HOW 'BOUT A ROLL IN THE HAY, SCARECROW? New Moon's Wizard of Oz.

News

Don't miss JAW, Portland Center Stage's annual playwright's festival. This year's bigger-than-ever affair spans two weekends and includes eight readings in addition to workshops, a theater fair and site-specific performances by local artists. Best of all: This year it's all free. Check out our listings for more details. Portland Center Stage at the Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. July 12-22. Free.

STAGE

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

The ever-popular Reader's Digest version of the Canon takes the stage in Oregon City. Clackamas Repertory Theatre at Clackamas Community College, 19600 S Molalla Ave., Oregon City, 657-6958. 7 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 pm Sundays. Closes July 22. $10-$20.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

[CLOSES SUNDAY] The Broadway adaptation of the 1988 film of the same name, which The New York Times said "somehow never straightens out of a queasy slouch," follows two con men, knee-deep in corn and cheese, trying to work their mojo on the same dame. Broadway Across America Portland at Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 and 6:30 pm Sunday. Closes July 15. $23-$70.

Driving Under the Influence

[READING] Nick Zagone's play follows eight high-school friends through their post-graduation lives. JAW Playwrights Festival at the Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 8:30 pm Monday, July 16. Free.

First Beard

[READING] A presidential coming-out comedy by Portland playwright Matthew B. Zrebski. JAW Playwrights Festival at the Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 8:30 pm Tuesday, July 17. Free.

Hamlet

[OPENS FRIDAY] This "intimate, surprising" take on the most studied play of all time is the product of over a year of work, with help from the former "head of voice" for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Quintessence: Language and Imagination Theatre at the Mago Hunt Theatre, University of Portland, 5000 N Willamette Blvd., 943-7287. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sunday, July 29. Opens July 13. $12-$15.

Hot Summer Shorts

Toy Boat Productions presents nine short plays by writers from across the country. Toy Boat Productions at the Village Ballroom, 700 NE Dekum St. Thursday-Saturday, July 12-14. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St. Wednesday-Saturday, July 18-21. 8 pm. Opens July 12. $10.

Noises Off

[OPENS FRIDAY] Lakewood opens its season with a classic farce about the backstage capers of a touring English theater troupe. Lakewood Theatre at the Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego, 635-3901. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 pm Sundays, 2 pm July 22, Aug. 12 and 19. Opens July 13. $23-$25.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile

[EXTENDED RUN] It's difficult to imagine that a play about a chance meeting between two of the 20th century's greatest and most seriously regarded minds could be so hilarious, until you remember the madcap genius of Steve Martin, the man who wrote the script. Dusty Richards clearly channels Martin as the young Picasso, drunkenly arguing with a sweet but insistent young Einstein (Joey Lebard) about the relative merits of science and art. WILLIAM CRAWFORD. Arts Equity at The Main Street Theatre, 606 Main St., Vancouver, 360-695-3770. 8 pm Friday-Saturday. Closes Aug. 11. $8-$24.

Sometimes a Great Notion

[READING] Aaron Posner's adaptation of Ken Kesey's stab at the Great American Novel gets a public reading. JAW Playwrights Festival at the Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 3 pm Thursday, July 12. Free.

Steel Magnolias

[OPENS THURSDAY] Oh, those gossipy ladies of the Old South. Kelley Marchant directs. New Century Players at the Rex Putnam Blackbox Theatre, 4950 SE Roethe Rd., Milwaukie, 367-2620. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Fridays, 2 pm and 7:30 pm Saturdays. Closes July 21. $8-$12.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

Underage lovers, street fights and suicide in downtown Portland. So, what else is new? Portland Actors Ensemble and Blue Monkey Theater Company in Lovejoy Fountain Park, between Southwest 1st and 4th avenues and Southwest Harrison and Lincoln streets. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Closes July 21. Free.

Wizard of Oz

[OPENS THURSDAY] Follow the asphalt-brick road to Washington Park. New Moon Productions at Washington Park Amphitheater, 400 SW Kingston Ave. 6:30 pm Tuesdays-Sundays, noon and 2 pm July 14-15, 21-22. Opens July 12. Free.

Comedy

Best of the Best Sketch Fest

Blue Door Productions and The 3rd Floor present Portland's fifth annual sketch comedy festival, featuring some of the best companies in the country. See bestofthebestsketchfest.com for full details; shows begin every hour. Artists Repertory Theatre Second Stage, 1516 SW Alder St., 627-9847. 8 pm-midnight Friday and Saturday, July 13-14. $10 single tickets, $32 four-show pass, $49 festival pass.

Andres Fernandez, stand-up

Fernandez is more than your average Latino comedian; thanks to a fortuitous marriage, he's also a Greek comedian! Let a thousand ethnocentric jokes be told! Harvey's Comedy Club, 436 NW 6th Ave., 241-0338. 8 pm Wednesday-Thursday, 8 and 10:30 pm Friday, 7:30 and 10 pm Saturday, 7 pm Sunday, July 11-15. $15.

Summer in Brodavia, improv

Long-form improv from the Brody. The Brody Theater Studio, 3314 SW 1st Ave. (entrance on Southwest Gibbs Street), 224-0688. 9 pm Saturdays. Opens July 14. $7-$10.

classical

Summer Sing! Mozart Requiem

Charismatic Portland Symphonic Choir conductor Steve Zopfi leads an "open sing" reading of Mozart's monumental Messiah, with guest soloists. First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave., 223-1217. 7 pm Wednesday, July 11. $5.

Cecil B. DeMille's Carmen

Opera Theater Oregon launches Opera Cinema, a new live-opera-with-film event at Portland's scorching-hot live arts venue, the Someday Lounge. Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave., 248-1030. 8 pm Saturday, July 14. $10.

Chamber Music Northwest Week 3

At the midway point of its summer orgy of chamber music delights, CMNW artistic director David Shifrin has programmed some audience-favorite artists and repertoire (young piano mavericks Shai Wosner and Orion Weiss in Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Stravinsky, July 14), a satisfying trio of works by Haydn, Prokofiev and Dvorák (a duo, a trio and a quintet, July 16-17) and an already sold-out slam-dunk Bach Concerto Night (July 12-13). Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock, 294-6400. 8 pm Thursday, Saturday and Monday, July 12, 14 and 16. Catlin Gabel School, 8825 SW Barnes Road, 294-6400. 8 pm Friday and Tuesday, July 13 and 17. $10-$43.

Portland International Piano Festival

Pianists Sara Davis Buechner, Jeremy Denk and the husband-wife duo of Leon Fleisher and Katherine Jacobson-Fleisher are the highlights in PIPF's closing weekend at the World Forestry Center. See performance box, page 88, for more details. World Forestry Center, 4033 SW Canyon Road, 228-1388. Closes Sunday, July 15. $12-$30.

dance

White Nights of Summer

Portland choreographer Agnieszka Laska is pulling out all the stops to pull on the purse strings of Portland dance fans. To get her accomplished company of dancers over to an August 2007 tour of Poland dance festivals, she's recruited maestro Alexei Ludmilin and the Siberian Chamber Orchestra—in their Portland debut—to headline a benefit concert. The eclectic program includes works by Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Shostakovich and Jack Gabel, and selections from the company's upcoming tour are performed live on stage with the orchestra. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., 715-1866. 8 pm Wednesday, July 11. $15-$40.

Innovative Visions

Northwest Professional Dance Project offers up a variable night of new dances with an unfortunately pompous-sounding title. NWPDP Artistic Director Sarah Slipper leads the way with a work recently acclaimed at Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, A Fine Balance. Other highlights: an as-yet-unnamed world premiere by dance treasure Donald McKayle, another untitled new work from OBT founder James Canfield with music by Adam Hurst, and newish pieces by Luca Veggetti and Thaddeus Davis. Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, 756-1912. 8 pm Saturday, July 14. $27-$32.