Check out these recommends from the Oregonian, the Willamette Week and The Portland Mercury to help you filter your Festival Weekend options:
The Oregonian picks out a vibrant selection of smaller and quirkier festival offerings here, to balance out their top picks and promising productions selections from last week:
Sample pick:
“They”: Fertile Ground is dedicated to new work, but sometimes the definition of that can be liberal. Hence the inclusion of this 1920 expressionist comedy by Polish writer/artist Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, who used the pen name Witkacy. What’s new is this adaptation by Rogers Truax. It’s a political satire about secret forces behind state power, bent on crush individuality and creativity. The cast includes such reliable talents as Brian Allard and Northwest Classical Theatre stalwart Melissa Whitney. Read more.
The Willamette Week take a decidedly spookier stroll through the festival offerings, coming up with this bloody sexy set of selections to satisfy your inner goth:
Sample picks:
There’s political intrigue (The North Plan, They), supernatural terror (Ablaze, Bite Me a Little), gore ([I Am Still] the Duchess of Malfi, Grand Guignol 4) and rumblings of doomsday (Waxwing, B’aktun 13). So get out there and take in a little light entertainment—that is, if you’ve got the guts. Read more.
The Portland Mercury likes arty, smarty sexy and ironic. Their picks for the festival hit all the right notes.
Sample picks:
Something’s Got Ahold of My Heart—The lifespan of a Hand2Mouth show includes months of workshopping and revisions; their new production explores both the representations and the realities of love and commitment. The Mouth at Zoomtopia, 810 SE Belmont, Fri Jan 27-Sun Jan 29, 7 pm, hand2mouththeatre.org
Big Plastic Heroes—Performers auGi and Slash Coleman pair two like-minded stories of nerdy childhoods spent idolizing larger-than-life action heroes. The Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza, 1785 NE Sandy, bigplasticheroes.com for dates and times, through Feb 4
Of course the most important taste maker in this particular festival is YOU the festival-goer. What’s on your opening weekend must see list?
Fertile Ground Festival 