Closing This Week

* Amber Martin
Amber Martin is Portland's Peter Sellers, a performer capable of transforming herself into any character--whether it's a Southern woman singing country standards for diner patrons, or a relentless, audience-humping crackwhore--with frightening ease. She also injects her people with a healthy dose of humor and pathos, creating beings somehow both grotesque and endearing. MWH Wild Abandon, 2411 SE Belmont, 232-4458, Tues 9 pm, $15

Current Runs

A Bright Room Called Day
Theatre Vertigo goes a bit mainstream with a production of Tony Kushner's A Bright Room Called Day, a portrayal of a group of artists and activists trying to stay true to their roots in the thick of 1930s fascist Berlin. Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont, 306-0870, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 7 pm, through Jan 1, $15

* Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place
Sowelu Theater performs a two channel ritual in honor of Megan Terry, the godmother of avant garde theater and playwright laureate of the '70s feminist movement. Here, Terry's strange gaze into power and manipulation is performed twice, the first with all female actors and the second with an all male cast. Sowelu Theater at the Back Door, 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 230-2090, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, through Dec 18, $8-15

Pageant
Triangle presents a musical spoof on the American beauty pageant wherein each contestant is played by a hot hot drag queen. Plus a special appearance by Pepe from Pepe and the Bottled Blondes, as a roller skating Miss Texas. Triangle Productions, Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont, 239-5919, Thurs 7:30, Fri-Sat 8, Sun 5, through Dec 23, $17-23

Comedy/Improv

* The 3rd Floor's Almost a Holiday Show
The 3rd Floor sketch comedy troupe is touting this new show as "15% holiday sketches and a ton of non-holiday related material." That's fine with us. Call us Scrooges, but any kind of performance--let alone comedy--with a holiday theme has a tough hill to climb. The Miracle Theater, 525 SE Stark Street, 258-1681, Fri-Sat 8 pm, through Dec 18, $10

* Antiques Improv Show
A wickedly funny send-up to that time-tested mom-magnet Antique Road Show. Brody Theater, 1904 NW 27th Ave, 224-0688, Fri-Sat 8 pm, through Dec 18, $10

Dance

* Dayton Contemporary Dance Company
Screw New York City; the new hotbed for American dance is Dayton, Ohio, where the extremely progressive African American company Dayton Contemporary Dance has received national acclaim for its show The Flight Project, inspired by Dayton legends Orville and Wilbur Wright. Lincoln Performance Hall, PSU, 1620 SW Park Avenue, 725-3307, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, $14-25