Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Oregon Children's Theatre **Photo credit: Owen Carey**
October 31 - November 22, 2009

Review by peanutduck

Non-drama: Thin, ho-hum script and indefinite directorial tone create series of anti-climaxes; Doren Elias (Willy Wonka), an uncertain navigator of Wonka’s moral ambiguity. Young Golden Ticket holders excel with creepy characterizations, and picture-book costumes and sharp make-up heighten effect; creative, fun set; psychedelic lighting veers towards cheesy, but awesome bubbles.

Courtship

Profile Theatre
November 9, 2009

Summary:

A play from Profile's "One Night Stand" Horton Foote reading series.

Megan Kate Ward: The Form of New Work

Interview by Followspot
**Photo credit: Sara Gray Photography**

"I think that theatre has the biggest impact on a smaller scale. I mean, it’s not going to ever reach as many people, but there’s something about bringing a bunch of people in and you’re all sitting in the same theatre together and having this common experience...."

Megan Kate Ward: Artistic Director of The David Mamet School for Boys, freelance director, former Artistic/Literary Assistant at Portland Center Stage and creator of the Now Hear This Series. Catch her recent project, Fool for Love, playing at CoHo Productions through November 22, 2009.

Part 1: The David Mamet School for Boys
Part 2: Removing the Walls + Regional Theatre

Voices of Our Elders

Well Arts Institute
November 7 - 15, 2009

Summary:

Well Arts guides elderly residents in an engaging 10 week program of Memoir and Creative Writing, short story and poetry. Actors then present an on-site reading performance of the group's writing. Starring John Morrison, Ritah Parrish, Deirdre Atkinson, Steve Boss, Andrea White, Wendy Westerwelle, and writer-performer Vince Falco.

The Man Who Came to Dinner

Lakewood Theatre
November 6 - December 13, 2009

Summary:

Sheridan Whiteside, a New York critic, lecturer, wit, and radio orator, slips on the icy doorstep of the prominent Stanley family during a publicity stop. For the next six weeks the convalescing curmudgeon interferes with everyone and everything while confined to the Stanley's living room. Includes penguins and convicts.

Playback Theater

Playback Theater
November 7 & 14, 2009

Summary:

Playback's mission is to honor and illuminate the lives of individuals and communities by using theater, music and movement. Our intention is to bear witness to the differences among people and foster the universality of the human experience; thereby creating social awareness, and inherent connection that can lead to social action.

Hopeless

The Brooklyn Bay
November 6 - 22, 2009

Summary:

A one woman celebration of exhaustion, uncertainty and the art of giving up hope. A timely and uplifting collection of stories, music and musings inspired by the writings of Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun on the nature of hope, fear and finding joy. Conceived, directed, performed by Melanya Helene.

Summer 2009 review.

Everyone Who Looks Like You

Hand2Mouth Theatre
November 6 - 22, 2009

Summary:

Moving through meditative dances and raging fights, fractured confessions and awkward reconciliations, Hand2Mouth’s company of performers builds a hallucinatory canvass of family experience -- when the people who once breathed the same air, shared a bathroom, and fought over the remote control, are now separated by time zones, culture wars, and divorce.

Dis/Troy

Oregon Children's Theatre Young Professionals
November 6 - 15, 2009

Summary:

The Gods are “stars” with personal baggage and vendettas! The mortals are very...mortal and flawed. When worlds collide, you get Dis/Troy! Fun and physical, this clever story is an accessible retelling of Homer’s eloquent classic, the Iliad.

Fiction

Portland Playhouse
October 9 - November 7, 2009 **Extended**

Summary:

Michael and Linda Waterman share 20 years of marriage and literary aspirations. When Linda learns she has cancer, she asks to read Michael's diaries; after all, he will read hers after she's gone. But inside his diaries are greater secrets than Linda anticipated; secrets that Michael claims are mere imagination.

Company

JANE a theater company / BrunDog Productions
September 24 - November 8, 2009
Tickets

Summary:

Company follows the odyssey of Bobby, a turning-35-year-old bachelor who has been unable – or more to the point, unwilling - to walk down the aisle…until now. A series of quirky, hilarious, random vignettes follow the five of Bobby’s best couple friends and his relationship with his three current squeezes.

Stay for the Cake

The Montgomery Street Players **Photo credit: Drew Foster**
October 30 - November 15, 2009

Summary:

Stay for the Cake is all-original work written, directed, designed and performed by The Montgomery Street Players, Portland Actors Conservatory's new alumni performance group. Each of the three slices skewer the creative process with sardonic hilarity and cake for all!

No Exit

Imago Theatre
October 15 - November 15, 2009

Summary:

A critical and audience hit, Imago's innovative No Exit is a fall-off-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller infused with comedic vaudevillian gags, bringing out the funny in the unexpected. Tim True, JoAnn Johnson, Maureen Porter, and Bryce Flint-Somerville battle, twist and topple on Jerry Mouawad's award-winning set that tips and sways with every step.

The Portrait The Wind The Chair

Shaking The Tree **Photo credit: David Kinder**
October 23 - November 14, 2009

Summary:

Lucy and Terroba become stranded in Grandma's "creepy" old house, with phone lines dead and trees falling nearby because of the wind. It doesn't help that Grandma Minnie, who recently passed away, is staring at Lucy from her portrait on the wall and that Grandma's favorite chair seems to be alive.

Canta y no llores (Sing and Don't Cry)

Miracle Theatre Group **Photo credit: Russell Young**
October 30 - November 15, 2009
**Extended: Evening performance 11/15**

Summary:

Every fall, the dead are commemorated in a lively show of dance, music and theatre in Portland’s longest-running Day of the Dead celebration. This year, los muertos return singing old-time tunes that harken back to another era when times were tough and tradition was one of the few things folks could call their own.

Fat & Sassy II: One Size Fits All

BroadArts Theatre **Photo credit: Owen Carey**
October 23 - November 22, 2009

Summary:

The musical features an ensemble cast of women of substance and sings and satirizes its way through the all-you-can-eat buffet of diets, drugs, corporate greed, media brainwashing and discouragement that surround many people of size. "We’re fat! So what? It’s time to sing the praises of our whole luscious selves!”

Hats!

Triangle Productions!
October 22 - November 22, 2009

Summary:

Exploding with fun, Hats! is a new musical about a 49.999 year-old woman who reluctantly faces the inevitable BIG 5-0...until she meets several remarkable women who show her about fun, friendship and forgetting about things that simply don't matter anymore. Inspired by the Red Hat Society.

We Bombed in New Haven

Third Eye Theatre
October 16 - November 21, 2009

Summary:

This play focuses on an Army Captain who is generally content to follow orders and do as he is told. The troop he is in charge of is being sent on missions to bomb Constantinople (not Istanbul) & Minnesota. Why? Just because their orders say so!

Henry IV Part II

Northwest Classical Theatre Co.
October 23 - November 22, 2009

Summary:

Part of a larger narrative of the rise of the House of York, both parts of Henry IV focus on the disintegration of King Henry of Bolingbroke's kingdom, family, and body while he strives to atone for his usurpation of the throne of his cousin Richard II.

Fool for Love

CoHo Productions **Photo credit: Win Goodbody**
October 14 - November 21, 2009

Summary:

Playwright Sam Shepard pulls us into the middle of the brutal, knock-down, drag out, lover’s quarrel. Methodically revealing each tier of dark secrets behind their past, Shepard tells this story told with reckless abandon and infinite care, leaving us with haunting images and truths. Starring Val Landrum and Chris Harder.

Ben Franklin: Unplugged

Portland Center Stage **Photo credit: Owen Carey**
September 29 - November 22, 2009

Summary:

Gazing into the bathroom mirror one morning while shaving, Josh Kornbluth realizes that he looks remarkably like the guy on the $100 bill. Like any good Jewish son, he immediately calls his mother. From there he becomes obsessed with what it means to be a founding father.

Nosferatu

Atomic Arts
October 30 - November 21, 2009

Review by peanutduck

Screen-to-stage Cliffs Notes adaptation hits plot points but little else; channels a B-movie recitative acting style without delight of B-movie cheesy special effects; truck-sized pauses; actors – project. Fast Computers’ organ accompaniment great, though could be more effective if accented moments rather than continually underscored. Jen Prokopiwicz’s shadow backdrop projections evocative.

Don't Mess With Savta

Jewish Theatre Collaborative
November 2, 2009

Summary (from The Mercury):

Jewish Theatre Collaborative and Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies present a staged reading of David Ehrlich's stories, voiced by Michele Mariana and Nick Ferrucci. Ehrlich founded T'mol Shilshom, a haven for Jerusalem's queer community, and his fiction engages the process of self-discovery, Jewish and otherwise. Post-reading discussion.

Night of the Living Dead

Blue Monkey Theater Co.
October 28 - 31, 2009

Summary:

Based on the classic film by George Romero and John Russo, it’s the Halloween tradition that will not die! Seven terrified survivors are trapped in a remote farmhouse, cut off from help and surrounded by flesh-eating ghouls! Don’t miss our curtain raiser: Bloody Mary, by Roberto Aquiree-Sacasa.

Twilight Tales

Northwest Children's Theater (Second Stage)
October 30 - 31, 2009

Summary:

Get ready to scream! Presented by the talented students of Teens NW, a collection of four, newly commissioned tales of terror. Directed by Matthew Loehrke, this stylized homage to the spine-chilling fun of the The Twilight Zone will play for your late night Halloween scares and amusement.

A Falling Apart Sort of Thing: A Ghost Story

The Working Theatre Collective
October 15 - 31, 2009

Summary:

A brother and a sister live, work, and drink in Portland. They get by. They have partners, they have jobs, they buy Street Roots. They drink Tecate tallboys and/or Manhattans. They get by. That is, until a forgotten secret from their past surfaces, and then, well, then things fall apart.

The Laramie Project

New Century Players **Photo credit: Eric Griswold**
October 17 - 31, 2009

Summary:

New Century Players presents The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theater Project. A breathtaking theatrical collage that explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are capable. Directed by Kevin Yell.

The Trip to Bountiful

Profile Theatre
September 30 - November 1, 2009

Review by peanutduck

Halfway through the audience started sniffling and, understandably, never stopped; a desperation, ache for home, for a Bountiful, quietly underscores every moment, from Mother Watt’s running to Ludie’s moon gazing to even Jessie Mae’s selfish martyrdom. Affecting performances by leads. Starscape magical. Bus station scene onward drags - raise the stakes.

Ragtime

Portland Center Stage **Photo credit: Owen Carey**
September 22 - November 1, 2009

Review by peanutduck

Even-keeled but that works as story focuses on the many faces of early 20th century America rather than one. Leif Norby, Susannah Mars lovely. Set’s intention puzzled, distracted - bare stage flanked by marble walls, industrial copper doors – meaning continually morphed - train station, tomb, edifice. Chairs as everyprop irritated.

The Beggar's Opera

Opera Theater Oregon
October 22 - 31, 2009

Review by peanutduck

Portlandia twist creates holey logic: Transfiguring Mack’s knife into guitar eliminates his threat to society (unless it’s upon the ears?), and motivations, logic unravel therefrom. Lyrics and music/arrangements raucous, inspired; lush Song of Redemption – HERE is the play. Stage cramped; mediocre ensemble pushes self-conscious theatricality. Watch Leah Yorkston, Bobby Jackson.

All's Well That End's Well - National Theatre London Broadcast

Presented by Third Rail Rep
November 24, 2009

Summary:

We'll be showing high-definition live-captured presentations of William Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well, directed by Marianne Elliot. Set against a background of sexism, snobbery and a battle between the generations, Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well turns fairytale logic on its head. It's a wondrous, bittersweet story.

Brooklyn Bay Benefit

Brooklyn Bay
October 24, 2009

Summary:

A fundraiser for The Brooklyn Bay's upcoming season.

August: Osage County

Broadway Across America **Photo credit: Robert J. Saferstein**
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
October 20 - 25, 2009

Review by peanutduck

In a narrow skeletal dollhouse burdened with weary dark furniture, the mother endeavors to eat her young. Tracy Letts’ acidic barbs, penetrating emotional violence, relentless examination of destructive self-hatred creates cliffhanger of dysfunctional family drama. Devastating conclusion. Riveting ensemble; mournful noir jazz. Only drawback: Letts’ and company’s playing up punchlines.

The Greatest Treasure

Play after Play
October 3 - 25, 2009

Summary:

This is the story of Pang and Li, one is rich and the other poor. Each seeks happiness in his own way. Together they discover the true value of simple pleasures. Filled with music and movement, this sweet story will captivate children and adults alike.

Becky's New Car

Artists Repertory Theatre **Photo credit: Owen Carey**
September 22 - October 25, 2009

Summary:

A modern American farce about the road (usually) not taken. Becky’s life as a middle-aged mother, wife, and car dealership employee is not unpleasant, just mundane and predictable. When a wealthy customer assumes she is a widow – and Becky doesn’t correct him – she soon finds herself leading a double life.

Teeth of the Sons

The Re-Theatre Instrument
October 2 - 24, 2009

Summary:

The last time Sam saw his brother Jake, they were carousing Brooklyn as one another's ultimate wing man. Years later Sam returns to Brooklyn to find the fun loving Jake has transformed into a studious born-again Jewish scholar. A family meditation on religious themes. A broken family on the brink.

The Women of Troy

Lunacy Stageworks
October 2 - 24, 2009

Summary:

An original adaption of Euripides' Hecuba and Trojan Women, written by Elisabeth Harvey. It is often said that nothing influences us today so much as the follies and treasures of the ancient West: of old Greece, the Rome it became, the Europe it influenced, and the America it spilled into.

Winnie-the-Pooh

Northwest Children's Theater **Photo credit: Annaliese Moyer**
October 2 - 25, 2009

Summary:

Journey into the Hundred Aker Wood with Christopher Robin and his friends Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, and Roo. Beloved adventures come alive in this gentle adaptation about the magic of childhood imaginations, with daydreaming clouds, blustery days, and a party for everyone's silly old bear.

Bingo

Broadway Rose Theatre **Photo credit: Craig Mitchelldyer**
September 24 - October 25, 2009

Summary:

Vern, Honey and Patsy, die-hard bingo players and friends, are thrown into a tizzy when a young stranger blows through their bingo hall and makes them confront their past. In between the number calling, strange rituals and fierce competitions, love blossoms and estranged friends reunite, sending everyone home a winner.

Blithe Spirit

Beaverton Civic Theatre
October 8 - 25, 2009

Summary:

The smash comedy hit of the London and Broadway stages, this much-revived classic offers up fussy, cantakerous novelist Charles Condomine, re-married but haunted (literally) by the ghost of his late first wife, the clever and insistent Elvira who is called up by a visiting "happy medium", one Madame Arcati.

Too Good To Be True

World Stage Theatre
October 9 - 23, 2009

Summary:

Jill Saunders’ just met the man of her dreams; everything about their relationship is like a fairy tale. But after five years of marital bliss the honeymoon seems to be over, leaving Jill thinking it was “Too Good To Be True”. An original play written and directed by Shalanda Sims.

The Little Prince

Stepping Out Theatre
October 16 - 24, 2009

Summary:

An innovative and boundary pushing The Little Prince, dramatized by Rick Cummings and John Scoullar, from Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic book, directed by 19-year-old Anna Finklestein. With the action taking place in, in front, and behind the seating, audience members must be prepared to fully immerse themselves in the performance.

The Tempest

Blue Monkey Theater Co. **Photo credit: Jerry Rousselle**
September 25 - October 18, 2009
**Extended?**

Summary:

The beauty of Shakespeare’s poetry and some of his most fascinating characters combine with a rollicking Polynesian beat in this sun-drenched fantasy adventure filled with music, dance, and magic. Performed at the Pacific Crest School Theater as part of Blue Monkey’s “Shake Up Shakespeare” program.

Fothing

Action/Adventure Theatre
Link to web series: Fothing
Debuts October 15, 2009

Summary:

Fothing is a new comedy web series from the creators and producers of the hit Portland, Oregon serialized theater show Fall of the House that follows the super-fictionalized creative team of Action/Adventure Theatre as they struggle and try to produce another season of their less-so-but-still-pretty-fictional stage hit.

Found Lives

New Moon Productions
October 16, 2009

Summary:

A fascinating play that explores the inner lives, struggles, and triumphs of people with schizophrenia and their family members. Every word in the piece is taken, by permission, from hundreds of pages of blogs that were written over a period of years by people with schizophrenia or by their caregivers.

CoHo's Hamlet Fundraiser

CoHo Productions
October 18, 2009

Summary:

CoHo Productions announces a fundraiser for its production of Hamlet, at CoHo Theater. In its attempt to raise some money for the set budget for this new adaptation of Shakespeare's most famous work, the event will have spirits sponsored by Oregon Natural Spirits, Winewood Vineyard and free food.

Scary-Ass Improv Night

Super Project Lab & The Liberators
October 16 & 17, 2009

Summary:

Scary-Ass Improv Night offers two nights of improvised stories inspired entirely by audience members’ recollections of frightening characters from their past, either imagined or real, living or dead. Audience members provide a few alarming details, disturbing quirks, or skin-crawling anecdotes that the improvisers use to create unexpectedly monstrous improvised stories.

The Bridge Lady

Urban Adventures & Northwest Classical Theatre Co. **Photo credit: Ed Wortman**
October 13 - 18, 2009

Summary:

Written, performed by Sharon Wood Wortman. A one-bridge-after-another multimedia event involving narrow escapes, invisible disabilities. The WRBs (Willamette River Bridges) take on human characteristics via footage filmed July 10, 2009, during a climb through the arch ribs and up to Fremont’s two-foot wide catwalk for a flagpole look at Portland.

The Garden of Monsters

Portland Theater Works
October 19, 2009

Summary:

Journeys of hope. A Jewish-American GI is given the gift of the last shred of hope when he liberates a Dachau prisoner. A hundred years later, a theatre director rehearses a new play commemorating Dachau but forgets how to hope when she learns she has a fatal disease.

Yankee Tavern

Artists Repertory Theatre
October 17, 2009, 2pm
$10

Summary:

Reading of Steven Dietz’s new play. Yankee Tavern is a dramatic thriller set in a crumbling tavern in New York. A young couple is caught in a web of conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 attacks, when, in an instant, outlandish hypothesis becomes dangerous reality as critical facts continue to emerge.