The Current Season
On the Main Stage
Oklahoma!
September 20 — November 6
“Things are changing. The country is changing. Gotta change with it.” —Curly
Those words express familiar sentiments often heard these days, but are spoken in this case not by a politician of 2011, but by Curly, the cowboy who takes the notion of change and wrestles it to the ground in Oklahoma! Part charming love story, part stirring retelling of American history, and many parts beloved songs…More
A Christmas Story (2011)
November 20 — December 24
The only thing little Ralphie Parker hopes to find under the tree is a Daisy Brand Red Ryder BB rifle. He doesn’t simply want it—he’s consumed with an aching desire for it. Looming in the way, however, are alleyway bullies, major awards, freezing flagpoles, unsympathetic authorities and a certain horrifying Macy’s Santa. Based upon the classic motion picture, this play is a holiday treat everyone…More
After a ruthless cabal seizes power in Washington, Carlton Berg, a bureaucrat for the State Department, runs off with the new regime’s top secret Enemies List. Unfortunately for Carlton, the chase has come to an end in a police station in the Ozark town of Lodus. With a pair of DHS agents on the way, Carlton’s last chance is in the people around him: an unsympathetic police chief, an ambivalent…More
An intense bio-drama of the renowned modern artist (and Oregon-raised) Mark Rothko, Red earned critical laurels in its New York run last season. Set in the 1950s, when Rothko was commissioned to create a series of large pieces of art for the new Four Seasons Restaurant, Red tackles big questions about art—what it takes to create it, and where it belongs in our world. But perhaps more importantly,…More
Tolstoy’s classic story of love and marriage in Imperial Russia comes to our Main Stage in a new adaptation by Kevin McKeon, adaptor of Snow Falling on Cedars.
This tragic love story has been called by some the greatest novel ever written—it certainly has one of the most famous first lines: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” When Anna’s husband refuses…More
“Looking for a sure cure to the blues? Latch on to a ticket for It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues. More than a musical feast… it is a potent blend of visual eloquence and historical sweep that engages the eye and touches the heart, while its songs soothe the ear, occasionally work mischief on the funny bone and always raise the spirits.” —The New York Times
From African chants and Delta spirituals…More
In the Ellyn Bye Studio
JAW: A Playwrights Festival
July 11 — 25
JAW: A Playwrights Festival is Portland Center Stage’s developmental festival of new work for the stage. For two weeks every July, JAW: A Playwrights Festival takes over the Armory, inside and out. As always, we’ll present spanking new works in progress that will explode your expectations of what live performance can do. This year’s JAW runs July 11-25. All events are free and open to the public.…More
The Real Americans
September 6 — November 6
Frequently described as an actor/journalist, Dan Hoyle has focused his form of “theater journalism” in this new piece on a months-long road trip to some of the not-on-the-coasts parts of the U.S. The idea, he says, was to get outside the “latte liberal bubble,” find out what people in rural America are thinking and savor some small-town café pie.
Beneath the masterful humor that Hoyle brings to…More
The Santaland Diaries (2011)
November 29 — December 31
Based on the true chronicles of David Sedaris’ experience as Crumpet the Elf in Macy’s Santaland display, this cult classic riffs on a few of Sedaris’ truly odd encounters with his fellow man during the height of the holiday crunch. NPR humorist and best-selling author of When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, David Sedaris has become…More
Based on legends about early Celtic kings, Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare’s most fantastical creations—familiar Shakespearean themes of jealousy and innocence wronged are joined by a piano-playing wit who becomes our guide through an ancient landscape. A lovely princess, an evil queen, a misguided king and a thoroughly rotten clown people this fairy tale-like story of life, and love, renewed.
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In 1935 Texas, Susannah, an academic and song collector for the Library of Congress, visits a high-security prison where she meets Pearl, an African-American woman imprisoned for murder who longs to leave prison and find her lost daughter. Hoping to record the treasure trove of spirituals and African folk songs that only Pearl knows—and make her reputation on the discoveries—Susannah bargains for…More
