STAGE

Anansi

Watch Tears of Joy's West African trickster (puppet) god outwit a (puppet) lion and a talking (puppet) melon. Winningstad Theatre, Portland Center for Performing Arts, 1111 SW Broadway., 248-4335. 7:30 pm Friday Feb. 1, 11 am Saturdays, 2 and 4 pm Sundays. Closes Feb. 10. $13-$16. All ages. Map

Antigone

Blue Monkey Theater puts a contemporary twist on the classic tale of teenage rebellion with Jean Anouilh's adaptation, translated by Jeremy Sams. Grant Turner directs. West End Theater, 1220 SW Taylor St., 593-2466. 7 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Feb. 24. $16-$20. All ages. Map

The Beard of Avon

There is a tremendous amount of labor on display at the Gerding Theater in Amy Freed’s nerdy comedy about who might have really written (at least according to a fringe contingent of conspiracy-minded scholars) the works attributed to William Shakespeare: From Deborah Trout’s stunning Elizabethan costumes and William Bloodgood’s handsome all-purpose set to the ensemble’s excellent comedic execution and a refreshingly restrained performance by Darius Pierce, it's blood sweat and tears all over. But the hardest labor of all must have come from Freed, whose intricate script is quick, clever and brainy, carefully tailored to appeal to a self-satisfied audience of lit majors and theater lovers. It must have taken ages to cram in this much trivia and artifice—but why bother? The play offers little in the way of moral or artistic satisfaction. It’s a tale told by an academic, full of in-jokes and bawdy humor, signifying nothing. See review. BEN WATERHOUSE. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sundays. Alternates with Twelfth Night. See wweek.com or pcs.org for more details. Closes March 16. $16.50-$61.50. All ages. Map

Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding)

Miracle Theatre’s artistic director, Olga Sanchez, has attempted to make Federico García Lorca’s weird 1932 tragedy a little more accessible through song, with haunting arrangements by Gerardo Calderón that span the breadth of Andalucia’s rich musical heritage. The music pulls you in, bringing out the best of Lorca’s voice (an outlandish lyricism that revels in the grotesque) and allowing you to overlook the production’s flaws. BEN WATERHOUSE. El Centro Milagro, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 7:30 pm Thursdays, 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Feb. 23. $15-$20. All ages. Map

The Clean House

What starts out as an entertaining series of encounters between stock characters—Lane (Susan Coromel), a humorless, uptight doctor, clad in white; Virginia (Marilyn Stacey), her humorless, uptight, neat-freak sister, in khaki; and Lane’s maid, Matilde (Amaya Villazan), who wears black, hates cleaning and would rather be a comedian like her parents, the funniest people in Brazil, who died in a tragic, humor-related murder-suicide when her father came up with a joke so good it killed—starts to go downhill when Lane’s husband, Charles (Shelly Lipkin), runs off with a 67-year-old cancer patient (Linda Williams Janke) and the whole thing degenerates into a maudlin mishmash of smug quirkiness and sentimentality, like a Lifetime movie penned by Gabriel García Márquez. By the time Charles heads for the Arctic to cut down a Pacific yew for his cancer-patient mistress and Lane overcomes her jealousy to care for her, the play is beyond all hope of recovery. See review. BEN WATERHOUSE. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes March 2. $20-$47. All ages. Map

The Communist Dracula Pageant

Meet Dracula. No, not that Dracula, though he’s invited as well. We’re talking about the communist Dracula: Nicolae Ceausescu, the former dictator of Romania. Anne Washburn’s new play, running in a workshop production at defunkt theatre, ambitiously attempts to encompass in 95 minutes a sketchy history of the Romanian revolution, nuanced portraits of the dictator and his wife and some dime-store philosophizing about the nature of freedom. It doesn’t quite succeed. The defunkt ensemble has impeccable comedic timing, and the show’s humorous scenes manage to hold the audience’s attention, but the story loses steam during a few scenes that don’t quite make sense to the viewer who comes without prior knowledge of the December Revolution—that is, almost all of us. The show is, nonetheless, worth seeing for Kenichi Hillis’ bizarre, toothy performance as Vlad "The Impaler" Tepes. He steals the show. See review. (Playwright Anne Washburn will lead talkbacks after the show Feb. 8 and 9.) The Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 481-2960. 8 pm Thursdays-Sundays. Closes Feb. 16. $10-$15. All ages. Map

The Complete History of America (Abridged)

Bag&Baggage presents a 97-minute summary of our nation's story, written by the hooligans behind The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged).  McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse, 4045 NW Cornelius Pass Road., 640-6174. Call 516-4840 for tickets. 7 pm Thursdays-Sundays. Closes Feb. 10. $17. All ages. Map

Cuentos—Searching for My Story

Rebecca Martinez, Joaquin López and Stan Olmstead's multidisciplinary performance confronts tradition, and racial and national identity. Take the kids. El Centro Milagro, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 3 pm Saturdays. Closes Feb. 23. $5-$10. All ages. Map

The Curate Shakespeare As You Like It

Try as they might, this energetic cast can’t save a sinking script. This meta-theatrical farce is so thoroughly and distractingly self-conscious that it never really gets going. The premise is this: A traveling repertory company attempts to put on Shakespeare’s As You Like It. But things keep going wrong: Amiens (Jonathan Lay) can’t remember his lines; William (Zachary Koval) has an existential identity crisis; Rosalind (Christy Bigelow) has gone temporarily crazy. What results is a lot of lag, and dead-end questions (“but how can I be Audrey and Rosalind at the same time?”) that ought to have been asked in Intro to Dramatic Lit. The actors—although at times they play it like a high-school show—have a good sense of Shakespearean bawdiness, and they do their best to liven things up, keeping the audience in stitches until Act II, when things really slow down. Why, it must be asked, do professionals possessing otherwise fine senses of artistic good taste insist on producing this sort of self-indulgent stinker? JOHN MINERVINI. Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego., 635-3901. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 pm Sundays, 2 pm Feb. 10 and 17. Closes Feb. 17. $23-$25. All ages. Map

Dead of Winter

Local playwright Steve Patterson premieres three one-act ghost stories (“Whitechapel,” “Wet Paint” and “The Body”) in a joint effort by Pavement Productions and the Bluestockings. Lisa Abbott directs. While the scripts themselves aren’t that bad per se—about on par with an average episode of The Outer Limits—the weaknesses in Patterson’s dialogue (Americans really shouldn’t dabble in English dialects) are amplified by Lisa Abbott’s heavy-handed direction and some really frightening acting. An exception is Ben Plont, who sinks his teeth into the camp and doesn’t let go, shamelessly hamming it up as a ghost-hunter and a haunted surgeon. Unfortunately, he can’t be onstage all the time. BEN WATERHOUSE. Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave., 777-1907. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays. Closes Feb. 23. $10. All ages. Map

The Devil and Daniel Webster

Charming and sweet, while at the same time wickedly funny, this show weaves together a tale of youthfully innocent love and guilty desperation. A lighthearted contemporary adaptation of a 19th-century tale, the story loses a bit of its momentum in the second half when the devil and Sen. Daniel Webster argue for a farmer’s soul, especially for younger audience members. Sets are inspired, the young actors are energetic, and the older ones casually confident. Come early and, from a cushioned wooden pew, soak up the sight of the lovely and lofty cross-barrel vaulted ceiling in this beautiful old auditorium. DEEDA SCHROEDER. NW Neighborhood Cultural Center, 1819 NW Everett St., 222-4480. 7 pm Fridays, 2 and 7 pm Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Feb. 24. $15-$20. All ages. Map

Exit the King

A ruler who has run his country into the ground now refuses to let go. Sound familiar? Probably its resonance with our current national leadership crisis prompted Arts Equity to take on Ionesco’s political satire, and it does a fine job playing up the similarities. King Berenger (Rod Harrel) and his court speak with thick Texas accents, and Berenger himself makes apelike facial expressions and frequently lets fly a sinister airy cackle—heh, heh, heh—that will be instantly familiar to anyone with a TV. This spirited production—nimbly directed by Llewellyn Rhoe—successfully straddles the line between tragedy and farce, and it has the advantage of lending itself to contemporary allegory. Unfortunately, the script hasn’t aged well; what may have challenged audiences in 1962 drags in the new millennium. The second act features unforgettable monologues by Berenger and Queen Marguerite (Virginia Belt), and, in general, the performances are solid. However, not all characters speak with the same accent—the maid is French, the guard is German, and the actors step on each others’ lines. JOHN MINERVINI. The Main Street Theater, 606 Main St., Vancouver., 360-695-3770. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Feb. 16. $10-$24. All ages. Map

Faust, U.S.

For this first production from his new company, Re-Theatre Instrument, director Jason Zimbler asked his cast to improvise a script from his plot summary. It shows. The show’s premise—a retelling of Marlowe’s cautionary tale with an ambitious presidential candidate (Jeff Gorham) as Faust, a coal-company executive (Lior Zadok) as Mephistopheles and the nation’s air quality at stake—might have made for an interesting evening of theater. Here, though, it feels like everyone’s reciting their favorite bits from The West Wing from memory. Our advice: Next time, spend more time on the dialogue. BEN WATERHOUSE. Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 231-3959. Call 201-2591 or visit retheatre.org for tickets. 7:30 pm Fridays-Sundays. Closes Feb. 16. $16-$26. All tickets are two-for-one. All ages. Map

A Few Stout Individuals

The second play of Profile Theatre’s season of John Guare looks great—but don’t let it fool you. This purported comedy about the writing of Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs is brutal. It’s not all the actors’ or director’s fault, though—Guare’s play, which he admits to tossing off under deadline in the three weeks following 9/11, is an awkward mélange of war tragedy, history lecture and madcap farce that plays footsie with the fun, the interesting, the informative and even the artful, but keeps falling short in endless asides and digressions. It’s 2 1/2 hours of subpar writing made even harder to endure by a trio of particularly terrible performances by actors I will not name. With this script, they’ve already suffered enough. BEN WATERHOUSE. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 242-0080. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Feb. 17. $10-$28. All ages. Map

The Front Page

Richard Morley's comic drama, set in the press room of the Chicago Criminal Courts Building. Hillsboro Artists' Regional Theatre, 185 SE Washington St., Hillsboro., 693-7815. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes March 22. $7-$14. All ages. Map

The Importance of Being Earnest

Northwest Classical Theatre Company brings an American slapstick sensibility to Oscar Wilde’s oft-performed comedy, keeping it loose and funny until the end of the third act. The women carry the show, with deliciously venomous performances by Kelly Godell (Gwendolyn) and Paige Jones (Lady Bracknell). The men seem to be straining, though, and Tom Walton exhibits a disagreeable habit of closing his eyes while delivering lines. Thematically, the production, directed by Blue Monkey Theater’s John Monteverde, lays heavy emphasis on vanity, a theme reflected in the placement of floor-length mirrors along the set’s back wall. This design has the unfortunate consequence that the actors, whenever they are admiring themselves, are forced to turn their backs on the audience. Also: because Earnest is really only dialogue, costumes come under unusually close scrutiny. In this regard, the women once again fared better, looking tip-top, whereas the men seem to have been dressed out of bins. How can you be a fop if your clothes don’t match, or even fit? Nevertheless, the audience laughed loud and often, and you will too. JOHN MINERVINI. Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 971-244-3740. 7 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes March 2. $12-$18. All ages. Map

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Puck, Bottom and the gang. RPHS Main Stage, 4950 SE Roethe Road, Milwaukie., 367-2620. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Fridays, 2 and 7 pm Feb. 16. $10-$12. All ages. Map

The Neutrino Project

Why watch live, unedited improv when you could see a movie, acted and filmed on the fly by the ambitious folks at Curious Productions? Directed by Bob Ladewig, The Neutrino Project is shot at three locations—edited, scored and projected almost live. BEN WATERHOUSE. Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd., 281-4215. 9:30 pm Fridays. Closes Feb. 22. $10. All ages. Map

Okage Sama De: I Am What I Am, Because of You

Storyteller Alton Takiyama-Chung recounts the experiences of Japanese Americans in World War II. Hipbone Studio, 1847 E Burnside St., 360-882-3581. 8 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Closes Feb. 16. $12. All ages. Map

Tales of Ordinary Madness

Stepán Simek directs his own translation of Petr Zelenka’s Czech hit, a crackling comedy full of good old-fashioned American-style dysfunction. Peter (Brian Allard) is a beer-swilling thirtysomething who follows his shut-in and sexual deviant friend Midge’s (an exuberantly goofy Shuhe Hawkins) black-magic advice to lure his girlfriend, Jeanette, back to him. Peter vacillates between midday delusions, watching his neighbors fuck (at their behest) and suffering through visits home, where his excitable mother (Dalene Young) donates blood obsessively and predicts her husband’s (an endearingly meek Michael Chambers) downfall. Dad, meanwhile, plays with beer bubbles and bemoans his old career as a radio mouthpiece for the Party. A truly theatrical act of desperation ties the madness up nicely, and anchoring performances by Young and Chambers provide a jarring few moments of heartbreak in the last act. See review. SAUNDRA SORENSON. The CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 220-2646. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Feb. 23. $20-$23. All ages. Map

Twelfth Night

Too many bored directors, forced by tradition and economics to stage another goddamn Shakespeare, try to shoehorn a perfectly decent comedy into an awkward fancy-dress conceit or inappropriate political statement, but Jane Jones, down from Seattle to direct Portland Center Stage’s production of the mistaken-identity romantic comedy, has the good sense to leave the play alone. This is, without hyperbole, an entirely satisfying production. On the technical side, William Bloodgood’s set is modestly beautiful, Deborah Trout’s costumes are dazzling, Nancy Schertler’s lights are a show in their own right, and Joshua Kohl’s music is just delightful—but the ensemble, made up mostly of Ashland vets, could get along just fine without them. They’re all good, but Brad Bellamy stands out with an inspired take on Feste the fool that lands somewhere between Jack Nicholson and Sancho Panza. If you’re looking for real entertainment, this is it. BEN WATERHOUSE. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sundays, noon Thursdays. Alternates with The Beard of Avon. See wweek.com or pcs.org for more details. Closes March 9. $16.50-$61.50. All ages. Map

Vampire Lesbians of Sodom

Years before Joss Whedon had even conceived of Angel, Charles Busch's duo of vampiric actresses were whooping it up through time. The Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 970-8874. 10:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Closes Feb. 16. $12. All ages. Map

Where's My Money?

John Patrick Shanley's anti-marital comedy may read like a particularly bitter dramatic interpretation of "Love Stinks," but in the hands of Ben Plont and the ensemble at Theatre Vertigo, it becomes a delightfully absurd skewering of the things we do to the people we love. The solid cast's spot-on comedic timing brings out the humor in even the most dismally angsty of Shanley's scenes. The play's paranormal theme—ex-boyfriend comes back from the dead to collect on an old debt—seems superfluous, but goddamn if it isn't hilarious. BEN WATERHOUSE. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 306-0870. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays. Closes Feb. 9. $15. Thursdays are pay what you will. All ages. Map

CLASSICAL

Handel's Rodelinda

Portland Opera serves up a rare hearing of a midcareer Handel opera masterwork, Rodelinda, brimming with gorgeous music. The company fields an attractively voiced cast (with the vibrant soprano Jennifer Aylmer in the title role), a cogent conductor (George Manahan, music director at NYC Opera) and a kind of brave attitude by choosing to perform the work on modern instruments. Ah, well. At least 2009's planned production of Cavalli's La Calisto offers authentic baroque players in the pit. STEPHEN MARC BEAUDOIN. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 248-4335. 7:30 pm Thursday and Saturday, Feb. 14 & 16. $41.75-$200. All ages. Map

DANCE