Beyond the Production: "The Color Purple"
Further Resources
Helpful overviews & study material
- Alice Walker - The Color Purple (Readers' Guides to Essential Criticism), Dr Rachel Lister, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010
- Alice Walker's The Color Purple (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations), ed. Prof. Harold Bloom, New edition 2008
- A Study Guide for Alice Walker's The Color Purple (Novels for Students) by The Gale Group
- Studies in Alice Walker's 'The Color Purple', Shymasree Basu, Booksway, 2014
- From Walker to Spielberg: Transformations of 'The Color Purple, Joan Digby ed. Peter Reynolds, London: Routledge, 1993
- Go Ask Alice: Alice Walker Talks About The Color Purple 10 Years Later, Kate Fitzsimmons, San Francisco Review of Books, 1996
- Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair deals with the Civil Rights movement and growing up as an African-American girl in 1960s Chicago
- Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings makes an interesting true life comparison to Celie’s experiences
- For a masculine view of the African-American identity, read Alex Hayley’s Roots, which recounts Hayley’s successful quest to trace his family roots back to Africa
Behind the Scenes: Costumes, Set & Wigs
Costume Designer Kara Harmon's early designs for Celie.
Miss Celie's pants!
Carpenter Christian Cheker installs some of the last of 200 planks onto the louvered panels that make up the back wall of the set.
Wig supervisor Jessica Miller prepares wigs for "The Color Purple".
Cutter/Draper Eva Steingrueber-Fagan and Costume Designer Kara Harmon discuss adding a buckle to a Shug Avery costume.
More about The Color Purple:
Reviews of "The Color Purple"
"You're rattled joyously to your marrow — and elevated to an uncharted level of hope. This is much more than a showstopping number. It's a moment of shared grace." - The Oregonian
From Page to Stage: "The Color Purple"
Explore Alice Walker's The Color Purple and the transformation from page to stage.
"The Color Purple" in Rehearsal
Check out photos of The Color Purple cast rehearsing the first number of Act II, "African Homeland."
A Snapshot Look at Alice Walker's "The Color Purple"
From a bestselling novel to the Tony Award-winning musical adaptation, explore Alice Walker's The Color Purple.
"The Color Purple" Cast and Creative Team
Meet the incredible cast and creative team behind The Color Purple.
Current & Upcoming
Art Exhibit: ¡Soy Yo! by Mika Martinez
¡Soy Yo!, is a multi-media project, created by Mika Martinez, that examines and celebrates Latinx identity featuring more than 50 portraits of the Hispanic/Latino community in Portland.
Piano Bar with Courtney Freed and David Saffert
Join us for this monthly event with local songstress Courtney Freed and Portland-based pianist David Saffert as they host a good old-fashioned PIANO BAR.
Nassim
From Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (creator of the Off-Broadway smash hit White Rabbit, Red Rabbit) comes an audacious new theatrical experiment, presented in collaboration with Boom Arts. Each night, a new, unrehearsed local performer joins the playwright on stage, while the script waits, unseen, in a sealed box... Touchingly autobiographical yet powerfully universal, NASSIM is a striking theatrical demonstration of how language can both divide and unite us.
Art Exhibit: Garam Garam Chai by Yusra Siddiqui
Portland Center Stage will host Garam Garam Chai, an art exhibit by Portland-based multidisciplinary artist Yusra Siddiqui, featuring a series of hand-sewn teabag printmaking pieces that serve as a contemplation of the communal tea times shared between Desi and British culture.
Coriolanus
Shakespeare’s tragedy about the war hero Coriolanus and the fight between the elite and the deprived masses will be fueled by a dynamic female and non-binary ensemble with a muscular, movement-focused staging.
May First Thursday with Adriana Wagner Quartet
May First Thursday will feature live music by the Adriana Wagner Quartet in the Main Lobby, joined by Garrett Baxter on bass, Matthew Sazima on piano and Ken Mastrogiovanni on drums.
Portland Center Stage is committed to identifying & interrupting instances of racism & all forms of oppression, through the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, & accessibility (IDEA).
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