Portland Center Stage

Programs: Portland center stage (pcs) produced 417 performances of twelve plays in its 2016-17 season, offering its regional constituency a broad range of theatrical experiences from diverse perspectives. The year's productions, which drew an audience of nearly 130,000, included: alan menken and howard ashman's "little shop of horrors; jeanne sakata's "hold these truths; bekah brunstetter's "the oregon trail; hershey felder's "hershey felder as irving berlin; david sedaris's "the santaland diaries; chris coleman's "astoria: part one" (world premiere); larry parr's "his eye is on the sparrow," lauren weedman's "lauren weedman doesn't live here anymore" (world premiere); blitzen trapper's "wild & reckless" (world premiere); stephen massicotte's "mary's wedding; nick payne's "constellations; and mona golabek's "the pianist of willesden lane.

portland center stage is deeply invested in nurturing and producing new works that enrich the contemporary theater repertoire. To date, 65 plays commissioned or developed by pcs have gone on to be produced at 154 professional theaters throughout the united states, canada, and the united kingdom. Foremost among pcs's new play development programs is the annual jaw (just add water): a playwrights festival. Established in 1999, the festival has gained international recognition as a creative wellspring. Each year a handful of professional playwrights are selected from some 200 script submissions nationwide and are invited to workshop their plays at pcs during the last two weeks of july. The jaw festival culminates in a variety of free public performances, with the centerpiece being staged public readings of the new plays in development. Jaw 2017's selected playwrights were kate attwell, brian daniel oglesby, mfoniso udofia, and stefanie zadravec. Pcs also developed three new plays commissioned as part of the theater's "northwest stories" initiative: chris coleman's "astoria: part two," which is scheduled to premiere in january 2018; mary kathryn nagle's "mnisose; and an as yet untitled project by lauren yee.

nearly 8,000 young people in oregon and southwest washington participated in pcs's youth education programs during the year. These included: a) visions & voices, a free residency program in which professional writer/directors teach playwriting and theater fundamentals courses to teens at area high schools and non-profit afterschool programs; b) promising playwrights, where six visions & voices students have the opportunity to participate as commissioned writers in the jaw playwrights festival, creating new works that are performed at the festival; c) stage door, which provides students and teachers with subsidized or free tickets to pcs performances, along with free workshops, resource guides, backstage tours, and transportation/ substitute teacher assistance; d) teen council, created by and for teens interested in advancing their involvement with theater; e) teen intensives, which are two-week, pre-professional summer camps; and f) job shadowing, internships, and volunteer career development opportunities in a range of theater departments. Throughout the year, pcs also offered a variety of classes and workshops on acting, playwriting, stagecraft, etc. For adults of all experience levels. Additional opportunities for playgoers and other community members to learn more about the theater included pre-show prologues, post-show q&as with actors, tours of the armory, and "shop talks," which feature pcs's backstage wizards.

pcs partners with more than 100 cultural organizations, social service agencies, community groups, artists, and others each year to offer a wide variety of community engagement programs most of them free aimed at deepening our understanding of one other, celebrating differences meaningfully, and inspiring conversation and connection. Programs range from music concerts, visual arts exhibits, and film screenings to panel discussions on topical issues, improv shows, and town forums. The ywca of greater portland, oregon nikkei legacy center, the oregon jewish museum, the giving tree, zoomuganda, and the portland indie game squad are just a few of this past season's partners. Pcs also provided a performance home in the armory for portland poetry slam, theater diaspora, backstage pdx, and the stumptown speakers series. More than 25,000 people participated in a pcs community program or attended another non-play event in the armory during 2016-17.