Portland Stage Company
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| Address | 25A Forest Avenue Portland, ME United States |
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| Type | LORT |
| Opened | 1974 |
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Portland Stage is a professional LORT (League of Resident Theaters) theater company in the state of Maine. Founded as the Profile Theatre in 1974 as a touring theater company, in 1976 the company made Portland a permanent home and in 1982 it moved to its current home of 25A Forest Ave Portland, ME. Anita Stewart has served as the Artistic Director since 1996 and in 2006 was made Executive Director as well.
Portland Stage Company was founded in 1974 as the Profile Theatre, a touring company of young theater professionals, with the mission to "entertain, educate, and engage its audiences by producing a wide range of artistic works and programs that explore basic human issues and concerns relevant to the communities served by the theater." The first Artistic Director, Ted Davis (1974-1976) initially led the company through performances in a wide variety of venues, but by 1976, Portland had become the company's permanent home. Davis was followed as Artistic Director by Michael Rafkin (1976-1977) and Frank Goodman (1977-1978), and in 1978, the company changed its name to Portland Stage Company.
In the years that followed, under Artistic Director Charles Towers (1978-1981), Portland Stage earned a national reputation as a professional theater company, becoming a member of LORT (the League of Resident Theatres) and TCG (Theatre Communications Group) and signing a letter of agreement with Actors' Equity Association. In 1982, under the leadership of Barbara Rosoff (1981-1987) Portland Stage moved to its current home, a former Oddfellows Hall at 25A Forest Avenue in Portland, which at the time had been newly renovated as the Portland Performing Arts Center.
Since the 1980s, Portland Stage has been committed to offering student matinees of every show in its mainstage season. Today, over 4,000 students from Maine and New Hampshire attend these performances each year, many of them getting their first exposure to professional theater at Portland Stage. Under Artistic Director Richard Hamburger (1986-1992), the company launched the Little Festival of the Unexpected in 1990, a week-long annual festival that brings playwrights from around the country to develop new plays at Portland Stage. Recently celebrating its 23rd year, the Little Festival has helped writers such as Mac Wellman, Nicky Silver, Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Quiara Alegria Hudes, and John Cariani land productions both on Portland Stage's Mainstage and in regional theaters around the country.
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