A Great Wide Open night at the theater
The world premiere of “Great Wide Open” holds court as a big, sweet, charmingly clumsy, passionate kiss of a show.
The world premiere of “Great Wide Open” holds court as a big, sweet, charmingly clumsy, passionate kiss of a show.
Portland Center Stage’s deeply moving, don’t-miss production slices through song to the soul of values and life.
Sharon Maroney’s new musical “Audition From Hell” at Broadway Rose takes a breezy but pointed trip into the perils and pitfalls of backstage life.
Long-delayed remodel is moving ahead at the home of Portland’s second-biggest theater company. Doors are expected to open for audiences in 10 months.
Matthew Lopez’ two-part drama reimagines “Howards End” as a gay New York saga. Plus openings, closings, a big theater bash, and a new leader for Oregon Children’s Theatre.
Mikki Gillette’s “American Girl,” premiering at Fuse, is based on the story of Vancouver, Wash., 17-year-old Nikki Kuhnhauser, who was murdered in 2019.
With a fine production of John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” at Lakewood Theatre, director Antonio Sonera says he’s calling it a career. Plus: Last chance for a few good shows.
Shaking the Tree adds a bright new expansion, Le Salon Rouge takes a bow, cheerleader werewolves land on Earth, “Hairspray” hits town, and more.
PassinArt dives into the musicality of the great American playwright. Also: Black & blue, Borges & Neruda, Bill Wadhams’ musical memoir, Red Door’s “Evolve.”
The devil gets his due in Conor McPherson’s gripping play “The Seafarer.” Plus: openings, closings, Center Stage’s new season.
A busy theater week also features a Hand2Mouth devised show, Milagro’s “Ardiente Paciencia,” and a few more performances of “My Fair Lady.”
Remembering Chapman, the legendary Portland theater costume designer, and Holden, who was a cofounder of CoHo Theatre.
Fuse’s “Ronald Reagan Murdered My Mentors” explores the loss of a gay generation; Corrib’s “Trade” tells a sensitive personal queer tale; Henry Higgins hits the road.
Center Stage’s premiere of Lauren Yee’s time-tripping “Young Americans” follows three people into the heart and soul of the immigrant experience.
Lauren Yee’s “Young Americans” at Center Stage takes on the issues of immigration and belonging. Plus: Corrib’s Irish “Trade,” openings and closings.
Hip hop and graffiti drive the action in Profile’s production of Kristoffer Diaz’s play about Puerto Rican identity in New York’s gentrifying Lower East Side.
Portland Playhouse’s joyously entertaining production of Pearl Cleage’s play offers a feast of great performances by Black artists.
In a modern twist on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters, Ashley Song is energetic as Holmes and Kimberly Chatterjee’s Watson embodies many aspects of female experience.
Kate Hamill’s updated detective tale opens at Center Stage; plus “The Americans,” an all-too-pertinent “Cabaret,” and taco-loving dragons.
Since the upheavals of 2020 Portland and the nation have been in turmoil over race and more. A new play exploring the issues finds inspiration from a book of photographs from the 1950s.
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.
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.
Kristina Wong’s “Sweatshop Overlord” is a sharp and heartwarming look behind the politics of Covid. Plus: The Shakespeare Festival’s big gift.
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.
“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.
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 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.
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.
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.
The late Will Vinton’s musical-theater passion project is carried forward to the Lakewood stage. And, yes, the story’s familiar.
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.
Portland Shakespeare Project gives a “Play On” twist to a tale of jealousy and redemption. Plus openings, closings, and a farewell to Peter Brook.
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.”
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.
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