You love musicals. You know you do. Your ipod has original cast albums for the last three shows you saw at PCS and the latest hits on Broadway.  You TiVo Glee every week.  The Tony awards are your Superbowl.

But how do you go from Super Fan to expert? You take a class from musical theater guru Marc Acito.

This winter PCS will be offering Mastering Musicals.  Through thoughtful analysis and discussion of extensive video footage, both fans and practitioners will gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of this indigenous American art form.  Don’t worry no jazz hands or singing required!

Mastering Musicals
Instructor: Mark Acito
Course dates: Mondays, Feb. 1 – Mar. 22, from 7pm to 9pm
Tuition: $200

To register, email Education Director, Kelsey Tyler  kelseyt@pcs.org

The spectacular Mary Flower, one of the country’s premier finger-style acoustic blues/ragtime  guitarists and the ineluctable  Peter “Spud” Siegel, pianist/accordianist, trumpeter and vocalist nonpareil fill the Gerding with song this Saturday following the Ragtime matinee.

LIVE MUSIC EVERY SATURDAY!
Music Millennium, the place where people and music still matter, joins forces with PCS to present SOUNDS. LIKE. PORTLAND—an early evening showcase of the best in local music, every Saturday from 5-7 pm.

PCS’s production of Ragtime offers us an opportunity to take a keen look back at the physical and socio-cultural forces and aspirations that shaped our city (and in many respects continue to influence how we imagine progress and change), as well mine some of the historic connections between Ragtime-era New York and Portland. How did the Lewis & Clark Expo’s  infusion of commerce, chaos and the one- million visitors who came along for the ride influence the shape of the city? What role did labor activism, women’s suffrage, a radicalized middle-class play in shaping the public realm?  Did A.E. Doyle get all those buildings built by being a nice guy or through Macchavellian negotiations?  What was the City Beautiful all about?

Find out this Sunday:

Architecture, Power & Justice in Ragtime-era Portland
Sunday, October 25, 2 pm
Central Library (801 S.W. 10th in downtown Portland)
Discussion moderated by Randy Gragg, former architecture critic for the Oregonian and Portland Monthly editor, featuring historians Jan Dilg and Chet Orloff, and Philip Niles, author of Beauty of the City: A.E. Doyle, Portland’s Architect. Cosponsored by AIA Center for Architecture, in conjunction with the Portland Architecture and Design Festival. FREE

Another program that puts IDEAS IN PLAY
Portland Center Stage’s IDEAS in PLAY series asks: What do shared stories tell us about who we are and what we believe? Come explore theater, culture and community interconnectedness. Let stories come to life in unexpected ways through conversation-driven programs that ask—what’s the big idea?

Redirect! Law & Order in the Theater (with Judy Snyder)
Sunday, October 18
(following the 2 pm Matinee of Ragtime)
Main Stage

Join us this Sunday for a  new partnership with Multnomah Bar Association that invites attorneys to roll up their sleeves and  informally “cross-examine” the lively  ideas on the stage. This Sunday’s post-show conversation will feature attorney Judy Snyder looking at themes of law, liberty, justice and freedom in Ragtime. Snyder (who has been a trial attorney for 34 years–including a lengthy stint in the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office) brings a fantastic legal perspective and great sense of conversation, context and wit to the stage. This look at how we how we imagine progress and change promises to be an animated discussion all around! Free with theater admission.

Another program that puts IDEAS IN PLAY
Portland Center Stage’s IDEAS in PLAY series asks: What do shared stories tell us about who we are and what we believe? Come explore theater, culture and community interconnectedness. Let stories come to life in unexpected ways through conversation-driven programs that ask—what’s the big idea?

SOUNDS. LIKE. PORTLAND, Music Millennium & PCS’s new early evening music showcase continues this Saturday (and every week) from 5-7 pm in the Lobby of the Gerding Theater. Free—and all ages.

For October, in conjunction with our production of Ragtime, we feature blues/ragtime guitar master Mary Flower, jazz-blues-gospel pianist extraordinaire Janice Scroggins +  Nafisaria Scroggins Thomas, Spud Siegel, Alan Hager.

Did I mention it’s free? Come early–it’s the weekend, it’s 5′0′clock,  areety: have a drink and a delectable snack from the Armory Cafe.