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Dear Friend,
Can you believe it’s almost September? We’ve already started performances of tick, tick … BOOM! If you’re planning on seeing it, please let me know, I’d love to say hello. It closes September 18, so get your tickets now!
I hope you all have had a wonderful summer! Earlier this month, my family and I were in Manzanita for a week, one of our favorite places! There’s something so magical about the Oregon Coast. Don’t get me wrong, tropical beaches definitely have their upsides, but there’s something about laying on the sand with a cool breeze, looking at the mountains, that, for me, has those other beaches beat!
We’ve got an amazing 2022-2023 season lined up for you, including our holiday fundraiser, It’s a Wonderful Night: A Holiday Soiree!, on Friday, December 16, with more details below.
We are truly grateful for your support – thank you! Please reach out if you’d like to chat and learn more about all of the incredible programming happening this fall at PCS.
I feel filled with anticipation and joy as we launch the 2022-2023 season at PCS! Thank you for your continued support; it has a significant impact on our ability to serve this community with transformative theater.
Coming right off the heels of our critically acclaimed production of Rent last season, Jonathan Larson’s other musical, tick, tick … BOOM!, feels like a genuine love letter to theater, and to all of us who feel filled up by the exhilarating experience of breathing, laughing, and clapping together at PCS. I feel so lucky to be in the room as a director on this project!
The scaffolding and projection surfaces of Rent have been stripped away and the rest of the stage is revealed in all of its open, beautiful concrete and lighting boom glory. There's something about the breathtaking openness on stage that’s deeply inviting, as we seek to continually build PCS as a space of belonging for all people.
It’s going to be a gorgeous fall with one of my favorite new plays by Christina Anderson, the ripple, the wave that carried me home, and the hilarious solo show, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord.
I look forward to seeing you at the theater!
Best,
Marissa
September Happy Hour with Marissa Wolf, Liam Kaas-Lentz, and Board Chair Stacey Caldwell-Roberts
We’re happy to announce that Portland Center Stage is one of the 138 arts, heritage, and humanities organizations across the state to receive a FY2023 grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust. The OCT grant – $36,237 – was awarded in support of PCS’s JAW New Play Festival to take place at The Armory next July. The festival will include development workshops of curated new scripts, free play readings, and more free public events spotlighting musicians, dancers, visual artists, and other members of Oregon’s creative community.
Created in 2001 by the Oregon Legislature, the Oregon Cultural Trust was established as an ongoing funding engine for arts, heritage and humanities across the state. Funding comes through the Cultural Tax Credit, which empowers Oregonians to direct more of the taxes they pay to supporting cultural opportunities for all. Oregon is the only state in the country that gives its citizens this choice. Sixty percent of the money goes directly to cultural organizations and agencies in the form of grants. The remaining 40 percent helps grow a permanent fund for culture.
Niki Price, chair of the Cultural Trust board, said of the recent OCT grants that, “Through the pandemic and unstable economic times, Oregonians remain committed to preserving and strengthening organizations that bring such beauty and meaning to our lives.”
We’re very grateful for the Oregon Cultural Trust’s support and for the many Oregonians who have made this funding possible. To learn more about how the Cultural Trust tax credit works, just visit the OCT website.
PCS donors are vital to our success and we are grateful for each and every one of you. Please join us in welcoming our newest donors!
We appreciate you, mystery donors!
Throughout the season we receive anonymous gifts from supporters through Amazon Smile, Facebook, and Kroger Rewards. Thanks to those of you who participate in these programs!
If you'd like to learn more, visit our ways to give page.
We’re platinum in more ways than one!
The Armory, PCS’s home, was the first building on the National Register of Historic Places to achieve a LEED Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. We’re excited to share that Portland Center Stage has also earned a 2022 Platinum Seal of Transparency with Candid! Candid, which merged with GuideStar and Foundation Center in 2019, connects nonprofits, foundations, and individuals to the resources they need to do good through research, collaboration, and training. You can view our Nonprofit Profile at Portland Center Stage at The Armory - GuideStar Profile.
Our Community Values
Theater often brings productive discomfort to the surface. Portland Center Stage is committed to grappling with that discomfort, on and off the stage, and we invite members of our community to participate in that growth process with us. Our goal is to co-create safety for our community by identifying and interrupting instances of racism and all forms of oppression, when we witness them, through specific actions rooted in the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA). Learn more.
Photos: Cindy Im gets help putting on her wig from Jamie Hammon during Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley; Photo by Kate Szrom.
Marissa Wolf photo by Gary Norman.
Charles Grant, Andrea Vernae & Orion Bradshaw in Redwood, photo by Russell J. Young.
Graphic design by Mikey Mann.