Portland Stage Presents THE CAKE This April

A play as delicious as it is relevant, as comical as it is intentional, The Cake is sure to delight audiences.

THE CHRISTMAS BRIDE in Concert Comes Maine in July

Portland Stage Company will bring The Cake to Maine. A play as delicious as it is relevant, as comical as it is intentional, The Cake is sure to delight audiences.

Written by award-winning writer Bekah Brunstetter, (NBC's This Is Us, Starz's American Gods, and plays Be A Good Little Widow, F*cking Art, Going to a Place Where You Already Are to name a few), The Cake is an important yet funny look at love, beliefs, traditions, relationships, and confection. This play has sold out in multiple venues and has been hailed as "refreshing and heartening" by the LA Times. With characters that are human, layered, and true and a story that asks us all to evaluate our beliefs and our capacity to love, The Cake lands with thoughtful, intentional sweetness

The Cake centers on queer characters getting married in the south and the challenges faced when rigidly held beliefs do not align with the realities of loving others. On the surface is a wedding cake and a queer wedding, a story our country knows. More deeply is the story of the very real, very relatable characters who reckon with who they are in a divided and unfamiliar world when loving relationships hang in the balance.

Director Todd Backus, who is also the Literary Manager at Portland Stage, says, "This is a play we had been thinking about several years ago when it originally premiered. We originally announced it in the 2020-2021 season, and honestly at the time I was worried that we had maybe moved past this play a little bit... It seemed that maybe this [topic] would be out of date, but now we have a case that is very similar to Masterpiece Cake Shop that is going through the courts right now that makes this [play] incredibly relevant right now. I am excited to bring this conversation to audiences here in Portland."

Eileen Hanley,* who plays Jen, is a Portland native returning to play a gay woman as an out gay woman herself. "It's very cathartic... it's very meta for me." She adds, "I find it interesting that we are able to present these people as their multi-leveled selves and see all the sides of them that are good and bad, and let the audience find themselves in parts of all those characters. They'll have something to connect to and reflect on."




RELATED STORIES - Maine

BANANA Comes to PortFringe

Is he human? Or is he banana? Join Michael Galligan ('...of considerable wit and guile,' says The List) as he transforms into the one and only Banana Man, trapped in a box with just one hour before he ripens. Experience an unforgettable performance that blends burlesque, stand-up, dance, physical comedy, singing, magic, and more. With plenty of audience participation, this show will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end and wondering what it means to be put in a box.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC Comes to Ogunquit Playhouse in November

The Music Hall will be alive with The Sound of Music this holiday season when the Ogunquit Playhouse presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved musical, November 29-December 17, at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

THE CHRISTMAS BRIDE in Concert Comes Maine in July

Snowlion Repertory Company will present a CHRISTMAS IN JULY celebration by bringing The Christmas Bride in Concert for three performances to three well-known performing venues in Maine. This two-hour concert version of the timeless classic musical romance (based on a Charles Dickens short story) will perform July 8 at 7 pm at Meetinghouse Arts in Freeport; July 9 at 3 pm at St Lawrence Arts in Portland; and July 11 at 7 pm at the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor.

PortFringe Returns in June

PortFringe - Maine’s Fringe Festival  will present their 11th annual summer event  from June 1-9, 2023, including  more than 75 genre-defying performances and special events at venues throughout Portland's East Bayside neighborhood. 


Videos


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