The last weekend of August is looking to be a sunny sub-80-degree stunner, and do we see *gasp* rain in the forecast next week?! 

Our itinerary will have you inside, outside, dancing, cycling and theater-going. Plus, we have a bittersweet question for you at the end.

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YOUR WEEKEND ITINERARY

“The Shark Is Broken” but dangit, it’s 1974 and this movie “Jaws” still needs to be filmed. That’s the premise behind a play that opens this week at the Very Little Theatre, where three actors take on the roles of Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss behind the scenes during the famously troubled production. If you’re a “Jaws” fan, the play is rife with callouts. If you’re looking for a touching emotional core, that’s there too: the play was co-written by Ian Shaw, Robert Shaw’s son, who was only 8 years old when his father died. The play opens with a pay-what-you-can preview tonight, Thursday, Aug. 27, and runs through Sept. 13.

If you’re down for a day of walking through the Whit, the August Whiteaker Last Friday ArtWalk is this week, from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, at participating venues across the Whiteaker neighborhood. Nostalgic about the Whiteaker itself? The evening includes “Whiteaker Stories” at The Hybrid Gallery, with poems, music, local history and more. 

Lois Yoshishige, a founding member of Eugene Taiko, performs during the 34th Annual Obon & Taiko Festival last summer. Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield Credit: Max Unkrich / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Immerse yourself in Japanese culture during the 35th Obon & Taiko Festival, happening Saturday from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Yujin Gakuen Japanese Immersion School. The lively annual event features origami-making, taiko drumming performances and a traditional folk dance called bon odori (which you should totally join in on, no experience or mad boogie skills required). After you’ve danced your heart out, enjoy Japanese food and other Asian bites from local food vendors. 

The 100th anniversary screening of “The General” is this Saturday in Cottage Grove, where the Buster Keaton classic was filmed in 1926. While the 7:30 p.m. screening at Cottage Theatre is sold out, you can contact the theater box office at 541-942-8001 if you want to be added to the waiting list in case a spot opens up.

Hop on your bike for the Blackberry bRamble, an annual bicycle excursion that kicks off Sunday morning, Aug. 30, at Alton Baker Park. Register here and choose from several cyclist-friendly routes (including fully supported options) through the Willamette Valley. For some peddling motivation, you’ll be greeted by Mom’s blackberry pie and a scoop of Prince Puckler’s ice cream at the post-ride celebration. This year’s event benefits Twilight Operations.

one thing we loved this week

We’ve already mentioned this week’s opening of “The Shark Is Broken” at the Very Little Theatre (and have a feature on the play’s production in Eugene), but Annie wanted to turn your attention to one of the three great performances in the play as a particularly strong turn.

Kelly Oristano playing the actor Robert Shaw, during a sequence in “The Shark Is Broken” when the actor works on rewriting the U.S.S. Indianapolis speech his character Captain Quint delivers. Credit: Annie Aguiar / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Kelly Oristano is bowl-you-over excellent as Robert Shaw, the actor who played the unhinged shark hunter Captain Quint. Shaw’s U.S.S. Indianapolis speech is burned into the minds of “Jaws” fans, but Oristano told Lookout he didn’t want to play it “like a cover song.”

The result is a standout performance in a trio of strong actors. Oristano hits those same notes in Shaw style, but breaks through the expected rhythms of the speech itself to make something that feels entirely new — which feels odd to say about an actor playing an actor playing a scene in a beloved movie, but it’s true. 

in case you missed it — food and arts news

  • As we’re sure you’ve seen, Dolly Parton died this week at 80 years old. The country singer-songwriter wrote an ode to Eugene, Oregon, after a 1972 concert in our fair city, so there’s always been an especially sweet spot in Eugene residents’ hearts for Parton. Grace Chinowsky and Mike McInally wrote up the news this week, speaking to a Parton fan who was 10 years old and in the audience for the ’72 concert. Rest in Peace, Dolly.
  • If you’ve heard a guy play trumpet at an event in Eugene or Springfield, there’s a solid chance it was Barry Berreau. Berreau has been playing the trumpet since middle school, at games for the Eugene Emeralds and Springfield Drifters, at veterans’ funerals, in a polka band and more. Snowden intern Leo Heffron wrote a lovely profile of Berreau, accompanied by photos from Snowden intern Brooke Taché. 
  • A couple of weekends ago, I (Taylor) drove three hours to Port Orford for a story about sustainable fishing in this small, westernmost incorporated city in the lower 48. That is set to be published this weekend, so stay tuned. In between talking to fishermen, learning about bull kelp and watching giant cranes lift boats into the ocean, I noshed. From miso black cod bowls to salted caramel huckleberry ice cream, here are a few stops between North Bend and Port Orford to hit on your next trip to Oregon’s southern coast.
  • After the fire on Skinner Butte earlier this month, Annie checked in with the Shelton McMurphey Johnson House and the neighborhood at large about the fire fears at the historic Victorian mansion, which has burned down twice in its history. “I don’t need it to do it again,” live-in caretaker Tiffany Hallmark said.

Question for you

It’s been a heavy few weeks, folks.

First, the death of Hayden Panettiere, our favorite cheerleader (“Heroes”) and rising country star (“Nashville”), a child actress who openly struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues, and a mother who helped destigmatize postpartum depression. She would have turned 37 this month.

Then we lost Dolly Parton, country music icon, American songwriter, businesswoman, humanitarian, big-haired heroine, mother to us all, the heart of east Tennessee. She was one of 12 children, born in a one-room cabin near the Great Smoky Mountains. Her father, Robert Lee Parton, who never learned to read, said he was most proud of his daughter’s Imagination Library, a literacy program that has mailed more than 300 million free books to children worldwide, including in Lane County.

Tim Curry died the same day as Dolly. The English actor and singer played the most fabulous, larger-than-life roles and made us all terrified of storm gutters. While rocking a corset, fishnets and dramatic brow as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, he told us, “Don’t dream it, be it.”

This week, we invite readers to reflect on the lives of Hayden Panettiere, Dolly Parton and Tim Curry.

If you have a favorite memory, if their art or contributions uplifted you in some way, drop us a line at taylor@lookoutlocal.com and annie@lookoutlocal.com.

BEFORE YOU GO …

And in the words of Robert Shaw as Captain Quint, farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies.

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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.

Taylor Goebel covers Lane County's food and drink scene. She has nearly a decade of experience in multimedia journalism, having reported across the Mid-Atlantic on dining, food systems, education, healthcare, local elections, labor and business. She was most recently a food reporter in Washington state, where she documented a fourth-generation fishing family, covered a David vs. Goliath conflict between a national coffee chain and a small Turkish cafe, and had many culinary firsts, from ensaymadas and gilgeori (Korean street) toast to morels and black cod.