-
2 weeks ago | 
orartswatch.org | Oregon ArtsWatch |Matthew Neil Andrews
Today is the First of May, so we’re going to talk about Mayday–the holiday as well as the distress call. Don’t worry–we’ll get to the music. Distress call first. Sources indicate that the expression comes from French: “m’aider,” meaning “help me” (proper French would be “aidez moi s’il vous plaît” but you don’t exactly have time for that when your plane is going down).
-
1 month ago | 
orartswatch.org | Linda Ferguson |Oregon ArtsWatch
Who knew sadness could be so spirit-lifting? One of the most blissful things about Blinking Eye Theatre’s buoyantly absurd production of Melancholy Play is that the performers seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as the audience did.
-
1 month ago | 
orartswatch.org | Brett Campbell |Oregon ArtsWatch
Despite the considerable populations of Beaverton, Hillsboro and other Washington County towns, it’s been rare to find plays written by Oregonians staged west of the Tualatin Mountains. That’s changing, thanks in part to the rebooted Fertile Ground Festival of New Works’ recent emphasis on neighborhood hubs.
-
1 month ago | 
orartswatch.org | Lori Tobias |Oregon ArtsWatch
In 2020, choreographer and performer Andrea Parson learned her 31-year-old sister, Christina, had been diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer. COVID had just begun upending life as we knew it, but for Parson, it turned out to be something of a blessing. The NW Dance Project she had been with for 12 years closed, giving the lifelong dancer “six amazing, beautiful months” with her younger sister.
-
1 month ago | 
orartswatch.org | Jim Flint |Oregon ArtsWatch
The Ashland Independent Film Festival is set to honor one of Ashland’s most beloved artists with the Oregon premiere of I Know Catherine, The Log Lady, a deeply personal documentary celebrating the life and legacy of Catherine E. Coulson. The film will screen four times at the festival, which runs April 24-27. It will debut at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 24, and an audience Q&A will follow, led by director-producer Richard Green. Additional showings are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 25; 10:20 .m.
-
1 month ago | 
orartswatch.org | Jim Flint |Oregon ArtsWatch
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, suffering the loss of a second distinguished alumnus in the span of little more than a week, flew its flag at half-mast in honor of the two men. James Edmondson, an actor, director, and educator with more than 38 seasons at OSF, was born in Montrose, Colorado, on June 29, 1938, and died at home in Ashland on April 2, 2025, only eight days after the death of Tony-nominated and fellow OSF veteran Denis Arndt.
-
1 month ago | 
orartswatch.org | Angela Allen |Oregon ArtsWatch
EUGENE, Ore. – Paul Jacobs is a very serious musician. Who else would memorize all of J.S. Bach’s organ works and play them non-stop for 18 hours, sustaining himself with water, a measly cup of pudding, and his adoration of Bach? He staged that feat 24 years ago in 2000 when he commemorated the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death, and he made history. Jacobs, now 48, is the only organist to have won a Grammy Award.
-
1 month ago | 
orartswatch.org | Amy Leona Havin |Oregon ArtsWatch
Oregon Ballet Theatre’s contemporary world premiere Marilyn, created and choreographed by Artistic Director Dani Rowe, promises an untold look at the life of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe through the lens of the actress. A co-production with BalletMet and Tulsa Ballet, it opened April 4 at downtown Portland’s Newmark Theater, continues through April 13, and features an original music score by OBT composer and former San Francisco Ballet dancer Shannon Rugani.
-
1 month ago | 
orartswatch.org | Brett Campbell |Oregon ArtsWatch
Like so many other remote-working coffee shop laptop jockeys, Amanda Clark had been frequenting her favorite coffee shop, Beaverton’s Ki Coffee, for years. One day a few years ago, she remembers, “I looked at their back room with fresh eyes and wondered — what if we transformed that back room into a performance space?” She proposed the idea to the owner, a serious local arts supporter. “Hell yes!!” came the instant reply.
-
1 month ago | 
orartswatch.org | Amy Leona Havin |Oregon ArtsWatch
“There’s bad news, there’s good news, and there’s bad news about the good news,” author, essayist, and educator William Deresiewicz told me over coffee on Portland’s Northeast Alberta Street. Deresiewicz is a winner of the Dallas Institute’s Hiett Prize in the Humanities and author of more than 300 essays and books, including Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, The End of Solitude, and a forthcoming memoir about his Jewish identity.
