May 3,Wednesday

Reading Through It: The Righteous Mind I hope you’ll join us for our book club examining the causes and effects of Trump’s presidency. It’s been a total delight so far, full of brainy, passionate discussion. Tonight, we’ll discuss The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. No purchase necessary; just come ready to talk and listen. Third Place Books Seward Park, 5041 Wilson Ave. S., 474-2200, thirdplacebooks.com. Free. All ages. 7 p.m. PAUL CONSTANT

Orlando Who doesn’t love a little time-bending queer magic on stage? Seasoned theatre-maker L. Zane Jones directs Sarah Ruhl’s play about a gender-nonconforming poet who lives for 300 years, meeting various literary sensations throughout English history. Originally based on a novel by Virginia Woolf, Orlando visits a queer-feminism of the past. Penthouse Theatre, UW campus, drama.washington.edu. $12–$20. All ages. 7:30 p.m. Ends May 7. BECS RICHARDS

Beyond Ballet Ballet has struggled with diversity for years—as an art form descended from aristocratic social dances, it has reinforced ethnic stereotypes as often as it has managed to ignore them. As part of the city’s Race and Social Justice Initiative, Pacific Northwest Ballet is hosting a panel discussion to take the current temperature, and identify next steps to rectifying the situation. With representatives from PNB, Dance Theater of Harlem, the Joffrey Ballet, and Spectrum Dance Theater, moderated by Theresa Ruth Howard, founder and curator of Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet. Phelps Center, 301 Mercer St. 441-2432, pnb.org. Free with registration. 7 p.m. SANDRA KURTZ

Make Your Whole Body a Mass of Doubt Inspired by a line from a Zen koan written almost a thousand years ago, local butoh performer Vanessa Skantze and the Uneasy Chairs Orchestra will offer weary Capitol Hill light-rail commuters a free public performance of movement and sound inspired by doubt—partially a disjointed cacophony, mostly an emerging broken vocabulary for our new anxiety-ridden reality. Capitol Hill Light Rail Station, Broadway and John St. Free. All ages. 7 p.m. MEAGAN ANGUS

Civil Rights at the UW Old-timer hell-raisers, including King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, talk about the 1968 occupation of the UW president’s office by the Black Student Union. Kane Hall, Room 130, UW campus, 543-0540, washington.edu/alumni/events. Free. All ages. 7:30 p.m. CASEY JAYWORK

May 4, Thursday

Unwarranted Reading In his new book, Barry Friedman, a law professor at New York University, examines the crisis in modern policing. Why do cops now dress like they’re SEAL Team 6 and drive around in tanks? How did the balance of power between police and the people they’re sworn to protect get so, well, unbalanced? UW Law School, Room 133, UW campus, 634-3400, ubookstore.com. Free. All ages. 7 p.m. PC

CeCe McDonald In 2012, McDonald, who is black and transgender, was attacked by a group of white supremacists. She stabbed one of them to death. The injustice of her years of being incarcerated in male prisons became a cause célèbre and the subject of Laverne Cox’s documentary Free CeCe, which will play at the Translations Film Festival through Sunday. Egyptian Theater, 801 E. Pine St., 377-4510, threedollarbillcinema.org/programs/translations. $13. All ages. 7 p.m. CASEY JAYWORK

Okilly Dokilly A metal band dedicated to the persona of Ned Flanders? It may seem like an oxymoron, since the Simpsons character is a religiously bubbly, overly friendly neighbor. But it’s for real. This self-proclaimed “nedal” band is playing tonight—doodley-do the right thing and don’t miss it. El Corazon, 109 Eastlake Ave. E., elcorazonseattle.com. $13–$15. 21 and over. 8 p.m. AGATHA PACHECO

May 5, Friday

Red May: Luxury For All The monthlong radical-leftist workshop and art series Red May kicks off with a panel that imagines what an automated future might look like. Instead of a dystopian force that steals our wage-earning ability, can we steer society toward an automated future that “gives us back our time,” freeing us to pursue leisure and personal enrichment? Seattle Weekly contributor Minh Nguyen moderates the panel, which includes Nick Sricek, co-author of The Accelerationist Manifesto, Everfair sci-fi author Nisi Shawl, and Los Angeles academic Jason E. Smith. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., townhall seattle.org. $5. All ages. 7:30 p.m. KELTON SEARS

May 6, Saturday

The Magnetic Fields The Magnetic Fields’ latest album, the two-part 50 Song Memoir, is just that, a review of lead singer Stephin Merritt’s first 50 years on this earth, with a song devoted to each trip around the sun. Some are delicate portraits of his life as a poor, gay New Yorker in the 1990s; others are entirely devoted to his dislike of surfing. Taken by themselves, the songs can seem small; taken together, they create a two-and-a-half -our odyssey through an American life. The Moore, 1932 Second Ave., 467-5510, stgpresents.org. Single show $39.50–$49.50; $67.50–$84.50 for both. Part I, 7:30 p.m. Sat.; part II, 7:30 p.m. Sun. DANIEL PERSON

Free Comic Book Day Every comic shop in the region will be giving away free comics all day today (while supplies last). Your friendly neighborhood shop will likely be celebrating with sales, appearances by local comics creators, and more. If you haven’t yet been, this is also a great opportunity to visit Fremont’s Outsider Comics & Geek Boutique, Seattle’s newest comic shop. Various locations, freecomicbookday.com. Free. All ages. 10 a.m. PC

May 7, Sunday

Lines of Flight Reading

Julie Salverson’s book, subtitled An Atomic Memoir, is about a group of indigenous people in Ontario who sent a delegation to Japan to apologize for their complicity in war. Seems the uranium to build the first two American atomic bombs was mined from their land, and they felt honor-bound to make amends. Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Ave., 624-6600, elliottbaybook.com. Free. All ages. 7 p.m. PC

May 8, Monday

Mozart’s Starling Reading This is a bizarre story: One day, out shopping, Mozart came across a little starling singing a tune from one of his concertos. He took the bird home as a pet and then kinda collaborated with it for the next three years. Birdwatcher Lyanda Lynn Haupt will discuss her belief that starlings are seriously underrated creatures. Third Place Books Lake Forest Park, 17171 Bothell Way N.E., 366-3333, thirdplacebooks.com. Free. All ages. 7 p.m. PC

May 9, Tuesday

Radiotopia Live Radio nerds, unite: A “collective of the best podcasts around,” as Criminal host Phoebe Judge puts it, has launched its first West Coast tour. Check out fresh stories, music, and live-onstage perks from some seriously talented audiophiles, including the producers of 99% Invisible (a show about design and all the things we don’t see), Mortified (wherein adults read aloud from their teenage diaries), and Criminal (stories of people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or landed somewhere in between). Plus adventures in the English language with The Allusionist and into the past with The Memory Palace. The Moore, 1932 Second Ave., 467-5510, radiotopia.fm/live. $27–$37. All ages. 8 p.m. SARA BERNARD

Aimee Mann There is a certain mundanity to everything Aimee Mann does, the Los Angeles singer/songwriter specializing in songs that cast everyday struggles in a soft light that makes them impossible to ignore and impossibly beautiful, her world-worn voice lending her vignettes a wounded and intoxicating humanity. Her latest, Mental Illness, is no exception. The Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., 682-1414., stgpresents.org. $33.50. All ages. 8 p.m. MARK BAUMGARTEN