Best Bets: John Waters at West Theatre

DULUTH — Halloween is upon us! Check out our spooky season guide for a roundup of events in the spirit of the season, and read on for a few more ideas not specifically related to the holiday.

Filmmaker John Waters is almost synonymous with camp: the quality of being knowingly, unapologetically over-the-top, unrestrained by conventional notions of good taste. It’s a liberating aesthetic, and it’s turned Waters movies including “Pink Flamingos” (1972), “Hairspray” (1988) and “Cry-Baby” (1990) into cult classics. The 77-year-old auteur is touring the country with a spoken-word show titled “Devil’s Advocate,” and he’s bringing it to the West Theatre on Wednesday and Thursday.

The “fast-moving, part-confessional, part-inquisitional” show promises to be a descent — or ascent, for Waters worshipers — into the world of the self-described “filth elder”

(thewesttheatre.com).

The Zeitgeist Zinema has been hosting a range of creepy classics, but come Thursday, Halloween will yield the screen to an important topic: transportation equity. “Biking While Black” is a short documentary by director Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, who will be present for a talkback about the issues her film raises. While the film focuses on Los Angeles, its subject matter is highly relevant in Duluth, where the local culture around outdoor recreation and sustainable transportation hasn’t always been inclusive or welcoming to people of color

(zeitgeistarts.com).

Don’t wait until Duluth’s young actors have moved on to Hollywood like

Bailey Stender

and

Julia Rickert

— see them while they’re still on local stages. You have two sterling opportunities this week.

Duluth Playhouse’s Youth Theatre program is presenting “Anything Goes,” an age-appropriate edition of the 1934 musical featuring the songs of Cole Porter. Playing at the NorShor Theatre for five performances this weekend, the show stars Reagan Kern as Reno Sweeney, Baker Anderson as Billy Crocker and Lyra Tennis Luoma as Hope Harcourt. It will mark the last Playhouse production directed by departing education director

Courtney Laine Self

(duluthplayhouse.org).

Over at Duluth East High School, students are presenting a high school version of “Mean Girls,” the musical based on the 2004 movie. “It’s a show that touches on so many themes that we know the kids see in their everyday lives,” co-director Peter Froehlingsdorf told the News Tribune. Sofia Salmela, who stars as lead mean girl Regina George, is familiar to Minnesota theatergoers who have seen her in roles including

Matilda (Children’s Theatre Company)

and

Annie (Duluth Playhouse).

“Mean Girls” opens Thursday

(dulutheast.isd709.org).

If you want to go out but don’t want to wear a costume, the Twin Ports have you covered with a robust slate of music shows this weekend. (Costumes still might not be a bad idea.) Theatrical rock band Sadkin kicks things off Friday with an album release show at The Main Club, an event that’s set to include a “haunted fashion show” and a set from NVR TGTHR

(instagram.com/dollhausoct27).

Then, on Saturday, veteran local rock band Lo-Fi is reuniting for a gig at The Reef, where the group held court Wednesday nights back in the middle of this century’s first decade

(thereefduluth.com).

Rafe Carlson, a Duluth singer-songwriter who’s been making his way in Nashville, plays Spurs On First the same night

(facebook.com/rafecarlsonofficial)

while comfy Americana trio Turn Turn Turn plays Sacred Heart

(sacredheartmusic.org)

and Fenestra Funk brings the noise at R.T. Quinlan’s with Confucisaurus

(facebook.com/fenestrafunkduluth).

The late prose poet Louis Jenkins was a literary legend in Duluth, where he lived for 46 years. Known for his ability to find a humorous resonance in seemingly ordinary human events, as well as for being inspired by Northland nature, Jenkins was best-known for the play “Nice Fish”: a collaboration with Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance. On Saturday, Will o’ the Wisp Books will publish the writer’s collected poems in a single volume. “Writing poetry,” Jenkins told the

Duluth Budgeteer

in 2004, “gets to be a way of thinking”

(willothewispbooks.com).

Arts and entertainment reporter Jay Gabler joined the Duluth News Tribune in 2022. His previous experience includes eight years as a digital producer at The Current (Minnesota Public Radio), four years as theater critic at Minneapolis alt-weekly City Pages, and six years as arts editor at the Twin Cities Daily Planet. He’s a co-founder of pop culture and creative writing blog The Tangential; he’s also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Minnesota Film Critics Alliance. You can reach him at [email protected] or 218-279-5536.