Opening This Week

* House of Cunt
Wild Abandon = delicious food and cocktails in quiet, elegant atmosphere. House of Cunt = discomfortingly odd, frequently hilarious, hands-on sketch comedy. Wild Abandon + House of Cunt = ????????!!!?!!?!!!!!!!???? House of Cunt at Wild Abandon, 2411 SE Belmont, 232-4458, Thurs 8:30 pm, Fri 10:30 pm, through Feb 27, $10

Fox'd
This modern update of Ben Johnson's Volpone places the story of a man who feigns illness to get gifts from his friends in the seedy, greedy land of Hollywood. PSU Theater Dept, at Lincoln Hall, Portland State University, 1620 SW Park Ave, 725-4612, Opens Fri, runs Thurs-Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 2 pm, through Feb 28, $4-9.50

Two Rooms
Lee Blessing's play about a man trapped in Beirut and the woman in America who loves him. The story is too inherently poignant to be completely ruined, though Blessing tries with sticky symbolism and soap-operatic melodrama. Portland Actors Conservatory, 1436 SW Montgomery St, 274-1717, Opens Fri, runs Thurs 7 pm, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, through March 7, $15-20

Closing This Week

* Oklahoma
Oh, what a beautiful mornin'! One of Rodger and Hammerstein's most popular musicals blows through town for one week. Catch the uber-trippy 1955 film version for a warm-up. Broadway in Portland, at Keller Auditorium, SW Third and Clay, 790-ARTS, Thurs-Sat 7:30 pm, Sat 2 pm, Sun 1 pm & 6:30 pm, $23-$63

* The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?
Our antihero in The Goat is Martin, who would seem a very normal man. He's 50, smart, successful, and loves his wife and teenage son. But Martin has also somehow fallen in love with a goat he calls Sylvia, and when his clandestine trips to the barnyard are revealed, his life begins crashing down around him. Artists Repertory Theatre, 1516 SW Alder St, 241-1278, Tues-Thurs, Sun 7 pm, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, through Feb 22, $15-32

Trickster Tells This Tale
A six-week workshop on experimental storytelling resulted in this new show, which features six actors playing different variations on "tricksters" from folklore. Said tricksters include Brer Rabbit and the Monkey King. Play Workshop Theatre, at the Back Door, 4319 SE Hawthorne, 232-5375, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 4 pm, through Feb 21, $10

Work For Brains
Comedian Rachel Parenta co-wrote this sketch-comedy show (with Mark Bridges) about bartenders, dead-end office jobs, and... zombies!? Cool. Portland Underground Showbiz Society, at the Back Door Theatre, 4321 SE Hawthorne, 274-7921, Fri-Sat 10:30 pm, through Feb 21, $10

Current Runs

36 Views
A highfalutin' tale of corruption in the Asian art market, inspired by Japanese artist Hokusai's Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji. Portland Center Stage, 1111 SW Broadway, 274-6588, Tues-Wed, Sun 7 pm, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Thurs & Sun 2 pm, through Feb 29, $16-51

Circle
A modern update of Schnitzler's 19th-Century psycho-sexual farce, composed of ten vignettes set in Starbucks and other trendy locales. Middle-aged actors have been decked out in strap-on dildos and bondage gear for this production. Blech to the max. Triangle Productions, at Theater! Theatre!, 3430 SE Belmont, 239-5919, Thurs 7:30 pm, Fri-Sat 8 pm, through Mar 6, $19-23

LOOT
Kevin-Michael Moore is brilliantly bloody and bloody brilliant, and the rest of the cast lend life to this mothball-smelling murder mystery by Joe Orton. I couldn't help but notice, though, the girl in the back row, with the giant yellow punker hairdo, falling asleep, her rebellious 'do nodding slowly like a setting sun. Some of the jokes play a lot like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards; they age disgracefully and keep going on and on and on. Oh what a drag it is getting old. TP Coho Theatre, 2257 NW Raleigh, 220-2646, Thurs-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, through Mar 6, $18-20

Scapin

It's nice to see parents and grandparents taking their children to see plays, and children end up making the best audience members. They don't hold back their yuks, and they don't know how to do the polite golf clap. Still, Alyssa Ravenwood's Scapin feels a little too pedantic for a play full of fools. The masked players move with whimsy and clownish grace, but the faces are angular and vacant. One might call it "expressionless expressionism." Overall, Scapin does a thoroughly entertaining job of making the French Renaissance accessible to the Spongebob crowd. TP Radiant Theatre at Disjecta, 116 N. Russell, 502-8261, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sat 2:30 pm, through Feb 28, $10-15

Service
An improvised tar and feathering of service employees, and even better, annoying customers. There better be something about bad tippers. Brody Theater, 1904 NW 27th Ave, 224-0688, Fri-Sat 8 pm, through Mar 13, $10

Fahrenheit 451
You've read the book; you've watched the movie; now, as part of Everybody Reads, see the play Bradbury adapted himself from his amazing book. The endlessly reliable Tobias Andersen plays Fire Captain Beatty. Mt. Hood Repertory Theatre Co., at Mt. Hood Community College Theatre, 26000 SE Stark, Gresham, 491-7154, Fri-Sat 8 pm, Sun 2 pm, through Feb 29, $12-15