Portland Center Stage

Portland Center Stage at The Armory

The Armory
Abbreviation	PCS
Formation	November 12, 1988
Type	Theatre company
Purpose	Theatrical productions in Portland, Oregon
Location	Portland Center Stage at The Armory
Membership	Portland, Oregon
Official language	English
Artistic Director	Chris Coleman
Main organ	Board of Directors
Affiliations	League of Regional Theatres, Actors' Equity Association, Theatre Communications Group
Website	Portland Center Stage at The Armory

Portland Center Stage at The Armory is a theater company based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Theater productions are presented at the The Armory in Portland's Pearl District. Portland Center Stage at The Armory was founded in 1988 as the northern sibling of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. It became an independent theater in 1993 and in 1994 Elizabeth Huddle became producing artistic director. Chris Coleman took over in 2000 as the company's fourth artistic director. Coleman hired design firm Sandstrom Design to help refocus the marketing strategy and increased the variety of productions.

The company began a capital campaign in 2004, and in 2006 moved into The Armory, which includes two theaters, a costume shop, production facilities and office space. Portland Center Stage at The Armory produces at least ten productions annually between September and June, and productions include musicals, classical, contemporary and premiere pieces. Portland Center Stage at The Armory has received positive commentary in regional guidebooks including Best Places Northwest, Best Places Portland and Moon Handbooks Oregon.

Portland Center Stage was founded in 1988, and was the "northern sibling" of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland, Oregon, and continued as a branch of OSF until 1994. The company was originally known as "Oregon Shakespeare Festival Portland". Its first production was Heartbreak House. Dennis Bigelow was PCS's first artistic director and was let go by the OSF in 1992. A two-year transitional process began in 1993, during which the OSF maintained a supervisory role over PCS.The Oregonian reported that the OSF's artistic director Henry Woronicz "couldn't figure out how to integrate the two closely enough for his liking, and he was unwilling to have Portland go its own way without supervision".

The advisory board for Oregon Shakespeare Festival Portland was reformulated as the board of directors of the PCS, and Elizabeth Huddle was hired in May 1994 as the producing artistic director. Huddle had previously served on the PCS's search committee for a new artistic director, but decided to put her name in for consideration. In 1994 the PCS had a budget of US$2.2 million, and over 11,000 subscribers.