The Cratchitt family

The holidays mean family time. Lots and lots of family time! And welcome as that may be, sometimes you need a great actiivty to keep them occupied and out of your hair/kitchen/media room. How about a visit to Portland Center Stage and A Christmas Carol?

From November 24, through Thanksgiving weekend, and up to December 6 are Family Days at the Charles Dickens holiday classic. Which means great values on tickets!

All adult tickets are just $30 for all performances during those days; and children, students, and anyone under age 30 can purchase tickets for just $15. So bring everyone (or send everyone!) and get them in the holiday spirit at the very start of the season.

Banish the Bah! Humbug! Order your Family Days tickets today.

The Green Gift Guide

Gift-giving may take a different form this year, and the Chinook Book Green Gift Guide aims to help Portland-area residents shop locally, give experiences and save money. A partnership of the Portland Arts Coalition and Chinook Book, the guide is available free in print and digitally at www.greengiftspdx.com.

Over 30 local arts groups participated in the guide, including the Oregon Symphony, Oregon BalletTheatre, Portland Opera, BodyVox, The Portland Art Museum, Whitebird, Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland Playhouse and US! Many offered an exclusive discount in the guide. For example, Portland Center Stage will double the value of a gift certificate when the guide is mentioned, and Oregon Symphony offers 2-for-1 tickets for selected performances.

The Chinook Book Green Gift Guide also contains several pages of information on reducing waste around the holidays. Ideas for wrapping gifts and listings for how to recycle holiday detritus – from batteries and cardboard to ribbons, bows and electronics – are included. These messages were sponsored by the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

How did this all come together?

Over a year ago a small group of leaders from a handful of Portland’s arts and culture organizations gathered to hold a conversation about new ways to seek collaboration and partnership. That gathering quickly grew to a bi-monthly luncheon with over 50 representatives from those groups in attendance. From discussing latest trends in audience development and philanthropy, to nuts and bolts topics like ticketing software, to sharing ideas on deepening connections with the region, this group aspires to make the Portland arts and culture community more sustainable in many ways.

The Regional Arts and Culture Council, and KINK-FM also provided significant support for the Chinook Book Green Gift Guide.

Download your own free copy right here.

Phlip Glass

What do I know about Philip Glass? Random things…So I’ll start with that:

1. He has scored a couple of my favorite movies, “The Hours” and “Notes on a Scandal.” Very cool.

2. I saw “Monsters of Grace,” a film collaboration with Robert Wilson, years ago (1999?) when PICA brought it to town early in PICA history. I remember a packed Schnitzer concert hall, filled with Portland’s leading arts mavens of all generations, all wearing cardboard 3-D glasses for 90 minutes or so. After, I felt sort of stoned, and I wondered if the aforementioned mavens did, too, or if they would use the same description for that feeling?

3. I’ve seen Cocteau’s “La Belle et La Bete,” one of my favorites from when I was a grad student and called it “early cinema.” Okay, that’s not about Philip Glass, but “Orphee” is based on a Cocteau film, and Glass did an opera of “La Belle” as well, right? So — no foul, tangential counts.

4. He was once married to Joanne Akalaitis (sp?), famed experimental theater director, the start of many a theater veteran story: “once, when I was working on a play with Akalaitis…” and the story that follows is usually one of the good ones.

5. I’ve read he describes his music as “music with repetitive structures.”

6. Philip Glass is Ira Glass’ cousin.

6. Philip Glass is Ira Glass’ cousin.

(get it?)

That’s about all I know about Philip Glass.

The bloggers: me, Storm Large, Bob Hicks, Byron Beck, and Jim Withington.

Here’s what I know about blogging at the opera: Julia Sheridan (Opera PR Manager extraordinaire) brings you nuts and cocktails. Maybe I’ll steal that for PCS…bringing nuts and cocktails to anyone with a laptop in the lobby? hmmmm…. I’m in full doofus mode, but happy to be set up and ready for the tour.

We’re being taken on a backstage tour of what looks like, from these photos, an amazing set. I’m going to earnestly try to NOT break anything…

Checklist: cool things about this set.

1.  I think it would be a very cool place to live. Great apartment.

2. unlike most stage sets, this one has a rake. We used to use one back in the day, at the Newmark, too… It was a “1 in 12″ which means one inch of elevation per foot. This one is too. Felt a little tipsy just walking on it.

3. Rick Schneider!!  yup, Rick is working on the show. Looking dapper, like a really high class porn star, we all agreed. So did Rick.

4. Great bar set up. The set designer clearly knows the good stuff.

See what I mean?

5. There’s a ceiling on the set!  Seriously, a ceiling. You just don’t see that on sets. Reminds me of “Citizen Kane,” where one of the unique things was so many camera angles that included shots of a ceiling…you just don’t see that in movies. and you don’t see it onstage. So I’m expecting some interesting lighting angles tonight.

Act one begins in a few minutes, woot!!!  My knowledge of the Orpheus myth is pretty limited…but I do have the basics down, so should be fun to see it played out in the opera tonight…

One martini down….

Orphee at Portland Opera

Because you're not all alike!

As we have opened our fourth year in the Gerding Theater at the Armory, we’re interested in learning more about our audience. Those who have been with us for years, and those who may have only found us since we’ve moved into our own space. Because even though you all share something — you enjoy live theater at PCS — we know that you’re all unique. And we’d like to know what you think!

Can you help? Clicking this link will take you to a survey that we hope will be fun for you to take, and should take no more than ten minutes.

Take our survey now!

And thank you for your time.

Hooray for Bollywood!

The Annual Curtains Up! Gala  at Portland Center Stage is set for March 13, 2010, and this year’s event promises to be the most dramatically festive yet! Why? Because there is nothing more colorful, more romantic, more fun, than Bollywood! The Armory will be converted to an Indian dream palace, as the delicious food and fragrant drinks  of  one of the world’s most popular glamor arts, the Bollywood film,  infuse the Portland landmark.

Businesses can enjoy special opportunities at this event by becoming a sponsor. Benefits range from tickets to the event (perfect for treating special clients or staff to an exciting evening), to donor acknowledgment in a range of PCS publications and promotional placements. Highlighting of your support will reach the full Portland Center Stage audience and supporters,  with over 150,000 people visiting the theater annually.

To learn more about the various levels of participation — and one is sure to fit your company’s needs — view our complete menu of options.

And start ironing that sari!*

*costumes are completely optional!