This production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL is absolutely delightful. And somehow, it manages to still be surprising. If you're the type who's skeptical about holiday shows in general, do yourself a favor and give this one a chance.... (more...)
A CHRISTMAS MEMORY/WINTER SONG is quiet and thoughtful -- a 90-minute break from the hecticity, when you can take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy some beautiful music while contemplating the joy and sorrow that come hand in hand during this season.... (more...)
Lisa Kron's IN THE WAKE draws parallels between the personal and the political to suggest that even the most unimaginable outcomes aren't really that out there -- it's just that we're really bad at seeing past the end of our own nose.... (more...)
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' EVERYBODY is not your normal holiday fare, but I highly recommend you find time in your busy schedule to see it...at least once.... (more...)
It's that time of year again -- when the Cratchit family makes plans to murder Scrooge while he's on a journey back to the '80s with the Ghost of Christmas Past. Yep -- TWIST YOUR DICKENS is back at Portland Center Stage, irreverently skewering all that we hold dear about the holiday season.... (more...)
A 1940S RADIO CHRISTMAS CAROL is a breath of fresh air. It allows you to slip briefly back to a time that, looking through today's lens, seems a little simpler.... (more...)
Hand2Mouth Theatre's THE LAZARUS COMPLEX is part of a larger project by writer/creator Ben Moorad called 'Envelope of Suicides,' which was inspired by an envelope full of newspaper clippings about suicides and suicide attempts his grandfather collected between 1941 and 1948.... (more...)
In Charlie O'Neill's HURL, a multi-ethnic hurling team, made of immigrants, aspiring immigrants, and children of immigrants from Africa, South America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, want to join the local athletic club and represent the county on the national level. But there's a problem -- they aren't ... (more...)
Adam Bock's A LIFE, which was commissioned by Portland Center Stage, starts out with a lot of promise -- Nate, a man in his 50s, recently single and lonely, is contemplating what it's all about. But ultimately the show fails to land.... (more...)
______ THE WOLF, a new devised piece now running at Shaking the Tree, draws on Little Red Riding Hood to explores how easy it is to become trapped in these familiar narratives, to be defined by your given role until you lose track of your own voice.... (more...)
'Is it now? I thought I had more time.' That's Guy's first line in Will Eno's quietly profound play WAKEY, WAKEY, now on stage at Portland Playhouse. It gets straight to the core of many people's (me included) fear of death -- the fear that it may come before we're ready.... (more...)
If a musical can heal the world, that musical is THE COLOR PURPLE -- specifically, the production now playing at Portland Center Stage. This star-studded production, headed by the luminous Felicia Boswell in the role of Celie, tells a story of empowerment that has probably never been more needed tha... (more...)
ORDINARY DAYS is a small musical -- four people, not much dialogue, a single piano, a sparse set -- but it's precisely this simplicity that allows the big picture to emerge. And that picture is extraordinary.... (more...)
SKELETON CREW is a hard-hitting and deeply-moving play about people who are simply trying to survive in a world where the deck is stacked against them.... (more...)
UXOs are failed weapons of war. But could they also be solutions to our greatest problems? That's the question that UNEXPLODED ORDNANCES, a genre-defying, thought-provoking piece by Split Britches (i.e., performance duo Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw) seeks to answer.... (more...)
RENEE'S QUEER CABARET, a "resistance variety show" hosted by local singer-songwriter Renee Muzquiz made its debut last week at Artists Rep as part of the Risk/Reward Festival. Submissions are now being accepted for the next installment of the new monthly series, which takes place on October 20.... (more...)
'What's playing at Broadway Rose? I'll tell you what's playing at Broadway Rose. A GUYS AND DOLLS so good that it gets a standing ovation from everyone who goes. That's what's playing at Broadway Rose.'... (more...)
Remember the movie 9 to 5? Now picture it with chainsaws. Add in a very heavy dose of internalized sexism, and you'll come close to having THE SECRETARIES, written by the comedy troupe Five Lesbian Brothers, aka Maureen Angelos, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey, and Lisa Kron.... (more...)
If you're up for something experimental and would like to see a new take on storytelling and performance from a group of up-and-coming theatre artists, check it VERY POORLY INDEED by the Institute of Contemporary Performance.... (more...)
BWW Review: Portland Playhouse's A CHRISTMAS CAROL Continues to Surprise and Delight
BWW Review: Once Again, A CHRISTMAS MEMORY/WINTER SONG Offers a Moment of Calm (and Cookies) in the Eye of the Holiday Storm, at Portland Center Stage
BWW Review: IN THE WAKE Challenges Us to See and Conquer Our Blind Spots, Both Personally and Politically, at Profile Theatre
BWW Review: In Artists Rep's EVERYBODY, Death Comes for Us All, Whether We're Ready or Not
BWW Review: TWIST YOUR DICKENS Rings in Another Christmas Season with a Laugh, at Portland Center Stage
BWW Review: Broadway Rose's A 1940S RADIO CHRISTMAS CAROL Is a Holiday Musical Journey to a Simpler Time
BWW Review: Hand2Mouth's THE LAZARUS COMPLEX Mines Real-Life Suicides for Insights into the Will to Die
BWW Review: Seth Rue Takes on 30+ Characters in Exquisite FIRES IN THE MIRROR, at Profile Theatre
BWW Review: Immigrants, Traditionalists Clash on the Pitch in HURL, at Corrib Theatre
BWW Review: Enjoy the Silence of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS, at Artists Rep
BWW Review: A LIFE Fails to Live Up to Its Promise, at Portland Center Stage
BWW Review: Shaking the Tree's _______ THE WOLF Explores the Imperative, and the Difficulty, of Telling Our Own Stories
BWW Review: WAKEY, WAKEY Uses Death to Remind Us of What's Important in Life, at Portland Playhouse
BWW Review: Portland Center Stage's THE COLOR PURPLE Give Us What We Need Most: Hope
BWW Review: Isaac Lamb Directs Extraordinary ORDINARY DAYS, at Broadway Rose
BWW Review: Senior Citizens Duke It Out in RIPCORD at Clackamas Repertory Theatre
BWW Review: Detroit Auto Workers Caught in a Web of Hard Choices in SKELETON CREW at Artists Rep
BWW Review: The Doomsday Clock is Ticking. Can Our Personal UNEXPLODED ORDNANCES Save the World?
BWW Review: RENEE'S QUEER CABARET Debuts Resistance Variety Show Series
BWW Review: Broadway Rose Extends Its Winning Streak with GUYS AND DOLLS
BWW Review: ABBA Music, Great Dancing, Fabulous Costumes, Rotating Set! Broadway Rose's MAMMA MIA! Has 'Em All
BWW Review: Clackamas Repertory Theatre's Delightful SENSE & SENSIBILITY Delivers Jane Austen at Lightning Speed, Propelled by Gossip
BWW Review: Beware of Office Workers Bearing Chainsaws: THE SECRETARIES at Profile Theatre
BWW Review: The Institute for Contemporary Performance Explores the Humor in Desperation in VERY POORLY INDEED
BWW Review: The Barricades Arise Once Again in Stirring National Tour of LES MISERABLES
