Ghosts and ghouls of Eugene-Springfield, the day has come. Don your
Halloween costume, it’s time for Samhain. Kick the day off by heading
to the all-day Howl-O-Ween Spooktacular at beergarden (777 West 6th Avenue) for
specialty cocktails, trick or treating and a special ShelterCare fundraiser dance by Thrill
the World Eugene at 6:30 pm. At 7:30 pm, local blues-rock band Goatmouth takes the
beergarden stage for the first time. Free afternoon? Skulk over to Oracle Tattoo & Spa
(740 Main Street, Springfield) for a guide on Samhain cleansing bath rituals for just
$20. You’ll be walked through the history and significance of the Celtic festival and taught
how to embrace the day’s themes of renewal and reflection. While you’re in town, take
a jaunt over to Springfield City Hall (225 5th Street) for the annual City Hall-o-Ween
from 3:30 pm to 5 pm, where you’ll be greeted with trick or treating, free grilled cheese
sandwiches from Franz Grilled Cheese Truck and a magic show at 4 pm. Book it back to
the old Y (2055 Patterson Street) at 6pm for the Trunk or Treat Block Party , a family
event that lets you get to know your neighbor. No registration or fee is required, but
you are encouraged to costume yourself and the trunk of your car! Keep the fun going
with Shakespeare in the Dark at 6:30 pm at Wayne Morse Family Farm (595 Crest
Drive) for a free, spooky performance of Macbeth. The play is rated PG for “pretty grue-
some,” and you’re advised to bring flashlights, comfortable shoes and costumes. Be
prepared for fake blood, screaming, howling and clashing swords! There are two more
parties to attend before the night is through: one at The Hult Center (1 Eugene Center)
and one at WOW Hall (291 West 8th Avenue). The Haunted Hult Halloween Party ,
presented by Eugene Ballet and The Hult Center, runs from 7 pm to 10:30 pm, filling
the time with scarily good ’80s retro music performed by Shelley James and Agents
of Unity . You won’t be the only one dancing, though, as you’ll be given a sneak peek
of Eugene Ballet’s upcoming show, Mowgli: The Jungle Book Ballet, from 7:30 pm to 8
pm. You must be 18+ to attend this haunted house show! Last but certainly not least,
WOW Hall’s Halloween Freak Fest features four musical performances from 8 pm to
11 pm. That’s right, you can be back in bed before the witching hour! Three local bands
and one special Seattle guest rock WOW Hall while you enjoy the venue’s dance floor,
photobooth and costume contest. Who can pick a favorite when groovy Eve ’n the Bad
Apples , rage-filled Baby Smooth , indie-rock Mothra and punk-reimagined Beautiful
Freaks are all performing on the same night? — Emma J Nelson
OCT 31
The Howl-o-Ween Spooktacular is FREE. Oracle Tattoo & Spa’s Samhain Cleansing lesson is $20. City Hall-o-
Ween is FREE. YMCA’s Trunk or Treat Block Party is FREE. Shakespeare in the Dark is FREE. The Haunted
Hult Halloween Party is $25. WOW Hall’s Halloween Freak Fest is $10.
Photo by Sergio Zhukov
COMEDY
American Graffiti
New York comic Caitlin Cook
brings her one-woman
bathroom stall graffiti-
inspired musical to Eugene
BY WILL KENNEDY
C
aitlin Cook studied art history in college,
and now, as a touring standup comedian
and musician, she spends a lot of time in
public restrooms. Through that lens on her
surroundings, Cook noticed and took pictures
of bathroom stall graffiti some years ago. She then used
the jokes, bits of advice and profane illustrations she
collected as songwriting prompts.
Those songs now form The Writing on the Stall: A One-
Woman Bathroom Graffiti Musical. After a successful off-
Broadway run, Cook brings The Writing on the Stall to
Eugene Wednesday, Oct. 30, at Olsen Run Comedy Club &
Lounge. The show also enjoyed sold-out dates in London
and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
Cook tells Eugene Weekly in a phone call that photo-
graphing bathroom stall vandalism “beautifully broke my
brain at a time when I was grappling with my relationship
with art history. And I started photographing bathroom
graffiti everywhere.”
A woman’s restroom, she adds, “is a place where we
bond and gossip and share secrets, and graffiti is where
people get confessional.”
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In the show, Cook plays guitar, narrates and sings
about the bathroom stall graffiti (also known as latrina-
lia), accompanying herself on acoustic guitar and some-
times keyboards on a public restroom set, complete with
a toilet on which Cook sometimes sits.
Threaded throughout are details from Cook’s life,
mixed with observational humor about what the dirty
jokes, sketches and doodles in public restrooms, which
get projected on a screen, teach us about what makes us
similar and how we’re different.
On the soundtrack, available to stream online, a song
is about women’s restroom graffiti and how it’s often a
positive affirmation, while men’s rooms get tagged with
phallus drawings. One of which, included in Cook’s show,
wears a cowboy hat and spurs.
From an art historian’s perspective, “Writing on toilet
walls is neither for critical acclaim nor financial reward;
it is the purest form of art,” Cook says.
Cook says the show has a narrative arc that touches
on her coming-of-age story, stressing this is a one-person
show and a musical rather than a stand-up comedy perfor-
mance. The story also covers the social anxieties and
intricacies that we go to the bathroom to hide from and
how we’re all connected in these small ways if we allow
ourselves to be vulnerable enough, she says.
These days, Cook still writes bathroom stall graffiti-
inspired songs and jokes based on pictures her fans and
followers submit on social media.
While doing so, she says she’s learned that “every-
one is an artist even if they don’t think they’re making
art. Even if they’ve just pulled a pen out of their purse
or carved something into a toilet seat with their keys —
Photo by Mindy Tucker
they’re putting their mark on something. Sometimes,
it’s an intricately illustrated phallus in the men’s room.
Sometimes, it’s a word of encouragement in the women’s.”
She adds, “Overall, something is interesting about
why humans feel like they can be vulnerable when they’re
anonymous or in a private space like a bathroom.”
Caitlin Cook The Writing on the Stall: A One-Woman Bathroom
Graffiti Musical is 7 pm Wednesday, Oct. 30, at Olsen Run Comedy
Club & Lounge in Eugene, 44 East 7th Avenue; $30, 21-plus.
October 24, 2024
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