Dr. Josh Kun—professor, editor, cultural scholar, nonprofit co-founder, exhibition curator and Latin music TV and radio host—knows his way around popular music from many cultures and its international influence.
Portland is known for being a hotbed of comic book creators. With a thriving community of local artists, the presence of a major publishing company (Milwaukee’s Dark Horse, founded by Portland State alumnus Mike Richardson) and an ever-increasing number of comic artists choosing to make Portland their home, it’s no surprise that Portland State offers courses focusing on the medium.
Artists Repertory Theatre is staging an engaging revival of one of Noël Coward’s more infamous works.
Here’s a recipe for a crowd-pleasing holiday play: Take a working mother of three, her almost-chauvinist husband, two flaming neighbors, an uptight sister-in-law, the ghost of her dead hippie mother and two adorable street kids. Combine on a stage for three hours. Mix in historical tidbits about the pagan traditions that were co-opted for Halloween and Christmas, courtesy of a smart-aleck teenage girl and season with a sprinkling of humor taken straight from National Public Radio (co-playwright Marc Acito is a commentator on “All Things Considered”).
Lakewood Theatre Company’s yuletide offering, The Man Who Came to Dinner, is an enjoyable family production. A period piece, the play is set in the early 1940s and tells the story of a celebrity author and radio personality who is stranded at the home of a wealthy couple during the holidays.
Portland’s sandwich offerings are a microcosm of the abundance of options that diners face. You can find sandwiches at food carts throughout town, as well as at upscale restaurants. Within these choices, there are sandwiches from nearly every corner of the globe. Here are a few places to get your fix:
Henry IV Part II is the infrequently performed second half of Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays. Sometimes the two plays are condensed into a single production, as in the case of Orson Welles’ film Chimes at Midnight.
Joseph Heller’s We Bombed in New Haven is a suitably absurd counterpart to his landmark 1961 novel Catch-22. Like Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, We Bombed in New Haven, and its more famous predecessor, evoke a particular blend of nihilism and humanist compassion as a response to armed conflict.
At first glance, HATS! A New Musical For the Rest of Your Life might not seem like it has much to offer college students. The show deals with a woman on the eve of her 50th birthday who is having self-professed “issues” about her age.
Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love is a battle between lovers in a dingy motel room somewhere in the American West. Eddie (Chris Harder) and May (Val Landrum) compress a years-long argument into the span of 70 minutes.
Local performance group Atomic Arts made a name for itself with the surprise summer hit of 2009, Trek in the Park. A musical adaptation of the classic Star Trek episode, “Amok Time,” Trek in the Park drew crowds to city parks and the Bagdad Theatre.