Theatrical giant Tobias Anderson dies
The actor, director and writer, whose professional career spanned almost 60 years, is dead at 87, leaving a brilliant legacy ranging from Hollywood to Portland to Pakistan.
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DramaWatch
The actor, director and writer, whose professional career spanned almost 60 years, is dead at 87, leaving a brilliant legacy ranging from Hollywood to Portland to Pakistan.
With Lo Steele in the title role and an all-star cast also serving as the onstage orchestra, Portland Playhouse’s magical stage version of a French film is awash with lyrical sights and sounds.
The Broken Planetarium gets ready to unleash “The Greenbrier Ghost.” And like most things ghostly, this fresh work of music, theater, and free expression plays by its own rules.
“Amélie,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” and “Sweeney Todd” all take the stage this week. October also brings Artists Rep’s “The Event!,” the concert musical “Is You Is,” “Wicked” and more.
This month’s opening of the 250-seat theater makes the Newberg cultural hub one of the largest in the state, as well as an example of the “everything-for-everyone” center that thrives in smaller Oregon cities.
“Always … Patsy Cline,” a musical about the friendship between the legendary country singer and her biggest fan, is still delighting packed Oregon audiences the fourth time around.
The premiere of Blossom Johnson’s “Diné Nishłį (I Am A Sacred Being) or, A Boarding School Play” gets the new theater company off and running in its quest to tell Native stories onstage.
The Hillsboro theater’s dynamic artistic director brings an inclusive vision that embraces new work, community engagement, educational initiatives — and maybe a new campus.
Director Jeanette Harrison’s new Native Theater Project, in an innovative partnership with Hillsboro’s Bag & Baggage Productions, debuts with Blossom Johnson’s “Diné Nishłį (I Am A Sacred Being) or, A Boarding School Play.”
Margie Boulé takes the stage at triangle productions!, reprising her role as the legendary Texas Democrat in a play that offers abundant laughs, a sliver of hope, and a reminder to vote.
At Milagro’s world-premiere political farce and Clackamas Rep’s solo show about loss and lovely things, the audience becomes an eager part of the action. Plus: a month of clowning at CoHo.
As the city’s vaunted theater scene navigates some major shifts, a lively fall lineup ranges from a ribald political farce to a trip to the Taj Mahal, the NW premiere of 2024’s Pulitzer-winning play, a “Jubilee,” a “Funny Girl” and more.
Drama, comedy, and music take center stage at Gallery Theater, Linfield University, Struts & Frets Theatre Company, Gather Repertory, and Pentacle Theatre.
The veteran actor and director talks with Dmae Lo Roberts on her newest Stage & Studio podcast about race in the theater, his fondness for Neil Simon, and the Simon comedy he’s directing for PassinArt.
As the fall theater season rolls out and the big dogs get ready to bark, the revival of a century-old sci-fi play about humans and human-like robots imagines an unnerving new world.
FastHorse’s return to Portland with her new version of the classic Broadway musical at Keller Auditorium marks a full-circle moment for the ‘Thanksgiving Play’ author.
Portland’s Salt and Sage performs Shakespeare’s historical fiction in repertory with “Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2” through August.
Cirque’s “Kooza” settles under the Big Top for a lengthy run. A fireside chat with the author of the “Narnia” novels. And Larissa FastHorse gives a bold new twist to the musical “Peter Pan.”
Clackamas Repertory Theatre mines the lasting appeal of the classic musical, which stays rooted in the Edwardian era yet dances with ease and high humor into the 21st century.
Stage & Studio: In her new podcast, Dmae Lo Roberts talks with director & choreographer Wallenfels about The Hatchery, a project to develop storytelling based in movement and music.
Profile Theatre’s world premiere of Kristoffer Diaz’ play wrestles fascinatingly with questions of family, professional striving, identity, and the meanings of love.
Hail fellows, well met: Until Anonymous Theatre’s one and only performance of “Romeo and Juliet” on Aug. 12, even the actors won’t know who’s in the show until they meet onstage.
Bobby Bermea talks with the Tony-nominated author of “Hell’s Kitchen” about theater, writing, family, deadlines, underdogs, and Diaz’s basketball story opening at Portland’s Profile Theatre.
Portland Center Stage’s JAW festival is off and running. Plus: “Reggie Hoops,” the return of Eliza Doolittle, site-specific plays in a century-old country store, farewell to Sam Mowry.
Broadway Rose Theatre Company’s smart and sharply choreographed “Beautiful” tells the inspiring story of singer and songwriter Carole King’s musical journey.
A rural Oregon grocery store-cum-creative hub provides a source of freshly devised plays — and a showcase for a new way of creating them
The beloved Portland actor, known over his 40-plus year career for his distinctive voice and his devotion to family, friends, the stage, and radio theater, leaves a giant legacy.
Broadway actor Russell Fischer stars as Frankie Valli in Lakewood Theatre Company’s exuberant and entertaining jukebox musical “Jersey Boys.”
Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s “Much Ado” leads a bevy of Bards. Plus: Another side of Ashland, a quintet of musicals, Agatha Christie knocks ’em dead, taking new shows for a spin.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s outdoor-theater “Jane Eyre” and “Much Ado About Nothing” don’t plumb all the depths, but both succeed as sparkling entertainment.
Review: Rejecting the playwright’s doom and gloom, “a seagull” swings audaciously between faithfully exploring Chekhovian themes of art and life and blowing the questions up.
The company brings its comic operettas to downtown Portland and Hillsboro.
Review: Robin Goodrin Nordli’s trek through a lifetime of playing Shakespeare’s women and Justin Huertas’ superhero musical about a guy with scaly green skin light up the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s intimate Thomas Theatre.
As it begins its second decade, the Salem company based at Willamette University is creating new opportunities for Oregon dramatists
With its new adaptation “a seagull,” the experimental theater troupe aims to sand off the romantic sheen and reclaim the intense verve and vitality of the Russian master’s plays.
Here comes summer, and the acting heads outdoors. Plus: Ashland under the stars, Risk/Reward Fest, Deep End’s improv dive, a “Madwoman” at Cygnet, and a 24-hour play-a-thon.
In her new podcast Dmae Lo Roberts talks with four members of a busy Portland “theater family” about juggling schedules, “Matilda the Musical” and more.
Review: In Portland Center Stage’s heart-filled production of Lynn Nottage’s truck-stop diner comedy/drama, ex-inmates in the kitchen aspire to a better meal and a better life.
Review: Profile Theatre’s premiere of christopher oscar peña’s “our orange sky” tells an immigrant story steeped in ambition, family discord, and pursuit of the American Dream.
As Broadway revs up for this year’s Tony Awards, Misha Berson takes in the tales of “Stereophonic,” “The Outsiders,” “Water for Elephants,” “Uncle Vanya” and “Patriots” – and wishes for more.
The Broadway tour of the Bob Dylan musical “Girl from the North Country” comes to Portland. Also: Openings in Portland and Ashland; Seattle theaters sing the budget blues.
The musical “The Spitfire Grill” and the comedy “Clyde’s” are cooking in the kitchen. Plus: a Christopher Oscar Peña premiere at Profile; Oregon Children’s Theatre’s call for help; more.
The Portland theater company pays tribute to Florence Ballard, the Motown girl group’s original lead singer, but leaves a wanting audience and an underserved legacy.
Lava Alapai’s new comedy “Middletown Mall” features karaoke in the food court. Plus the folk-musical “The Spitfire Grill” and the story of Florence Ballard and The Supremes.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s just-announced 2025 season sounds like old times, with contemporary twists. In Portland, Third Rail hangs out at the mall; “She Persists” a bit longer.
Review: Philip Gefter’s book about Edward Albee’s culture-shattering play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” tells the tale of how its movie version rocked the cinematic world, too.
Two longtime stalwarts of the Northwest theater world have died: Oregon actor Cronin, in Eugene; and Portland-born director Dillon, in Seattle.
Fuse’s 14th OUTwright Theatre Festival opens with Mikki Gillette’s backstage comedy. Also: Boom Arts’ “History of Empires,” a spot of Sondheim, a waggish “Go, Dog. Go!”
Joining the sassy orphan and her dancing billionaire on this week’s stages are a medieval “Everyman” update, several worthy mid-run shows, and a pair of catch-’em-quicks-before-they-close.
Dmae Lo Roberts talks in her new podcast with the author of Milagro Theatre’s world-premiere “Borderline” about ghost stories, living on the border, cultural trauma and more.
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