Primordial
This series explores the frequently disorienting borderland between dreams and memory. What wisdom can we glean from the spaces between life and death, sleep and waking, grief and joy, hope and an uncertain future? Through layered textures and shifting color fields, each painting is a window into these in-between spaces, and the ancestral and unseen connections that bind us to each other. They are a call to embrace grief, rage, quiet, or any other inhabitants of these borderlands, and an invocation to dream powerful dreams even in dark places.
Valerie Yeo is a queer artist, community organizer, educator, and psychologist. Each of their identities informs the others and are infused into their creative life. They create with mediums including oil and acrylic paint, soft pastel, ink, digital art, and collage. Their work explores creative practice as meditation and intuition, and themes of diaspora, found family, and ephemerality.
Current & Upcoming
Improvisation Classes for Beginners
Whether you're looking to get more confident in social situations, think quicker on your feet, or get in touch with your imaginative side, these "one-off" improv classes will set you on the path to success!
Primary Trust
Kenneth has spent his life in the same small town, his adulthood working at the same small bookstore, and his nights drinking mai tais in the same small bar with his best friend Bert — who cares if Bert is imaginary? When Kenneth is suddenly laid off from his job, he is forced out of his comfort zone and into the world. Primary Trust is a story about the transformative nature of small acts of kindness, the importance of community, and the courage it takes to embrace change. 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Larry Owens in Sondheimia
Sondheimia: it’s a state of mind. In this curated concert, multi-award-winning musical theatre actor Larry Owens explores time, love, and ambition through the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. Conceived, arranged, directed by, and starring Owens, Sondheimia is a tour de force of epic proportions, tackling the most revered catalogue in musical theater history. Piano arrangements by Josh Kight, and directed with Chip Miller, PCS Associate Artistic Director.
Pre-show Panel Discussion with Black Men's Wellness
Join us for a pre-show panel discussion for Primary Trust, featuring Black Men’s Wellness. This conversation will explore themes of brotherhood, healing, and mental well-being for black men in their communities, connecting the play’s powerful narrative to real-life experiences. This event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
PCS Fall Teen Academy: Stage Combat
Professional stage combat choreographers and certified instructors Kristen Mun-Van Noy and Adam Mun-Van Noy lead these Fall Teen Academy sessions where teens will learn the necessary skills and techniques that performers use to "fight & die" onstage night after night. Choose hand-to-hand combat, knife skills, or both!
See Jane Run - an Indo Story by Jane Vogel Mantiri
See JANE Run, An Indo Story - a solo memoir play is a universal story that confronts grief, inspires hope and is steeped with love. Written and performed by Jane Vogel Mantiri and directed and designed by Andrés Alcalá.
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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