PETE PRESENTS: CLOSE IN ★ FAR OUT FESTIVAL To Take Place Across Portland

PETE PRESENTS: CLOSE IN ★ FAR OUT, created by PETE’s Institute for Contemporary Performance, will run May 7–10, 2026 across multiple locations in Portland. The four-day festival will feature experimental performances devised and performed by the 2025–26 ICP cohort, with all tickets offered on a pay-what-you-will basis.

The festival will take place at venues throughout the Portland metro area, including Leach Botanical Garden, PICA, private residences, and the PETE studio. The programming explores themes of connection, intimacy, endurance, and transformation through a mix of performance styles and settings.

About the Shows

On Your Mark is an endurance-based performance examining masculinity, suicide, and isolation, and how shared suffering can create connection. Performances will take place Friday, May 8 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 10 at 5 p.m. at PICA, presented as a double feature with Enchanter.

Bloom Ball will be presented Saturday, May 9 at 12 p.m. at Leach Botanical Garden. The performance is set as a garden gathering, blending coming-of-age storytelling with immersive elements.

Enchanter, created by Chloe Caldwell and Roco DeLuca, will make its theatrical debut with performances Friday, May 8 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 10 at 5 p.m. at PICA, paired with On Your Mark. The work incorporates elements of horror and includes a post-show discussion.

Rituals For Remembering will be presented Sunday, May 10 at 8 p.m. at the PETE Studio. The performance combines narrative and visual elements to explore memory, grief, and renewal.

About PETE’S Institute for Contemporary Performance

The Institute for Contemporary Performance is a year-long training program based in Portland, Oregon. Participants train in techniques including Suzuki, Viewpoints, clown, Alexander Technique, voice, and devised performance, culminating in a public festival of new works each spring.

About Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble