Portland Playhouse A Christmas Carol Portland Oregon
Theater
Portland Playhouse A Christmas Carol Portland Oregon

For stories published before 2018, visit our archive site.

Theater Subcategories
DramaWatch

2022: The year at the theater

Oregon’s theater scene took the year literally in stages, from Covid caution to something resembling (but not quite) full speed ahead.

DramaWatch: Going to the ZooZoo

Imago’s magical menagerie of costumed critters returns to the stage. Plus Dickens and C.S. Lewis and even Neil Simon.

Bobby Bermea: Who is Holly Griffith?

Talking with the new artistic director of the Irish theater Corrib about Dublin and contemporary playwrights and her twisting path to Portland.

DramaWatch: Enter Laughing

Holiday shows dominate December’s theater calendar, with good cheer and comedy and a few dark edges to keep you on your toes.

An ‘Our Town’ for all towns

Fuse Theatre’s new production of Thornton Wilder’s American classic tells the story of love and loss from a queer perspective.

DramaWatch: Shaking the holiday tree

Suddenly it’s time for theatrical good cheer, from Tiny Tim to a Wonderful Life to a PDX musical – plus Corrib’s foray into an intense virtual future.

Letter from Seattle: Back in the swing

From the nouveau-cirque of Teatro ZinZanni to Jane Austen, Mr. Dickens, and some holiday noir, the city’s theater scene is flying high again.

Bobby Bermea: Where the future lives

Two of Oregon’s premier theater schools, Bridgetown Conservatory of Musical Theatre and The Actors Conservatory, are sharing space in the historic Tiffany Center.

DramaWatch: An ‘Overlord’ unmasked

Kristina Wong’s “Sweatshop Overlord” is a sharp and heartwarming look behind the politics of Covid. Plus: The Shakespeare Festival’s big gift.

Bobby Bermea: Kelly Godell’s twisting path

From Oregon to New York to L.A. to a long successful stretch on Portland stages, the actor and director now finds herself in a new city, and working in a new medium.

DramaWatch: A wild ride with the Yees

Profile’s “King of the Yees” takes an imaginative trip through split cultural identities. Plus “Jagged Little Pill,” openings, closings.

DramaWatch: A sideways tale of Hamlet

Scott Palmer returns to Bag & Baggage with the “Hamlet” riff “The Last White Man”; ripples & waves from Artists Rep and Center Stage; Richard Thomas in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

DramaWatch: Remembering Stan Foote

Celebrating the Oregon Children’s Theatre leader’s life; “tick, tick … BOOM!” blows the lid off the season at Portland Center Stage; Ashland openings; more.

Bobby Bermea: The truth about Polonius

Sure, Hamlet’s the hero, and gets all the praise. But why? asks the actor playing the prince’s put-upon counsel. Isn’t Polonius a reasonable and honest guy, just doing his job?

You cannot call it love … or can you?

Theater review: Salt and Sage’s ambitious dual productions of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet” reckon with deep questions about love and mortality.

DramaWatch: Corrib rides a bumpy road to new leadership

Holly Griffith takes the artistic reins at Portland’s Irish theater company; an outdoor “Tempest,” an indoor “Holy Days,” party with the Bar[d], singing “Newsies,” and a Quixote for today.

DramaWatch: Imago in Pirandelloland

Jerry Mouawad and Drew Pisarra’s new “Voiceover” dips into dance and sound with an existential twist. Plus the JAW new plays festival, a Stan Foote tribute, openings and closings.

Bobby Bermea: On touching and fighting

A sea change is happening in America’s rehearsal halls – and combat and intimacy choreographers are piloting the ship of theater into new waters.

DramaWatch: Will Vinton’s stage ‘Kiss’

The late Claymation master’s musical-theater adaptation of “The Frog Prince” debuts at Lakewood, Twilight opens the Portland premiere of an E.M. Lewis play, “Hadestown” hits Puddletown.

Connie Carley, PassinArt co-founder, dies

Carley, 72, was a guiding force for the Portland Black theater company for 40 years and a deeply admired figure in the city’s arts and nonprofit worlds.

DramaWatch: More sugar in the Chekhov tea

PETE’s “Cherry Orchard” is an energizing jolt of the sweetly unexpected. Plus the opening of “Desperate Measures” and last chance for “Bad World” and “The Music Man.”

Bobby Bermea: Au Revoir, Elgin

After traveling cross-state to play Othello, a Portland actor bids a fond farewell to a brand new Shakespeare festival and its small town in the northeast corner of Oregon.

DramaWatch: Chekhov for modern times

PETE’s radically slimmed-down “Cherry Orchard” streamlines a classic. Plus Risk/Reward, last chance for “Mr. Madam,” and more.

Metropolitan Youth Symphony Welcomes Cocal Sensation Jimmie Herrod Newmark Theatre Portland Oregon
Cappella Romana The 12 Days of Christmas in the East St. Mary's Cathedral Portland Oregon
Literary Arts The Moth Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall Portland Oregon
Open Space Not-Cracker Newmark Theatre Portland Oregon
Portland Playhouse A Christmas Carol Portland Oregon
Oregon Repertory Singers Glory of Christmas Concert Portland Oregon
Bridgetown Conservatory Ludlow Ladd The Poor Little Orphan Boy Holiday Operetta Tiffany Center Portland Oregon
PassinArt presents Black Nativity Brunish Theatre Portland Oregon
Imago Theatre ZooZoo Portland Oregon
Northwest Dance Project Sarah Slipper New Stories Portland Oregon
Portland State University College of the Arts
Oregon Cultural Trust donate
We do this work for you.

Give to our GROW FUND.