Calendar

THEATER / COMEDY / MUSIC / MUSEUMS / EVENTS / FILM / TALKS EDITED BY CHRISTINA MUELLER

ARTS & LECTURES

SEPT 28–OCT 2

Bacchae Before With a dance theater project inspired by the tragedies of gender reveal parties and Anne Carson’s Bakkhai, Hope Mohr Dance returns to live performance with an ancient story of the murder of Pentheus, King of Thebes, at the hands of his own mother. hopemohr.org OCT 2 Epoch Presented before an in-person audience, as well as a live digital simulcast, this extended-length, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. dance bills itself as “a gratuitous surplus of movement, interrupted by moments of nothingness,” and calls into question the idea of performance as ritual, together with an investigation into structures of power. odc.dance

MoAD, Artist Amoako Boafo OCT 18 Temple Grandin

The autism and animal behavior specialist and professor of animal science at Colorado State University discusses personal experiences and her new book, Navigating Autism: 9 Mindsets for Helping Kids on the Spectrum, to empower parent and child mindsets and develop the full potential of every child. cityarts.net

OCT 19 Sandor Katz

Food nerd and culinary maker alert: The king of fermentation is hosting an online event to discuss his newest book, Fermentation Journeys: Recipes, Techniques and Traditions From Around the World, and regale viewers with a showand-tell from his home kitchen. copperfieldsbooks.com

OCT 29–NOV 7

Take 3 A virtual event from RAWDance includes two works, “Shadow (part 1),” a much-delayed world premiere that explores our ever-expanding digital debris, and “The Healer,” a meditation on health and wellness dedicated to choreographer Katerina Wong’s late aunt. odc.dance

OCT 30–FEB 19 Below

the Lighthouse The first solo exhibition in the United States of the work of New York-based artists Zakkubalan, aka Neo S. Sora and Albert Tholen, features their 2017 collaboration with composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, async – volume - , a 24-channel video installation that serves as a portrait of the composer and his creative process, and new work created in response to San Francisco’s David Ireland House. 500cappstreet.org

OCT 31 Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s classic story (dare we say a love story?) is presented by a corps of actors and puppeteers who will create a silent animated film in real time while an immersive score is performed live by four musicians. calperformances.org

COMEDY

OCT 5 HellaSecret

The secret comedy lineup is brand new and back at Public Works in San Francisco’s Mission District with a twodrink minimum (hello, can of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey!) and a fully seated show. publicsf.com

FILM

OCT 7–OCT 17 Mill Valley Film Festival

Back for its 44th year, MVFF will feature online and in-person screenings and events this year throughout the Bay Area, including at CineArts Sequoia in Mill Valley, Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. mvff.com

OCT 15–24 Dance Film

Festival More than 100 long- and short-form films, a mix of in-person and virtual experiences, capture the essence of movement and its practitioners and includes “Australia’s Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra” and the California premiere of “Coppelia,” which combines liveaction dance with animation. sfdancefilmfest.org

MUSIC

OCT 1–3 Hardly Strictly

Bluegrass Though the festival of American music will not return to Golden Gate Park this year, a weekend’s worth of performances from Bob Mould with Fred Armisen, Steve Earle, Las Cafeteras and many more will be livestreamed. hardly strictlybluegrass.com

OCT 17 The Well Known

Strangers Opening for Bill Kirchen at Novato’s Hopmonk Tavern, San Francisco’s countrysoul band is on tour in

Marin Museum of Contemporary Art

support of their latest EP, “King Tide.” kcturnerpresents.com

MUSEUMS

THROUGH NOV

30 Continuity Like Interactive Van Gogh, the teamLab project at the Asian Art Museum invites participants to step into a lush imagery ecosystem, this version drawn from nature and East Asian art, of a moving landscape of blooming flowers and darting fish. asianart.org

SEPT 25–NOV 14 Johan

Hagemeyer A lifechanging meeting with Alfred Stieglitz turned a fruit farmer, who first arrived in the United States in 1900, into a renowned photographer whose work was widely influenced by his circle of friends — and many of their works also appear in this exhibition. bolinasmuseum.org

OCT 9–FEB 13, 2022

Color Into Line Pastels from the Renaissance to the present trace the technical evolution of pastel, from its introduction in 16th-century Europe to current works, through drawings by Rosalba Carriera, JeanBaptiste Perronneau, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, Diego Rivera, Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn, among others. legionofhonor. famsf.org

THROUGH NOV 7

Planet Earth Fights Back One of Marin’s cultural treasures, experimental artist Phyllis Thelen opened a new show at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art in September. The long-time San Rafael resident and founder of Art Works Downtown places nature at the heart of the show, which brings awareness to the environmental tipping point we’re facing. With works depicting environmental disasters, Thelen’s sculptures and “wallworks” allude to the results of human impacts — pollution, overpopulation and more — on “Our Mother” and only terrestrial home while demonstrating our precarious perch and power to fight back. “For over 50 years, Marin has provided a safe and supportive environment for me and my art,” Thelen says. “That’s why I feel so free to expand my mission to celebrate and defend nature in the political arena. The Earth is in trouble, and it’s important for each of us to save it.” This show is one small step to give the Earth a voice while helping protect it from ourselves. marinmoca.org

OCT 21–FEB 27, 2022 Soul of Black Folks

Featuring more than 20 works created by Amoako Boafo between 2018–2021, this showcase of the artist is an exploration into Boafo’s efforts within his painting practice to capture the essence of the Black figure, including Black subjectivity, Black joy and the Black gaze. moadsf.org

EVENTS

SEPT 16–NOV 7 Elements of Nature

A three-series collaboration between Oakland-based SLATE Contemporary and Cornerstone’s onsite SBHG Gallery, this show features works by five local, mixedmedia artists, including Robert Buelteman, who utilizes an innovative blend of high-voltage electricity and a fiberoptically delivered light system to cast plants in photographs. cornerstonesonoma.com

SEPT 23–OCT 31 The Immortal Reckoning

A fully immersive, haunted experience from the minds behind The Terror Vault updates the performance for the spooky season with a supernatural adventure. intothedarksf.com

OCT 2 Brooks Island

Get to know the San Francisco Bay; spot leopard sharks, bat rays and seals; and learn how to kayak on a tour that originates at the Richmond Marina and heads to Brooks Island Regional Preserve — 300 acres of protected bay waters. rei.com

OCT 2 Blues, Brews

and BBQ Downtown Napa shifts its focus to beer for a day dedicated to the frothy beverage, with 12 microbreweries including Saint Archer and Hop Valley paired with an ideal culinary partner, plus eight bands such as I*Ko Yaya, Andre Thierry and the Marshall Law Band — and maybe some zydeco too if y’all behave. donapa.com

OCT 3 The Heart

A series of events organized by San Francisco’s Antenna Theater means an opportunity to join in watching a contrail heart as it emerges above the Golden Gate Bridge; support many of the theater’s wishes of love; or help create a royal barge for Queen Calafia, the fictional queen of the island of California, first introduced by 16th-century poet Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. antenna-theater.org

Trolley Dances RAWDance OCT 9–30 High

Water Unmoored by internal tidal shifts, artist Karima Cammell looked for a place to make a safe landing, utilizing our very human power of transformation to face down anxiety, discord and fear through art, presented at the Holton Studio Gallery in Berkeley. castleintheair.biz

OCT 14–17 Meet Us Quickly With Your

Mercy The second in a trilogy of outdoor aerial public art performances and a world premiere in San Francisco addresses the devastating effects of mass incarceration, with choreography by Jo Kreiter and research and text by 2020 Pulitzer Prize finalist Rahsaan Thomas, who lives behind bars at Marin’s San Quentin State Prison. counterpulse.org

OCT 16–17 Trolley

Dances Ten of San Francisco’s MUNI train stops from the Castro to the East Cut/ Rincon Hill neighborhood will be the outdoor performance venues for a tour of timed, site-specifi dances from Babatunji & Charmaine, Epiphany Dance Theater, Joe Landini & Dancers, La Mezcla, Parangal Dance Company and Rising Rhythm. epiphanydance.org