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Theaters inevitably get quiet in the summer. Instead, people are out eating tacos and soft serve, swimming or smoking joints rolled in Bible pages. But this week, CoHo's annual Summerfest kicks off with a one-woman show about the Rat Pack. At Post5 in Sellwood, Pride is still going strong with John C. Russell's Stupid Kids for the OUTWright LGBTQ theater festival. And if male strippers in a clown-themed bar tickle you, Ripped City awaits.
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OPENING THIS WEEK
Frank: To Be Frank
CoHo's Summerfest starts with a commedia dell'arte-style one-woman show profiling the Rat Pack's 17th member: Frank. Billed as "an interactive, live life retrospective," the show has Emily June Newton, with stubble painted on her face and eye shadow up to her eyebrows, smoking a fat cigar. "Flamboyant" might be underselling it. Newton, an Australian cabaret star and comedian, has settled in Portland to develop this one-woman show after touring internationally and collecting MFA degrees in places like San Francisco. Summerfest passes are $60 and include four shows over four weekends, through July 17. CoHo Theatre, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 503-220-2646. 7:30 pm Thursday-Sunday, June 23-25. $20.
The Red Ten Minute Play Festival
This iteration of the Clinton's recurring festival features locally written, 10-minute plays, each with a unique set of writers, directors and actors and all themed after the color red. From a serial killer fan club to a collision between Sigmund Freud and Hester Prynne to a oeno Tinder date at Laurelhurst Park, every local art piece comes in a bite-sized portion. Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., 503-238-5588. 6 pm Friday-Saturday, June 24-July 2. $5.
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The Skriker
Two women, one just on the cusp of adulthood and the other a soon-to-be mother, are visited by a shape-shifting spirit known as the Skriker in the newest Portland staging of the Caryl Churchill play. Churchill's dystopian works have been rife on Portland stages lately. The eerie Far Away killed it at Shaking the Tree, and Love and Information felt like a tornado inside Shoebox Theater this spring. True to that, The Skriker is set in a "climate of violence and environmental destruction." Third Rail Rep has the chops to stage an "ethereal production." Hell, they made Todd Van Voris doing an Elvis impression on a tabletop seem suave. While Skriker's women struggle to process their own conflicting feelings, audiences should feel decidedly satisfied. Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 503-231-9581. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday and 2 pm Sunday, June 24-July 2. $11.50.
NEW REVIEWS
American Idiot
High energy angst? Check. Heroin withdrawals set to rock music? Check. Eye-liner and neckties? Check. Everything you could want from the actors of Triangle Production's American Idiot is there in full force, but on opening night, the show was wrought with technical difficulties. Director Don Horn's choice to stage American Idiot—a production that should be a seizure-inducing, explosive light show of a rock opera—in the quaint Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza was a huge risk. Triangle paid the price for it at points during the show. The acoustics of the room, which used to be used as a church, were not built for power chords. Faulty mic problems throughout the show ended up with actors singing at different volume levels and loud static interrupting guitar solos. The opening was a lesson in commitment, as performers powered through the technical struggles. Regardless, Triangle Production's American Idiot has great potential, if they can get their mics under control. RUSSELL HAUSFELD. The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-239-5919. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, through July 2. $15-$35.
Our New Girl
Blue moonlight falls through the window of an all-white kitchen, hitting a small mirror on the table and bouncing back onto the steel blade of a knife in the hand of a somber young boy in Nancy Harris' suspenseful, domestic drama from Corrib Theatre. In this chilling twist on idyllic expat life, mompreneur Hazel is privileged, pissed and pregnant. Her husband Richard, who is heroically away fixing burn victims in war-torn countries, hired a nanny named Annie (without consulting his wife). Our New Girl is a show made of tense dialogue and fierce gazes. Fitting Corrib Theatre's trend of dark Irish plays, the show mines its characters and script for the drama. Portland mainstay Nikki Weaver is a perfectly restrained Hazel, lips pursed as she contemplates her failure—not being a gorgeous Italian woman who effortlessly feeds a baby while kneading bread, running a vineyard and wearing stilettos. We get stuck with things we don't like, posits Harris' Girl. For audiences enjoying director Gemma Whelan's finely curated mini-season, though, this fourth and final show feels anything but stuck. JESS DRAKE. Portland Actors Conservatory, 1436 SW Montgomery St. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday and 2 pm Sunday, through June 26. $25.
ALSO PLAYING
Reefer Madness
Anyone who's smoked a J knows the inevitable hallucinations, hit-and-run car accidents, suicidal ideation, manslaughter and general descent into madness that follows, as the 1936 propaganda film Reefer Madness first taught us. Funhouse's musical transforms the scare piece into lighthearted satire. Funhouse Lounge, 2432 SE 11th Ave., 503-309-3723. 7 pm Thursday-Saturday, June 23-July 23. $25-$30.
Stupid Kids
Enter Joe McCarthy High School in Anytown, America circa 1980-something. It's a petri dish of drama, where two gay friends struggle with their budding hormones. Neechee is a recluse who falls for the town rebel. Kimberly is loud and proud and in love with the "it" girl. This staging of John C. Russell's Off-Broadway satire comes from Post5's new management, including Rusty Tennant, who also oversees the OUTwright LGBTQ-dedicated theater festival. It's the "MTV generation's" view of coming out, staged in an old Sellwood church. Extra show 7:30 pm Thursday, June 23. Post5 Theatre, 1666 SE Lambert St. 7:30 pm Friday-Saturday, through June 25. $20.
Weekend at Bernie's
Not that Bernie. This might the the longest-running summer show in Portland, but the comedic buddy tale won't last until election night. Instead, Portland's top improv talents stage the bumbling tale of two guys trying to convince the world that their boss is not dead. Think Office Space with 1980s Hawaiian shirts, mob bosses and super hot babes, inside Portland's best new comedy venue. After the show, enjoy the fragrant Old Town scene outside. The Siren Theater, 315 NW Davis St. 10 pm Friday-Saturday, through July 30. $16.
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DANCE
Ripped City Male Revue
Saturday is Bachelorette night at Funhouse is hosted by Cabaret de Caliente and Tana The Tattooed Lady, with male dancers, drink specials and the sexy raffle. Every fourth Saturday, through October. Funhouse Lounge, 2432 SE 11th Ave., 503-841-6734. 10 pm Saturday, June 25. $15.
The Village 2016
African tradition headlines one of Portland's swankiest theaters for a night—a showcase of West African dance, drumming and storytelling from a diverse range of African traditions. The young dance groups are joined by an all-male Baramakono drumming ensemble, the professional Sébé Kan drumming company and Mali-famous storyteller Baba Wagué Diakité. Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335. 7:30 pm Saturday, June 25. $30.
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