Ali Ippolito (of Heroes and Villians, Nick Jaina fame) writes music with a haunting poetry and quiet authority that simultaneously tugs, pulls, coaxes, vexes, and inspires. A mezmerizing singer, Ippolito accompanies herself on piano, accordion, and the curious banjolele, giving us fading, sepia-tinged sonic postcards of love and loss.

Her simmering music–as captivating as Tom Waits’ universe of tattooed,angel-headed sinners and hipster saints, Carlos Gardel’s tango-longing or Edith Piaf’s fragile lyric ache– to paraphrase the poet Mina Loy, “infects us with unendurable ease/touching nerve-terminals.” That’s a good thing.

The Good News from on High is that you can hear Ms. Ippolito for the low-low-cost of FREE in the Lobby of the Gerding Theater at the Armory on First Thursday, May 1, 6-7:15 pm.

Held Over: A mini-expo of iconic paintings by award-winning Northwest artist Michael Brophy, presented in conjunction with the extension of our run-away hit Sometimes A Great Notion.

“A painter of anti-heroic subject matter on a heroic scale, wittily and effectively chronicling the fate of our environment.”
—Art in America

Coming mid-May: Bullseye Gallery presents the exuberant chromaticism of glass artist Ted Sawyer; and selections from the Charles Froelick Gallery.

Check out this behind the scenes video with some incredibly insightful interviews with the Notion cast and creative team.

And then drag your Oregon loving friends down to one of the extension performances.

Want to play hooky with Kesey? The best seats (and the best deals) are available for our Friday 2:00 pm matinee performance on May 2nd. See the show and you’ll be out in time to order your flying lumberjack drink at happy hour…

read blogs about Sometimes A Great Notion || buy tickets || bring a group

After a weekend of packed-to-the-rafters houses, we are delighted to announce that Sometimes a Great Notion will extend for yet another week!

Tickets are now on sale for the extra extension week, which will run through Saturday,May 10.

There’s been an extraordinary amount of interest in this production from around the region, with the Seattle Times weighing in for a review, and our own patrons sharing their thoughts about the show and their remembrances of Ken Kesey here on our website.

Check out what people are saying, and then we hope you can gather a group and join us for this “gorgeously executed” exploration of the Oregon Experience.

read blogs about Sometimes a Great Notion || buy tickets || bring a group

Recognize that tagline? Well, keep it in mind the next time you play Scene It with your friends. That was the line for the 1971 film Sometimes A Great Notion, directed by and starring Paul Newman. Sharing the title with Kesey’s book in the US, the same film was called Never Give an Inch in the UK due to the abbreviated nature of the adaptation. If you enjoyed the play or are planning to see it at PCS, you might like to check the film out, too. It is a distinctly different adaptation from Aaron Posner’s stage version–the two versions combined and contrasted lend insight and unique perspective on this remarkable story.

We’ve done some of the groundwork for you, in fact, and tracked down a couple of our local, independent video rental stores that stock the film. Of these, Trilogy Video on NW 23rd and Thurman has featured the film (and the PCS play!) on their website. Check it out, or drop into the store to learn more! Movie Madness on SE Belmont is another great location that stocks the film, in case you live closer to that side of Portland.

The screenplay for this film is a completely different adaptation of the book than Aaron Posner’s brand new stage adaptation. Want some more information on the film version? The linked IMDB page has plenty of details, and some interesting trivia. Did you know that SAGN was the very first film shown on HBO when the service first aired in 1972? Truth!

Thanks to the folks at Trilogy for featuring PCS news on their website this month! Though of course we think the play is the thing, we encourage all interested parties to look into book, film, and stage versions and feel good about this remarkable product of Pacific Northwest culture.

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{“Wag it and Shag it boys!” Patriarch Henry Stamper (Tobias Andersen), laid up with a broken arm, relies on his sons Hank (P.J. Sosko) and Leland (Karl Miller) to keep the family logging business afloat.}

You asked for it Portland and who are we to stand in your way? Sometimes a Great Notion has been extended through May 4th. Not since Cabaret have we seen such a race for tickets and we’re thrilled to be able to hold this show over so that you can all get the call out to your own extended “Stamper clan” to come see this “…artistic triumph, worthy of it’s heritage.” (Marty Hughley, The Oregonian).

The performance schedule will be slightly different than what you’re accustomed to, so you may want to take notes here (or just click on the buy tickets link, navigate to Sometimes a Great Notion and you’ll find a calendar of these shows).

Wednesday, April 30th at 7:30pm
Thursday, May 1st at NOON and 7:30 pm
Friday, May 2nd at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm
Sunday May 4th at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm

NO performances on Tuesday April 29th or Saturday May 3rd

We know it’s popular with Portland theater fans, but what else are the critics saying about this phenomenal production?

“Posner’s beautifully acted play tells this rich story with great economy, something suggested early on by Tony Cisek’s ingenious set, a spray of timbers propped like gigantic pick-up sticks that evokes, in turn, forested hillsides, gray blankets of Northwest chill and deadly rising rivers. …a succinct, well-paced distillation of Kesey’s sprawling book.” Eric Bartels, Portland Tribune

“…an intelligently conceived and gorgeously executed production.” Alison Hallett, Portland Mercury

“…the work [writer/director Aaron Posner] wrangled out of his PCS design crew is nothing short of extraordinary. Tony Cisek’s set is a mountainous pile of timbers that manages to be both beautiful and eminently functional, Jim Ragland’s incidental music is folksy without being silly, and Casi Pacilio’s falling-tree sound effects shake the Armory’s foundations.” Ben Waterhouse, Willamette Week

So what are you waiting for? Get your tickets while you can still sit close enough to see Tobias Andersen twist his face into that crotchety ‘ol Henry Stamper scowl and say “Never give a inch!”

(if you still need convincing, read more about this amazing show in the full press release regarding the extension of Sometimes a Great Notion here.)

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