VISUAL ART

Oct 3–Jan 10
Art AIDS America
Ten years in the making, Tacoma Art Museum’s Art AIDS America takes a penetrating look at how our country has been impacted by HIV over the last three decades. The exhibit touches on the lives ravaged by the disease—the pain, the loss, the societal scorn, the politics—through more than 115 stunning works of art that span genre distinctions but unite with a common spirit. Tacoma Art Museum, $14

Oct 1–Jan 10
Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art
The east wing of the National Gallery of Art is undergoing construction. Lucky us. As a result, the wing’s extraordinary collection of works by the great French impressionists goes on its first-ever tour. Don’t miss your chance to see these breathtaking paintings by masters like Monet, Renoir, Manet, and Van Gogh without having to take a trip to DC. Seattle Art Museum, $20

THEATER

Thru Oct 18
A View from the Bridge
Arthur Miller’s classic tragedy A View from the Bridge opens Seattle Rep’s 2015–16 slate. The life of Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie Carbone becomes a muddled mess of anger, desire, and jealousy when his wife’s illegal immigrant cousins unexpectedly move in and one begins dating Eddie’s orphaned niece Catherine (who Eddie may adore a bit too much). Seattle Repertory Theatre, $17–$56

Thru Oct 18
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
To open the 2015–16 season, Book-It Repertory Theatre reprises its adaptation of Raymond Carver’s short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Over the course of four separate stories, the show explores what it means to be in love, employing a frank honesty befitting the struggles of everyday ordinary life. Center House Theatre, $25–$50

Thru Oct 24
Dracula
It just wouldn’t be October without a few batty, bloodsucking thrills. Taproot Theatre quenches our thirst for blood by premiering a new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Make sure your preshow meal includes garlic. Taproot Theatre, $20–$40

Oct 1–25
Waterfall
Set in tense pre–World War II Japan, the new musical Waterfall tells the tale of a Thai student and the American wife of an ambassador who engage in a cross-cultural, star-crossed romance. Thai pop star Bie Sukrit plays the lead in what producers hope will be the show’s last stop before Broadway. 5th Avenue Theatre, $15–$70

CONCERTS

Fri, Oct 2
Childbirth: ‘Women’s Rights’ Release Show
Seattle’s most irreverent feminist supergroup (featuring members of Chastity Belt, Tacocat, and Pony Time) returns to promote Women’s Rights, the group’s second LP of tongue-in-cheek tongue-lashings of the patriarchy. Catch the maternity gown-adorned women playing their newest comedic punk tunes about tech bros, fertility, Tinder, and nastiness when they celebrate the new album’s arrival with the help of Wimps, Universe People, and Mommy Long Legs. Chop Suey, $7–$10

Sat & Sun, Oct 3 & 4
Sinatra and Basie: It Might as Well Be Swing
To mark what would have been Ol’ Blue Eyes’ 100th birthday, Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra explores the three-album collaboration between Frank Sinatra and Count Basie that resulted in timeless tunes like “Come Fly with Me” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” Benaroya Hall and Kirkland Performance Center, $15–$48

Oct 3–5
Death Cab for Cutie
All good things must come to an end, but what comes next? Seattle stalwart Death Cab for Cutie lost founding guitarist and producer Chris Walla in 2014, but the band soldiers forward. The group’s latest album, Kintsugi, is named for the Japanese practice of fixing broken pottery cracks with gold to make the repair an artful part of the piece’s history. Metaphor much? Paramount Theatre, Sold out

Sun, Oct 4
Titus Andronicus
It’s hard to imagine a band that broke onto the scene with an album based around singer Patrick Stickles using the Civil War as a metaphor for his life (The Monitor) would ever try something more ambitious. But the latest Titus Andronicus record, The Most Lamentable Tragedy, is a 29-track, 93-minute long exhaustive punk rock opera about manic depression. Who would’ve guessed a Shakespearean-named band would be so dramatic? The Crocodile, $13

BOOKS & TALKS

Fri, Oct 2
Seattle City of Literature Release Party
Celebrate the release of Seattle City of Literature, a new anthology featuring local writers (including Tom Robbins, Rebecca Brown, Ed Skoog, Charles R. Cross, Elissa Washuta, Katherine Finneyfrock, and many more) writing on Seattle’s artistic merits and telling the stories that help form a new artistic identity the city. Editor Ryan Boudinot will be on hand with a slew of other writers to read from the book and discuss how and why Seattle is so rich in literary tradition. Hugo House, Free

SPECIAL EVENTS

Thru Oct 4
Star Wars and the Power of Costume
It's the last weekend to see Han’s vest, Leia’s slave bikini. Vader’s cape and helmet, Stormtrooper armor, and C-3PO’s golden exterior. Star Wars provided the most diverse set of iconic outfits in pop culture history (just think of all the Halloween costumes), and now you can get an up-close look at it. The otherworldly garb and concept designs from George Lucas’s galaxy far, far way will be on display at EMP in Star Wars and the Power of Costume. EMP, $30