Performing Arts

PERFORMANCE

How the Small-But-Mighty Stumptown Improv Festival Powers Up Portland Comedy

In its third year, the fest promises another killer lineup of improv and sketch from Portland and beyond.

07/12/2016 By Rebecca Jacobson

BIG IDEAS

Six Oregon-Hatched Ideas That Could Change the World

Eco-drones to avant-garde aerobics, these projects showcase the best of local innovation.

06/13/2016 By Eden Dawn, Ramona DeNies, Rebecca Jacobson, and Fiona McCann

BEST OF THE CITY 2016

Best of the City 2016: Seven Curators and Creators Share Top Picks from Portland’s Arts Scene

From in-your-face theater to a bold magazine for women guitarists, here are some of Portland’s best things to watch, hear, and read.

06/13/2016 By Fiona McCann and Rebecca Jacobson

DANCE

Portland Vogue Dancers Show You How to Buy Groceries

These stars of Portland’s vogue battle scene are fast going viral with their video of shopping at QFC.

06/09/2016 By Fiona McCann

FREE STUFF

20 Totally FREE Ways to Make This Your Best Portland Summer Ever

Leaving town this summer? Well, OK. But you're gonna miss all this free stuff—from a Nu Shooz show to JAW's three new plays to an actual screening of Jaws (plus so much more).

05/17/2016 By Ramona DeNies, Rebecca Jacobson, and Tuck Woodstock

THEATER

In a New Play, a Noirish Detective Battles Anxiety—and Shady Portland Real Estate Deals

Action/Adventure's Hawthorne follows a sleuth as she traces a missing-person case through present-day Portland.

05/12/2016 By Rebecca Jacobson

THEATER

Why Are Portland Millennials So Theater-Averse?

Portland theater has an age problem. But some of the city's most established companies are looking for ways to bring in younger audiences.

05/05/2016 By Jack Rushall

PERFORMANCE

The Surprising Gender Bending of Drag Queen Cherdonna Shinatra

Seattle's Jody Kuehner is a female-bodied, female-identified dance artist. But when she performs as high-camp clown Cherdonna, people sometimes get confused.

04/27/2016 By Rebecca Jacobson

DANCE

Cirque Alfonse Comes to Portland

A troupe of Quebecois acrobats reminds us that for a timber town, we could be a bit more strapping.

04/14/2016 By Ramona DeNies

DANCE

Dance, Glitter, and Drag: Unleash Your Inner D.I.V.A.

Pepper Pepper's new show, D.I.V.A. Practice, is both a glitter-filled drag show and part of a research project, from a Portlander with an advanced degree in "fabulousness."

04/13/2016 By Fiona McCann

BALLET

A Spellbinding Short Film Reveals the Magic Behind Every Oregon Ballet Theatre Performance

It takes a lot of pliés, push-ups, primping, and pulleys to make it all happen.

04/05/2016 By Fiona McCann

Dance

Twenty-Somethings and Sexagenarians Dance Together at Oregon Ballet Theatre

Beautiful Decay is a balletic meditation on the passage of time.

03/25/2016 By Fiona McCann

DANCE

Portland Dance Is Back on Its Feet, Says NW Dance Project's Sarah Slipper

NW Dance Project is having a major moment—in the US and beyond. As their biggest show of the season opens, artistic director Sarah Slipper talks about tough times for Portland dance, and why there’s so much hope for its future.

03/17/2016 By Fiona McCann

THEATER

From a Sexy Jewel Thief to a Sexy Ghost, Imago Theatre Mines Japanese Pulp

The Lady Aoi is a spooky, steamy ghost story set in a hospital.

03/10/2016 By Rebecca Jacobson

FIT CITY

A New Life for Conduit Dance

Displaced from downtown, a local nonprofit embraces its new home in the Ford Building.

03/09/2016 By Sylvia Randall-Muñoz

DANCE

Five Reasons Why You Need to See Abraham.In.Motion

Choreographer Kyle Abraham is coming to Portland—and it’s kind of a big deal.

03/08/2016 By Jack Rushall

THEATER

What Happens When a Teenage Couple’s Sex Tape Goes Viral—in a Conservative Indian City?

That’s the question at the heart of Free Outgoing, playing in Portland this weekend.

03/01/2016 By Rebecca Jacobson

DANCE

How Do You Make Performance Art Less Stuffy? With Step Aerobics

Portland’s Physical Education hosts readings, curates shows, and offers free dance classes. And now they’re throwing a dance party to help fund it all.

02/25/2016 By Fiona McCann

THEATER

Oregon-Born Playwright Aaron Posner Gives Chekhov the Bird

In Stupid Fucking Bird, playing through March 27 at Portland Center Stage, the Eugene-raised Posner serves up an irreverent riff on The Seagull.

02/24/2016 By Rebecca Jacobson