Performing Arts❯Comedy

Get ready to turn up the Selena spirit at a fabulous drag brunch celebrating the Queen of Tejano! From “Como La Flor” to “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” the queens will bring the iconic looks, powerhouse performances, and undeniable Selena energy. So grab your besties, put on your glitter, and get ready to feel “I Could Fall in Love” all over again! Hosted by Kharisma!

- 2 premium seats
- $90 food & beverage credit ($45 per person)
- Gratuity
- Ticket Protection

Management reserves the right to prevent customers from entering the facility who they deem disruptive or dangerous to other patrons.

Get ready to turn up the Selena spirit at a fabulous drag brunch celebrating the Queen of Tejano. From “Como La Flor” to “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” the queens will bring the iconic looks, powerhouse performances, and undeniable Selena energy. So grab your besties, put on your glitter, and get ready to feel “I Could Fall in Love” all over again. Hosted by Kharisma.

• Thursday, November 5
• The Heathman Lodge | 7801 NE Greenwood Dr., Vancouver
• Doors Open: 6:00 p.m. | Program Begins: 6:30 p.m.

A special one-night Korean Americana collaboration dinner at Jeju featuring Chef Andrew Lim of Perilla (2026 Jean Banchet Nominee, 5x Michelin Bib Gourmand), Chef Peter Cho of Jeju & Han Oak (2x James Beard Finalist), and Dave & Lois Cho of Cho Wines (Oregon's first Korean American winery). Expect wood-fired cooking, Willamette Valley wine, and Korean American pride.

Live Wire joins forces with the Portland Art Museum for an afternoon of roving performances ahead of an evening recording of the program. The event coincides with PAM's monthly Free First Thursday and the Portland Book Festival's expanded programming. Performers will include poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle.

Free pop-up performances will take place throughout the Museum’s galleries, giving visitors a chance to catch live performances and storytelling while moving through the PAM spaces. Completely free through PAM’s Free First Thursday general admission. Also, enjoy a fully seated, ticketed Live Wire taping hosted by Luke Burbank with announcer Elena Passarello, featuring a blend of interviews, comedy, and music performed live for the audience, then edited into an episode for broadcast to over 200 public radio stations nationwide.

Visitors can take in the afternoon gallery pop-ups, the evening show, or both.

Meet the Tokyo Kanpai Boys, Japan's funniest stand-up comedians bringing brand-new material and a wildly entertaining look at life & comedy through Japanese eyes.

Featuring Kansei Yasuda, Daniel Wilson, Shota Saimu and Daisuke Muramoto.

Whether they're explaining Japanese dating culture, exposing everyday misunderstandings between East and West, or simply proving that awkwardness is universal in every language, Tokyo Kanpai Boys delivers a show that's packed with laughs.

Don’t miss this unforgettable night of international comedy that bridges cultures through laughter. Cheers ("Kanpai!") to that. 🍻

Featuring:

Kansei Yasuda

Originally from Tokyo and now based in Toronto, Kansei is one of the fastest-rising international comics working today. A Golden Ticket winner on Kill Tony, he has toured throughout North America and Asia, earning acclaim for his energetic storytelling, sharp cultural observations, and brilliantly unpredictable style.

Daniel Wilson

A Japanese-American comedian based in Tokyo, Daniel has built a massive global following through his viral "Let Me Teach You Some Japanese" videos, earning over200,000 Instagram followers and 5.5 million TikTok likes. Trained at Japan's prestigious Watanabe Comedy School, he combines Japanese and American comedy traditions into a style that's both insightful and endlessly relatable.

Shota Saimu

Known for his deceptively quiet stage presence and devastating punchlines, Shota has become a favorite among audiences in both Japan and the United States. Performing in both English and Japanese, his dry delivery, understated confidence, and viral online clips have made him one of Japan's most exciting emerging comedic voices.

Daisuke Muramoto

One of Japan's most recognizable comedians, Muramoto first rose to fame as half of the legendary manzai duo Woman Rush Hour, appearing on hundreds of television programs before reinventing himself as one of Japan's boldest stand-up voices. His acclaimed documentary I Am a Comedian chronicles his journey from mainstream celebrity to internationally touring performer whose fearless comedy tackles politics, culture, and identity.

Management reserves the right to prevent customers from entering the facility who they deem disruptive or dangerous to other patrons.

Portland Book Festival welcomes Molly and Meherwan Irani, the husband-and-wife team behind Asheville’s nationally celebrated Chai Pani Restaurant Group. Their flagship restaurant, Chai Pani, was named Outstanding Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation in 2022.

This year, Molly and Meherwan each bring a new book to the table. Meherwan has written No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World: At-Home Recipes from the Streets, Truck Stops, Villages, and Palaces of India. Molly’s Service Ready: A Story of Love, Restaurants, and the Power of Hospitality was published earlier this year. Together, the books offer two very different—and deeply connected—perspectives on food, restaurants, and hospitality.

In celebration of Diwali—the Hindu festival of lights, marked by food, gathering, and celebration—Molly and Meherwan will join their longtime friend Chef Troy MacLarty at Bollywood Theater on Alberta Street for a collaboration. Bollywood Theater will serve a special menu inspired by recipes from Meherwan’s book alongside its own Diwali-inspired menu. It’s a gathering of longtime friends, great food, and two books that reflect different sides of a shared life in restaurants.

Both books will be featured at Portland Book Festival, and Molly and Meherwan will be on hand at Bollywood to meet guests and sign copies.

Portland Art Museum invites the community to join a Free First Thursday event, offering free admission to the museum for all, plus a Live Wire event as part of the Literary Arts Portland Book Festival. Visitors can take in the afternoon gallery pop-ups, the evening show, or both!

4:30 – 6 p.m. — Free, pre-show, pop-up performances will take place throughout the Museum’s galleries. Performers are poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle.

Free First Thursday tickets can be reserved online one week in advance and are also available at the door.

7 p.m. — Enjoy a fully seated, ticketed Live Wire taping hosted by Luke Burbank with announcer Elena Passarello, featuring a blend of interviews, comedy, and music performed live for the audience, then edited into an episode for broadcast to over 200 public radio stations nationwide. Performers are poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle. Doors will open at 6:30pm.

GA Tickets are $15. Preferred Seating is $40. Discounts available to Portland Book Festival passholders.

Dessa is a singer, rapper, and writer who fell in love with language as a toddler—and just never got over it. Now, she works in fields that traffic in words: she’s recorded rap bangers as part of the fiercely independent Doomtree collective, released a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra; contributed to The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler; delivered a TED Talk on the intersection of romance and neuroscience that’s notched more than 4 million views; hosted 2 seasons of behavioral science podcast Deeply Human (BBC/American Public Media); and published a memoir recounting most of the above called My Own Devices (Penguin Random House).

Mac Barnett, the 2025–2026 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, is a New York Times bestselling author of stories for children. Mac’s books have won many prizes, including two Caldecott Honors, three New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book Awards, three E. B. White Read Aloud Awards and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, as well as several international prizes. He lives in Oakland, California. His latest book, illustrated by X. Fang, is Tom Nancy: The Sheep Who Swapped Brains with a Boy. From two of the most exciting picture book makers today comes a hilarious trickster tale and Freaky Friday switcheroo story: a sneaky, cheeky sheep named Tom Nancy has a brain swap proposal for an innocent farm boy named Felix that will change both of their lives forever. Laugh-out-loud, subversive, and totally unexpected.

Ed Park is the author of the novels Personal Days and Same Bed Different Dreams. He is a founding editor of The Believer, and has worked in newspapers, book publishing, and academia. His writing appears in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. Profound, wily, and beautifully wrought, his new book Three Tenses: A Transmission from the Nineties is a meeting of memory and myth, confession and obfuscation, coalescing to offer a singular picture of creativity in action.

The princess of Portland comedy, best known for her breakout performance on the popular Netflix special Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda, Mx. Dahlia Belle has been compared to a Swiss Army knife—different tools to extract sharpness, softness, vulnerability, hope, and wicked wit. She’s been declared one of “11 Trans Comedians… Funnier Than Dave Chappelle” by Out Magazine, repeatedly featured on NPR, and has written for Cosmopolitan Magazine, The Guardian, The Stranger, and Portland Mercury. Her live performances have included NW Black Comedy Festival, Upper Left Comedy Festival, SF Sketchfest, and an awkward conversation with John Waters and Piers Morgan. In the upcoming live taping of her comedy special Affirmed at Polaris Hall on November 22nd, Mx. Dahlia Belle delivers 60 new minutes of stand-up to celebrate and affirm being human in the modern world through a combination of the wholesome and mundane, anecdotes about house cats, liscivious foibles of the LGBT community, and an unapologetic account of her personal journey with gender-affirming care, all delivered with her trademark free form wit.

Free First Thursdays at the Museum and PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater aligns with the revitalization of the long-standing Portland art galleries’ tradition of opening their doors for openings, receptions, and events on the first Thursday of each month. In recent months art and culture organizations have joined to bring back this popular activity, including the Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education in the North Park Blocks.

Generous support provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.

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This ever-popular event will be emceed by local entertainer Enrique E. Andrade, who is a member of the ensemble cast of Marigolds y Memorias, this year’s centerpiece theatrical attraction for the Milagro Central Eastside Muertos Celebration. Originally from Mexico City, Andrade is an accomplished actor and voice-over artist who has appeared in more than two dozen Milagro productions, as well as working at Portland Story Theater and 3rd Angle Music Ensemble. His screen credits include Leverage, Grimm, and The Librarians. The evening’s headline entertainer is Portland’s own Yissel Lopez, who has won over audiences with her captivating Latin pop and Mariachi fusion music.

Guests will dine on a uniquely prepared three-course dinner catered by beloved Portland restauranteur Lucy de Leon, featuring dishes from both her new downtown hotspot, Madrina Cocina Mexicana, and the Eastside La Patroncita, famous for serving up a fusion of time-honored recipes and innovative creations, lovingly prepared with the freshest ingredients and the essence of home. Wine for this special evening is provided by A to Z Wineworks, Oregon’s top-selling wine brand, which pursues its mission to offer dependable, quality wine which is accessible to all.

A guest favorite year after year, our silent auction of unique Mexican artisanal goods will again temp guests with beautiful, one-of-a-kind works of art and other cultural gems. And perhaps most important of all, a major draw of ¡Viva Milagro! is the opportunity to connect and spend time with a room full of Milagro friends and supporters!

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For over 40 Seasons, Milagro has been dedicated to bringing the vibrancy of Latino theatre, culture, and art education to audiences in the Pacific Northwest and across the country. We provide a home for artists and audiences seeking authentic Latino cultural experiences. We value creativity and diversity; we welcome the risk of experimentation while respecting tradition; we empower our artists to think creatively and act collaboratively; we are often irreverent but never irrelevant.

In the coming season, we we’ll work hard to keep providing reduced ticket prices for students, to take our bilingual outreach efforts to more communities where the arts are lacking, to transform El Zócalo into a buzzing space for our community groups, and to bring talented artist residents to Milagro. However, we need your help to make this and more happen!

Sponsorships start at just $500.

For more information, please contact us!
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 503-236-7253