Portland, Oregon, may be best known for its craft beers, locally sourced produce, and as the home of sketch comedy series “Portlandia,” but it’s also home to a vibrant theater community that ranges from small ensembles to multiple LORT houses. “We’re the largest LORT theater here,” says Portland Center Stage artistic director Chris Coleman. “We’re three times larger than the next LORT company, Artists Rep. And I think we’re the second-largest nonmusical theater in the northwest.”
The company was founded in 1988. Since 2006, it has performed in the historic Portland Armory, constructed in 1891 as a home for the Oregon National Guard. The theater has maintained a focus on history and local culture; a given season usually contains a mix of classics, musicals, and contemporary work—with a focus on stories about the Pacific Northwest. “Some of the most successful productions over the years were shows that had a particular connection to this region,” explains Coleman, “And our audience ended up skewing younger.”
With that in mind, the 11-show 2016–17 season has not one, but four works about the region. Last year, PCS received a two-year, $770,000 grant from the Wallace Foundation to launch a new initiative called Northwest Stories. As part of that program, PCS has commissioned four artists to create regionally specific work. The goal is to attract audience members ages 25 to 40.
The first works in the Northwest Stories series are premiering this season: “Astoria” by Coleman, based on the book by Peter Stark (Jan. 14–Feb. 12, 2017), and “Wild and Reckless,” a musical by local folk rockers Blitzen Trapper (March 16–April 30, 2017). Those world premieres are coupled with two contemporary plays: “The Oregon Trail” by Bekah Brunstetter, based on the classic computer game, and “Hold These Truths” by Jeanne Sakata, about the internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans. Both plays enjoyed successful runs at PCS this fall. “If you came to see ‘Oregon Trail’ in the later weekends of the run, it definitely skewed younger than our typical audience,” says Coleman. “I had never heard of [the game] and when I started talking about it to everybody who was a little bit younger than me, it was a big deal. It’s cool!”
READ: “The Surprising Success of Portland Film and TV”
PCS isn’t just interested in local plays, though; it also invests in local actors. The NBC TV show “Grimm” films in Portland, and its actors have appeared in PCS productions. This season, Coleman has programmed Nick Payne’s two-hander “Constellations” starring “Grimm” actor Silas Weir Mitchell (May 13–June 18, 2017). In addition, “through the course of a season, about 50 percent of our casts are from Portland,” says Coleman. First, PCS usually holds open auditions in Portland, followed by auditions in Seattle. Sometimes it also holds auditions in New York, and will cast actors from tape and Skype auditions.
And for performers who think appointments are more effective than open calls, think again, says Coleman. “Some people say, ‘Oh, [open calls are] a waste of time.’ It’s totally not a waste of time. Because I don’t cast people’s résumés, I cast what comes into the room. When I did ‘Sweeney Todd,’ when I did ‘Dreamgirls,’ I found some of the principals from open calls.”
Want to work at a Tony-winning regional theater? Check out our theater audition listings!