Portland Playhouse Passing Strange Portland Oregon
Portland theater

Stage & Studio: Master playwright Philip Kan Gotanda

The veteran playwright, screenwriter, and opera librettist, whose play “Yohen” is about to open in Portland, talks on a new podcast about his career and the rise of Asian-American theater.

DramaWatch: Springtime & Shakespeare

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival shifts into its ’24 season with “Macbeth” and three other shows. Plus: Openings, last chances, a Steep & Thorny party, a pre-peek at Fertile Ground.

Octavio Solis’s ‘Quixote Nuevo’ quest

The Oregon playwright’s contemporary twist on Cervantes’ classic tale has tilted at a few shifting windmills of its own on its long journey to Portland Center Stage.

Review: ‘What the Constitution Means to Me’

Heidi Schreck’s bracing play at Portland Center Stage dives smartly and entertainingly into the serious issues of the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. Constitution.

DramaWatch: 21ten’s winning ‘Number’

A taut, terrific staging of Caryl Churchill’s speculative drama kicks off Portland theater’s “second season.” Plus: OSF Ashland stars on a new stage; how companies weathered the weather.

Charles Grant’s rising star in Portland theater

Since arriving in town in 2016, Grant has made his mark in an array of roles on stage and film. Now he’s Portland Playhouse’s producing director, and director of this year’s hit “A Christmas Carol.”

DramaWatch: Welcome to the ZooZoo

Imago’s playful costumed critters return for a welcome holiday run, this time with some zebras joining the menagerie. Plus Fuse’s “Great White,” Bridgetown’s “Orphan Boy,” a national look at OSF’s leadership switch, last chances & more.

Bobby Bermea: ‘Great White’ hooks up

Ajai Tripathi’s new play “Great White Gets Off,” seeded during the pandemic, looks at racial and power dynamics and the way they play into a romantic relationship.

Lester Purry and the road to Scrooge

Bobby Bermea: The talented actor Lester Purry, who’s created a bond with Portland Playhouse, is back in town and creating his own kind of skinflint in the Playhouse’s “A Christmas Carol.”

Artists Rep lays off its artistic director

The company, beset by financial problems in the midst of a major construction project and a suspended season, parts ways with Jeanette Harrison, its artistic director of only a year.

Piercing the veil, telling a Samhain tale

The puppeteers of Kettlehead Studios, the instrumentalists of Musica Universalis, an adventurous director and a skilled actress create a myth-driven seasonal show.

DramaWatch: Lorca’s ‘Blood Wedding’

Shaking the Tree takes on the bitter beauty of Lorca’s poetic tale. Plus: “California” returns, Milagro celebrates women warriors, Triangle heads for the Big Apple.

‘Matilda’ and the culture of joy

Portland Playhouse’s musical-theater version of the Roald Dahl children’s novel is enchanting for audiences of all ages.

A ‘Hair’ with its heart on its sleeve

Center Stage’s revival of the 1968 musical of youthful protest and rebellion reclaims the anger, joy, and love for a new era of cultural and political divisiveness and disarray.

DramaWatch: Our Town, the new Utopia

Bag & Baggage’s “Our Utopia” riffs on themes from Thornton Wilder’s classic. Plus openings, closings, and Bill Rauch’s debut with the new Perelman Center in New York.

DramaWatch: Ted Rooney’s deck of cards

In a tiny Southeast Portland space, a lean and lively actors’ theater is emerging. Up next, “52 Pick-up.” Also: openings and last chances.

Artists Rep suspends its ’23-24 season

Financial problems stemming in part from the pandemic, an expensive construction project, lack of expected state funding and a national slump in theater attendance force a drastic step.

DramaWatch: Six sassy singing wives

Henry VIII’s wives take the stage in Portland in the musical “Six”; Bag&Baggage’s “Red Velvet,” Box of Clowns, stinky cheese, Shakespeare in Elgin, time out for kids’ shows, more.

DramaWatch: Send in the Clown Cohort

CoHo’s clowns tie a twister by the tail. Plus: a jukebox musical at Lakewood, a sketch comedy festival, Astoria’s “performathon,” seasons’ greetings, throwing the dice on “Six.”

DramaWatch: Comedy from the Gods

Clackamas Rep brings the ancients romping into the present. Plus: Broadway Rose’s “Dreamcoat,” new leader at Artists Rep, farewell to Book-It Rep and Sheldon Harnick, more.

A ‘Midsummer’ to dream about

Review: Portland Center Stage’s fresh take on Shakespeare’s comedy is a nimble, playful, genderfluid, and not at all didactic delight.

DramaWatch: Son of the American Dream

Profile’s “How to Make an American Son” tells a generational family tale. Plus: Duffy Epstein & friends head for “California,” openings, closings.

DramaWatch: At PSU, a Kabuki farewell

The premiere of a fresh Kabuki adaptation of a 1685 Japanese puppet play is Laurence Kominz’ swan song. Plus “Afropolitical Movement,” openings, closings.

DramaWatch: Profile and the playwrights

At Profile, a gathering of contemporary voices. Plus: Clowning around at Milagro, Corrib’s gritty solo show, last days for “Come From Away,” Portland Playhouse’s new season and more.

Luisa and Rene talk theater and life

Actor Luisa Sermol and novelist Rene Denfeld sit down for a chat about drama, stories, sexism, making the invisible seen, and working together on the play “Myra’s Story.”   

Triangle Productions Perfect Arrangement Portland Oregon
Oregon Repertory Singers Finding Light 50th Season Portland Oregon
Portland Playhouse Passing Strange Portland Oregon
Literary Arts Oregon Book Awards Portland Center Stage at the Armory Portland Oregon
Imago Theatre Carol Triffle Mission Gibbons Portland Oregon
Bonnie Bronson 2024 Fellow Wendy Red Star Reed College Reception Kaul Auditorium Foyer Portland Oregon
City of Hillsboro Walters Cultural Arts Center Tony Furtado Hillsboro Oregon
Kalakendra Indian Classical Instrumental Music First Congregational Church Portland Oregon
Portland Center Stage at the Armory Nassim Portland Oregon
Maryhill Museum of Art Goldendale Washington
Portland State University College of the Arts
Golden Road Arts Grey Raven Gallery Near the Reser Beaverton Oregon
Pacific Maritime Heritage Center Prosperity of the Sea Lincoln County Historical Society Newport Oregon Coast
PassinArt Theatre and Portland Playhouse present Yohen Brunish Theatre Portland Oregon
Northwest Dance Project Sarah Slipper Newmark Theatre Portland Oregon
Newport Performance and Visual Arts Centers Newport Oregon Coast
Portland Art Museum Virtual Sneakers to Cutting Edge Kicks Portland Oregon
High Desert Museum Sasquatch Central Oregon
Oregon Cultural Trust donate
We do this work for you.

Give to our GROW FUND.