Marissa Wolf News

This holiday season, Portland Center Stage brings a twist on the classic vampire story that’s perfect for the dark, spooky nights of winter in Portland, Oregon.

Bend-based craft brewery and restaurant Deschutes and theater veterans Portland Center Stage have been long-time next door neighbors and collaborators on NW 11th and Davis. Now, they are combining forces to provide theater audiences and event-goers a dining option within the Armory's beautifully designed lobby: dinner and a show!

Portland Center Stage will kick off their 2023-24 season with a spectacular high-energy musical that's all about community: directed by Isaac Lamb, HAIR begins preview performances on September 30, opens on October 6, and runs through November 5 on the mainstage.

Portland Center Stage’s annual JAW New Play Festival returns July 28-30, 2023. JAW is PCS’s week-long assembling of artists and audiences to create new plays. Each July, artistic teams, including playwrights, directors, and actors, come together to rehearse — and a lot of times rewrite! — a new play.

Portland Center Stage will present William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, beginning performances on June 3.

Portland Center Stage has revealed its 2023-2024 Season. The eight-play lineup kicks off in September with a mix of spectacular, fierce, and engaging plays offering a thrilling balance of beloved classics, iconic music, and vibrant stories that all investigate our current moment. 

Portland Center Stage's Board of Directors has named Liam Kaas-Lentz as the new managing director of Portland Center Stage, joining Artistic Director Marissa Wolf in leading Portland's largest theater company and one of the top regional theater companies in the country.

The work of Kate Hamill, one of the most-produced playwrights in the country, returns to Portland Center Stage in the new year, bringing another innovative, feminist lens to a literary favorite.

Portland Center Stage and Boom Arts are partnering on their first co-production, Kristina Wong’s witty, tour-de-force look at the early days of the pandemic, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord. The play begins preview performances on November 5, opens on November 11, and runs through December 18 in the Ellyn Bye Studio at The Armory.

Artists Repertory Theatre (ART) begins its 40th season on stage with The Hombres by Tony Meneses, a funny exploration into masculinity and the intimacy of male relationships. Performances run Sept. 10 through Oct. 9.    

The work of Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning composer Jonathan Larson returns to Portland Center Stage after a 7-week run of his blockbuster musical Rent. Larson's autobiographical musical tick, tick … BOOM! was written before Rent and is in many ways its origin story. Featuring a similarly rocking score, it offers a backstage tour of the love and sweat Larson put into making his Broadway musical dreams a reality. 

Portland Center Stage's Swirl in the Pearl: A PCS Benefit Performance will take over The Armory on May 3 to celebrate the power of great theater and wonderful community. Favorite Portland artists will be glammed up and ready to delight, including Merideth Kaye Clark, Susannah Mars, Vin Shambry, LaRhonda Steele, Leah Yorkston, and Ken Yoshikawa.

Portland Center Stage’s 2022-2023 season kicks off in August with Jonathan Larson’s rock musical tick, tick … BOOM! The nine-show lineup includes the Portland debuts of new works by PCS-commissioned playwright Christina Anderson; performance artist Kristina Wong; master of classic adaptations Kate Hamill; and Mohegan theater-maker Madeline Sayet.

Portland audiences have the chance to experience the work of award-winning playwright Lauren Yee — among the most-produced and widely celebrated playwrights in the country in recent years — through a co-production with Portland's largest and oldest theater companies: Portland Center Stage and Artists Repertory Theatre, respectively. The Great Leap is directed by Zi Alikhan, ART's artistic directing fellow, and the production marks his Portland directorial debut.

Though THE CURIOUS INCIDENT… premiered in 2012 and is based on a book published in 2003, it’s difficult to imagine a play better suited to these weird times.

The Tony award-winning play based on the best-selling novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, will return to Portland Center Stage from November 27 to December 24. The production follows a 2020 run that was already playing to packed houses when it was canceled one week after opening due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Portland Center Stage has commissioned three celebrated, innovative artists to co-create a new musical through a devised, collaborative process. William Carlos Angulo, who choreographed PCS's acclaimed production of In the Heights, will be the director and choreographer. Angulo will be joined by two artists who are new to PCS: Isaac Gómez will pen the book and Michelle J. Rodriguez (Micha) will compose the music and lyrics.

The Ritz Theatre Company will present the second show of its 'Grand Reopening' season, Melancholy Play: A Contemporary Farce, a fast-paced, comedic, and action-packed journey of five characters in search of an almond, written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl.

Set on the eve of Frida Kahlo’s death, this intimate solo show plunges into the brilliant, nuanced world of Kahlo’s tumultuous, extraordinary life — but goes far beyond biography. Instead, Brazilian writer and performer Vanessa Severo cracks open a powerful portal between herself and the celebrated Mexican artist, bringing breathtaking physicality and raw honesty to this stunningly creative production.

Portland Center Stage's annual JAW New Play Festival will bring audiences back into The Armory for live theater once again, on July 23-25, for readings of four new scripts, along with performances from local artists, classes, and more. JAW events are free and will be available to watch in-person or online.