Welcome to Big Week, our weekly guide to cool things to do, put together by our expert critics and writers.
GENERAL ARTS
Caitlin Donohue wants you to do it all, in style.
THROUGH NOV 8: ASSIMILATION Two tales of immigration by E.L. Doctorow and Tatyana Tolstaya, brought to the stage to examine the human response when the ground shifts beneath them. Directed by local great Rotimi Agbabiaka, the evening will present a more nuanced take on human beings in new lands than the evening news could ever offer. ZSpace, SF. Tickets and more info here.
THROUGH NOVEMBER 20: IN THEIR NAME Curated by Bridgett Rex and Rio Yañez, this phenomenal annual altars exhibition is always on the pulse of the ebb and flow of life in the Bay. Artists from a dazzling variety of backgrounds contribute lovingly crafted ofrendas. This year, the show is dedicated to the recently passed florist Tosha Stimage, who left behind a poignant interview with her friend and death midwife Bloodstone in which Stimage shared, “If practices of care aren’t normalized and practiced with urgency, we can’t hope to have a world—let alone a creative one.” SOMArts Cultural Center, SF. More info here.
THROUGH NOVEMBER 20: SF DANCE FILM FESTIVAL Documentaries, performance film, and all kinds of movement-based filmic moments come to the screen for the 17th year of this fest. Tap in for info on show times, in addition to artist Q&As, and a host of workshops and gatherings. Various Bay Area venues. Tickets and more info here.
THU/29: AFTER DARK: CREEPATORIUM Not sure if this makes the season’s frights easier or harder to navigate, but tonight’s after-hours Exploratorium bash invites all costumed comers to “discover the science behind what scares us. From insects to heights, explore the evolution of our survival instincts guided by experts.” Exploratorium, SF. Tickets and more info here.
FRI/30 AND SUN/1: LUNA MEXICANA Oakland Ballet Company brings Día de Muertos to the stage in a dazzling production that was originally penned by its artistic direector Graham Lustig. The result is a whirling tribute to an array of Mexican folkloric legacies, accentuated by compositions created by Mexico City’s Mexican Institute of Sound. Paramount Theatre, Oakland. Tickets and more info here.
SAT/31: DOLLY’S MILE HIGH CLUB Let’s be real: among the biggest frights of 2026 was certainly losing our angel-voiced, studiously trashy literacy champion. Kochina Rude hosts this tribute to the legend with a chorus line of talented Dolly drag performers—and if you join them in recreating an iconic Dolly look yourself, you’re only paying $1 to get into the event. Eli’s Mile High Club, Oakland. Tickets and more info here.
SAT/31: HALLOWEEN IN THE MISSION The Sazon Libre crew takes over The Chapel with Cold SF for a good old spooky tropical bass moment. $100 costume contest at midnight, chance to show out your carefully crafted K-Pop Demon Hunters ‘fit all night. The Chapel, SF. Presales sold out—tickets available at the door. More info here.
SAT/31: GLAMNESIA 2000 The Fake and Gay and Dark Entries crew have plotted out a very club kid Halloween for the freaks and shrieks. It will be crowned by an incredibly rare performance by “one of the most legendary and scandalous voices in house music, Sweet Pussy Pauline,” according to Marke B., who published his throwback interview with the generational artist this week. The Stud, SF. Tickets and more info here.
SUN/1: OAKLAND DÍA DE MUERTOS Fruitvale offers the Bay’s biggest Día de Muertos celebration, which got started early this year, with the installation a few weeks ago of a 34-foot-tall Catrina statue that was created by Mexican artisans and shipped north to tower over the Oakland holiday crowds. This year’s theme is “La Lucha Continúa: Aquí estamos y no nos vamos [The Struggle Continues: We Are Here and We’re Not Leaving]”—expect altars, kid’s activities, traditional crafts, and live music to which to honor your dead. 10am-5pm. Fruitvale Village, Oakland. More info here.
SUN/1: ŌMEYŌCĀN: TZAPOTL A gathering “exploring the intersection of life, death, celebration, and Indigenous memory and spirituality” that calls on a talented lineup featuring vinyl DJ sets by Spiñorita and Brown Angel, drag by La Chuca Rude and Per Sia, peformance by San Cha, a sound bath, and nightlife ritual whose tempo will quicken throughout the night. RSVP for location.
MON/2: MISSION DISTRICT DÍA DE MUERTOS Everything we love about the Mission, encapsulated in a day of tribute and community. The Día de Muertos celebration marks its 45th year with Aztec danzantes and a special emphasis on Latino storytellers in the medium of film. The poignant festival of altars comes with a theme of “Familia: Entre raices y el Cielo [Family: Between roots and heaven]” this year—organizers have encouraged a focus on commemorating families facing “displacement, separation, and violence.” Procession: 7pm, 22nd and Bryant streets, SF. Festival of altars: altar building begins at 10am and they will be on view through the evening, Potrero del Sol Park, SF.
MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
THU/29-SUN/1: DE’SEAN JONES & URBAN ART ORCHESTRA AT BLACK CAT After hearing this three-time Grammy-nominated artist and two-time NAACP Image Award winner’s contributions to the Theo Parrish: DJ Kicks Detroit Forward release in 2022, this saxophonist, composer, and bandleader—whose compositions move between jazz, hip-hop, gospel, and electronic music with unique connectivity, rhythmic thump, and cinematic soundtracking—became, for me, a priority listen. A protégé of Marcus Belgrave and Underground Resistance co-founder Mike Banks, Jones founded Urban Art Orchestra in 2022, a 200+ artist collective built to push contemporary orchestral music into new territory. His four-night residency at Black Cat is one not to be missed. 7pm, Black Cat Jazz Supper Club, SF. More info here.
SUN/1: STAMINA SUNDAYS PRESENTS BRYAN GEE One of the most respected people in drum ‘n’ bass, the architect of V Recordings, Gee observed as jungle took over from hardcore. Then he linked up with Roni Size and Krust, and a D&B institution was born that would come to be distinguished by that iconic sun-face logo. At Stamina Sundays—also featuring residents Jamal, Flaco, and Jay3M—expect a night peppered with never-before-heard dubs and a two-hour, forward-focused set from Gee with drops that hit. Stamina, SF’s premier Sunday drum and bass party, is always free, and takes pride in living up to its tagline, “Ruining your Mondays since 2011.” 10 pm-2 am, F8, SF. More info here.
FOOD & DRINK
Tamara Palmer’s weekly Good Taste column tells you where to stick your fork.
SUN/1-NOVEMBER 14: INDIAN RESTAURANT WEEK Big deals, delicious meals—this week’s Good Taste column will be a tribute to this Diwali-season opportunity to visit some of San Francisco’s most quality Indian cuisine. Keep your eyes on the site for Palmer’s top picks. More info here.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
NOW PLAYING: BREEDER A trip to the country proves fateful for aspiring young environmental scientist Russell (Daniel Doheny). Writer-director Alex Goyette’s film rather awkwardly shifts from a tone of macabre black comedy towards grimly serious terrain after a while. That doesn’t entirely work, despite some interesting narrative leaps at the end. Still, Breeder is compelling, offbeat and well-made enough to be worthwhile. Various Bay Area theaters.
OPENS FRI/30: ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM The erstwhile “secret documentary” completed by prolific documentarian William Greaves’ son David and granddaughter Liani, consists primarily of footage the senior Greaves shot in 1972, of a party held at Duke Ellington’s Harlem townhouse. But it was really the filmmaker’s affair: He’d sought out and invited every surviving luminary he could find from the Harlem Renaissance half a century earlier. Most hadn’t seen each other, or enjoyed much public acclimation, for long years. Once Upon a Time in Harlem is billed as a nostalgia-laden party, but it’s obvious most of these people would just as soon be back on the frontlines of change. Various Bay Area theaters.
OPENS FRI/30: THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK In actor-turned-writer/director Noah Segan’s film, John Turturro plays Harry, who’s scraping by in the titular criminal vocation to support himself and a wife (Karina Arroyave) whom some unnamed illness turned immobile and catatonic years ago in their Bronx apartment. But one day senior Harry hits the wrong mark. Harry lives in the past, but the movie’s plot twists and sentimentality feel secondhand, too, despite the apt casting of Turturro and others including Steve Buscemi, Giancarlo Esposito, and erstwhile SF stage actor Kelvin Han Yee. This homage to the cinema of 50+ years ago is cozy, but feels a bit canned. Various Bay Area theaters.
STAGE
Charles Lewis III checks out theaters and performance spaces every week in the Drama Masks column.
SUN/1 THROUGH NOVEMBER 22: WE BOUGHT A GUN When have the SF Neos ever been known to shy away from sensitive material? Their latest venture into a world premiere of full-length material certainly won’t tread lightly. A Bay Area couple buys their first gun: a simple premise, until realize that it’s just the start of a back-and-forth about one of America’s most controversial topics. There’s no fourth wall to separate the audience from the actual gun that will be used—and the power that comes with it. 447 Minna, SF. More info here.
THROUGH NOV/15: A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD Don’t let the title throw you—this isn’t a New Conservatory Theater Center-presented, Scopes Monkey Trial-style drama about atheists and true believers. Rather, it’s a heart-breaking dramedy about two single dads (one is a mortgage broker, the other wants to buy back his family’s land) caught in a system designed so that they get nowhere. Both find themselves in a Kafka-esque prison of red tape from which relief can only come laughing about the intricacies of parenting. What are they working for, if not their children? The answer, for the cast and crew charged with bringing this story to life: to make one of the best Bay Area shows of 2026. New Conservatory Theater Center, SF. Further information here.
