Portland Center Stage logo
128 NW Eleventh Ave, Portland, OR 97209 · 503-445-3700 · www.pcs.org
Portland Center Stage logo

Coriolanus

The word CORIOLANUS beside a woman in Roman soldier garb, on her knees, looking exhausted as if from battle.
Produced in partnership with upstart crow collective and Play On Shakespeare.
April 20 – May 19, 2024
On the U.S. Bank Main Stage

If you like:

  • Macbeth
  • Game of Thrones
  • Gladiator
  • The Woman King

Famine threatens Rome and hunger fuels the tensions between the country’s elite and the deprived masses. As civil unrest stirs political upheaval, the war hero Coriolanus is driven to defend and then destroy his own country. Shakespeare’s rare and unique tragedy will be fueled by a dynamic female and non-binary ensemble, and a muscular, movement-focused staging. This modern translation updates the Bard’s language while lifting the story’s core — and reminds us that democracy is fragile and always worth defending.

Coriolanus is a truly great work of theatrical art, one that T.S. Eliot thought better than Hamlet … a masterpiece.” –The Wall Street Journal

Coriolanus

  • By William Shakespeare
  • In a modern verse translation by Sean San José
  • Adapted and directed by Rosa Joshi
Preview image for *Coriolanus* Reading List

Coriolanus Reading List

Calling all readers! Multnomah County Library put together a reading list inspired by our production of Coriolanus.

Preview image for April First Thursday with Sarah Clarke

April First Thursday with Sarah Clarke

Thu, Apr 4, 5 p.m.  •  FREE

Celebrate the April First Thursday with a performance by Sarah Clarke, featuring Galen Clark, with partner tables by Baan De Sol and Portland Refugee Support Group.

Preview image for May First Thursday with Adriana Wagner Quartet

May First Thursday with Adriana Wagner Quartet

Thu, May 2, 5 p.m.  •  FREE

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.

Preview image for Improv Comedy: *Love, Shakespeare*

Improv Comedy: Love, Shakespeare

Tue, May 7, 7:30 p.m.  •  Sliding Scale $15 - $45*

Witness the Magic of Unscripted Shakespeare! Step into the offbeat world of Love, Shakespeare, where seasoned Portland comedians attempt something audacious: performing a fully improvised Elizabethan play based on your suggestions!

The Cast

Lauren Modica-Soloway, Cominius/Ensemble
(She/Her)

Lauren is elated to return to the theater and audiences that hold so much of her heart. At PCS: Mary Bennett in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, Mrs. Jennings in BEDLAM's Sense & Sensibility, Rose Riordan's Our Town, and Mrs. Cratchitt and others in The Second City's Twist Your Dickens. REGIONAL: Four Seasons at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Widow in All's Well That Ends Well, Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, Anne in Sense & Sensibility, Glendower/Judge Silence in HENRY IV: I & II, and others). Fingersmith at American Repertory Theater, The Skin of Our Teeth Artist's Repertory Theater, and others. She's also appeared with The Oregon Symphony, Backfence PDX, and Las Culturistas: I Don't Think So Honey (Live). She would like to thank her husband, Pete, their loving families, Rosa/Cast/Crew, and especially Maureen, Caitlin, Jenna @ PT Solutions, Dr. Kiné Fischler, and Dr. Nora Abass for stitching it all back together again. lauren-modica.com/@lolomodica.

Maria Porter, Volumnia/Ensemble

Maria is thrilled to be making her PCS debut this season. Regional: Artists Repertory Theatre (True Story), Corrib Theatre (Woman and Scarecrow), Milwaukee Rep, Hangar Theatre, Hartford Stage, Kennedy Center, Bristol Valley Theatre, Virginia Stage Company. Off-Broadway: Clubbed Thumb, Target Margin, Salt Theatre. Favorite roles include Ranevskaya/The Cherry Orchard, Skriker/The Skriker, and Mary Grim in Hal Hartley’s film Henry Fool. A long-time teacher and practitioner of the Suzuki method, Maria used this work to develop an original pedagogy and create performances during her long tenure as Professor of Theatre at Long Island University. Her solo and ensemble pieces, work demonstrations, and master classes have been featured at festivals and conferences in the U.S. and abroad. Maria holds an M.F.A. in acting from UCSD.

Betsy Schwartz, Sicinius/Ensemble
(She/Her)

Betsy is thrilled to make her debut at Portland Center Stage. Credits include: Henry VI in Bring Down the House (Oregon Shakespeare Festival/upstart crow collective), Lewis in King John (Actor’s Theatre of Louisville/Oregon Shakespeare Festival/upstart crow collective), Elizabeth in Richard III (upstart crow collective), Mrs. Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (ACT Theatre), Mrs. Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank (Indiana Repertory Theatre), The Princess of France in Love’s Labour’s Lost (Seattle Shakespeare Company), Anne Stanton in All the King’s Men (Intiman Theatre), Maddie in The Hundred Dresses (Seattle Children’s Theatre), and Helene in Festen (New Century Theatre Company). Betsy received her B.F.A. from the University of New Mexico and her M.F.A. from Southern Methodist University. Betsy is a co-founding artistic producer for upstart crow collective.

Dré Slaman, Brutus/Ensemble

Dré is thrilled to be making her PCS debut! She earned her M.F.A. in acting at Northern Illinois University and has studied at the Moscow Art Theatre and the William Esper Acting Studio. Dré’s local theatre credits include: American Fast (ART), In the Name of Forgotten Women (Grito Productions/CoHo) Dark Sky Full of Stars (Theatre Vertigo), Men on Boats (Third Rail), The Happiest Song Plays Last (Profile Theatre), and many more. On-camera credits include Grimm, Medium, And Metal Lords on Netflix. She is board president of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and Oregon Children’s Theatre and serves on the board of Oregon Arts Watch. She is co-founder and CEO of local company Farm to Fit, which just celebrated its 12th anniversary! Her most important credit, however, is mom to her 9-year-old daughter Pierce.

Jessika D. Williams, Coriolanus/Ensemble
(She/Her)

With a background of playing 40+ across the stages of American Shakespeare Center, California Shakespeare Theater, Great Lakes Theater, and the Shakespeare Festivals in Oregon, Idaho, and Lake Tahoe, Jessika is excited for her debut at Portland Center Stage. Celebrated for her nuanced interpretations of traditionally male roles such as  Othello, Othello; the Bastard, King John; Benedick, Much Ado About Nothing, and Jaques As You Like It, Equally compelling are her portrayals of complex female characters like Rosalind, As You Like It; Goneril, King Lear; Gertrude, Hamlet; Katherine, Taming of the Shrew and Viola, Twelfth Night. Jessika's dedication to the interpreting and delivering of Shakespeare's works can only made possible by you the audience. She thanks You for this opportunity.

Kate Wisniewski, Menenius/Ensemble
(She/Her)

Kate is a founding member of upstart crow collective and most recently was seen as King John in King John in ucc’s co-production at Actors Theatre of Louisville. She played King John in King John and Warwick in Bring Down the House (her co-adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays) in ucc’s co-productions with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Previously with upstart crow collective: Richard III, Bring Down the House, King John (2006) and Titus Andronicus. Regional Theatre: American Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Tacoma Actors Guild, Seattle Shakespeare Company, The Empty Space. Other Theatre: New Century Theatre, Seattle Beckett Festival, Capitol Hill Arts Center, Lee Center for the Arts, Island Stage Left, Freehold Studio Theatre Lab. Training: American Repertory Theatre Institute at Harvard/The Moscow Art Theatre School.

Caro Zeller, Aufidius/Virgilia/Ensemble
(She/Her)

Queen Anne and Ensemble, in The Three Musketeers; Imogen and Ensemble in The Cymbeline Project; Amelia, others in Mother Road; Luciana, La Comedia of Errors. (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Queen Anne and Ensemble in Three Musketeers, and Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet (The Acting Company); Rina in House of Sueños (Seattle Shakespeare Company); Ginny in Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue (Center Theatre Group); Emma in Fefu and Her Friends (Circle X Theatre Company, JUST Toys); Carmen in La Mer (LA Phil); Yazmin Ortiz in Water by the Spoonful (TheatreSquared); Paloma in Paloma (Los Angeles Theatre Center, New Dramatists); Claudia in Placas: The Most Dangerous Tattoo (national tour); Sandra in Anatomy of Gazellas (Playwrights’ Arena); Benvolia/Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles); Alma in Scar Tissue (Company of Angels). Film/TV: The Morning Show, I Hate Everything, Bruising for Besos, Over the Moon, Kiss Me, Crime School, Fish Bones, The Day the Music Died, The Wallet, Dr. Reasons (web). Training: M.F.A. in acting, USC.

The Creative Team

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.

Sean San José, Modern Translation
(Any/All)

Sean is in the first years as Lead Director of the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, filled with Residents, all rightfully centering People of Color. The new team has premiered works from Tongo Eisen-Martin, Roger Guenveur Smith, Bennett Fisher, Luis Alfaro, Playwright-In-Residence Star Finch, Marc Anthony Thompson (Chocolate Genius, Inc.), with new works coming from Ashley Smiley, Virginia Grise w/members of Quetzal, Naomi Iizuka, Richard Montoya, and even more. San José is a co-founder of Campo Santo, a new performances company in San Francisco since 1996. Sean is part of Edith Productions, led by Colman Domingo in film/television/stage. He was a Program Director for Intersection for the Arts, and co-created Alma Delfina Group-Teatro Contra el SIDA-“Pieces of the Quilt,” a collection of 50+ short plays confronting the human face of AIDS. Sean is humbled and happy to be reconnected with Marissa Wolf, and grateful to Lue Douthit.

Rosa Joshi, Director

Rosa is thrilled to be directing for the first time at Portland Center Stage and to be collaborating with Play On Shakespeare and Sean San José. Rosa is the Associate Artistic Director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival and co-artistic producer of upstart crow collective. For upstart crow she has directed King John (with OSF and Actors Theatre of Louisville); Bring Down the House (with OSF and Seattle Shakespeare Company); Richard III (with SSC); and Titus Andronicus. Other directing credits include: As You Like It, Henry V (OSF); Henry IV Part I (Folger Theatre); Macbeth (Merrimack Repertory Theatre); Wolf Play (ACT Contemporary Theater); Mala (American Players Theatre); John Baxter is a Switch Hitter (Intiman Theatre).

Alice Gosti, Movement Director
(She/Her)

Alice is a transnational immigrant choreographer, curator, and hybrid performance artist who creates site-responsive performance rituals and live art installations that examine how history and politics enter the body and condition how we move and relate. Gosti also works under the name MALACARNE. Born and raised by dynamic artist duo SANDFORD&GOSTI in Perugia, Italy, she’s worked between Italy and occupied Duwamish and Coast Salish land (Seattle) since 2008. Drawing on current and historical social realities, her projects center people made invisible by white-normative power structures, including immigrants, womxn, trans-activists, Indigenous populations, and those experiencing homelessness. This is her first season at Portland Center Stage. Other theaters: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Seattle Repertory Theater, Folger Theatre, Jacob’s Pillow, ACT Theatre, On the Boards, Intiman Theatre, Velocity Dance Center, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Risk|Reward Festival, ODC Theatre, American Dance Festival and Joyce Theatre. gostia.com malacarne.co IG: @gostiaa @malacarneco

Sara Ryung Clement, Scenic & Costume Designer

Off-Broadway: Golden Shield (Manhattan Theatre Club), Somebody's Daughter (Second Stage Uptown), Fruiting Bodies (Ma-Yi). Regional: World premieres of Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House Part 2 and Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band (South Coast Repertory). Other regional credits include Center Theatre Group, Boston Lyric Opera, Guthrie Theater, Portland Center Stage, Alley Theatre, Denver Center, Geffen Playhouse, Asolo Repertory, Folger Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Dallas Theatre Center, Seattle Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and others. Set design faculty at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Member of USA 829. M.F.A., Yale School of Drama; A.B. Princeton University. sararyungclement.com

Sarah Hughey, Lighting Designer

Sarah is delighted to return to Portland Center Stage. Previous PCS credits include Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson - Apt. 2B, Crossing Mnisose, Bedlam’s Sense and Sensibility, Major Barbara, and A Christmas Memory/Winter Song. Sarah has designed lighting for productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Playmakers Rep, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Guthrie Theater, Asolo Repertory Theatre, KCRep, City Theatre Company, Writers Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company, Victory Gardens Theater, and many small rooms across Chicago. She has taught lighting design at Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, and Willamette University. She holds an M.F.A from Northwestern. Sarah lives in Portland.

Caroline Eng, Sound Designer
(She/Her)

Recent: Hurricane Diane (People's Light), Merry Me (New York Theatre Workshop, co-design Kate Marvin), Belfast Girls (Irish Repertory Theatre), Fences (Shakespeare & Company), The Overview Effect (Contemporary American Theater Festival), Little Women (Theatreworks, UCCS), What the Constitution Means to Me (WAM Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group), Three Sisters (Two River Theater, co-design Kate Marvin), That Must Be the Entrance to Heaven (Urbanite Theatre). Upcoming: Yellow Face (Roundabout Theatre Company, co-design Kate Marvin). More at carolineengdesign.com 

Elisa Gonzales, Voice & Text Coach
(She/Her)

Elisa is a voice, text, and dialect coach, actor, and teacher based in Amherst, MA. Recent coaching credits include Real Women Have Curves the Musical (American Repertory Theatre); Mala (American Players Theatre); Twelfth Night (St. Louis Shakespeare Festival); Cadillac Crew (WAM Theatre), On Your Feet! (The Phoenix Theatre Company); School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play (Hangar Theatre Company). Teaching: Assistant Professor of Voice and Acting, UMass Amherst. Previously, Millikin University B.F.A. programs. Affiliations: Voice and Speech Trainers Association; Certified Teacher, Knight-Thompson Speechwork; Certified Associate Teacher, Fitzmaurice Voicework; Actors’ Equity Association. Education: M.F.A. in theatre performance, Arizona State University. B.F.A. in acting, Emerson College. elisagonzales.com

Jeb Burris, Fight & Intimacy Coach

Jeb is thrilled to be working at PCS with such amazing artists! Jeb is a Fight Director, Intimacy Director, Movement Director, Actor and Professor.  He is currently the Director of Movement at American Players Theater in Wisconsin. Other credits include: Indiana Rep., Utah Shakespeare Festival, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare, Idaho Shakespeare, Great Lakes Theatre, Capital Stage, Sacramento Theatre Company, and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, among others. He attended Ball State University, earned an M.F.A. from Illinois State University, and trained with Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and The Royal Shakespeare Company.  Beginning next fall, he will be an Asst. Professor of Movement at University of Tennessee, and a Company member at the Clarence Brown Theater, he has also been on Faculty at Boston University and Western Oregon University.

Katherine Murphy Lewis, Assistant Director
(She/Her)

Katherine is the founding Artistic Director of From the Ground UP: A Research and Development Center for New Art. In the past six years, Katherine has spearheaded a refocusing of the organization’s mission towards serving female and female-identifying population launching an Artist Residency Program, an all-femme program that produces upwards of ten new works in an annual Festival. Katherine collaborates locally and internationally, including her residence with Company of Wolves in Glasgow, Scotland. Most recently, she produced and directed the world premiere, You Can’t Be Serious, in partnership with BodyVox. Currently leading From the Ground UP into its next phase of evolution, Katherine is bringing forth a new phase of programs, reimagining who, what, and how we create new art.

Cy Paolantonio, Associate Movement Director
(She/Her)

Cy is filled with gratitude to be here! Originally a native of D.C. who now calls Seattle home, Cy has treaded the boards, choreographed, and directed at The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, The Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy, The Arad Fort in Bahrain, NYC WorkShop Theatre, The 5th Avenue, Seattle Rep, Flint Rep (Wilde Award, Outstanding Choreography, Ragtime), Milwaukee Rep, Village Theatre, NYMF, NYC Fringe, Carnival Cruise lines, as well as appearances on BET, VH1, MTV, SXSW, commercials, and music videos. Her claim to fame was that she toured as a go-go dancer for Steven Van Zandt’s record label, The Underground Garage. Proud member of SDC and AEA. Cy thanks the entire company and all those who make live arts possible! @cypaolantonio cypaolantonio.com

Kamilah Bush, Dramaturg
(She/Her)

Kamilah is a playwright and dramaturg originally from North Carolina. She currently holds the position of literary manager at Portland Center Stage in Portland, OR. Kamilah has spent several years working in celebrated regional theaters across the country, including Triad Stage in Greensboro, NC, Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota, FL and Two River Theater in Red Bank, NJ.

Amanda Vander Hyde, Stage Manager

A graduate of Western Oregon University with a B.F.A in technical production, Amanda is a freelance stage manager in the Portland theater scene. She works as a production and stage manager for the likes of Oregon Children’s Theatre, CoHo Productions, and Artists Repertory Theatre. This is her third season on the stage management team at Portland Center Stage, and is grateful to continue to work on impactful stories. Along with stage managing, she is an intimacy coordinator in the Portland area, having worked on various pieces, including several productions at PCS and at Bag & Baggage. She wants to thank her partner for putting up with her late hours and constant busyness.

Jordan Moore, Assistant Stage Manager
(She/Her)

Jordan's favorite regional credits include: two years of A Christmas Carol and Letters from Home (MRT), Rent (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Hysterical!, Athena, and The Suburbs (Thrown Stone Theatre Company) and It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Pasadena Playhouse). She was also the Production Coordinator for Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s digital production of The Cymbeline Project on Episodes 5 through 10. She has done various work at theaters such as NewYorkRep, Boston Court Pasadena, Musical Theatre West, the Old Globe, and the John F. Kennedy Center. Proud AEA Member. M.F.A.: CalArts. jordanemoore.com

Critic Reviews

“This production explores extremely well how it is not his lack of empathy for the lower classes that makes Coriolanus such a bad politician, but his inability to hide it. Pretence is unnatural to him, and he alienates common people by stating what he thinks: he despises them.” –Cherwell

“Mowing down multitudes with nothing but a naked sword and a whole lot of testosterone ... Coriolanus has little time for cosmic reflection or soul-searching soliloquies.” –The New York Times

“They reveal that unusually for Shakespeare, what’s most powerful in this play is what’s left unsaid, that the posturing and arrogant rhetoric are an expression of emotional wounds only recognized when it’s too late for them to heal.” –the arts desk

Coriolanus is one of Shakespeare’s most opaque heroes. Unlike Macbeth or King Lear, the main character doesn’t have any major monologues, and one must retain an inward attitude to better understand the character.” –SEEstage

“Whether it be words of wisdom or a thrown-away thought, the adaptation is powered by sharp wit and quick thinking.” –BroadwayWorld

Coriolanus is a truly great work of theatrical art, one that T.S. Eliot thought better than Hamlet, and the plot, which pits the title character, an unabashedly proud patrician, against the common folk, easily lends itself to updating ... A hero is needed to save the day, and Coriolanus moves decisively to fill the role. What he is unwilling to do is accept the adulation of the multitudes after he succeeds.” –Wall Street Journal

Portland Center Stage is committed to identifying & interrupting instances of racism & all forms of oppression, through the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, & accessibility (IDEA).

Learn More

Show Sponsor

Season Superstars

Season Supporting Sponsors

Season Producing Sponsors

Guardians of the Arts