[What follows is one of the many merry articles in the Mercury’s Winter Guide 2025. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous this holiday season, support us here.—eds.] “This building gets us closer to the people,” says Portland Opera artistic director Alfrelynn Roberts. […]
Lindsay Costello
Lindsay is the Portland Mercury's staff writer, covering all things arts and culture. Send arts tips and pictures of birds to lindsay@portlandmercury.com.
What Wanders Through a Body?
[What follows is one of the many merry articles in the Mercury’s Winter Guide 2025. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous this holiday season, support us here.—eds.] The myth of feminine hysteria didn’t start in a Victorian sanatorium. Long before Freud heard […]
Kelly Reichardt’s Small Politics
In her 1970 essay “On the Morning After the Sixties,” Joan Didion described her disillusionment with the idea that political protest could “affect man’s fate in the slightest.” It’s an opinion James Blaine “J.B.” Mooney might share, if he were paying attention. He’s the lead character and hapless art thief in director Kelly Reichardt’s new […]
The Mercury’s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for November 17-23
Welp, welcome to another week, whether you like it or not—and there are, in fact, a few reasons to like it. Consider these: Lan Su Chinese Garden’s chrysanthemum celebration creates a “living gallery,” the Rothko Pavilion at the Portland Art Museum finally opens, and a stage adaptation of Little Women asks an important question—are you a […]
The Mercury’s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for November 10-16
When leaves fall onto the sidewalk in autumn, their tannins leach into the concrete and leave perfect little brown leaf prints all over the ground. So, we hereby declare this “perfect little brown leaf print” week—also known as: that stage of autumn when the sky darkens and grays, but there’s still a bit of good-autumn […]
Second Run Portland: In Memoria, Tilda Swinton Has a Sonic Headache
Unlike some months, the repertory movie screenings of November lack a natural theme. But our indie cinemas have still formed a united front, choosing films that ask their audiences to hang tight with a little more focus and faith than usual. Surreal and nonlinear selections like The Double Life of Véronique, The Color of Pomegranates, […]
The Mercury’s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for November 3-9
Halloween’s over! And it’s cold, rainy, and kind of dark outside!! Guess what would help? Adding to your TBR list. This week, new reads proliferate in many local venues and varieties: Portland Book Festival posts up at the art museum, Cover to Cover brings readings to lit-friendly locations on both sides of the river, and […]
Happy Halloween! What to Do October 30-November 2
LINDSAY COSTELLO: What’re you up to this Halloweekend? NOLAN PARKER: Idk yet, there’s so much on! Papi’s got a Día de los Muertos gig on in NE and Nonbinary GF are headlining a medieval punk show at High Limit Room. She/her about town, Jenna Fletcher is also chirping about a queer dance party at White […]
What Wanders Through a Body?
The myth of feminine hysteria didn’t start in a Victorian sanatorium. Long before Freud heard about it and thought it sounded super legit, ancient Greek doctors imagined the uterus as a restless “wandering womb,” traversing the body and wreaking emotional havoc. In The Wandering Womb at Lumber Room, Los Angeles-based artist Isabelle Albuquerque revives and digs […]
The Mercury’s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for October 27-November 2
As with most major holidays, celebrations leading up to Halloween are just as important as (if not more than) the main event. In Portland this week, the eves before All Hallow’s Eve promise cauldrons of tom yum pozole, classic horror screenings, and the real Big Scary—a novel that asks, “What if the Cascadia earthquake came […]
Theater Review: In Dancing on the Sabbath, the Viewer Is the Villain
“I wonder what might have happened if we’d intervened,” an audience member mused at the end of Shaking the Tree’s latest production, Dancing on the Sabbath. At check-in, we’d received a note on letterhead from the Office of Royal Protection—its black logo depicting an eyeball wearing a crown—explaining we would surveil five misbehaving princesses through an […]
The Mercury’s Do This, Do That: Your Top Events for October 20-26
We’re more than halfway through October, otherwise known as the best month of the year, which is a bit devastating. But the air is still crisp, the frogs are still inflatable, and this week’s events reflect the city’s devotion to celebrating fall, despite [gestures wildly]. For one thing, you can cop fresh cider and scare […]
