QuickTake:

Your arts and culture to-do list for Sept. 4-10: Take in music by Mat Kearney or Meredith Adelaide; watch a reading of Arthur Miller‘s “Incident at Vichy”; catch a one-woman memoir play one night only; and more.

We are absolutely bursting at the seams with things for you this week, not even including the Warehouse District Art Hop on Eugene’s west side, where you can catch sculptor Jud Turner’s new work before it heads to Washington state, or the Springfield Block Party, which we’ll be at as a sponsor (see you there!). Let’s get into it: 

🤖 Thursday — Robopocalypse: The Musical: The Ashland-based horror comedy puppet troupe (side note, wouldn’t the world be better if we all had more horror comedy puppet troupes running around?) Puppeteers for Fears is bringing this robot apocalypse-themed musical to Whirled Pies in Eugene. Doors open at 7 p.m. Thursday, and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $28 at the door. The event is 21 and older. 

🎵 Friday — Mat Kearney at the Hult: Eugene-born musician Mat Kearney is playing at the Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall in downtown Eugene at 8 p.m. Friday. Kearney, who attended South Eugene High School, is stopping in town on his Headlights Home tour. Tickets are still available, starting at $39.50.

🎵 Saturday — Meredith Adelaide at the Art House: On Saturday, you’ll have another chance to see a musician with a Eugene background when Meredith Adelaide stops by the Art House, accompanied by the musician Adam Walt. Adelaide went to high school and college in Eugene, and is playing in town ahead of launching her debut album, “To Believe I’m the Sun.” Tickets are available for $20 in advance, and $25 on the day of the show, which starts at 7 p.m.

🎭 Saturday and Sunday — “Incident at Vichy” at the Very Little Theatre: The Not Ready for Retirement Players are putting on a staged reading of Arthur Miller’s one-act play, “Incident at Vichy,” about a democracy overrun by fascism. Definitely not reminiscent of anything happening right now … right? Tickets ($15 for general admission, $12 for seniors and students) are available for the Saturday evening reading at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.

🎭 Sunday — “See Jane Run, An Indo Story” at the Oregon Contemporary Theatre: Jane Vogel Mantiri is the writer and performer of this solo memoir play, about her life as an Indo woman, born in the Dutch East Indies with both Indonesian and European ancestry. This is one-show-only performance will be 2 p.m. Sunday at the Oregon Contemporary Theatre in downtown Eugene. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students or teens with ID. 

🎨 Tuesday — Body Positive Figure Drawing: A few weeks ago, I wrote about these figure drawing sessions at the Hybrid Gallery, the gallery and event space in Eugene’s Whiteaker neighborhood. If you haven’t touched your art supplies in a minute, like I hadn’t, it was a wonderful, low-stress creative environment to hop back in. It costs $10 per artist (or $11.63 to register online in advance) for an artist to participate in the session.

🇬🇧 Wednesday — EXTC at the WOW Hall: I can’t help but love a good pun. So I was delighted when I learned that the British new wave and post-punk band XTC’s drummer Terry Chambers’ band is called EXTC. EXTC is playing at Eugene’s WOW Hall on Sept. 10, with doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are available for $25 in advance and $30 on the day of the show, with tickets in the front two rows coming in at $35.

🎥 What’s coming to the movies

  • I’m not the biggest fan of the “The Conjuring” franchise, about married paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, but it has its charms. “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” billed as the final film in the series, started playing in local theaters today. Maybe the restless talent agents of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga can finally find peace as the franchise ends. (As with all “final” movies in a horror franchise, I remain skeptical it’s truly the last installment we’ll ever see.) Playing at Metro Cinemas, Regal Valley River Center, and Cinemark Eugene Springfield 17.
  • Could any demonic spirit be scarier than divorce? It’s even messier in the new romantic farce “Splitsville,” which kicks off with a man whose wife asks for a divorce. When he asks his friends what keeps their marriage working, the answer is keeping it open. Boundaries blur. Chaos and a fair amount of well-placed sight gags, per the New York Times’ review, ensue. Bonus: The wives are Adria Arjona (“Hit Man”) and Dakota Johnson (“Materialists”), while the husbands are the movie’s director, Michael Angelo Covino, and his co-writer, Kyle Marvin. Playing at Metro Cinemas and Cinemark Eugene Springfield 17.
  • We have an Oregon movie for you this week (sorry, Lane County, it was shot in Portland). “Twinless” is a dark comedy about two men who become friends after each loses their twin brothers. Variety called it “ingeniously squirmy and borderline inappropriate.” Fun! Playing at Metro Cinemas.
  • The pro shot of the Broadway hit musical “Hamilton” is in theaters nationwide for the first time this week. You would be forgiven for thinking it had been in theaters before, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed that release to Disney+ in 2020. Don’t throw away your shot (sorry, sorry, I’ll see myself out) to see it on the big screen. Playing at Regal Valley River Center and Cinemark Eugene Springfield 17.

Annie Aguiar is the Arts and Culture Correspondent. She has reported arts news and features for national and local newsrooms, including at the Seattle Times, the Washington Post and most recently as a reporting fellow for the New York Times’ Culture desk covering arts and entertainment.