2012-13 Season

Widely considered one of the greatest dramatic creations of the modern stage, Mother Courage and Her Children is Bertolt Brecht’s most passionate and profound statement against war. Set in the seventeenth century, the play follows Mother Courage, an itinerant trader, as she pulls her wagon of wares and her children through the blood and carnage of Europe’s religious wars. In this exciting new translation by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, Brecht’s epic drama and its powerful indictment of war is given a new life for twenty-first century audiences. With an original gypsy swing score by Portland’s own Joey Appel of the Clambake Trio, Mother Courage and Her Children will be an epic and long-remembered addition to the local theatrical canon. “This is a production that brings Brecht up to date and exposes the illusion of achieving small economic victories in a world hell-bent on destruction.” – The Guardian

Poor Bethany Palmer hasn’t slept in thirteen years. When her husband steals their son away in the middle of the night, her already fragile grip on reality starts to weaken, and she sets off on a nightmarish phantasmagoria through an urban dreamscape. Chronicling Bethany’s desperate flight, The Velvet Sky is a dark fairytale for grown-ups about the stories and lies adults tell children to keep them safe from the things that lurk in the dark. “Aguirre-Sacasa’s The Velvet Sky blends childhood fantasies with adult nightmares into a dark and surreal adventure laced with just enough honesty that it’s absolutely, terrifically terrifying…” – Metroweekly

Featured in the 1999 Humana Festival of New American Plays, Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls is a quirky journey that follows a bunch of twenty-somethings in their quest for love and identity. Strangers, friends, lovers, and acquaintances travel the globe from Alaska to Hawaii and from New York City to Inner Borneo, exploring themes of migration, evolution, and interconnectivity. Babies, wild dogs, komodo dragons, and hula dancers abound in this hilarious play about finding your tribe in a world gone haywire.