Anna Ehrlemarks Winners

WINNERS—Suzette Smith reviewed Anna Ehrlemark's Winners, a collection of new and old comics just released by Portland's own Floating World. Suzette says of the Swedish comics artist: "Ehrlemark gives the impression of being a tireless traveler, rolling a cigarette and speaking perfectly in multiple languages. Her thick-inked comics run at the reader with disorienting intensity, and include creepy sisters that both love and devour one another, along with stories about gluttony, ceremony, and love."

DENTAL ANOMALIES—We seem to have a fixation on dental anomalies here in the arts section. In our fall arts guide, Jenna Lechner delved into the strange history of OHSU's unique collection of teeth, and this week, Joshua James Amberson reviews Valeria Luiselli's latest. "Valeria Luiselli's unlikely second novel, The Story of My Teeth, is initially told through Gustavo "Highway" Sánchez Sánchez, a tall-tale auctioneer who has Marilyn Monroe's teeth implanted in his mouth, and will auction anything off," writes Joshua. It only gets weirder from there!

LONG-DEAD POETS WHO ARE ALSO SPIES—Third Rail Repertory Theatre just opened an innovative play about the life of 17th-century British spy/poet/playwright/general literary badass Aphra Behn, and I saw it and it's great! From my review: "Or, is a goofy, unapologetically bawdy, winsomely adult play, in which not much really happens, but there's much to be entertained by, with the exception of some truly uncalled-for rhyming couplets (SERIOUSLY WHY?)."

EASTER PLAYS—Meanwhile, Shaking the Tree grabs the baton from Profile Theatre in launching Part III of Passion Play this week (Parts I and II were produced as part of Profile's Fall Festival). "[I]t's undeniably fun and wonderfully strange; if these first two installments are any indication, the final part in the trilogy should be too," writes Joshua James Amberson in his preview. "And where else can you see faked immaculate conceptions, dead fish parades, a gay Jesus, and tyrannical ruler walk-ons on one stage in a single night?" Where, indeed!