I see a lot of performances but last month was my first visit here. The Juliet Letters was…read moreperformed by PDX Opera and Papermoon Opera. I very much enjoyed the space and the staff were incredible especially since I went through it to get there. I left WAY early knowing rain + cars bad. The disclaimer here is that Google is now corrected because I reached out to Artists Repertory Theatre when I discovered the issue and they got Google to correct it. I had never been to the venue before but knew about where it was and I am downtown several times a week in different areas. I've lived here forever and also traffic gets weird off 405 so it is not uncommon to be tossed onto offramps when an accident or something happens. I was using Waze.. address saying 1515 SW Morrison. Coming from Beaverton, I am almost to the tunnel when the freeway STOPS and GPS adds a LOT of minutes. While stopped in the far left lane waiting for traffic to move, I had my window down for a spot of fresh air. A car HITS a pocket of water rolling down the other side of the freeway and my car gets a tidal wave of gray water. So I was VERY awake and DRENCHED... The second I am through the tunnel, FINALLY, there is no traffic. I was pretty annoyed since the horrific traffic ate a half hour and I was now going to be barely in time. I was so hyper focused on getting there that I was not really registering that I was in NW, not SW. I pull up to the Armory. I was so pissed at myself. I was JUST at the Armory for a Portland Center Stage show and thought I must have absent minded typed The Armory into Waze. But Waze was genuinely saying I was at 1515 SW Morrison. FYI - Someone had 'tagged' Artists Repertory Theatre in a photo they too of a fundraiser for Artists Repertory Theatre, held at The Armory resulting in Google having Artists Repertory Theatre IN The Armory. I had to manually enter the address and am doing that AT start time for the opera. I was having an anxiety attack and thinking about just going home but NO, DAMN IT I WILL MAKE IT. I will be late but I did not just go through this for nothing. And I genuinely was excited to see this venue I had never seen. I am so grateful I stuck it out though my adventure was not over yet! Driving the blocks from NW to SW, I was green lights all the way. BUT people randomly would just walk in front of me for zero reasons. Then a Max train genuinely just drifted slowly straight in front of my car when I was green light and they were not... my 5 minutes turned to 10 minutes... But I see an empty parking spot out front which is so great since I am ADA and walk with a cane but see no ADA spots. Everything is covered in wet fall leaves which can be a bit scary for my walking. As I pulled up, the space in front is just being taken. I parked around the corner, in front of a bar next to a truck that pared like they pregamed before hitting the bar. While getting out of the car, in sideways rain with zero light on that street (hysterically there was a light that was on when I came out after the performance but when I arrived it was pitch black) I see a perfect banana peel right where I would step to stand up getting out of my car?? And who says the universe does not have a sense of humor?!? I arrived and security came at me like I was dying because I probably looked like I was! Everyone was AMAZING. The lovely person with the will call list found me so easily and they tucked me right in like a mysterious diplomat with a folding cane who clearly walked into a lake and fought ninjas to get there. I, again, am ADA and try to just tuck in away from people at an end seat. There were five seats marked reserved for us ADA folks (the kind people from the venue had told me the whats what when I got my ticket) and they were all empty. As it was, right before I popped in to rush to my seat, they were apologizing to me that it had already started. I was shocked as I was mortified I was so late! I did make note of the great bar area with some tables and chairs to the right of the performance area for people to be social before and after with vendors selling wares. As I am taking a seat, I see an end one in the very front which I sit behind as the person seated directly to its right left a napkin with something...on it... that looked like chewed food. I was a bit distracted the whole show by that napkin because ewww. When the show ended, I took my program and political sign I was handed during the show as part of the show to get a photo. I chatted with an usher about the opera while I was taking my pictures and I was VERY surprised when I noticed the genuine blood stains on the wood floor next to me. Innocent probably but also MAYBE MURDER (had to).

Seats on the first floor theater are incredibly uncomfortable - they're basically foldup chairs…read morewith a cushion. The show was good minus the loud sneeze I had just as the actor was about to start their monologue :p My apologies to the audience!

Amazing city wide art and light festival. Started with a fire show at Pioneer Square. Art…read moreinstallments move on to the World Trade Center. There are window displays and random pieces spread around the city on both sides of the river. It was a first for me and it was lovely. The festival goes for two weekends so whatever we didn't catch this round, will be enjoyed next weekend.

One of my favorite festivals! I've been going every year since they've started and love the…read morescavenger huntesque nature of it. I continue to end up in amazing places that I don't expect from hidden glass blowing studios to unexpected installations at a local bookstore. The website is amazing and provides so many options for finding things. Definitely can't recommend it enough!

Splendorporium is one of Portland's multibusinesses of oddities created by owner passion and…read moresurviving economically as a business. Their main business is art classes for children. They have a gallery of rotating student work. You can see if it's for your child. There is a lot of childhood imagination at work! They are a gift shop for witchy, magic, and occult inspired items. So if you need a gift in that vein, for another, or yourself, stop in. Or if you are a crafter making that, inquire. They have well attended first Friday art shows with a month theme. There is a grown up art theme and a children's art theme. Grown up themes have included the Pink Show, Seven Deadly Sins, Flora and Fauna, Cryptids, Wicked, Tarot, Sacred Sites, Midnight Magic, and Haunted. Their first Friday events are later, 7-9PM. Good friends were residential pioneers in this neighborhood between Powell and the tracks, so I know it well. It is by Bullseye, artist studios, art supply stores, wholesalers, and more. It's an industrial oasis. Splendorporium fits well into the Keep Portland Weird theme of creative.

Very cool community based gallery. Would definitely recommend doing any of their monthly shows…read more What fun. What more galleries should aspire to be like.

I am a bit surprised that this was my first time here. I have been seeing performances throughout…read morePortland for decades. You see a performance and you get ads for several others. A friend I go with to other events stumbled upon this production, and we're both down for anything involving vampires... couple of old school Goth pals. This show was our jam and we had a great time! They offer discount for us folks who are on benefits qualifying us for Arts for All. We definitely appreciate being included. Also, they are ADA friendly for their seats but please note that the entrance might be a challenge. I try to lead with the positives... I have not ventured to this area for some time , and I forgot the logistics of parking. There is parking within blocks but if you are ADA, you will likely need to have your person.Drop you because they are gonna need to walk a bit. Since i'm the driver, it's a journey. I got there closer to show time, then I would have liked due to traffic and parking. There's a fairly large number of businesses right there - venues.... I had to try numerous times to get into the entrance , which is really hard when you're balancing on a cane, but the door was locked. As I was walking up and holding my phone, a guy walked up in front of me to buy a ticket with cash while going on and on and on about how he wanted to support the arts. The one person working the counter was doing a really awkward long form explanation about how to see a play... Finally he walks back to me, asking if he can help... I show him the ticket TWICE and then he asks what the name is on the ticket. Then goes back to asking to see the ticket, back and forth. I can hear them starting and I still have to walk all the way around to the curtain to go in. He then looks at the cane and suggests that he come hold the curtain so that I can walk in. Like I don't know what you gotta do... I have just spent a ridiculous time in the lobby for 0 reasons. They have concessions... it seemed like a selection of wine and snacks... My friend who purchased the tickets for us told me an insane tale. Normally I am the one who buys the tickets for us - we're both Arts for All. She said that oddly, she had a bit of back and forth with somebody who worked at the theater 2 days before the show saying that they didn't know if they were going to have a show because not enough people had bought tickets. She said the person told her that they might do a live stream instead. I was like wait what? It was weird. Watching a live stream and a live performance are two completely different things... so she had to call the day of to make sure that the production was still happening. My point is seeing a show here was really lovely... but also there's a bit of chaos so prepare for that. When we were leaving, we walked past one of the actresses who was in full blown relationship/dating drama with some dude (seriously gurl, you seem super awesome... dump him).

Great theater with wonderful shows. Staff is very friendly.Only challenges that don't have their…read moreown parking lot and the neighborhood could sometimes be hard to find street parking in

As has been said by many reviews prior to mine, this is an intimate theater. That can be very good…read moreand also, have a few negatives. I am going to address the ADA situation here first so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle, and you know what you're getting into. The ADA spaces are a chair which can be removed but the chairs they have are something from the 90s - a half moon wrap around situation which is possibly one of the worst things I've sat in. I was looking around at all the other seating and their normal seats seem to be velvet have several inches more room than the monstrosity I was in + cup holders! I saw another device user (she had a walker versus my cane) sitting in a normal seat and I was very envious. The same lady accidentally triggered the screen on her cellphone which illuminated much of the theater for a solid 20 minutes until she was finally prompted by one of her party the situation. I was not in the mood to scream to the other side of the theater but seriously folks... the screen is at floor level though so you really feel immersed in the production. I cannot imagine any seat in the theater being bad for the view! Warning that this area doesn't have the best parking options so you are gonna want to factor in that. I was closer to the start time, then I would have liked especially since they seem to have a really happening snack bar! I smelled and saw popcorn! The bad part about the intimacy is when you get an audience like the one I did. I have misophonia so you wrestling around your bag or trying to open your candy makes me twitch. I am used to it and I power through but this was a bit much. Let's talk... we were in it together - the London production of Dangerous Liaisons. FYI - this is not a play about good people & is about a lot of sex, grooming and people being absolutely horrible to each other! There's a warning out front! Have you not seen the very well known movie... apparently the whole row behind me had not so I was immersed in listening to them, clutch their pearls through the entirety of the production. When they were not audibly sharing their disapproval of behavior, a man off to the side of me was making very odd throat sounds. A dear friend went to the same production a few days later (we couldn't align our schedules to go together). I was so glad she did not have my audience experience at all. Hysterically during the intermission I could hear the group talking about Aiden Turner, who is one of the main bad people. They were saying that they were used to seeing him as Poldark and as good... umm, that character pines after a married woman while being abusive and gaslighting his wife the whole series. That's not my idea of a good guy, but you do you. ANYHOO... I needed to restroom and waited. I personally don't mind that there's a very open urinal next to the ADA stall but it did surprise me a moment as a gentleman came in to use the urinal when I was washing my hands. So, just an FYI if you are uncomfortable in a bathroom situation with open stalls.

I saw a performance at the coho recently. It's a cute little theater in a good location.read more

What a way to live a month full of Halloween festivities. A block that keeps the spooky spirit…read morealive. I haven't visited during Christmas, but I promise I'll be there to see it this year! I'm so excited. The Halloween event made my heart sing of ghouls, bats, and candy!!

The folks in this neighborhood, and especially the big main house that's the center of it all, do…read morean unbelievably incredible job decorating for Halloween and Christmas! They decorate for other holidays as well, but Halloween and Christmas are the showstoppers. They sometimes have special performers such as Frankenstein or Santa wandering around, too. I recommend following them on Instagram for updates & schedules. It can get busy, especially at night on the weekends, but it's usually easy to find parking in the neighborhood. I definitely would suggest parking and walking around so you have time to truly take it all in and perhaps take some photos.

What is more Portland than a theater in the back of a coffee shop?! Great venue for intimate plays…read more Really enjoyed myself. Definitely recommend folks support this great theater. Actors were super talented. Stage manager was funny and informative.

The Backdoor Theatre is located, as it sounds, in the backdoor to a coffee shop on Hawthorne. And…read moreof course, it's tiny, with bench seating and fold out chairs. But somehow it manages to have some of the best theatre in Portland. Shows have minimal props and focus largely on the acting and the script. It's refreshing to see a bare bones play that hits you just right, and it puts some of the larger theatre companies in town, with light tricks and major props and scenes, to shame.

I have been to many of the performances presented by and performed by this group of musicians. Each…read moreexperience was such a treat from chamber performances bordering on traditional, to very new and unique flavors like a performance where the musicians played different pieces of actual 2 x 4s. The evening was, very appropriately called 'Timber'. I will leave their website write up, as it gives a far better description than I would: "We are a collective of musicians who come together to celebrate great chamber music with intimate artistic experiences. Passion for great music is what defines us and Portland is our stage. Since 2009, 45th Parallel has happily demolished distinctions between old and new chamber music, bluegrass and jazz, fiddle and folk. By bringing fragmented audiences together, 45th Parallel reflects Portland's surging creative communities in fresh and imaginative ways. Founded by Greg Ewer, a violinist of insatiable curiosity, 45th Parallel stands apart from the city's other chamber groups by its borderless and unbounded innovation. Call it 360-degree programming. The city's finest musicians weave Bach and Beethoven into adventurous programs of "forbidden" music, or violin wizardry by virtuosos such as Gilles Apap and Kevin Burke. Their far-reaching collaborations also include gospel singers and Persian musicians, embracing Portland's growing diversity. But, programming aside, the performers, themselves, bring the highest levels of skill and commitment to each performance. Teaching the next generation of musicians is also critical to the group's mission. An experiment to give music lessons to students who couldn't afford them has blossomed into an urban success story, fostering confidence, community and an appreciation of beauty from both teachers and students. In the end, it boils down to this: 45th Parallel offers something both simple and complex: Music is nothing less than a marvel of human expression."