of onstage brilliance comes in the form of Sophie Okonedo and Ralph Fiennes bringing Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra to life under the direction of Simon Godwin. If you're feeling like diving into the deep end a little, don't sweat that: National Theatre's YouTube doesn't just provide the play in full (with an intermission! Fancy!) but provides a lot of background material to poke through to help you feel up-to-speed before you hit play.

Trial By Media
Netflix takes a break from offering up that smooth-brained binge material to premiere this six-part true-crime docuseries (!) today, from producer George Clooney. Trial by Media investigates the way the court of law became one of America's most reliably entertaining reality shows. If that sounds somewhat dark, that's because it is, and the miniseries takes care to spotlight six different high-profile trials (including a wrongful death suit against The Jenny Jones Show and Rod Blagojevich's crimes against democracy—which he just got pardoned for by our idiot president, btw), and the way the coverage of those trials shifted perceptions and expectations of notions as basic as "justice" and "criminality." And, of course, "entertainment."

Tiny Desk Concert: The Free Nationals feat. Anderson .Paak
Whoa, whoa whoa whoa. Wait a minute: NPR was just sitting on a whole-ass sequel to their most-watched, most-loved installment of their Tiny Desk Concert series? And they were sitting on it for almost two months? Those well-read, well-educated, heavily-cultured little bastards! Anderson .Paak returned to the Tiny Desk studios with the Free Nationals in early March, just before COVID-19 started shutting everything down, and put on another show that will very likely hang around every YouTube recommendation for the next five years like the first one did. Go ahead and get the first of what's probably gonna be a couple hundred loops of this thing out of the way today.

Erykah Badu vs. Jill Scott
Hey, speaking of getting a late pass: Did you only just recently find out that there was a "battle" between these two queens of neo-soul? The Verzuz series on Instagram Live has been an island of delight in the constantly churning waters of the coronavirus crisis, and this last Saturday night saw Jill Scott and Erykah Badu trade both hits and stories back and forth for a couple hours. If you want a recap of those highlights, The Root has you covered right here, but if you want to provide your day a soundtrack sure to keep you lifted, just click play on their combined playlists below.

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The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Mon, May 4

Mon, 04 May 2020 14:57:00 GMT

by Mercury Staff

Star Wars Day on Disney+
The history of Star Wars Day is interesting in that there's not really any history at all; It's a dumb pun that some fans turned into a self-perpetuating marketing celebration back in the "dark times" where liking Star Wars was unpopular (Ed. note: Those times never really existed, Star Wars has always been a billions-generating global media franchise). When Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, people figured the company would finally graduate this fan celebration to the corporate big time, but it never really happened... until now. Disney+ has overhauled its entire look for the day, and is not only making The Rise of Skywalker available to stream, it's premiering a new behind-the-scenes documentary on their breakout hit ~~The Baby Yoda Show~~The Mandalorian, and streaming the series finale of The Clone Wars. That last bit is the crown jewel here: Even if the final part of this four-episode arc ending the seven-season animated epic doesn't quite stick the landing, the first three parts are so good that if it were edited into an actual movie (please do this, Lucasfilm) they would immediately become not just the best prequel film in the saga, but probably a top-tier Star Wars entry overall. Ahsoka Lives!

Blank Check
Looking for a good movie podcast chaser after pounding down all that Star Wars? Blank Check (starring The Atlantic's David Sims and The Tick's Griffin Newman) is one of the best deep dive talk shows available. It started as a Star Wars show from an alternate universe where The Phantom Menace was the only Star Wars movie that was ever made, and became what it is today: An intelligent, passionate investigation of your favorite directors' careers, going title-by-title through the filmographies of folks like Jonathan Demme, George Miller, James Cameron, Ang Lee, and more, with a rotating panel of special guests including Paul Scheer, Paul F. Tompkins, John Hodgman, Demi Adejuyigbe, and Chris Weitz. Oh, and if that Disney+ rewatch of Rise of Skywalkerstill leaves you wanting... maybe check out their post-mortem discussion on the film as a release valve.

Star Wars: The Original Radio Drama
Or maybe, after seeing Rise of Skywalker, no podcast-aided commisseration will help, and you're all like "hey, whatever, the inevitable reboot will be better."GUESS WHAT: That reboot already exists, has existed since 1981, and is available for free on Google Podcasts! George Lucas sold the audio rights to his alma mater USC for $1, and they—working with NPR—transformed Star Wars into 13 half-hour episodes of ridiculously-immersive radio drama. And wouldn't you know it, this reboot is better than the movie. Sure, you gotta get used to the mostly-recast roles, and if you're a "b-but canon!" kinda nerd you might get hung up on some details. But if you want to like Star Wars more, this radio drama oughta do it.

Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction
Remember in the very early first days of this quarantine, when social media still thought they could meme their way through this mess? One of the most popular posts was this supercut of Star Trek's Jonathan Frakes asking a barrage of questions. That video was the first time a lot of people realized Jonathan Frakes wasn't actually William Riker, but an actor who was on other TV shows in the '90s. That show? Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. And whaddya know: It's actually pretty fun, especially if you're looking for the sort of casual background binge that's helping many get through their lockdowns. Beyond Belief is an anthology series that's equal parts Choose Your Own Adventure, Ripley's Believe it or Not and Amazing Stories, packed full of performances from your favorite "that guys"—all of whom are relishing the opportunity to be the star for once in their character acting careers. All four seasons of the show (narrated by trailer voice supreme Don LaFontaine) are available on imdb.tv for free, but if you're only here for the Frakes, skip season 1, hosted much more blandly by James Brolin.

Star Trek: First Contact Live Commentary w/ Jonathan Frakes
And just in case you can't get enough Frakes (there is no such observable state in the universe, btw) and you feel like there's a bit of a Star Wars imbalance on this day, why not grab a DVD, or a Blu-Ray, or rent a VOD stream of Star Trek: First Contact (Frakes directed it!) and then load up this live commentary of the film recorded last week on the CineFix YouTube channel, where Frakes shares behind-the-scenes stories of making the best Next Gen movie, and every now and again lapses into awestruck wonder at the Frakesian majesties he captured on film. Not even Frakes can withstand Riker's beardy charms.

Macbeth
Okay, enough about Number One—what's Captain Picard up to on Star Wars day, you say? Oh, you know, doing his whole Tony-nominated serious actor thing in this 2009 performance of director Rupert Goold's Macbeth, available to stream for free as part of PBS's Great Performances series. This Macbeth, filmed for television (and winning a 2011 Peabody award for it) is transplanted to the 20th century, and Stewart's portrayal is one of the single best in the character's very long history, matched perfectly to Kate Fleetwood's turn as the cold-as-ice Lady Macbeth.

The Mandalorian: The Complete Soundtrack
Let's just go ahead and close out May the 4th on a literal high note: The magnitude of Ludwig Goransson’s last four years as a musician can not be minimized. He helped Ryan Coogler restore the Rocky series to glory by re-contextualizing Bill Conti’s Oscar-winning score for the '76 original and turning it into Creed’s propulsive—but still plaintive—sound. His next at-bat produced the best Funkadelic record in 30 years with Childish Gambino’s Awaken, My Love, and then he provided Wakanda its beating heart in Coogler’s Black Panther, winning a Best Score Oscar for his efforts. Which begs the question: Just how in the fuck do you follow all that up? Well: you take a job with Lucasfilm, scoring their first live-action Star Wars show. No pressure. And then you make it even more interesting by voluntarily avoiding the use of any of John Williams. And then you go back to the '70s in your mind, and seek out the artists that legends like Williams and Ennio Morricone were listening to back then, and you create an entirely new musical vocabulary for the genre of “space western" to serve up complete, undeniable, album-length bangers, once a week, for every week that the show runs—a scoring feat that, so far as I know, has never been done before. Ludwig Goransson is a miracle, and The Mandalorian’s soundtrack is some of the best Star Wars music ever written, period.

The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Fri May 1

Fri, 01 May 2020 15:05:00 GMT

by Mercury Staff

TheAlienTrilogy
There have been more than a few film recommendations made over the past two months, recommendations made with the intent of reflecting our current situation through a camera's lens, and a visionary's eyes. And really, is there any more appropriate trilogy to our current moment than the three-film story of Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley? The Alien trilogy (now streaming, HBO Now/HBO Go, and yes, it's only a trilogy, there was never a part 4 or prequels, you must be thinking of Star Wars, sorry) is ultimately the story of a no-nonsense, brilliant, hyper-capable woman whose correct instincts to keep quarantine and prevent infection are ignored and overruled by corporate toadies and distracted, ineffectual "leaders"—thus leading to a completely preventable biological catastrophe she has to clean up herself through increasingly powerful acts of heroism and self-sacrifice, often with no real help from the powers-that-be (who are supposed to be in charge but are really only concerned with protecting the status quo and covering their own ass while profiting off widespread misery). ALL WE HAD TO DO WAS LISTEN TO RIPLEY.

The Back to the Future Trilogy
...okay, maybe there's another beloved trilogy new to streaming this month (Now available on Netflix!) that speaks directly to our current moment in a fairly eye-opening and retroactively disturbing way. You see, Once upon the 1980s, a young Republican in a life-vest, with the help of a way-too-old-to-be-hanging-out-with-teenagers science friend, traveled back in time where he had to prevent his mother’s sexual advances and instead steer her toward Crispin Glover’s dick. He succeeded in this fraught scenario, but accidentally transformed the future into Planet Las Vegas, which sounds cool, but was actually kinda shitty, because the president of Planet Las Vegas was Donald Trump—but in what dystopian hellscape of nuclear distraction would a populace ever elect that asshole, right? So our heroic young Republican then went all the way back to the Wild West, where Mary Steenburgen lives, and managed to set the timeline back on track and everyone learned that it’s never really a good idea to steal plutonium from angry Libyans. Co-starring Huey Lewis and Flea.

Rabbit Hole
There are no lack of podcasts about The Internet being made right now—shows that cover the culture, politics, dark underbelly, and idiosyncrasies of being online are outnumbered only by mediocre true crime pods. Yet Rabbit Hole, the new weekly audio series from the New York Times (updates Thursdays) that explores the internet’s potential to radicalize its users, manages to stick out by pairing deep original reporting with a high degree of specificity. In the first two episodes alone, you will track the viewing history of a guy whose streaming habits went from Frozen parodies to right-wing YouTubers to outright white supremacists, and learn about the YouTube algorithm that favors the fringe. Episodes are kept at a succinct 30 minutes, leaving you wanting more each time. In a media landscape that’s oversaturated with hot takes about Twitter feuds and lacking in valuable reporting about the place where most Americans spend hours of their day, having a pod like Rabbit Hole is a good thing. BLAIR STENVICK

Take a Free OSU Class on Growing Vegetables
Oregon State University is looking to make education more delicious, and you can learn for yourself whether the food you grow and cook yourself really does taste better than any other food you'll eat by taking this free series of courses from the school's Master Gardener program, made up of 12 on-demand classes covering where to grow your food, how to grow your food, how to protect your food from pesky insects, and how to enact that protection without ruining your food or the soil its grown in.

Hollywood
There's more than a few alternate-history shows that have captured the pop-culture zeitgeist recently. Hulu had 11.22.63 (What if you could stop the Kennedy assasination?), Amazon had Man in the High Castle (what if the Axis won World War II?), and HBO had The Plot Against America (What if Charles Lindbergh ran for president in 1940, won, and America became openly fascist?). You'll note all these alternate histories are pretty serious and dark, almost like there's a rule that alternate histories have to be dystopias. Well, here comes Netflix, and Ryan Murphy, and Hollywood, an alternate history whose primary question is "What if the golden age of Hollywood wasn't so sexist, racist, 'phobic, and gross?" and whose primary answer seems to be "It'd be pretty fun and fabulous—look at all these amazingly pretty people swan around for a couple hours." Is there an important lesson to be learned here? Probably not. Is there an "important lesson" to be learned from drinking champagne 'til you're dizzy and making out with hot people all night? Who gives a shit! Hollywood!

WWOZ: Jazz-Festing in Place
Not to be outdone by Pickathon's throwing open the doors to their prized vault of amazing live performances, New Orleans' listener-supported radio station 90.7 WWOZ has dug into their own archive of amazing music and come up with "Jazz-Festing in Place," putting together a program spanning eight days made up of nothing but absolute classic performances from over 30 years of New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival concerts, starring legends like Aaron Neville, Roy Ayers, the Ohio Players, Charlie Musselwhite, Terence Blanchard, Bonnie Raitt, Toots & the Maytals, Ella Fitzgerald & Stevie Wonder from 1977, Hugh Masekela, Dr. John, Trombone Shorty, and many, many more. The streams start at 9am PST, stop at 5pm PST, and play every Thurs-Sun for the next two weeks.

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill
Speaking of bayou brilliance getting unearthed this weekend: Every streaming service has its fair share of shining diamonds that are buried underneath more popular, more easily algorithm'd titles, and that goes double (or quadruple, really) when the title isn't a competitive reality show, or a buzzed-about drama, but a filmed stage play from 2014. But when that play is the Tony Award-winning Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, filmed at the Cafe Brasil in New Orleans and streaming on HBO Now? When it's starring Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday, singing and telling stories at a dive bar? You should take the time to use that app's search bar for the betterment of your weekend.

The Hollywood Theatre presents: Rififi
The centerpiece of Jules Dassin’s 1955 pitch-black noir is perhaps the greatest heist ever filmed. Without a single line of dialogue or note of music, the immaculately detailed sequence takes up nearly a half-hour of screentime. The fallout after the robbery is nearly as suspenseful; even with a musical number and a cute little kid, Rififi remains a bleak, black, unforgettable crime film. The Hollywood Theatre is partnering with Film Movement to make this available: Buy a $6.99 ticket that makes the movie available for 72 hours, and a portion of those proceeds helps support the Hollywood. NED LANNAMANN

Drake
Drake just dropped a brand new mixtape late last night. It's called Dark Lane Demo Tapes. He appears to be clad in traditional ninja garb on the cover. Either you're clicking on that or you're not. And if you're not? You probably should. Here:

The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Thurs April 30

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:20:34 GMT

by Mercury Staff

Parks and Recreation Reunion Show
Rem through sitcom bliss, because tonight at 8:30pm on NBC, the gang at Pawnee is getting back together for a scripted special reunion show, starring Amy Poehler, Adam Scott, Aubrey Plaza, Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Retta, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt, and Rember a little bit ago, when we suggested one of the very best feel-good binges you could go on while sheltered-in-place was this show? Hope that binge was more like a lightspeed jauntob Lowe (as well as unnamed special guest stars... and Jerry, too, I guess, probably) in a story written by series co-creator Michael Schur about Leslie Knope trying to keep in touch with all her favorite people during this coronavirus crisis. Donations made during the show benefit Feeding America.

National Treasure
Is this completely ridiculous movie the platonic ideal of all things Cage? A Cage that is uncorked-yet-still-safe for the whole family? Before, if you wanted some measure of ripshit Nicolas to enjoy, you'd have to wade into deep (and deeply weird) waters, such as the kind found in Port of Call New Orleans or Vampire's Kiss, and those are not titles you can just put on while your kids are in the room. Maybe you could get away with Peggy Sue Got Married, or Moonstruck, or Raising Arizona, but this Disney adventure—this goofy-as-hell, lighter-than-air riff on Dan Brown's terrible Da Vinci Code that's better in every way—finally hits Disney+ tonight, and it seems inevitable that this premiere guarantees new generations of Cage Ragers will extend his outsize legacy even further into the future. The children (and Cage) will save us all. Believe.

National Theatre Live's Frankenstein
The latest title in National Theatre Live's #NationalTheatreAtHome series is director Danny Boyle's stage adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. The trick of Boyle's stage show is that both Cumberbatch and Miller could—and would—swap roles on any given night, in keeping with Boyle's desire to tackle the story in a way that amplifies the idea that the doctor and the monster create each other in their own ways. Whatever version airs tonight on the National Theatre YouTube, the other version plays tomorrow. You'll want to watch both, no matter what.

A Secret Love
You see the names Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum in the credit block of something, you're probably in for something highly acidic at the very least. Seeing their names together on a project might seem like a guaranteed night of delicious nastiness. And yet, A Secret Love, produced by both men and directed by Chris Bolan, isn't an experiment in sci-fi, horror, or alternate history, but a documentary focused on the true story of Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, two women who met while playing baseball in the same all-women's league that inspired A League of Their Own, fell in love, and created "seven decades worth of stories" together, in secret, before coming out to their friends and family in 2009. Someone once said there's no crying in baseball, but tonight? That's a damn lie.

Cunningham
Dancer, choreographer, and founder of a world renowned dance company, Merce Cunningham is considered profoundly influential, and not just in the world of modern dance. Through his collaborations, Cunningham left his mark on avant-garde art, across mediums. Born over 100 years ago in Centralia, WA, Cunningham spent spent seven decades in the world of dance, founding the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and this documentary tells the story of his remarkable life by juxtaposing archival footage, interviews, and footage—both old and new—of his dancing. SUZETTE SMITH

Aldous Harding
Aldous Harding’s voice is a weird world, some sideways place where everything is always melting and morphing. It’s a slippery and enchanting marvel that glances the hermetic realms of Scott Walker and Marianne Faithful and Anohni, but it remains its own odd thing. It is a prism refracting midnight vibes—childlike wonder and stricken desire, brand new glee and ancient menace. Harding funnels it into recognizable pop forms, but it is too much, and so it spills past the lip of the common to claim the space beyond what is known. To hear it is to believe in something you will never touch. CHRIS STAMM

The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Thurs April 23

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 17:30:00 GMT

by Mercury Staff

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
There are a lot of things available on the virtually un-scalable mountain range of content comprising Hulu/Netflix/Prime/YouTube/etc., but you should definitely make sure you carve time out of your day to witness the rise of the prolific Nobel-winning author Toni Morrison, who holds forth on her life busting up the white male literary hegemony in Timothy Greenfield-Sanders's documentary, with appearances by Hilton Als, Oprah Winfrey, Russell Banks, and Angela Davis, among others.
(Now Streaming, Hulu, $5.99 per month, free trial here)

King Lear
A classic Shakespeare play, almost disturbingly appropriate for our current time, performed as brilliantly as possible by a cast that's—to borrow an overused-but-thoroughly-correct-in-this-case term—GODLIKE, in front of a very receptive audience. To clarify: A very receptive New York audience, in Central Park, in 1974. That cast, by the way? Oh, you know... James Earl Jones as Lear, with Paul Sorvino as Gloucester, Raul Julia as Edmund, Lee Chamberlin as Cordelia... and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Rene Auberjonois and Law & Order's George Dzundza popping up as well. If this doesn't open your eyes to how amazing properly-performed Shakespeare can be, nothing will.
(Now Streaming, allarts.org, free, all ages)

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
Last week, Comcast/Universal propped open the door to their new streaming platform, Peacock, which isn't fully available to the public just yet, but if you're an Xfinity Flex or X1 subscriber, you've got access to it. If you have yet to choose a title to begin this illustrious Peacock experience with, might I suggest the highest grossing film of the 1980s, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial? Not because this saccharine-sweet Spielberg classic is one of the best movies at the platform's launch, but because its cinematographer, Allen Daviau, recently died due to complications from COVID-19. He was one of Spielberg's earliest collaborators, and went on to shoot Temple of Doom, Empire of the Sun, and The Color Purple for him. He also shot Fearless for Peter Weir, Defending Your Life for Albert Brooks... hell, this man shot Harry and the Hendersons! So why E.T. rather than those other films? Because Daviau's work on E.T. is some of the most iconic photography in modern history. Even if you've seen it a million times, watch it again, but this time and pay special attention to Daviau's craftsmanship, because it was something remarkable to behold.
(Now Streaming, Peacock on Xfinity, free w/ subscription)

Risky Business
Another '80s classic is new to streaming this month, and while it's primarily remembered for featuring a young Tom Cruise in his jockeys doing a lip-sync routine to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock 'n' Roll,"Risky Business is a surprisingly subversive entry into the teen movie canon of that decade. What looks like a bawdier, harder-edged spin around the teen movie block with one of the '80s myriad toothy privileged Reagan-era achievers is actually a low-key satire of that privilege, one that never really lets Cruise's character off the hook for every thoughtless assumption he makes and responsibility-ducking action he takes. It's also way more artfully made than most entries in the genre, features a star-making performance by Rebecca De Mornay, and was effectively the world's big introduction to the glories of Joey Pants as Guido, the Killer Pimp.
(Now Streaming, Hulu, $5.99 per month, free trial here)

Through the Looking Glass: Wonderland in Quarantine
The "progenitors of the spectacle of ecdysiastic pageantry," Verlaine & McCann, are taking their 12-years-running burlesque adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic online for 2020, complete with Lily Verlaine's choreography, Stephanie Seymour's costuming, and a live jazz score from the Aces & 8's. Each show includes some backstage time at the top of the show, an intermission, and a cocktail party Q&A. If you've been all mimsy and missing the sort of bold and brassy entertainment a good burlesque show can provide, this oughta cure what ails ya.
(Thurs April 23, 5 pm, crowdcast.io, $25)

Polyrhythmics
Seattle octet Polyrhythmics do this big-band Afrobeat/funk thing with proper zest and adventurousness. The group's 32 limbs work in intricate harmony to generate a sophisticated slinkiness and expressive brassiness; theirs is a bold, complex chiaroscuro of wind, keyboard, guitar, bass, and percussion instruments. Polyrhythmics set out to move you, of course, but not without also ensuring that your mind expands out of its usual dimensions. Polyrhythmics are one of Seattles most impressive sonic pleasures, able to deliver Fela Kuti-esque gratification as well as sublimely greasy, Meters-like funk. DAVE SEGAL
Libra Stripes by Polyrhythmics

The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Mon April 13

Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:00:00 GMT

by Mercury Staff

Disney on Broadway
Ryan McCartan hosts this charity-supporting livestream, celebrating Disney's quarter-century of taking their animated classics and translating them to the stage, often in seemingly-impossible ways. (Seriously, getting Julie Taymor to turn The Lion King into what it became on Broadway? *Chef's kiss*) The main performance was recorded on November 4, 2019 with an orchestra and 79 performers, and McCartan will be interviewing the stars of the show live from their own homes throughout, with performers including Tamika Lawrence, Jelani Alladin, Whoopi Goldberg, Adam Pascal, and more. Proceeds benefit the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund.
(Mon, April 13, 4 pm, YouTube, free, all ages)

Go to Pickathon!
Pickathon's response to COVID trying to mess up everyone's outdoor music festival fun? A 60-day long streaming series, spanning multiple online platforms, and featuring full sets by artists including People Under the Stairs, Damien Jurado, DakhaBrakha, and many, many more. Many of these performances haven't been put online before, and all viewer donations will go to the MusiCares iniative. Click here to see each week's schedule.
(Wed April 8-Sun June 7, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, free, all ages)

Go to the Office. Any Office. Even a Spaceship Rainforest Office.
It's funny how when you're in the office, working from home seems like heaven, but when working from home is the only option, having an office to head into becomes like an oasis in a desert. When the novelty of wearing flannel jammies at your desk wears off (and it wears off fast) you might find that you almost need the sounds of a work environment to keep you focused. Obviously you can't actually go to the office, but MyNoise.net does you one better: pipe the sounds of any workplace setting you want into your headphones or speakers. The adjustment options are plentiful, the customization is thorough, and the sounds themselves are very well designed. Want your office to be the Enterprise? Can do. How about a treehouse carefully built in a rainforest? That too. Miss working from the coffeeshop down the block? Done. Wanna put that coffee shop in the lower decks of a starship while the camping holo-sim is running? You do you, just make sure you get that TPS report finished by 5pm.
(Now available, MyNoise.net, free)

Katamari Damacy
There might not be a better video game that speaks to the stir-crazy fantasies quarantine can induce than the bizarre Bandai/Namco classic Katamari Damacy, in which a put-upon prince with a weird head gets sent to earth by his terminally-grandiose dad (who happens to be King of All Cosmos) to roll a ball around and pick up whatever he can with it, so that new stars can be made to replace the ones his rainbow-vomiting dad accidentally destroyed. And... yeah. That's basically it! You roll a ball around, you pick up everything, and it is so goddamn satisfying. And that's not even getting into the treasure trove of pop grooves on its soundtrack. Sure, you could actually be picking up your room or your house if you really want to pick stuff up all day, but you can't then throw all that stuff into the sky and turn it into a star, now can you?
(Now Available, Nintendo Switch, Steam, $29.99)

A Band Called Death
In the mid-'70s, a trio of African American brothers from Detroit inadvertently invented punk rock. Led by guitarist David Hackney and supported by his brothers Dannis and Bobby, they called themselves Death. A self-released 7-inch aside, Death's tracks remained virtually unheard until record collectors got a hold of them decades later. In 2009, an album of their work was given a proper release by Drag City, cementing their reputation as cult icons and one of rock history's greatest and best anomalies. The film does Death's music a solid, but there's a lot more to admire here. A story of brothers bound by blood as well as music, A Band Called Death gives us a look at a troubled but ultimately united family. While they eventually got the admiration they deserved, Death's music and story still deserve greater recognition. A Band Called Death gives us both in the best possible way.
(Now Available, Tubi, Vudu, Pluto TV, free w/ ads)NED LANNAMANN

The Tiger King and I
Been noticing that there's a recent groundswell of negative attention focused on the quarantine-fueled success of Netflix's Tiger King? Hoping that you can get in on squeezing every last sour drop of schadenfreude before a backlash of (checks notes) "decency and basic human compassion" swallows this shitshow whole? GREAT NEWS: Netflix is providing one last bite of the poisoned apple via a Tiger King after-show hosted by Joel McHale, a veteran of looking at human trainwrecks and pouring gasoline on their dwindling fires as the host of E! Network's The Soup. He was also on a show about junior college too, apparently. ANYWAY: Special guests will include one of Joe Exotic's ex-husbands, a reality show producer and his wife, and Saff. Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!
(Now Available, Netflix)

Sea Caves
If you’re on the hunt for overlooked albums of the past year, Sea Caves’ excellent November release, Across the Water, is the perfect place to begin your search. The album finds the long-running Portland band expanded to a quintet, with newly added member Sydney Rohrs adding a voice that effortlessly ebbs and flows over the band’s twinkling indie pop sound. It’s impossible not to become mesmerized by stand-out tracks like “Hieroglyphs” and “Dart,” where Rohrs’ fluttering and heartfelt presence calls to mind Sheena Ozzella (of the veteran Buffalo-based indie rockers Lemuria). CHIPP TERWILLIGER
Across the Water by Sea Caves

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The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Sat April 11

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 17:30:00 GMT

by Mercury Staff {{ image:1, width:500 }}

Turn Your Home Into a Tiny Desk Concert
The very first installment of our sheltered-in-place Things To Do roundup made sure to shout out NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series as a must-subscribe on YouTube, and that's still true. But in the meantime, the Tiny Desk Concert has become the most reliably great place to see live performances from a music-star's living room, much like it was already the most reliably great place to catch live music online (seriously, I have yet to stop the Anderson .paak Tiny Desk when it comes up, and it always comes up, one of the only times YouTube's algorithm hasn't proved itself to be a noxious tire-fire of pure hate). The lineup already includes Yacht Rock commodore Michael McDonald, Tarriona Ball of Tank & the Bangas, and Ben Gibbard, but check out this stripped-down set from King Princess, who former Music Editor Ciara Dolan said "artfully subverted the status quo of mainstream pop."

Make Your Own Beats!
Give someone a beat, they'll vibe for a few minutes. Teach someone how to make beats, they'll vibe forever. Another thing we made sure to call out in the early days of coronavirus shutdown was the Chilled Cow channel, forever churning up laid-back, dusty hip-hop beats perfect for relaxing and letting go of some stress. It's so big, Will Smith even cooked up his own "chill" channel (Why he didn't name it "Chill Smith" nobody knows. We'll get to him in a sec). Serato is a company that your favorite DJ probably owes a ton of debt to, since they're one of the biggest providers of software for break-blenders, beat-makers, and record-spinners—and thanks to their most recent (and free!) release, Serato Studio, now you can make your own dusty, crunchy, vibed-out beats. You don't need a keyboard or a DJ deck (if you have one, that helps tho) and you don't even need a big bank of samples to pull from, they got you covered there, too. Check out this tutorial and see if a download and a couple hours worth of mouse-clicking work doesn't result in a blissed-out head-nodder (or three) you can call your own.
(Now available, Serato.com, free)

Will From Home
Okay, now let's talk about Mr. Smith. Before Bad Boys for Life blew up big earlier this year (it might end up being the biggest film of the year, depending on how theaters rebound from COVID-19), Will saw a lot of success carving out a second career as a livestreaming dynamo. You know, jumping out of helicopters, learning how to do stand-up, shit like that. Give Will a camera, Will can entertain for hours. And quarantine is nothing but another opportunity for Will to prove that, with a 12-episode season of Snapchat programming called Will From Home, broadcasting straight outta his garage, starring special guests, his family, and regular folks also doing the right thing by staying safe and staying at home.
(Now Streaming, Snapchat, free)

John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch
People like to talk about Saturday Morning Cartoons as if it's some big tragedy they aren't really around anymore. But early-morning entertainment for kids and families back then was pretty much pure junk, just like the sugared cereal that fueled many a kid through the three-to-four hour blocks of commercials for commercials of commercials (God bless the '80s). Kids today have it so much better now. For one, kids entertainment is now basically everyone's entertainment (see: Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, Pixar) and even when it's being specifically aimed at kids, it's miles better than what we had. Take John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch. Ironically, Mulaney disagrees with this assessment, he states right up front his intention is to make a kids TV special like the kind when he was growing up. Unfortunately, he failed in the funniest, most adorable way possible.
(Now Streaming, Netflix, $8.99 per month, free trial here)

Sugar Calling
Cheryl Strayed is the award-winning, best-selling author of Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things, and Brave Enough, and she's also Dear Sugar, one of the country's most listened-to advice columnists. COVID-19 has led to podcasts becoming somehow even more intimate-feeling than its best shows already were, and Strayed's latest venture for The New York Times is a great example of this phenomenon. Sugar Calling is an opportunity to listen in as Strayed calls some of her most-admired friends at home while they're sheltered-in-place, and talks to them for an hour or so. So far, her friends include authors George Saunders (Tenth of December) and Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale). Wisdom abounds. Listen in.
(Now Streaming, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, free)

GRIS
One of the benefits of the platformer being most people's formative gaming experience is that familiarity allows for solid and unique storytelling possibilities; When your audience is fluent in the non-verbal language of run 'n' jump taught by years (decades!) of Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, and more, that can be used to poke at much deeper ideas than just "I saved a princess!" 2009's indie breakout hit Braid was one of the first to do just this, but GRIS, Devolver Digital's game from 2018, garnered much well-deserved acclaim for using beautiful art design and simple-yet-intricate gameplay to investigate how people navigate their way out of trauma and grief. It never flat out states its themes verbally or literally like that, but as the inkwashed, watercolored landscapes flow by, the metaphor makes itself clear, and the reason we're recommending you give it some playtime now should be just as clear.
(Now available, Steam and Nintendo Switch, 16.99; Android and iOS $4.99)

Grow Your Own!
To clarify: we're speaking here about herbs and vegetables, not herb. So if you're looking for that, we kindly direct you to the pros, who have already grown, harvested, and are selling you the kindest deals they have in our takeout/delivery dispensary roundup. But if your restlessness has you wanting to develop a green thumb, why not give into that impulse? The Pacific Northwest is a verdant agricultural wonderland for a reason, and there more than a few tutorials on YouTube with pleasant folks patiently stepping you through growing delicious food in your own backyard (or on your balcony/back porch if you're apartment-bound). It's not as if becoming a little more self-sufficient in the middle of a shutdown is a bad idea or anything...
Now streaming, YouTube, free)

Popeye
This might seem like a weird one, considering it's best known as being a box-office bomb starring a mumbling Robin Williams before he became Robin Williams, but stay with us for a second: This weekend, the Clinton Street Theater was all set to host StageWorks Ink's live stage adaptation of Robert Altman's 1980 movie before the shutdown. The performances are postponed to yet-to-be-determined date, so this is good time for getting up to speed with one of the most...unique comic-book movies ever made, in an era long before anyone knew what "comic-book movie" was even supposed to mean. The fact it's a Robert Altman comic book movie, starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall (still maybe the best comic-book movie casting in film history), makes it must-see alone, but throw in the fact Altman literally had a town built in Malta to film it (it's still there!) and got Harry Nilsson to write the songs? Oh, that's right: This is also a damn musical too. Some movies are described as being "ahead of their time," some movies are called "timeless," and then...there's Popeye. (Now Streaming, Netflix, $8.99 per month, free trial here; Crackle, free w/ ads)

Take a Break and Read a Fucking Poem
Rich Smith of our big-sister publication The Stranger has been writing an ongoing column called "Take a Break and Read a Fucking Poem," and it consists of Rich... doing exactly that. He selects a poem, and we all read it together. Or in the case of Franny Choi's "Pussy Monster," we hear her read it. From Smith's notes: "One of the many great vagina poems, which you can find in her 2014 collection, Floating, Brilliant, Gone, available at local bookstores. The poem, which was first published in PANK, is a remix of a Lil' Wayne song called "Pussy Monster." She's taken his lyrics and rearranged them in order of their frequency, saving the word with the highest number of uses for the end.

The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Fri April 10

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 18:15:00 GMT

by Mercury Staff

Go to Pickathon!
Pickathon's response to COVID trying to mess up everyone's outdoor music festival fun? A 60-day long streaming series, spanning multiple online platforms, and featuring full sets by artists including Jeff Tweedy, Mac DeMarco, People Under the Stairs, Damien Jurado, Charles Bradley, Tank and the Bangas, and many, many more. Many of these performances haven't been put online before, and all viewer donations will go to the MusiCares iniative. Click here to see each week's schedule.
(Wed April 8-Sun June 7, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, free, all ages)

Go to Coachella!
Today is the 20th anniversary of what's become the biggest music festival in the world—if not in size, then definitely in terms of cultural impact. Coachella might still happen in late 2020, depending on whether or not the idiot asshole in the White House does his best to screw up the productive, constructive plans of our state governors to fight the spread of COVID-19. But while we're all sheltered-in-place for this weekend, why not load up this YouTube Original Documentary that will take millions of people behind the scenes of a festival we might otherwise never get to attend?
(Now Available, YouTube, free)

Fleabag Live
Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag is some of the best television made in the last 10 years period. A lot of people have heard it was adapted from a one-woman-show she did in London, but recorded performances of that show haven't been too easy to see... until this weekend, when Waller-Bridge partners with Amazon Prime (the platform that streams her show) to make her 2019 Wyndham Theatre performance available for $5, with all the proceeds going to The National Emergencies Trust, NHS Charities Together, Acting for Others, and the Fleabag Support Fund. Oh, and the show? It's somethin'. If you saw season one, you'll recognize some of it, but even if you know where it's all going, Waller-Bridge's storytelling is going to surprise and shock you a little. But a little surprise and shock shouldn't be enough to stop you getting into bed with Fleabag, right? Like Waller-Bridge herself says, "It's for charity!"
(Fri April 10, Amazon Prime, $5)

Bond Marathon!
Speaking of Ms. Waller-Bridge, another big deal debut was supposed to happen today, when her writing work on No Time to Die, the last Bond film to star Daniel Craig, was going to be heard in theaters all across America. Except theatres aren't open, and the movie got postponed to November anyway (Maybe they'll be open then? Maybe people will want to crowd into dark rooms full of inconsiderate strangers in various stages of recovery from a virus that has no vaccine? Sure!) So why not celebrate what should have been Bond Day by organizing a Bond marathon! You can handpick your 00-playlist at Amazon Prime (our suggestion: From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, License to Kill, and GoldenEye), or you can do it old-school style: Just turn on Pluto TV, scroll to the Bond channel, and have yourself a lazy weekend while a small parade of janky-yet-charming Roger Moore movies stretch out with commercial interruptions.
(Now Streaming, Amazon Prime, Pluto TV free w/ ads)

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
At one point or another, nearly every person interviewed in Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool slips into an impression of Davis’ gravely speaking voice. It’s a minor detail in this superb documentary about the famed trumpeter, but a telling one: No matter how awful he was (ill-tempered and drug-hungry, Davis was also notoriously abusive to the women in his life), everyone in his orbit wanted to be Miles Davis. Director Stanley Nelson makes a great case for the allure of Davis’ ineffable cool and creative genius, while not shying away from his uglier qualities—a sometimes tricky balance that this film handles easily
(Now Streaming, Netflix, $8.99 per month, free trial here)ROBERT HAM

STRFKR
Portland’s STRFKR (formerly Pyramiddd, formerly Starfucker, still Starfucker) has never made a bad record. The album art is always on point. Their live shows are original and fun. Their music video for “In the End” is an homage to John Waters—it’s about beautiful drag queens pulling off a heist with toy guns and showering a dance club in cash. I don’t know how we ever got it so good with STRFKR’s indie pop. You can dance to it, clean your house to it, take a long walk in the rain and feel morose to it. STRFKR continues to deliver; their latest album, Future Past Life is out now. SUZETTE SMITH
Future Past Life by STRFKR

Schitt's Creek
Like Battlestar Galactica before it, Schitt's Creek is a show whose title has always been one of its biggest stumbling blocks—trying to convince friends an endearing, progressive, and honestly lovely sitcom that needs to be seen is called "shit's creek" makes said endearing, progressive, and honestly lovely sitcom kind of hard to buy into. That first season doesn't help much either, often playing down to the easy joke of its title and coming off like a lite-rock Arrested Development. But hey: Books, covers, judging... cliches like that exist for just this reason: Schitt's Creek is well worth the binge, and it just wrapped up its feel-good final season this week, so once you've witnessed how well the show levels up in its first five seasons on Netflix, hop over to Fubo TV (speaking of weirdly off-putting names), sign up for their free trial, and binge that last one, too.
(Now Streaming, Netflix; Final season on FuboTV, $54.99 [!], free trial here)

Howards End
Portland Center Stage was set to bring Caroline Hewitt's adaptation of this classic (and quietly devastating) E.M. Forster classic to the Armory today, but staying safe and staying home took precedence, and unfortunately the show was canceled. However, Netflix provides an easily streamable opportunity to watch the 1992 Merchant-Ivory film adaptation, starring Hannibal Lecter, Marla Singer, and Professor Trelawney. And if you're feeling a little generous, maybe make a fancy evening of it! Get dressed to the nines, bust out the candles and bubbly alcohol in a glass, and send a donation to Portland Center Stage as your admission before sitting down and really digging into a subversive story about sad British people who aren't particularly good at handling their raging passions.
(Now Streaming, Netflix, $8.99 per month, free trial here, donate to PCS here if you're feeling generous)

John Prine
It's awful that one of the strongest reminders we need to stay inside and stay safe is that we keep losing legends to this pandemic as it's prolonged, and this last week it took John Prine from us. Prine is beloved for making simple, but magnificent folk songs, which revolve around his acoustic guitar and inimitable drawl. Though his early work gets a lot of attention—particularly songs like “Sam Stone” and “Angel from Montgomery” from his 1971 self-titled debut—2005’s Fair & Square is perhaps Prine’s best record. He recorded the Grammy-winning album after undergoing throat surgery for squamous cell cancer, which deepened his voice into a low, gravelly rumble. The Tree of Forgiveness is John Prine’s first collection of new material in over a decade, and it contains some of the legendary folksinger/songwriter’s most playful tunes to date—it's sweet, silly, and a little sad, meaning it's the perfect kind of John Prine record. Remember him from safe inside your home as you watch him performing inside Canadian DJ George Stroumboulopolous' home, circa 2018. CIARA DOLAN

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The Best Things to Do (While Staying Home and Staying Safe) in Portland: Tues April 7

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 17:29:00 GMT

by Mercury EverOut Staff {{ image:1, align:center, width:500 }}

Letterkenny
BAD NEWS: Tonight was supposed to be the night you got to witness Letterkenny: Live at Revolution Hall—that is, if you were lucky enough to have scored tickets in the three and-a-half minutes they were available back in 2019. Of course, COVID had something to say about all that, and now there's no Letterkenny: Live. GREAT NEWS: The show is streamable on Hulu. It was always streamable, it hasn't gone anywhere, but just in general, the news that Letterkenny is streamable? Great news. Letterkenny is ostensibly a sitcom about the escapades of small-town Canadian cliques bumping into each other, but it's really just live-action Looney Tunes for linguistics nerds, a love-letter to the silly ways silly people communicate their serious passions. Sure, there's a few duds in its run—you don't hit eight seasons without stubbing your toe once or twice—but when it's good? It's fuckin'great.
(Now Streaming, Hulu, $5.99 per month, free trial here)

Build Your Own Gaming Console!
The next generation of gaming consoles is on its way, but they're probably going to be pretty expensive. You're hunkered down and sheltered in place, feeling fidgety and frugal. Why not skip out on buying a whole-ass new console and build one instead? You're not the only person to have this thought: Retro Gaming Consoles have been a thing for awhile now (remember that one Christmas when the NES Mini was regularly going for 3x what an actual NES sold for in '86?) and building them with mini-PC parts isn't that technically challenging, especially not when you've got the folks at 9to5Toys spending their coronavirus down-time walking you through the steps to build your own Nintendo/Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis/Sony PlayStation miracle machine. You'll have to order some parts to be shipped, and there's a bit in this video about 3D printing you can probably ignore (just buy a pre-fab case instead), but when you're done, you'll be drowning in classic gaming goodness and you can tell everyone on your next Zoom meeting "Hey, look at the thing I made!"
(Now available, Don't Forget: Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B, A, Start)

NBA 2K Players Tournament
March was disallowed from the sort of tournament-based entertainment many are used to, especially of the basketball variety; but April's got us covered on that front: ESPN will be airing head-to-head clashes between some of the NBA's biggest stars as they establish who among them is the best at NBA 2K20. The early rounds were finished up last Friday, and there were quite a few upsets already (including Portland's Hassan Whiteside getting trounced by trash-talker extraordinaire Patrick Beverly) but tonight begins the quarterfinals. Proceeds will benefit ongoing coronavirus relief efforts.
(Tues Apr 7, 7 pm, ESPN, Twitter, Facebook, Twitch, free, all ages, through April 11.)

Spliff: Online Film Festival
The creators of the world-famous, world-changing, (and financially responsible-for-keeping-some-alt-weeklies-afloat-cough-ahem) juggernaut HUMP! have turned their sex-drenched gaze to pursuits of a more laid-back and leisurely type: STONER MOVIES. The Spliff Film Festival got off to a strong start in 2019, and as a remedy for the Stay At Home blues millions are feeling right now, the Spliff Film Festival is now online! Even better, its lineup of weed-infused short films are available on a pay-what-you-will basis. Cough up as much (or as little) as you wish in order to check out works that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you ask "what the fuck was that?"
(Now Streaming, Spliff Film Fest.com, Pay-what-you-can)

The Social Network
In 2010, David Fincher was coming off the disappointing sap of Benjamin Button, and was set to release a movie about the creation of Facebook, a subject that didn't very much seem all that interesting. But Aaron Sorkin's script punched along at light speed, telling an endlessly complex story with machined precision, and that's exactly what Fincher needed to get back in control, and directing with a deftness and command he'd never shown before. From its opening scene, it's hard not to be floored: In 2003, in a bar outside Harvard, a geeky undergrad named Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) has an increasingly intense conversation with his increasingly fed-up girlfriend, Erica (Rooney Mara). Sorkin's razor-sharp dialogue zips back and forth; Eisenberg and Mara's faces begin to subtly strain; tensions rise and rise and snap. And then Zuckerberg, calmly furious, runs—literally, runs—back to his dorm, spiraling into a festering frenzy of drunken blogging and effortless hacking. So begins this movie (one of the best of the 21st century), and so began the media empire that eventually led us all... here. It's on Netflix now. You should watch it.
(Now Streaming, Netflix, $8.99 per month, free trial here)ERIK HENRIKSEN

Much Ado About Nothing
Just because you can't actually go to the park doesn't mean you can't still enjoy some Shakespeare in the Park, and thanks to PBS'Great Performances series, one of the very best versions of Much Ado About Nothing is available, for free, through May 27th. This version of the Bard's much-loved comedy was recorded live at Delacorte Theater in NYC's Central Park, directed by Tony Award-winner Kenny Leon, and stars Danielle Brooks (Taystee from Orange is the New Black!) as Beatrice.

A Portland Theater Scene Update, and How You Can Help Them Survive the COVID-19 Crisis

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 17:24:00 GMT

by Alison Hallett

Portland Center StageCourtesy PCS

Last Friday, March 27, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced that they were canceling their summer shows and laying off hundreds of staff—a devastating blow to the many artists, technicians, and OSF employees who abruptly found themselves out of work (not to mention the economic impact on Ashland). Soon after, Portland Center Stage followed suit, canceling the final three shows of their season and announcing that the Armory will remain closed until further notice.

These closures are only the most high-profile examples of the coronavirus’ impact on regional arts organizations. In addition to shuttered performances, classes, and community programs, many theaters were forced to cancel or reschedule major annual fundraising events that bring in tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Theater companies operate on thin margins under the best of circumstances; some are unlikely to recover without significant financial support from donors and funding organizations.

As Oregon Children’s Theatre put it in an email (subject line: “Don't let this be our last act”), “We expect that our company will lose more than $500,000 in crucial, sustaining revenue over the coming months. Quite simply, the future of the company—and the livelihoods of a whole community of artists, technicians, teachers, and support staff—are on the line during this uncertain period.”

The best way for patrons to support arts organizations is through direct donations (you can find links below). If you have tickets to an upcoming event, consider turning your purchase into a donation instead of asking for a refund.

To support individual artists who have lost work during this time, Portland’s Creative Laureate, Subashini Ganesan and Oregon’s Poet Laureate Kim Stafford have launched the Portland Area Artist Emergency Relief Fund, which will provide direct financial assistance to independent/freelance artists in the tri-county area.

What follows are updates from local theaters about cancellations and where you can donate to help keep them alive. Note: All of the below information is subject to change. Please contact individual companies directly for more details.

Artist Repertory Theater—Their last production of the season, Looking for Tiger Lily, has been postponed until summer or next season, and their fundraising gala was canceled. Donate here!

Bag and Baggage—Canceled the remainder of the run of The Measure of Innocence and plan to announce a weekly series of live-streamed programming, in collaboration with other artists and arts organizations in the Portland area. Donate here!

BodyVox—Their spring show, NINETEEN*TWENTY, has been rescheduled to December. On their website, BodyVox is making full length shows available for streaming.

Boom Arts—Boom is postponing the April production of Blank most likely until next season. Boom is still currently planning to produce an outdoor festival at the end of June, but will make a final decision by early May. Donate here!

Broadway Rose—Broadway Rose has canceled its spring production of Ain’t Misbehavin’. Their 2020 season will continue as scheduled with Crazy for You, opening July 2, 2020. Donate here!

Clackamas Rep—Clackamas Repertory Theatre had to cancel their annual gala, their only fundraiser of the year. Donate here!

CoHo—CoHo has canceled all programming through May 17 and is postponing روبنز Bee, the final show in their current season. Donate here!

Corrib—Canceled their fundraising gala as well as their spring show, Kissing the Witch. Donate here!

Curious Comedy—Curious is postponing classes and canceling shows indefinitely. In the meantime, they’re sharing “classic content” on YouTube. Donate here!

Defunkt—Delaying their production of Carrie Barrett’s To Us! until next season. Donate here!

Funhouse—All events are canceled until further notice. Donate here!

Fuse—Fuse will be postponing this year’s productions of The Pursuit of Happiness and The Fear of Speaking. Donate here!

Hand2Mouth—Canceled their production of Danse Macabre, and are planning on moving their production of Slumber Party, originally set for May, to the fall. Donate here!

Imago—FORK AND FORK AND FORK AND FORK has been canceled. Donate here!

Kickstand Comedy—Live programming at Kickstand postponed indefinitely during pandemic, including all live shows and classes at the theater. Online classes will be available, as well as new streaming programs and content. Donate here!

MediaRites—MediaRites has been forced to cancel two of The Ism Project's touring shows in April. Donate here!

Milagro—Canceled their remaining productions of the season, The Corrido of the San Patricios, and The Living Life of the Daughter Mira. Donate here!

New Expressive Works—Everything is temporarily canceled at New Expressive Works, including classes and performances. Donate here!

Northwest Children’s Theatre—Elephant & Piggie’s We are in a Play performances in Portland, Hillsboro, and Sherwood are postponed, as are their spring classes. You can find plenty of kid-friendly content, including online classes, on their website. Donate here!

NW Dance Project— Classes and company activity are suspended and their annual fundraising Spring Gala has been postponed. Ticket holders will be contacted as soon as possible with more information. Donate here!

OBT—Beautiful Decay has been postponed to June 5-13, 2020 and will replace their performance of The Americans 2.0, which has been canceled. Donate here!

Oregon Children’s Theatre—OCT has canceled their 2019-2020 performance season and spring classes, including all public performances, field trips, and school shows. Donate here!

PassinArt—August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center has been canceled. Donate here!

Portland Center Stage—PCS has canceled the remainder of their season. Donate here!

Portland Opera—Portland Opera is canceling all performances of Vivaldi's Bajazet at the Newmark Theatre. Donate here!

Portland Playhouse—Their production of Thurgood has been delayed. Donate here!

Profile Theater—The remainder of Profile Theater’s season has been postponed as well as their April 24 gala. Fundraising efforts have been moved online. Donate here!

The Reformers—The Reformers have postponed The Landlord’s Game. Donate here!

Risk/Reward—Canceling and postponing spring shows. Past shows are archived in the Risk/REWIND Video Vault. Donate here!

Rutabaga Story Co.—Rutabaga Story Co is postponing their production of An Irish Exit until the fall of 2020. Donate here!

Shaking the Tree—Canceled The Antipodes and spring classes. Donate here!

Siren Theater—All programming has been postponed indefinitely. Support the theater by buying a Siren T-shirt online. Donate here!

The Theatre Company—The Moors has been postponed.
Donate here!

Theatre Vertigo—Everything You Touch has been postponed until further notice. Donate here!

Third Rail—Programming (Incognito, Mother, Come Home, and Mary Jane) has been postponed. National Theatre Live tickets will be honored for a future broadcast. Donate here!

Triangle—Ticket sales are currently suspended for Blood Brothers. Donate here!

Alison Hallett is a former Arts Editor at the Portland Mercury. She currently works as the Director of Education & Community Engagement at the Hollywood Theatre/Movie Madness. Pat Moran is a local theater artist and educator.

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Attention Portland Musicians, Comedians, and Performers: Send Us Your Live Stream Show Info!

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 22:45:42 GMT

by Wm. Steven Humphrey

iarti / iStock / Getty

Portland team, listen up! While it may be impossible to go out and see performances right now, Portland's most creative musicians, comedians, and performers are live streaming their awesome stuff so you can enjoy it from home. And if you're doing it, THE MERCURY WANTS TO HELP YOU PROMOTE IT.

Along with our wildly necessary calendar listings for Things to Do (at home), restaurant take-out/delivery, weed delivery services, and book store curb pickups, we're also developing a calendar to bring attention to your live stream events. If you have something coming up, EMAIL US HERE and be sure to include the day, time, platform, and a brief (BRIEF!) description of what your audience can expect from the event.

Creative folks (like you) are already hard at work putting together online performances, such as last night's super funny Earthquake Hurricane comedy show, or the Decemberists'Colin Meloy who put on a concert in his house today, or LiveWire radio keeping the show going online, or the virtual dance party that Holocene is putting on tonight starting at 8 pm, and... and... OMIGOD SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE! SHAWN AND CAMILLA!!!

So if you got a show... LET US KNOW!

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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Review: Jamie Sanders’ Portrayal of an ...

Thu, 12 Mar 2020 11:00:00 GMT

It’s proper to cry at the theater. by Robert Ham

Author Mark Haddon doesn’t diagnose the main character of his breakthrough 2003 novel, A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, as being autistic. But the way he captures the voice of Christopher, a young man with rigid routines and unflagging honesty whose entire conception of the world comes apart, puts readers close—closer than anyone before—to the mind of someone on the spectrum.

That sensation is only amplified in the stage adaptation of Haddon’s book, developed in London by playwright Simon Stephens and currently in production at Portland Center Stage. Christopher’s inner world is made real thanks to a marvelous performance by Jamie Sanders and PCS’ ingenious staging. So real, in fact, it had this father of a kid on the spectrum in tears within the first 10 minutes.

What broke me was a simple gesture. In the play, Christopher finds out someone has killed his neighbor’s dog, and the situation leads to the police questioning him. As with most people with autism, Christopher doesn’t like to be touched, so when the officer takes his arm, Christopher strikes back and is immediately arrested. His dad (Leif Norby) comes to collect Christopher from the station, and the two reassure each other by touching their fingertips together. Knowing from experience how challenging it is to squeeze even the tiniest bit of physical affection from an autistic child, that little moment of connection broke me.

But I also felt on edge in the moments when Christopher’s hyper-logical view of the world is played for laughs. When he takes it upon himself to investigate the murder of his neighbor’s dog, he starts questioning neighbors and running into sarcasm, anger, and kindness along the way—all of which he can’t process. It leads to some funny exchanges, but I couldn’t see past the striking similarities Christopher shares with my own son to fully appreciate the humor.

That’s entirely a testament to Sanders’ performance, and how Stephens and this production’s director, Marissa Wolf, work to take the audience into Christopher’s head. To give us a sense of how this young man experiences the world, the stage is almost entirely bare and white. Christopher moves through it, surrounded by a passel of actors in grey sweatshirts who mime everyday objects or applaud joyously at his Tetris abilities. It’s down to Sanders to bring the color to the character, and he does so by stiffening his body, curling and twisting his hands, and delivering his lines in a flat affect.

As with when I read Haddon’s novel, my heart ached for Christopher throughout. Especially in the key scene where a flood of new information causes Christopher to melt down. Watching Christopher struggle, and then seeing his dad tenderly warn him he needed to touch him to help get him into bed... reader, I was a wreck before we even got to intermission.

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The Aces Sketch Comedy Show Ghost Town Is Going Straight to the Wild Wild West

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 20:50:50 GMT

by Suzette Smith

SHELLEY MCLENDON

“I was listening to The Specials,” Shelley McLendon says over email. “And the song ‘Ghost Town’ came on.” That was all it took to set her and Michael Fetters on the path to a sketch comedy show set in an Old West town full of gold rushers, ghost hunters, and church kids.

The 2020 Fertile Ground Festival Dismantles the Patriarchy, Plans for Death, and Channels Osho

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Patriarchal ghost stories? Eeeeeeeee! by Suzette Smith

It’s time again for the Portland Area Theatre Alliance’s grand annual experiment, the Fertile Ground Festival. This longstanding, citywide festival of new works provides space for a wide variety of performers—from established theater companies working the kinks out of a concept to health care professionals with something to say! The festival isn’t curated so there will be fluctuations in the quality and kinds of work on stage. And the fest raised the price of its pass this year: $70 gets you into any and every show (pace yourself, or don’t!), but many of the single tickets are still affordable (most are below $20, and many are free or pay-what-you-can). Sifting through the possibilities, here are a few that stick out as potentially fruitful.

Slumber Party to Dismantle the Patriarchy

More of an installation than a play, Hand2Mouth’s Slumber Party to Dismantle the Patriarchy promises face masks, patriarchal ghost stories, and dances performed in sleeping bags. When we spoke at a pre-festival press event, Liz Hayden, Erin Leddy, Maesie Speer, and Faith Helma all told me to “get in the bed” with them, which didn’t feel that special because the whole audience is invited. Slumber Party sounds intensely interactive and Hand2Mouth hopes to use the experience to gather material for a longer work which will be staged in May. (Tues Feb 4 & Wed Feb 5, 6:30 pm, Hand2Mouth/Shout House, pay what you can)

Sitting Shiva

I know there are a bunch of people out there going positively wild for end-of-life planning—the spike in traffic we receive every time we write about Caitlin Doughty’s death acceptance organization the Order of the Good Death confirms it. And I also know from experience: Do the sad stuff when life isn’t sad because, when it’s sad, it’s so sad AND you’re doing sad stuff. Lumos Group’s Sitting Shiva is a 90-minute play about three brothers—a very promising cast of Michael Teufel, Doug Dean, and Dirk Foley—reconciling their different visions of their father as they mourn him. After the Sat February 8 & Sun February 9 shows, a medical ethicist will conduct a talkback about the work and end-of-life planning. (Sat Feb 1 & Sat Feb 8, 7:30 pm; Sun Feb 2 & Sun Feb 9, 2 pm, Shoebox Theater, $15-20)

Interplay

There are two weekends of Echo Theater’s Interplay, with different 90-minute performances respectively. But Noelle Simone’s description of her piece, which will be part of the first weekend, engaged my empathy and curiosity most. Her Heavy Is the Head that Wears the Crown: Mental Health Memoirs of the Black Woman will seek to explore the compounding fatigue Black women navigate against the threat of an oppressive society, cruel messages from the media, and even their own lovers. Simone’s 20-minute dance piece will incorporate moments where she responds to these pressures, sometimes moving to music and sometimes to the words of men she’s recorded. (Fri Jan 31, Sat Feb 1, Fri Feb 7, Sat Feb 8, 8 pm; Sun Feb 2 & Sun Feb 9, 3 pm, Echo Theater, $15-28)

8-24-9 (Secret Asian Man)

During the Vietnam War, the US dropped more than two million tons of bombs on the country of Laos, which works out to the equivalent of being bombed every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years. Laotian American actor, director, and Theatre Diaspora co-founder Samson Syharath learned this history and these horrifying figures from his Airbnb host in Laos, who also owned a prosthetics shop. 8-24-9 is Syharath’s response to the conflict he feels over his dual identity, with one identity having perpetuated such damage to the other. The 40-minute script reading and following talkback will inform Syharath’s future collaboration with Reed College professor and choreographer Minh Tran on an associated movement piece, slated for performance in the summer. (Fri Jan 31, Sun Feb 2, Sat Feb 8, Sun Feb 9, 7:30 pm, Orchards of 82nd, $5-20)

Osho Returns

When Ajai Tripathi told me he was writing a play about Osho (AKA Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), my first thought was: “It must be a farce, right? Everyone was momentarily obsessed with that Wild Wild Country documentary on Netflix, so this must be a comedy about the charismatic cult leader.” But Tripathi surprised me with an earnest admission that he’s read all the Bhagwan’s written works and has been working on a play where—in less than an hour—he hopes to channel the sex guru Osho’s voice into his body. Tripathi’s playwriting is probably best recognized from his work with the Milagro Theatre Company, where he writes plays that the company tours for young audiences, like Mijita Fridita, and ¡Corre! ¡Corre! I still don’t really know if he’s putting me on, but, either way, this seems too bizarre to miss. (Sun Feb 2, 5 pm, Hipbone Studio, $10)

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Portland Center Stage’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch Review: Delphon Curtis Jr. ...

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 19:30:33 GMT

Delphon Curtis Jr. gives us the Hedwig / Beyoncé hybrid of our dreams. by Suzette Smith

Delphon "DJ" Curtis Jr. as Hedwig Photo by Owen Carey

Hedwig and the Angry Inch started before I got there. As it happened, Yitzhak (Ithica Tell) stormed ahead of me into Portland Center Stage (PCS)'s Ellyn Bye Studio, shouting about the hysterics of “Beyoncé.” He grabbed a microphone and advised the audience of a delay (a ruse, we were still ten minutes from curtain) and set about helping those in the first few rows—which were at lounge tables—find their seats.

“Who is least shy?” he asked, in a heavy Eastern European accent. Then he warned, “There is a hazard to this space. Mistress will sweat on you,” alluding to upcoming moments when Hedwig (Delphon Curtis Jr.) would climb onto the tables in platform heels, to sing and dance into the fortunate first rows' faces. “Mind your feet,” he imparted. “Because Mistress won’t.”

Tell adds a never-before-seen level of charm to Yitzhak—a role that calls for Tell to crossdress as a man—which brings the character into direct conflict for the spotlight. At the risk of offending previous Yitzhaks, THIS is what the role is meant to be. Curtis, as Hedwig, is revolutionary, astonishing, and very worthy of comparison to Beyoncé. It's certainly a tall order, but Curtis' singing style has a powerhouse soulful approach, which brings the vision of a Hedwig/Beyoncé hybrid out of our dreams and into the Ellyn Bye.

Ithica Tell as YitzhakPhoto by Owen Carey

At this point, you can tell that PCS' production of Hedwig is INCREDIBLE, which is why it is imperative that I also tell you it’s almost sold out. When you’re done with this review, you must buy tickets immediately!

Since it’s so popular, it might seem that Hedwig could have been staged upstairs, on the Armory’s main stage. But that would actually run counter to the show’s aesthetic and narrative. Hedwig must be in a small space because it’s meant to represent one night of her tour as she follows her former sweetheart—rock superstar Tommy Gnosis (also played by Delphon Curtis Jr.)—around the US. At multiple points in the play, Hedwig opens an exit door to hear Gnosis at the nearby Moda Center (the script encourages improvisation by location), playing the songs Tommy stole from her to his thousands of fans.

In 2014, when Hedwig finally hit Broadway, the only way that production’s director could think to have her believably play Broadway was to invent a musical (Hurt Locker: The Musical), say it failed, and claim she got the space super cheap.

Photo by Owen Carey

Hedwig's story will be familiar to many due to the cult popularity of the 2001 film, directed by and starring John Cameron Mitchell—who also wrote the play with songwriter Stephen Trask. But seeing the stage version gave me an appreciation for the material on a whole new level.

Without the film’s eye-popping visual gags stealing the show, Mitchell's layered and hilarious text comes to the front. And while Trask’s songs are earworm catchy, the film’s delivery is nowhere near as powerful—Curtis’ version of “The Origin of Love” had me near tears. Finally, the film doesn’t really convey the duality of Gnosis and Hedwig as strongly as the play.

Mitchell has said over the years that Hedwig is not about transgender experience as much as genderqueerness. At the start of the production, Hedwig wears an elaborate costume (her wig hair is curled around soda cans!), but the trajectory takes her on a striptease of self until she ends the performance nearly nude and stripped of her wig, performing as rockstar Tommy Gnosis.

Photo by Owen Carey

Since Hedwig’s been voicing her foils—like her mother and the American G.I. who brought her to the US—for the whole play, this isn’t a statement on masculinity as much as it’s about costuming, persona, and the way the things we want from our lovers are often things we already have in ourselves. It could also be about the imaginary line between masculinity, femininity, and whatever gender is represented when you're crying in your underpants. Ultimately, Hedwig's meaning is up for interpretation. And that's appropriate as Hedwig and the Angry Inch settles into its status as a glammed-up, fun, profound work of art.

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Beckett Women Preview: Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble Tackles Four Works by Samuel Beckett

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Whatever unfolds I can promise Beckett Women will not be boring by Suzette Smith

Since their founding in 2011, Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE) has graced our city with astonishing, if infrequent, productions of thoughtful, occasionally aggressive, and generally very weird theater. The last piece we saw from them was this past summer’s Our Ruined House, which strove to collapse some big ideas surrounding modern warfare into a complicated couple fight? Did I get that right? Probably not, but it was incredible.

PETE’s new production Beckett Women draws from four works by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett—Not I, Footfalls, Come and Go, and Quad—to explore the histories of four female characters, in a garden-like setting. Beckett Women only runs 90 minutes, so that means we’re either in for tidy excerpts or mere jumping-off places, the latter being more likely for PETE. Expect poetics and hilarious, awkward moments. PETE never tries to be serious without also being funny. Let go of attaching meaning too strongly to it. One of the great benefits of any probing work is that what it means to you matters more. Whatever unfolds, I can promise Beckett Women will not be boring.

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