Performance Both A Steady Rain and The Detective’s Wife, presented by Hellfire Productions, take place on stormy nights. At least that’s what the thundery sound effects suggest—the exact context of ea   More

Arts & Books So much at the Time Based Art festival is in your face. Big Art Group screams about Greek tragedy and squirts ketchup all over the place. Miguel Gutierrez unleashes a mile-a-minute monologue about a thousand topics. This can be exhausting, and it can also trick you into thinking that performance is supposed to assault you in some way. That’s why I was so glad to catch (glowing), a clean a...   More

Arts & Books If you have plans to see Heavens What Have I Done tonight or tomorrow, Miguel Gutierrez probably wants you to stop reading this. Gutierrez is an advocate of audience members entering performances blindly. He dislikes programs, and he dislikes papers about the “meaning” of his work. Does Gutierrez want to read a graduate student’s analysis of his performance? No. Like everyone else, he...   More

Arts & Books Miriam, a world premiere from Zimbabwean choreographer Nora Chipaumire, is dark. Not gloomy or sinister—no, this is a performance genuinely devoid of light. As a result, it can be difficult to make out what exactly is happening onstage, what Chipaumire and fellow dancer Okwui Okpokwasili are wearing, what sorts of props they’re handling. Occasional flashes of light break the darkness—...   More

Performance Nora Chipaumire is a force of nature. The Zimbabwe-born, New York City-based choreographer has a style both visceral and regal, evoking a powerful and charismatic bird of prey. Chipaumire’s crea   More

Performance The audience at Cathedral Park looked so normal. They licked Popsicles, fanned themselves with their programs and drank bottles of craft brew. There were kids. And dogs! There were surely other    More

Performance In Japanese Kabuki theater, tricks of costuming and staging assist actors as they undergo swift transformations or make sudden revelations. It’s a theme applied to bold effect in Bag&Bagga   More

Performance Here’s something of a confession (and perhaps a disclaimer): I’ve never seen the movie version of The Odd Couple. I’m familiar with the plot, of course, and I’ve watched maybe half an epis   More

Performance In middle school, I acted in a production of The Odyssey. Bored by a dumbed-down script, our adolescent cast attempted to punch it up with absurdity: Circe wore a sweater vest yet spoke in slang.    More

Performance The history of the blues is complex, meandering its way from rhythmic African chants to Southern spirituals to Chicago pop hits. In Portland Center Stage’s final production of the season, howeve   More