This page is always under construction. Additional performances are added periodically. We are still collecting information from coordinators, theatres and interpreters. Dates, times, and interpreters for the shows listed are subject to change without notice. www.signplay.com is a volunteer service to the Deaf community and the theatre community. All photographs and art are used for the sole purpose of promoting Sign Language Interpreted performances for the theatres listed.
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This page was last updated on: April 12, 2012
Please send us any information regarding signed performances in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Information is posted here on the website and send out in the SignPlay Yahoogroup which reaches a large number of people in the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Interpreting and Hearing Communities. Please check here often for updates and additional information. Thank you for your support.
For Tickets to the Broadway Season:
Email boxoffice@portlandopera.org and ask for the "ASL Section" or "Interpreted Performance" in the Subject line or call 503.241.1802
Dates/Interpreters subject to change.
Portland Center Stage Interpreted Performances
2011-2012 Portland Center Stage Season
For most shows, interpreted performances are on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm. Several shows, due to their popularity, will be interpreted twice during their run. The added performances are Saturday matinees at 2pm. Dates are noted below.
2011 - 2012 Interpreted Performances for Broadway Across America/Portland:Shrek: The Musical September 15, 2011 Wicked March 15, 2012 at 7:30pm; March 31 at 2pm
Blue Man Group October 20, 2011 Million Dollar Quartet May 24, 2012
West Side Story January 5, 2012 Jersey Boys July 19 at 7:30pm; August 11 at 2pm
Beauty and the Beast February 16, 2012
**Red lettering indicates completed performance dates
2011-2012 Portland Center Stage
Anna Karenina
World premiere!
Adapted from Tolstoy by Kevin McKeon
April 3 – 29, 2012
Main Stage
INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE: April 19, 2012 at 7:30 pm
INTERPRETERS: Dot Hearn, KT Corlett, and Carin Billings ***Interpreters updated
Black Pearl Sings!
By Frank Higgins
April 24 - June 17, 2012
Ellyn Bye Studio
INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE: May 17, 2012 at 7:30 pm
INTERPRETERS: Pamela Cancel and Dot Hearn
It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues
By Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor and Dan Wheetman
Based on an original idea by Ron Taylor
May 22 – June 24, 2012
Main Stage
INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE: 6/21, 2012 at 7:30 pm ***Date updated.
INTERPRETERS: Pamela Cancel and Edwin Cancel
Interpreters: Julie Gebron and TBD
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is the smash hit Broadway musical, inspired by the true story of the famed recording session that brought together rock ‘n’ roll icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins for the first and only time.
On December 4, 1956, these four young musicians were gathered together by Sam Phillips, the “Father of Rock ’n’ Roll” at Sun Records in Memphis for what would be one of the greatest jam sessions ever. MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET brings that legendary night to life, an irresistible tale of broken promises, secrets, betrayal and celebrations featuring timeless hits including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “That’s All Right,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “I Walk the Line,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Matchbox,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Hound Dog” and more.
Interpreters: Julie Gebron and Jean A. Miller
“THE MOST EXCITING MUSICAL IN YEARS.”- Chicago Tribune
“THE CROWD GOES WILD.”- The New York Times
“TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!” raves the New York Post for JERSEY BOYS, the 2006 Tony® Award winning Best Musical about Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. This is the story of how four blue collar kids became one of the greatest successes in pop music history. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide – all before they were 30! JERSEY BOYS, winner of the 2006 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Show Album and most recently, the 2009 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, features their hit songs “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Rag Doll,” “Oh What a Night” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” “IT WILL RUN FOR CENTURIES!” proclaims Time magazine.
Interpreted Performance Dates may change with little notice. Please confirm with the Portland Center Stage Box Office if you have questions.
For more information, go to www.pcs.org/access/
May 24, 2012 at 7:30pm
July 19, 2012 7:30pm
August 11, 2012 2pm
Broadway In Portland 2012-2013 Season Announced
Interpreted and Captioned Performances to be determined
MEMPHIS - September 11-16, 2012
Tentative Interpreted Date:
Thursday, September 13, 2012
THE ADDAMS FAMILY - June 25 - 30, 2013
Tentative Interpreted Date:
Thursday, June 27, 2013
ROCK OF AGES - May 28 - June 2, 2013
Tentative Interpreted Date:
Thursday, May 30, 2013
THE BOOK OF MORMON - January 1-6, 2013
Tentative Interpreted Date:
Thursday, January 3, 2013
WAR HORSE - February 26-March 3, 2013
Tentative Interpreted date:
Thursday, February 28, 2013
FLASHDANCE - April 23 - 28, 2013
Tentative Interpreted Date:
Thursday, April 25, 2013
2012-2013 Portland Center Stage Season Announced
On the Main Stage
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Libretto by Hugh Wheeler
Directed by Chris Coleman
“A whopping good, grisly yarn of obsession and destruction.” – The New York Times
“A work of such scope and such daring that it dwarfs every other Broadway musical that even attempts to invite comparison.” - New York Daily News
Widely acknowledged as Stephen Sondheim’s musical masterpiece, Sweeney Todd is set amongst London’s seedy side streets and laced with Sondheim’s characteristically brilliant wit and dark humor. This landmark musical depicts the barber Sweeney Todd’s savage quest for justice and retribution after years of false imprisonment. Aided by harridan pie shop owner Mrs. Lovett, who is secretly in love with him, he sets out to avenge the wrongs done to him and his family. Combining comic turns and chilling drama, music hall-style numbers and hauntingly beautiful romantic songs, Sweeney Todd offers a fascinating portrait of a man driven to madness by injustice.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By William Shakespeare Directed by Penny Metropulos
November 13 – December 23, 2012
Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time
As the royals Theseus and Hippolyta prepare to marry, four young lovers from their Athenian kingdom flee to the forest in the wake of parental disapproval. But in the woodland, these lovers’ lives are complicated when they cross paths with feuding faerie royalty. As Oberon and Titania bicker over a changeling child, the mischievous Puck and his sprightly accomplices use herbal spells to hilariously complicate the love-mad quartet’s forest idyll. When a group of local rustics rehearsing a play for the Athens wedding also seek the quiet of the forest, the spells and confusions wrought seem unlikely to ever sort themselves out. But this is William Shakespeare at his most magical and most imaginative, and with a little enchantment, as Puck says “all is mended.”
I Love to Eat
By James Still Directed by Jessica Kubzansky
January 8 - February 3, 2013
“Beautifully captures Beard’s zest for life.” - Indianapolis Star
This new play celebrates the life and talent of a Portland, Oregon original – James Beard.
Before Julia Child, before today’s proliferation of cooking shows and networks, there was James Beard, the first TV chef. He brought fine cooking to the small screen in 1946 and helped establish an American cuisine, but as is often the case with pioneers his early efforts on screen have been lost. He went on to become America’s first “foodie,” and the award bearing his name is still the prize most coveted by chefs. Playwright James Still invites you meet the man described as “the face and belly of American gastronomy” in this play that recreates an evening at Beard’s New York home. PCS will join with Portland’s nationally-recognized food community to honor our homegrown culinary star.
The Whipping Man
By Matthew Lopez Directed by Rose Riordan
February 26 - March 24, 2013
“A compelling Civil War-era drama, filled with fine characterization and unexpected moments of humor.” - The New York Times
In the post-Civil War South, three men are tied to each other by history and faith, but are also bound by secrets. A badly-wounded Jewish Confederate soldier returns home at war’s end to find that his family has fled to the countryside. Remaining in the city mansion are two former slaves, also raised by his family as Jews. With Passover upon them, the three men unite to celebrate the holiday, even as they struggle to comprehend their new relationships at a crossroads of personal and national history. The Whipping Man, which premiered in New York earlier this year to great acclaim, is an extraordinary tale of loyalty, deceit and deliverance.
Clybourne Park
By Bruce Norris Directed by Chris Coleman
April 9 - May 5, 2013
“A buzz-saw sharp new comedy.” - The Washington Post
"A spiky and damningly insightful new comedy." - The New York Times
Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize
Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2011
A white community in 1950s Chicago splinters over the black family about to move in. Fast forward to our present day and the same house represents very different demographics, and neighborhood values and tensions. Decades apart, hilarious and horrifying neighbors pitch a battle over territory and legacy that forces us to consider how far our ideas about race have evolved – or not. When our houses become our homes, and our neighborhoods become our identities, what will we do to protect them? And from what?
Ella: The Musical
Conceived by Rob Ruggiero Book by Jeffrey Hatcher
Directed by Rob Ruggiero
May 28 - June 23, 2013
“Ella is a musical with scattitude.” - Sarasota Herald Tribune
“The evening sings with the joy, deep feeling and eloquence of a truly original America idiom at the peak of its powers…” - Hartford Courant
Weaving myth, memory and music, Ella tells the uplifting and poignant story of one of the greatest jazz/pop vocalists of 20th century music. It's 1966 and the fabled songstress is preparing for one of the most important concerts of her career. As she jams with the musicians (including famed trumpeter Louis Armstrong) and gets ready to meet the audience, Ella reflects on her life, her secrets and the love of music that made her soar. Featuring more than a dozen of her most famous hits, including "A Tisket, A Tasket," "How High the Moon," "That Old Black Magic" and "They Can't Take that Away from Me."
In the Ellyn Bye Studio
The Body of an American - World Premiere
By Dan O’Brien Directed by Bill Rauch
October 2 - November 11, 2012
War reporter Paul Watson has witnessed some of the most devastating scenes in modern history. As the ghosts of the tragedies he's recorded bear down on him, he crosses paths with playwright Dan O'Brien, who's battling ghosts of his own. In locations as varied as Kabul, Los Angeles and the Canadian High Arctic, the two men form a tentative friendship in a quest for absolution. The Body of an American was a highlight at JAW in 2011.
Lungs
By Duncan Macmillan Directed by Nancy Keystone
January 29 - March 10, 2013
“Smart and stimulating…a bracingly dramatic walk through the thicket of couples communication.” - Washington Post
A young couple wants to have a child, but for the “right” reasons. Except, what exactly are the right reasons? We live in a time of global anxiety, terrorism, erratic weather and political unrest. If they over think it, they'll never do it. But if they rush, it could be a disaster. And what will be the first to destruct - the planet or the relationship? Described as “a kind of word-cloud portrait of that contemporary romantic malady: ambivalence,” Lungs is a high-wire act for both the actors and the audience.
The People’s Republic of Portland - World Premiere
By Lauren Weedman Directed by Rose Riordan
April 30 - June 9, 2013
Portland is gathering lots of attention lately – for our sustainability leadership; for our food scene; for being, well, weird. And now we’ve caught the attention of Lauren Weedman, actor/writer of last season’s BUST. In the few months she spent here in the spring of 2011, Lauren’s imagination was also captured by all things Portland, and so we’ve asked her to write a play. About Portland. How will this former Daily Show faux-spondent treat us? What does Portland look like through Weedman’s unique lens? Are we brave enough to find out?
A special holiday offering:
The Santaland Diaries
By David Sedaris
Adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello
Starring Darius Pierce as Crumpet
November 27 - December 30, 2012
Based on the true chronicles of David Sedaris’ experience as Crumpet the Elf in Macy’s Santaland display, this cult classic riffs on a few of Sedaris’ truly odd encounters with his fellow man during the height of the holiday crunch. NPR humorist and best-selling author of When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers, and this production has become a Portland holiday tradition.
