Education & Community Programs
Click on an option for more information on SCHOOLS, TEENS, ADULT EDUCATION, or COMMUNITY EVENTS. Our strong commitment to education and community programs has resulted in growing array of activities tailored for interested patrons of all ages.
To book tickets for your school group, register for a class, or for more information on education or community programs, please email education@pcs.org or call 503-445-3795.
Schools
Stage Door
Our Stage Door program seeks to provide all young people with opportunities to experience and directly participate in the art of high-quality, professional theater in a context that supports their education. Focusing on youth ages 12-18, the program offers:
- Discounted tickets to PCS Thursday matinee and weekday evening performances.
- FREE tickets available to Title 1 schools and social service agencies.
- FREE pre-show workshops for students, providing additional background on plays.
- FREE resource guides available on this site.
- FREE post-play discussions with the cast following each Thursday matinee (excludes holiday shows).
Student group tickets are $15 each and groups are encouraged to attend all appropriate productions on any Thursday noon matinee or Tues-Thurs evening performance. Below are some suggested dates for teachers desiring to bring a student group.
2011-2012 Season
The North Plan [grades 11 & 12]
Noon matinees: Jan 19, 26, & Feb 2
Shakespeare's Amazing Cymbeline [grades 6-12]
Noon matinees: Feb 9*, 16*, 23, Mar 1*, 8*, 15*, 22*, 29, & Apr 5
Red [grades 9-12]
Noon matinees: Mar 1, 8, & 15
Anna Karenina [grades 9-12]
Noon matinees: Apr 12, 19, & 26
Black Pearl Sings! [grades 9-12]
Noon matinees: May 3*, 10*, 17*, 24, & 31
It Ain't Nothin But the Blues [grades 9-12]
Noon matinees: May 31, June 7, 14, & 21
*denotes heavily booked or sold-out performance. Please inquire for the most up-to-date information.
Seating is based on availability. To book tickets for your school group or for more information on education program participation, please email education@pcs.org or call 503-445-3795.
Visions & Voices
Visions & Voices brings professional actor/writers into public high school classrooms for free, intensive residencies during which the artists spend five to six hours each week teaching students about the basic elements of theater and assisting each of them in writing a short play.
Designed to meet Oregon state benchmarks for Arts and for English/Language Arts, the program’s curriculum addresses theatrical conventions and dramatic structure, as well as acting, writing and constructive critical response.
The Visions & Voices program culminates each school year with free, open-to-the-public readings of plays selected from all the residency sites, performed by professional actors and presented at the Gerding Theater at the Armory.
Visions & Voices is made available to a limited number of Portland area public high schools without charge. If you are interested in bringing Visions & Voices to your school, please call 503-445-3793.
Resource Guides
PCS prepares resource guides for each production that provide detailed information on the artists and world of the play. The guides are constructed for students of all ages and are designed to spark conversations around themes and elements found in each play. This link will take you to a list of this year's guides as well as an archive of past offerings.
Fundraising Program
Looking to raise money for a school field trip, school supplies or another program at your school or non-profit? Well, look no further! PCS has created a brand new fundriasing program to help you to raise money for your cause. No more buying candy bars and reselling them door-to-door. No more gift catalogs, gift wrap and order forms. No more… well, you get the idea. Now you can sell theater tickets using one simple code word to raise money for your school or non-profit.
Please CLICK HERE for more information about the program and to apply.
Teens
In addition to the Stage Door and Visions & Voices programs serving school groups, PCS reaches out to individual Teens in the Portland metro area with our Teen Council and Summer Intensives.
Teen Council
The Portland Center Stage Teen Council is a group of Portland area Teens who work to further their involvement with the theatre community, create opportunities for advanced theater experiences, and serve as ambassadors to their peers. Activities involve attending meetings, planning workshops with PCS professionals, organizing readings/performances at PCS and participation in PCS Education efforts. Participation and attendance are the only pre-requisite for inclusion on the Teen Council.
Summer Intensives
Let Portland Center Stage introduce you to the confidence-building fun of learning performance skills in a stimulating, supportive environment. Perhaps you are a rising star who could use an entrée into the professional performing arts community through the city’s flagship theater. Perhaps you are a novice performer who is looking for the chance to hone your natural abilities. Our teaching professionals, drawn from Portland’s theater elite, eagerly await the chance to share their experience with you.
Session I: Advanced Acting and Audition
For students entering grades 11 & 12.
Dates: June 18 – June 29, Summer 2012
Monday through Friday, 9am to 4pm
Tuition: $650
A new Intensive with a focus on advanced character building, scene study, and relationship work. In addition, students will leave the intensive with the ultimate audition tools in their back pocket; two contrasting monologues and cold reading skills. Teens entering grades 9 & 10 may be considered for participation through application. Call 503-445-3795 for more information
Session II: Musical Theater
For students entering grades 9-12.
Dates: August 6 – August 17, Summer 2012
Monday through Friday, 9am to 4:30pm
Tuition: $675
Experience the excitement and fun involved in creating musical theater. This two-week full day Musical Theater intensive is for all teens interested in becoming “triple threats”. Working with professional musical theater performers, participants will explore all aspects of musical theater, including dance styles, vocal performance, and acting for the musical stage. The two week intensive will culminate with a presentation for friends and family.
Session III: Entrance to Professional Theater
For students entering grades 9-12.
Dates: August 6 – August 17, Summer 2012
Monday through Friday, 9am to 4:30pm
Tuition: $650
A two-week, full-day comprehensive theater training program for all teens desiring an intensive theater experience. Under the guidance of professional actors, directors, and designers, participants will explore all aspects of the professional contemporary stage including monologues, scene study, directing, playwriting, stage combat and stage craft. While this session is suitable for students new to theater, it is also an excellent building block for the ambitious Teen wishing to develop stronger ties to the professional community. The Intensive culminates with a presentation for friends and family.
To enroll or for more information, email education@pcs.org or call Sarah Mitchell, Education & Community Programs Coordinator, at 503-445-3795.
Adult education
Theater and Business classes at Portland Center Stage offer unique theater training and related studies for people at all degrees of involvement with the living stage. Our courses are taught by exceptional teachers drawn from Portland’s diverse community of talented professionals, many of whom are familiar to you from PCS’s productions and programs. Improve your business skills by enrolling in our Art of Presentation class, unleash your inner dramatist by joining a Playwriting course or take the stage in one of our Acting classes. Whether you’re honing skills you already have or nurturing new ones, PCS has a class for you.
Please CLICK HERE for more information on Business Classes at PCS.
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The Dramatist's Toolbox with Matthew B. Zrebski
Designed as an introduction for the beginner, or as a brush-up for the seasoned writer, this seminar focuses heavily on tools that will spark ideas on both what and how to write. Writer's block will never again be an excuse as numerous prompts and techniques get introduced to keep the pen flowing and the key-strokes going.
Course dates: Saturdays, January 28 & February 4, from 10am to 1pm
Tuition: $100 - includes a single ticket voucher to PCS' world premiere of The North Plan
Instructor: Matthew B. Zrebski has had multiple original plays produced in Portland, OR and/or Dallas, TX. He is a two-time recipient of the Rosenfield Playwriting Award and has been a guest instructor of playwriting for Port
land Actors Conservatory, Literary Arts' Writers in the Schools program, and Portland Center Stage's Visions & Voices program.
Beginning Improv for Adults with Chris Murray
Improvisational acting is useful for anyone, whether you want to act, speak publicly, perform stand-up comedy, or even start your own Improv troop! Most audience members who see improv really don't understand the rules and training that go into really good improv. From the seven rules of comedy to the art of timing, Chris Murray brings actors of ANY experience level directly into the fold, for a class that should be more fun than a Republican political debate!
Course dates: Mondays, February 6 - 27, from 7 - 9 p.m.
Tuition: $120 – includes a ticket to Red
To enroll or for more information, email education@pcs.org or call Sarah Mitchell, Education & Community Programs Coordinator, at 503-445-3795.
Community programs
PCS is constantly creating new programming to offer for each of our productions, so please check back often for upcoming community programs and events.
Ideas in Play
Free public programs that inspire connections around theater and the arts, sustainability, history, and community. How can we use the lens of the theater to explore who we are, what we believe and how we connect to one another?
Back Fence PDX: Free Storytelling Show
Jan 23, 2012
7pm Doors, 8pm Show
On the Main Stage --SOLD OUT [standby seating available on the night-of]
Back Fence PDX and Portland Center Stage bring you a hilarious and bittersweet evening of true, unmemorized 10-minute stories based on the theme "I Didn't Think This Through." Join us for this popular Portland event, produced by Back Fence and hosted by Portland Center Stage to support PCS's production of The North Plan by Jason Wells. This performance will be sign-interpreted.
The Anonymous Colloquium
January 28 & 29, 2012
On the Main Stage.
Please join the internationally-recognized Shakespeare Authorship Research Center for a two-day seminar focusing on Roland Emmerich's newest film, Anonymous, and the opportunities this film offers for study & teaching the Shakespeare Authorship Question in high schools, colleges, universities, and various other forums. Portland Center Stage welcomes the SARC to the Gerding Theater at the Armory in support of our upcoming World Premiere adaptation of Shakespeare's Amazing Cymbeline, running February 3 through April 8, 2012. Registration for the two-day seminar is $100.
Prologues and Q&As
Prologues are free, pre-performance introductions to most Main Stage plays for all patrons attending that night's performance. Led by PCS staff members in the back of the Main Stage auditorium, Prologues are offered on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings during the regular run from 6:55-7:10pm. Q&As are informal conversations with the cast and PCS staff about the production, following every Thursday noon matinee performance. Excludes holiday productions.
Joseph Graves, star of An Iliad (2010), takes questions from audience members.
Resource Guides
PCS prepared resource guides for each production that provide detailed information on the artists and world of the play. The guides are constructed for students of all ages and are designed to spark conversations around themes and elements found in each play. This link will take you to a list of this year's guides as well as an archive of past offerings.
The Portable Backstage Tour
PCS’s Portable Backstage Tour is a perfect opportunity for your organization to learn about what it takes to put together a professional theater production. Let theater professionals take your group on a private virtual tour through our state-of-the-art facility, giving you an in-depth look at how we build costumes, sets and create new worlds onstage. We’ll bring samples of a costume made by our costume shop so your group can see in detail the work that goes into making each costume by hand. Your personal tour guide has an extensive background in theater, and can answer all of your burning questions, like “How do you find your actors?” and “Why do you mop the set floor with Cola Cola®?”
Please CLICK HERE for the program cost, requirements and information on how to book a portable backstage tour.
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PCS’s 2011-2012 Education & Community Programs are generously supported by:
Oregon Arts Commission
Regional Arts & Culture Council and Work for Art
James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation
U.S. Bank
with additional funding from:
Evelyn Crowell
Sue Horn-Caskey and Rick Caskey
H.W. & D.C.H. Irwin Foundation
Vikki Mee & Steve Cox
and the
National Endowment for the Arts
