Opening This Week

PRIVATE EYES € Portland Actors Conservatory


One Week Only

GODDESS OF THE CASCADES € Barefoot Theatre Company


Closing This Week

ALL IN THE TIMING € PSU Theater Dept, at Lincoln Hall, Portland State University

THE KNACKER'S YARD € Sandy Players Theater

THE WOMAN IN BLACK € Sylvia's Class Act Dinner Theater


Opening & Current Runs


Betsy's in the Kitchen

Betsy's in the Kitchen is a dizzyingly complicated improvisation, with eight cast members spinning off a three act play. BRODY THEATER, 1904 NW 27th Ave., 224-0688. Fridays, 8 pm through June 30. $8.


Curse of the Starving Class

Sam Shepard, a staple of Portland theater for decades, is a good standby resource for companies in a holding pattern, seeking grants, or simply exploring Shepard's masculine, neo-Western world. This time around Lani Miller, Tom Moorman, and Lindsay Thomas take the boards under the direction of Matt Russell. PAULA PRODUCTIONS, AT THE JACK OAKES THEATER, 2820 NE Sandy Blvd, 238-9692. Thur-Sat, 8 pm. Through June 24. $10.


Diabolical Experiments

An ongoing experiment of veteran improvisers and directors in a relaxed atmosphere. Guaranteed to never be the same thing twice. BRODY THEATER, 1904 NW 27th Ave., 224-0688. Fridays,10:30 pm. $6.


ENDGAME

Theater doesn't get much more absurd than in the hands of Samuel Beckett. But in its farewell performance, the Other Side Theater shows us that despite the play's post-apocalyptic malingering, it is actually quite funny. OTHER SIDE THEATER AT THE BACKDOOR THEATER, 431 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 938-1482. Thurs-Sat, 8 pm. Through June 25. $5-$7.50


Eyes Right

Three different intertwined stories emerge and blend as performers improvise among themselves and-yikes-with audience members. BRODY THEATER, 1904 NW 27th Ave., 224-0688. Fridays, 8 pm. Through June. $8.


* FROGS, LIZARDS, ORBS AND SLINKYS

Penguins playing musical chairs, two-faced crocodiles and paper bags on stage? Well, if it's good enough for New York City, we suppose it's good enough for us. Hometown-artists-made-good Imago Theater brings Frogs, Lizards, Orbs and Slinkys home to Portland after a smash run in NYC, and we couldn't be more pleased. If you're looking for fun, fresh performance, this is definitely the production to see. IMAGO THEATER, 17 SE 8th Ave., 231-9581. Fri 7:30, Sat 1:30 & 7:30, Sun 1:30 & 5:30. Extended through June 25. $16 adults, $13 students/seniors, $9 kids.


Great Brody Free-For-All

Weekly improv jam session featuring students of the Brody Theater and others. BRODY THEATER, 1904 NW 27th Ave., 224-0688. Sundays, 7:30 pm. $5.


LION IN THE STREET

Wanadian playwright Judith Thompson's play about a little girl who comes back and haunts her old neighborhood might sound a lot like the movie A Sixth Sense, but it's a little more intellectually ambitious, particularly when the cast of seven plays 29 different characters. THEATRE VERTIGO AT THE RUSSELL STREET THEATER, 116 N. Russell. Thurs-Sat, 8 pm. Through July 1. $10-$12.


* The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told

We love playwright Paul Rudnick in his guise as Libby Waxman Gelmer in Premiere magazine. But will we still love him when he is in the clutches of Don. L Horn, when the artistic director of Triangle Productions! brings to the stage Rudnick's campy take on theology? TRIANGLE PRODUCTIONS! AT THEATER! THEATRE!, 3430 SE Belmont St., 239-5919. Thurs-Sat, 8 pm. $15-$17.


Private Eyes

Psychotherapy, the theater, wit, infidelity, and mystery are the components of this play by Stephen Dietz. It's the last production of this actors school's season, outside of a graduation show in July. Director Bruce Burkhartsmeier leads a student cast of five aspiring thespians that includes Zero Feeney and Siobhan Charlesworth Caverly. PORTLAND ACTORS CONSERVATORY, 1436 SW Montgomery St., 274-1717. Wed-Thur at 7 pm, Fri-Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 2 pm. Through June 18. $17, $15 students and seniors.


Saltimbanco

It costs a lot to put on a circus, it's not easy, and somebody has to pay for it. That person is you, if you want to enjoy contortionists, high wire acts, and other mundanities of the big top tricked up as high class performance art. CIRQUE DU SOLEIL AT THE GRAND CHAPITEAU, Under the Marquam Bridge, 800-678-5440.Fri, 8 pm, Sat 4 and 8 pm, Sun 1 and 5 pm, Tues-Thurs, 8 pm. Through June 11. $27.35-$150.


SUGAR

Leif Norby and Gary Wayne Cash take over the Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis roles in this musical version of Some Like It Hot. And rumor has it, they even wear dresses! 368 S. State St., Thurs-Sat at 8 pm, Sun at 7 pm. Closes June 24.


A SUNBEAM

A family drama by award-winning playwright John Henry Redwood. PASSINART, AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY, 2800 NE Holman St., 321-5163. Fri-Sat, 8 pm. Through June 10. $15.


Wit

Director Allen Nause mounts this play by Margaret Edson. ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATER, 1516 SW Alder St., 241-1278. Thur, 7 pm; Fri-Sat, 8 pm; Sun, 2 pm. Through June 25. $15-$25.