“Love is a dog from hell,” Charles Bukowski explained famously. While Mozart wasn’t quite as devastating as Bukowski in his assessment of romantic endeavors, he certainly had a clue about the absurdity intrinsic to affairs of the heart. One of Mozart’s most clear and amusing explorations of this madness is coming to the Rose City: Così Fan Tutte, presented by the Portland Opera February 5-13 at the Keller Auditorium.

Così Fan Tutte is the tale of two bridegrooms-to-be enjoying bachelor life in the crisp seaside air of Naples. Delirious with the throes of young love, they foolishly choose to play a joke on their sweethearts by disguising themselves and seducing each other’s fiancées. Surprise, surprise—the ladies fall for the impostors, leading to a conclusion as satisfying as it is disturbing.

On one level, Così is as dry and effervescent as a glass of Prosecco. But right below the surface is a profound sense of dread—an awareness of the fickle nature of the heart and the horrific truth that we can never truly know someone the way we wish we could. It’s like Neapolitan Jane Austen by way of Franz Kafka, at turns pleasant and shocking, familiar and grotesque. In short, it’s absolutely compelling opera.

Così runs Feb. 5-13 at the Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St. Thursday through Saturday performances start at 7:30 p.m., Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are available online at ticketmaster.com, at the Portland Opera Box Office (211 SE Caruthers St.), or at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts (1111 SW Broadway). For more information about tickets, $20-$135, and to support an outstanding arts organization, visit portlandopera.org

Nick Mattos

Are you a big ol’ butch? A zaftig stud? An enormously overweight man who was once upon a time a pleasantly plump young lady?! Let’s not beat around the bush: Are you fat? If so, run to the closet, gather up those old threads, and bring them down to Interstate Lanes for the Husky Clothing Swap & Bear Bowl!

This first-ever “studs swap duds” clothing exchange is the perfect opportunity to spruce up your wardrobe for free. Bring your clean masculine and plus-size clothing, accessories and shoes for Portland’s burliest and foxiest to enjoy. It’s like a naked-lady party, only everything fits the frame and aesthetic of a pot-bellied blue collar worker. After you grab a whole new wardrobe, knock down a few beers and a few pins at Bear Bowling. Be sure to buy a few raffle tickets, too—prizes from Fat Fancy, Diesel Femme, Monstre Sacré and more will have you drooling on your new duds. Who knows, you might even meet the genderqueer fella of your dreams!

You won’t just be getting a bunch of awesome new threads and a burly right arm from bowling—you’ll also be supporting a cool organization. All proceeds from bowling and the Husky raffle go to support NOLOSE, a vibrant nationwide network of self-declared “fat dykes, bisexual women, transgendered folks, and allies” seeking to do away with sizeism. Their first major West Coast conference is coming up June 4-6 in Oakland, Calif., and this benefit will help more Portlanders head south to represent our fat-fancying city!

The husky fun goes down from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, February 11, at Interstate Lanes (6049 N. Interstate Ave.). For details on this unique benefit and the organization it supports, check out nolose.org.

– Nick Mattos

Portlanders often take the term “queer” for granted. All manner of clever, artsy gay, lesbian, bi and trans folk adopt “queer” as a subversive title for their sexual orientation here in Stumptown. However, surprisingly few of said queers deeply investigate the underlying meaning of the term—an identity that must remain constantly evolving to stand in opposition to the status quo. Challenge your own notion of what “queer” is by experiencing the exhibit Yesterday: Today: Tomorrow, presented by Gertrude Press at Q Center February 7-28.

Curator Jedidiah Chavez, art editor of Gertrude Press, was guided by the framework of “queerness” as an undefined and liminal identity while assembling Yesterday: Today: Tomorrow. The resulting exhibition features eight artists who investigate themes of identity using the tools of past, present, and future narrative in a variety of physical and performance media. “Otherness” and “sameness” are deconstructed through the lens of a culture that is swiftly collapsing.

Participating artists Michelle Acuff Dawn Forbes, Frank Munns, Kimberly Miller, Operation Pinko, and Sigrid Zahner explore these motifs through a wide variety of media to illuminate the tensions of shifting identities.

The posthumous inclusion of Neil Meitzler is especially poignant. A pillar of the historical Northwest School of artists, Meitzler created work distinguished for its use of generous sweeps of aqueous color. With overlays of splattered and thrown paint, the result evokes the sense of both a historical natural landscape and a modern abstract vision—a marvelous curatorial choice for a show that considers identities that are simultaneously natural phenomena and affectations.

Yesterday: Today: Tomorrow runs February 7-28 at the Q Center, 4115 N. Mississippi Ave. The not-to-be-missed opening reception—including one-night-only performances and installations—is 6-10 p.m. Friday, February 12. For more information about the exhibit and the nonprofit work of Gertrude Press, visit gertrudepress.org

– Nick Mattos

What combines vintage elegance with modern flair and timeless showmanship quite like the circus? Sure, the Rose City is saturated with hoop-dancers and contortionists—we’re a very circus-y city by nature—but how many of those performances are coupled with fine dining? Experience the ultimate Valentine’s Day date—bring your sweetie to a charming show and a fabulous meal at Cirque L’Amour!

Wanderlust, the circus innovators behind the White Album Christmas and Batty’s Hippodrome, bring the aerial-dancin’, acrobatically flyin’, magic-trickin’ elite from all over Portland for this new production. Telling an old-fashioned story of love under the big top, the show is loosely adapted from Charlie Chaplin’s silent classic The Circus. Tommy Twimble stars as The Tramp, the hapless protagonist who stumbles through amour and stardom alike to comedic effect.

A four-course feast from Le Pigeon rounds out the evening in sophisticated gastronomic style. Le Pigeon has garnered a reputation as one of the city’s finest restaurants, and for good reason—their dedication to creating an innovative and distinctive culinary journey makes them salient even in a town as food-obsessed as Portland. Under the guidance of daring and iconoclastic chef Gabriel Rucker, the Cirque L’Amour menu will please even the most discerning of palates.

The circus of love runs February 12-14 at Bossanova Ballroom, 722 E. Burnside St. Dinner seating begins at 6:30 p.m., and the show begins at 7:30. The event is 21+. Tickets, $37-$98, and information are available at bossanovaballroom.com and wanderlustcircus.com

– Nick Mattos