This week in the arts: Art, film, theater and beer mark museum's 'Polar Night'

Cello and piano

Cellist John Lutterman and pianist Timothy Smith will team up for a recital at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20, in the UAA Fine Arts Building recital hall. The two UAA music professors will present Franck's elegantly seductive Sonata in A, some profound late work from the pen of Beethoven and some fireworks by Liszt. General admission is $18.

Polar Nights

The Anchorage Museum will be popping on Friday night, Nov. 18. Aku-Matu — aka Allison Warden — will join with guests in readings and performances of experimental literary work starting at 6 p.m. "Cameraless" filmmaking — that is, making marks directly on celluloid without a camera or lens — will be projected from 6-9 p.m., part of the ongoing "Camouflage" exhibit. Pinhole photographer Cody Swanson will talk about his process at 7 p.m. Artistically curious patrons can take a self-guided life drawing session and those inclined toward liquid refreshment can enjoy beer flights with appetizers at the Muse restaurant. The life drawing open studio costs $15 and the beer flights are $20. Everything else is included with admission, which is discounted on Friday night.

'Not Medea'

It's the last weekend for Perseverance Theatre's updating of the mythological bad mother of all bad mothers. Some 2,500 years ago, Greek playwright Euripides said she killed her kids to spite her ex, who kinda deserved it. (The ex, not the kids.) Allison Gregory's updating contrasts the classic image of a scorned sorceress with the trials and struggles of a modern mortal woman who finally gets a night off and winds up on the stage, crossing into the legendary character and digging into the eternal questions of the tragedy with contemporary wit and sensibilities. Performances are 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 20 in Sydney Laurence Theatre. Tickets are available at centertix.net.