STAGE

Angel Street

[READING] Jack Featheringill directs Valerie Stevens, Gary Brickner-Schulz, John Steinkamp, Vana O'Brian and Brittany Burch (wow!) in the Victorian thriller that inspired Gas Light in the Portland Civic Theatre Guild's first reading of the year. The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th Ave., portlandcivictheatreguild.org. 10 am Tuesday, Oct. 7. $6. Map

Antigone

Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon returns with the last of Sophocles’ three Theban plays, famous for revealing just what kind of shit will go down if you get down with Mom. By the time Antigone kicks off, that motherfucker Oedipus is long gone and his brothers/sons, Polyneices and Eteocles, have slain each other in a battle for control of Thebes. When new ruler Creon (Daniel Shaw) declares Polyneices a traitor whose body will be left on the battlefield to rot, Oedipus’ daughter/sister, Antigone (Christy Bigelow), decides to surreptitiously bury him. Except for some choreography problems in the chorus, director Keith Scales’ cast does an admirable job performing in a style older than Christianity, getting particularly heart-wrenching performances from Shaw and Bigelow. Sure, it’s an old tale, but its themes of madness, family, freedom, religion and power are as topical as ever, and when Creon starts speaking about the virtues of service to the state, you’ll swear you’re watching John McCain at the Republican National Convention all over again. How old is that guy, anyway? MATT GRAHAM. Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., brownpapertickets.com. 4 pm Sunday, Oct. 5. $10-$20. Map

Blackbird

If the victim in Akira Kurosawa’s film crime classic Rashômon had been a child and the witnesses limited to two, it might have resembled David Harrower’s unbearably horrid Blackbird, which places characters Ray and Una in the filthy breakroom of Ray’s employer for 90 minutes to air their dirty laundry. The trouble? The last time they saw one another—15 years ago, when he was 40 and she was 12—he’d just finished giving her a good rogering in a dingy seaside guesthouse before leaving her, alone and bleeding, while he popped over to the pub for a pint. Are you queasy yet? It gets worse when Harrower, like a humorless Nabokov, forces us to sympathize with his pedophilic protagonist. In Artists Rep’s production, directed by JoAnn Johnson, the unthinkable couple are played by Amaya Villazan and Allen Nause, the company’s artistic director. Nause is admirably convincing as the confused and repentant predator, and Villazan gives her most forceful performance to date, rising from some early evening awkwardness on opening night to a frightening display of pain and passion. It is, objectively, a pretty good production. But when all the damage is done and the house lights come up, one has to wonder­—to what end all this nastiness. What, Mr. Harrower, was the point? BEN WATERHOUSE. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Sundays, 11 am Wednesday, Oct. 1. Closes Oct. 12. $20-$47. Map

Blue Moon Cabaret

Corey Brunish, James Peppers, Chrissy Kelly, Sheila Bruhn and others sing classic show tunes to benefit Blue Monkey Theater. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 593-2466. 7 pm Friday-Saturday, Oct. 3-4. $15. Map

The Blue-Eyed Hare: A Story from Scotland

[CHILDREN'S THEATER] A kind beekeeper befriends an enchanted hare. Interactive theater for children ages 2 to 9 by PLAY after PLAY. Brooklyn Bay, 1825 SE Franklin St., 258-9000. 10 am Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays, Oct. 4-26. $7. Map

Daughters

Public Playhouse presents a standout from the curiously large niche genre of comedies written by men about groups of women with strong family ties and pluck. This one, by John Morgan Evans, is about four generations of Italian-American women in Brooklyn. The CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 922-0532. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 2-4. $17-$20. Map

Dead Funny

For the company’s first show at its new downtown home, director Slayden Scott Yarbrough picked a knockout: a blistering tragicomedy by British playwright Terry Johnson that takes an uncomfortable and very funny look at the sex lives of five sad people united (mostly) by their peculiar obsession with English slapstick comedians like Benny Hill and Sid James. The only one of the bunch who doesn’t care for the silly, sexist dreck that many Brits called comedy is Eleanor (Maureen Porter), who has bigger problems than having to put up with re-enactments from Hancock’s Half Hour. Her husband, Richard (Tim True), purports to be a never-nude (though we do see his junk) and won’t touch her. He’s the president of the Dead Funny Society, the other members of which are equally miserable. Nick (Damon Kupper) hates his job and lusts after his students; his wife, Lisa (Stephanie Gaslin), has show-biz fantasies and believes her headaches are portents of death; and Brian (John Steinkamp) can’t get over the death of his mother. Thrown in a room together to mourn the passing of Benny Hill, they tear one another apart, viciously and hilariously, for two hours. It’s a brutal and bizarre thing to watch, a blend of broad comedy and marital tragedy that feels entirely natural. The ensemble is very, very good (and Steinkamp’s downright extraordinary), Yarbrough’s direction is deft, and the script, though excruciating at times, is a masterwork. Don’t miss this one. World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon St., 235-1101. 7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. Closes Oct. 26. $16-$29. Map

Dos Pueblos

The bilingual lovechild of Mexico City’s La Comedia Humana and Portland’s Hand2Mouth Theatre, this new production consists of five Mexican and five American actors engaging in a series of fluid vignettes about the complicated, sometimes bloody, sometimes festive relationship between the United States and Mexico. While you won’t know half the words if you aren’t fluent in both Spanish and English, that shouldn’t hinder your comprehension—or enjoyment—of the play. A shifting, projected set, frequent musical interludes, high levels of audience participation and kinetic choreography taking advantage of El Centro Milagro’s intimate space allow the play’s meaning to transcend mere words. It manages to be tragic while still making you laugh, and it makes its point without being pretentious. Spanish or English, it’s the humanity that shines through. MATT GRAHAM. El Centro Milagro, 525 SE Stark St., 236-7253. 7:30 pm Thursday, 8 pm Friday-Saturday, Oct. 2-4. $14-$22. Map

Eurydice

This beautifully designed but otherwise very uneven production, directed by Randall Stuart, is Artists Rep’s second swing at the plays of Sarah Ruhl in as many years. While we certainly like this show, a retelling of the Orpheus myth from the perspective of his bride, more than last year’s production of The Clean House (it’s a much better script to start with), some moments fall terribly flat. There’s wonderful chemistry between Eurydice (Jennifer LeBlanc) and her father (David Bodin), but her relationship with Orpheus (Gilberto Martin del Campo) feels artificial. Todd Van Voris is gleefully weird as a creepy man-child, but other moments of childish play come across as dull and choreographed. The costuming and set, inspired in equal part by Little Nemo in Slumberland and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, are inspired, but insertion of canned orchestral music in Rodolfo Ortega’s otherwise excellent sound design is jarring and unpleasant. On a more positive note, Stuart finally gets to play with the water he was denied in his 2006 production of Metamorphoses. BEN WATERHOUSE. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 SW Morrison St., 241-1278. 7:30 pm Wednesday-Saturday, 2 and 7:30 pm Sunday. Closes Oct. 26. $20-$47. Map

Guys and Dolls

[EXTENDED RUN] When Chris Coleman announced that he would set his season-opening production of Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows’ musical masterpiece in the Depression-era New York of the Damon Runyon stories that inspired it, he could not possibly have known how apt that decision would turn out to be. We need light entertainment, and there aren’t many shows out there more entertaining than this one. It’s a pretty solid show, with great chemistry between Nathan Detroit (John Plumpis) and Miss Adelaide (Stacia Fernandez), sweetly silly Hot Box dance bits, and a true show-stopper in “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” sung with euphoric gusto by Todd A. Horman (Nicely-Nicely Johnson). But there's a casting problem with lovesick missionary Sarah Brown (Carey Brown). Brown also played Maria in PCS’s 2006 production of West Side Story, and then, as now, she came across as a pretty girl with a nice voice and no personality. Then, as now, it’s hard to buy a handsome rebel falling for her. BEN WATERHOUSE. Gerding Theater, 128 NW 11th Ave., 445-3700. 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays, noon Thursdays, 2 and 7:30 pm Nov. 2. Closes Nov. 15. $37-$73.50. Map

Hedda Gabler

When Henrik Ibsen published Hedda Gabler in 1890, he intended it as a departure from the declamatory style of acting, a now-defunct method that emphasized long, impassioned speeches and grand hand gestures. The reason? That’s not how people talk. It’s boring. But NWCTC has taken us right back to those windy, pre-realist days with this decidedly clunky staging of Hedda. Generally speaking, the actors emote from the waist up only, fussily, without seeming to consider what they’re saying. When they can’t come up with a convincing emotional response, they compensate by turning up the volume. Exceptions are Melissa Whitney (Mrs. Elvsted) and Allison Anderson (Hedda), although Anderson’s performance falls off sharply after intermission. JOHN MINERVINI. Shoe Box Theater, 2110 SE 10th Ave., 971-244-3740. 7 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. Closes Oct. 12. $15-$18. Map

La Traviata

Violetta Valery (Maria Kanyova) is the original noble hooker. First, she abandons a lucrative gig with Baron Douphol (Jose Rubio) for a modest life in the arms of her true love, Alfredo Germont (Richard Troxell). But when Alfredo’s father (Richard Zeller) informs Violetta that his son’s match with her is preventing his daughter’s marriage, she gives up Alfredo, too. Kanyova stands out in this conservative but competent production of Verdi’s most famous work. Her physicality is authentic, she hits her high F, and her Act II duet with Met veteran Zeller is an exercise in highly structured heartbreak. The rest of the cast is just fine, too, with the exception of Richard Troxell. Both in terms of his acting (wooden) and his musicality (underwhelming), he isn’t ready for the robust contradictions inherent in his part. In any case, the sets and costumes are nice. Although Portland Opera got them secondhand, Bruno Schwengl’s Mannerist designs—especially a red-on-red-on-red motif in Act I—form a striking backdrop for this tale of self-sacrifice in the midst of Parisian decadence. JOHN MINERVINI. Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm Thursday and Saturday, Oct. 2 and 4. $39-$162. Map

Mama's Got a Brand New Bag

The Hot Flashes return from a two-year hiatus with a new revue involving magical purses. Portland Metro Performing Arts, 9933 SE Pine St., 8 pm Friday-Saturday. Closes Oct. 25. $10-$22. Map

Pop! 30 Plays in 60 Minutes

[IMPROV] Exactly what you'd think it would be. You get to choose the order. Curious Comedy, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., curiouscomedy.org. 7:30 pm Sundays. Closes Nov. 9. $10-$12. Map

Prelude to a Kiss

What would you do if the gender of your beloved suddenly and inexplicably changed? Although perhaps useful as a thought experiment, this question is less so as a stage play. A kiss from a creepy old man causes newlywed Rita to switch bodies with him. Now, Rita’s stuck in the body of a male octogenarian, and she and her husband, Peter, must either figure out how to switch things back or learn to love each other as is. Craig Lucas’ script—already brimming with awkwardness—is made more cringe-worthy by the alternately floppy and twitchy acting style of its male lead, Joshua Rengert. Performances by Jenny Finke (Rita) and George Fosgate (Old Man) were better. The short scoop? It’s like Freaky Friday, but with man-on-man kissing. JOHN MINERVINI. Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, 5340 N Interstate Ave., boxofficetickets.com/keypdx. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday, Oct. 2-4. $15-$20. Map

Prometheus the Musical

Michael Allen Harrison’s misbegotten new musical—which might better be titled Improvisations on a Theme from Weber in the Key of Greek—is an unintentionally hilarious take on the sort of soft-rock disco opera we all hoped had gone the way of the dodo by 1995. From the opening scene of Kirk Mouser wearing the city’s worst wig and singing, “Look at me, I am Prometheus,” and David Bates’ terrible rhyming dialogue to the bizarre, ill-fitting costumes and Mao-suited Brian Bartley doing his best impersonation of George Oscar Bluth with his henchmen, Boobs and Scissorvest, the whole nonsensical mess might just be bad enough for Broadway. For a Portland production, though, it could have been a lot worse. Everyone can sing, most of them very, very well: Julianne Johnson-Weiss gets a pair of knock-’em-dead numbers, the disconcertingly blond chorus of children is adorable, and Erin Charles, for my money the most beguiling musical actress in Portland at the moment, sings with exceptional beauty. She deserves better material. They all do. BEN WATERHOUSE. Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S State St., Lake Oswego., 635-3901. 8 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 7 pm Sundays. 2 pm Oct. 19. Closes Oct. 19. $26-$28. Map

Razzle Dazzle Die!

[DINNER THEATER] Interactive murder-mystery musical dinner theater. Food by Timothy Fuhrman, murder by Eddie May. Pine Street Bistro, 221 SW Pine St., 524-4366. 7:30-9:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays. $69 per person. Map

Sam Adams! Sam Adams! Mayor Ex Machina

[IMPROV] An ad-hoc musical about the mayor-elect, created from audience suggestions. Curious Comedy, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., curiouscomedy.org. 9:30 pm Saturdays. Closes Nov. 29. $10-$12. Map

Viral Damnation

A postapocalyptic haunted house overrun with mutants, beasts and cannibals. Someone gets chainsawed. Someone else gets suspended. Leave the kids at home, and bask in the gore. Gresham Little Theater, 30639 SE Bluff Road., 267-2750. 6 pm-midnight Friday, Oct. 31. $8. 18+. Map

Vladimir Vladimir

Dramedy is the new vernacular for a drama that is also a comedy, but what do you call a comedy that wants to be a drama? A "comma"? Imago’s Vladimir Vladimir is just such a comma. It would be fine if the slapstick comedy worked, but it doesn’t. When Jerry Mouawad’s story of a hard-luck magician looking for fame transforms halfway through into a Twilight Zone nightmare of mirror universes, the true tragedy of the play becomes apparent: It would’ve made a good tragedy. But like the surface of a mirror, or a comma mistakenly used to end a sentence, when you break through to the other side expecting to see something, you find there’s nothing there. Period. MATT GRAHAM. Imago Theatre, 17 SE 8th Ave., 224-8499. 7:30 pm Thursday, 8 pm Friday-Saturday. Closes Oct. 25. $16-$24. Map

Waiting for Godot

All you theater geeks already know about Samuel Beckett and his signature play, Waiting for Godot, probably the most famous avant-garde work of the 20th century. If you’re a fan, the question then becomes: Is Clackamas Repertory Theatre’s production good enough to merit hitching a ride out to Oregon City? Certainly. Director David Smith-English’s actors—particularly his leads, Ernie Casciato and Jayson Shanafelt—had the good sense to realize Godot was intended to be a comedy. Moving like an overweight Charlie Chaplin and slightly balding Buster Keaton beneath Christopher Whitten’s stark lighting and desiccated, arboreal stage, they manage to squeeze the script for every last drop of Beckett’s highbrow vaudeville goodness. Clackamas Community College, 19600 Molalla Ave., Oregon City., 657-6958 x5351. 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 pm Sundays. Closes Oct. 12. $11.50-$21.50. Map

Who Is Jack Awesome?

[COMEDY] Collaboratively written sketches from JR Wickman and company. Blue Monk, 3341 SE Belmont St., 595-0575. 8 pm Friday-Saturday, Oct. 3-4. $7. Map

Who Stole My Dead Husband?

Lou Pallotta’s Italo-sploitation family dinner theater, starring Jim Caputo. Madison's East Wing, 1125 SE Madison St., 800-966-8865. 7:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Open-ended run. $64-$69, dinner included. All ages. Map

Will Work for Change

[SKETCH COMEDY] Scripted comedy from new Portland company Curious Comedy. Curious Comedy, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., curiouscomedy.org. 7:30 pm Fridays-Saturdays. Closes Nov. 22. $10-$12. Map

Wish  

Defunkt Theatre starts the season off with a new play by co-artistic director James Moore. His last effort, In Apparati, was a smashing success, but this one, about four people who find themselves caught up in a senseless murder, feels unfinished. The first hour is well-scripted ennui, but the final, 30-minute dream sequence is just unearned, free-association weirdness. By the time the singing hamster showed up, Moore had lost me. Solid acting (Zero Feeney is particularly good) and direction go a long way toward making the last act easy to swallow, though. If hamsters are your bag, this is for you. The Back Door Theater, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 481-2960. 8 pm Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 16-18. $10-$15. Map

Working Title

[IMPROV] The audience titles the evening's performance, and casts performers in clichéd roles. Then the performers have to make it work. Hilarity ensues. The Brody Theater Studio, 3314 SW 1st Ave., door on Southwest Gibbs Street., 224-0688. 8 pm Saturday, Oct. 4. $7-$10. Map

CLASSICAL

Astoria Chamber Players

The new ensemble, abetted by Portland guest musicians, debuts with a mainstream Baroque program: a cello concerto by Vivaldi, trumpet concerto by Telemann, and vocal works by Rameau and Handel. BRETT CAMPBELL. Cannon Beach Community Presbyterian Church, 132 E Washington St., Cannon Beach., 325-2431. 7:30 pm Saturday, Oct. 4. $5-$10. Map

Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile

Speaking of living American composers, Chamber Music Northwest brings a pair who started out in pop music and are working their way toward postclassical compositions. Meyer could have been content with being the greatest bassist alive, raking in the bucks from Nashville session work and superstar gigs with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma. Mandolinist Thile could have milked Nickel Creek’s young bluegrass success for years. But both have admirably leveraged their pop success to support much more ambitious creative work, Meyer in chamber and orchestral music and Thile in his recent Punch Brothers album that includes a 40-minute song cycle, "The Blind Leaving the Blind.” Irritatingly, these superstar shows (see Mark O’Connor’s last gig) often refuse to tell listeners in advance what they might hear—could be anything from Bach to bluegrass to originals—but it’s sure to be virtuosic. BRETT CAMPBELL. Kaul Auditorium at Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., 294-6400. 7:30 pm Sunday, Oct. 5. $10-$43. Map

Oregon Symphony

[SOLD OUT] Formula No. 1 for rescuing a debt-ridden orchestra: a + b  = c, where (a) = flamboyant, well-known soloist, (b) = overplayed, bombastic Romantic warhorse and (c) = short-term dramatic boost in ticket sales. Critics are split on young Chinese piano superstar Lang Lang’s taste-to-virtuosity ratio, but there’s no question that this year’s hot young classical soloist electrifies a hall and sells tickets. Fans of big, sentimental Romantic showcases will be salivating over his performance of Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto like Blazers fans awaiting Greg Oden’s first pro slam. By including John Adams’ dazzlingly propulsive Chairman Dances (a sort of outtake from his late-20th-century classic opera Nixon in China, which hit the Keller a few years ago), the symphony cleverly shows hidebound classical music aficionados that living American composers, too, can write brilliant, tuneful, popular music with integrity. Another great American composer-conductor, Leonard Bernstein used to do it all the time, and the gripping Symphonic Dances from his immortal West Side Story will seal the deal. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway., 228-1353. 7:30 pm Friday, Oct. 3. $35-$150. Map

Taarka

Since 2001, the erstwhile Portlanders, now based in Colorado, have purveyed “seismic Gypsy hypno jazz”—an appealing admixture of David Grisman- and Bela Fleck-style newgrass, Grappelli/Reinhardt gypsy swing, and prominent percussion that won them appearances at jam band, folk, bluegrass, classical and world music festivals. Led by mandolinist-guitarist David Tiller and violinist Enion Pelta-Tiller, the quartet has emerged from a series of lineup changes with new bassist Troy Robey and new cellist Daniel Plane, who broaden their palette even further—a more orchestrated sound, a more straightforward approach, and more vocals. BRETT CAMPBELL. Alberta Street Public House, 1036 NE Alberta St., 284-7665. 8 pm Sunday, Oct. 5. $10. Map

DANCE

Artists for a Cure: Conquering MS Together

“Belly up to the bar” takes on a new meaning as local dancers including Natasha, Al-Arwah, Raks Awalim, Sedona and Zaina Hart demonstrate the many styles of belly dance—Egyptian to Turkish, tribal to lyrical—at a fundraiser for Michael Swift and the Eric Drew Foundation. Swift is combating multiple sclerosis; his wife, Rebekah, is a belly-dance instructor, in case you were wondering about the connection. The Sugar Q Burlesque Club provides additional bellies for this evening-length event. Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th Ave., 248-1030. 8 pm Tuesday, Oct. 7. $7. Map

Inbal Pinto Dance Company

Israel’s theatrical Inbal Pinto Dance Company, which made its Portland debut in 2006 with Oyster, returns with Shaker, a kind of winter wonderland set inside an oversized snow globe. Here, 12 dancing figures glide, jerk, stomp and soar to Swedish folk music and Arvo Pärt, enacting contemporary dance dramas that range from the sublime to the absurd. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway., 790-2787. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Oct. 7. $20-$50. Map

KAL

Yoga for Stiffs is one class option at Euphoria Studios, but the place really specializes in movement from the Roma (Gypsy) tradition, including belly dance. That makes it a good place to host KAL, a Romani band that’ll be playing its own show of rollicking Balkan Gypsy music tonight before it opens for Gogol Bordello on Wednesday. So, why aren’t you reading about this in club listings? Because the Voice of Roma’s Sani Rifati will teach some Gypsy line dances between sets, that’s why. Euphoria Studios, 1235 SE Division St., 230-7784. 8 pm Saturday, Oct. 4. $10. Map