NOVEMBER 21, 2008 lUStjOUt a-/ 39
ActioiVAd venture Theatre presents Fall of the House
(Season 3), an improvised sena! about seven room
original offbeat material for a melodic, imaginative
Jane: A Theater Company presents The Holly
look at our annual traditions, Dec. 5-21. (Call for
Jolly Hullabaloo!— a
mates and their romantic entanglements, through
times. 12850 SW Grant Ave., Tigard. $20-$30from
tells the tale of Hansel and Gretel with rollicking
Nov. 23 at Theater Theatre. (10:30 pm Friday and Sat
503-620-5262.)
songs, dancing and silly jokes—Nov. 28-Dec. 28
at Theater Theatre. (7 pm Wednesday-Friday, 2 pm
urday, 8 pm Sunday 3430 SE Belmont St. $10 from
503-425-9176; Fridays are "pay what you can.")
CoHo Productions presents the Northwest pre
miere of The Receptionist, in which an office's
Artists Repertory Theatre presents Speech 8
familiar atmosphere takes a sinister turn when Mr
Debate, a modem comedy that examines what it
Dart from the central office arrives unexpectedly,
family-friendly
show
that
Saturday and Sunday. No shows Dec. 24 and 25.
3430 SE Belmont St. $10 from 503-286-3456.)
Sunday. 7600 N Hereford St.
$8410 from 503-705-2088.)
Classical
Northwest
The
atre Company presents Sher
lock Holmes:
The Speckled
Band, in which the detective
Lakewood Theatre Company presents Pulitzer
investigates the suspicious
death of a young woman
means to connect with other people in our new
through Nov. 22. (Call for times. 2257 NW Raleigh
Prize winner You Can't Take It with You, about a
at the behest of her sister,
world of instant messaging, podcasts and social
St. $20425 from 503-220-2646.)
zany household where everyone does just what
Nov. 21-Dec. 28 at Shoe Box
networking Web sites, extended through Dec. 7.
(Call for times. 1516 SW Alder St. $20447 from
Collective of Geniuses presents the premiere of
he or she pleases, through Dec. 14. (Call for times.
368 S State St., Lake Oswego. $26428 from
urday, 2 pm Sunday. 2110 SE
503-241-1278.)
Denial of Self, a play that looks at the creation of
alter egos, or 'better' versions of ourselves, and
Theater. (7 pm Thursday-Sat
503-635-3901.)
10th
Lisa DeGrace presents Flying Iron, which utilizes
971-244-3740.)
$15418
Ave.
from
Artists Repertory Theatre presents the world pre
how the Internet is used to feed this narcissis
miere of gay playwright Marc Acito's Holidazed,
tic adoration and affirmation of self-importance,
music, movement, costume, text and clowning
Oregon
a comedy about a middle-class couple taking in a
Dec. 4-27 at Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center.
to explore the solitude of being alone, even when
presents
the Answers, starring Oregon
Shakespeare Festival favorite
homeless "goth* girl who hates the holidays and
(Call for times. 5340 N Interstate Ave. $15420
surrounded by people, Dec. 5-14 at Performance
discovering what it truly means to be a family,
from 503-205-0715.)
Works Northwest. (8 pm Friday-Sunday 4625 SE
through Dec. 12. (Call for times. 1516 SW Alder St.
$20447 from 503-241-1278.)
Disjecta presents The Old Man, the Goat 8 the Son
67th Ave. $10415 from 503-757-0212.)
of a Bitch, a comic spy drama that revolves around
NewSpace Entertainment presents Jesus Christ
Blue Monkey Theater Company presents the
the day and place in which President Ronald Reagan
Superstar, the first collaboration between Andrew
Northwest premiere of Attar Boyz! —in which a
was shot by a deranged lunatic, Dec. 5-14. (8pm
Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to be performed on the
Christian boy band rocks its way through heavenly
Friday and Saturday, 2 and 8 pm Sunday. 8371 N
professional stage, Dec. 2 and 3 at Arlene Schnitzer
hits—Dec. 5-Jan. 3, 2009, at Firehouse Theatre.
Interstate Ave. $10 from www disjecta.org.)
Concert Hall. (7:30 pm. 1037 SW Broadway $25-
(Call for times. 1436 SW Montgomery St. $12418
from 503-593-2466.)
Do Jump presents Do Jump: Home for the Holidays,
featuring recent works and old favorites woven to
Repertory
Theatre
The Lady with All
Gretchen Rumbaugh as wise,
funny, no-nonsense advice col
umnist Ann Landers, through
Dec. 7 at Brunisti Hall. (Call
for times. 1111 SW Broadway.
$22.50427.50 from box office
or Ticketmaster.)
$55 from Ticketmaster.)
North End Players presents A Christmas Story,
Oslund + Co./Dance
pres
presents
gether into a delightful evening of holiday fun, Nov. 29-
Jean Shepard's holiday classic about a boy and
ents "Bète Perdue," which
Celebrate Home—A Broadway Rose Christmas,
Jan. 4,2009, at Echo Theatre. (Call for times. 1515 SE
his Red Ryder BB gun, Dec. 5-14 at St. Andrews
muses on the capacity for
combining classic carols, holiday pop songs and
37th Ave. $20432 from 503-231-1232.)
Episcopal Church. 18 pm Friday and Saturday, 2 pm
Broadway
Rose
Theatre
Company
disbelief
and
Lakewood Theatre Company stages You Can’t Take
It with You through Dec. 14.
enchantment
in the common world, with
two
Home for the Holidazed
For a unique and heartfelt take on the holiday expe Whitcomb, who Acito asked to help him adapt the
rience, Artists Repertory Theatre presents the world pre
novel. “I just thought it would work better onstage,"
miere of Holidazed, a play co-written by Portland humor he says.
The piece covers the full spectrum of theatrical enter
ist Marc Acito, directed by Jon Kretzu and featuring local
tainment including puppets, gender-bending double cast
faves like Susannah Mars and Michael Mendelson.
“I wanted to deconstruct the holidays. I think it’s re
ing, a drag show and some family-friendly innuendo. “I
ally important to examine why it is
that we do what we do,” Acito says.
“It’s a family Christmas show with a
more satiric edge. Families, especially
in Portland, are looking for it. We
already have a lot of saccharine and
wholesome. 1 want life more as we
know it.”
Julia, a suburban mother of
three, brings home Luna, a home
less teenage girl. Julia’s kids are
intrigued, but her husband and
friends are skeptical. After a disas
trous Thanksgiving dinner and un
expected guests, they hurtle toward
Christmas with the reality they used
The “picture perfect" family gets a new addition when Mom takes in a
to know turned upside down.
homeless, pagan teenage girl in Holidazed.
As a gay man, Acito always brings
love when the theater does what it does best,” Acito says.
a queer sensibility to the work he does, but he is also aware
He adds: “As writers, [Cynthia and I are) both interested
of the full spectrum of his audience. “I wanted to write
in the idea of logical family versus biological family. What
something that was compelling for gays and not off-putting
I want people to understand is that love makes a family and
to straights," he says.
to understand what it is to open our hearts to another hu
Holidazed started as a novel for Acito, who soon
man being on the street and see their humanity.”
found himself up against a wall with it. “Somewhere I
—Kristin Steele
got off track,” he says. Enter local screenwriter Cynthia
new
duets,
"Thirst"
and "Prrr," through Nov. 23 at Imago Theatre.
Public Playhouse presents It's a Wonderful Life:
(8 pm. 17 SE Eighth Ave. $14416 from Brown
A Live Radio Play, bringing the holiday classic to
Paper Tickets.)
life with five actors taking on all the roles, Dec. 5-20
Our
Shoes
Are
Red/The
Performance
Lab
presents Pulitzer Prize nominee Thom Pain (Based
on Nothing), an existential one-man show with
at
CoHo
Theater.
(7:30 pm
Thursday-Saturday,
2 pm Sunday. 2257 NW Raleigh St. $17420 from
503-922-0532.)
standup-style comic riffs and deadpan hipster
Rick Huddle presents Spent, a monologue combin
banter that keep interrupting a corrosively bleak
ing the tales of Chinese princesses, evil IMF war
narrative, through Nov. 23 at Kingstad Center in
lords, John Keynes' theory of economics and Tonya
Beaverton. (7:30 and 9:30 pm Friday and Saturday,
Harding into one riveting story that's essential to to
day s financial crisis, Dec. 4-20 at Theater Theatre.
2 pm Sunday.
15450SW Millikan Way. $9415
(8 pm Thursday-Saturday. 3430 SE Belmont St. $18
from 503-626-6338.)
Portland Ballet presents La Boutique Fantasque:
The Enchanted Toyshop Nov. 28 and 29 at New
at the door, $15 in advance from 503-720-0397;
Thursdays are “pay what you will.“)
mark Theatre. (2:30 and 7:30 pm. 1111 SW Broad
Super Project Lab presents Meet Your____ !—an
way. $6440 from Ticketmaster.)
improv show that collides truth with fiction when
Portland Center Stage presents R. Buckminster
Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe,
special guests share true, unrehearsed stories from
their lives—Nov. 22 at Winningstad Theatre. 18 pm.
1111 SW Broadway. $ 12 from 503-230-9061.)
a one-man show that takes you inside the mind of
one of the foremost scientists and philosophers of
Super Project Lab presents 3Some, in which three
the 20th century, through Dec. 7 in Gerding Theater
performers improvise two full-length stones popu
at the Armory. (Call for times. 128 NW 11th Ave.
lated by dozens of characters, Dec. 5-13 at Curious
Comedy Theater. (9:30 pm Friday and Saturday.
$28 50468.50 from 503-445-3700.)
5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. $10 from
Portland Center Stage revives Mead Hunter's
hugely popular adaptation of A Christmas Carol
503-477-9477.)
Dec. 5-28 in Gerding Theater at the Armory. (Call
Tears of Joy Theatre presents Jungle Book, in
128 NW 11th Ave. $30466.50 from
which a puppeteer gives amazing life to an array
for times.
of unforgettable characters who remind us that
503-445-3700.)
our families consist of those who love and pro
Portland Revels presents 2008 Christmas Revels:
A Visit to the Scandinavian Northlands, a celebra
tion of the winter solstice incorporating theater,
dance and music, Dec. 5-14 at Scottish Rite The
ater. (Call for times. 1515 SW Morrison St. $7435
tect us, through Nov. 30 at Winningstad Theatre.
(Call for times. 1111 SW Broadway $14416 from
503-248-0557.)
Theatre Vertigo presents Pterodactyls, an ab
surdist black comedy about the demise of the Dun
from 503-274-4654.)
can family and, by extension, the species, through
Portland State University presents The Tri
umph of Love, a tale of mistaken identities in
which
an
accidental
princess
Nov. 22 at Theater Theatre. 18 pm. 3430 SE Bel
mont St. $15 from 503-306-0870.)
masquerades
as a young man to woo her prince charming,
Triangle Productions presents Eula Mae's Beauty Bait
through Nov. 29 at Artists Repertory Theatre.
and Tackle, gay playwright Frank Blocker's hdanous
(7:30 pm Tuesday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. No
sendup about a former rodeo rider whose niece is trying
show Nov. 27. 1516 SW Alder St. $8410 from
to win the crown of Miss Alabama, through Nov. 29 at
503-725-4612.)
Firehouse theatre 18pm Thursday Saturday 1436 SW
Montgomery St $18420 from 503-239-5919.)
Profile Theatre Project continues its Neil Simon
season with a staged reading of the Pulitzer-
White Bird continues its Uncaged Dance Series
a coming-of-age
with a thrilling collaborative program of new chore
winning play Lost in
Yonkers,
tale concerning two brothers growing up during
ography by Skinner/Kirk + Bielemeier Dec. 3-7 at
World War II, through Nov. 23 at Theater Theatre.
the Portland Opera Studio Theater (8 pm Wednes
(7:30 pm Friday and Saturday, 2 pm Saturday
and Sunday. 3430 SE Belmont St. $10415 from
211 SE Carruthers St. $16426 from box office or
503-242-0080.)
Ticketmaster:)
day-Friday,
2 and 8 pm Saturday and Sunday
love freely
hip, /eny &
hours
831* broadway
seaside ♦ Oregon ♦ 97138
503.738 3100 ‘
j
www.yummywinebarbistro.com
Sunday:
monday
tuesday
sa
-10
@ Vault Martini Lounge / No Cover, Drink proceeds to Portland's Q-Center / 226 nw i zm Pomona Or 97209