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Here are some of Portland’s performing arts highlights for May and June (also see classical music and visual arts highlights)

"The People's Republic of Portland" at Portland Center Stage.z

The People’s Republic of Portland
April 23 – June 15
Portland Center Stage, 117 N.W. 11th Ave.

Comic writer/performer Lauren Weedman (“Bust”) has lurked around Portland for a couple of years now, and her account of what makes the city tick (or her take on the city’s tics) should be both hilarious and enlightening. Think of her as a Stranger in a Strange Land in this world premiere.

Ten Chimneys
April 23 – May 26
Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 S.W. Morrison St.

A cast loaded with excellent Portland actors and directed by incoming Artistic Director Damaso Rodriguez has already received excellent notices for the West Coast premiere of this Jeffrey Hatcher comedy. It’s a theater play, set in the Wisconsin home of famous Broadway couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, where it’s hard to tell when someone is acting and when life is unspooling on its own.

Bodyvox celebrates its 15th season

Fifteen
May 2-18
BodyVox, 1201 N.W. 17th Ave.

This Portland company is hard to describe: a blend of modern dance, ballet, acrobatics, film and slapstick comedy, all intended to subvert expectations — for what’s next, for what “dance” is supposed to look like, for the limits of physical comedy. Celebrating its 15th year, the company (led by Jamie Hampton and Ashley Roland) revisits its repertory for a “best of the best” in two separate programs.

The Left Hand of Darkness
May 2 – June 2
Portland Playhouse, 602 N.E. Prescott St.

One of the city’s best small theater companies, Portland Playhouse, has joined forces with one of the most inventive performance units in town, Hand2Mouth Theatre, to adapt the great 1969 science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, another Portlander. “The Left Hand of Darkness” takes place on a cold planet where the humanoids are both male and female (or neither), leading to a variety of speculations about gender, behavior, politics and psychology in our own world. (more…)

If you could do it all over again, would you? Beware if you say yes, because you might end up seeing things quite differently the second time around.

In Anything But Brilliant – A Love Story, Sam, a middle-aged playwright, turns back the pages of his own life in the days following the death of his partner, Jesse. But the story he relives is two parts memories and one part fiction, an intoxicating tonic that stirs through him as he struggles to complete a script that, in many ways, holds his own personal narrative together. Running Thursday – Saturday through April 20 at Southeast Portland’s Profile Theatre, this rich yet earnest production interweaves multiple art forms, including music, poetry and experimental staging, to explore the love that exists — in life and in death — between these partners. Both sorrowful and seductive, Anything But Brilliant is as much about learning and loving as it is about letting go.

Every Thursday during its run, you can see the play for a “pay what you can” rate, and the April 13 show will benefit Basic Rights Oregon and will be followed by a discussion of marriage equality.

Tickets are available in advance at Lights Up! Productions.

Here are some of Portland’s performing arts highlights for March and April (also see music highlights):

“The Whipping Man”
Feb. 26-March 24
Portland Center Stage, 117 N.W. 11th Ave.
The Civil War is suddenly in the national consciousness, thanks to “Lincoln”� and “Django Unchained,”� and this odd and very successful play by Matthew Lopez is set in the aftermath, when a Jewish Confederate returns home, just in time for Passover, to find the family mansion occupied by two former slaves, who were also raised Jewish.

Don Kenneth Mason and Ben Newman in Blood Knot. Photo by Jamie Bosworth.

“Blood Knot”
Feb. 27-March 17
Profile Theatre, 3430 S.E. Belmont St.

Profile Theatre (like the Signature Theatre in New York) chooses one playwright every year to build its season around, and this year’s is the great South African writer, Athol Fugard, whose descriptions of the moral tensions of living under apartheid are among the very best we have.

MOMIX
Feb. 27-March 2
White Bird, Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway

Moses Pendleton, who was a co-founder of the dance acrobats of Pilobolus, formed MOMIX in 1981 to extend his experiments in movement and illusion. Here, the company will perform the kaleidoscopic “Botanica,”� with puppetry by Portland’s Michael Curry (“The Lion King”).

(more…)

Here are some of Portland’s performing arts highlights for January and February (see visual arts and music highlights):

Portland’s theater scene revs into serious action after the holiday season with a full slate of productions, many of them world premieres. That’s fitting because Fertile Ground, the city’s new works festival, also blooms in January. The dance calendar is dominated by a “Swan Lake” from Oregon Ballet Theatre.

“The Lost Boy”
Jan. 8-Feb. 10
Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 S.W. Morrison St.

This is the first of two different plays Portland playwright Sue Mach is premiering in January. “The Lost Boy” is loosely based on the true story of the disappearance of a young boy in 1874 and the attendant media hoopla, involving PT Barnum among others. Artists Rep’s cast stars Todd Van Voris as Barnum.

Rob Nagle as James Beard in I Love to Eat by James Still. Photo by Patrick Weishampel.

“I Love to Eat”
Jan. 9-Feb. 3
Portland Center Stage, 128 N.W. 11^th Ave.

The original Northwest foodie was the great gourmand James Beard, who was born in Portland and went on to become a central figure in the development of American cooking. Playwright James Still captures both Beard’s passion for food and his wit, with time for his disappointments as well, in this one-man show. And Center Stage, the city’s largest theater company, has scheduled lots of events with Portland’s present thriving foodie community in conjunction with the play.

“The Road To Mecca”
Jan. 9-Feb. 3
Profile Theater, 3430 S.E. Belmont St.

Profile Theatre (like the Signature Theatre in New York) chooses one playwright every year to build its season around, and this year’s is the great South African writer Athol Fugard. “The Road to Mecca” is the first of two Fugard plays on stage this winter and treats the themes of birth, death, faith and afterlife.

Image courtesy Third Rail Repertory

“A Noble Failure”
Jan. 11-Feb. 3
Third Rail Repertory Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway

Portland playwright Sue Mach’s second January premiere is presented as part of the Fertile Ground Festival. “A Noble Failure” is a dramatic examination of our modern school system and its discontents.

“The Huntsmen”
Jan. 17-Feb. 17
Portland Playhouse, 602 N.E. Prescott St.

Quincy Long’s doo-wop musical improbably involves a serial killer as its central character. Smart and witty, this is another world premiere (originally workshopped at Portland Center Stage), and the cozy neighborhood Portland Playhouse should be the perfect spot for it.

Fertile Ground festival
Jan. 24-Feb 3
various venues

Theater and performance arts groups, established and ad hoc, mainstream and fringe, premiere new work all over the city during the Fertile Ground festival. Some of it is ready for a full production and some of it is in the workshop phase, but all of it is getting its first chance in front of the public. Check out the Fertile Ground website for a full schedule. Some of our tips include “R3” by the Portland Experimental Theatre Collective, “(…)” by the Fuse Theatre Ensemble, and Third Eye’s “Grand Guignol 5: Possessions,” but we’ll be wandering into lots of these shows, just to get a sense of the performance ferment of the city.

“Venus in Fur”
Jan. 29-March 10
Portland Center Stage, 128 N.W. 11th Ave.

David Ives is one of the funniest writers going these days, and this one is… well, a sado-masochistic comedy based on an 1870 novel by, yes, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, and it was a major  Broadway hit.  It involves a director and an actress he’s auditioning and, needless to say, it takes an unusual turn.

The Portland International Film Festival
Feb. 7-23
various venues

This will be the 36th installment of this festival, which brings dozens of foreign films to Portland for a concentrated period of screenings. They don’t just come from the major film countries, either—the festival wanders all over the globe for films from Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The full schedule will be released as we get closer to opening night, which will feature the Australian hit movie, “The Sapphires.” For movie fans with a taste for the unusual, PIFF is exactly the cure for the winter time blues.

“Red Herring”
Feb. 12-March 13
Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 S.W. Morrison St.

As the title suggests, this is a comic noir mystery by Michael Hollinger, and yes, it involves nuclear secrets, a murder and a little hanky-panky. Did we mention the daughter of Joseph McCarthy? Yes, her too.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Feb. 13
White Bird, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway

Portland’s leading dance presenter is bringing a variety of dance groups to town this winter, including innovative Hubbard Street. This isn’t the first time in Portland for the group and its energetic and sometimes disconcerting approach.

Xuan Cheng in Christopher Stowell's "Swan Lake." Photo by Andy Batt.

“Swan Lake”
Feb. 16-23
Oregon Ballet Theatre, Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay St.

Oregon Ballet Theatre’s former artistic director, Christopher Stowell, created a new “Swan Lake,” based on what we know of the 1895 Petipa/Ivanov version, in 2006 to rave reviews, and its return to the stage is welcome for fans of classical dance.

Black Grace
Feb. 19
White Bird, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 S.W. Broadway

New Zealand’s Black Grace brings its blend of modern and traditional Maori dance to Portland for the first time this winter. Clips of the group’s dance suggest it will be a truly amazing show.

“The Whipping Man”
Feb. 26-March 24
Portland Center Stage, 117 N.W. 11th Ave.

The Civil War is suddenly in the national consciousness, thanks to “Lincoln” and, um, “Django Unchained,” and this odd and very successful play by Matthew Lopez is set in the aftermath, when a Jewish Confederate returns home, just in time for Passover, to find the family mansion occupied by two former slaves, who were also raised Jewish.

“Blood Knot”
Feb. 27-March 17
Profile Theatre, 3430 S.E. Belmont St.

The second of Profile Theatre’s Athol Fugard plays this winter deals with race and love. The South African writer’s descriptions of the moral tensions of living under apartheid are among the very best we have.

James Newcomb as Bottom. Photo: Patrick Weishampel.

“Reason and love keep little company together nowadays,” brays long-eared Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But there are, in fact, many reasons to love Portland Center Stage’s charming production of Shakespeare’s famous comedy, which runs through Dec. 23.

Rather than make an (ahem) ass of myself by trying to impersonate a theater critic, I’ll happily leave the heavy lifting to Bob Hicks of Oregon Arts Watch.

Even more to love: Save $5 off adult tickets with the code word FAIRY at www.pcs.org or 503.445.3700.

Here are some of Portland’s many stage productions to help you celebrate the season. Check out our Holiday Music Guide, too.

A Midsummer Nights Dream at Portland Center Stage. Photo by Patrick Weishampel.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Portland Center Stage
Nov. 13-Dec. 23
128 N.W. 11th Ave.

Strictly speaking, this isn’t a holiday show, of course, but it does have fairies and elves (Isn’t Puck a sort of elf?). Center Stage, the city’s biggest theater, will give it a good ride, and director Penny Metropulos, an Oregon Shakespeare Festival veteran, has done great work with the play there before.

“Christmas on Broadway”
Broadway Rose
Nov. 21-Dec. 23
12850 S.W. Grant Ave., Tigard

This Tigard-based company specializes in musicals, and this one, designed by Rick Lewis, is a sort of Greatest Holiday Hits from Broadway, built around the idea of a bunch of snowbound actors entertaining themselves on Christmas Eve.

“Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol”
Artists Repertory Theatre
Nov. 27-Dec. 30
1516 S.W. Morrison St.

In this hit from Christmas Past, the intrepid but dour detective undergoes a very Scrooge-like experience, aided by the equally intrepid but altogether more balanced Dr. Watson. (more…)

Ever feel like the holidays are a drag? Well, you’ll be in good company at A Very Joan Crawford Christmas (Nov. 28 – Dec.23) from Triangle Productions. The mad-cap mommy’s ramblings about everything from Pepsi and Vodka to Mamacita, her housekeeper, make for a new, alternative Christmas tradition.

The legendary showbiz star from Hollywood’s golden age gabs about boys and booze and shares her tips for holiday hostesses. Want to host a dinner party with style? Seat your hairdresser next to a professor, dammit.

Complete with a tour of her home (wire hangers and all), and plenty of dish on the bitter old cranberry’s ex-husbands, the show is just like spending the holidays with family — well, family that you happen to despise.

Random notes on some recent experiences — an exhibition, a play and a hike – filled with dramatic peaks (both figurative and literal) that are rooted in history and culture, and enriched by the written word:

• In his insightful review of The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece — on view at the Portland Art Museum through Jan. 6 – Bob Hicks of Oregon Arts Watch reminds us that “it was a painted urn, after all, that inspired Keats to poetry.”  And while seeing The Discobolus might conjure up memories of a long-ago art history class, Hicks notes that “You can’t bring back the past. You can only glimpse it and try to understand it, dimly. Still, The Body Beautiful reminds us that a great deal of what began in Greece is still a vital part of us.”
• Earlier this month, Hicks waxed poetic about August Wilson, who wrestles with a more recent past in Seven Guitars, part of Wilson’s 10-play cycle that illuminates the African-American experience. The terrific production at Artists Repertory Theatre runs through Nov. 11. (A quick side note for fans of Wilson: Portland Playhouse will stage King Hedley II Dec. 6-30).

Ruckel Creek Trail

• I was lucky enough to catch a Friday-night performance of Seven Guitars, followed a couple of days later by a hike in the Columbia River Gorge, where I covered a portion of the Ruckel Creek Trail. It’s a challenging climb, but one that yields a particularly nice reward, best described by the great William L. Sullivan: a “strange, hummocky, moss-covered rockslide” pockmarked with pits that “were dug at least 1,000 years ago, evidently as vision quest sites for young Indian men.” For further inspiration — plus helpful maps and deft descriptions — check out Sullivan’s indispensible guidebook, 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington.

Here are some of Portland’s performing arts highlights for September and October (see visual arts and music highlights):

Portland’s stages are filled in September and October, often with the very best productions of the year, from the beautiful productions of Portland Center Stage to the intimate shows at the city’s neighborhood theaters.

“Seven Guitars”
Oct. 9-Nov. 11
Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 S.W. Morrison St.

In recent years, Portland has seen fine productions of several of the great August Wilson’s 10-play theater cycle, set in an African-American neighborhood in Pittsburgh over 100 years. This one is set in 1948 and captures Wilson at his lyrical and musical peak.

“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson”
Oct. 11-Nov. 11
Portland Playhouse, 602 N.E. Prescott St.

The question is, can Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson survive the assault of this rock musical? Portland Playhouse is a little theater with big ambitions, known for its risk-taking and sense of fun and energy. This excursion into American political history arrives just in time for the elections.

“Body Awareness”
Oct. 18-Nov. 10
Coho Productions, 2257 N.W. Raleigh St.

Coho is another of Portland’s little neighborhood theaters that so frequently produce great, gripping evenings of theater. “Body Awareness,” by Annie Baker, is set in a Vermont college town where a family deals with the introduction of a visitor whose career sets him at odds with everyone, except perhaps the son. One of the city’s best directors (and actors), Gretchen Corbett, directs. (more…)

With all the creative facial hair around Portland — from handlebar mustaches to free-styling full beards — you’d think this would be a dangerous place for Portland Center Stage’s Sweeney Todd. But the soup strainers of Stumptown are courageous in their own right, so expect plenty of morbid interest in the demon barber of Fleet Street.

Running Sept. 18 to Oct. 21, this masterful musical hits all the highs and lows of the maniacal lead character as it follows his quest for vengeance upon his return from 15 years in prison. Both devilishly funny and delightfully dramatic, the 1979 Steven Sondheim production almost swept the Tony Awards after its release. And since then, the savage stylist and his barbarous baker friend, Mrs. Lovett, have cut it up on screens and stages across the globe, most notably in the 2007 motion picture starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton. Directed by Chris Coleman — whose nearly 10-year stint with the theater company has established the Gerding Theater as one of the nation’s most inspired, youthful stages — the play promises to be good, clean, murderous fun.