OPENING THIS WEEK
Trisha Brown Company
Award-winning contemporary dancer Trisha Brown debuts in Portland. WHITE BIRD /PSU DANCE SERIES, Lincoln Performance Hall, SW Park and Market, 224-8499
Carmen
Bizet's opera about the femme fatale who lures a Spanish soldier to his doom. PORTLAND OPERA, Keller Auditorium, SW 3rd & Clay, 241-1802, Sept 23, 25, 27, 29, 30, From $25
Paint Your Wagon
Lerner and Loewe's musical about a marriage triangle in the old Northwest. MUSICAL THEATER COMPANY, EASTSIDE PERFORMANCE CENTER, 531 SE 14th Avenue, 916-6592, Fri-Sun 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, ends Oct 15, $16-$28
The Devils
New artistic director Chris Coleman makes his debut with this adaptation of Dostoevsky's novel about revolutionaries. PORTLAND CENTER STAGE, 1111 SW Broadway, 274-6588, daily except Mondays from Sept 26, ends Oct 22, $10-17
ONE WEEK ONLY
Objects for the Emancipated Consumer
The theatrical group that is the least easy to define, and the most adventurous right now, is Liminal. This benefit for the group will offer a melange of events, including a performance of mysterious dimensions. LIMINAL, 2808 NE MLK Jr Blvd #13, 890-2993, Sat, Sept 23, $6-15
CLOSING THIS WEEK
Pasta
A comedy by Tom Griffin. PORTLAND ACCESSIBLE THEATRE AT THE INTERSTATE FIREHOUSE CULTURAL CENTER, 5340 North Interstate Ave, 236-7456, Fri-Sat, 8 pm, ends Sept 23, $10
CURRENT RUNS
Ain't Nothin' but a Bunch of Bull
Race relations in an Eastern Oregon town are explored in this play by Wil Sharp. SHARP THEATRICS AT THE WILSON CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, YWCA, SW 10th and Main, 788-7390, Thur-Sun, 8 pm, $10-12
Life is a Dream
Pedro Calderon de la Barca's play from the 1600s embraces magical realism as it tells of kings and imprisoned heirs. MIRACLE THEATER, 525 SE Stark Street, 236-7253, Fri-Sat, 8 pm, through Oct 14, $12-16
* Middlemove
The Brody Theater's fifth season opens with this improv evening in which audience suggestions are used to start scenes in media res. BRODY THEATER, 1904 NW 27 Ave, 224-0688, Fri-Sat, 8 pm, through Oct 21, $8
* No Exit
Imago revives its popular and award-winning 1998 production of Jean-Paul Sartre's play about Hell being other people--and a rising, dipping, unsteady stage. IMAGO THEATER, 17 SE Eighth Ave, 231-9581, Thurs-Sun 7 pm, Thurs 8 pm, Fri-Sun, 2 pm, ends Oct 15, $14-16
Oedipus at Colonus
The sequel to Oedipus Rex. CLASSIC GREEK THEATER AT THE CERF AMPHITHEATER, REED COLLEGE, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, 258-9313, Fri-Sat noon, Sat-Sun, 4 pm, $10-15
Pigs...Three Short Plays about Men
OUTSIDE THE BOX PRODUCTIONS, AT IT'S A BEAUTIFUL PIZZA, 3341 SE Belmont St, 232-9435, Fri-Sat 8 pm, ends Oct 21, $8-10
* Suburban Motel Part 1
The play is two separate story lines which share a sense of dark and frenetic humor. It is sharp, high-paced writing and James Hartley personifies his lines with a mix of dramatic weight and sitcom hew-haw. (Phil Busse) STARK RAVING THEATER, AT THEATER! THEATRE!, 3430 SE Belmont St, 232-7072, Thurs-Sun, 7:30, Thurs through Sat 4 pm, Sun ends Sept 30, $13.50-$17
The Beauty Queen of Leenane
This latest production from the Artists Repertory Theatre is a schizophrenic offering that succeeds wildly--on certain levels--about an incessantly bickering mother/daughter duo living in poverty in Leenane, a tiny town in Ireland. ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATER, 1516 SW Alder St, 241-1278, Sun 7 pm, Tues-Thurs 7 pm, ends Sun Oct 15, $13.50, 241-1ART
The Duck Variations
Two friends meet in a park and discuss everything from philosophy to ducks in this play by David Mamet. AASYLUM THEATRE, AT THE RUSSELL STREET THEATRE, 116 NE Russell, 775-4324, Fri-Sat 10 pm, ends Oct. 14, $8
The Fantasticks
Jones and Schmidt's musical about the young love that remembers that time in September. OLD SLOCUM HOUSE, 605 Esther Street, 360-697-8383, Ends Sept 30
The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
Farce in which a woman's club attempts to stage a murder. SYLVIA'S CLASS ACT DINNER THEATER, 5115 NE Sandy Blvd, 288-6828, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 7 pm, through Nov 18, $31.95
The Woods
David Mamet's play about two lovers who use a weekend getaway to learn about each other. DEFUNKT THEATRE, AT THE BACK DOOR THEATER, 4319 SE Hawthrone Blvd, 235-8779, Thur-Sat 8 pm, Sun 4 pm, through Oct 21, $5-15
Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight
Glorified dinner theater, this sex farce lacks the grace, speed, and wit of farceurs from Feydeau to Frayn. Peter Ackerman's play concerns a Jewish guy (Spencer Conway) who screams out something anti-Semitic during sex. Mildly entertaining at moments, the play is middlebrow trash lacking only the pre-curtain steak and potatoes. TRIANGLE PRODUCTIONS! AT THEATER! THEATRE!, 3430 SE Belmont St, 239-5919, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 5 pm, through Sept 30, $15-$17
