PORTLAND THEATER REVIEWS

When seeing a new-to-me play, I typically try to walk in knowing as little as possible. I love the joy of discovery. That approach has never served me better than it did for A MIRROR, Sam Holcroft's gripping play now running at Third Rail Repertory Theatre. ...

If you had told me I would cry my eyes out at a musical about a young man with green, scaly skin who only leaves his apartment once a year to go on a Grindr date, I would have given you the side eye. But there I was on opening night of LIZARD BOY at Portland Center Stage, completely undone by this i...

As the Trump administration works to erase trans people from public life (literally removing the 'T' from LGBT on the government's website about the Stonewall Uprising, a movement to which trans people were central), it becomes urgent to understand that these events don't happen in a vacuum. They ar...

Few plays in theatrical history have achieved the enduring success of The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. Since its premiere in 1952, the production has continued its celebrated run in London, earning its place as the longest running show of any kind in the world. ...

Portland Playhouse is not known for playing it safe, so it's fitting that their latest production centers on a woman, Anna Campbell, who built her entire legend on one audacious act. ...

Geography of a Horse Dreamer by Sam Shepard wrestles with artistic value, exploitation, power, and control. You will never dream the same again. On stage at Imago Theatre through March 1, 2026...

In Kallan Dana’s RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR, now running at Artists Repertory Theatre, a father (Anthony Green Caloca) and his adult daughter (Jerilyn Armstrong) head off on a cross-country drive from New York to California to clean out a storage unit....

It took about 10 seconds for tears to well up in my eyes during the opening monologue of THE BODY'S MIDNIGHT. They stayed there, occasionally spilling over, for the rest of Tira Palmquist's exquisite play. This show is just the second production by 100 Lives Repertory, but it firmly establishes them...

How do we carry on when everything is falling apart? In YOU STUPID DARKNESS!, Sam Steiner's funny and touching dramedy now running at 21ten Theatre, four volunteers spend their Tuesday nights answering calls at Brightline, a listening service for people who need someone to tell them everything is go...

For years, I'd written off THE WIZ. My only prior experience with the show had been a disappointing production that left me confused about why the original had swept the Tony Awards in 1975, winning Best Musical and Best Original Score among other honors. ...

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, or heard an entire packed audience laugh so hard. In a world that feels very heavy, Portland Center Stage's production of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG offers something we desperately need: two hours of pure, unrelenting fun....

There aren't many full-length one-person musicals, which makes IN CLAY particularly intriguing even before you discover how exquisite it is. This fairly new musical by Jack Miles and Rebecca Simmonds excavates the true story of Marie-Berthe Cazin, a French painter and sculptor in the late 19th and e...

What did our critic think of TIGER STYLE! at Profile Theatre?...

Portland Playhouse’s annual production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL continues to be essential holiday viewing. It’s a gorgeous piece of theatre that honors tradition while finding ways to surprise even its most devoted returnees. Consider me among them, already looking forward to next year....

Shakespeare's THE WINTER’S TALE is notoriously difficult to do well. One of the Bard's later 'problem plays,' it essentially presents two different theatrical worlds: the first half is a tragedy driven by King Leontes' sudden, irrational jealousy toward his pregnant wife Hermione and his best frie...

What did our critic think of LOUISA MAY ALCOTT'S LITTLE WOMEN at Portland Center Stage? I had forgotten that Little Women opens at Christmas until I started rereading the book in anticipation of Portland Center Stage's production of Lauren M. Gunderson's new adaptation: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT'S LITTLE WO...

Not knowing who you are can hollow you out, leaving a space that can too easily get filled with all sorts of dangerous things. Joy Nesbitt's STILT, now making its world premiere at Corrib Theatre under Holly Griffith's direction, takes that primal anxiety about identity and weaves it into something ...

What did our critic think of RECENT TRAGIC EVENTS at Third Rail Repertory Theatre?...

What did our critic think of MADONNA OF THE CAT at 21ten Theatre?...

In times like these, sometimes you just need to turn off your brain and laugh. That's exactly what the national tour of the musical comedy SHUCKED delivers – a few hours of unapologetically silly, pun-saturated fun....

Samantha Van Der Merwe once again demolishes any idea of conventional theatre with DANCING ON THE SABBATH, her adaptation of 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses,' now running at Shaking the Tree Theatre. It's a story told without audible dialogue, a movement piece without traditional dance, and an immers...

Dominique Morisseau's PARADISE BLUE, now running at Portland Playhouse, is an intense, beautifully acted noir drama about community, legacy, and the forces that tear both apart. Set at the Paradise Club in Detroit's Black Bottom neighborhood in 1949, this jazz-infused play opens with a jolt — a tr...

What did our critic think of THE BED TRICK at Artists Repertory Theatre? Is all well that ends well? If you’re familiar with Shakespeare's comedy, you know this is a loaded question. The play's supposedly happy resolution hinges on the 'bed trick,' a deception in which one person tricks another pe...

When I saw Portland Center Stage lineup for this season, the show I was most excited about was Eboni Booth’s PRIMARY TRUST. I’d heard nothing but good things about this play, which won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The plot is deceptively simple, but underneath flows a current of kindness, ...

As the lights dimmed at the end of ORANGE FLOWER WATER, the debut production of 100 Lives Repertory, a deafening silence settled over the audience, as if we were collectively deciding whether to clap or let out a primal scream. It was one of the most visceral theatrical experiences I've had in years...