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2022-2023 Season

The words "2022-2023 Season" in cream letters on a black background with multicolored wavy stripes in the upper right.

Our 2022-2023 season lineup is crackling with uplifting music; delicious theater craft and creativity; deep dives into new perspectives — and as always, joy and inspiration to lead us forward. We look forward to seeing you at the theater!

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August 20 – September 18, 2022

On the U.S. Bank Main Stage

tick, tick … BOOM!

  • Book, Music & Lyrics by Jonathan Larson
  • Directed by Marissa Wolf

If you love Rent, you’ll love this raw, hilarious, genre-cracking rock musical.

Before he electrified the world with Rent, Jonathan Larson was a young man struggling to make his mark in the theater. While he waits tables and seeks his big break, the pressure to give it all up grows as Jon approaches his 30th birthday. Will he sell out to keep the lights on? Will he lose the love of his life? Will he finally write the soaring song that can change everything? And if he does, will anyone be there to see it? Set in 1990 and scored by the music that redefined a genre, tick, tick … BOOM! cracks open the ticking-time-bomb world of creating theater to celebrate the power of finding your voice and holding on to a dream.

“Larson’s songs thrum with the intense feeling, larky humor, and musical vitality that are the hallmark of enduring theater. Heart-grabbing.” –The New York Times

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October 8 – 30, 2022

On the U.S. Bank Main Stage

the ripple, the wave that carried me home

Like diving into a glorious pool of water, this play suspends you with its bright humor and healing depth.

When Janice is pressed to return to her hometown and speak at a ceremony honoring her father, she has to reconcile with the childhood she’s tried to distance herself from and forget — one defined by her parents’ political activism and fight for the integration of their local swimming pools. Drawing on history that spans from 1930s segregation to the Rodney King trial and beyond, this deeply moving story explores the joys and challenges of forgiveness, justice, and the weight of one’s family legacy. Written by Tony Award-nominated playwright Christina Anderson, this gorgeous play was just selected as the winner of the coveted Horton Foote Prize!

“Anderson is a gifted playwright you want to pay attention to. She has the voice of a poet.” –Variety

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November 5 – December 18, 2022

In the Ellyn Bye Studio

Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord

  • Written & Performed by Kristina Wong
  • Directed by Chay Yew
  • A co-production with Boom Arts

Critics are raving that this “laugh riot” is “so good, so powerful” and “both heartening and cathartic.”

Three days into the pandemic shutdown, performance artist Kristina Wong — driven to help make a difference in the world — began sewing masks out of bedsheets and bra straps on her Hello Kitty sewing machine. Before she knew it, she had recruited hundreds of volunteers to join her as the “Auntie Sewing Squad.” With sharp humor and brilliant social commentary, this tour-de-force look at the early days of global change offers a guide for community building and an inspiring path back into a healing world.

“Wong's larger-than-life stage persona is endearingly boisterous … a celebration of ingenuity, community, and survival.” –TimeOut

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November 19 – December 24, 2022

On the U.S. Bank Main Stage

It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play

  • Based on the Story The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern
  • Adapted by Joe Landry
  • Directed by Chip Miller

Spend your holidays at PCS with this reimagining of the beloved classic! 

Reimagined for the stage as a live radio broadcast, idyllic Bedford Falls is brought to life with an exciting ensemble cast, gorgeous music, lavish costumes, and delightful live sound effects. Small-town everyman George Bailey is having a Christmas Eve that can only be saved by a miracle. Enter George’s guardian angel, Clarence, who takes him on a heartwarming journey of redemption proving that “no one is a failure who has friends."

“A marvelous show that will please the entire family … the radio play is entirely faithful to the classic story.” –BroadwayWorld

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January 14 – February 12, 2023

On the U.S. Bank Main Stage

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B

  • Written by Kate Hamill
  • Adapted from the Stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  • Directed by Marissa Wolf

“Hamill’s adaptations of the classics are endlessly ingenious … whatever she decides to do, it will be worth seeing.” –The Wall Street Journal’s Playwright of the Year

Fast-paced and wildly entertaining, this brilliantly theatrical take on the iconic crime-fighting duo is a must-see. It’s present-day Baker Street and female roommates Holmes and Watson are careening from caper to caper. Eventually, they come face-to-face with a supervillain who seems to have all of the answers. Get ready for a rollicking murder mystery that packs in non-stop laughs and hijinks galore!

Developed at PCS’s JAW New Play Festival, 2021.

“Bloody good … by lights down, the heart has beat wildly with hope of romance, the gut has jiggled from guffaw and giggles, and the mind has flexed with solving puzzles and decoding riddles.” –Black Bee Buzz

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February 11 – March 26, 2023

In the Ellyn Bye Studio

Young Americans

A world premiere from one of the hottest playwrights in America!

This hilarious, heartfelt new play takes audiences on two road trips, 20 years apart. In one, immigrants Jenny and Joe depart for their new home in Portland, learning to connect as a newly engaged couple. 20 years later, Joe and their adopted daughter, Lucy, set out for a similar cross-country adventure. As Jenny and Joe traverse the strange territory of their new country, and Lucy pieces together their bittersweet family history, this beautiful comedy explores what home and belonging truly mean — and the lengths we will go to for the people we love.

Don't miss this PCS-commissioned play from the acclaimed playwright of The Great Leap and Cambodian Rock Band. 

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February 25 – March 26, 2023

On the U.S. Bank Main Stage

Where We Belong

  • Portland Center Stage presents the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company production of Where We Belong in association with Folger Shakespeare Library
  • By Madeline Sayet
  • Directed by Mei Ann Teo

An Indigenous theater-maker journeys across geographic borders, personal history, and cultural legacies in search of a place to belong.

“An important story — thought-provoking, respectful, and alive.” –MD Theatre Guide

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April 15 – May 14, 2023

On the U.S. Bank Main Stage

Choir Boy

  • By Tarell Alvin McCraney
  • Directed by Chip Miller

“The songs bring the house down.” –The Guardian

From the Academy Award-winning writer of Moonlight, comes this exhilarating story about Pharus, a young, queer student leading the renowned choir at his elite, all-boys prep school. Can a rigid institution that prides itself on producing “strong, ethical black men” contain Pharus, who is a quiet rebel at his core? Or can Pharus inspire the very nature of the school to shift forever? Identity and community clash in this Tony-nominated hit. Filled with rousing music and soul-stirring dance, this play explores all that it means to march to your own drum.

Congrats to Choir Boy costume designer Dominique Fawn Hill on her Tony nomination for Fat Ham! See her work on stage at PCS before Choir Boy closes May 14!

“Filled with beautifully sung a cappella hymns ... [Choir Boy] shows us how the arts can strengthen our sense of self and unite us, not just in spite of our differences but in celebration of them.” –The Globe & Mail

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June 3 – July 2, 2023

On the U.S. Bank Main Stage

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

  • By William Shakespeare
  • Directed by Marissa Wolf

“Cupid is a knavish lad.”

Kings, queens, fairies, lovers, and sprites all collide in an enchanted forest one midsummer night proving that “the course of true love never did run smooth.” One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies takes us on a beguiling odyssey full of mistaken identities, misguided passions, love potions, and magic spells. Fall in love all over again — but watch your step!

“There is, of course, no such thing as a foolproof play, but A Midsummer Night's Dream comes about as close as anything written in the last 400 years.” –The New York Times

Most productions at The Armory are recommended for high school age and up.

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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