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Just as leaves change color when plants return food to their roots, so too are some of Portland’s homegrown heroes coming home to nourish the fans who live where it all began for them. Pacific Northwest films get orchestral treatments, local superstars of song perform with the Oregon Symphony, dance companies keep moving, and the city’s gallery scene remains as buzzy as ever. Here are a few of the season’s shows that have caught our eye so far, with surely more to come in a bountiful harvest of creative excellence.
Movie Concerts
Hate on the Twilight Saga all you want, but the literary-turned-film phenomenon is getting new life as a nostalgic work. A dozen rock and chamber musicians will perform the first Twilight movie’s score while it shows at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Sept. 15. Next month, the more universally beloved and time-tested The Goonies gets a concert by the Oregon Symphony on Oct. 23 to celebrate the movie’s 40th anniversary. 1037 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5.com. Twilight 7:30 pm Monday, Sept. 15. $50–$117. The Goonies 7:30 pm Thursday, Oct. 23. $44–$149.
Local Legends
Jinkx Monsoon, Esperanza Spalding, The Decemberists, The Dandy Warhols and Storm Large all take to the Schnitz this fall with the Oregon Symphony. Monsoon performs covers and original songs Sept. 10. Spalding’s program includes Gaia—an arrangement co-written with the late Grammy-winning saxophonist Wayne Shorter—on Oct. 18 and 19. Large performs Seven Deadly Sins (which she performed last year with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra) on Nov. 1 and 2. The Decemberists and The Dandy Warhols will each pull from their expansive catalogs for rare symphonic collabs, with the former band performing Nov. 6 and 7 and the latter Nov. 13. 1037 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5.com. Various times and prices.
The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams’ first major play on desire and duty in the American South, now 81 years young, heads to Hillsboro thanks to Bag&Baggage Productions. The Vault Theater, 350 E Main St., Hillsboro, 503-345-9590, bagnbaggage.org. Various times Sept. 4–21. $26–$41.60, $23.92 for seniors, $5.20 for Arts for All card holders.
Urban Canvas of Portland
Tunisian artist Soulaimen Aboubacar pairs with Hood River painter Joy Kloman for a joint exhibition considering how Portland, like other cities, balances nature with human expansion (among other dichotomies) as centers of architecture, technology and culture. 1355 NW Everett St. Opening reception 5–8 pm Friday, Sept. 5. On view through Dec. 12 by appointment. Free.
Sasha Colby: Stripped II
Before winning RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2023, Sasha Colby was deeply influential within the drag circuit as a pageant queen and burlesque artist. She returns to Portland with a new show featuring original music. Colby’s first Stripped Tour at Revolution Hall last spring was hotly anticipated, so moving across the river to a larger stage only makes sense. Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5.com. 8 pm Wednesday, Sept. 16. $47–$92. 18+.
Protocols: An Erasure
Award-winning poet Daniela Naomi Molnar turns the infamous antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion into a work of healing by erasing select words until a book-length poem remains, subverting hate speech without being afraid of its destructive power. Molnar’s national tour of the work takes her to Broadway Books on Sept. 24 and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education on Nov 5. Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 503-284-1726, broadwaybooks.net. 6 pm Wednesday, Sept. 24. Free.
surrogates
Photographer ricardo nagaoka exhibits intimate, richly shaded black-and-white portraits of people in their bedrooms. The images radiate vulnerability while nagaoka’s attention to capturing textural detail makes them feel alive. Nationale, 15 SE 22nd Ave., nationale.us. On view through Oct. 5. Free.
Atsuko Okatsuka
Known for a distinctive bowl haircut and characterized by her passionate embrace of benign socially unpopular takes (like enjoying “Live, Laugh, Love” home décor, for instance), Atsuko Okatsuka added a third show at the Newmark Theatre on Sept. 28 after her earlier two-night engagement at Aladdin Theater sold out. 1111 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5.com. 7 pm Sunday, Sept. 28. $53–$156.
Maria Bamford
Most of Portland’s best standup comedians claim Maria Bamford as their inspiration. Her creative progeny will be thrilled when she returns to Portland with new material. Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5.com. 7:30 pm Sunday, Oct. 26. $40.50–$70.75.
BloodyVox
BodyVox’s annual spooky season showcase is inspired by nightmares, folklore and scary movies, but promises to retain some of the dance company’s usual sense of lighthearted whimsy. 1201 NW 17th Ave., 503-229-0627, bodyvox.org. 7:30 pm Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 29 and 30. $50.
A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin
Theo Downes-Le Guin curates a multidisciplinary group show at Oregon Contemporary dedicated to his late mother’s artistry, centered on some of her most central themes. The exhibition opens on Halloween, runs into next winter, and will be activated by special events over the following months. 8371 N Interstate Ave., 503-286-9449, oregoncontemporary.org. Oct. 31, 2025–Feb. 8, 2026. Free.
The Grand Kyiv Ballet’s Swan Lake
The touring company giving work and spotlights to Ukraine’s displaced dancers returns to Portland to perform one of the world’s most famous non-Christmas ballets. Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5.com. 7 pm Saturday, Nov. 22. $40–$132.
