2022: The year at the theater
Oregon ArtsWatch
December 28, 2022
Oregon’s theater scene took the year literally in stages, from Covid caution to something resembling (but not quite) full speed ahead.
For stories published before 2018, visit our archive site.
Theater Subcategories
DramaWatch
Oregon’s theater scene took the year literally in stages, from Covid caution to something resembling (but not quite) full speed ahead.
From 3 Leg Torso to Anonymous Theatre to Portland Revels and a Dickens of a lineup, it’s a holiday sort of season onstage.
Imago’s magical menagerie of costumed critters returns to the stage. Plus Dickens and C.S. Lewis and even Neil Simon.
Talking with the new artistic director of the Irish theater Corrib about Dublin and contemporary playwrights and her twisting path to Portland.
Holiday shows dominate December’s theater calendar, with good cheer and comedy and a few dark edges to keep you on your toes.
Fuse Theatre’s new production of Thornton Wilder’s American classic tells the story of love and loss from a queer perspective.
Theater companies in McMinnville, Salem, and Forest Grove stage holiday plays, including a new “Christmas Carol,” and look ahead to their 2023 seasons.
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.
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.
Two of Oregon’s premier theater schools, Bridgetown Conservatory of Musical Theatre and The Actors Conservatory, are sharing space in the historic Tiffany Center.
Kristina Wong’s “Sweatshop Overlord” is a sharp and heartwarming look behind the politics of Covid. Plus: The Shakespeare Festival’s big gift.
Theaters and galleries ramp up for the holidays with a stone-age musical, a new adaptation of Dickens’ classic, art sales, and a Pride Winter Ball.
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.
Profile’s “King of the Yees” takes an imaginative trip through split cultural identities. Plus “Jagged Little Pill,” openings, closings.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Ashland New Plays Festival wrap up seasons of bold plays that grapple with modern issues and life.
“King of the Yees” and “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord” headline a week that also includes black comedy, a “Blink,” and a “Zooman.”
In her newest podcast, Dmae Lo Roberts talks with the Pulitzer-nominated Wong about making masks, the Auntie Sewing Squad, and the solo show Wong is bringing to Portland.
In a season of shows about Black life in America, the captivating “the ripple, the wave” carries the conversation home.
To be or not to be: Bill Cain’s provocative play at Bag & Baggage asks sharp and complex questions about “Hamlet” in the 21st century.
Shades of time and meaning in the Broadway “Mockingbird” tour; Dav Pilkey’s musical dogs; Milagro’s Day of the Dead dance; Chad Deity’s smashing slamdown and more.
Darius Pierce and Brooke Totman dive brilliantly into the nervous laughter of Christopher Durang’s dyspeptic comedy at 21ten Theatre.
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.”
In a busy theater week, Artists Rep’s “Hombres” nears the end of a sparkling run and promising productions pop up all over town.
In Suzan-Lori Parks’ drama “Fucking A,” the “A” is for “abortionist,” not “adulterer.” Actor Kayla Hanson talks about the issues and the action.
Portland Playhouse opens a comedy set at a funeral in a Black church. But does the play move beyond sitcom platitudes?
When lead actor Richie Stone in Broadway Rose’s musical “The Evolution of Mann” is sidelined by Covid, director Isaac Lamb takes the stage for opening night.
New artistic director Jeanette Harrison brings a commitment to a diversity of voices to Portland’s second largest theater company.
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
The co-founder of Rising Tide Productions, which will open “Seascape” on Friday, calls theater a “blood event.” Unlike the movies, “you have a direct, visceral response.”
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.
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?
A revival of a sharp and probing solo drama shows another side from “The Princess Bride.” Also: comedy improv, Hammerstein vs. Hart, more.
Theater review: Salt and Sage’s ambitious dual productions of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Hamlet” reckon with deep questions about love and mortality.
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.
New cabaret musical continues Laura Dunn’s comic commingling of theater, music, and social issues.
The late Will Vinton’s musical-theater passion project is carried forward to the Lakewood stage. And, yes, the story’s familiar.
Small-theater stars CoHo, PETE, and Third Rail join forces to beat the real estate game. Plus: Last chance to see Imago’s “Voiceover”; openings & closings.
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.
A sea change is happening in America’s rehearsal halls – and combat and intimacy choreographers are piloting the ship of theater into new waters.
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.
Portland Shakespeare Project gives a “Play On” twist to a tale of jealousy and redemption. Plus openings, closings, and a farewell to Peter Brook.
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.
Ted Tally’s surreal play about Robert Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole is seldom staged, but you can see it this month in Salem.
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.”
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.
In a bold new take, Chekhov’s characters are stuck in the Arctic and beset by all sorts of disasters – but they still know how to have fun.
PETE’s radically slimmed-down “Cherry Orchard” streamlines a classic. Plus Risk/Reward, last chance for “Mr. Madam,” and more.
Give to our GROW FUND.