Portland Theatre

For a metropolitan area of about a million, Portland has a notable number of theatre companies, averaging some 20 or 30 productions a week, depending on the time of year.  There are only two Equity theatres, but there are a number of Equity-waiver houses and a slew of independents, gypsies, upstarts, improv troupes, and recent theatre graduates about to max out their credit cards.   The city also has vibrant film, music, gallery, and literary scenes.  You’ll find a brief sketch on Life in the Portland at the bottom of this page.

Theatres:

Artists Repertory Theatre

Experienced artists doing regional theatre fare, small-cast established plays, and occasionally an original or premiere. Beautiful space.  Now operating a second stage for riskier work.

The Brody Theater

Improv in the basement of a Mexican restaurant. No, really.

Miracle Theatre Company

Long-established theatre specializing in Latino-themed plays. Some originals, many unusual or seldom-staged works. Has a fine, small theatre space and eye on the future.  Artistic Director Olga Sanchez is a marvel.

Oregon Children's Theatre

Excellent children's/family fare. Some originals. Educational programs.  Consistently high quality.

Pavement Productions

Largely retired now, but specialized in developing and producing original plays in a variety of venues.

Portland Center Stage

Once upon a time, a boring Equity warhorse, but Artistic Director Chris Coleman came aboard a few years ago and shook things up.  They draw strongly from regional theatre/Humana Festival fare and usually do a classic and an original each season.  Home of the JAW/West new works festival each summer.  Just moved into a new intriguing space in a former National Guard armory.  Great literary staff.

Theatre Vertigo

Strong ensemble work eager to take chances, both in play choice and interpretation.  Their site also has a theatre discussion board.

Toad City Productions

Improv and originals. Much movement-based work. Lot of talent, good people. Various venues.

Stark Raving Theatre

Alas, Stark Raving Theatre has passed onto the other side after 18 years of producing world premieres.  But they still deserve to be listed here because, well, they did my plays, were my friends, and did good work.

 

In addition, Concordia University, Portland State University, Reed College, and the University of Portland all have producing theatre departments.

 

 

Resources and Reviews:

Portland Area Theatre Alliance

Resources for Portland actors, directors, producers, playwrights, and everyone else essential to making theater in the rainy city.  Includes listings of current productions and has a message board.

Theatre Vertigo Message Board

Yet another message board for the Portland theater community.

Followspot

Started as a blog wherein Followspot, the mystery critic, wrote reviews of local shows in 50 words or less, but its become kind of a freewheeling party for people to opine, kvetch, praise, and slam everything  and anything in Portland theater.

Portland Oregonian

Portland's daily newspaper.  Their Friday A&E provides a weekly guide to Portland Arts, and their Sunday O! section presents arts, culture, and literature features.

The Portland Mercury

Irreverent weekly with detailed if uneven arts coverage.  They give new writers a shot and are particularly tuned to Portland’s music scene.  They cover theatre under “Art Rodeo” which is kind of endearing, but you never really know what you’re going to get from their critics.  One hinted that I was a some kind of borderline, weird genius; another criticized one of my plays because it was 90 minutes without an intermission for a bathroom break (tip: go before the show starts).  Still, their editor ran for Portland Mayor.  Came in third.  That means at least a third of Portland would prefer to see their city run by a paper that annually does “The Drinking Issue” and “The Sex Issue.”

Willamette Week

Portland's oldest weekly. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're an integral part of the city's cultural scene. Couple of features a week and many arts reviews, though they’ve cut back on their coverage recently. Once the proud owner of the city's most controversial theatre critic, who once opined “I won’t shame the actors whoring themselves in this production by naming them.”

 

If you're a producer, director, or other theatre professional, check out theatrical resources.

 

The Portland

Yes.  It rains, rains, rains, essentially from Halloween to April 15th with occasional sun breaks (during which it sometimes rains).  The result is very green.  If you have a taste for gardening, moss, and horrifyingly large slugs, this is the place.  Avoid if you’re a sun worshipper or suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder.  We comfort ourselves by noting that Seattle may be bigger and richer but it has a higher percentage of overcast days.  Winters are wet and noirish.  Springs are gorgeous…and also wet.  Summers are a dream.  And Portland in the fall will entrance you with unbelievable beauty, piercing blue days and crisp, woodsmoke scented nights that will suddenly dissolve into muddy, gray sludge.  The city is rotten with gardens, coffeeshops, and brewpubs, and it boasts one of the best U.S. bookstores (Powell’s), music stores (Music Millennium), video rental stores (Movie Madness), and retail nurseries (Portland Nursery). 

For a major city, it’s small—you’re forever running into people you know.  Sometimes, this is delightful; other times, you feel like you’re in the Potemkin village from The Prisoner. 

Due to the city’s urban growth boundary, drive:

§       20 minutes in any direction, and you’re in the country. 

§       Two hours west, and you’re at the ocean. 

§       One hour east, and you’re in the mountains. 

§       Two hours east, and you’re in the desert. 

§       Three hours north, and you’re in Seattle.

§       Two hours farther north, and you’ve escaped to Canada. 

§       Two hours south, and you’re in Eugene, Oregon, where the tie-dye and patchouli never dries; which is to say, Portland’s half a gas tank north of 1967.  Man.

Politics are progressive.  Jobs are tricky.  Housing is expensive (particularly rentals), but the prices are better than California’s.  Traffic’s getting worse, but mass transit is quite good, particularly for the West Coast.  Crime and the cost of living are moderate.  Portland’s the home of drunken, rampaging Santas, haunted historic buildings turned into bars, a yearly mad bicycle race, and more summer festivals than you can count along the City’s waterfront (including the Blues Festival, which is brilliant).  Two of the city’s more beloved elder statesmen are, respectively, a barkeep and a drag queen.  As the Willamette River divides the city in halves which are connected by bridges, the city is commonly known as Bridge City.  Eight bridges.  Seven.  No, ten.  Depends how you’re counting and who you ask.  Other city nicknames include The City of Roses, Stumptown, Puddletown, and the People’s Republic of Portland.  The city government’s official motto is “The City that Works”…but the most popular bumper sticker is “Keep Portland Weird.”