Mark Spencer News

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.

On June 5, HERE (Kristin Marting, Founding Artistic Director) will honor HERE former board member and entertainment lawyer Jason Baruch and conceptual artist, designer, and musician Machine Dazzle at HERE’s Extra Gala.

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 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.

Americana band Son Volt is coming to SOPAC on Wednesday, March 9 at 7:30 pm. Tickets go on sale for members beginning Monday, September 20 at noon and the public on Friday, September 24 at noon. Prices range from $34-$44.

HERE will present the world premiere of The Visitation, a sound walk, a haunting site-specific experience created by Stephanie Fleischmann, Christina Campanella, and Mallory Catlett The sound walk marks the first collaboration between Campanella, Catlett, and Fleischmann since their production of Red Fly/Blue Bottle.

The OBIE-winning HERE has announced programming for its HERE There Everywhere winter and spring 2021 season. The season launches with the ninth annual PROTOTYPE: Opera | Theatre | Now (January 8–16), the premier global festival of opera-theatre and music-theatre which has been completely re-envisioned in light of the COVID-19 crisis.

The Country Music Hall of Fame said it best when they opened the Outlaws and Armadillos exhibit in May of 2018, Bobby Bare originated “Outlaw Country” when he became the first artist of the era to gain control of his productions, leading to the likes of Willie, Waylon and the boys following suit. In celebration of the Country Music Hall of Famer's 84th birthday on April 7 and over 60 years in the music business, SiriusXM's Outlaw Country will air an all-star tribute concert recorded on the 4th annual Outlaw Country Cruise. The two-hour special will air on SiriusXM Outlaw Country, Channel 60 on Friday, April 5 at 8 p.m. ET, Saturday, April 6 at 10 p.m. ET and Sunday, April 7 at 12 p.m. ET and be available OnDemand through the SiriusXM app on smartphones and other connected devices, as well as online at siriusxm.com.

Adam Bock's A Life, commissioned by Portland Center Stage at The Armory, will receive its West Coast debut at The Armory following the success of the play's world premiere in New York. A Life begins preview performances on September 29, opens on October 5, and runs through November 11 in the Ellyn Bye Studio. Associate Artistic Director Rose Riordan, who has frequently partnered with Bock, will direct. Nat DeWolf (Broadway: Take Me Out) will make his company debut as the astrology-loving and hopelessly single Nate Martin. DeWolf is joined by Cycerli Ash, also making her debut at The Armory, as well as returning artists Dana Green (Major Barbara and many others) and Gary Norman (Our Town).

Adam Bock's A Life, commissioned by Portland Center Stage at The Armory, will receive its West Coast debut at The Armory following the success of the play's world premiere in New York. A Life begins preview performances on September 29, opens on October 5, and runs through November 11 in the Ellyn Bye Studio. Associate Artistic Director Rose Riordan, who has frequently partnered with Bock, will direct. Nat DeWolf (Broadway: Take Me Out) will make his company debut as the astrology-loving and hopelessly single Nate Martin. DeWolf is joined by Cycerli Ash, also making her debut at The Armory, as well as returning artists Dana Green (Major Barbara and many others) and Gary Norman (Our Town).

Adam Bock's A Life, commissioned by Portland Center Stage at The Armory, will receive its West Coast debut at The Armory following the success of the play's world premiere in New York. A Life begins preview performances on September 29, opens on October 5, and runs through November 11 in the Ellyn Bye Studio. Associate Artistic Director Rose Riordan, who has frequently partnered with Bock, will direct. Nat DeWolf (Broadway: Take Me Out) will make his company debut as the astrology-loving and hopelessly single Nate Martin. DeWolf is joined by Cycerli Ash, also making her debut at The Armory, as well as returning artists Dana Green (Major Barbara and many others) and Gary Norman (Our Town).

Ted Austin, Chair of the Board of Directors at Portland Center Stage at The Armory, announced today that Marissa Wolf has been selected as the next Artistic Director at Portland Center Stage at The Armory, after an eight-month, nationwide search. Wolf, most recently the Associate Artistic Director at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, previously served as the Artistic Director at San Francisco's innovative Crowded Fire Theater. Wolf joins Managing Director Cynthia Fuhrman as co-leader of the city's leading professional theater and begins her role full-time on September 15, 2018.

This July, Portland Center Stage at The Armory celebrates the 20th Anniversary of JAW: A Playwrights Festival. The two week festival - during which artists from across the country collaborate to workshop and develop exciting new scripts - culminates in the Big Weekend of free staged readings, along with community classes, dance, music, and other events at The Armory.

This summer, JAW: A Playwrights Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary by doing what it does best: selecting some of the most exciting new plays of our time and providing complete support to the playwrights to develop those scripts in whatever area is most beneficial to them. Two weeks of script workshopping will culminate in the JAW Big Weekend, July 27-29, where public staged readings of the scripts will be presented along with performances from local artists and classes. Plenty of champagne and birthday cake will also be enjoyed, to celebrate all that JAW has accomplished since its brave and ambitious beginnings in 1999.

Kelly Willis' “Don't Step Away,” the new single from her forthcoming album Back Being Blue, premieres at Billboard. Read HERE and share the track HERE.

Kelly Willis' new album Back Being Blue is out May 18 on Premium Records/Thirty Tigers. The title track for the Americana standout's forthcoming album premieres withRolling Stone Country. Additionally, on April 19 Willis begins her much anticipated North American tour.

The clash between a daughter's philanthropic idealism and her father's hard-headed capitalism is at the heart of George Bernard Shaw's witty and timely classic Major Barbara, which begins preview performances at The Armory on April 14, opens on April 20, and runs through May 13 on the U.S. Bank Main Stage.

Portland Center Stage at The Armory's 2018-2019 season will feature 11 productions along with a special 10th anniversary return engagement of Storm Large in Crazy Enough, a show that had its world premiere at The Armory in 2009 and became one of the company's biggest hits.