STAGE
Hello Earth Productions’ DIY outdoor stagings of Star Trek scripts, word for word, are a longtime summer theater highlight, distinguished by their openness in casting: “Actors of color, gender-nonconforming actors, and differently abled actors are encouraged to apply. We are not looking for impersonations,” says their website. If you can’t handle a female Kirk or a male Nurse Chapel, this may not be the show for you, but you’ll miss out on a theatrical imagination on a shoestring budget (props by Fisher-Price, the opening theme played on accordion) as inexhaustible as the producers’ affection for the original series. However, reaching back only to 1977 this year, they’re tackling a bigger project, in which, as they put it, “A wizard, a pirate, a moisture farmer, a carpet, and two hapless robots attempt to rescue a senator and take down an empire!” Sound familiar? Dr. Blanche Lavizzo Park, helloearthproductions.com. Free. Opens Aug. 4. 7 p.m. Sat.–Sun. Ends Aug. 26.
COMEDY
Here’s the truth: Stand-up comedians doing crowdwork is usually bad. More often than not it feels an unnecessary diversion from the tightly crafted jokes—thrown in a set to prove that they can do it, even if they shouldn’t do it. Todd Barry is an exception to the rule. With a deadpan delivery drier than the Sahara and a lightning-quick wit that can cut like a knife, he’s taken to doing whole tours of only crowdwork. To mark 30 years in the industry, he’s bringing the audience-dependent show to El Corazon for a unique night of observational humor and jabs. Or as his own website puts it, “Todd celebrates 30 years of telling jokes by not telling any jokes.” El Corazon, elcorazonseattle.com. $20–$22. 8 p.m. Fri., Aug. 3.
MUSIC
With apologies to the Quins (Tegan and Sara), Wilsons (Heart), and Deals (Breeders, Pixies), what sets Allison and Katie Crutchfield apart from other excellent musical sisters is the variety of their musical projects whether apart (Waxahatchee, Allison’s solo work) or together (P.S. Eliot). After breaking up in 2015, Allison recently reunited her band Swearin’, the most rocking entry in the Expanded Crutchiverse. The group combines her knack for creating catchy melodies with noisy, fuzzy indie-rock grit. The band returns with new songs off Fall into the Sun (out Oct. 5 on Merge Records) and opening support form Mike Krol and Sleepy Genes. Chop Suey, chopsuey.com. $13–$15. 8 p.m. Sun., Aug. 5.
FILM
Two outdoor film screenings are well-positioned to grab the attention of anyone in the proximity of this weekend’s Seattle Art Fair. You may know it best as a dry concrete ditch in which many car chases are filmed in L.A.-set movies, but the Los Angeles River is actually an actual body of water. Kerry Tribe’s Exquisite Corpse follows its 51 miles through various neighborhoods to its Pacific outlet. It’ll be screened in conjunction with the Jacob Lawrence Gallery’s exhibit of Tribe’s work. Occidental Park. Free. 8:30 p.m. Sat., Aug. 4.
Also, artist/activist Tracy Rector’s film will remind you that You Are On Indigenous Land when it’s shown at dusk on the southwest outdoor wall of Inscape Arts. Rector’s chosen a prime location from which to reach as many passersby as possible; the press release helpfully points out that it will be visible from “both north- and south-bound light rail trains, as well as all levels of the CenturyLink Field parking lot.” Inscape Arts. Free. Dusk. Thurs., Aug. 2–Sun., Aug. 5.
