Our History

2010 Season

For its 41st season of Shakespeare-in-the-Parks, PAE will waft you across the wine-dark sea to the   Eastern Mediterranean, for tales of shipwreck, sundering of family, and their later joyous reunion after decades of separation. Displaying the Bard's mastery of many different styles of theatre, both plays use the ancient Greek story Apollonius of Tyre as a source, with very different results.

Now Showing

Ah, the “enchanted” city of Ephesus, where a visiting merchant from the wrong city may be ruined financially, accused of adultery by a jealous wife he didn’t know he had, and committed to an asylum, all in a single afternoon. Of course, it’s all just a case of mistaken identity, but should Antipholus (and his trusty servant Dromio) unravel the knot in which they find themselves entangled, a potential death sentence awaits if they are discovered to be from their home port of Syracuse.

Naturally, such a play would be one of the Bard’s finest comedies, but just to ensure that the joyous confusion thrives he added one more twist to Plautus’ Roman story of long-lost brothers: a second set of twins!

This comic heart is brilliantly bracketed around the story of Ægon, who finds himself in this strange town known to be haunted by witches and magic in search of his long lost children and wife, and who is sentenced to die at five o’clock should he not find somebody to speak for him.

Guest director Grant Turner has set PAE’s 41st Shakespeare-in-the-Parks production at the seaside during the strangely rationalized rules of the Victorian period. Will Antipholus win the love of the sister of his “wife”?  Will Dromio escape his newly found kitchen-wench fiancée?  Or will they both be “Pinched” just as they are about to escape?  Join us this summer and see!

Cast and Crew

All Shows are FREE
Saturday and Sunday afternoons, unless noted, plus Labor Day

Laurelhurst Park, July 31 and August 1, at 3:00 pm
  SE 35th Ave. and SE Oak St., near "picnic area F" in the center of the Park

Director Park, August 6, at 7:30 pm
  SW Park Ave. and SW Yamhill St., one and a half blocks from Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Washington Park, August 7* and 8, at 3:00 pm
  SW Washington Way, in the lower park, just North of  the Holocaust Memorial
  We are NOT at the amphitheater, but at site 2 on this map

Raleigh Park, August 14, at 6:00 pm
  3500 SW 78th Ave, Beaverton
  Part of the Tualatin Valley Parks & Recreation
  Summer Concerts in the Park series

Gabriel Park, August 15, at 3:00 pm
  SW 45th Ave and SW Nevada Ct., past the Tennis Courts

Maryhill Museum, August 21, at 7:00 pm
  35 Maryhill Museum Drive, Goldendale, Washington
  -The Sculpture Garden

Lynchwood Park, August 22, at 3:00 pm
  SE Haig and SE 174th, between Division and Powell

Concordia University, August 28 and 29, at 3:00 pm
  On the "Front Lawn" near NE 28th Ave & NE Holman

Reed College, September 4, 5, and 6, at 3:00 pm
  SE Woodstock and SE Reed College Pl., in front of Eliot Hall

*ASL Interpreted Performance

Earlier this Summer

2010 Twilight Romance

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is probably the first of several works that Shakespeare wrote in a revived medieval style later known as the Romance (after the Romance-language tales that were their inspiration). These plays (among them Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest) are designed to evoke strong feelings of sympathy for the characters as they are propelled by crises and catastrophe across far-flung exotic landscapes to an eventual miraculous (if bittersweet) reunion. Often far-fetched, these fantastic tales of knights and ladies in search for love, honor or family were popular due the sensations their epic adventures evoked. 

Like The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night, the main source of Pericles is taken from the story of Apollonius of Tyre , as told in the 14th-Century English poet John Gower's Confessio Amantis (Gower even appears in the play). The tawdriness of Pericles is interesting and titillating: Incest, a house of ill repute, STDs, a virgin offered up for sale, the threat of rape, etc., are all part of the tapestry of Pericles, along with other story elements similar to the Odyssey, Oedipus, Job, Jonah and even Sleeping Beauty. A heavy dose of "willing suspension of disbelief" is not necessary to enjoy this classical fairy-tale, but it sure helps! 

Probably co-written with George Wilkins fairly late in Shakespeare's career, Pericles became his most popular play during his lifetime and was enjoyed by thousands more over the next century.  Wilkins also published a novelization of the story, which allows modern scholars to reconstruct the missing pieces of the lone incomplete edition of the script that was published in Shakespeare's lifetime. Since Pericles is rarely done even by ongoing Shakespeare repertory companies, and not seen by Portland audiences since PAE last performed in 1988, this is an opportunity to catch an early romance from the Bard of Avon when he was at the zenith of his powers.

Cast and Crew

All Shows were FREE
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings

June 17, 18, 19, and 24, 7:30 pm -Mt. Tabor Park summit
  at SE Harvey Scott Circle, NOT the amphitheater

June 25, 6:30 pm -Marylhurst University
  17600 Pacific Highway, Lake Oswego
  On the Knight's Green in front of the BP John Administration Bldg.

June 26, 6:00 pm -Somerset Meadows Park
  3360 NW Parkview Dr, Beaverton
  Part of the Tualatin Valley Parks & Recreation
   Summer Concerts in the Park series

July 1 and 2nd, 7:30 pm -Mt. Tabor Park summit

July 3, 6:00 pm -Meinig Memorial Park, Sandy
  39250 Pioneer Blvd, behind City Hall

July 8, 9, and 10, 7:30 pm -Mt. Tabor Park summit

July 15, 16, and 17, 7:30 pm -Mt. Tabor Park summit

*Sorry, no ASL Interpreted Performance

How to find your way around Mt. Tabor Park and other Frequently Asked Questions.

Sister Companies:
The below are companies with whom PAE has collaborated and continue to have an ongoing relationship.

Northwest Classical Theatre Company - from their Web site (www.nwctc.org)
The NWCTC is dedicated to performing great plays by great writers placing the emphasis on text and authorial intention rather than directorial conception. By cutting back on stage pyrotechnics and limiting our use of set and costume, we focus the attention on the word and story that we try to tell. Our company motto is “Content over Concept!”

Original Practice Shakespeare Festival - from their Web site (www.opsfest.org)
First Folio editions of Shakespeare’s plays include all the cues an actor needs to perform his or her role without rehearsal.  This allows the truest reaction to the story as it progresses.  The Ops Fest performs using the same performance techniques as they did in Shakespeare's own time, which means limited rehearsal, an onstage prompter, and changing roles each performance.  This lends a much more immediate, organic, improvisational feel to the performances.  Original Practice: because Shakespeare should be a little dangerous

Blue Monkey Theatre Company - from their Web site (www.bluemonkeytheater.org)
Fearless Youth, Unforgettable Theater: Blue Monkey Theater Company is about taking artistic risks, coloring outside the lines and empowering the unique, fresh, fearless voice of the young artist. We’re committed to expanding the vision of what theater for young people is and can be, by creating experiences that are challenging, honest and unforgettable. If you can’t be brave when you’re young, when can you be?