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on stage
Artists Repertory Theatre presents a world premiere
Defunkt Theatre presents the Portland premiere
adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Vanya starring Academy
of The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, a haunting
Award winner William Hurt that transplants the setting
drama in which a pair of young friends race against death,
from 19th century Russia to Depression-era America,
through Feb. 10 at Back Door Theater. Trestle is a slow,
through Feb. 25. (Call for times. 1516 SW Alder St. $24- j dolorous tale of-teenage yearning set amid the Great
$64 from 503-24T-1278.)
Depression. Despite wonderfully weird moments with two
kids
under a bridge, the play is overall vaguely incoherent
Arts Equity presents Hot 'n' Throbbing, a button-pusher
and off-key, with visual compositions and physicality dwarf
that boldly asks, “Which is more obscene, pornography or
ing its bland language. (8 pm Thursday-Sunday. 4319 SE
domestic violence?” through Feb. 25. (7:30 pm Thursday-
Hawthorne
Blvd. $10-$15 from 503-481-2960; Thursdays
Saturday, 2 pm Feb. 4 and 25. 606 Main St. $8-$24 from
and Sundays are "pay what you will. ”)
360-695-3770.)
BodyVox presents First Impressions V. 5, another evening of
entirely new works, Feb. 2 and 3 at Columbia Dance Center
in Vancouver, Wash. (7:30 pm. 1700 Broadway. $24 $30
from 503-229-0627.)
CoHo Productions presents gay playwright William S.
Gregory's Chateau Joyeaux, a tale of a family divided
during post-war France, through Feb. 24. (8pm Thursday-
Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. 2257 NW Raleigh St. $20-$23
from 503-220-2646.)
Discovery Theatre Lab presents Phaedra, a Greek
tragedy about a princess who falls for her stepson, through
Feb. 4 at Gresham Little Theater. (8 pm Friday and
Saturday, 4 pm Sunday. 30639 SE Bluff Road. $10.)
that at times limit the serious
ness of her underlying sub
jects. Still, several touching
moments and conundrums are
effectively rendered. (8 pm
Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sun
day. 3430 SE Belmont St. $10-
$28 from 503-242-0080.)
Slocum House Theatre pre
sents The Odd Couple (Female
Version), Neil Simon's famous
update of his contemporary
classic, through Feb. 4. (8 pm
Thursday-Saturday,
4 pm
Sunday.
605 Esther St.,
Vancouver, Wash. $8 $ 10 from
360-696 2427.)
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Insight Out Theatre Collective presents The Yellow
Boat, based on the true story of a young boy who
contracts HIV through a blood transfusion and creates
inspired art that transforms his pain, through Feb. 11 at
Echo Theatre. (8 pm Friday and Saturday, 2 and 7 pm
Sunday. 1515 SE 37th Ave. $15 from 503-493-8070;
Sunday evenings are $5-$15 sliding scale.)
Spring 4th Productions pre
sents Loop: An Original Work
place Comedy about all of your
worst co-worker nightmares
come to life, written and
performed by gay actors Tobin
Gollihar and Ian Sieren, through
Feb. 9 at Shoe Box Theatre.
(10 pm Friday. 2110 SE 10th
Ave. $12 at the door, $10 in
advance from 503-235-2633.)
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center presents Facets of
Africa, featuring some of Portland's most vibrant story
tellers sharing tales from several African cultures followed
by an open conversation about the diversity within African
cultures, Feb. 1-24. (10 am Thursday, 2 pm Saturday.
5340 N Interstate Ave. $5 $ 10 from 503-823-9455, ext. 1.)
LAKE OSWEGO PHOT)
Lakewood Theatre Company presents Where's
Charley?— a Tony-winning musical packed with frank
Loesser hits—through Feb. 18. (Call for times. 368 S State
St., Lake Oswego. $23 $25 from 503-635-3901.)
Key Productions presents Can't Say I Do, an
original musical about same-sex marriage, through
Jan. 20 at World Trade Center Theater. The natural pick
ings of Ian Anderson-Priddy and
Meredith Weber lift this softcore,
uninciteful activist theater from an
otherwise uneven staging. (7:30 pm.
121 SW Salmon St $20-$25 from
www.keypdx.com.)
Underwear heir Johnny (Steven Cole Hughes) warns the impudent
Bentley (Ben Steinfeld) to shape up if he hopes to succeed in marrying
Madison's Grill presents the dinner his sister in Portland Center Stage's Misalliance through Feb. 4.
theater musical Who Stole My Dead
Husband through March 31. (7 pm
Saturday. 1109 SE Madison St. $57-
$67 from 800-966-8865.)
Miracle
Theatre
Group
revives Frida, un retablo, its
critically acclaimed bilingual work about
the life of Frida Kahlo, through Jan. 20. This
straightforward consideration of the bisexual artist
moves smoothly and quickly through key events and
people, with a simple but pleasing setup of young and old
Frida in dialogue that frames a traditional narrative. (8 pm
Friday, 2 and 8 pm Saturday. 525 SE Stark St. $15-$ 18 from
503-236-7253.)
Miracle Theatre Group presents Sonia Flew, a moving
account of a Cuban-American woman whose half-Jewish
son enlists in the war against terror in Afghanistan in the
weeks following 9/11, Feb. 2-24. (7:30pm Thursday, 8pm
Friday and Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. 525 SE Stark St. $17-
$20 from 503-236-7253.)
Northwest Children's Theater presents the Portland
premiere of Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business,
a musical based on the popular book about a kindergartner
who is delighted to learn that her new baby brother is a
"real, alive monkey!” Jan. 25-Feb. 26 at Northwest
Neighborhood Cultural Center. (Call for times. 1819 NW
Everett St. $16-$20 from 503-222-4480.)
Gay actor Alan Anderson stars in Where's
Charley? through Feb. 18 at Lakewood Theatre.
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Oregon Children's Theatre presents the Oregon premiere
of Miss Nelson Is Missing! —a witty, wacky musical about
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Odessa’s Cafe
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Dine-Tn or Take Out
the substitute teacher from........ well, it's not a nice
place—through Jan. 28 at Keller Auditorium. (Call for
times. 222 SW Clay St. $12-$23 from 503-228-9571.)
Portland Center for the Performing Arts presents
Menopause: The Musical— four women at a lingerie sale
with nothing in common but a black lace bra, memory loss,
hot flashes and night sweats—extended through Feb. 18 at
Winnmgstad Theatre. (Call for times. 1111 SW Broadway
$44.50 from box office or Ticketmaster.)
Portland Center Stage presents Misalliance, George
Bernard Shaw's biting satire that unmasks aristocratic
courtship, cavorting and matrimony and decries Edwardian
class stratification, through Feb. 4 in the new Gerding
Theater at the Armory. (Call for times. 128 NW 11th Ave.
$16.50-$59.50 from 503-445-3700.)
Portland Opera's Broadway Across America presents
Altar Boyz, a smash off-Broadway musical-comedy spoof
about a heavenly boy band on the rise to stardom, Jan. 30-
Feb. 4 at Newmark Theatre. (Call for times. 1111 SW
Broadway. $41 $51 from Ticketmaster.)
Profile Theatre Project continues its Wendy
Wasserstein season with The Heidi Chronicles.
a Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play that follows an art histo
rian through two decades of personal change as women
begin to question their roles in society, through Feb. 11 at
Theater Theatre. This solid performance of Wasserstein's
'80s period piece offers a nonstop parade of witty zingers
and a buzz of upper-echelon East Coast name-dropping
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Theatre Vertigo presents
Escape from Happiness,
a farce/whodunit about an
oddball matriarch who calmly
doles out wisdom in her
kitchen as her family is plunged
into mayhem, through Feb. 10
at Theater Theatre. (8 pm
Thursday-Saturday, 4 pm
Jan. 21. 3430 SE Belmont St.
$15
from
503-306-0870;
Thursdays are "pay what you
will.")
Theatre Vertigo presents If You
Take One Elf Off the Shelf,
a maze of theatrical pranks
and "actor" back-stories interwoven with a hilarious tale
about an author and her characters, through Feb. 9 at
Theater Theatre. (10:30 pm Thursday-Saturday. 3430 SE
Belmont St. $5 from 503-970-7277; Thursdays are "pay
what you will.")
Third Rail Repertory Theater presents the
world premiere of Number Three through Feb. 10
at Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center. In this full
volume madcap portrait of 1950s military childhood,
Third Rail drags a finger across the sadness and
sickness that smudge an American family's gleaming
countertops with a production of immaculate details
and breakneck pace, though the material is one notch
below the cast's potential. Notable: Scott Coopwood
goes beyond the bad guy with his broken, touching cries
of "royal blood." (8 pm. 5340 N Interstate Ave. $15-$24
from 503-235-1101.)
Triangle Productions presents the Northwest premiere of
Bark!— a howlingly funny and sometimes poignant
musical about man's best friend, as told and sung from the
doggie point of view—through March 10 at Artists
Repertory Theatre. (8 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday.
1516 SW Alder St. $30 at the door, $22 $28 in advance
from 503-239-5919 or www.tripro.org.)
Reviewed by T imothy K rause or W inston
GOODBODY. Read more and comment at
followspot.blogspot.com.
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