After weeks with full houses, standing ovations, and uncountable tons of laughter, The Understudy MUST close this Sunday!

Reviews are saying:

"I haven't laughed so hard at a show since I was watching a stand-up comic perform."
Meg Currell, EDGE Media. (Read full review here.)

"It’s a strong start to the season for a theater clicking with the rhythm of a watch and continuing to provide interesting material year after year." Joe Jatcko, ThruMag. (Read full review here.)

"…the signature Kafka themes of alienation, psychological brutality and the labyrinths of bureaucracy are nothing next to the problems a stage manager and two actors have in managing their lives. The smart, streamlined production at Artists Repertory Theatre directed by Michael Mendelson blends raucous humor with grim yet poignant insights of the Broadway theater world behind the scenes." Holly Johnson, The Oregonian. (Read full review here.)

"It feels less like watching a play and more like eavesdropping on a mash-up of backstage goings-on and a late-night literary debate in a dark cafe. It's also very funny (weird, right? Kafka and funny aren't words that frequently co-occur). So whether you like to throw down theatre jargon, consider yourself a Kafka-phile, or just like to laugh, I recommend you check it out." Krista Garver, Broadway World. (Read full review here.)

The show must go on, as two squabbling actors and their overworked stage manager slog their way through the oddest understudy rehearsal Broadway has ever seen. With drama, disaster and even dancing, The Understudy is an absurd backstage comedy that will have you bursting with laughter from start to finish!

You have SEVEN more opportunities to see this backstage comedy hit before it closes! Purchase your tickets here, and quickly! Performances are selling out fast!

Brace yourself! For the third show of our season, Resident Artist Vana O'Brien will be taking the stage for a one-woman, tour-de-force performance in Broomstick, by John Biguenet!

A woman with incredible knowledge and power leaves her community after a serious of mysterious, deadly coincidences. Now wrinkled and withered, she lives alone in the Appalachian wilderness. Her only companions are runaway children, fleeing homes where they are neglected or abused and finding unexpected comfort in her tiny cabin. But they all leave in the end and she is left alone by her fire. Only one ever returns– a sad boy whose parents never seemed to want him, now a grown man. Finally, the lonely witch has someone to talk to. As the cauldron bubbles and the winds blow, she pieces together her own troubled past in order to understand the role she plays in her community and in fairy tales.

We had our first read yesterday, with the cast, crew, design team, staff and our incredible Guild all present! Director Gemma Whelan calls this brilliant new play "a fairy tale for grown-ups," destroying every stereotype you had about witches of folklore. 

Broomstick by John Biguenet opens on Halloween night this year. Get your tickets now!

In August, Artists Rep launched an ambitious new play development program, Table|Room|Stage (T|R|S), led by Luan Schooler, Director of New Play Development & Dramaturgy. T|R|S was established by a $125,000 Oregon Community Foundation "Creative Heights Initiative" grant to create a robust new play development program that will offer development opportunities for local and national playwrights, ensure that underrepresented voices are heard on stage and establish Artists Rep and Portland as an engine for new play development.

The two-year pilot program will commission eight new plays: four of the eight commissions will go to writers of color, four will go to women and one play will be written for young adults. One will be a special commission, the Oregon Play Prize, awarded to an Oregon writer. Another remarkable goal of T|R|S is to provide the public with unique and widespread access to the process of new work development. With blogs and an online video series, we're bringing in audiences from the very beginning. Now, you have the opportunity to watch a play go from commission to development to opening night, as well as learning from writers and artistic teams about their development processes.

We are incredibly excited to announce our first commission, awarded to Yussef El Guindi for his play, The Talented Ones!

The Talented Ones looks at the thwarted dreams of immigrants eager to make it in their adopted country. As converts to the American Dream, how much more challenging and lethal do the notions of success and failure become? Omar is falling down in his attempts to make a success of his life. His wife Cindy, a fellow immigrant, appears to be doing much better, and is becoming increasingly frustrated by Omar’s struggles. His American best friend, Patrick, may be Cindy’s way out. Mixing realism with memory and dance, The Talented Ones dissects with increasing ferocity this couple’s marriage and aspirations. It will be work-shopped at Artists Rep during the 2015/16 season.

Yussef El Guindi’s most recent productions include Threesome at Portland Center Stage, ACT and 59E59 (winner of a Portland Drammy for Best Original Script); The Ramayana (co-adaptor with Stephanie Timm) at ACT; Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World (winner of the Steinberg/ American Theater Critics Association’s New Play Award in 2012; Gregory Award 2011; Seattle Times’ “Footlight Award” for Best World Premiere Play, 2011) also at ACT, and at Center Repertory Company (Walnut Creek, CA) 2013; and Language Rooms (Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, as well as ACT’s New Play Award), co-produced by Golden Thread Productions and the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco; at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat was produced by Silk Road Theater Project and won the M. Elizabeth Osborn award. Yussef is the recipient of the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award. He holds an MFA from Carnegie-Mellon University and was playwright-in-residence at Duke University.

Just as Halloween creeps into the calendar, Resident Company Portland Shakespeare Project presents Jeffrey Hatcher’s spine-tingling adaptation of the Henry James novella, The Turn of the Screw. From October 1 to October 18, on the Morrison Stage at Artists Repertory Theatre, this tense, supernatural story will keep audiences on the edge of their seats. Resident Artist JoAnn Johnson directs fellow Resident Artist Chris Harder as "The Man" and Dana Millican as "The Woman" as they bring a full cast of characters to life in this haunting two-person play. (Pictured right: Chris Harder and Dana Millican.)

Part ghost story, part psychological thriller, Henry James’ classic tale tells of a young governess and her two orphaned charges in a remote English country estate. Are the eerie apparitions she encounters conjured up from a vivid imagination – or a chilling reality? Originally published in 1898, The Turn of the Screw is one of literature's most famous horror stories and has inspired adaptations for the stage, opera, and television. The New York Times said of Jeffrey Hatcher’s play, “A dazzling act of the imagination. Mr. Hatcher has pushed James’ clever turn to its furthest degree.”

“Hatcher’s done a brilliant job of transforming The Turn of the Screw into a theatrical form.” said director JoAnn Johnson. “It really captures the essence of the novella.  Audiences can expect wonderful writing, a very compelling, captivating story of suspense, some surprising humor and brilliant acting from Chris and Dana.”

Two weeks only! October 1 – 18
Opening Night: October 2
Weds – Sat at 7pm; Sun at 2pm
Purchase tickets here!

The 2015/16 Artists Repertory Theatre season is presented by Ronni Lacroute/WillaKenzie Estate. Our season media sponsors are The Oregonian and KINK. Cuba Libre is sponsored by The Standard and Oakwood Worldwide, with funding from The Kinsman Foundation, media sponsorship from Portland Monthly Magazine and Unavision, and media partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting. Other season support comes from the Regional Arts Culture Council, Oregon Community Foundation, Collins Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation and Work for Art.