Alberta Arts

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, releasing September 22. 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.

The Big Trans Comedy Show is a yearly comedy show featuring only trans identified comedians, and this is the biggest one yet, featuring multiple touring and well-loved comedians, plus a handful of your local favorites! Proceeds of this show will also benefit SMYRC, whose mission is to offer vital resources to 2SLGBTQIA+ youth in Portland.

Headlining the Big Trans Comedy show are 4 of the top trans stand-up comedians in the country, including Mx. Dahlia Belle, featured on Netflix. Ren Q. Dawe, a finalist for the Queerties and founder of the Here to Pee Comedy Tour. Hayden Johnson was selected for Just for Laughs’ New Faces and Netflix is a Joke Comedy Festivals. And River Butcher, featured on Comedy Central, has written and performed in several highly acclaimed television series, and was named one of ten comedians to watch by Vanity Fair.

This show also features Portland local favorite comedians Mack Lee, Moisés Araguaney, IMANI, and Portland’s Funniest Person of 2025 Ally J Ward.

Ages 18+

Ages 18 – 20 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

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.

worldclassmusic.live presents Olas Perdidaswww.olasperdidas.com/
doors 7pm / showtime 7:30pm
Olas Perdidas is a mesmerizing new band that fuses the vibrant, rhythmic traditions of Son Jarocho from Veracruz, Mexico, with the cinematic, evocative sounds of spaghetti Western music. Xoco Moraza (jarana, vox and harp) and Todd Hannigan (guitar, vox) infuse Olas Perdidas with sweeping, cinematic energy, blending the lively strums of the jarana and requinto jarocho with the haunting twang of guitars and dramatic flair of Ennio Morricone-inspired compositions.Olas Perdidas creates a unique soundscape that bridges coastal Mexican folk and the rugged, dusty trails of the Wild West. Get ready for a musical journey that's both soulful and adventurous! www.olasperdidas.com/

Join another installment of Portland's #1 hip-hop showcase. March's Thesis brings the energy back to straight bars.

Enjoy an incredible, rap-focused lineup stacked around him to close the year strong. Expect fire from start to finish.

Written by Langston Hughes, directed by Jerry Foster, music directed by JerMichael Riley PhD, choreography by Kemba Shannon. Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity tells the story of the Nativity from an African-American perspective through a combination of scripture, poetry, dance, and song with griot-style narration. A roof-raising, spirit-catching, musical tour-de-force that will bring you to your feet. Pure joy for the season! Bring the whole family. Make it a block party!

Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity tells the story of the Nativity from an African-American perspective through a combination of scripture, poetry, dance, and song with griot-style narration.

Written by Langston Hughes, directed by Jerry Foster, music directed by JerMichael Riley PhD, choreography by Kemba Shannon.

A roof-raising, spirit-catching, musical tour-de-force that will bring you to your feet. Pure joy for the season. Bring the whole family. Make it a block party.