Portland Playhouse opens a rock musical by Stew, a musical “9 to 5,” Carol Triffle’s absurdist comedy scales a peak, Shaking the Tree’s grim fairy tale, “Extraordinary People” at Fertile Ground.
Ready for the sprint? Portland’s foremost festival of new works returns with 65 projects over 10 days April 12-21. Plus: Carol Triffle goes Neanderthal at Imago, NYC kudos for PDX, more.
The premiere of a fresh Kabuki adaptation of a 1685 Japanese puppet play is Laurence Kominz’ swan song. Plus “Afropolitical Movement,” openings, closings.
Premieres from E.M. Lewis and Carol Triffle top the theater week. Plus: Trying to break down the breakdown at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Also in a busy week: A “Barbecue” at Portland Playhouse, “The Chinese Lady” at Artists Rep, a “Peep” from The Reformers and a “Lonely Vampire” from Imago, “Danse Macabre” returns, plus plays onscreen.
ArtsWatch Weekly: A musical trip in a funhouse mirror, talking about “Lorelei,” creative laureates & more.
Imago takes Carol Triffle’s newest play offstage and onto radio. A cast member explores how and why they dunnit.
ArtsWatch Weekly: An enduring friendship; new opera leader; Ursula K. Le Guin’s stamp of approval; more.
Author Drew Pisarra and director Jerry Mouawad talk about their radio drama “The Strange Case of Nick M.”
Portland theaters, shut off from the stage, find a future from the past: radio theater, updated for the digital age.
What makes Imago’s critter spectacular such a cool treat? An inside-the-costume source tells all.
A good play ought to grab its audience from the very top and take it for a ride. The way it grabs an audience can be as varied as a cowboy crooning from the wings about a beautiful morning (Oklahoma!) or a
This Saturday, as it turns out, is World Naked Gardening Day, and don’t worry, neighbors, I’m not taking part: I’m not really much of a gardener. The revelation, however, makes me think of another spot of news I got a few days
There are those among us who — brace yourself for this — dislike musicals. Perhaps they hate them, with an active, withering passion, but more likely they simply dismiss the form altogether as sentimental or soapy or sappy or just stupid. Theater
What is Fallout? I suppose the term “end-of-days comedy” fits. Yet that seems too narrow for a play about war, friendship, sexual awakening and the adverse effects of nuclear ash on human hair. Written and directed by Imago Theatre’s renowned absurdist Carol
Gabriel, blow your horn! Portland’s theater makers are a supportive lot, so it was no surprise that several prominent actors were in the audience at Portland Playhouse on the night last week that I went to see the current production of Fences.
It’s a Monday afternoon in early spring, and the road warriors are back in town. “I don’t know,” Jerry Mouawad says, just a trifle wearily. “We’ve probably played a thousand venues across the country.” That covers a few decades and a few
Imago Theatre is reviving its production of Carol Triffle’s The Reunion, which premiered in June 2017. It reopens Friday, Jan. 12, 2018, and continues for a short run through Jan. 20: ticket and schedule information here. ArtsWatch’s review of the original production,
Give to our GROW FUND.
