SHOWS AND EVENTS
TWELFTH NIGHT
Shakespeare, Jazz, and Hollywood Glamour for the Holidays!
This holiday season, Rose City Stage Company invites you to experience William Shakespeare’s beloved comedy Twelfth Night with a glamorous Old Hollywood twist!
Directed by Don Alder, this production draws inspiration from the golden age of Hollywood, the screwball comedies of the 1940s and ’50s, and the sophistication of the Rat Pack. Featuring original music by Portland jazz artist Mary Kadderly, we’re transforming an intimate space inside Portland’s iconic Big Pink into a nightclub-inspired theatrical escape.
After a shipwreck turns her world upside down, Viola assumes a new identity, setting off a delightful chain of mistaken identities, tangled affections, and romantic mischief. In Illyria, love rarely follows the rules—and nothing is quite what it seems.
Join us downtown for an evening of Shakespearean wit, romance, and Old Hollywood glamour!
November 27th – December 20th, 2026
Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays at 7:30 PM
Big Pink — U.S. Bancorp Tower, Portland
PERSUASION
Rose City Stage Company presents a staged reading of Persuasion, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved final novel by local playwright Connor Kerns.
Anne Elliot was once persuaded not to marry the man she loved. Now, years later, Captain Frederick Wentworth has returned from sea as a successful naval officer — and is still painfully present in Anne’s heart. As their paths cross again, Anne must navigate a world governed by propriety, family expectations, and carefully controlled emotion while confronting a love she never truly surrendered.
In this adaptation, the quiet surface of Austen’s world gives way to the turbulent emotional life beneath it: longing, regret, hope, and the possibility of a second chance.
As a company committed to story, language, and the power of the written word, Rose City Stage Company is proud to honor Austen’s extraordinary text in this intimate reading.
Join us October 17 & 18, 2:00 PM, in the Pearl Room on the third floor of Powell’s City of Books for an afternoon of Austen, language, and the enduring ache of love lost — and perhaps found again.
COMEDY OF ERRORS
Two sets of identical twins. One very confused city.
This October, Rose City Stage Company invites you into the glorious chaos of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors — a fast-moving comedy of mistaken identities, physical comedy, and wonderfully tangled relationships.
Separated by a shipwreck years earlier, two sets of twins unexpectedly find themselves in the same city, where servants are sent on mad errands, strangers are mistaken for husbands, and every attempt to make sense of the situation only makes things worse. Add money, marriage, family, and a whole lot of confusion, and you have one of Shakespeare’s most delightfully ridiculous comedies.
Directed by Grant Turner, this lab production brings together a vibrant ensemble of young and emerging actors for an opportunity to explore Shakespeare’s language, physicality, and comic imagination in a collaborative setting.
Come embrace the theatrical mayhem this October!
AS YOU LIKE IT
Love letters. Mistaken identities. Music. Wrestling. Poetry. Disguise.
A forest where the rules of society dissolve and everyone is free to discover who they truly are...
This September, Rose City Stage Company presents Shakespeare's As You Like It as the culmination of Shakespeare Unbuttoned and the Summer of Love celebration.
Set in the magical Forest of Arden, the play follows characters who leave behind expectation and convention in search of freedom, community, and connection. It is one of Shakespeare's most joyful explorations of identity, transformation, and the many forms that love can take.
There could be no more fitting conclusion to a summer honoring Darcelle's legacy and celebrating the freedom to express ourselves fully.
SHAKESPEARE MADE CLEAR with SARAH SPRING
Rose City Stage Company is thrilled to welcome Sarah Spring — the voice behind the widely followed Instagram account Shakespeare Made Clear — to Portland for a special, one-day masterclass in conjunction with Rose City’s production of Hamlet.
Known for her ability to break down Shakespeare’s language with clarity, precision, and a sense of play, Sarah has built a global following by making the Bard feel not only accessible, but exciting. Now, she brings that work off the screen and into the room.
This four-hour masterclass is designed for anyone curious about Shakespeare — whether you’re an actor, a longtime fan, or someone who’s always felt like you “should” understand it but never quite cracked the code. Rather than focusing on performance, this session dives into the language itself: how it works, how to unlock it, and how to experience it more fully.
HAMLET
This May, Rose City Stage Company presents a stripped-down Lab Production of Hamlet in Old Town, created in partnership with Central City Concern and staged during Mental Health Awareness Month. With minimal staging and nowhere to hide, this intimate production places Shakespeare’s most psychologically volatile tragedy in direct dialogue with the neighborhood that surrounds it.
Featuring a small cast and a tightly cut script, this Hamlet arrives raw and exposed—pressing on the fault lines where grief overwhelms, expectation corners, and the mind begins to fracture. Select performances will include post-show talkbacks with a mental health professional, extending the conversation beyond the stage and into the community.