theatre A Behanding in Spokane
Let’s give a, well, you know, to Martin McDonagh (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) for this gory comedy. Rick Snyder, who earned a handful of Jeff Awards for his direction of the equally dark Killer Joe, comes armed with a cast that includes Darrell W. Cox, Eric Burgher, and some blood-curdling prosthetics.
GO: Previews 10/16–20; $15. Run continues through 12/4; $35–$40. Profiles Theatre, 4147 N Broadway. profilestheatre.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: Imagine the freak-show addictiveness of TV’s Nip/Tuck merged with the existential heft of Kafka: In Sideshow Theatre Company’s The Ugly One, Seth Bockley directs a brainy look at a skin-deep world. See it through 11/20 at Oracle Theatre.

dance Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
The Indiana-native-turned-name-in-lights-choreographer Twyla Tharp (Broadway’s Movin’ Out, Come Fly with Me) premieres a new work as part of Hubbard Street’s fall bill. If she can still nail barre sequences at 70 (as she did mid-interview), imagine what she can do with a troupe of flexible young dancers.
GO: 10/13 at 7:30, 10/14–15 at 8, 10/16 at 3. $25–$94. Harris Theater, 205 E Randolph. hubbardstreetdance.com

ALSO THIS WEEK: The contemporary-minded Joffrey goes against type and stages the 19th-century ballet Don Quixote—except, of course, this being the Joffrey, with lots of stylish tweaks courtesy of the former Bolshoi dancer turned choreographer Yuri Possokhov. See the result 10/12–23 at Auditorium Theatre. Meanwhile David Gordon, that New York master of stripped-down dance theatre, presents the low-tech Dancing Henry Five, featuring the famed ballet/Broadway vet Robert La Fosse, 10/13–15 at The Dance Center of Columbia College.

rock/pop Matthew Sweet
’Cause you need to get back in the arms of a good friend: Relive your soundtrack of yesteryear while priming your Discman—er, playlist—for what’s next when the 1990s power-pop phenom Sweet plays Girlfriend in its entirety on the occasion of the album’s 20th anniversary, as well as songs from his new release, Modern Art.
GO: 10/13–14 at 8. $30. Bottom Lounge, 1375 W Lake. bottomlounge.com

ALSO THIS MONTH: Portishead brings its spooky funk to the Aragon 10/12 as part of the band’s first tour since 1998, and Baaba Maal, who transformed Senegalese village melodies into Afropop, becoming one of the genre’s first international stars, plays the Old Town School of Folk Music 10/16.

museums Lunar
Spencer Finch’s solar-powered, Buckminster Fuller–inspired sculpture, Lunar, glows at the exact frequency of moonlight as measured from Chicago in July of this year. While we wouldn’t mind some midsummer sun right about now—how is it dark by 7 already?—we’ll settle for the chance to bask in Finch’s glow when the RISD grad and MASS MoCA alum hosts a talk and reception on the Modern Wing’s treetop terrace.
GO: 10/18 from 6 to 9. $40. Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S Michigan. artinstitutechicago.org

film True Horror Film Panel
An early Halloween affair that’s not cavity inducing (i.e., for the kids) or gag inducing (i.e., overrun by scantily clad nurses): The New York Times film critic and horror buff Jason Zinoman presents the restored 1971 short Foster’s Release, followed by a screening of John Carpenter’s 1978 classic, Halloween.
GO: 10/14 at 7. $5. Doc Films at Max Palevsky Cinema, Ida Noyes Hall, University of Chicago, 1212 E 59th. docfilms.org

ALSO THIS WEEK: The director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) hosts a screening of the film that changed her life, The Godfather, 10/16 at the Music Box, and the South Side native John C. Reilly talks about his oeuvre 10/12 as part of the Chicago International Film Festival.