If it be a day fits you

Search out of the Calendar.

—Second Fisherman in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act 2, Scene 1

Past Events

Performance

Opera à la Cart:

Selections from 

Roméo et Juliette

Portland Opera

CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER

Thursday, August 31, 2023

12:00 p.m.
Pioneer Courthouse Square

Portland, Oregon


An innovative program telling the story of the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, entwining Shakespeare’s language with Charles Gounod’s gorgeous score for Roméo et Juliette.


This program presented in partnership with SoundsTruck NW.

Performance

Selections from 

Roméo et Juliette

Portland Opera

Thursday, September 7, 2023

7:00 p.m.
Walters Cultural Arts Center

Hillsboro, Oregon


An innovative program telling the story of the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, entwining Shakespeare’s language with Charles Gounod’s gorgeous score for Roméo et Juliette.

Performance

The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), or In Sooth I Know Not Why I Am So Sad

theatre dybbuk

Monday, October 23, 2023

7:30 p.m.

Lincoln Recital Hall

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


In this highly theatrical new work, Los Angeles’ theatre dybbuk weaves together elements of The Merchant of Venice with Elizabethan history and news from the 21st century, taking a kaleidoscopic view of the ways in which members of a society displace their fears on the other during times of upheaval. The piece explores issues of marginalization, assimilation, and power, both in the past and in our contemporary world.


This program funded in part by a Signature Grant from The Covenant Foundation.


Presented in partnership with the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education and the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.

Performance

The Villainy You Teach

theatre dybbuk

Thursday, October 26, 2023

12:00 p.m.

Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education

Portland, Oregon


Centered on Shylock’s famous speech about his humanity and persecution in The Merchant of Venice, theater dybbuk’s The Villainy You Teach explores how language becomes both overburdened with and stripped of meaning through heightened theatricality and repetition.


This program funded in part by a Signature Grant from The Covenant Foundation.


Presented in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.

Speaker Series

Shakespeare in Performance

Prof. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Portland State University

Thursday, October 26, 2023

7:30 p.m.
Lincoln Studio Theater

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


How can live performance alter a play’s meaning, and what does The Merchant of Venice tell us about audience sympathy and antipathy in the theater?


In conversation with Prof. Pollack-Pelzner’s talk, theatre dybbuk will present excerpts from Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice.


This program funded in part by a Signature Grant from The Covenant Foundation.


Presented in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.

Performance

Sergei Prokofiev: Selections from Romeo and Juliet, Suites Nos. 1 & 2

Oregon Symphony

Friday, October 27, 2023

7:30 p.m.

Smith Auditorium, Willamette University,

Salem, Oregon


Saturday, October 28, 2023

7:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

2:00 p.m.

Monday, October 30, 2023

7:30 p.m.

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Portland, Oregon


Experience the tragedy of Verona’s star-crossed lovers in selections from Romeo and Juliet, Prokofiev’s fiery ballet score.


Elena Kats-Chernin

Dance of the Paper Umbrellas

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola

Sergei Prokofiev

Selections from Romeo and Juliet, Suites Nos. 1 & 2

Performance

Henry IV, Part I

Theatre Department at

Lewis and Clark College and

Play On Shakespeare

Friday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 4, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 5, 2 p.m.

Thursday November 9, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, November 10, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 11, 7:30 p.m.

Fir Acres Main Stage,

Lewis and Clark College

Portland, Oregon


Waylon Lenk directs Yvette Nolan’s translation of Henry IV, Part I. As King Henry IV prepares to defend his crown from the upstart Hotspur, Prince Hal is too busy languishing in taverns and brothels with the roguish Falstaff to bother with politics. Will Hal continue to wallow in dissolution or will he finally stand up for his inheritance and his family?

Performance

Antonin Dvořák: Othello Overture

Oregon Symphony

Saturday, November 4, 2023

7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 5, 2023

2:00 p.m.

Monday, November 6, 2023

7:30 p.m.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Portland, Oregon


Antonin Dvořák

Othello Overture

Andy Akiho

A new piece inspired by the art of Jun Kaneko, an Oregon Symphony Co-commission and the West Coast Premiere

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”

Film Screening

Baz Luhrmann: 

Romeo + Juliet

Hollywood Theatre

Monday, November 6, 2023

7:30 p.m.

Hollywood Theatre

Portland, Oregon


Baz Luhrmann directs Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet (1996), featuring star-crossed lovers who are children of rival gang families in Verona Beach. Romeo + Juliet is simultaneously a timeless and a quintessentially 90s take on its immortal source material.


Prof. Rebecca Lingafelter of Lewis and Clark College will lead a post-show discussion of the film.

Keynote Lecture

The Multitudinous Folio

Prof. Jonathan Walker

Portland State University

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

11:00 a.m.

Lincoln Recital Hall

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


What is the cultural legacy of the First Folio, and how can a book that epitomizes human achievement also be an instrument of inhumanity?


This program sponsored in part by History at Portland State University.

Lecture

Indigenized Shakespeare

Madeline Sayet

Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program

Saturday, November 11, 2023

4:00 p.m.

Agnes Flanagan Chapel

Lewis and Clark College

Portland, Oregon

 

In this lecture, Mohegan theater maker and scholar Madeline Sayet will discuss the historical context of the Native American Theater Movement in the United States, and how it evolves in relationship to the practice of Indigenizing Shakespeare.

Performance

Felix Mendelssohn: Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Oregon Symphony

Saturday, November 18, 2023

7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 19, 2023

2:00 p.m.

Monday, November 20, 2023

7:30 p.m.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Portland, Oregon


Mendelssohn transports us to Shakespeare’s fantastical world of fairies and magic spells, with puckish strings, chattering woodwinds, and brassy fanfares. Principal Guest Conductor Jun Märkl leads this enchanting work alongside Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration—an electrifying musical poem exploring the spiritual journey of passing lives.

Richard Strauss

Death and Transfiguration
Felix Mendelssohn

Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Opp. 21 & 61

Workshop

Speak the Speech:

Bringing Shakespeares Words to Life

Prof. Devon Allen

Portland State University

RESCHEDULED

Saturday, December 2, 2023

11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Lincoln Hall, Studio 7

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


This workshop is for anyone interested in Shakespeare and how actors awaken his words, including poets, writers, directors, actors, and researchers. We will do what theatre folk call table work, and apply voice, speech, and rhetorical tools to bring Shakespeares words to life. Prof. Allen has worked with Cicely Berry, O.B.E. (R.A.D.A, R.S.C.) for many years and is a specialist in acting Shakespeare.

Keynote Lecture

The Multitudinous Folio

Prof. Jonathan Walker

Portland State University

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

4:00 p.m. CST

Love Library South

University of Nebraska–

Lincoln

Lincoln, Nebraska


What is the cultural legacy of the First Folio, and how can a book that epitomizes human achievement also be an instrument of inhumanity?

Film Screening

Akira Kurosawa:

Ran

Hollywood Theatre

Monday, December 11, 2023

6:30 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre

Portland, Oregon


Akira Kurosawa directs Ran (1985), an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Set in samurai culture of sixteenth-century Japan, the film is a sweeping epic following the warlord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai) after he decides to divide his empire amongst his three sons. The highest budgeted Japanese film in history at the time of its release, Ran employed 1400 extras and 200 horses during production and took Kurosawa 10 years to storyboard.


Prof. Elizabeth Williamson, formerly of Evergreen State College, will lead a post-show discussion of the film.

Workshop

Speak the Speech:

Bringing Shakespeares Words to Life

Prof. Devon Allen

Portland State University

Saturday, January 6, 2024

11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Lincoln Hall, Studio 7

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


This workshop is for anyone interested in Shakespeare and how actors awaken his words, including poets, writers, directors, actors, and researchers. We will do what theatre folk call table work, and apply voice, speech, and rhetorical tools to bring Shakespeares words to life. Prof. Allen has worked with Cicely Berry, O.B.E. (R.A.D.A, R.S.C.) for many years and is a specialist in acting Shakespeare.

Film Screening

Gil Junger:

10 Things I Hate About You

Hollywood Theatre

Friday, January 12, 2024

7:30 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre

Portland, Oregon


Following the 90s trend of retelling classic stories with high school teens, 10 Things I Hate About You turns The Taming of the Shrews Katherina into Kat (Julia Stiles), an abrasive teen girl at Seattles Padua High School. Her father (Larry Miller) wont allow Kats younger sister, Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), to date until Kat does, so Biancas beau Cameron (Joseph Gordon Levitt) enlists bad boy Patrick (Heath Ledger) to melt Kats icy heart.


Prof. Alexis Butzner of Chemeketa Community College will lead a post-show discussion of the film.

Speaker Series

Pop Music in the Renaissance

Prof. Joseph M. Ortiz

University of Texas, El Paso

Saturday, January 13, 2024

11:00 a.m. PST
Webinar


When does music appear in Shakespeare’s plays, and how does it help to create layers of meaning during performance?

Speaker Series

The Renaissance Kitchen and Foodie Culture

Mr. John Tufts

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Saturday, January 27, 2024

11:00 a.m. PST
Webinar


How do Shakespeare’s plays represent food and drink, and what are the connections between Renaissance culinary practices and our own?

Performance

Enchanted Woods:

Shakespeare & Song

Portland Opera

Friday, February 2, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 3, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Sunday, February 4, 2024

2:00 p.m.
Friday, February 9, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 10, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

2:00 p.m.
Hampton Opera Center

Portland, Oregon

A program of 20th-century operatic selections inspired by Shakespeares plays, exploring transformation, love, and magic, with featured artist Katrina Galka.

Performance

Love, Death, Ambition, Power, Fate, Free Will: Shakespearean Sonnets in Song

School of Music

Portland State University

Thursday, February 8, 2024

12:00 p.m.

Lincoln Recital Hall

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


Prof. Darrell Grant curates a musical encounter with Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Featuring faculty and student composers and performers from the School of Music, the recital transports 400-year-old language into modern musical contexts and styles.

Speaker Series

From Manuscript to Cookhouse: Shakespearean Food

Prof. Keri Behre

Portland State University

Thursday, February 15, 2024

12:00 p.m.

Lincoln Studio Theater

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


How can examining early modern recipes and food traditions help us discover a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s plays and their cultural contexts?

Film Screening

Billy Morrissette: 

Scotland, PA.

Hollywood Theatre

Sunday, February 18, 2024

7:00 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre

Portland, Oregon


Taking Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth and setting it in a ’70s fast-food burger joint, Scotland, PA. transforms a grim tale of unchecked kingly ambition and murder into a modern story of young passion, madness, and aspirations to be general manager—all with a side of fries. Norm Duncan (James Rebhorn) has a revolutionary idea to turn his failing restaurant around: the drive-through window. But when Duncan passes over Joe “Mac” McBeth (James Le Gros) for a promotion, he and Pat McBeth (Maura Tierney) get rid of Duncan and take over his restaurant. Can Lieutenant McDuff (Christopher Walken) get to the bottom of this grisly, greasy murder?

Prof. Jeffrey Todd Knight of the University of Washington, Seattle, will lead a post-show discussion of the film.

Speaker Series

The Goodness of the Night: Editing Othello

Prof. Patricia Akhimie

Rutgers University and the 

Folger Shakespeare Library

Saturday, February 24, 2024

11:00 a.m. PST
Webinar


How has the work of editing Shakespeare’s plays perpetuated racial stereotypes, and what can contemporary scholars do to dismantle editorial commentary that has, for centuries, espoused objective authority while practicing unexamined racism?


This program sponsored in part by Black Studies, Judaic Studies, and World Languages and Literatures at Portland State University.

Performance

Measure For Measure

Theater Arts at

Portland State University and

Play On Shakespeare

PREVIEW: Thursday, February 29, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Friday, March 1, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 2, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

2:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 7, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Friday, March 8, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

2:00 p.m.
Lincoln Performance Hall Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


Prof. Karin Magaldi directs Aditi Brennan Kapils translation of Shakespeares Measure For Measure, which explores the corrupting influence of power, even for the most virtuous of individuals.

Speaker Series

Shakespeare and the Visual Arts

Prof. Clark Hulse

University of Illinois at Chicago

Saturday, March 16, 2024

11:00 a.m. PST
Webinar


How did Shakespeare highlight visual art in his plays, and in what ways have they inspired visual artists over the last four centuries?


This program sponsored in part by Art History at Portland State University.

Performance

Most Eloquent Music: Shakespearean Song

Oregon Renaissance Band

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

12:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

7:00 p.m.
Lincoln Recital Hall

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


A selection of songs from Shakespearean plays, performed on original instruments by a five-piece ensemble.

Speaker Series

Shakespeares Sister: Women, Gender, and Speech

Prof. Heidi Brayman

University of California, Riverside

Saturday, March 30, 2024

11:00 a.m. PST
Webinar


What place did women occupy in Shakespeare’s culture, and how was speech a defining characteristic of gender?


This program sponsored in part by Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Portland State University.

Film Screening

Julie Taymor:

Titus

Hollywood Theatre

Sunday, March 31, 2024

6:00 p.m.
Hollywood Theatre

Portland, Oregon


Adapted and directed by Julie Taymor, Titus (1999) sets Shakespeare’s crowd-pleasing revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus in a surreal, anachronistic world of gold and gore. Anthony Hopkins plays the Roman general Titus, returning from war, with Tamora, Queen of the Goths (Jessica Lange), as his prisoner. After Titus sacrifices Tamora’s eldest son, he finds his family embroiled in an escalating cycle of revenge—and Tamora, newly empowered in marriage to Emperor Saturninus (Alan Cumming), pledges to “find a day to massacre them all.” Titus is a spectacular epic that is as stunning, disturbing, funny, and revolting as the electrifying performances of its legendary leads.


Prof. Lezlie Cross of the University of Portland will lead a post-show discussion of the film.

Performance

Play On!

Shakespeare in Music

Portland Opera

Friday, April 5, 2024

7:30 p.m.
Walters Cultural Arts Center

Hillsboro, Oregon


In this lush evening of song, Portland Opera’s Resident Artists present a variety of selections sure to satisfy every Shakespeare-loving musicophile. From art song to aria, Shakespeare has inspired a plethora of tunes as unforgettable as the words that inspired them.

Speaker Series

Science, Public Health, and the Theater

Prof. Tanya Pollard

Graduate Center and Brooklyn College

City University of New York

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

12:00 p.m.
Lincoln Studio Theater

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


How do Shakespeare’s plays depict bubonic plague and other diseases, and what can they teach us about our own public health crises such as Covid–19?

Performance

Hamlet

Portland Shakespeare Project,

The Actors Conservatory, and

Play On Shakespeare

PREVIEW: Thursday, April 11, 2024

7:30 p.m.

OPENING NIGHT: Friday, April 12, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 13, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 14, 2024

2:00 p.m.

Thursday, April 18, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Friday, April 19, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 20, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 21, 2024

2:00 p.m.

21ten Theatre

Portland, Oregon


Michael Mendelson directs Lisa Peterson’s modern verse translation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which weighs the balance between grief and betrayal, love and duty, divine providence and human action, and between justice and revenge.

Speaker Series

Shakespeare on Film

Prof. Karin Magaldi

Portland State University

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

7:30 p.m.

Lincoln Studio Theater

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


How have modern directors reimagined Shakespeare’s plays for the silver screen, and what kinds of meaning does the technology of film make possible? Prof. Magaldi will be in conversation with Prof. Emerita Sue Brower from PSUs School of Film.

Film Screening

Bushra Azzouz: 

A Midsummer Nights Dream in Prison

Portland State University

Saturday, April 27, 2024

2:00 p.m.

Academic and Student Recreation Center, Room 001

Portland State University

1800 SW 6th Avenue

Portland, Oregon


A Midsummer Nights Dream in Prison is a documentary film by Bushra Azzouz about a production of Shakespeares play at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla, Oregon. Actors who are in the film, Aaron Gilbert, Celeste-Destiny Handler, and Josh Underhill, and the plays director, Johnny Stallings, will be in attendance for a post-show conversation.

Exhibition

Shakespeares First Folio: 1623–2023

Multnomah County Library

April 6–May 19, 2024

Central Library

801 SW 10th Avenue

Portland, Oregon


An exhibition in the Collins Gallery at Central Library in downtown Portland, Shakespeares First Folio: 1623–2023 explores the modern legacy of Shakespearean plays. Gallery sections include Folio Centennials, Shakespeare for Young Readers,” “Shakespeare on Film,” and “Shakespeare in Popular Culture.”

Performance

Coriolanus

Portland Center Stage and

Play On Shakespeare

April 20—May 19 2024
Wednesdays–Sundays, 7:30 p.m.
Saturdays–Sundays, 2:00 p.m.
Select Thursdays, 2:00 p.m.

U.S. Bank Main Stage

Portland, Oregon


Rosa Joshi directs Sean San José’s modern translation of Coriolanus. In Shakespeares rarely performed, unique tragedy, civil unrest stirs political upheaval. The war hero Coriolanus is driven to defend and then destroy his own country. This modern translation lifts the storys core and is fueled by a dynamic female and non-binary ensemble, and a muscular, movement-focused staging.

Speaker Series

A Shakespearean History of Sexuality

Prof. Melissa Sanchez

University of Pennsylvania

Saturday, May 4, 2024

11:00 a.m. PST
Webinar


How did people in Shakespeare’s era think about sex and sexuality, and what similarities do they share with our own contemporary sexual identities?


This program sponsored in part by Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Portland State University.

Exhibition

Shakespeares First Folio: 1623–2023

Multnomah County Library

April 6–May 19, 2024

Central Library

801 SW 10th Avenue

Portland, Oregon


An exhibition in the Collins Gallery at Central Library in downtown Portland, Shakespeares First Folio: 1623–2023 explores the modern legacy of Shakespearean plays. Gallery sections include Folio Centennials, Shakespeare for Young Readers,” “Shakespeare on Film,” and “Shakespeare in Popular Culture.”

Performance

Coriolanus

Portland Center Stage and

Play On Shakespeare

April 20—May 19 2024
Wednesdays–Sundays, 7:30 p.m.
Saturdays–Sundays, 2:00 p.m.
Select Thursdays, 2:00 p.m.

U.S. Bank Main Stage

Portland, Oregon


Rosa Joshi directs Sean San José’s translation of Coriolanus. In Shakespeare's rarely performed, unique tragedy, civil unrest stirs political upheaval. The war hero Coriolanus is driven to defend and then destroy his own country. This modern translation lifts the story's core and is fueled by a dynamic female and non-binary ensemble, and a muscular, movement-focused staging.

Film Screening and Discussion

Shakespeare in Yemen

Prof. Katherine Hennessey

Wenzhou-Kean University

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

6:30 p.m. PST
Webinar


In a land ravaged by strife and violence, actors and poets search for hope and inspiration in Shakespeare’s language. In this short film, Yemeni actors and actresses perform some of Shakespeare’s most famous lines, and a Yemeni poet recites a qasidah inspired by a Shakespearean sonnet. Why Shakespeare? Why Yemen, and why now? Come watch and find out.

 

This short film was created by Katherine Hennessey, Associate Professor of Shakespeare and Global Literature at Wenzhou-Kean University, in collaboration with Yemeni director Amin Hazaber and Yemeni videographer Mohammad Moneer. After the screening, Dr. Hennessey will speak about the making of the film and about the surprising history of Shakespearean performance in Yemen and the Arabian Gulf.


This program sponsored by The Middle East Studies Center at Portland State University.


Pictured above: Yemeni actor Amani Al-Dhammari, from the film Shakespeare in Yemen. Image credit: Mohammad Moneer.

Speaker Series

Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Mental Health

Prof. Isabel Jaén Portillo

Portland State University

Thursday, May 30, 2024

5:00 p.m.
Lincoln Studio Theater

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon


What is the connection between Shakespeare and Cervantes, and what can these important figures teach us about the mind and mental health through their immortal characters Hamlet and Don Quixote?