CHARLOTTE'S WEB: I Am My Own Wife at PCS. IMAGE: OWEN CAREY

STAGE

An American Daughter

[CLOSES SUNDAY] Wendy Wasserstein's play tells the tale of Lyssa Dent Hughes (played here with great commitment by Karla Mason), a nominee for the post of surgeon general who encounters scandal and hostility from the housewives of middle America when it is revealed that she once failed to respond to a summons for jury duty. JAMES WALLING. Profile Theatre at Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 242-0080. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. Closes Nov. 12. $10-$28.

La Carpa Calavera

[CLOSES SUNDAY] Miracle Theatre Group's annual Day of the Dead celebration features a "carnivalesque" performance of bawdy acrobatic skeletons. Bellas Artes at The Milagro Theatre, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 7:30 pm Thursday, 8 pm Friday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. Closes Nov. 12. $15-$18.

Herringbone[NEW REVIEW] A dark vaudevillian tale of possession and repression told through the frantic song and dance of one actor, Taylor Askman, who plays nine characters with distinct voices and gestures. George's (a.k.a. Herringbone) cash-starved parents enroll him in acting lessons with the latter (and surviving) partner of the famous duo "The Frog and The Chicken." But the vengeful spirit of Lou the Frog will not rest, and he seizes the body of the boy in hopes of taking his act on the road with a new pair of feet. A word of warning: Some of what comes next as the boy struggles to reclaim his body is definitely not family-friendly. Askman gives a gripping performance in each and every role; if nothing else, he deserves recognition for the monumental force of will it takes to make dozens of character changes without screwing up once. Askman and Arts Equity should be applauded for reprising a powerful work at the Main Street Theatre. STEVEN WALLING. Arts Equity Onstage at the Main Street Theatre, 606 Main St., Vancouver, 360-695-3770. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays. Closes Dec. 23. $8-$24. I Am My Own Wife

[OPENS FRIDAY] The much-anticipated opening show of the Armory's Studio Theater features local superstar Wade McCollum as all 34 characters in Doug Wright's acclaimed play about the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a transsexual German furniture collector who managed to survive both the Nazis and the Stasi. Portland Center Stage at the Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturdays-Sundays. Opens Nov. 10. $16.50-$59.50.

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

[OPENS THURSDAY] Pixie Dust Productions takes over Triangle Productions' perennial crowd-pleaser about the modern mating game. Pixie Dust Productions at the World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon St., 624-0403. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Opens Oct. 9. $27-$30.

Jingle Spree

The actors in CoHo Productions' Jingle Spree do the best they can with playwright Dan Trujillo's script about a blue-collar family recovering from grief after their son accidentally kills his sister with a handgun. STACY RIGER. Coho Productions at the Coho Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 220-2646. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Nov. 18. $20-$23.

Leni

[CLOSES SATURDAY] Local actress and director Sarah Greenman makes her tremendous playwrighting debut with this thoughtful, provocative and thoroughly enjoyable examination of the many faces of history's most infamous filmmaker. BEN WATERHOUSE. Insight Out Theatre Collective at the Academy Theatre, 7818 SE Stark St., 493-8070. 8:30 pm Thursday-Saturday. Closes Nov. 11. $15.

The Maids

[OPENS THURSDAY] Sissyboy veterans Lee Kyle and Devan McGrath take on lunatic Frenchman Jean Genet's bizarre story of two homicidal, schizophrenic maids. P.boy Productions at the Back Door Theatre, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 971-506-9291. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays. Opens Nov. 9. $10-$12.

Demetri Martin

[ONE NIGHT ONLY] A Yale grad and contributing writer to The Daily Show, Martin comes to Portland for one evening of funny. House of Blues Concerts at the Aladdin Theatre, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 224-4400. 7 pm Tuesday, Nov. 12. $29.75.

Menopause the Musical

[OPEN-ENDED RUN] A hackneyed and trite musical revue converts pop songs of the '60s and '70s into ballads about hot flashes, weight gain and dildos. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 224-4400. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 5:30 pm Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Selling six weeks out. $44.50+ (Ticketmaster).

Mr. Marmalade

Artists Repertory Theatre's Mr. Marmalade is about a little girl named Lucy who is left alone for hours on end while her mom waits tables at a diner or goes out with slimy guys. Trying to make right what's wrong with reality, Lucy conjures up an imaginary world populated by obnoxious talking plants, a coke-snorting boyfriend named Mr. Marmalade and a flamboyant "personal assistant" who loves tea parties, but soon she finds out that even her fantasies can spin out of control. STACY RIGER. Artists Repertory Theatre Second Stage, 1516 SW Alder St., 241-1278. 7 pm Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 and 7 pm Sundays. Closes Nov. 19. $20-$40.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

[OPENS FRIDAY] Don Alder does Jack Nicholson in Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation of Ken Kesey's story about fun and games at the Oregon State Mental Hospital. Brundog Productions at Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 283-3456. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 4 pm Sundays. Opens Nov. 10. $13-$16.

The Pavilion

The Pavilion finds Peter (Michael O'Connell) and Kari (Valerie Stevens), the cutest senior couple of Pine City, Minn.'s, class of 1986, meeting for the first time since the abrupt end of their romance. BEN WATERHOUSE. (Read more at wweek.com.) Third Rail Repertory Theater at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate Ave., 235-1101. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Nov. 18. $15-$24.

Thin Turkey

[ONE NIGHT ONLY] Next Best Thing presents an evening of Thanksgiving-themed improv. Next Best Thing at the Brody Theater, 1904 NW 27th Ave., 224-0688. 8 pm Saturday, Nov. 11. $10, $7 students.

Three Years

[OPENS THURSDAY] Keith Scales directs the Portland premiere of Morton Paglin's adaptation of Chekhov's short novel about failed love in the time of the czars. Treegoda Productions at the West End Theatre, 1220 SW Taylor St., 1-800-838-3006. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 3 pm Sundays. Opens Nov. 9. $15.

A Tuna Christmas

[OPENS FRIDAY] Lakewood fires the opening volley of this year's holiday-show assault with the two-man slapstick sequel to Greater Tuna. Lakewood Theatre Company at the Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego, 635-3901. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 pm Sundays; 2 pm Nov. 19, Dec. 10 and 17. Opens Nov. 10. $23-$25.

West Side Story

[CLOSES SUNDAY] This show is nearly flawless, with an enormous and energetic cast of fine singers and dancers and a top-notch orchestra. BEN WATERHOUSE. Portland Center Stage at the Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Saturday, noon Thursday; 2 pm Saturday-Sunday. Closes Nov. 12. $18.50-$61.50.

CLASSICAL

Portland Opera: Faust

Portland Opera opened its season of "truth and transformation" with Charles Gounod's Faust, one of the most frequently performed operas of the past 200 years. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm Thursday andSaturday, Nov. 9 and 11. $39-$140.

Master Class with Leila Josefowicz

Public master-classes are fun, and often very funny, events. A generally well-established musical personality sweeps in to bestow precious knowledge on starry-eyed kids: you end up learning more about the teacher than the students. Josefowicz, appearing this weekend as soloist with the Oregon Symphony, is a commanding musician, and it might be interesting to see how she rates the local talent. But come on—50 bucks? To hear a concert violinist rake a 16-year-old over the proverbial coals? That takes some serious master-class dedication. 3350 SE Francis St., 823-3177, communitymusiccenter.org. 3 pm Friday, Nov. 10. $50 patron, $20 general, $10 student.

Classical Millennium Concerts

Everyone's favorite classical-music CD store opens its third season of live classical concerts at the intimate Broderick Gallery. Tessa Brinckman, flute; Dorothy Lewis, cello; and Cary Lewis, piano, all accomplished solo and chamber musicians, play a wide-ranging program from the 19th and 20th centuries, with works by Debussy, Samuel Barber and little-known composer Louise Farrenc. And if the music bores you, Michele Taylor's impressionist paintings of Cancún, on display in the gallery, will hold your attention. 814 SW 1st Ave., 224-4020. 8 pm Friday, Nov. 10. $9.

Oregon Symphony: Contrasts

Violinist Leila Josefowicz always gets a big local hand, and the Symphony's bringing her back for Paul Hindemith's Violin Concerto, which she's blazed through with some of the top regional orchestras around the country. Haydn provides some light and bounce with Symphony No. 37; excerpts from Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung offer heft and drama. Carlos Kalmar conducts. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 228-1353, orsymphony.org. 7:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 11. $20-$88.

Vancouver Symphony: Brahms & Brotons

The Vancouver Symphony is the bumpkin cousin of the Oregon Symphony: They hire freelance orchestral players at bargain-basement prices and play a few concerts a year in a high-school auditorium. The most noteworthy part of their Nov. 12 program is the U.S. premiere of Vancouver Symphony conductor-cum-composer Salvador Brotons' Stabat Mater, a sacred work for chorus, soloists and orchestra featuring the hardworking Portland Symphony Choir. Skyview High School Concert Hall, 1300 NW 139th St., 360-735-7278, Vancouver, Wash., 3 pm Saturday and 7 pm Sunday, Nov. 11-12. $20-$35.

DANCE

Luciana Proaño: "Me Siento con Vallejo" (I Feel with Vallejo)

In works like her solo Rite of Spring, Peruvian-born Proaño has proven herself a riveting movement artist who brilliantly weds stylized elements of folk dance with the fierce abandon of modern dance and innovative storytelling. For this imagined dialogue with César Vallejo, Peru's greatest poet, Proaño weaves a surreal, bilingual mise-en-scène with minimal elements of a hammock, castanets and processed voiceintensity of Vallejo's earthy verse. Conduit Dance, 918 SW Yamhill St., Suite 401. 977-0620. 8 pm Friday-Sunday, Nov. 10-12. $15 ($10 students, seniors, artists).

2nd Annual Food + Shelter Festival of Improvised Music and Dance

Improvisation, like our deep instincts for ritual and play, is an essential part of daily survival, yet we still feel the need to ask, "Are those real poems or did you make them up?" Improvised performance demands a double-barreled directness, trust and an avoidance of absolutes; at its best, it embraces the momentum of risk, failure and the possibility for radiance with honesty, vulnerability and fierce conviction. So, you may ask, in a world fraught with pain, pandemic and poverty, can art matter? Ask dancer-choreographer-sound artist-impressaria Kathleen Keogh, and you'll more than likely get a resounding affirmative—that next to sustenance and toolmaking, is man's overwhelming urge for festival-organizing. Keogh's Food + Shelter Festival of Improvised Music and Dance is just such a civilizing force in the wild, wooly world of improvised art. This year's festival is a kaleidoscopic sampler of earthly performative delight, embracing all the extremes of improvisation that gives you an excellent state-of-the-art overview of the genre's daring practitioners. One great weekend for a hootenanny into the unknown. TIM DUROCHE. Performances: Center Space, 420 SE 6th Ave., 249-0989. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, Nov. 10-11. $10-$12. Workshops: Hand2Mouth Theater's Goldsmith Performance Lab, 20 NW 5th Ave. (2nd floor), 249-0989. 10 am-4 pm Friday, Nov. 10; 10 am-7 pm Saturday, Nov. 11; 9:30 am-3:30 pm Sunday, Nov. 12. $20-$30.

Learn to Dance with Intention & Conviction

Impetus Arts offers a two-day inclusive dance workshop for mixed-ability dancers exploring solo and group work, clarity of intention, conviction and the fulcrum between improvisation and composition. With guest teachers Shannon Barnes and Yulia Arakelyan. Performance Works NorthWest, 4625 SE 67th Ave. 493-9090. 1-4 pm Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 11-12. $50-$75 (financial aid available)—pre-register by Nov. 9.