10 Shows to Check Out at the 2026 Fertile Ground Festival
Portland's annual festival of new works kicks off April 10.
The 2026 Fertile Ground Festival kicks off on April 10. This annual grab bag of new works is my favorite time in Portland’s theatre calendar because it gives us a chance to see works at various stages of development, from early readings to fully staged world premieres. This year, Fertile Ground features more than 80 shows in venues across the city. Here are 10 shows I find particularly intriguing, in alphabetical order.
Anonymous. (Fully Staged World Premiere)
By Bets Swadis
About the show
In a Philadelphia meeting room, a group of superheroes gathers anonymously to connect and support one another. As the year progresses, they celebrate birthdays, share stories, and face the reality of their own mortality.
'Anonymous.' explores themes of friendship, loss, and the bittersweet nature of time within the context of a superhero narrative. Sharing moments of joy and grief, the heroes confront the fragility of life and the enduring power of human connection.
In the face of inevitable loss, what does it truly mean to be brave?
And what does a hero do when they can't save themself?
Why I’m excited
This seems like a very unique take on the superhero genre. Plus, the themes are things I’ve definitely been thinking about lately.
Details
- Sunday, April 12 @ 7:30pm
- Sunday, April 19 @ 12pm
- The Boiler Room Studio
- Get tickets
Blue Roses (Staged Reading)
By Sandra de Helen
About the show
Two young, upper class women named Rose, both sisters of famous men, are in an asylum together; it’s 1940 and lobotomist Dr. Walter Freeman is on the cutting edge of mental health. [Rose Isabel Williams is the sister of Tennessee Williams; Rose Marie Kennedy is the sister of John F. Kennedy. This play imagines them in the same asylum at the same time.)
Why I’m excited
I really enjoyed Sandra de Helen’s A Window into Tennessee, a one-person show about Tennessee Williams that was part of last year’s Fertile Ground Festival. Plus, this one has an incredible cast.
Details
- Saturday, April 18 @ 5:30pm
- Sunday, April 19 @ 12pm
- Monday, April 20 @ 7:30pm
- 21ten Theatre
- Get tickets
Boom Crash Love - A Jazz-Age Jukebox Musical (Fully Staged World Premiere)
By Timothy Krause
About the show
This high-energy jazz-age jukebox musical transports audiences to New York in 1929, a city pulsing with ambition, glamour, and the restless energy of modernity. Opposites seem to attract when Daniel, a slick broker, meets EveLynn, a quirky artist, but their relationship stumbles just as the stock market crashes, and only Greta, a sparkling nightclub singer, and Nick, her loyal accompanist, can keep everyone from falling head over heels into a Great Depression. In the end, who will pair with whom at a time when the only thing more unpredictable than the stock market is the heart?
Why I’m excited
First, I love musicals. But also, Tim Krause has created this show using music already in the public domain, and he intends to offer the book and musical arrangements for use with a Creative Commons license so theatres can produce it royalty-free. That’s the kind of work I want to support! Plus, it will be my first visit to the recently renovated Dekum Street Theatre.
Details
- Friday, April 17 @ 7pm
- Saturday, April 18 @ 7pm
- Sunday, April 19 @ 1pm
- Friday, April 24 @ 7pm
- Saturday, April 25 @ 7pm
- Sunday, April 26 @ 1pm
- Dekum Street Theatre
- Get tickets
Good Grief, Dru Rutledge! (Fully Staged World Premiere / Advanced Workshop)
By Dru Rutledge
About the show
For almost 34 years, I woke up wondering: "Is today the day my mom dies?"
My mom, M'Liz Crawford, was diagnosed with M.S. when I was 9 and our family quickly became centered in her health with thousands of doctor and ER visits, hospital and rehab stays over the years - we through our Midwestern stoicism and humor, we thought we had prepared for everything. We learned when the time abruptly and unexpectedly came however that we hadn't actually prepared for her leaving us and what the hell we'd do after.
And so - on January 31st, 2025, I finally got my answer and was unmoored.
My mom was my biggest fan and growing up she made me sing everywhere, anytime so in honoring the bigness of my mother and the depth of my grief for her passing - I've decided to do as she prepared me - to sing about it …in the lesser well-known SIXTH stage of grief: creating a deeply personal, funny, queer show about the vastness and interconnectedness of grief through musical theatre songs and more than likely inappropriate stories.
Why I’m excited
If you've ever seen Dru Rutledge perform, you already know you can't miss this. If you haven't, well, you're in for a treat. This show promises to be funny, heartbreaking, and full of songs from musicals – that’s pretty much my idea of perfection.
Details
- Friday, April 10 @ 9pm
- Saturday, April 11 @ 8pm
- Sunday, April 12 @ 7:30pm
- Saturday, April 18 @ 8pm
- Monday, April 20 @ 7:30pm
- Back Door Theatre
- Get tickets
My Huckleberry Friend (Advanced Workshop)
By Daniel E. Ellis
About the show
This is a compelling comedy that features a screwball lyricist who’s teamed with a fussy, nerdy composer to create a new musical. The sparks and zingers fly. Trouble ensues. Can they open the show? Can they figure out how to be normal? You’ll love the triumphant end. Come for the laughs and stay for the inspiration!
Why I’m excited
This show is aiming for Broadway with five-time Tony Award winner Corey Brunish as executive producer. So it’s a chance to get a sneak peek and say you saw it when.
Details
- Saturday, April 18 @ 12pm
- Sunday, April 19 @ 7:30pm
- Wednesday, April 22 @ 7:30pm
- Sunday, April 25 @ 5pm
- 21ten Theatre
- Get tickets
Neighboring (Advanced Workshop)
By Trick Pony Theatre
About the show
What goes on in the homes of those we share our walls, streets and cities with? Through a series of comings and goings, these neighbors awkwardly struggle to remain anonymous while also hoping to make a friend. By seeing them fumble through conversations and wrestle with their own imaginations and reservations, NEIGHBORING, part clown show, part absurd sociological study, explores how it's easier to communicate than ever but actually connecting is so much more complex.
Why I’m excited
To my surprise (because I was scared of clowns as a kid), I’ve grown quite fond of clown shows. There’s something about the physicality that allows this type of performance to convey emotion in a way that resonates very deeply. And we all know how difficult neighboring can be!
Details
- Thursday, April 16 @ 7:30pm
- Sunday, April 19 @ 2pm and 6pm
- Desert Island Studios
- Get tickets
Taking Liberties (Fully Staged World Premiere)
By Jennifer Wright
About the show
Two pianists play an extended duet, but this is not just any concert. The audience is invited to interact with the performers as they play, radically shaping their ability to execute the music and the outcome of the piece.
Each of the three performances is presented with a different slant, creating three stories that question the reality of agency and bodily autonomy and present a tug-of-war of conflicting interests. What will the whims of the viewers cause to unfold?
Why I’m excited
Under “genre/performance style,” this show is classified as interactive theatre, adaptive musical performance, and performance art, so I have no idea what to expect. These are the kinds of weird and wonderful shows that you can only see at Fertile Ground.
Details
- Tuesday, April 14 @ 7:30
- Friday, April 17 @ 10pm
- Sunday, April 19 @ 5:30pm
- The Boiler Room Studio
- Get tickets
The Compulsory Best Friendship of Limmy and Wags (Staged Reading)
By Sara Jean Accuardi
About the show
A mistake was made. A choice was made. A lifetime went by. Did we do it right? A play about mix-ups, mothers, daughters, and what that all really means.
Why I’m excited
When I first moved to Portland, I got a tip from a theatre insider to see Sara Jean Accuardi’s plays whenever I had the chance. That person was right! She has written some of my favorite plays over the past several years. Plus, it’s free!
Details
- Thursday, April 16 @ 2pm
- Artists Repertory Theatre
- Get tickets
The Mask I Wear (Advanced Workshop)
About the show
The Mask I Wear by Jonathan Hernandez is a continuation from last year's acclaimed solo performance that follows a Latino actor caught in the endless cycle of auditions, typecasting, and cultural expectation across theatre, film, and television.
Set in the familiar purgatory of a casting office waiting room, Actor J confronts the voices that shape—and limit—his career: Johnny H, a version of success built on compromise and stereotype, and J-Boy, a fearless Southwestern artist who refuses to shrink himself to fit the industry’s imagination. As Actor J moves between these personas, the piece exposes the quiet contradictions of an industry that celebrates “universal” stories while restricting who gets to embody them. Blending sharp humor with raw honesty, the show interrogates why Latino performers are rarely considered for complex leading roles, and why the stories of their communities are dismissed as unfamiliar or niche.
The Mask I Wear is both an internal reckoning and a public challenge—an exploration of identity, representation, and the cost of belonging in an industry that still struggles to see the full American story.
Why I’m excited
This show was a standout of last year's festival for me, and I can't wait to see how it's evolved. Jonathan Hernandez is one of those performers whose commitment to every character is palpable from the first moment he steps onstage. When I see his name on a cast list, I already know there's something worth showing up for.
Details
- Friday, April 10 @ 5:30pm
- Saturday, April 11 @ 3pm
- Sunday, April 12 @ 5pm
- The Boiler Room Studio
- Get tickets
The View From Here (Staged Reading)
By E.M. Lewis
About the show
As Elsie prepares to leave the planet, she’s visited by two young people who are also, in their own ways, death-adjacent. Can the three of them help each other fix the terrible, lonely tilting of their lives before Ed arrives?
Why I’m excited
E.M. Lewis is one of our best local playwrights. Everything I’ve seen from her so far has been fantastic, and I’ve no doubt this one will be as well. Also free!
E.M. Lewis’s Apple Hunters! is getting its world premiere this weekend as part of Artists Rep's regular season. Its first reading was at the 2023 Fertile Ground festival.
Details
- Friday, April 17 @ 2pm
- Artists Repertory Theatre
- Get tickets
Photo credit: Andrea Markowitz
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