Storm Large is an award-winning musician, actor, playwright, and author. This genre-fluid entertainer has been one of the hardest working people in showbiz for more than 30 years. Though she has done a bit of television, Storm prefers straight up, raw dog performing, without screens between herself and the audience. 

So, it goes without saying, Storm is thrilled to be back in this beautiful theatre, and in your face.

Her first one woman show, Crazy Enough, was a runaway hit at PCS, winning awards and breaking records in Portland and beyond, and was even brought back in 2019 for its 10 year anniversary. Her autobiography of the same name, released by Simon and Schuster in 2012, was Oprah’s book of the week and won the Oregon Book Award for creative nonfiction.

This new piece, “Makes It Home” also ventures into Storm’s turbulent family history, and asks the question, “How can you make it home, when the only home you’ve ever known didn't want you?”

Besides writing this show, Storm still tours constantly with Pink Martini, her own band, Le Bonheur, and does multiple appearances a year with symphonies everywhere. It’s a crazy life, and harder than it looks, but Storm is beyond grateful she gets to do it. This wild child survivor has blown away any dream she ever dared to dream. 

Special thanks to Jimmy Jamms Beaton, Kamilah Bush and my beloved Boners, Scotty, Brownie and Bird.

Marissa is currently in her sixth year as artistic director of Portland Center Stage, where she was named one of Portland’s “25 People Shaping the Arts in Portland,” by Willamette Week. Her programming at PCS has included development and world premiere productions by major national playwrights, including Sean San Jose, Lauren Yee, Christina Anderson, Kristina Wong, and Brittany K. Allen. Marissa previously served as associate artistic director/new works director at KCRep and artistic director of Crowded Fire Theater in San Francisco. Select directing credits include Fire in Dreamland by Rinne Groff (The Public Theater; world premiere at KCRep); Man in Love by Christina Anderson (KCRep, world premiere); Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - Apt 2B by Kate Hamill (west coast premiere) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare (PCS). Marissa held the Bret C. Harte Directing Fellowship at Berkeley Rep, and has a degree in drama from Vassar College.

James is delighted to return to Portland Center Stage as music director for the fourth time. After recording and touring internationally with 90’s rock band Everclear and the Jeff Trott Band, James co-founded the punk cabaret act The Balls with Storm Large. The two have collaborated since 2002, pushing boundaries with symphonies, musical theater, and decades of touring. James also creates new and strange arrangements for Puddles Pity Party and produces the annual Bring Out Your Dead concerts. As a kid from the Bronx, he finds this all pretty surprising and amazing.

Scott is a Montana native and a graduate of Lewis & Clark College. He was the guitarist and contributing songwriter for the Portland Americana band The Flatirons before forming the group Amelia. Scott played drums in the original PCS production of Storm Large’s Crazy Enough and has since served as the guitarist in her band. He writes, records, performs, and produces music for a number of artists, including singer-songwriter Sarah Gwen, Ezra Meredith's Deer Lodge All Stars, and Pete Droge.

Born and raised in Newberg, OR, multi-instrumentalist Matt Brown studied music at University of North Texas and Mt. Hood CC. Matt currently plays with Storm Large, Redray Frazier, Miss Michael Jodell, and Sarah Gwen. He has also been a member of She & Him, The Motels, Mike Coykendall & The Golden Shag, and The Baseboard Heaters. In 2009 he self released Bandmates EP with his band Lotus Isle.

Although perhaps best known to Portland audiences as the drummer for multi-platinum Capitol recording artist and Oregon Music Hall of Fame inductees Everclear, Greg has been keeping the beat for Storm since initially recording drums for the soundtrack of Storm’s Portland Center Stage debut Crazy Enough in 2009—and has been with her ever since. Greg would like to thank James, Scotty, Matt, and Storm for the past 17 years of music, laughter, and unforgettable performances in bars, restaurants, theaters, performing arts centers and grand concert halls around the world. They are family. Greg also would like to thank his wife Ellie and his children, Desmund and Dekker, for their constant love and support. 

Derek Easton is a scenic designer & fabricator based in Portland as well as the Technical Director for Portland Center Stage. Most recently having the opportunity to design the PCS production of Primary Trust. Having helped adapt the previous remount of Storm Large's last show, Crazy Enough, he is excited to bring something new and original to the stage for Storm.

Melissa Heller is a wide-ranging costume artist who has called Portland home for twenty years. A graduate of Oregon State University's Apparel Design program, she has designed and managed costume shops for Bag&Baggage Productions (Resident Designer for over a decade), Pacific University, Lakewood Center for the Performing Arts, NW Dance Project, Orpheus PDX, and many others. These days she has found her happiest place between a glue gun and a dye pot, with the occasional design project keeping things gloriously interesting. Portland Center Stage Costume Crafts credits include Lizard Boy and The Brothers Size. She is grateful for every season at PCS and sends love to her two best guys at home.

Joel is a Lighting Designer and Technician based in Portland, Oregon, currently in his fourth season as the Master Electrician and Lighting Programmer for the Ellyn Bye Studio. Some of Joel's recent favorite designs in the Portland area include Primary Trust (Portland Center Stage), The Brothers Size (Portland Center Stage), Liberace & Liza: Holiday at the Mansion (A Tribute) (Portland Center Stage), A Mirror (Third Rail Rep), Carnival of Curiosities 2026 (Can Can Portland), and Up, Up, and Away (Broadway Rose).

Scott Thorson is a licensed architect designing schools and theatres with BRIC Architecture. He was a sound engineer at Portland Center Stage from 2010 to 2017. PCS Credits include sound designer for HAIR, Sweeney Todd, Lizard Boy, The Mountaintop, The Typographers Dream, Sex with Strangers, People’s Republic of Portland and live audio engineer for the world premiere musicals of Somewhere in Time and LIZZIE. Other Portland designs include Third Rail Rep's Sweet and Sad, Noises Off, and Middletown, Ivy and Bean for Oregon Children's Theatre, Up the Fall for PHAME, Erin Leddy’s My Mind is Like an Open Meadow (Drammy Award), Hand2Mouth’s Uncanny Valley and Sean Andries’s Fish Girl (Best in Fest, San Francisco Fringe). Scott is a proud Cully resident and Rigler Elementary parent. In memory of Casi Pacilio.

Kristen Mun-Van Noy is a stage manager who has been working in Portland, OR for the past 14 years. In Portland, Kristen has stage managed for Portland Center Stage, Profile Theatre, Third Rail Repertory Theatre, and Oregon Children’s Theatre. Outside of Portland, Kristen has worked at Idaho Repertory Theatre, The Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Denver Center of Performing Arts. She received a BFA in Theatre Arts at Southern Oregon University and interned at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She is loved and supported by her husband Adam and baby Nyx.

Dana is so excited to be back at Portland Center Stage for a sixth season! Some of her previous PCS shows include: Lizard Boy; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Twelfth Night; Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; NASSIM; What the Constitution Means to Me; Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really; Young Americans; tick, tick... BOOM!; Hedwig and the Angry Inch; and In the Heights. Dana has also worked at Third Rail Repertory Theatre, Portland Playhouse, and The Old Globe. She graduated from The Ohio State University.

Kamilah is a playwright, dramaturg, and educator originally from North Carolina. She holds a B.F.A. in theater education from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and was a NC Teaching Fellow. She currently holds the position of Literary Manager at PCS. Kamilah has spent several seasons at 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. She was a Playwright in Residence at Williamstown Theater Festival in 2024 and was featured as part of their Fridays @ 3 Reading Series in 2023.