Performance Between writer’s block and a brain tumor, Richard Collier’s head is in bad shape. He has fled to a hotel in Michigan, where he stumbles on a portrait of a breathtaking starlet from some 60 y   More

Performance Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park—the first work to win the triple crown of the Pulitzer, Tony and Britain’s Olivier—is one of the most produced plays among regional companies. I haven’t se   More

Performance Fifty Shades of Grey reduced sadomasochism to handcuffs and spanking. Venus in Fur—while not devoid of dog collars and riding crops—throws into question such simple ideas of control and compli   More

Performance Opera music booms and steam spills out from beneath the giant onstage refrigerator as I Love to Eat begins. As the song builds and steam obscures the floor, James Beard (Rob Nagle) strides out of    More

SCOOP LUCEY DEUCEY: Big news for the space that formerly housed the massive high-end restaurant Lucier, which took a spectacular belly flop on the South Waterfront in 2008. Until recently, it was so well-   More

Performance At the beginning of Dan O’Brien’s play, two actors introduce themselves as Paul Watson. One then speaks as Terry Gross, the familiar voice of NPR’s Fresh Air. Soon after, the other also ad   More

Performance House lights still on, a rags-clad crowd shuffles about the stage, looking forlorn and doing little. Suddenly, two actors dressed as riot police storm the stage and haul off one of the men, exit   More

Performance The history of the blues is complex, meandering its way from rhythmic African chants to Southern spirituals to Chicago pop hits. In Portland Center Stage’s final production of the season, howeve   More

Performance Tolstoy’s masterpiece Anna Karenina is a uniquely difficult novel to adapt into a play. It is a long and somewhat baggy affair that constantly swings between two contrasting main plots stitche   More

Performance It just wouldn’t be Shakespeare without a little sexual subterfuge. Though it’s one of his lesser-known tales, Cymbeline employs many of the playwright’s favorite plot devices—mistaken ide   More