Laura Houck News

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s classic, YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, is eighty-six years young, and the latest revival at Portland’s Good Theater makes a strong case for the work’s perennial appeal. Directed by Brian P. Allen and featuring a cast of eighteen, most Good Theater veterans, this delightfully zany script, filled with wacky but loveable characters, delivers a timeless message about family and the secrets to true happiness.

Good Theater will present the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU as the finale of its 20th anniversary season, running March 29th through April 23rd. See photos from the production!

Good Theater will present the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU as the finale of its 20th anniversary season, running March 29th through April 23rd.

When Portland Staged halted mid-way through its four-week live run of Native Gardens on March 12 in response to the threat of coronavirus, its four actors, three from New York City, were poised to return home early, but first it mounted one last private performance on March 14, playing to a small audience of staff.

In the midst of a dark and anxious time for all theatres, Portland Stage has managed to navigate the rights issues to live stream its production of Karen Zacarias' NATIVE GARDENS, which had begun its run when the pandemic closed everything down. The resulting performance proves a welcome ray of light for Maine's theatre goers: a comedy that uses laser-sharp wit, colorfully contrasting characters, and a measured look at a number of topical issues which are provoked by a timeless conflict.

Portland Stage transforms into a blooming garden for its Mainstage comedy that challenges audiences to look beyond our differences and find our common decency: Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías.

The Good Theater opens its season with Joshua Harmon's powerful and persuasive drama about class and race, aspiration in America, and the complexities of navigating a world where nothing is black and white, no matter how much one wishes it so. ADMISSIONS is a stunningly astute choice for 2019, though it was written long before recent headlines and made its Lincoln Center debut in 2018. As Executive/Artistic Director Brian P. Allen expands the Good's season to five main stage plays and four second stage shows, this Maine premiere of Harmon's play represents Allen's keen sense of the moment and what is excellent drama.

Good Theater will kick off its 18th season with the Maine premiere of the award-winning new play ADMISSIONS by Joshua Harmon. The production opens October 2nd and plays through October 27th, 2019 at Good Theater's home, the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. For tickets and information, please call the Box Office at (207) 835-0895 or visit www.goodtheater.com.

Good Theater will kick off its 18th season with the Maine premiere of the award-winning new play ADMISSIONS by Joshua Harmon. The production opens October 2nd and plays through October 27th, 2019 at Good Theater's home, the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland.  For tickets and information, please call the Box Office at (207) 835-0895 or visit www.goodtheater.com.

Good Theater is excited to announce LIFE WITH BRIAN, the first special event of the 2019/2020 season. Join Good Theater favorites and Broadway guest stars for an outrageous, fun-filled celebration honoring Artistic Director Brian P. Allen as he turns 60! Embarrassing videos, hysterical sketches, powerful songs, and Brian's signature masterful storytelling will make this a night to remember - cake and champagne toast included!

The Good Theater's winter production of David Javerbaum's 2015 satire, An Act of God, serves up mordent satiric wit that masks the playwright's very thoughtful exploration of some of the most serious existential human questions. In a brisk eighty-three minute, essentially one character dramatic monologue, Javerbaum takes on mythos, religion, tradition, and all the other central pillars of social discourse and gleefully turns them each on its head, replacing answers with questions.

Good Theater rings in the New Year with the Maine premiere of David Javerbaum's hit Broadway comedy, An Act of God. The production opens January 16 and runs through February 10. Good Theater is the professional theater in residence at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. For tickets and information call 207-835-0895 or go to the company's website, www.goodtheater.com.

Good Theater rings in the New Year with the Maine premiere of David Javerbaum's hit Broadway comedy, An Act of God. The production opens January 16 and runs through February 10. Good Theater is the professional theater in residence at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. For tickets and information call 207-835-0895 or go to the company's website, www.goodtheater.com.

Good Theater rings in the New Year with the Maine premiere of David Javerbaum's hit Broadway comedy, An Act of God. The production opens January 16 and runs through February 10. Good Theater is the professional theater in residence at the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. For tickets and information call 207-835-0895 or go to the company's website, www.goodtheater.com.

In what has become a delightful Portland holiday tradition, the Good Theater presented its annual musical revue, created and directed by Brian P. Allen, starring an incandescent Valerie Perri, together with Daniel Patrick Smith and a fine ensemble of Maine talent. The program, which featured twenty-nine musical theatre classics as well as lesser-known songs of the 1980s, was woven together by Allen with his comprehensive knowledge of the repertoire and his customary wit and performed with relish and commitment by the entire ensemble.

Valerie Perri, who created the role of Eva Peron in the national tour of Evita will be the guest star for Good Theater's annual Broadway at Good Theater concerts December 5-9. Perri won the L.A. Drama Critics Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical. She also performed the role at Maine State Music Theatre in 1985.

Good Theater tops the mystery theater genre with a production of Shear Madness

Good Theater is proud to bring back Shear Madness for another extended run beginning January 10 and continuing for nine weeks through March 11. Shear Madness proved to be the best selling show in Good Theater's history during its original run in 2016.

Among the many holiday season theatrical offerings, the annual musical revue, Broadway at the Good Theater inevitably proves to be a refreshing and original approach to ushering in a season of good cheer. The 2017 production, conceived, written, and directed by Brian P. Allen, is no exception; in fact, if anything, this year's show is bigger, bolder, and full of delightful surprises.

Eric Kunze and Kathy Voytko will join Good Theater for their annual Broadway at Good Theater concerts November 29 - December 3 at Good Theater's home, the St. Lawrence Arts Center, 76 Congress Street, Portland. This year the concerts will be a tribute to the 1950s - the height of the Golden Age of Broadway.