Justin Sanders

Triangle Productions through Sept 29 This is a play about the biz, as many plays are, and is loaded with enough betrayals, seductions, and soap-operatic twists to earn its Jackie Collins-like title. And like every Collins’ novel, it’s not going to stick in your mind and bother you when you try to sleep at night–but […]

Dear Father who art in heaven: I am writing this letter as a prayer of thanks. My decision to attend service today at New Beginnings Christian Center originated out of what I thought was the desire to ridicule MC Hammer, through the medium of a satirical theater review. Now, I realize my irreverent urge was […]

4 N 1 Butterfly Productions, 493-4203 Through August 25 Monologues can be horrible bits of tripe, or they can be golden gems of iridescence, but if their placement in the play as a whole is awkward they’re doomed. A monologue’s purpose is to reveal a side of the character that is so complex, it can […]

The Posture Queen Hand to Mouth Through September 2 DISCLAIMER: Due to a variety of circumstances, including a full house consisting of hundreds of viewers and a distinct lack of air-conditioning, the temperature inside the Rose City Ball Room at Hand 2 Mouth’s opening night production of The Posture Queen was approximately 900 degrees Fahrenheit. […]

Come, Pee Your Pants Toad City Productions, 736-1027 Through August 25 Josh Thorpe and Sean Miller, the creators and players of this loose jumble of sketch comedy, have a lot of guts. By naming their show, Come, Pee Your Pants, they raise audience expectation to a dangerous degree. “Wow! I’m going to pee my pants […]

The Baptism and Night Baseball Russell Street Theater Through August 18 For years, playwright Amiri Baraka has been a powerful African American voice in the world of dramatic literature. He is also, at his core, a poet, which means he takes pleasure in writing art that is intentionally elusive and ambiguous. His attack on Christian […]

Delusions of Darkness Pavement Productions The Back Door Theater In the program for this wacky show, playwright Steve Patterson refers to himself as at risk of being “terminally unhip” because it took him “three tries to read William S. Burroughs’ notorious masterpiece Naked Lunch.” I find this distressing. If Patterson is at risk of being […]

Twelfth Night at the IFCC 823-4322 Henry V at Mago Hunt Center/ University of Portland 943-7287 Two brand new Portland theater companies, Vader Ryderwood Productions and Quintessence, premiered last weekend, each doing Shakespeare. Vader Ryderwood was started by Pacific University prof Edwin Collier, and claims to focus on “presenting young actors and fresh faces to […]

Mary’s Club 129 SW Broadway Last week was a slow one for both theater and dance, so I decided to explore an aspect of the Portland performance art scene that is often neglected by critics, but is nonetheless extremely important and popular. I refer, of course, to strip clubs. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not […]