Opening up ‘Oklahoma’
The Bill Rauch era comes to an end with a gay utopia at OSF
When Bill Rauch became artistic director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2007, one of the first things he did was to validate my deep … Continue reading
Theater
21st World Beat Festival
Riverfront Park • 5:00 pm • Tickets→
Experience world cultures without leaving Oregon! There’s something for everybody at World Beat from kids’ crafts to cooking demonstrations to the wine and beer garden. … Continue reading
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Strange Times, Indeed
The Crucible at Cottage Theatre is solid but dated
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a set piece in American theater, one of those cultural landmarks of which more people know and talk than have … Continue reading
Hilarity and Horror
Indulge yourself at VLT’s Little Shop of Horrors
I could not have been more excited to check out Little Shop of Horrors at the VLT this past weekend. As a kid I used … Continue reading
Losing My Religion
Puppets wreak hell on a fundamentalist ministry in OCT’s Hand to God
I have to say that when it comes to art, I categorically reject the idea of “trigger warnings,” which is simply another term for censorship. … Continue reading
Back Down the Rabbit Hole
Ballet Fantastique and crew refashion Alice in Wonderland
In Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel, Alice falls from the quaint English countryside into a whirling subconsciousness thick with verse and whimsy, but in the new … Continue reading
God Help the Outcasts
A Disney twist on Victor Hugo’s gothic tragedy in ACE’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame
This past weekend I had the pleasure of bringing my 8-year-old thespian to Actors Cabaret of Eugene to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame. For … Continue reading
Four Decades of Putting Kids on Stage
Rose Children’s Theatre celebrates 40th season with its first original play To Oz
Before Rose Children’s Theatre began in 1978, parents were putting on plays for their children. Now, nearly 40 years later, the roles have reversed: Rose … Continue reading
On the Boards
Tragedy, farce and a bit of Jane Austen take the stage at this year’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival
The buzz in Ashland last weekend at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s season openings should, by all rights, have been about Bill Rauch. The popular and … Continue reading
4 Peaks Music Festival
Stevenson Ranch • Tickets→
Enjoy a family-friendly, music-filled weekend in beautiful Bend, Oregon. Over 20 bands, 3 stages, 2 bars, silent disco, yoga, Kidlandia and more. Greensky Bluegrass and … Continue reading
Finding the Lost Thread
The Father offers a moving portrait of dementia
There is always a danger, as an artist, in launching forth with a single cause or affliction or ideology and melding it into a work … Continue reading
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The Struggle is Real
Messy folks comingle in Opal Center’s production of Good People
There are two kinds of people in the world: good people, and self-centered scum who don’t bother to return their grocery carts. The Opal Center’s … Continue reading
Flesh and Blood
Dark secrets haunt an American family in OCT’s production of Sam Shepard’s Buried Child
Between my two favorite American playwrights, Tennessee Williams and Sam Shepard, I find Shepard to be, inexplicably, the more familiar but less accessible of the … Continue reading
Powerful in Pink
The indefatigable Elle triumphs in Cottage Theatre’s lovable production of Legally Blonde
On yet another gray and wet Oregon night, the last thing my depression wanted was to be confronted by bubbly optimism. But somehow I managed … Continue reading
NW10 ‘Squared’
Festival of new plays at OCT celebrates its 10-year anniversary
Northwest Ten galloped onto the stage of Oregon Contemporary Theatre last weekend, featuring new works from Oregon, Washington and British Columbia playwrights. Dale Light’s These, … Continue reading
Over a Barrel
A marriage falls to shit in VLT’s production of David Lindsay-Abaire dark comedy Wonder of the World
Not that anybody’s clamoring for my approval, but let me begin by congratulating Very Little Theatre for daring to step afoul of the staid, risk-averse … Continue reading
Magillas in the Mist
Two Americans stumble upon a time-travelling Scottish village in ACE’s production of Lerner and Loewe’s mid-century musical Brigadoon
Lerner and Loewe’s 1947 fantasia Brigadoon contains all the familiar hallmarks of a seminal mid-20th century musical: romantic complications of a twee and slightly saucy … Continue reading