THURGOOD Will Come to Portland Playhouse in September

Portland Playhouse, in partnership with Penumbra Theatre, and Adrienne C. Nelson High School, will open its 19th season with a special limited-run revival of George Stevens Jr's Thurgood, September 24 - 27, 2026. 

Directed by Lou Bellamy and starring Lester Purry as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the professional production will have just four public performances at Adrienne C. Nelson High School in Happy Valley, alongside student matinees, and post show conversations for hundreds of local students. 

Thurgood follows the remarkable 58-year career of Justice Thurgood Marshall, from his early work as a civil rights lawyer and his landmark victory in Brown v. Board of Education to his appointment as the first Black Justice to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Told through Marshall's own memories, the play traces his lifelong work of reshaping an American legal system that was not built to serve everyone equally. 

For Portland Playhouse, this production has a history of its own. Bellamy and Purry first began rehearsing Thurgood for the Playhouse in 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic brought rehearsals to an abrupt halt. The production finally reached their stage in 2022, bringing the longtime collaborators back to the Playhouse five years after Bellamy directed Purry as Troy Maxson in the 2017 production of August Wilson's Fences. 

Four years later, Purry and Bellamy return to the production at a moment when questions of justice, citizenship, and who gets to shape the future are still being asked. 

Purry reflects on what Marshall's story offers audiences: “During this performance, the play Thurgood gives us a wonderful opportunity to walk through history with Thurgood Marshall himself. It also compels us to peer through the window of our current history and to measure how far we've come… and how far we've yet to go.”

“Bringing Thurgood back feels especially meaningful right now,” says Portland Playhouse's Artistic Director Brian Weaver. “Lester and Lou created something extraordinary with this production, and there is something powerful about giving audiences another opportunity to experience it, this time in a school that carries the name and legacy of Justice Adrienne Nelson. Thurgood Marshal's story reminds us that change is made by people who are willing to keep pushing, even when the odds are against them. To share that story with hundreds of young people, alongside our wider community is exactly why theatre exists in the first place.” 

The setting adds another chapter to the story. Adrienne C. Nelson High School is named for Justice Nelson, the first Black person to serve on the Oregon Supreme Court. Bringing Marshall's story into a school bearing Nelson's name creates a connection against generations of legal history and reminds us that history is not distant; it lives in the people and communities that continue its work. 

In addition to four public performances, Portland Playhouse will host student matinees followed by conversations bringing together artists, students, and scholars to explore the theatre, history and the ongoing question of what justice looks like today. These conversations will create space for young people to engage directly with the ideas of the play, and consider their own role in shaping the future. 

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