Portland Playhouse’s “Fences” Is Much More Than an Introduction to August Wilson
The theater brought in an outside director who once starred in "Fences" under the direction of Wilson himself.
  • Lauren Yoshiko
  • May 9, 2018
    •   
DeLanna Studi’s Debut Play Is a Personal Exploration of the Trail of Tears
"And So We Walked" is the story of Studi’s quest to heal psychic scars, or at least learn how to better understand them.
  • R Mitchell Miller
  • April 11, 2018
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New Play “The Mermaid Hour” Is Less About its Transgender Protagonist Than Her Parents
As confused as they may be, the three parents in the play never stop trying to understand their kids or each other.
  • Shannon Gormley
  • March 27, 2018
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DANCE
“Man/Woman” Attempts to Address Gender Roles in Ballet
Though "Man/Woman" is intended to be open-ended, using ballet to comment on the binary seems a little like asking a fish to describe water.
  • Shannon Gormley
  • April 18, 2018
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Fertile Ground 2019 Concludes With Monsters and Musicals

Fertile Ground 2019 is literally ending on a high note with an array of plays that includes several striking musicals. The Broken Planetarium’s Sirens of Coos Bay is a rock-and-roll revamp of The Little Mermaid, Holly Yurth Harmon’s Welcome to Zion uses song to take us inside the mind of a tormented gay Mormon and Lily Valentine Productions’ disconnected: a frankenstein musical is exactly what it sounds like—except when it isn’t.
Bennett Campbell Ferguson   

Teen Detectives, Embattled Siblings and an Airport are Among Fertile Ground’s Highlights

“Electricity”—that’s the word playwright Maeve Z recently used to describe the vibe of Fertile Ground. The aggressive pace of the festival of new works, she points out, forces you to go onstage before you are ready. There isn’t always time to finesse every detail in the lighting design or rehearse to perfection all the emotional beats. Sometimes you simply have to trust that what you are offering will thrill, move or entertain.
Bennett Campbell Ferguson   

Cirque Du Soleil Awards $10,000 to Local Nonprofit Teaching Circus Arts to At-Risk Youth

After spending much of the last decade performing a budgetary balancing act, Portland-based nonprofit the Circus Project has received one heck of a large safety net from Cirque du Soleil in the form of a $10,000 grant. The money will allow the organization to launch a new project that will engage marginalized youth by teaching them everything from tumbling to navigating the flying trapeze.
Andi Prewitt   

Artists Rep’s Teenage Dick Is a Bold Revision of Shakespeare’s Richard III

The title tyrant of William Shakespeare’s Richard III is the kind of evildoer who is so entertaining you can’t help but love him. Yet in Mike Lew’s Teenage Dick—which transplants the Bard’s epic to a contemporary American high school—Richard is a more vulnerable character. Brutally bullied for having cerebral palsy, he doesn’t crave power for power’s sake. He’s hungry for respect.
Bennett Campbell Ferguson   

Milagro Chronicles Xiomara Torres’ Path From El Salvador to the Oregon Judiciary

Crossing into the U.S. at the age of 9 was a transformative event in Xiomara Torres’ life—the conclusion of one astonishing journey and the beginning of another. In the years after her arrival, Torres became a U.S. citizen, survived the difficulties of foster care and attended the University of California, Berkeley as well as Lewis & Clark Law School before eventually being appointed to the Multnomah County Circuit Court by Gov. Kate Brown in 2017.
Bennett Campbell Ferguson   

Get Ready for Clowns, a Teenage Richard III and Barbara Streisand in Local Theater

The following is a schedule of the most promising plays that will run in Portland through March. For all we know, these 10 works will deflate in the face of the hype and be eclipsed by something no one is on the lookout for. But all of the theater companies behind these productions are renowned for their creativity, ingenuity and guts. If you’re wondering what to see in 2019, this lineup is a place to start.
Bennett Campbell Ferguson   

Artists Rep’s Everybody is a Satirical Journey Toward the Afterlife

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ uproarious and poignant satire Everybody is, as its title suggests, about all of us—everybody in the world. Yet rather than cram billions of people onto a stage, the play is powered by an ingenious conceit—one actor plays a character named Everybody, who serves as the embodiment of humankind. If you don’t think that sounds bold enough, consider this: Everybody, and several other roles, are randomly assigned to cast members during each performance.
Bennett Campbell Ferguson   

Third Rail’s John is One of the Year’s Oddest, Most Fascinating Plays

The first thing you notice about Third Rail Repertory Theatre’s production of John is the intensely detailed set. Heavy rugs blanket the floor. Toys are everywhere. Pale green wallpaper encircles the room. Written by Annie Baker and directed by Rebecca Lingafelter, John is exactly like the stage where it unfolds—peculiar but entrancing. You don’t have to understand every moment of the play because it’s thrilling to allow yourself to become blissfully lost in what Baker has created.
Bennett Campbell Ferguson   
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