Broad Arts presents

A Broad for All Seasons
written and composed by Melinda Pittman

Festival Performance Dates: Jan 22 and 23 at 8:00 pm
Full Extended Run: January 2-23, 2010

Venue: Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (5340 North Interstate Avenue)

Single Tickets: $12 - $20. Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2 per ticket

Aung San Suu Kyi? Wangari Maathai? Mairead Corrigan Maguire? Bonnie Tinker? Who are these mystery women? And why are their spirits appearing at the same place, at the same time, at the beginning of the world’s turning? And what does their presence have to do with me? BroadArts Theatre invites you to solve the mystery at A/Broad for All Seasons, our newest original theatre-comedy with music. In the show, the Goddess Lilith has reached her elder years. Lilith, embodied by BroadArts’ Artistic Director Melinda E. Pittman, hires a personal assistant to help her finish her memoirs. Lilith’s protégé’ tires of the older woman’s attitude and outlandish tales. The titans clash as they each struggle to create and re-create the world they want to live in. And then there is that mystery stranger, knocking at the door, knocking at the door…

Action/Adventure presents

Carnies: A Musical Work-In-Progress
by Devon Wade Granmo and Mont Christopher Hubbard

Festival Performance Dates: Jan 31 at 8:00 pm

Venue: Someday Lounge (125 NW 5th)
Single Tickets: $7  Buy tickets online at www.brownpapertickets.com

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2 per ticket

Two teenage lovers try to escape their small town life by joining a traveling carnival, only to discover a world of degeneracy, drug use and constant melancholy. Madame Maxine's carnival does things the old way, but things are changing, and the corporation Funco wants to buy them out in order to gain complete control of the Western Circuit. There are love triangles, fights with 4-H-ers, evil local politicians and a psychic Age and Weight Guesser. Carnies is a musical about the changing rural landscape, a dying way of life and the fight between Old Weird America and New Homogenized Plastic America.

Fighter Girl: The Musical
by Catherine Garvin and Arlie Conner

Festival Performance Dates: Jan 22 at 7:30 pm, Jan 23at 2:00 and 7:30 pm and

Jan 24 at 2:00 and 7:30 pm
Venue: Portland Center of the Performing Arts, Brunish Hall (1111 S.W. Broadway)

Single Tickets: $17 - $35. Call 1-800-745-3000 or online at ticketmaster.com
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $5 per ticket

Fighter Girl: The Musical is a bold and electrifying story based on a young Portland girl’s naïve dream to change the world by getting her song on the radio. "Sparrow" wins a songwriter showcase in L.A., but her girl band breaks up and her mother won't let her go alone. She's determined get there somehow, but then her mother becomes ill and everything changes. Desperate to help raise the necessary funds for her mom's treatment, instead Sparrow finds herself robbed, accosted, and lost in downtown's famed Shanghai Tunnels. Barely escaping to the Burnside Bridge, Sparrow reunites with her family and ends up changing the world with her music after all, right here, in Pioneer Square. As cutting edge and inspirational as the town in which it's set, Fighter Girl will ROCK its way into your PDX heart.

Triskaidekaphilia (Just My Luck)
by Jim Radosta

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 27 at 7:00 pm

Venue: The Woods (6637 S.E. Milwaukie Ave)
Single Tickets: $13. Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $3

One-man show meets "poor man's cabaret" meets karaoke contest in Triskaidekaphilia (Just My Luck), a series of comedic yet poignant monologues interspersed with cheeky karaoke performances. Longtime journalist and Oregon native Jimmy Radosta shares stories about growing up gay in the small (minded) town of Salem; his escapist fantasies fueled by an avid devotion to pop culture; his abrupt shift from late-blooming closet case to "professional homosexual" as editor of Oregon's queer newsmagazine, Just Out; and his ongoing quest to turn life's lemons into Limoncello. The show's title derives from "triskaidekaphobia," the superstitious fear of the number 13. (Not recommended for the easily offended.

SexyNurd: Rockstar Trapped in a “Nurd’s” Body
by auGi + Pema Teeter 

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 22, 23, 29 and 30 at 7:30 pm
Venue: Curious Comedy Theater (5225 NE Martin Luther King Blvd)
Single Tickets: $10-$15. (Free with Tandem ticket) Call 503.205.0715 or online at www.sexynurd.com         
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $3

RockStar fantasy supernova—auGi—belts, pleads, power chords, and PowerPoints his way out of the basement of his country-boy youth in his one-man, autobiographical comedy, SexyNurd. But can he ever escape his nurd-boy image?  SexyNurd is an irreverent, heartfelt autobiography of a teenage boy’s attempt to escape from the middle of nowhere by becoming a rock star. The only problem…he’s a nerd. Thirty years later, auGi is still Robert Plant trapped in Woody Allen’s body—simultaneously railing against and milking stereotype to fuse comedy, storytelling, motivational satire, personal photos, and rock ‘n’ roll to see if he can shed the nerd image once and for all. If you didn’t have a motley view of rock stardom before the show, you just might when it’s over. Veteran of L.A.’s Improv, The Second City, NBC’s Last Comic Standing, Portland’s Mortified and Live Wire, auGi workshops SexyNurd in progress.  Directed by Brad Fortier.

*WARNING* Exposure to 80’s prog-rock, hip thrusts and untamed back hair may cause heart palpitations

Theatre Rex presents
Hamburger Square
by Bruce Hostetler 

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 24 and 25 at 7:30 p.m.; Feb 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Scottish Rite Center (709 SW 15th Ave)
Single Tickets: FREE. Just show up!

Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: FREE

After his aggressive attempt to help a young family in trouble is misconstrued as a mugging, Robin Mars’ intentionally simple life runs straight into the rest of the world. And into Marian. Hamburger Square is a modern rock ‘n roll retelling of the Robin Hood myth, with music by Dennis Wilson and the Beach Boys. It tells the story of Robin Mars, a young man living on the beach in Southern California, and what happens when he attempts to level his society’s financial inequities in some innovative ways. Can a man who has built his life on the statement "they don't bother me and I don't bother them" eventually realize that all his actions have consequences? There will be a discussion session after each workshop reading to continue the working process of bringing this new musical to the stage.

Oregon Children’s Theatre presents
Small Steps
by Louis Sachar, adopted from the book by Louis Sachar

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 22 at 2:00 pm
Venue: Madison High School Library (2735 NE 82nd Ave)
Single Tickets: FREE Reserve seats at 503-228-9571 or online at www.octc.org
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: FREE

Two years after being released from Camp Green Lake Juvenile Correctional Facility, Armpit is back in Austin, Texas, working at a landscaping company and trying to change his life, taking small steps. He sets five goals for himself, determined to keep moving forward. 1. Graduate from high school. 2. Get a job. 3. Save some money. 4. Avoid situations that might get violent. 5. Lose his nickname Armpit. Things are going smoothly until X-Ray, a friend from Camp Green Lake, turns up unexpectedly with a get-rich-quick scheme. The plan sounds simple. Kaira DeLeon, the famous teen pop star, is playing a concert in Austin. All X-Ray and Armpit have to do is buy tickets when they go on sale, mark up the price, and sell them to concertgoers. Reluctantly, Armpit agrees to the scheme, but things don’t go nearly as smoothly as X-Ray promises they will. Armpit ends up taking Ginny, his ten-year old neighbor, to the concert, and a series of unexpected events leads to Armpit nearly getting arrested, and a chance encounter with Kaira herself! Suddenly, Armpit’s life is spinning out of control and he finds himself trying to keep himself and X-Ray out of jail, avoid angry ticket scalpers, and even on a plane to San Francisco. Louis Sachar’s sequel to Holes follows Armpit as he maneuvers through the unexpected, the dangerous, and even the romantic—all the while trying to keep his goals in sight, take small steps, and keep moving forward.

Polaris presents xCHANGE3
created by Polaris Dance Theatre, No Go Know, Vorcan

Event Date:  Jan 29 at 8:00 pm
Venue: Polaris Contemporary Dance Center (1501 SW Taylor)
Cost: $12 Call 503-929-0738 or online at www.polarisdance.org

Polaris Dance Theatre collaborates with local band No Go Know and live painting duo Vorcan for an of-the-moment performance combining three artistic mediums. xCHANGE3 traverses genres to create a new form of innovative expression.  Led by Artistic Director Robert Guitron, Polaris creates emotionally resonant contemporary danceworks designed for maximum impact. A hallmark of Guitron’s work is delving into, and dissecting, the human psyche. The choreography for xCHANGE3 examines the transformative effects, both nurturing and destructive, of human relationships. Working closely with Guitron to create the musical accompaniment for xCHANGE3, No Go Know brings their brand of fuzzed-out indie psychedelia to the dance studio floor. Hailed has having “an intuitive understanding of dynamics” by Performer Magazine, No Go Know merges their instinctual musical acumen with the professional dance world. Capturing it all on canvas before the audience will be Vorcan. Though calling Portland home, Vorcan is constantly traveling the U.S. and Europe in search of artistic inspiration. Using the fine art of collaborative imagery, the duo often paint live performances, but xCHANGE3 marks their first time working with a professional dance company.

Become a part of xCHANGE3 and experience the possibilities.

Northwest Children’s Theater & School presents
Pinocchio
adapted by Milo Mowery; composed by Rodolfo Ortega

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 29 at 7:00 pm, Jan 30 at 2:00 and 7:00 pm, Jan 31 at 2:00 pm

Full Extended Run: January 29 – February 21, 2009
Venue: Northwest Neighborhood Cultural Center (1819 NW Everett)
Single Tickets: $18 - $22. Call 503-222-4480 or online at www.nwcts.org
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: $2

“Look at that! What do you know? It is gears and wheels that make me go!”

From a pile of shiny scrap metal comes the buzz, clink and whir of the original toy story! This industrial musical is the tale of Gepetto’s brand-new mechanical boy who learns, through much trial and many errors, what it means to be human. NWCT World Premiere!

Northwest Children’s Theater & School presents
Don’t Let the Pigeons Drive the Bus!
from the book by Mo Willems; adapted by Sarah Jane Hardy and John Ellingson; music and lyrics by Ezra Weiss 

Festival Performance Date(s): Jan 31 at 6:00 pm
Venue: Northwest Neighborhood Cultural Center (1819 NW Everett)
Single Tickets: FREE
Flash Your GrOw Button and Save: It’s FREE!

“Hey, can I drive the bus? Please…? COME ON!!”

Finally, a play you can say “no” to! When a bus driver takes a break, a wheeling-and-dealing pigeon begs to take his place! The popular book takes flight as audiences get on the bus and move to a Latin groove in this original musical about a little bird with BIG dreams. NWCT World Premiere!

Comedy/Theater: Late Night at the Hothouse
Bad Reputation Productions presents
Road House: The Play
developed for stage by Shelley McLendon and Courtenay Hameister

Festival Performance dates: Jan 28 at 10:30 pm
Venue: Hothouse on the Mezzanine, Gerding Theater at the Armory (128 NW 11th)

Single Tickets: $10. Call 800-494-TIXS or online at http://www.fertilegroundpdx.org/Calendar.html

Flash Your Fertile Ground Button and Save: $2 per ticket

First released as a film in 1989 and starring the late Patrick Swayze, “Road  House” tells the timeless tale of a bar bouncer with a mysterious past who lives by his own rules, a small town terrorized by a wealthy senior citizen, a sexy doctor, and karate. Debuting as a staged reading during the Fertile Ground’s Hot House series, “Road House: The Play!” is the magic that results from taking the original film script, putting it on stage, and adding original songs. For more information: http://badreputationprods.wordpress.com/