Each year greets new artists performing in the Northwest New Works Festival (which spans two weekends with 16 acts), but the general categories remain strangely consistent. There is big chaos (Jessica Jobaris and company brandishing invective and whips), powerful dialogue (storyteller Danielle Villegas connecting distant Aztec ancestors with contemporary Mayan descendents), genre crossing (art rock band The Blank Department, moving into performance art), and something just plain beautiful (Donna Belmont Isobel and Matthew Smith, surrounded by a stage full of paper). But there are always a couple works that feel absolutely original and totally inevitable. Haruko Nishimuras butoh-inflected physical performances are full of child-like wonder without sentimentality, while puppet master Kyle Loven tells a horrific story so gently that you’re are too fascinated to be repelled. SANDRA KURTZ
Fri., June 10, 8 p.m.; Sat., June 11, 5 & 8 p.m.; Sun., June 12, 5 & 8 p.m.; Fri., June 17, 5 & 8 p.m.; June 18-19, 8 p.m., 2011
