Reviews

In Part 2 of the “Queens Girl” trilogy, Lauren Steele dazzlingly embodies voices out of Africa; “Hamilton” and its hip-hop cousin settle in; “Titus” wraps things up. “Queens Girl in the World,” the first work in a trilogy by professor and playwright Caleen Sinette Jennings, introduces us to Jacqueline Marie Butler as she faces the […]

Picking up what they began in New York, Clackamas Rep and star Lauren Steele take a stellar tale continental. Plus Forgotten Women, Chick Fight, Taylor Mac & more. Lauren Steele can’t say what it was about her that seems to have so impressed Cyndy Smith-English, managing director of Clackamas Repertory Theatre. After all, Steele was

We’ve ranked the top 10 Portland area plays in 2021. Here’s a look back on the year’s best. Theater as we know it was back in Portland in 2021. Or was it? Yes, there were in-person plays, sumptuous sets and curtain speeches that seemed to last as long as Hamlet, but something was amiss. Maybe

Clackamas Rep’s production may joke about everything from gerrymandering to Diet Coke, but above all, it is a play about and for people who love theater. It is a dark time for Popcorn Falls. The town’s famous waterfall has dried up, a destructive squirrel is plaguing the local government, and the diabolical Mr. Doyle (Mark

Rich, evocative writing and Lauren Steele’s vibrant performance highlight a winning one-woman play at Clackamas Rep. Over the course of decades writing about performing arts in Portland, I have come to recognize a certain sort of experience that I refer to as a “black dot show.” This is when I happen to glance around at the audience and notice that

Past and Present Tumble Together in the Vintage Musicals “South Pacific” at Clackamas Rep and “Footloose” at Broadway Rose The ideal summer-musical matchup might’ve been Footloose and Fancy Free, the great Leonard Bernstein/Jerome Robbins dance sequence that was quickly expanded into the 1940s Broadway hit “On the Town.” But when it comes to immersing yourself

Ken Ludwig’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Opened Clackamas Repertory Theatre’s 14th Season at Osterman Theatre on the Campus of Clackamas Community College in Oregon City. Much like Clackamas Rep’s 2016 smash hit Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, also by Ken Ludwig, Sherwood is a Monty Python-esque performance filled with quick wit, even quicker

If you like your medieval epics brawny and moody, Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, which kicks off Clackamas Repertory Theatre’s 15th season, will leave you sneering like Sir Guy of Gisbourne. If, however, you enjoy lavish larks with traces of Monty Python DNA, you will savor the play’s heavenly scenery and valiantly silly performances. Sherwood

When it comes to Robin Hoods, we’ve had everything from swashbuckling (Errol Flynn) to serious (Kevin Costner) to silly (Carey Elwes). Ken Ludwig’s version, Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood, currently running at Clackamas Repertory Theatre, combines all of them, with heavy emphasis on the silly. It’s a fun, family-friendly way to spend a summer

Abby Binder (Randi Douglas) is a grouch. And it’s no secret that she doesn’t want a roommate. Never has. When she is assigned one at the senior living facility where she resides, she understandably objects. Marilyn Dunne (Anita Sorel) is just too darned cheerful. And she makes noise. This is the setup for Pulitzer Prize