Things to do: Work from 6 local sculptors, Eugene Ballet’s ‘Cinderella,’ oodles of theater

I hope you like theater! This week’s list is packed with stage shows from across our region, from fantastical spectacle of a sumptuous ballet to a domestic fairy tale for adults (not to mention the deep sea clowns). We also have two concerts to recommend and two fine arts events to add to your calendar for the week ahead. 

Let’s get into it:

Stage shows: theater, dance, clowns

See Eugene Ballet’s spellbinding ‘Cinderella’

This Toni Pimble-choreographed production of “Cinderella” features music from Orchestra Next and two different pairs of dancers as Prince Charming and Cinderella in different performances. Prepare to be impressed by on-stage chemistry: both pairs of principal dancers — Joshua Downard and Sarah Kosterman for one and Koki Yamaguchi and Koatsu Yashima as the other — are in romantic relationships with each other. 

• When: There will be three performances, Friday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Feb. 21, and Sunday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m.
• Where: The Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center
• How much: Tickets are available online and start at $30

‘Nori Noir’ mixes clowns, a sushi dinner and deep sea mystery

At this ocean-themed noir dinner theater show, a ticket gets you a multicourse vegan organic dinner from Sushi Star Brigade and a “Sub-Aquatic Vaudeville Murder Mystery With Clown, Song, Dance, Theater, Puppets, Aerial Arts and more” from the Glad Wagon and Coyote Call Circus. The Coyote Call Circus’ artistic director and co-producer is Nicole Medema, who taught the three-week clown workshop I attended and wrote about earlier this month, so I can promise quality clowning!

• When: There will be three days of performances: Friday, Feb. 20; Saturday, Feb. 21; and Sunday, Feb. 22. The Friday and Saturday shows start at 6 p.m., and the Sunday show starts at 3 p.m. A detailed schedule is available in the event description of the Eventbrite listing.
• Where: 3675 W. First Ave., Eugene
• How much: Tickets are available via Eventbrite. Advance tickets are on a sliding scale from $50 to $70 to attend one night, and tickets for children ages 5 to 17 are $24.50. (On the day of the show, those prices are $55 for adults and $25 for children.) A full festival weekend pass is $111.

‘The Swan’ crashes into Cottage Grove

Head down to Cottage Grove this weekend to see Eugene actress Kali Kardas (if you’re a Free Shakespeare in the Park fan, you would have seen her at last summer’s “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” as Valentine) in a production of “The Swan,” a play written by Elizabeth Egloff about a depressed, thrice-divorced nurse who nurses a swan back to health after it crashes through her window. 

• When: The play opens this Friday, Feb. 20, and runs through next Saturday, Feb. 28. There are five performances scheduled, each at 7:30 p.m. except for a 2 p.m. matinee this Sunday, Feb. 22.
• Where: The Opal Center for Arts & Education, 513 E. Main St., Cottage Grove
• How much: Tickets are $20, available online or at the door.

Pegasus Playhouse casts a ‘Godspell’

Pegasus Playhouse, a Springfield community theater that lost its building and faced financial issues after Medicaid cuts trickled down to hurt their funding last year, has landed on its feet with performances in different venues; Their “Godspell” brings the Stephen Schwartz musical retelling of the Gospel of Matthew to the Willamalane Adult Activity Center.

• When: There will be six performances of Pegasus’ “Godspell,” starting this Friday, Feb. 20, and running through Sunday, March 1. Friday and Saturday performances start at 7 p.m., while Sunday shows start at 6 p.m.
• Where: Willamalane Adult Activity Center, 215 West C St., Springfield
• How much: Admission is donation-based.

‘The Found Dog Ribbon Dance’ at Very Little Theatre

This quirky comedy, written by Brooklyn-based playwright Dominic Finocchiaro and performed at Very Little Theatre, is about a woman named Norma, a professional cuddler on a quest to reunite a lost dog with its family. The unusual job and the reunion mission lead to a series of “curious encounters,” and a barista named Norm.

• When: The play opens this Friday, Feb. 20, and runs through March 8. All performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m., while Sunday matinee shows start at 2 p.m.
• Where: The Very Little Theatre, 2350 Hilyard St., Eugene
• How much: Tickets are available online. Adult tickets are $22; student tickets are $16. 

What were the other options?

Concerts 

DJ Pauly D at the McDonald Theatre

Anyone up for some “Jersey Shore” nostalgia? DJ Pauly D is coming to town to DJ for one night only this Saturday, if you’d like to fist-bump your heart out to one of the 2000s most memorable on-screen reality stars.

• When: The show starts at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21.
• Where: McDonald Theatre, 1010 Willamette St., Eugene
• How much: Tickets are $52.35. 

Zoë Aqua and her Transylvanian String Band 

This evening of Transylvanian folk and klezmer music is free as part of the University of Oregon’s School of Music and Dance’s World Music Series. Zoë Aqua is a musician and academic who, on a Fulbright grant, studied Transylvanian folk music, which helped inspire her latest album, “In a Sea of Stars.”

• When: Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m. 
• Where: Aasen-Hull Hall, Room 190, 961 E. 18th Ave., on the UO campus. The concert will also be livestreamed. 
• How much: Free

What were the other options?

Art

‘As We See It: Six Sculptors’ at Maude Kerns Art Center

Local artists Nadya Geras-Carson, Anna Golden, Mary Maggs Warren, Karen Myers, Christine Paige and Ellen Tykeson have been working together for decades, originally starting as a group in Lane Community College sculpture classes taught by Tykeson. This exhibit features pieces from each sculptor, celebrating both the art and the friendships they’ve cultivated with each other.

• When: The exhibit opens this Friday, Feb. 20, starting with a free opening reception scheduled for 5 p.m.
• Where: Maude Kerns Art Center, 1910 E. 15th Ave., Eugene.
• How much: Free

Reza Safavi: ‘Binging on the Biome’ 

Reza Safavi, who graduated with a master of fine arts degree from the University of Oregon in 2006, will be presenting his “Binging on the Biome,” inspired by ecosystem edge zones where different environments meet, using light-based works, scanned and printed ice forms, film, fabric and kinetic systems; much of his work is recreations of ice formations using point cloud data scans. His “Komagataeibacterberg,” included in the exhibit, is an iceberg mimic made from a custom biomaterial, using ocean microbes and kombucha. 

• When: A lecture and reception are scheduled for this Thursday, Feb. 19, at 4 p.m.
• Where: The Laverne Krause Gallery at Lawrence Hall, 1190 Franklin Blvd., on the UO campus.
• How much: Free

What were the other options?

Movies

We don’t have any notable new releases in local theaters this week; recent box office releases in theaters that weren’t highlighted in previous roundups are “GOAT,” the animated talking animal feature about a basketball-playing goat, and a Chris Hemsworth-fronted crime thriller aptly named “Crime 101.” Sure!

Special screenings 

Metro Cinemas is screening collections of this year’s Oscar-nominated short films, with separate screenings for animated, live action and documentary shorts.  

This Friday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m., the Art House and the Northwest Indigenous Language Institute at the University of Oregon is hosting a special screening of two documentaries, “Kla-Mo-Ya Language” by UO student filmmaker Princess (Princi) Bass-Mason, and “And Knowledge to Keep Us,” by UO journalism professor Torsten Kjellstrand, about a Sugpiat language camp on Alaska’s Kodiak Island. A Q&A with Bass-Mason, Kjellstrand and language revitalization practitioners will follow the two screenings. Tickets are available on a sliding scale by donation, with a suggested ticket price of $10 for students and $20 for adults; proceeds will go to the institute.

What were the other options?

Thanks for reading, Lookout members. If there are any events I should be including here, or any feedback for this weekly list, drop me a line at annie@lookoutlocal.com.