Portland Area Theatre Alliance Fertile Ground Portland Oregon
September 2022

MusicWatch Monthly: October Surprises

Classical mainstays move into their seasons, a choir dissents, new music sounds out, electronica and rock get experimental, plus jazz and post-punk.

The Bird Boys’ Swan Song

As dance presenters Walter Jaffe and Paul King move into their 25th season of running White Bird, the elite company they founded, they prepare to pass the torch.

Dancing Shakespeare’s Dark Lady

How Elizabethan: The new and old of Nashville Ballet’s “Black Lucy and the Bard” on PBS’s Great Performances.

News & Notes: A resonating ‘Hallelujah’

A PSU choir’s link to Leonard Cohen’s most famous song; a Covid cancellation; Afro-Topia Pop-Up; remembering Hilary Mantel & Louise Fletcher; Corey Brunish & “The Music Man.”

Review: “The Art of Food”

The show, now open at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU, presents food-related works from Schnitzer’s impressive collection. The result is a sumptuous feast (for the eyes).

Artists Rep welcomes its new leader

New artistic director Jeanette Harrison brings a commitment to a diversity of voices to Portland’s second largest theater company.

Oregon Bach Festival: Weathering the Storm

Emerging from the pandemic and into its second half-century, Eugene’s summer music extravaganza pulled off worthy concerts while seeking new artistic leadership.

DramaWatch: (more than) just clowning around

CoHo Clown Festival gets down with some feisty physical comedy; “The Hombres” land at Artists Rep; “tick, tick” heads for its final boom; the enduring wit of Louise Brooks.

A sculpture to celebrate Louis Southworth

Southworth is the namesake of Waldport’s newly announced park. Pete Helzer’s life-sized bronze portrait will celebrate and pay tribute to Southworth and his remarkable life story.

Evan Baden’s Push Pull Editions

Evan Baden’s photobook publishing venture is a passion project two years in the making. Blake Andrews visits Baden in his Corvallis garage, the home of Push Pull Editions, to discuss process and motivation.

Keller Auditorium: Renovate or replace?

Either way, seismic concerns are pushing a decision. A recent tour of Oregon’s biggest performance hall demonstrated the building’s need and its untapped potential.

A Portland ballet star moves on to Hong Kong

Xuan Cheng, principal dancer for Oregon Ballet Theatre, is the new principal dancer and ballet mistress for Hong Kong Ballet. She’ll split the next year between Hong Kong and Oregon.

DramaWatch: TBA, taking a chance on art

PICA’s experimental extravaganza hits the boards again. Plus openings, from sci-fi to farce to ghosts, pajamas, book clubs, stony hearts, midsummer dreams and a mushroom hunt.

Performers relax together onstage as they wait for their turns at the Siletz Bay Music Festival Sept. 4 at the Lincoln Cultural Center on the Oregon Coast. Photo by Angela Allen.

Tapas in Siletz Bay

Multi-week Siletz Bay Music Festival brings classical, jazz, hip-hop, and a relaxed vibe to Lincoln City Cultural Center.

Stage & Studio: ‘Beatrice’ – A New Opera

Dmae Lo Roberts talks in her new podcast with the creators of Portland Opera To Go’s new opera for young people, about the pioneering Portland Black leader Beatrice Morrow Cannady.

The Cultural Landscape: Part 5

Photographer K.B. Dixon continues his series of portraits with musicians Marv and Rindy Ross, artist David Eckard, actor Maureen Porter, and writer Todd Schultz.

DramaWatch: CoHo opens the doors wide

“When theater becomes just about plays, only fans of plays come. We’re going to bring a variety-show mentality and challenge forms. And we’re going to be trying to incubate new forms.” 

Tony Fuemmeler and the masks of life

At Historic Alberta House, 60 of the master maskmaker’s artist friends explore hidden and revealed identities – and Fuemmeler unmasks a change of his own.

VizArts Monthly: TBA and Beyond

PICA’s Time-Based Art Festival is the marquee event in the September art scene, but there are plenty of other offerings from watercolors to pen-and-ink drawings to multimedia cairns.

Bonnie Bronson 2024 Fellow Wendy Red Star Reed College Reception Kaul Auditorium Foyer Portland Oregon
Kalakendra Indian Classical Instrumental Music First Congregational Church Portland Oregon
Portland Center Stage at the Armory Nassim Portland Oregon
City of Hillsboro Walters Cultural Arts Center Tony Furtado Hillsboro Oregon
Maryhill Museum of Art Goldendale Washington
Portland State University College of the Arts
Portland Chamber Orchestra A Feast of Beethoven Kaul Auditorium Reed College Portland Oregon
PassinArt Theatre and Portland Playhouse present Yohen Brunish Theatre Portland Oregon
Golden Road Arts Grey Raven Gallery Near the Reser Beaverton Oregon
Triangle Productions presents Eleanor starring Margie Boule Portland Oregon
Pacific Maritime Heritage Center Prosperity of the Sea Lincoln County Historical Society Newport Oregon Coast
Newport Performance and Visual Arts Centers Newport Oregon Coast
Portland Art Museum Virtual Sneakers to Cutting Edge Kicks Portland Oregon
Portland Area Theatre Alliance Fertile Ground Portland Oregon
Northwest Dance Project Sarah Slipper Newmark Theatre Portland Oregon
High Desert Museum Sasquatch Central Oregon
Oregon Cultural Trust donate
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