2017-2018 Season

Winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Musical of 2015! Based on Alison Bechdel’s witty and wistful illustrated autobiography of the same name, the Tony Award-winning musical Fun Home ushers us inside Alison’s head — at three different ages — as she struggles to process the chain of childhood events that made her the adult she is today. Growing up in a funeral home as the closeted lesbian daughter of a father with secrets of his own was complicated. But by looking back on her family life, and remembering all the loving, silly, and even shameful moments, she learns to see her parents — and herself — for who they really are.

A kid makes a list for his mom. A list of everything worth living for in the world. He needs her to read the list so she doesn’t try to leave the world again. As the kid grows up and experiences more life, more love, and more loss, his list of every brilliant thing gets longer and more vital with each addition. Duncan Macmillan’s play shines hilarious and compassionate light in dark corners of the human condition, and the way in which the creators have constructed the performance is refreshingly theatrical. A reminder that hope is never truly lost, and a testament to the healing power of storytelling.

In this retelling of Medea seen through the lens of immigrants to the United States, playwright Luis Alfaro blends tragedy, wry humor, Mexican folklore and a bracingly modern setting to unleash the power of Euripides’ ancient tale of love, transformation and betrayal.

A Christmas Memory is an autobiographical recollection of Truman Capote's rural Alabama boyhood. This tiny gem of a holiday story offers an unforgettable portrait of an odd but enduring friendship between two innocent souls — one young and one old — and their shared memories of beloved holiday rituals.

The brilliant singer Merideth Kaye Clark (Fiddler on the Roof and The Last FiveYears at The Armory, Wicked national tour) and director Brandon Woolley are creating Winter Song, an original presentation of favorite songs that celebrate winter and all it represents: love, loss, family, solitude, renewal and friendship.

Come early to enjoy the on-stage bar in the Ellyn Bye Studio, featuring wine, beer and hard cider, and an opportunity to write your favorite winter memory that might be used in Winter Song! 

A complete send-up of the holiday classic, this adult comedy is adorned with the improvisational genius of the legendary comedy troupe The Second City. Twist includes zany holiday sketches and uproarious improv based on audience participation — it’s never the same show twice! It has become a Portland holiday favorite, and will return in 2017 after runs at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and Goodman Theatre in Chicago this past season.

Adapted from the best-selling book by Peter Stark, this harrowing dual journey — one over land, one by sea — will be told with an exceptional cast of sixteen actors. At a time when the edge of American settlement barely reached beyond the Appalachian Mountains, two visionaries — President Thomas Jefferson and millionaire John Jacob Astor — foresaw that one day the Pacific would dominate world trade as much as the Atlantic did in their day. Just two years after the Lewis and Clark Expedition concluded in 1806, Jefferson and Astor turned their sights westward once again. Thus began one of history’s dramatic but largely forgotten turning points in the conquest of the North American continent.

Continuing the ambitious adventure of Part One, which told the stories of the Astor expeditions by land and sea to establish trade routes to the Pacific Northwest, Part Two is about the extraordinary endeavors that lead to the establishment of Astoria, the first permanent United States settlement on the West Coast. Reprise performances of Astoria: Part One will be offered as a special engagement on February 11, 15 and 17. Each of the performances of Part One is paired with a performance of Astoria: Part Two, providing the opportunity to experience the entire adventure in one day.

Welcome to Colchester, a small town where everybody knows each other and the pace of life allows the pursuit of love to take up as much space as it needs. Our tour guide is Suzanne, the town photographer, who lets us peek into her neighbors’ lives to catch glimpses of romance in all its stages of development. A play about love, nostalgia, the seasons and how we learn to say goodbye.

A world premiere from our 2015 JAW festival (previously titled Colchester).

A theater is a realm of illusion. So is a magic show. Playwright Andrew Hinderaker mashes these traditions together with alluring results. The Magic Play follows a young magician trying to get through a live show just hours after his partner has left him. As the performance progresses, he confronts the fact that the spectacular tricks that impress people on stage don’t serve him as well when it comes to building truthful personal relationships. This mesmerizing new play questions the extent to which we must be honest with ourselves in order to be so with those we love.

A frank, funny and inspiring story of a contemporary Cherokee woman who goes on a six-week, 900-mile journey with her father along the Trail of Tears to better understand her own identity and the conflicts of her nation. And So We Walked is a powerful, multi-faceted dramatic memoir that draws on interviews, historical research and the artist’s personal experience to convey the complexities and conflicts with which the Cherokee wrestle.

DeLanna Studi returns to The Armory for her own very personal play after starring as Marie Dorion/Sarah Astor in Astoria: Part One and Two.

How do you lift up a society? Shaw’s deliciously witty and timely classic tackles this question with unexpected results. Barbara has dedicated her life to serving the poor and clashes with her father who amassed his fortune selling weapons for war. As Shaw explores notions of right versus wrong, left versus right, and everything in between, you’ll find yourself laughing while questioning your own beliefs. “One of Shaw's brightest, slyest, most provocatively outrageous and most timeless comedies." –New York Post  

Featuring iconic songs like “God Bless the Child” and “Strange Fruit,” Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill is an all-access pass to Billie Holiday’s final concert. With humor and hopefulness, the legendary singer takes us on a journey through the highs and lows of her tumultuous life, interspersed with exuberant renditions of her beloved repertoire.