Kirsten Dunst is exceptional in Alex Garland's emphatically non-partisan vision of a war-torn future America.

Ready for the sprint? Portland's foremost festival of new works returns with 65 projects over 10 days April 12-21. Plus: Carol Triffle goes Neanderthal at Imago, NYC kudos for PDX, more.

As Portland's sprawling 10-day festival of new performance prepares to hit the stage running, the creators of half a dozen fresh shows talk about what they're doing and why.

The brilliantly brittle comic author of "Beyond Therapy" and "The Marriage of Bette and Boo," who has died at 75, left a lasting mark on Oregon's theater scene beginning in the 1980s.

The premiere of Dani Rowe's chorus girl love story joins works by choreographers Ben Stevenson and Yue Yin for a diverse night of classical ballet and modern and theatrical dance.

Other winners during Monday's Literary Arts event included Waka T. Brown for young adult literature and poet Daniela Naomi Molnar.

Only an expert can solve a problem. (23. March 29, 2024, at Keller Auditorium in Portland, Oregon, Laurie Anderson was as provocative, brilliant, inspiring, whimsical and stylish as ever.)

The contemporary dance company presented the world premiere of works by three internationally recognized guest choreographers, each of whom explored the theme of secrets in distinctly different ways.

Portland filmmaker Lindstrom discusses his new work “Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill” and a career profiling “hard-hit people living hard-hitting lives.”

Our Creative Future, which is shaping the Portland metro area's public approach to arts policies, will have a Virtual Town Meeting April 9. And the City of Portland shifts its cultural lineup.

Greater Portland's festival of new performance returns after a long dry spell to showcase and generate new sprouts of Oregon-grown theater.

The plan to make up the balance needed for the $1.45 million project now goes to the City Council.

Tissot, who joined the Lincoln County Historical Society in 2022, says she plans to take time for family projects, hiking, and kayaking.

The Portland painter's show at Russo Lee Gallery focuses on "the complex strangeness of quiet spaces" in the urban landscape.

From clouds to sounds, an artist's path: "I hear a lot in the paintings ... some movement, something that comes after and before and above and below. Like a cropped photograph or a clip from a melody, you know there is more."

The big groups play the big names, from Beethoven to Dvořák to Tchaikovsky to Bach. Also: Renegade Opera at the Hampton Center, Kronos Quartet and Imani Winds at The Reser.

An obscenity-filled period comedy pits Olivia Colman against Jessie Buckley as friends-turned-archrivals whose feud stirs up controversy in a sleepy English village.

Blackhawk, winner of a 2023 National Book Award for his history of Native life in the U.S. and its historical misrepresentation, speaks in the Oregon Historical Society's Hatfield Lecture series.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival kicks off its '24 season. Plus: new onstage in Portland, from "Perfect Arrangement" to "Sh-Boom!" to "Frog and Toad" and "Ashland" (the play, not the town).

The Oregon singer-violinist-composer-poet-scholar-storyteller worked with the Camas choirs in cultural and musical workshops, a preview concert and Portland premiere. The entire local artistic team will debut the full work in New York City this May.

April ushers in spring and plenty of new exhibits and shows. Jason N. Le rounds up some promising offerings from around the state.

Poets aplenty are on the literary calendar this month, as well as journalist Elizabeth Mehren and the Terroir Creative Writing Festival in Newberg.

OSU’s new performance and exhibition space, a busy hub of activity from morning to evening, brings a chance to transform how people see the university – and it has an open house April 6.

The gift, which continues the Schnitzer family's longtime support of Portland State University, will help fund a new home for the School of Art, support PSU's Schnitzer Art Museum, and provide outdoor art and other enhancements on campus.

Two-time GRAMMY® nominee and New York-based musician Bonham joins EB resident choreographer Suzanne Haag in a collaborative performance of song, sound, and movement, April 6 and 7.

The show of “outsider art” by some 30 creators with no formal training illustrates art in its purest form: Art for the sake of art, art for the artist.

Nassim Soleimanpour's play, written by a native Farsi speaker, deals with the difficulties of understanding a different language and invites chance into the game with a new, unrehearsed actor in each performance.

The music of Iran and America explored current issues with a concert of music by all women composers.

K.B. Dixon's cultural-portrait series continues with black & white images of novelist Lydia Kiesling, actor Charles Grant, multidisciplinary artist Emily Ginsburg, photographer Thibault Roland, and writer/editor Margaret Malone.

John Bradley, who took up painting 33 years ago when he was 70, is among about 150 members participating in the annual show and convention beginning April 5.

The founder of the Waterston Desert Writing Prize and the Writing Ranch will receive the Holbrook award during the April 8 Oregon Book Awards ceremony.

The dance photography of Jingzi Zhao kicks off a busy month that also features contemporary, collaborative, experimental and aerial works and the chance to see elite student performers.

The group exhibition, curated by Cleo Davis and Nina Amstutz, brings together works by artists and organizations that highlight histories of oppression and resistance. Recounting and engaging with the past allows for the imagining of a more equitable future.

A host of clowns and colorful performers prepare a pair of shows to support the international aid group. Plus: Shakespeare north & south, "Yohen," "Nassim," Laurie Anderson, "Resurrection," and more.

The Portland author’s new book about 16 Oregonians who survived atrocities ranging from the Holocaust to Rwandan genocide launches March 29 with an event at Mekong Bistro.

News & Notes: Portland's biggest theater company is one of three nationally to win $1 million grants from the Mellon Foundation. Plus: Center Stage's new season; new faces at the Oregon Arts Commission and Oregon Cultural Trust.

Plus: "Asphalt City," "Lousy Carter," and the latest Liam Neeson revenge fantasy "In the Land of Saints and Sinners."

Five artists interpret the legendary creature in sculpture, paintings, film, and multi-media work in a show that goes beyond the popular-culture image of Bigfoot.

The Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble co-founder talks about his love for Early Jazz and his recent return to Oregon.

The veteran playwright, screenwriter, and opera librettist, whose play "Yohen" is about to open in Portland, talks on a new podcast about his career and the rise of Asian-American theater.

CMNW’s March mini-fest delivered all of the maestro’s piano trios with elan.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival shifts into its '24 season with "Macbeth" and three other shows. Plus: Openings, last chances, a Steep & Thorny party, a pre-peek at Fertile Ground.

The Clackamas-based historian's new book documents the work of writers from 1800 to the present to help readers expand their understanding of the Pacific Northwest.

The March 17 concert featured commissioned work by Grant and Sei alongside music by Joel Thompson, Rosephayne Powell, and regular Resonance collaborator Melissa Dunphy.

The Eugene-based quartet partners with the violist-composer-polymath for a week of shows featuring “our Oregonian superstar” alongside Haydn and Brahms.

Choral offerings from Bach chorales to world peace to Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Also this week: a trio of Tarantino double features, OMSI's 2024 Sci-Fi Film Fest, and a Middle Earth marathon at the Hollywood Theatre.

The Oregon Community Foundation and James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation invest $20 million each to boost cultural groups, adding to $11.8 million pledged by the state Legislature.

The family-friendly opera by composer Joel Thompson and librettist Andrea Davis Pinkney was premiered in 2021 Houston and runs in Portland through March 24.

The abstract paintings hum with an energy entirely befitting for their caffeine-centered display location – Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

The Keller Auditorium audience was repeatedly brought to their feet as the Ailey company dancers dazzled with exhilarating performances of both contemporary choreography and Ailey’s own iconic "Revelations."

The duo discusses how they met, where the name comes from, their recent deal with Nonesuch Records, the “Voice Memo Roulette” game, and a method for using Brahms chords.

The 3,000-seat Keller needs replacing. What's the best choice: a new building at PSU, a new hall at a revamped Lloyd Center, or a full-scale renovation where it is now?

Test your knowledge of the great composer with a new crossword puzzle by Daryl Browne.

Jazz, string quartet, rock violin and more set the rhythm for the new festival in a music-happy town. Next up, March 20: Peter Eldridge of New York Voices.

A $300 million gift of more than 200 artworks jump-starts the Seattle University Museum of Art. Plus: Maryhill Museum season begins, Asian American writers, Andrew Proctor returns, jazz at Milagro, Billie Holiday tribute night.

K.B. Dixon takes a camera tour through the McMinnville museum, from the Spruce Goose to the world's fastest jet to replicas of the Spirit of St. Louis and Apollo Lunar Rover & more.

The busy cultural hub celebrates its 20th anniversary with a day-long party this Saturday, March 16

Octavio Solis's contemporary spin on "Don Quixote" reimagines the wise man/mad man hero in a tale that tumbles brightly and searingly across the Mexican/Texan border.

The new center, whose name means "butterfly," seeks to create a "microscopic utopia" for artists who are often dispossessed.

Kristen Stewart and Katy O'Brian star in a stylish neo-noir, plus the feature film debut of writer-director-star Julio Torres of HBO's "Los Espookys."

The 2024 session improves on a dismal '23 session for the arts, with allocations for several large organizations, less for smaller ones, and an unwelcome surprise for the High Desert Museum.

"Las Vegas Ikebana" celebrates five decades of friendship between Maren Hassinger and Senga Nengudi. On view are individual works, collaborations, and ephemera that reveal the richness of their creative intertwining.

This year’s festival of “Black American Music” featured hot touring artists and returning Oregonians alongside up-and-coming new locals.

Recent productions "North" and Red Door Project’s "The Evolve Experience" highlight the Beaverton arts center’s socially responsive programming.

At Art in the Cave in Vancouver, Ruth Ross and other artists stitch and weave tales that open up many questions.

The installation by Christina Harkness and Shanna Smith Suttner opens March 22 at the Willamette Heritage Center in Salem, before returning to Lincoln City in August.

Entries are open for May’s “Rising from the Trashes” event, which includes an art gallery, fashion show, and storytelling – all spotlighting trash.

The Dutch-born American artist's retrospective at the Salem museum showcases neon not as a gaudy symbol of advertising but as a key element of art for art's sake.

Sure, there will still be books, but get ready for big changes in the libraries emerging from 2020’s $387 million bond.

On March 14, tours and an open house will celebrate the 37th anniversary of the hotel that lifelong friends Goody Cable and Sally Ford took from flophouse to world famous.

MYS performed world premieres of music by Nancy Ives and Charles Martin alongside Beethoven and Lalo.

PYP geared up for their upcoming East Coast tour with a thrilling concert featuring music by Amy Beach, Jessie Montgomery, and Jeff Scott.

The exquisite enamel artist and traveler to Bali and beyond in pursuit of her art created a legacy of storytelling and beauty.

Presented at the 2024 Portland Jazz Festival, SKC’s latest world premiere promised to transcend artistic boundaries with innovations that take dance and sound in a new dimension, though delivered a more puzzling traditional concert dance experience.

A busy week onstage also brings "The How and the Why," a youth devised show from Hand2Mouth, Eleanor Roosevelt, holdovers including "Sanctuary City," plus "Spear" and other last chances.

The Portland theater company's Youth Devising Residency program teaches young people stage skills and more. The show they created, "What Brings You Here?," is at PSU March 7-9.

The famed jazz pianist partnered with the choral ensemble and Portland poet/activist A. Mimi Sei to create “From the Book of Sankofa”; the former Linfield Music Department Chair returns to Oregon for the live premiere of her “Cycles of Eternity,” recorded in 2019.

Speaking to a Hatfield Lecture Series audience about her book "Oath and Honor," the former congresswoman talks about Putin, China, Israel/Hamas, Trump's "Big Lie" and more.

Plus: "Accidental Texan," "Cabrini," and "Kung Fu Panda 4."

After its biggest and most successful year yet, the wine country film festival looks toward a bright and expansive future.

SO co-produced the revival of the 1986 Anthony Davis opera, revised and re-premiered in 2022 by Detroit Opera.

The performance space by the railroad tracks in North Portland and the Butoh-inspired company Water in the Desert whisper their farewell to the Portland scene.

The exhibition "Strange Weather" at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon brings together a diverse roster of artists and perspectives.

The recently-released album captures the quartet playing standards and film songs in Portland and Vancouver just before the recording of their ground-shaking classic “Time Out.”

In its enrapturing show, ‘I Didn’t Come to Stay,’ this acclaimed tap and live music company celebrated the depth and virtuosity of tap’s Afro-diasporic roots.

For March, Jason N. Le introduces a variety of exhibitions that, from different vantage points, consider how humans make sense of our world. The options range from monsters to machines to meteorites.

Seven of Portland’s local dancers come together for an evening of solos, duets, trios, quartets, and quintets that reflect love and camaraderie.

Other literary events this month include readings by nine writers at the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center in Newport and a celebration of small presses.

The traveling exhibition, created by the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center, reminds viewers of the multiracial history of Oregon’s timber towns.

Percussion concerts with 45th Parallel and Third Angle; goth and punk and whathaveyou at Mississippi Studios; CMNW’s mini-festival of piano trios; neurologist Larry Sherman with Portland Chamber Orchestra; Christopher Brown Quartet plays “Blackstar.”

The Orthodox choral ensemble and Gospel choir joined their voices for February’s “Black Voices in Orthodox Music: How Sweet the Sound.” Recent albums released by Oregon choirs feature music by Melissa Dunphy, Renée Favand-See, Naomi LaViolette, Morten Lauridsen, Stacey Philipps, Undine Smith Moore, Joel Thompson, and more.

Timothée Chalamet rides a sandworm in the sequel to 2021's "Dune," and a 2022 documentary portrait of Alexei Navalny gets a theatrical release after his death.

Bobby Bermea: Promising writer and recent high school grad Evan McCreary gets a weekend of readings at IFCC with talent and a little help from his older friends.

Students had a say in picking the artists whose work is featured in the artistically complex and politically engaged exhibition, which runs through March 16 at the McMinnville university.

What would happen if we turned grandiosity into a joke? Building big, artist Erik Geschke sculpts himself into the possibilities.

The Oregon playwright's contemporary twist on Cervantes' classic tale has tilted at a few shifting windmills of its own on its long journey to Portland Center Stage.

As the Oregon dance card fills up for a busy month of movement, a performance space goes away and another springs to life.

The quirky museum includes what may be the largest glass fishing float collection in the Northwest and an exhibit about a 1930s celebration of redheads.

As Central Library reopens in downtown Portland, The Library Foundation takes on new leadership. Plus: A new leader for the Parks Foundation; talking Nevelson and Neel at PNCA.