Take Me Out
See "My, What A Busy Week!" pg 17. Artists Repertory Theatre , 1516 SW Alder St, 241-1278, Opens Fri, runs Tues-Thurs 7 pm, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, through July 3, $15-35
Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The audacity of turning Mark Twain's classic into a cheesy Broadway musical is slightly offset by this touring production's fascinating hook--it's put on by and for deaf people. Keller Auditorium , SW Third and Clay, 790-ARTS, Thurs-Sat 7:30 pm, Sat 2 pm, Sun 1 & 6:30 pm, $24-66
Blue/Orange
Christopher is a young black man diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, temporarily institutionalized for doing something indelicate and unspecified with an orange. Is Christopher crazy, or just responding to the fucked up world he lives in? The outstanding performances in Blue/Orange highlight and deepen these ambiguities. AH Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center , 5340 N. Interstate, 241-1278, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 & 7 pm, $15-35
Live at the Rose Garden
Despite its dubious title, the prolific Insight Out company's new work has an intriguing premise: the life and times of three sisters who are rock 'n' roll stars. Milk & Honey Studio , 2512 SE Gladstone, 234-0973, Thurs-Fri 8 pm, Sat 8:30 & 10:30 pm, $5-15
Salome
A new company, Shaking the Tree, presents a seldom done work by the very gay Oscar Wilde. Shaking the Tree at the Coho Theatre , 2257 NW Raleigh, 232-4726, Sun 7 pm, Tues-Wed 8 pm, $10-20
Boy Gets Girl
Rebrcca Gilman's play opens with a blind date. Tony (David Burnett, excellent) and Theresa (Laura Faye-Smith) drink and talk, and at first all seems well, until Tony starts making plans for them to see the Yankees, then tries to kiss her after having known her for 10 minutes. When on the next date he starts referring to them as a "couple," Theresa quickly gives him the big Blow-Off. What happens next is standard stalker material: phone calls from Tony start to pour in, then threatening letters, and then the police tell Theresa to get the hell out of her apartment. But oddly, outside of one other menacing appearance in Theresa's office in the first act, we never see Tony in person again. With complete neglect for its antagonist, Boy Gets Girl entirely fails to be a careful study of a truly troubled man and the troubled woman he haunts, turning instead into a simplistic moral debate. JWS Coho Theatre , 2257 NW Raleigh, 220-2646, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, through June 12, $21
The Resurrectory
Liminal's new event--it's last before artistic director Bryan Markovitz blows town for at least a couple years--is an ever-changing display of choreography, film projection, and ephemera based on a series of gruesome murders and black market cadaver dealings that happened in Scotland circa the 19th century. Very cool. Portland Art Center , 2045 SE Belmont, 239-5481, Thurs-Sat 8-10 pm, through June 18, $6-10 pay-what-you-can
Masters & Moderns
The Oregon Ballet Theatre closes its season with an eclectic smattering of works: a world premiere from Yuri Possokhov, a work from artistic director Christopher Stowell, and the return of Paul Taylor's Company B, set to the music of the Andrews Sisters. Newmark Theater, Portland Center for the Performing Arts , SW Broadway & Main, 222-5538, Thurs-Sat 7:30 pm, $17-90
Portland's First Annual Tap-a-Thon
10 bucks for SIX HOURS of sheer tap dance goodness!? Why, there won't be a better tap dance deal this year! Register for this event at 9 AM, or just come and watch-it includes classes and a tap-off pledge drive, with prizes awarded to those who can tap for the longest without stopping and those who raise the most pledge money. Dancevolve Studios , 4252 SE International Way, Milwaukie, 653-6572, 10 am-4 pm, $10
Never Always Murder
This new evening of sketch comedy--to be put on the first and third Wednesdays of every month from here on out--has to be at least interesting; it's produced by some of the people behind the Famous Mysterious Actor Show. The Know , 2026 NE Alberta, 282-2019, Wed 8:30 pm, $5
Jeff Goldblum's Closet Fun Slide
Fresh off their last sketch comedy show Samurai L. Jackson's International Cuisine, Renob Control proves with tonight's collection of greatest hits, Jeff Goldblum's Closet Fun Slide, that they are the best at coming up with titles that describe the wacky possessions of enigmatic celebrities. Renob at the Backdoor , 4319 SE Hawthorne, Sat 10:30 pm, $6
Quantum Flucks
The Brody unveils yet another intriguing sounding improv format, based on the notion that "our world is just one of many created over uncounted eons in a continous cycle of impulses all generated from a single burst of energy that eventually contracts back upon itself then explodes out again to create 'time' all over again." And that's all we have to say about that. Brody Theater , 1904 NW 27th Ave, 224-0688, Fri-Sat 8 pm, $7-10
The 3rd Floor's Greatest Hits, Vols. V & VI
The 3rd Floor sketch comedy group has been invited to perform at Sketchfest in NYC, so support this collection of their greatest hits from the last nine years so they don't have to sleep on the subway while they're there. The Miracle Theatre , 525 SE Stark Street, 258-1681, Fri-Sat 8 pm, through May 28, $10, or $16 for both shows
