Co-founder and Artistic Director Brian Weaver has been thinking about what it means to be alive. To be fully present to all the pain and joy of life. Much of what we learn to do in our daily lives insulates us from pain and fear and uncertainty, and our own mortality, until momentous events shock us into being fully awake.
Portland Playhouse’s Season 11 dives into this experience of aliveness: these plays are about people who are saying “Give me MORE life, more laughter, more messiness, more truth, and allow me to feel the pain and suffering that surrounds me fully.” It’s not an easy way to live, but it’s a journey worth taking.
Brian invites audiences to take that journey with Portland Playhouse.
Wakey, Wakey (Sept. 26–Oct. 21, 2018)
By Will Eno
Directed by Gretchen Corbett
Featuring Michael O’Connell
and Nikki Weaver
What are we here for? Is time a friend or an enemy? Do we all eventually end up in the same place, but take different routes to get there? This funny, moving, and thought-provoking new play challenges the notion of what really matters and recognizes the importance of life’s simple pleasures. (All of which might sound dreary, but there’s a chance this will be a really good experience.)
Critics’ Pick! “Profoundly moving!” –Ben Brantley, The New York Times (Description courtesy of Signature Theatre.)
A Christmas Carol (Dec. 1-30, 2018)
By Charles Dickens
Adaptation and Original Lyrics by Rick Lombardo
Original Music by Anna Lackaff and Rick Lombardo
Music Arrangements by Anna Lackaff
Directed by Brian Weaver
Join Ebenezer Scrooge and the ghostly spirits who visit on Christmas Eve and guide the grumpy miser through a redemptive and transformative journey towards friendship and love. Hopeful, musical, and above all fun!
“From beginning to end, A Christmas Carol is full of warm-heartedness and joy. I watched the whole play with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat and loved every minute of it.” –Krista Garver, Broadway World
No Candy (Jan. 16–Feb 10. 2019)
By Emma Stanton
Directed by Tea Alegic
At the center of No Candy is a multi-generational community of Bosnian Muslim women who survived the Srebrenica genocide and, years later, open a gift shop for tourists who visit the Srebrenica memorial. While No Candy is very much about how trauma inhabits the body and shapes a community, it is also about the persistence of humor, art, and absurdity in an unimaginable time.
This new work was presented to enthusiastic acclaim as part of Portland Playhouse’s 2017 Fall Reading Series.
Crowns (Mar. 13–Apr. 7. 2019)
By Regina Taylor
When Chicago-born Yolanda is sent down South after the death of her brother, she finds strength in the tales of the wise women who surround her–and the powerful rituals connected to their dazzling hats. This jubilant musical traces the roots of Gospel through contemporary hip hop, fusing rich storytelling with abundant “hattitude” into a stirring coming-of-age tale. Crowns is a not-to-be-missed celebration of song, dance, cultural history–and glamorous headwear.
“Rich and beautiful.” –Chicago Tribune
(Photo: Crowns by Regina Taylor. Photo by Liz Laurent for The Goodman Theatre.)
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